Chapter Text
October 4 2019 - London
It had been four days since Henry left Philip’s wedding without explanation. Everything had been fine, Henry had been fine. June had messaged the group chat with the other two-thirds of the super six to tell them she and Henry had spoken. He confirmed to her that Alex was with him in New York and he was doing well. They had all known Alex and Henry were together, but Henry had never outright said how Alex was doing.
At one point she’d looked for him and couldn’t find him. She thought it was odd but there were a lot of people so assumed he was just hidden by the crowd, she should have known something was wrong. He found her a few minutes later.
“Bea, can I speak with you for a moment?” He’d come up behind her. She could hear the anxiety in his voice that he was desperately trying to hide from her.
“Yeah, what’s up.” She said softly after excusing herself from the conversation she’d been having.
“I just wanted to say it was nice to see you, I know we didn’t talk much but your presence was nice to have.”
She furrowed her eyebrows, this was a weird thing to say in the middle of a wedding. “It’s been nice to see you too, Henry.”
It was clear in his expression he could tell she was confused. “I umm… I have to go.”
She stared at him for a moment. “Is everything alright?”
“Yes.” She saw right through his lie.
“Did you tell Pip?”
“Yes, in the hall before I found you, he’s not pleased, but I don’t give a damn.”
Something was definitely wrong, Henry never stood up to their brother.
“Okay, uhh…” Bea pulled him in for a hug. “Promise you will call me and tell me he’s okay.” She’d whispered in his ear.
“I promise.”
And that was the last she heard from him. The others were worried as well, June and Nora had seen Henry’s early departure, texting the group chat for answers. Even if they’d missed it then, it would have been hard for them to miss the articles that had followed it. Everyone had tried to contact Henry separately, but they were all unsuccessful. Pez tried to comfort everyone saying there was no way they’d be able to keep something that serious under wraps. As much as she wanted to believe that was true, the two had been able to keep their entire relationship hidden until now, so it wasn’t exactly out of the cards.
She was curled up on the sofa in one of Henry’s forgotten hoodies when she finally got the call. She answered the phone during the first ring, having moved so fast she almost spilled her cup of tea on Mr. Wobbles.
“Henry?” She said.
“Hey, Bea.” He sounded exhausted.
“Is everything okay?”
“More than okay, everything's great.” She could hear the smile on his face.
“What happened?”
Henry was silent.
“Henry, what-?”
“I…” He attempted before taking a breath, likely to calm his nerves. “I can’t tell you yet, but I promise everything is fine. Alex is fine.”
“What do you mean you can’t tell me?”
“Alex and I need to explain it together, but… he’s not quite up for it just yet.”
“But he’s fine?”
“Yes,” Henry said without hesitation. “Look sometime next month, we’ll figure out a time we can explain it to you and the others.”
Bea thought about it for a moment. “You promise?”
“I promise.”
–
November 2019
“Are we sure we got the time right?” Nora asked.
“Yes, he said at three o’clock EST,” Bea replied.
“He’s probably just having technical issues,” Pez said.
“Let’s hope,” June mumbled.
The four of them were on a Facetime call waiting for Henry and Alex to join. Bea and Pez were at their homes in London. June and Nora were in Nora’s place in DC. None of them knew what to expect. They had all speculated over the past month as to what had happened, but unsurprisingly Henry had kept his mouth shut, his only communication being to find a time for the call. They were all anxious. Of course, they knew Henry and Alex were adults, but they were still worried about them. Thankfully Henry soon joined the call.
He was standing outside of a dark wooden door. He was wearing a light blue hoodie. His blonde hair unstyled. There were dark circles under his eyes but they all knew him well enough to not be surprised by that. Everyone quickly greeted him before June asked the obvious question.
“Where’s Alex?”
“He’s in our room.” Henry gestured to the door behind him. “I'll bring you guys in there in a minute but first I need you to promise me some things.”
“What’s that?”
“Firstly none of this, and I mean none of this, leaves the Super Six.”
“Hazza we know that, we would never.” Pez tried to reassure him.
“I know Pez, but I mean this literally. The only other person who knows this information is Shaan.”
This was serious. All of them quickly agreed.
“Okay, secondly I need you to keep your voices down when I go inside. It will make sense in a few minutes.”
Once again they all agreed and with that, Henry headed into the room. It took less than 30 seconds for the man of the hour to join Henry on the screen.
Alex appeared to be lying in their bed, back propped up against the headboard. He was wearing a gray beanie and his glasses. He leaned into Henry, as settled into the bed.
“Hey.” Alex smiled, the smile made the dark circles under his eyes clear.
Bea, Nora, and Pez, all greeted Alex. June was quiet, appearing to be taking in her brother.
“Are you okay, Alex?” She asked once the others had finished.
His smile grew.. “Better than okay, Bug.”
Before more could be said everyone’s attention was pulled to a soft noise coming from off screen. Alex's smile grew once more as he looked down. Henry also appeared to have a matching one.
“Oh, you want to hi too?” Alex said, still looking down.
This left everyone looking to Henry for more information.
“Henry, who is Alex talking to?” Bea asked.
Alex looked up to make eye contact with Henry for a moment, both of their smiles had now become nervous.
“Your nephew.” Henry meekly answered after a beat.
The two men quickly turned their attention back to the screen to watch the reactions of their sisters and friends. Nora was the first to speak after the bombshell.
“Um, Alejandro, did you forget to mention something, I don’t know, about nine months ago?”
“More like seven months ago, and not so much forget as fail to.”
“We’ll come back to that later, Hazza, I need you to turn the camera, Auntie Pezza would like to see the little one.”
Henry laughed at his mate’s request, while also complying. Gabe was lying on Alex’s bare chest, eyes wide open, having been intrigued by the new voices that had filled the room in the last few minutes.
Bea broke her silence with a gasp. “Oh my god, he’s so tiny.”
“He was even smaller when was born.” Henry threw out there.
“What’s his name?” June eventually asked.
Henry moved his phone so the camera was back on him and Alex. Alex moved Gabe so the others could still see the boy.
“His first name’s Gabriel, we’ve just been calling him Gabe though.”
“Very original.” June joked, knowing exactly where he got that from. “What’s his middle name?”
Alex glanced over to Henry.
“His middle name’s Arthur.” The phone screen may have been tiny, but he was staring at Bea while he said.
No one spoke. Henry saw his sister wipe a tear from her eye. “You…”
“Alex was the one that insisted on it,” Henry said after his sister trailed off.
Bea looked at Alex. “He has ¾ of my own name, had to make it at least a little more even.” Alex brushed it off.
Bea knew that was bullshit, but she appreciated the effort to not make a big deal out of it.
The six of them continued to talk for a while longer until Gabe needed something and Alex and Henry decided it was time for them to go. After their departure, the four remaining on the call sat in silence, none of them knowing exactly what to say.
“They’re dads.” Pez eventually said.
“Yeah,” June said.
“I’ll be honest I never thought I’d see the day Hazza became a dad.” This caused the others to laugh.
“You’re surprised about Henry? I never thought I’d see Alex hold another baby, let alone have his own.”
“I forgot he was scared of them,” Nora said.
“Wait, why is Alex scared of babies?” Bea said, concerned.
“He nearly dropped one of cousins, when he was like 14, and has refused to hold one ever since.” June smiled, but it quickly faded. “Or at least until now.”
–
Early December 2019
It had been a few weeks since the call. June and Nora had already planned on taking a trip up to Vermont to see Nora’s parents, so they just added in a minor pit stop along the way. The two pulled up outside the address Henry had given them.
“Okay, how the hell are they hiding here?” Nora asked, climbing out of the car.
“With these two, who knows.”
Before either said more, the door to the brownstone opened, revealing Henry in the doorway. June and Nora quickly headed inside, not saying another thing until the door was shut.
“June, Nora, good to see you both.”
“You too, Henry,” Nora said.
“Yeah, you too.” June bit her lip. “Where’s Alex?”
Henry could see the anxiety radiating off her, it showed the same way Alex’s did. For as different as the Claremont-Diaz siblings were, there were times when the two acted the exact same.
“He’s in there with Gabe.” He gestured to the living room.
June was the first to round the corner, the others not far behind her. Alex had his head resting on the back of the couch, his eyes were open.
“Hey, Bug.” Alex smiled when he saw his sister.
“Hi, Alex.” June let out a breath.
The two stared at each other for a moment. Alex waiting for his sister to move, June frozen.
“You gonna come over and introduce yourself to him or just stand there?” Alex eventually said. “Because I’m comfortable and not getting up.”
June snapped out of her state at this, she rounded the couch to the other side, taking a seat next to Alex. Her eyes were locked onto her nephew the second she sat down.
“You want to hold him?”
“Yes.”
Alex passed Gabe to her, this caused the little boy to fuss.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay mijo. You’re okay. It’s just your tía.” Alex rubbed Gabe’s cheek with his thumb.
It seemed to soothe the boy as he quickly quieted back down. June watched in awe as her brother did it. This was when it fully hit her that Alex was a dad. Alex met June’s gaze, having been able to feel the weight of it.
“What?”
“You’re a dad.”
Alex laughed. “I’m his papa, but yeah, pretty sure I knew that.”
June rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to her nephew. Even though his features were tiny, she could tell he was a spitting image of Alex. For a moment she got a flash from her spotty memory of the first time she met Alex.
“Hi, Gabe.” Her voice was quiet and soft, not wanting to accidentally scare the boy. “I’m your tía.”
After Gabe was settled with June, Alex turned his head to find Henry and Nora standing in the archway.
“Hi, Nora.” He grinned.
“Hello, Alejandro.”
Eventually, Nora got a turn to hold Gabe, with Alex and June disappearing together not long after. Henry sat in the chair next to the couch, watching as Nora cooed at his son, the boy seeming absolutely content in his aunt's arms.
“So you want to explain why you two kept someone a secret?” Nora asked after Gabe had fallen asleep.
“The crown, the press…” Henry admitted.
Nora knew what he was leaving out. “When are you guys gonna tell everyone?”
“Probably after the election. We don’t want to ruin any careers.”
Nora nodded. She understood, Ellen had just made the public announcement, Alex would intentionally never do anything that could put her campaign in jeopardy, even if he’d done nothing wrong.
–
Late December
Bea waited at the front door of the brownstone. She’d already texted Henry she was here, not wanting to ring the bell if Gabe was asleep. Just as she hit the point where she was about to text him again, the door opened.
“Bea, good to see ya.”
“Alex.” Bea smiled, she wanted to give him a hug but didn’t know how to go about it.
Alex seemed to sense Bea’s hesitation. “I had a baby, I didn’t break into a million pieces.”
Her arms were around him before he could finish the sentence. “It’s good to see you too.”
After she released him, she stepped aside to let her in. Somehow, in a case of perfect timing, Henry began to come downstairs just as Bea had taken her shoes off, the boy of the hour in his arms. Bea stared at her brother, Alex could tell by the laugh Henry let out after seeing her, she was silently freaking out.
“Hello, Bea.”
“Hi.” Her eyes were now locked onto Gabe as she could clearly see him.
Henry waited a moment, letting his sister take the boy in for the first time in person.
“Let’s go in here.” Henry gestured to the living room with his head. “That way you can sit and you won’t drop him.”
“I would never drop him.”
“I don’t know about that at the moment.”
They all made their way into the room and once Bea was sitting in a chair, Henry wasted no time handing over Gabe. He then took a seat next to Alex, putting his arm around his shoulder as he tucked himself into his side, and watched. He watched as Bea silently took in every detail of her nephew’s face. He watched as she fell in love with him. He watched as it really hit her that he was a father. He watched as what this all, what Gabe’s existence, meant hit her. She looked up at him.
“We may not be able to protect you from this, but we can help you protect him from this.”
He smiled, knowing full well what she was talking about.
“I’m gonna need you and Bug to stop coordinating with one another. It’s getting a little out of hand.”
“Oh, Alex. That ship has long sailed.” Bea smirked. “Especially given you neglected to mention more than one thing.”
“And what would that be?”
“I know what my father’s wedding ring looks like.”
–
August 2021 - London
Henry was just about done. He’d been in meetings alongside his brother and sister for several hours now and he was ready to lose it. He was exhausted, the jet lag, insomnia, and lack of sleep he’d had prior to the trip due to Gabe having an ear infection had finally caught up to him. All he wanted to do was to crawl into his bed and sleep for as long as he could. Add on top of that Philip’s voice sounding like nails on a chalkboard at the moment and well… his next actions were unsurprising to say the least.
When the meeting concluded, the three-headed into a side room to wait for the car. Henry leaned against the wall, resting his head on it as well, as he loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top button on his shirt. The visions of his bed that danced like sugar plums in his head were rudely shattered by the sound of his brother’s voice.
“You could have at least paid attention in there.”
“I did.” His eyes still closed, hoping his brother would shut the hell up as Alex would put it. He did not.
“You spent half of it off in space. I know you don’t give a damn about your duties, but you could at least make it seem like you do.”
“Leave him alone,” Bea warned.
“No, ever since he moved to America he’s been acting like his duties and this family means nothing.”
He opened his eyes and stared into his brother’s. “Because they don’t. I have my own life that doesn’t involve them.”
“What life, Henry? You barely do anything.” Philip raised his voice.
“I have the shelter.” Henry matched his brother’s level.
“That took two years for you to get running. You really expect me to believe it took two years for you and Percy to do that? Because that’s how long you’ve been gone and as far as the public knows that’s all you've done.”
“I don’t care what the public knows. Or what they think for that matter.” His teeth were gritted.
“Well, you should. Your move was bad enough. You leaving my wedding was terrible and ever since there has been rumor after rumor as to why. They think you’ve run away.” Philip’s voice was getting louder.
“Maybe because I have.” Henry’s, still through gritted teeth, was as well.
“Why the bloody hell would you run away from your family? From your home?” Philip practically yelled it, but there was something in his tone. Confusion?
Henry’s eyes began to sting, he could feel the tears starting to fill them, but he kept eye contact with Philip. He took a breath. And another. Another after that as well. Never breaking eye contact. He lifted his hand to his neck, pulling the chain out from underneath his shirt. He clasped both sides of the chain between his thumb and pointer finger, locking the key and wedding band on the end on it. He held it out in front of him.
He saw the moment Philip recognized the ring. He saw the moment something broke inside his brother. He took another breath and stepped off the ledge.
“Because this isn’t my family. This isn’t my home. My home is there, my family is there. And I will not allow you or her to break my boys the way the two of you broke me.”
He tucked the chain back under his shirt, took one final look over his brother, and left the room.
Philip remained silent as he watched his brother exit the room, still in shock from the confession. Once the door had shut with a thud he looked to his sister. She looked angry, upset, protective, most of all she looked disappointed. Before he could form words she spoke.
“You don’t repeat a word of what he said to anyone, Philip. Not a word. You do and the consequences will be greater than you could ever imagine.”
He remained silent, still unable to form words.
“Philip, was I clear?” She sounded angry now.
“Yes.”
She turned on her heel and stormed out after Henry. The door slamming restarted his brain. Henry’s married. Henry has a family. Henry doesn’t want me to break them. I broke my brother.
–
October 2021 - Brooklyn
Henry and Bea were sitting in the guest room drinking tea and talking. It was getting late, Alex had just gone to bed, Gabe had been asleep for hours, neither of them cared. They knew they had plans for tomorrow, but it was a two-year-old’s birthday party and everyone else wasn’t showing up until the afternoon anyway.
“So are you sure you're ready for tomorrow?” Bea asked.
“I mean we have everything. It’s not like anything went wrong last year, Alex already said he’ll be more careful with the food dye this year, so it’s not like that will be a problem.”
“I meant more along the lines of are you ready to have a two-year-old?”
“It’s not like I can stop it. What’s the point in dwelling on it?” Henry looked down to his mug.
Bea smirked. “You miss your baby, don’t you?” She teased.
“Hey, he is still my baby, he will always be. He’s just a little bigger now.” Henry looked up to her, her look broke him. “Of course, I miss my baby. He was so tiny and now he’s so big. And I love watching him learn things and explore the world, but sometimes I just want the little guy that I used to watch sleep for hours on end. But then I think about who he is now and I realize I wouldn’t trade it for anything. That kid is…”
“Your world.”
“Yes, along with Alex. My boys are the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Bea reached out and grabbed Henry’s hand, offering him a smile. They stared at each other for a moment before Henry saw something in Bea’s eyes.
“What?”
“Remember what happened with Pip last time you were in London?”
“You mean me giving up my biggest secret? How could I forget? Wait, he didn’t tell any-”
“No. No. Nothing like that.” She quickly answered, calming the panic in him. “I want to start by saying I didn’t tell him anything.”
“Why would you need to say that?”
“My guess is he did the math, made an educated guess on what my trip was about.”
“What did he do?”
“I think it’s his way of extending an olive branch.” She got up and went to one of her bags, pulling out a box, handing it to Henry as she got back.
He glanced up at her before opening it. Henry instantly recognized the object inside. She was right.
“He didn’t say it explicitly but I assume it’s a present for Gabe.”
“Yeah. Doubt he thinks I still want to play with a toy boat.” He pulled it out, examining it in a way he’d never been allowed to as a child.
When they were kids, Philip received two wooden sailboat toys for his birthday one year. He’d been absolutely delighted by them, the two objects quickly becoming prized possession of the future king. Henry being the little brother he was, became mesmerized with the boats as well. Whenever Philip took them out to the small stream to play with them, he would follow, cheering from the side as they raced down the shallow path of water. Philip never allowed Henry to touch the boats, saying the then-toddler was too little, that he could when he was bigger.
Philip eventually stopped playing with the boats as he got older and Henry forgot about them once he stopped seeing them. But Henry never did get to touch the boats, not until now. Looking back into the box he saw the green sail that attached to it. It was the green boat. The one he always said would win the races.
–