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There’s a special place in a mother’s heart when they see their child fall in love.
And there’s a special place in Alice’s heart watching Dream navigate through life with his heart on his sleeve and a smile on his face.
To see him knocked down by every obstacle in the career he loves so much cuts so deeply she feels as if it’s her own skin, but to then see him be helped and pulled back onto his feet by his friends, and the people he’s chosen to surround himself with, is healing. Faces that were once just names, just voices to her, have now become a family to her son.
Nothing in the world could have prepared her for George, though.
This person that Dream had started mentioning offhandedly.
When Dream was just a boy. He started off just as a name. Then he’d started taking shape in her mind.
Coming to life.
He’s really smart, Mom. Bad introduced us…
George said this thing earlier, it was funny…
Yeah I’ve been playing with George and Sap…
You know, George is colorblind?...Yeah! It’s kind of funny.
And she knew. Knew that this, George, would be someone special.
~
“Where does it hurt, Dream?” George asks as Dream softly groans on the bed, an arm thrown over his eyes.
“Everywhere,” Dream mumbles. George sighs and steps away from the bed, and closes the blinds, taking away the light in the room. Dream’s arms shift from his eyes and his body seems to relax in the bed.
“These are all of your medicines,” George says, examining all the different bottles on Dream’s bedside table, “Your mom said that I can just set an alarm for you while she’s out, but do you want me to just wake you up in case you sleep through them?”
Dream shakes his head slightly and opens one eye, staring at George. No words are spoken but Alice can see a conversation being exchanged between the two of them.
She must make a sound from where she stands because Dream’s eyes shift and meet hers.
“Hey Mom,” Dream rasps.
George steps away from the bed and Alice waves her hand dismissively.
“It’s okay, George, stay, I was just popping in to say goodbye, I’ve prepped a bunch of meals and they’re in your freezer, I showed Nick. George help yourself too of course,” she says nodding at him, and he smiles gratefully.
She steps forward to lay her fingers across her son's forehead. The skin is still hot to touch and she sighs deeply, grabbing the washcloth by his bedside and wiping his temple.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay another night sweetie?”
“You’ve been here for the whole weekend already, it’s fine,” Dream says, and hacks out another cough. Alice winces and waits for the fit to subside. In the corner of her eye she can see George watching every movement intensely, his hands raising and falling as if he’s trying to hold himself back.
“Go home mom, George and Nick will look after me, it’s just the flu, I’ll live.”
“Hmmm,” she says, tutting slightly and pushes back his hair, sweat keeping it in place, “If it gets worse, if you can’t breathe, like how it was last time, call the hospital straight away, and George?” She turns to the other man, “You call me if he gives you any issues.”
“Yes ma’am,” George says with a smile and salutes her.
“Get better soon, sweetheart, I’ll come by again later this week if you still aren’t feeling better.” She leans down once more to press a kiss to the crown of his head and pats his cheek twice before standing up. Dream turns in his bed, snuggling deep into the covers once again.
In almost a blink of an eye, Dream falls into a fever-induced sleep.
As she’s about to leave his room Alice motions for George to follow her out. When he does, she watches with a warm heart as he draws the door almost completely closed, leaving a small crack to peer into.
“Did you need something else?” He asks.
“No, I have everything I need, do you?”
“Yeah, more than enough, thanks so much for coming over. I wouldn’t have called if it wasn’t an emergency and I know he’s fine but you know-”
Alice chuckles slightly and pats George on the arm reassuringly, “Don’t worry love, you were right to call me. Thank you. Clay is so stubborn when he’s sick, more stubborn, if that’s even possible.”
George laughs and nods in agreement.
“And thank you for cooking as well and helping with the house,” he gestures vaguely down the hallway, “Really- just with everything, I know Dream manages a lot of the house stuff, so thank you for stepping in, I wouldn’t have known where to start.”
“Anytime. I mean it, George. You’re family now. You need anything, you call me, okay? You’re one of my boys now.”
Before he can even say anything Alice pulls George into a hug, wrapping him tightly in her arms.
He’s stiff for a moment before reciprocating and she holds him tighter. For a moment she thinks about George’s own mother back in England and she closes her eyes, wondering how she would feel if one of her own sons dropped everything and moved across the world to move in with two people she didn’t know.
Her heart aches with an indescribable pain and she hopes that she can send a message into the universe and to George’s mother through this hug that she’s looking after her son as her own.
“Thank you, Alice.” George whispers into her shoulder.
“Do me a favour, George?” She says as they pull apart.
“Anything.” He says with a sweet smile.
“Give your mother a ring for me? Just a call, check–in. Not sure how often you speak to her, but I think she’d like to hear from you.” She says.
George blinks in surprise but he nods. He slides a hand into his pocket and leans against the doorway, peeking slightly into the room to check on Dream.
“Yeah, I can do that.”
“Thanks George.”
“Can I ask why?”
Alice sighs and looks towards the door and thinks of her boy resting beyond it, hot with a fever and riddled with nightmares.
“Because I worry about my boy when he’s 15 minutes away from me and when I miss him he comes back home and eats all my frozen fruit.” She shrugs and pulls at her sleeves, straightening them. “When your mum misses you- all she can do is call you and hug you through the phone.”
George nods in understanding, “If it’s any consolation, my mum always knew this was coming. I moved out for college so she knew I wouldn’t be coming back to live with her, and when things took off with Dream, there was no turning back. I think-” he chuckles, “Honestly, I think she knew before me. That I was going to end up here. In Florida. She knows me better than I know myself. My dad thought I was crazy when I applied for my Visa. But my mum was the one who made sure that I applied again when I was rejected the first time.” George’s eyes almost shine under the hallway light and she refrains from pulling him into a hug again.
“Well when you speak to your mother, tell her thank you from me,” Alice says, touching George on the shoulder lightly.
“Thank you?”
“For being here,” she says softly.
“I’m just- It’s not really-”
She cuts him off with a smile and shakes her head, “Words can’t describe how glad I am that he has you. The difference I can see in him, mental, emotional and physical. He’s almost a different person now that you’re here.”
“Really? He- well, he’s just Dream to me.”
“You brought my son back. The one that the internet keeps trying to take away from me. You’re good for him.”
“In what way?”
“You’re gentle.”
~
“You need someone to be gentle with you, Clay.”
“What does that even mean, mom?”
“You’ll know it when you feel it, trust me. Especially you and your big heart. You’ll feel it here,” she says and lays a hand on his chest.
Dream sighs and leans back in his chair, running a hand down his face.
“And what if I don’t know? What if I get it wrong, and I ruin everything and it blows up in my face, again.”
“Then you try again.”
“I don’t like this conversation.”
“You’re upset and at the moment it feels like the world is crumbling around you but it’s not. I promise you. You have so much love, Clay. You’ll learn how to give it again. And you’ll give and you’ll give, until you can’t. You just have to remember to take something for yourself as well.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Trust me, there will be someone else. Heartbreak isn’t forever, sweetheart. It hurts so much now because of how much it meant to you at the time.” She cups his face and wipes the tears that are welling underneath his eyelashes, wishing, not for the first time that she could take away his pain.
“But it’s physical, like how can I feel it in my heart, and my head and it aches. How is that even possible.”
“‘Because you have such a big heart.”
“You say that about everything.”
“Because you do, Clay, and the day that you finally understand just how special that makes you, and when you find someone that matches, will be the day I can rest.”
“Why?”
“Because then I know they’ll look after you, and that precious heart of yours.” She says poking him softly in the cheek.
~
“What do you mean?”
“Clay is a giver. He’ll give and give and give until he has something left. Won’t ever take any more than he needs. But you- you fill his cup. No matter how much love he pours into you, you give it back tenfold. And- the world hasn’t always been kind to my boy, so thank you. For keeping his cup full.”
George seems lost at words, but Alice isn’t done. She’s not sure what possesses her, but it feels incredibly important to her that George hears what she has to say.
“You’re gentle. He needs someone that won’t take him for granted or take too much. To love him and all his big dreams and see the world with his bright, big eyes.”
“I wouldn’t really describe myself like that.” George says, but Alice can see the colour in his cheeks and she knows that even if he doesn’t believe it, he knows that Dream would agree. Whether or not he’s told George, is up in the air, but she knows she raised her boy right, if he cares as much for George as he lets on, then he would be singing his praises at the top of his lungs if he could.
“With him you are. I don’t think you realise it. But you are. And that’s enough for me. So thank you.”
“I’m just being me, Alice, really, I’m just George.”
“And for Clay that’s more than enough. You never saw him before you got here…obviously, but the way he was - I can’t even put it into words. Now that you’re here it makes sense. Clay and I are close, we weren’t always, but we’re closer than we used to be, and I can’t help but notice how much more Clay he is. To you that won’t mean much, but for me to see him be more himself,” she touches her heart and swallows, realising how choked up she’s getting, “I just want him to be happy.”
“Me too.”
“You make him really happy, George. In case he’s never told you that…you really do.”
A smile takes form on George’s face, and in that small movement, Alice knows exactly what that means.
“I know…and uh, yeah he has. Never lets me forget it.” And there it is again, that light tell-tale blush.
Alice smiles and nods once more.
“Take care of each other, okay? I don’t just mean this week while he’s sick, in general…”
“I can’t imagine a world where we don’t.”
Satisfied, she gives him one more hug and starts walking back down the hallway. Just as she’s about to go down the stairs she looks back and catches sight of George slipping back into the room, and softly closing the door behind him, barely making a sound. She smiles to herself and walks downstairs.
She gathers her things from the kitchen, and double checks that everything is in its place. Patches curiously does laps around her legs as she walks around, and she takes out one more treat, cooing at her as she pets her soft fur.
“You’re gonna look after my boys, aren’t you, sweet thing?”
Patches purrs under Alice’s hand and she smiles, scratching underneath her chin.
The handle of the front door is cool to touch, and she turns back once more, tilting her head to listen out for anything. But the house is silent, and she’s at peace with the knowledge that Clay is being looked after by someone who loves him, and will be gentle with him, and that they both have Nick to keep them grounded, and their heads above water. The Christmas tree that they’re so adamant about keeping up twinkles back at her and she smiles once more before closing the door behind her.