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Robert's heart feels like it's about to burst out of his chest. It's beating faster than it has in years. Four to be exact. Four of the longest, loneliest years he had ever lived through. Four years he didn't expect to make it through. In the end, he had given in, his life had been over, he'd lost everything he cared about. The fire that courses through had extinguished, and he put himself on autopilot in order to survive. He cut himself off from the world, from everyone. How could he not? After all, he had been sentenced to 8 years in prison for what he had done, for nearly riding the world of one less person it needed.
He still remembers it like it had only happened days ago. He remembers his sentencing, he remembers the smug bastard looking at him from his seat, the same bastard that had raped his sister. The vile scum sat there smirking, almost goading him to lose it. He remembers the blue eyes looking at him, the way they drowned in tears, the ache they caused in his chest. He remembers the heartbreak knowing he was going down, knowing that he had already plead guilty, all because of that same sister he had tried to protect.
She had come crying to him right before his plea hearing. She couldn't lie for him, not if it all ended in court, she had told him. He remembers getting the wind knocked out of him at her words, "if...if I get there and lie about what happened...it makes me no better than Lee."
He had been at a loss. After everything, his own sister couldn't support him, not really. He had swallowed his pride then, swallowed his own fears, his feeling, everything, and accepted what his fate would be.
When his sentencing came, the only thing that saved him from a worse fate was a stranger. In the end, a fucking stranger cared more for him than his own sister. He remembers the girl, the look on her face as she barged through the courtroom doors, shouting how she couldn't let an innocent man suffer for that monster. She had been another victim of Lee's, one that had suffered the same fate as his sister, one that would not have suffered if Lee had died. The girl had been too scared to say anything at first, she however, had taken photographs of Lee's handiwork, and saved the clothes she had worn that night. The court had erupted into chaos, Lee had nearly made a run for the doors, but in the end the damage had been done. In the eyes of the law, Robert had still attacked him. The girl's confession and evidence only managed to get the courts to minimize his sentence. 20 years is what he got.
He had been terrified for what it all meant for him, but all he could think of was Aaron. How it would affect his husband, what it meant for him, what it would do to him. It was then that he knew what he had to do. He had to cut him off. He had to let him go. There was no way he was going to have Aaron put his life on hold. Not for him. He wasn't worth it. If his own sister didn't think he was worth it, how could anyone else?
It's then that the sound of a knock disturbs him from his thoughts. They didn't matter, not anymore, they're in the past. All that mattered was the here and now. He took a deep breath and felt everything melt away as he remembered the crystal clear blue eyes that stared back at him only moments ago.
"You haven't fallen in there have you? I mean, I know you're getting senile and all." Aaron laughed from the other side of the door. The joy in his voice made Robert's heart skip a beat.
"Oi!" Robert nearly shouted through the door before opening it. "I'm not a pensioner you know? I still have plenty of good years on me." He said as he effortlessly lifted Aaron off the ground, grunting as he felt his legs wrapped tightly around his own waist.
"Oh, I could get used to this." Aaron nearly purred. It had only been minutes and they had so easily fell back into who they were with one another. It was as easy as breathing for them. Aaron leaned down and took his lips, sending a spark through him. He felt alive again.
As he gently pulled back and watched as Aaron slowly leaned forward with his eyes still closed as if trying to keep the kiss going, Robert couldn't help but ask, "so, you going to tell me how you managed this?"
"Right down to business then, eh." Aaron pouted.
"I'm sorry. I'm just curious, cos short of that scumbag growing a conscience I don't understand how else he would have changed his tune."
"You can't just enjoy that you're here in my arms now?"
"Well, yeah I can, I can enjoy more than your arms too in a minute, but I'm still curious."
Aaron let out a sigh and rolled his eyes as he gave in. "It was Cain, wasn't it." He said like it was so obvious.
"Cain?"
"Yeah, he uh, had some friends fall into the same prison as…" He hesitated as if not wanting to mention his name, "the scumbag." He followed Robert's cue. "So we had these friends deliver a message for us, one they were more than happy to deliver...along with a bit of persuasion afterwards. Either he confessed to having started the fight, that you had only acted in self defense, or they would deliver our message on a daily basis."
"You what?"
"We knew you'd be able to lie your way out of pleading guilty. So, once you had your story sorted with your solicitor, everything just happened rather quick."
"The same solicitor whom I gave strict instructions not to keep you updated on me?"
"Who do you think has been paying him?"
"Is it strange that I'm really turned on right now?"
Aaron smirked and leaned down to take Robert's lips again. He couldn't get enough of them, he couldn't before, and he couldn't now, not after those four long years.
The knocking at the door interrupted them, both letting out a loud breath. "You go on and finish up in there." Aaron nodded towards the bathroom, where Robert had just taken a shower. "I'll get the door."
Robert nodded with a smile on his face, it was the happiest he had felt in years. He turned and made his way to the bathroom, wiped his hand across the foggy mirror, and contemplated on whether to shave or not. He'd gotten so used to having a bit of a beard, and now he wondered how much Aaron would squirm at the feel of it along his skin. He smirked at the thought alone as he quickly styled his hair, something he had sorely missed doing in prison, and nearly reached for the razor as he heard some shouting coming from outside. He quickly dressed and stepped out.
"I DON'T WANT YOU HERE, ACTUALLY I DON'T WANT YOU ANYWHERE NEAR HIM FOR THAT MATTER!" Aaron shouted and tried to calm himself.
"Aaron, what's the matter, who is it?" Robert spoke as he stepped closer towards him.
"Robert!" A familiar voice squealed his name. "I knew it! I knew when I saw running to his car like his life depended on it, that it had to do something with you, it's why I followed him."
"You have no right." Aaron nearly hissed through gritted teeth.
Victoria simply ignored Aaron and pushed past him ready to throw herself into Robert's arms, only she didn't, she stopped the moment she saw his reaction. Robert's face broke and he stepped back away from her. He swallowed hard as he thought of everything he wanted to say to her, only Aaron stepped in between them. Aaron could always read him like a book, it was clear he read him seconds ago.
"You need to leave, Vic." He tried calmly.
"No, Aaron!" She shouted at him. "I'm not going anywhere, you have no right keeping me from my brother!" Her voice kept rising.
"You're brother?" Robert's voice came out calmly at first. "Is that what I am to you?" He asked with and edgier tone.
"Robert?" Victoria looked confused.
"Cos it's certainly not what it felt like four years ago!" He'd finally snapped as it all flooded back to him. The pain, the anguish, the loneliness, everything he had felt that day he had been dragged away from his family, from his husband, from his son, from the one sister he knew he could actually count on.
"That's not fair, Robert." Victoria's eyes watered.
"NOT FAIR!" Robert laughed incredulously. "NOT FAIR! YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S NOT FAIR?" He shouted. "NOT FAIR IS HAVING TO GO TO PRISON FOR LIFE FOR TRYING TO PROTECT YOUR SISTER!" The same sister that stood in front of him. She still looked the same, small frame, big eyes, different hair, but she was still the same. The way she just walked back in, the way she expected to just be embraced, it was clear she didn't really think she had done anything wrong. Maybe it was his fault, maybe he should have laid it all out before. Maybe he should have told her how he felt when she told him she couldn't lie for him. "Not fair is being ripped away from my family the way I was." He came down as he felt his voice break.
"It's not my fault, Robert."
"Oh...of course not. Nothing's ever your fault. Not the sweet innocent Victoria. You... you're too good for this world yeah? Can't even lie to protect your own brother." He scoffed.
"It's not fair, Robert."
There it was again.
"But it was totally fair for me to go to prison for life while that scumbag walked free and unscathed?"
"That's not how it was."
"No? Then tell me how it was?" Robert sneered as he stepped closer to Victoria. "Tell me, would you lying for me have hurt anyone?" He asked before wiping his hands down his face. "You know...I should have just listened to Aaron. I should have just backed off. I should have just stayed out of it like I promised him...but you...you and Diane just had to come practically begging me to help, to make him go away…"
"They what?" Aaron interrupted.
"After...after I promised you to stay out of it, when they knew Lee wouldn't just leave her alone, they begged me to help them."
"I didn't ask you to kill him!"
"Get out, now." Aaron growled, he had heard enough. "Everything he did, he did for you, and you...you turned your back on him. You don't deserve him." He said as he tried to get her to leave.
"I'm not going anywhere, Aaron. I'm his sister, and we have to work this out."
"No...you're nothing to me now, Vic. The sister I knew isn't there anymore. My sister would have never chosen her rapist over me, cos that's exactly what you did. You're not my sister, you're not my family, not anymore. Just go and live your life, despite everything I still hope you have a good life, but it won't include me in it. Goodby, Victoria." He said and returned to the bathroom, closing the door behind him.
"Aaron…"
"You heard him."
"You can't just keep me away from my brother." She cried.
"His choice, not mine." He told her. "Not that I'd let you see him anyway if it was up to me. All your shit family has ever done to him is kick him when he's down, yeah he fucks up, but he always tries...and all you lot ever do is hurt him. None of you deserve him."
"You have to let me make this right." She cried.
Aaron walked back to the door and signaled for her to leave. "If he ever decides to let you back in, it's his call, I won't push him."
"Aaron."
"Just go, Vic."
Victoria choked back her tears and wiped her eyes dry as she gave Aaron a final look and left.
"Is she gone?" Robert's soft voice came through the bathroom door.
"Yeah."
It killed him to say the things he did, but he couldn't help it, they were genuine. Everything he had done, he'd done for her, only for everything to epically blow up in his face. It took away a part of his life, years away from his husband, years away from his son, years he'll never get back. None of that mattered though, not now as he wrapped his arms around the man that mattered more than anything in his life. He buried his face into the crook of his neck, breathed him in, and cried. Things would be okay now.
He'd had his home back, the home he found in the man he knew he would be marrying again for a third and final time. He never forgot how it broke his heart to divorce him without warning, without so much as a word, but it didn't matter anymore. This time it would be for good. This time they'd really be starting over, away from it all, away from the village.
Their love for each other was all they needed.