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Visits And Surprises
He sat nervously, knee shaking as he waited for the other door to open, the room filled with others awaiting their loved ones. The sight of the slightly overweight prison guard made him sit up straight in the uncomfortable plastic chair, watching as a stream of maroon entered the visiting room a tall bald man pasted him with a wicked grin chuckling to himself before he sat chatting to the woman waiting for him. A minute later Aaron slowly made his way through wincing as he walked, Robert stood quickly only to be stopped by a guard as he tried to help his husband, sitting back down watching Aaron take a sharp breath as he sat opposite.
‘What happened? Are you okay?’, Robert panicked when he saw the pain in Aaron’s eyes.
‘Nothing it doesn’t matter, just leave it yeah’, Aaron had his head down not able to look at him, the bald guy glanced around over hearing them smiling, ‘how’s Liv and my mum?’, all he wanted to do was take his mind off of this place and the people in it.
‘Erm their good, Liv’s even been going to school with no bother if you can believe it, your mums been busy, said to tell you that she’ll be here next week, said she’d do something nasty if Charity runs out on her to stop her coming’, he lent forward full of concern, he’d tried to keep the mask on but the sight of Aaron in pain forcing it to slip, ‘please Aaron, talk to me, I can have a word with the barrister, see if he can quicken things up, who did this to you?’, Aaron finally looked up, but didn’t look at Robert instead he glanced across the room to the bald guy who had been keeping an eye on them as they talked.
‘It nothing okay, it wasn’t about me…, it was about Gordon, there are people in here that don’t like him much’, he gulped hating the fact that they knew he was related to that monster, taking their hatred out on him even though he was the victim that bit of information he’d kept to himself in fear of worse than a beating.
Robert stared in shock, yet again Aaron was being punished for what that pervert did, only this time it was others and not himself, ‘you’ve got to tell someone, one of the guards maybe, or let me do it, this has to stop Aaron’, Aaron closed his eyes shaking his head.
‘what then, what it magically stops…, no Robert it would make it worse and I want to get out of here alive, out of here and back to you and Liv, that is all that matters, these…,’, he placed his hand on his ribs, ‘these are just bruises, they’ll heal, if I rat them out it will be ten times worse’, he thought for a second, ‘I don’t want them knowing, they worry enough and I’m trying to keep out of their way’, he waited for a response from Robert who was trying to take in what his husband just said.
‘Fine, but this continues then I will say something’, Aaron’s eyes pleaded with him, now he regretted the last bit, ‘okay, I won’t but please be careful’, the rest of the visit was filled with talk of the village, work, the mill and nonsense. When the guard called time Aaron froze when the bald guy patted him on the shoulder as he walked back to the door, unstiffening he smiled at Robert.
‘you know’, he said, ‘I know, me too’, Robert wished he could hug him, kiss him but here was defiantly not the place as far as anyone here knew they were just friends. Aaron was the last one to stand up, one of the nicer guards helping him asking if he was okay, saying he was fine he left through the door wishing it was the other one.
It had been a month since Robert last saw Aaron, Chas and Liv taking the one after that and then Aaron requested Adam to go, getting changed ready to go he twisted his wedding ring around before taking it off and placing it by the bed so he didn’t forget to remove it before he went in. He was just about to put his jacket on when his phone rang, seeing it was the prison he answered, half an hour later he stormed down stair still fuming, Chas was in the kitchen brew in hand putting it on the counter when she saw the anger and worry on his face.
‘What’s wrong, I thought you would have left by now?’, She watched him pace back and forth running his fingers through his hair.
‘They rang, Aaron cancelled the order, he doesn’t want to see me’, all his anger dispersed to be replaced with such a sadness he slumped onto the table chair holding back the tears, those precious visits were all he got he never counted the listened into phone calls, ‘why…, all I want to do is see him’, he looked up at his mother-in-law, ‘what if somethings happened? What if he’s hurt and he can’t see me, anyone?’. His breathing sharpened, each breath he tried to take hurt more than the last, he was having visions of him on a bed in pain or worse unconscious, Chas knelt in front of him telling him to breath with her slowly in, long deep breath out, she repeated this a couple of time suddenly stopped, mouth agape.
‘Surprise’, Robert heard the voice but couldn’t believe it, it wasn’t until he turned he saw him, saw his smile drop turning to worry, drop his bag and run to him, ‘god I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you, I…, I wanted to surprise you’, he wrapped his arms around his husband, Chas moved aside to allow better room, so badly she wanted to hug her son but Robert needed it more right now.
‘Your home, this is real’, Robert felt Aaron’s face to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, draw him closer and kissed him with such passion it would take anyone’s breath away, breaking when they both needed air, ‘you should have told me, I was so scared after last time’. Aaron hugged him tightly reassuring him he wasn’t going back there ever again until he calmed down.
When Aaron managed to get Robert walking he took him upstairs to their room, all they did was lay on the bed, their bed that Aaron had missed so much, fully clothed in each other’s arms, they talked Aaron assuring him that he was okay and today was the start of the rest of their lives.
‘I’m going to grab a shower then I think mum’s called in the troops for drinks’, Aaron said half heartedly, Robert nodded letting go of him and watched him start to leave, ‘I could give it a miss if you don’t feel up to it…,’ he hesitated, ‘but Liv’s going to be home from school soon and I…, I wanted to see her face when she sees me’, he gave him a nervous smile.
‘No we’ll go, Liv will be over the moon to see you’, there was only the strong Robert in his voice, the confident man Aaron knew, he could see right through him though could the uneasiness in his eyes. What he didn’t knew was how Robert had shied away from people, instead concentrating on the scrape yard, home james, Liv, the appeal, the mill, by the end of each day he was exhausted and in bed for ten. The only days he’d looked forward to was the ones he visited Aaron and even they where hard knowing he had to leave him in that place.
By the time Aaron returned to their room, towel wrapped around his wrist, Robert couldn’t help checking for any new cuts, scars, Aaron sighed when he court him telling him there wasn’t any. When both where changed the headed to the bar, Chas has text to say she had called them but not told them why so Robert went in first, he saw Adam’s beaming smile when he joined him at the bar.
‘Alright mate’, he said knowingly after all he was the one who picked Aaron up, ‘Chas said she left you two alone, trust me he’s missed you, never stopped asking questions on the way back’, he whispered the last bit so the others wouldn’t hear. Robert didn’t have time to reply when an arm fling itself around his shoulders.
‘Robert, not seen you in here in ages’, Cain said, he was family now so he didn’t call him Sugden anymore, ‘everything okay with our Aaron? Chas get this man a pint on me he deserves it’, Robert didn’t know what to say to him, he looked to Chas for guidance, ‘come on you look after Liv, Chas and Aaron from afar, you’ve earnt it’. He took the drink thanking Cain, then Chas and told her he’d texted Liv to come there when she got back for her tea instead of the back room, all the while the rest of the Dingle clan were arriving all saying how good it was to see him out and about instead of working himself to the bone. It wasn’t long before Liv entered in a mood, school must have been bad, ignoring the clan she went straight to Robert asking how Aaron was today, he answered fine trying not to smile too much, when everybody was there Chas rang the bell to get their attention, all of them turned to her.
‘Right, well I have something to tell you all’, her smile widened when looks of shock and surprise covered those in front of her, Liv had tears running down her face as she ran around the bar.
‘Surprise’, Aaron said to his family, Liv super glued to him now soaking his shirt with her tears, the others cheered and hugged overcome with joy to see him in the flesh, Aaron walked to the other side of the bar to awaiting family who engulfed him into them. Robert watched their reunion a wave of relief flowing through, he truly was safe and sound at home and this was the best day of his life.