Chapter Text
"You're home!" Alex yells excitedly as he throws the front door closed and runs into Henry's open arms.
Henry looks at his gorgeous, happy, breathtakingly beautiful husband in awe.
After all these years he still can't believe he gets to have this.
He smiles fondly. "Yeah, I'm home love."
He has no idea how he's going to tell Alex he needs to leave for Amsterdam (or "Miami" as he'll tell Alex) in only a couple of hours.
It's going to break his heart.
Alex interrupts his thoughts. "Can I kiss you baby?" He asks excitedly.
Henry smiles. "Always."
Alex kisses him passionately and then hugs him tight.
"Thank god you're back, I was going insane without you. Seriously I was debating paying Nora to create a computer virus to hack your company's database so your ass could come home out of fucking Missisipi. Ugh, I hate it when you have overnight conference meetings".
Henry smiles. "I do too love. How did everything go? How were the kids? I mean I've obviously already seen them, I've eaten dinner with them, read them bedtime stories, and put them to bed. But how were they the past three days?"
"They were fine baby. They missed you obviously, but other than that it all went perfectly fine. They slept in our bed with me last night though, oops. Sorry, I know you think our toddlers should sleep in their own beds, but it was storming and Redouan was crying because he was scared and then Riley showed up at the bedroom door too and I'm only human. I couldn't refuse those puppy eyes."
Henry laughs. "It's fine. It sounds cute. I can't believe I missed a slumber party."
Alex grins. "Babe, that is not going to be the last time that happens. Not to be rude but our kids are pathetic when it comes to storms. Or at the least Redouan is, I'm pretty sure Riley just felt left out. Can you believe that our two-year-old is already struggling with Fomo? That is just sad."
Henry chuckles. "Christ Alex, give them a break their two and four!"
Alex teasingly puts his hands in the air. "I was kidding geez, no need to go all overprotective papa bear on me".
Henry fondly rolls his eyes at him. Oh, how he's missed this fool.
"Okay, you cretin, how did life go for my favorite lawyer? Did anything interesting happen in court?"
Alex beams. "God baby I've got so much to tell you! I don't know how you knew, but yes, the craziest thing did happened at work today actually. I'm so excited to tell you! Geez I've missed you these past few days. Luckily We've both got all day off work tomorrow for our anniversary."
Guilt stabs Henry in the heart so violently he thinks he's going to be sick.
'About that dear-"
Alex's face drops and he lets go of Henry instantly.
"No! No! No!" He yells upset.
Henry cringes. "I'm so sorry love. Something came up at work, I'm afraid I'll need to go to Miami in a few hours. I just got the phone call."
He doesn't add that he threw his phone at the wall out of frustration when he got the call about Amsterdam.
Alex scoffs and steps away from Henry.
"What could possibly be so important that you have to leave again? After only being home from another work trip for a fucking hour!"
Well, how is Henry supposed to answer that?
He can't exactly tell Alex that he received a death threat from the assassin whom he battled to save the president of the united states.
So now his team has to eliminate the assassin, better known as Jessica Leissure; Brittain's most hired assassin/serial killer, before said assassin kills him.
"I understand that you are upset darling but I don't want to go either." That is certainly not a lie, he'd much rather stay home and celebrate his anniversary with his husband.
"Then don't go babe!" Alex shouts desperately.
Oh if it was only that simple.
'I truly wish I could stay home with you darling", Henry swears.
"You promised me!" Alex yells.
"I know darling but my boss insists-"
Alex sighs. "Oh my god then just quit your job babe! God knows we don't need the money! I have a job too, you know. I'm a well-paid lawyer. There is no need for you to work as much as you do!"
Henry sighs. "I'm not going to quit my job, Alex." He quite literally can't.
That seems to trigger Alex.
"I can't fucking do this anymore, what is his name?" He shouts.
Henry looks at him confused. "What?"
Alex groans. "His name. Tell me his fucking name, Eddy!"
Henry frowns. "Darling, am I supposed to know what you're talking about right now?"
Alex glares at him. "I want to know the name of the guy whose dick you've been riding while you tell me you're going on these last-minute over night work trips!"
Henry stares at him in horror.
He might be one of Brittain's best spies but not even he saw this one coming.
"I beg you pardon?" He asks horrified.
Alex groans. "You're seriously going to deny it?"
That makes something in Henry's snap.
"For Christ's sake Alex I'm not having an affair! How could you even accuse me of that? We've been together for 15 years! We've got 2 kids together, for crying out loud!"
Alex groans again.
"Okay, I'm well aware. And It's not like I really think you would do that to me. That's not who you are, I know that. But just... what other reason could you possibly have for always going on these shady ass, last-minute, 12-hour notice, work trips?!"
Henry scoffs. "What about... here's a wild idea...I go on these work trips...to work!"
Alex wipes his face furiously.
"Oh my god Eddy, I literally love you, so like don't take this the wrong way, but You've quite literally got the most boring job on the planet, there is no way you can justify all these work trips! I hate to bring it to you, but you're not saving the fucking world babe! You're a computer salesman! There is no reason for you to need to leave with only 24 hours' notice to sell a fucking computer! I swear to god if you go to that conference tomorrow I'm divorcing you."
Henry stares at him in shock.
They've been together for 15 years, tomorrow.
Obviously, they have fought before but things have never gotten this bad.
"You're going to threaten to divorce me? Seriously? I work my arse off to make sure our family"-' stays safe. 'is taken care of and this is the bloody thanks I get?" He yells back.
Something in Alex softens and he starts to look a little guilty. "I'm sorry... Look if you're seriously going on last-minute work trips to sell fucking computers and this is not an excuse to like... cheat on me and spend time with a hypothetical second husband, then I'm obviously not divorcing you. Because I love you, I really really do. I love you so much I can't possibly put in to words. But if you really are going on work trips, then I'm fucking worried about your sanity babe. When did you get so fucking greedy sweetheart? I'm not trying to be a total dick, but seriously E, our family could live off just my salary. Yours on top of mine is nice and all, but we don't need your ridiculously high salary. I get that you want to provide for us, but baby for the love of god, at least cut your hours in half. Having jacuzzi and expensive champagne money is worthless when it means I wake up to an empty bed all the time, because you're working your ass off to give us a luxury life that we don't fucking need at all. I'd much rather have an average amount of money and a husband that is actually home."
Henry takes a deep breath, to make sure he doesn't tell Alex the truth out of desperation.
He loves Alex to death, and he doesn't want to lie to him, but he can't tell him the truth, he'll be damned if Alex ever gets in danger because of him.
Alex didn't sign up for this dangerous life and Henry is determined to keep his kids and his husband out of it.
But he'll also be damned if he loses Alex, the best thing to ever happen to him, because he chose to continue his father's legacy and become a spy.
And there is no way in hell he's letting Alex believe, for even a single second, that he's cheating on him, he would never do such an awfull thing.
Not that he even has the time for it, but that's irrelevant, Alex means everything to him.
He should know that. Henry thought he did.
"Where is all this coming from Alex? Don't you trust me?" He finally asks upset.
Alex sighs. "That is the problem, I do trust you, but I'm not stupid. Lately, you've been going on last-minute work trips like their trips to the grocery store! Something is obviously going on. You're barely home three days in a row. I shouldn't have accused you of cheating, that was wrong of me, but like please explain yourself because no salesman needs to leave their family this often."
It's true.
Henry has been going on a lot more missions lately.
They were all important, obviously, but it's true that he didn't usually do that.
He's always been so bloody terrified he would get caught by Alex and it would lead to Alex becoming a target and getting killed by their enemies once they found out Henry Fox had an alias that is married to a regular man/non-spy.
But he thought that by now Alex knew him well enough that he trusted him completely.
He hadn't thought about how shady it all must have looked like from an outsider's perspective.
He sighs. "Alex, I agree that I've been away a lot lately, but how could you even begin to think I'd cheat on you?"
"What else was I supposed to think?" Alex asks and his voice cracks, which automatically means Henry's heart does too.
Henry closes the distance between them, after asking Alex for permission, and hugs him to his chest.
"Literally anything but that Alex. Comm'on love, We've been together for 15 years, don't you know me by now? I'm completely gone on you, my love. You're the only one for me, you'll always be the only one for me. No one in this bloody world means more to me than you do."
Alex wipes his tears away furiously.
"You mean everything to me too babe. And I didn't really think you'd cheat on me, but You've been gone so much lately and Nora suggested I'd take this online quiz about whether your husband is having an affair and I never even thought of that, but the test said I was getting cheated on and then Nora calculated the changes and they were high as fuck. And last week I found malaria pills in your suitcase, I wasn't even snooping, I just wanted to use your charger. But babe you told me you were going to Cleveland, then why did you need malaria pills?"
Henry makes a mental note to talk to Nora and to not be so damn sloppy with his baggage.
"Oh love, I know I've been gone a lot, but I didn't think it would make you assume such a foolish thing. I would never ever cheat on you. I love you with every fiber of my being."
Alex nods slowly. "Yeah, no I knew that. I just let the heat of the moment get to me I guess. I've just missed you a lot and I guess I spiraled a little when you bailed on our plans last minute, again. I mean I was really looking forward to spending our anniversary together, like we always do, and I really missed you these past few days and literally every other time you went on a work trip lately. But I do trust you and I'm really sorry for saying such a stupid thing."
Henry kisses his forehead.
He'll start going on fewer missions if that's what it takes for Alex not to feel neglected.
"That's okay love and you're right I have been gone a lot. I'll cut down on my hours. You were right; we don't need all that money anyway. What's the point if we can't even enjoy it together?"
Alex laughs wetly. "Promise?"
Henry kisses his hand. "Yes absolutely, I'd do anything for you, you know that. And I can't say I enjoy my work more than I enjoy spending time with you. I've missed you too, spending more time together sounds lovely.'
Alex smiles. "It does. Do you want some wine?"
Henry scoffs. "Not so fast darling, we're not done talking about this."
Alex playfully rolls his eyes at him. "Oh, now he wants to have a healthy marriage."
Henry has been with Alex for long enough to know he's being sarcastic right now.
Anger looks different on him.
"Hush darling",
Alex smiles at him again before placing a sloppy kiss on his hand. "God I've missed you E."
Henry smiles back teasingly. "I've missed you too, but you don't hear me accusing you of sleeping with one of the lawyers at your firm now do you love?"
Alex rolls his eyes at him. "I don't know what to tell you, babe, i've been home with the kids while you went on your work trips.'
Henry interlaces their hands. "You were right Alex."
Alex looks at him in horror before snatching his hands back. "About you having an affair? Seriously? I didn't even actually believe that myself!"
Now Henry is the one rolling his eyes at his husband.
He can't have him accusing him of these nasty things, so he tells him a partially true lie.
"No you bloody idiot, you were right that I've been taking on too many work trips. I was making such good money, I was so focused on the college funds we could set up for the kids and I was thinking maybe we could buy a lake house like your parents have because our entire family loves swimming."
This is mostly true, but it's also true that once you start throwing dangerous people behind bars it gets kind of addicting.
Henry was so focused on throwing every bad person he could get his hands on in jail, to make the world a safer place for his family, that he didn't realize he may have been neglecting his family as a result.
The idea makes him sick.
So he kisses Alex's hand again.
And this time he tells him a truth.
"But I wasn't thinking about what all that time away might do to our marriage and I'm really sorry about that. I am. You are the most important person in my life and I can't lose you. And it kills me to think you stopped trusting me."
Alex sighs. "I'm sorry too. You're not going to lose me babe. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. I do trust you, I really do. I let that silly test from Nora get to me. And all your shady phone calls and last-minute work trips and then those pills I found were the final drop. But I should have known you would never cheat on me. I didn't even really think so, I was going to bring up the things I found weird, tomorow at breakfast and ask you to explain them, because I totally expected you to have a logical explanation. But then you said you were leaving on a trip in a few hours, on our anniversary, before we even had a chance to really talk and then I guess I started spiraling. I really am sorry for that. But baby, for what it's worth, our kids are 2 and 4. We don't need to stress over college funds yet. I had no idea you were under such pressure. I'm sorry if I ever made you feel like I care about your money more than I care about you. For the record, I'd rather be broke with you than be a rich widow because you stressed yourself out to the point that you had a heart attack. You've been making an insane amount of money, baby. Every time I check our bank account I think I'm dreaming. I've never seen that many zeros behind each other."
Henry smiles softly. "And seeing I clearly did receive the money I was supposed to make with these last-minute conferences made you think I wasn't going to them and was instead sharing the sheats with another man?"
Alex barks out a laugh. "Sharing the sheats, seriously babe? God, I can't believe I accused you of cheating, no offense Eddy, but no one else would put up with someone as boring as you. You're lucky you're hot and kind."
Henry bites his lip so he doesn't burst out in laughter.
Just two days ago he saved the life of the president of the United States in a battle with a hired assassin, but sure let his husband think he's a boring bloke named Edward who sells computers.
It's better this way.
He clears his throat. "Love has anyone ever told you that putting no offense in front of a sentence is not a free pass to say whatever you want to without coming across as offensive?"
Alex smirks at him. "Oh, come on I'm just teasing you a little E."
Henry nods. "Right. Well, you can continue to do that right after you tell me why on earth you accused me of infidelity, even though you knew we were receiving the payments linked to the last-minute work trips I took."
Alex sighs. "Can't we just forget about that? I take it back, okay? I trust you."
Henry rubs Alex's back gently.
"I'm afraid we can't forget about it love, I want to know what I did that made you uncomfortable, so I can avoid it in the future. And please stop calling yourself dumb, your concerns were valid, but I do have explanations for them."
Alex sighs again. "Okay... lately you keep taking your phone calls in other rooms and I can litteraly currently see that you packed your passport for the work trip you are taking, on our anniversary tomorrow, even though you were supposed to just go to Miami, not fucking Egypt or something. And again I found malaria pills in your suitcase a couple of days ago, from last week's trips but you told me you were going to Cleveland last week.'
Henry will curse himself out for what he's about to do later but in this moment it seems like the only way to truly convince Alex he's not having an affair, which he isn't, obviously, without telling him he's Brittain's most qualified spy.
He sighs dramatically. "Well fuck I guess you caught me Alex", he says with a shit-eating grin.
Alex raises an eyebrow at him. "Huh?" He asks softly.
Well...atleast he's no longer jumping to conclussions, that's good.
"You're right I'm not going on a work trip to Miami tomorrow."
Alex frowns. "You're not? Then where are you going?"
Henry smiles wide.
He's so screwed, but if he's going to do something this reckless and stupid he's going to enjoy it at the very least.
"I'm not going anywhere, not alone at least, but we, my love, are going to Amsterdam tomorrow."
Alex gasps. "Fuck off! Are we actually?"
Henry smiles a little forced. "Absolutely."
Alex tackles him onto the couch. "Oh baby that's so exciting! I should have known you wouldn't leave me alone on our anniversary. You're right that explains the extra shifts to pay for the vacation and the sneaky phone calls behind my back. What about the kids though?"
"Miss Chen is going to watch them", Henry admits.
That isn't a lie.
It's just that technically Amy, their next-door neighbor, and a trained assassin, is always watching Henry's family's safety.
It's one of the demands he made to his boss when Alex proposed to him and he realized he was going to grow old with this man.
After showering Henry with kisses Alex stares at the ground.
'Well, now I feel like a dick."
"How come?" Henry asks concerned.
"How come? Seriously babe? You've been making sneaky phone calls and working extra hours so you could surprise me with a trip to basically the other side of the world for our 15th anniversary tomorrow. And what does your husband do? He accuses you of having an affair and yells at you. I'm really sorry I ever doubted you Eddy.'
Henry smiles fondly. "That's okay love, we're okay."
They are and Henry is going to work his arse off to keep it that way.
This means he's going to have to lie a little more, which he despises, but it's only ever to keep Alex safe.
He clears his throat.
"Oh and before I forget, those pills you found weren't malaria pills, darling, they were new sleep pills I've been trying out for my insomnia, they just look a lot like malaria pills."
They were most certainly malaria pills that Henry took for his mission to the Philipines and he can't believe he forgot to throw them away.
Some spy he is.
Alex stares at the ground embarrassed. "Oh well, do they at least help?"
Henry smiles softly. "Not as well as sleeping next to you." That certainly is not a lie.
Alex rolls his eyes at him. "Sap", he teases but he's smiling entirely too fond for it to come across as rude.
Henry grins back. Alex beams. "I'm so excited for tomorow! I quite literally can't believe you're taking me to Amsterdam on our anniversary!"
Henry fakes a smile. Me neither Alex, me neither, he wants to say.
Instead, he says. "Better start packing for our adventure dear."
Alex grins and runs towards the stairs but not before turning around and telling Henry.
"I completely fucking love you."
And by god Henry loves him too.
He wouldn't take a risk like this for anyone else, but Alex is worth it, he's worth everything.
And nothing will happen to Alex in Amsterdam.
Henry will protect him with everything he's got like he always has since the moment he told a cute boy his name was Edward Mountchristen.