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‘Who’s that opening the door? Who is it, hey? Is it your daddy?’
Henry can hear them as he walks in the door, puts down his bag and keys and toes off his shoes. Moments later when he stands in the living room doorway, all three of his family member’s faces light up, the babies letting out excited high pitched squeals.
'It is Daddy! Yay Daddy’s home!’
Alex is playing with them on the floor, an array of toys surrounding them. Both girls’ flap their arms at the sight of him and Victoria starts to crawl towards him, as Henry bends to pick her up in one arm.
‘Here’ Alex says ‘lemme help’ as he puts Eleanor in Henry’s other arm.
Both girls grab at his shirt as Alex leans in to kiss him. Henry accepts it gratefully, warmth on all sides.
‘Hello my darlings, Daddy missed you, did you have a nice day with Papa, yeah?’
‘They were so excited to see you babe’ Alex says.
‘They weren’t the only ones.’
‘Hey’ Alex whines
‘I wasn’t complaining love, it never won’t be endearing, seeing your face light up just from seeing me.’
Henry jostles the girls in his arms and kisses them all over their faces, making them giggle. It was the best sound in the whole world, the laughter of their baby girls. At nine months, they both had proper little chuckles and he and Alex both were always trying to find ways to make them laugh.
‘Is your mum here yet?’
‘My mom and Leo are on their way, you ok if I go shower?’
‘Course love’ Henry smiles
Henry puts the girls one by one back on the floor as they both babble at him, Victoria looking very concerned with her story.
‘And then what happened?’ Henry says as she babbles ‘yeah? Really? And then?’
Victoria finishes her babbling with a big grin, her two little teeth in the middle of her mostly gummy smile.
‘Who’s the best girl hey? Is it you Victoria? It is?’
Henry turns to Eleanor who is chewing on a crinkly book.
‘And it’s you as well Eleanor? You’re both the best girls in the whole world? Yes you are’.
Victoria has very intently started playing with Henry’s sock, her little face deep in concentration. She hardly ever wore socks as she just ended up pulling them off, fascinated by them as she was.
‘You want to read the book sweetie, or you just want to chew it?’
Eleanor grins at him, the book still in her mouth as drool rolls down her chin. Henry grabs a muslin and wipes at it.
‘You just want to chew it, that’s ok.’
Henry runs his hand over both their heads, smiling at them.
‘Me and your papa are going out tonight, my little loves, your Grandma Ellen and Grandad Leo are coming to look after you, isn’t that exciting?’
It’ll be their first night away from them and Henry knows it will barely feel like it. They were staying to help with dinner and baths and bed and then heading out. The girls were sleeping through the night now and would pretty much be asleep for nearly all the time they were gone but it still felt strange.
Henry hears the door unlock and then the drawl of his mother-in-law.
‘Hey sugar’ Ellen smiled at him ‘hey gorgeous grandbabies’.
Henry got off the floor to greet Ellen and Leo, Victoria screeching her indignation for a moment at the loss of Henry’s sock before they all sat back on the floor, and she lunged straight for Ellen’s hair. In a practised move, Ellen quickly swept it up into a ponytail.
‘Alex and June were both the same, forever pulling my hair.’
‘I think all babies do that Ma’.
Alex, hair still wet from the shower sits with them and gives his mum a hug.
Eleanor looks enraptured between them all, not used to so many adults in her house, all sat on the floor with her and her sister.
Leo picks her up and hoists her in the air, making her laugh. She chews on one finger as he sits her in his lap. Ellen bounces Victoria on her knee, making faces at her.
Henry looks over at Alex looking at them, and he catches Henry’s eye and grins. Henry wonders if this feeling of his heart being too full will ever go away, he hopes it never does.
------
‘Doesn’t it feel weird without them?’ Henry asks.
‘Yeah’ Alex nods, taking a sip of his drink ‘I feel like we’ve forgotten them. It’s nice to see you all dressed up though’ he grins ‘it’s been a while.’
‘I think the last time was when I had that important board meeting when the girls were three months old, and no one told me the entire time that I had baby sick on my suit jacket.’
‘How sexy’ Alex says, adding a growl, making Henry laugh.
‘It’s nice to see you all dressed up too, love, as much as I love you in any attire.’
Alex reaches over and takes Henry’s hand in his, running his thumb over the wedding band on Henry’s finger. It was two years ago today that he had placed it there.
‘Happy anniversary baby’ Alex says quietly, picking Henry’s hand up and kissing the ring.
‘Happy anniversary love’ Henry smiles softly back
The smallest part of Henry still can’t believe that Alex is his husband, that they have two daughters. He thinks there will always be a tiny part of him that is fourteen and lonely and who knew he would never get to have this life. Henry doesn’t think that infinitesimal shred of himself will ever truly vanish, no matter how many times he falls asleep with Alex in his arms and their baby girls at the foot of their bed.
Alex starts to ramble about a case he is helping with at work and Henry listens as he rants, he’ll never tire of simply listening to Alex talk.
‘Anyway’ Alex says ‘the court date is in two weeks and I said I’d be there, that ok? I checked our calendar and you had nothing on.’
‘Well, you know how meticulous I am with the calendar.’
‘Hey, I’m getting better at it.’
Henry smirks, making Alex roll his eyes.
Alex did put stuff on the calendar, just not often as in advance as Henry did, every few weeks a bunch of notifications would pop up all at once, sometimes for as soon as the next day.
‘You want dessert baby? Other than me?’ Alex waggles his eyebrows, causing Henry to roll his eyes.
They share a chilli chocolate cake, Henry feeling every bit the cliché as their spoons clink and they drink their drinks, and hold hands across the table. Alex has a bit of chocolate stuck to his lip and Henry leans in to kiss it off, letting go of Alex’s hand to rub his thumb across his cheekbone, biting slightly on Alex’s lower lip, making him yelp.
‘Can we get the bill please?’ Henry asks a waiter passing by.
‘Check’ Alex corrects him urgently ‘he means the check. Lived in this country for seven god damn years and he’s still British as fuck’.
----
They tumble into their hotel room, reminiscent of years before, if not for the rings on their fingers, the slightly longer hair on both of them, the lack of panic whether anyone would see them. Their bodies might be older, slightly more soft and achy, but they were still young, still desperate for each other, still madly in love.
They undress each other, clothes trailing behind them on the way to the bed, both of them in just their underwear as Henry falls back onto the bed, pulling Alex on top of him.
They kiss and kiss and kiss, their hands roaming, fingers trailing over familiar skin. They never got time to truly do this anymore, just enjoy each other. They still had sex and plenty of it, but it was different when they had the girls to look after, it was often rushed, barely scratching the surface. It has been eons since they got to kiss and for it to be just that. Neither of them seem in a hurry to take it any further, they will, but they have time, a luxury not often afforded to them anymore.
‘I love you Alex’ Henry says, panting, pulling back ‘I really really love you.’
Alex beams at him and Henry will never tire of it, the sunshine of Alex directed right at him.
‘I really really love you too Henry, o husband of mine.’
Alex leans down and blows a raspberry on Henry’s neck.
‘You scoundrel’ Henry tries to sound indignant but there is too much laughter in his voice for it to be believable ‘get off.’
‘You love it.’
Henry runs his fingers into Alex’s curls, pulling him back down.
‘I suppose I do’.
----
Henry wakes up in the middle of the night, truly he never really fell asleep. Alex’s arm is flung across his chest, his nose pressing into his side.
Alex shuffles in his sleep squeezing Henry's side and Henry leans down to kiss the top of his head.
‘Can't sleep?’ comes Alex’s voice hoarsely into the dark
‘I didn't mean to wake you’.
‘You didn't’ Alex reassures him ‘I can't really sleep either. It feels weird sleeping without the babies.’
‘Doesn't it?’ Henry says, ‘I didn't realise how used to sleeping in the same room with them I was.’
Henry pulls Alex on top of him and starts to rub circles on his back. It has always been something Henry loved, the full weight of Alex on top of him, it grounded him. Alex loved the circles, Henry did it to the girls now too, it soothed all three of them, all his loves.
‘Can I tell you something?’ Henry says.
‘Literally always Hen’
‘You know I sometimes forget what I haven't told you. It feels weird to imagine life before you and I know there was one, I remember it vividly. But it's like, they say when you have a baby it's hard to imagine life without them anymore, it's like that with you too. I know there was a life, I lived it, but it feels like you were always there waiting in the wings, for me to find you.
‘Anyway’ Henry waves his hand around before he returns it to Alex’s back. He doesn’t know what it is, but he always found himself telling Alex stuff like this, when they were alone and warm and comfortable, wrapped up together in bed, their own little cocoon of peace.
‘What I was trying to say and what I don't think I've told you before, before you I'd never spent the night with someone, I'd never slept in the same bed as somebody. That morning in Paris was more than just our first morning together, it was my first morning with anyone. It felt so precious Alex, not only waking up with you. But that you were the first person I'd ever woken up with, and even then I knew I didn't want to wake up with anyone else.’
‘You didn’t ever spend the night, not even during your Oxford slut phase?’ Alex murmurs into his chest and Henry swots him lightly.
‘No, you menace, they never stayed the night, no matter how late it was.’
‘Go on’ Alex says, scratching his fingers against Henry’s side ‘I’m listening.’
‘Growing up in a place like Kensington Palace, it was all so big and impersonal. We never had sleepovers, we never shared rooms or camped out under the stars. I was never alone and yet I was always alone. I’d wake up in this giant bed by myself in this giant room that didn't really belong to me but belonged to history instead.’
‘Us sleeping together Alex, became precious to me not only for the sex part, well obviously the sex part, but the actual sleeping part, the waking up entangled together, your skin pressed against mine. I never had to feel alone, even when I thought I wouldn’t get to have you forever.’
They lie in silence for a while, their fingers still drawing patterns on each other.
‘You know how we talked about moving the girls into the nursery?’ Henry says hesitantly.
‘I don't want to either’ Alex says immediately ‘I like having them with us, I find it reassuring just being able to look over and see them asleep and know they're safe.’
‘Me too’ Henry says, ‘I like having our family so close together, we could have a whole palace and I'd still want to be in the same room.’
Henry doesn't know how to put into words how comforting it is, his entire family within reach, his whole world in such an enclosed space. He thinks after years of big buildings all he needs is them in one room, his whole heart within touching distance.
‘I know that books say we should move them after six months, but I just don't want to.’
‘Then we don't have to’ Alex says ‘the books say we can, it doesn’t say we have to. We’ve never done anything the way we're supposed to Hen, why start now? They're only babies for so long and eventually we will have to put him in their own room. Who's to say that has to be now? Why don't we just enjoy them being little for a little bit longer, enjoy being all together while we can.’
‘Thank you love’ Henry says, twirling Alex’s hair between his fingers ‘you always do know what to say, and how to make me feel better about it.’
Alex kisses Henry's chest softly and says quietly ‘we can always go home you know, if you want to’.
‘No’ Henry says, ‘we'll see them in the morning, they'll be OK without us.’
‘Even if we miss them. Can you tell me a story baby?’ Alex asks sleepily ‘it always helps the girls sleep.’
‘What do you want Alex? The Gruffalo?’
‘Nah baby, I want a Henry Fox original.’
Henry let's out a small exhale of a laugh and continues to rub circles on Alex’s back.
Alex turns them to their on their sides and starts to rub circles on Henry's back too, pushing his face into Henry's neck. Henry knows he will be able to feel the vibrations of his voice, sensory comfort in every which way.
‘Once Upon a Time’ Henry starts.
It isn’t long before they both drift off, not having gotten to Happily Ever After, but it’s ok, they were already living it.
------
Henry hears Alex snort with laughter as he checks them out the next morning, even though there is still a couple of hours until they needed to. They could have enjoyed the hotel room and the privacy and the peace a bit longer, but the pair of them admitted to each other how much they just wanted to get home and see their daughters.
Taking his credit card and thanking the receptionist, Henry adjusts his bag on his shoulder and walks over to where Alex is standing in front of a long table covered in newspapers. He’s holding one and laughing as he takes a picture.
‘Look H’ he says pointing at a page a few pages into one of the papers.
Henry looks and is slightly horrified to see a picture of them from the night before, kissing across the table. The headline blasts: ‘Former FSOTUS and Former Prince Share A Steamy Smooch’
‘Alex what are you doing?’
‘Tweeting’
‘It’s not called-‘
‘Do not care’
‘Here’ Alex says, showing Henry his phone ‘you ok with that?’
Henry can’t help but let out a snort himself.
‘I’m ok with that’.
‘Come on, steamy husband’ Alex says, going on his tip toes to kiss Henry ‘let’s go home to our babies.’
A tweet by @theagcd
A photo: A picture of a newspaper held in Alex’s hand. A photo of Alex and Henry kissing can be seen, along with a headline and the blurred lines of an article.
The caption: two husbands kiss at their anniversary dinner. how is this news? if you want steamy, find us in the shower. and yes i can hear Henry moaning at that pun. p.s. please don’t actually find us in the shower.
A Insta post by @princehenry
A photo: A view from behind of Alex holding Victoria and Henry holding Eleanor. Victoria has her open mouth pressed against Alex’s cheek. Henry is kissing Eleanor’s nose, her hand grabbing his hair.
The caption: Missed you baby girls.
A comment by @theagcd steamy