Growing Up

“Hold on a second! You seriously think Liam would leave you just because you didn’t give him a son?” Ricky looked concerned at his friend.

Jo shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not so sure anymore, the things my mother said confused me.”

“Seriously, Jo, how can it confuse you? You know Liam more than your mother, and you know that he would never leave you, especially not for such a stupid reason. He loves the girls, I saw how much he adores them, he’s completely crazy about them.”

“But-“

“There’s no ‘but’. It’s Liam we’re talking about, not Henry VIII, so just because you gave him girls instead of a boy doesn’t mean he’s going to divorce you and find himself another wife. That’s crazy.”

“I hope you’re right”, Jo sighed.

“I am right. You know Liam, he would never do that. Your mother just wants to put all that pressure of having a son on you because apparently among you rich people that’s the most important thing that matters, but you know that it doesn’t matter to Liam at all. As far as I am concerned he’s so madly in love with those girls that he will have a pretty hard time when they get older and more independent, I can see that coming.”

A smile crossed Jo’s lips. “Oh yes, he keeps talking about that infamous Rapunzel tower, and how nice it would be to have one for the girls.”

“See.” Ricky squeezed her hand encouragingly. “There’s no way he would leave you, don’t let your mother’s weird ideas get to your head.”

Jo took a deep breath. “I know, it sounds so silly and I feel so silly for letting her confuse me like that.”

“Well, she definitely has a talent in confusing people, she’s really good at that”, he said.

“Oh yes, too good”, Jo agreed and took her cup. “Anyway, what was there you wanted to talk about, you seemed quite excited.”

“Ehm…excited is the wrong word, I’d rather say still in shock.”

“Why, what happened?” Jo watched him curiously.

“Um…how can I say it? I…eh…might have done something very…ehm…unusual…”

“Did you kiss a girl?”, Jo asked jokingly. “Or did you sit through a whole rugby game?”

“No.”

“What is it then?”

“I sort of...slapped Alfie. Kind of. Somehow. Ehm, yes…really.”

Jo shouldn’t have taken that sip of her tea right that moment when Ricky told her the news, because she chocked on her tea and started to cough heavily.
“You did what?!”, she hasped between the coughing.

“It was…I didn’t plan it, I just…it just happened…Do you need me to pat your back or something?”

She shook her head. “I’m okay.” She took a deep breath. “You slapped him?”

“Eh…yes…”

“You slapped him?”, Jo repeated, still in shocked. “You slapped Lord Alfred Jackson?”

Ricky blushed. “Well, I was kind of upset…” He sounded like an insecure child.

“And so you slapped him?” She shook her head, still in disbelief.

“I guess.”

“But he’s a Jackson!”

“I know!”

“One does not simply slap a Jackson!”

“Do you think I don’t know that?” Now Ricky sounded a bit desperate.

Jo grabbed a glass of water and took a sip, at least her coughing had finally stopped. “And…eh…what happened then?” She was almost afraid to ask. “I guess…he didn’t take that so well?”

A brief silence followed, and Jo was prepared for the worst.

“I think he liked it”, Ricky said, sounding like he still didn’t believe it himself.

“Excuse me?” Jo raised both her eyebrows. “He…liked it?”

“Um…yes…”

Another silence followed. “You slapped him…”

“In the face.”

“Right, you slapped him in the face. And he liked it?”

“Well, he wasn’t angry with me at all, he really…he thought it was hot.” Ricky actually started to blush even more.

“Oh man…”, Jo mumbled, looking around to make sure nobody else had taken part in their conversation. “There are moments where I really think that I never want to know what’s going on in this boy’s head.”

“You and me both”, Ricky said, taking his cup of tea.

Jo starred and Ricky while she took another piece from the cake stand barely noticing what she was actually eating.

“I can’t believe you slapped Alfie.” Jo whispered.

“Well I can’t believe you think Liam will leave you because you didn’t give him a son.” Ricky whispered back.

When they looked at each other they started laughing, this was just too absurd. The rest of the tea was rather quiet and calm Jo shared the newest facts about the twins and other little things happening in their lives.

It was late afternoon when they parted, Ricky thought it would be nice to surprise and pick up Alfie at the gentlemen’s club. It wasn’t far from the tea house so he walked to the club. The doorman knew him well and being a member made it easy for him to go into the club, he knew that Alfie had a private room since he didn’t like to spend time with the other rich old dudes that were members of this club. The door to the room that was always reserved to Alfie was not closed and when Ricky pushed it open a little bit further he saw what Alfie was doing in the club.
He was slapping one of the maids way he was doing her from behind she was screaming well she would have been but she had a gag in her mouth. Alfie was very rough with her and it just seemed to turn him on to see that she was holding on to the back of the large leather arm chair, so tight that her knuckles were white. Seething this made Ricky actually feel sick, he was disgusted to see Alfie with someone else but also to see how Alfie was with someone else. This man who was so gentle with him was so rough with this poor maid. On the table were a few notes lying and Ricky suspected they were the tip for the little extra attention Alfie got. The young man shook his head and left the club as soon as possible he didn’t want that Alfie knew that he had seen him.

“Are you not leaving with Mr Butcher’s, Sir?” Asked the doorman when Alfie left. Alfie didn’t show it in his face but he froze because of the question.

“No I am not as you see.” He answered coldly, but he knew what this question meant, Ricky was at the club and hadn’t searched him, something had scared Ricky and something told Alfie that it was not of the other gentlemen of the club.

“There you are Alfie, you are late did someone distract you at the club?” Ricky asked while he was putting dinner on plates. He looked as if nothing had happened, maybe Alfie had been wrong or more likely the doorman must have done a mistake.

“Yeah a little maid.” Alfie said calmly. “It took longer than I thought.” Alfie had filled his glass and sat down at the table.

“I see.” Was all Ricky replied before he started to tell Alfie about his day as usually.

It was Alfie’s birthday and like always, he couldn’t decide what he wanted to do but had to go to his parents’ mansion to meet a few important people who gave him money and presents he didn’t need, and when that whole process was over, the guests would leave and it would only be the family having dinner- and Sofiya. He tried really hard not to think about her, but the moment he arrived at the mansion she was the first one he saw, wearing a very tight dress that emphasised her curves, which made it only harder for him to ignore her. She, of course, barely left his side and it disgusted him how much they looked like a couple and how many people asked if she was his girlfriend. He hated being here, stuck among the richest of the rich and the people he wished he could avoid all the time, but after he listened to his mother’s complaining, his grandmother’s questioning about a potential bride-which was Sofiya, in this case- and his sister talking on and on about her ridiculous wedding plans –like he cared- he thought it couldn’t get any worse, until he realized that there was one person he really dreaded to see- his father.
Alfie couldn’t remember the last time he saw him, it must have been months since he was always in London and barely attended any of the events his wife always went to. Alfie had hoped he wouldn’t have to see his father today, but luck didn’t seem to be on his side today. After all the guests- none of them younger than forty-finally left, Lord Jackson finally had the chance to see his son face to face. Earlier today he was too occupied in conversations with the other guests- many of them also from the House of Lords- that he hadn’t even checked if Alfie was already there.
“Alfred.” Lord Jackson reached out his hand without much emotion.

“Father.” Alfie shook his hand, equally emotionless. He wished he could be anywhere but here right now. Lord Jackson was perhaps the most intimidating man in the country, although he didn’t need to look serious for that. In fact, he often smiled, but there was always something strange flashing from his ice cold eyes, and his smile wasn’t of the warm sort, it was rather cunning. He was a very tall man and the grip of his hands was a rather harsh one. When Alfie was little, he had always looked if he could find similarities between him and his father. Nowadays he was glad that he didn’t look like him at all, neither did he have similarities to his mother. Apparently he came after his grandfather, but he couldn’t tell since it’s been a while that he had seen pictures of his grandfather as young man.

“You look well”, Lord Jackson observed, then his eyes wandered to Sofiya and a strange half-smile crossed his face. “I’m glad our lovely Miss Levkova keeps you company these days.”

No, she doesn’t.
Alfie tried really hard to hold back a sarcastic comment and sat down at the dinner table. Dinner took–as expected- way too long and consisted mainly of the women talking, and it was so obvious that both his grandmother and his mother loved Sofiya who showed off her best side. Even his sister Cecilia liked her, and Cecilia was usually someone who didn’t like anybody but herself. During dinner Alfie had to listen to the usual topics, most of them including him and his lack of putting effort into marriage and producing male heirs, which made Sofiya grin and she constantly let her hand wander to his knee and further up, making sure nobody else noticed it. Alfie tried to get rid of her hand, but she was pretty persistent. When the dinner was finally over, he quickly excused himself and walked straight to the only place in this house he had always felt at least a bit safe- the library.
He had spent a lot of time here when he was little because none of the women ever went to the library, so he used to spend a lot of time among great literature and some very valuable books.
The moment Alfie sat down and took a deep breath, enjoying the few seconds of silence, he heard someone behind him and got annoyed because he thought it was Sofiya, but when he realised it was his father, he actually wished it was Sofiya. Or his grandmother. Or even his pain-in-the-ass sister. Anyone, but his father.

“There you are.” Lord Jackson sat down on the expensive arm chair next to the huge fire place, a direct view on his son. He had a glass of scotch in his hand and offered him some, but Alfie didn’t feel like drinking at all. “The ladies of the house are discussing an upcoming tea party- hardly something I’m interested in listening to.” He took a sip of his drink, his eyes only focused on his son. “Which gives me the perfect opportunity to talk to you, now that I’m already here…When do we ever get the chance to talk, right?” There it was again, this weird smile that seemed more cold than honest.

“Indeed”, Alfie mumbled sarcastically, adding in his head; as if you ever cared to talk to me…

“I want to get straight to the point. When I was your age, I was married to your mother and we already had one daughter…”

Alfie sighed, he knew exactly where this conversation was heading. “This isn’t the 19th century anymore, people don’t get married when they are 16.”

Lord Jackson was quiet for a moment. “You remember what I told you when you were young?”

“That there is no heaven and our bodies decompose and rot in the ground after we’re buried. Yes, I do remember that conversation”, Alfie replied dryly.

“No, I meant the talk about the firm.”

Of course Alfie knew that sooner or later his father would talk about ‘the firm’ again. “Yes, I remember”, he mumbled.

“Good. So hopefully you do recall that I said our family runs like a firm. I’m in charge of it, yes, but it can only run when everyone does their part. In every important firm there are particular positions and duties that individuals have to do, and if they don’t do their part, the firm doesn’t run well enough anymore, and eventually suffers, if not even breaks apart. You have a job, Alfred, and you know that. If you don’t continue with the family line- and I’m not talking about some bastard children- our family, the firm, will break apart because you didn’t do your bloody job.”

“Cecilia is getting married in a few months, I’m sure she’ll have plenty of heirs and-“

“Cecilia is a woman!”, his father interrupted him harshly. “I don’t care what the women in this family do, I care what the only male heir of this family does.”

Wow, you care, that’s news. I can’t remember that you ever cared, actually.
Alfie knew he couldn’t say to him what he thought, but he was really tempted to.

Lord Jackson cleared his throat and leaned back in the seat, looking very calm all of the sudden. “I don’t agree much with your mother, but she is right when she puts pressure on you. I hear that you don’t even look for a relationship, not to mention a potential bride. Is it because you’re too picky? Because the women aren’t pretty enough for you? Or is this about love? You don’t honestly wait for the love of your life, because-“

“That’s complete rubbish”, Alfie said. “It has nothing to do with any of that sort.”

“Good, the firm doesn’t run because of ridiculous things like that. I didn’t marry your mother out of love, I married her for practical reasons, and I expect you to do the same thing. Soon. I don’t want our long-lasting, traditional family lineage to end because my son was too stubborn or to vain to pick out a woman from a decent family and produce heirs.”

Alfie didn’t say anything, he stared at his hands and wished he could stuff a sock into his father’s mouth.

“You know, Oxford isn’t a big city, it’s not like London, it’s more intimate and smaller…” Lord Jackson finished off his scotch and put the empty glass on a little table next to him. “When there are rumours, those rumours spread a lot faster in a city like Oxford.” He scrutinised his son with his very cold eyes. “And there are certain rumours, as you might call them, so they are not necessarily true, but once they are out, they can’t just disappear, and what I heard…” He leaned a bit forward and folded his hands. “Let’s just say there’s a rumour about you that I’m not particularly fond of hearing. It’s about why you’re not married yet…Some people say it’s because you are indeed too picky, which, I think, is the case. But, as you know, people start wondering why a man your age isn’t married yet and they start getting very strange ideas, such as you not being interested in women in the first place…” Lord Jackson’s cold glance gave Alfie almost chills, he felt like his father looked directly into his soul.

“Like you said…” Alfie cleared his throat and tried to act as indifferent and calm as possible. “Rumours aren’t necessarily true, that’s why they are called rumours.”

“That might be the case, but I don’t want people to get those wrong ideas in the first place”, his father said coldly. “And I don’t want you to give them a reason for getting those ideas, do you understand me, Alfred?”

Alfie didn’t respond.

“Did you hear what I just said?”

“Yes, Father.” He kept staring at his hands.

“Good.” Lord Jackson nodded and then suddenly switched to politics and golf, which (even though it bored Alfie) was still better than the previous subject.
An hour later, Lord Jackson finally left the library. Alfie waited until he was gone, then he got up as well, and this time he headed straight to his room. He knew that Sofiya had made herself at home in his room, and that was exactly the reason why he went there.

“This is a mess”, Alfie said after he had just walked into the room without knocking and saw her clothes lying everywhere. A few of her bras were hanging from the bookshelves. Sofiya lay on the bed, smiling flirtatiously at him.

“I knew you would come, Fifi”, she said while she got up and unzipped her dress slowly, then she tiptoed and put her arms around his neck. “I know you missed me. Your trousers don’t lie…” She looked down and grinned cheekily.

“Shut up”, he said and pushed her harshly against the wall, which made her grin even more.

Ricky was nervous all the time while Alfie was at the birthday party, the young boy wished that he could have gone with him but here he was sitting home alone. At first he was trying to have a normal evening at home but when Alfie wasn’t home by one Ricky was going up the walls. He started detail cleaning of the entire flat which was sort of not necessary since he liked to clean. So he soon switched to baking, scones, bread, buns, pies and other things.

It was mid morning when Alfie finally got home and the first he saw and smelled was that Ricky had cleaned the flat and then that he had baked. When he saw the kitchen it hit him how much Ricky had baked. Alfie was still mad, not only because of what his father had told him but for the very first time he felt bad for sleeping with someone else. Last night was a bloody mess and he was still so angry that he didn’t want to deal with Ricky right now. So when his boyfriend kissed him Alfie turned his head aside. Ricky smelled it right away and he knew where Alfie had been and it hurt him immensely when Alfie didn’t seem to be in the mood for sharing what he had done last night.

“I’m going to shower.” Alfie said coldly.

“Okay.” Ricky whispered trying not to show how hurt he was.

Alfie was a while under the shower, scrubbing his skin until it was red.

“Alfie do you want breakfast?” Ricky asked from the bathroom door.

“Bloody hell leave me alone with your bloody breakfast it is not my problem that you baked like a maniac.” Alfie snapped at Ricky but when his boyfriend turned around he regretted it because Ricky looked actually hurt.

“Okay, sorry to disturb… Sir.”

There was nothing more painful as Ricky acting like this, Alfie sighed. This was a horrible mess. Not much later Alfie was dressed and sat down at the kitchen table, he pulled a plate of scones closer and took one and actually ate it. “So you are going to have a bake sale?” Alfie asked not cold or sarcastic just calmly.

“No, I just felt like baking.” Ricky didn’t look at Alfie he was too hurt.

“I didn’t come home to protect you not to hurt you and then I forgot the time.” Alfie said low.

“And the phone broke?” Ricky looked with teary eyes at Alfie and Alfie knew that this was bad. Ricky was really hurt.

“I forgot okay? My father had a talk with me that I need to get married to destroy rumours he does not want to float around about me.”

“And you could not come home or call to mention that you are in your bad mood you always are when you go into this house?” Ricky put a cup of tea in front of Alfie.
Alfie sighed. “Come here, please.”

Ricky looked at Alfie a while but then went to his boyfriend. “What?”

Alfie pulled Ricky on his lap and kissed him gently, and to his surprise he actually started to calm down. “I missed you last night.” He whispered gently.

“So why did you not come home? Was it that bad?” Ricky whispered but his shaking voice gave him away.

“I needed to fuck Sofiya.” Something was odd, Alfie pulled away from Ricky and then he saw it. “Whoa, no don’t cry. I didn’t mean not to call. I just needed to blow off some steam. I came home didn’t I?” Alfie wiped off Ricky’s tears.

“I know.” Ricky whispered, he took a deep breath and leaned his head against Alfie’s chest. “I… next time just call okay? Just call and tell me that you are not coming home. I was worried.”

Alfie kissed Ricky very gentle and he liked it a lot.

“I never wanted you to worry.” It was insane how much his boyfriend had changed his mood.

“Alfie?”

“Yes?”

“I never asked this before but… can you please not sleep with Sofiya?” Ricky was actually shivering, it scared him a lot that to ask Alfie not to sleep with someone.

Alfie was quiet for a moment, which made Ricky nervous because he had no idea what his boyfriend was thinking right now and how he would react. Ricky regretted that he had asked him not to sleep with Sofiya, he probably just made him mad.

“I can’t”, Alfie finally said in a low voice.

Ricky looked questioning at him. “You can’t or you don’t want to?”

“I can’t promise you this, Ricky. For the last ten years I wanted to stop sleeping with her. Ten years I have tried, and it didn’t work. So I really can’t promise you.”

Ricky looked down at his hands. “You care for her”, he mumbled.

Alfie rolled his eyes. “I already told you, she means nothing to me.”

“But that doesn’t explain why you get back to her over and over again. It’s like she cast a spell on you or something. I think deep inside you care about her, otherwise you would be able to give her up.”

Alfie shook his head. “It’s just sex.”

“I’m not so sure it’s just that.” Ricky still looked sad, feeling heavy around his heart because the fact that his boyfriend couldn’t quit this one girl obviously meant that there was more going on. Perhaps Alfie wasn’t aware of it himself, but Ricky knew that Sofiya had a more important role than Alfie would admit. Now that he sat so close to him, Ricky noticed the bite marks on Alfie’s neck and he touched them carefully.
“That doesn’t look very good. I might have something, there’s an ointment that might help, I think I-

“It’s not that bad”, Alfie interrupted him, almost a little harshly.

“Does it hurt?”

“That’s the point of it.”

Ricky bit his lip. He just didn’t understand why Alfie liked being so rough with others, or that he liked Sofiya being rough with him. It only put pressure on Ricky because he started to worry that Alfie would soon get very bored of him because he had to be gentle with him.
As if Alfie had read his thoughts, he very carefully touched his hair and smiled. “Your hair is always so soft, it makes me want to touch it all the time.”

Finally a tiny smile crossed Ricky’s face. “Hands off my hair, I don’t want you to mess it up.”

“But I like it messy.”

“Tough luck, I don’t.” Ricky grinned and kissed him.


The next day Ricky woke up earlier than Alfie, which wasn’t anything unusual, but this time he had planned something, since they didn’t get the chance to celebrate his birthday properly, and since Alfie never really had a ‘normal’ birthday party. While Alfie was still asleep, Ricky baked a cake and even decorated it with all the candles, then he decorated the living room. He just finished decorating, when Alfie turned up behind him, wearing only his morning robe.
“What’s going on?”, he asked, still a little sleepy. “I think I heard a maniac in the kitchen.” He raised his eyebrows while he was scrutinising Ricky. “Are you having one of your crazy baking moments again? I think I need to remind you that the kitchen is still full of the stuff that you baked yesterday and-“ He didn’t have the chance to continue because Ricky already walked up to him and kissed him.

“Happy Birthday”, he said cheerfully.

“That was two days ago”, Alfie replied dryly.

“I know, but you didn’t celebrate it with me yet, so today it’s just you and me and no guests or family.”

“Thank God…”, Alfie mumbled, but then he saw all the decoration. “Did you put this stuff up?”

“I will put it down as soon as the day is over, don’t worry.”

“No, it’s…ehm…nice.” He didn’t want to say that it was the first time someone actually decorated a room for him to his birthday.

“Really?” Ricky smiled happily at him. “And I baked you a cake, with candles, and you have to blow them out and then make a wish.”

“What am I? Six?”

“Please, Alfie, do it for me, okay?”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine.”

Ricky grinned and was about to run into the kitchen, when his boyfriend grabbed his arm and pulled him into his arms. “Thanks for…all this crazy stuff.”

Ricky looked up to him. “You’re welcome.”

“Liam?”

“Yes?” Liam was sitting in his study in their flat and was grading projects.

“I wanted to have a look into the files of the students that will be in my lit class.”

“Jo it is November your class starts in what 9 weeks?” Liam looked up from the solar system he was grading.

“I know but I want to be sure I know how to challenge them.” Jo smiled shy at Liam.

“You are really looking forward to teach again aren’t you?” Liam smiled knowingly at Jo.

“I like it a lot and it is nearly a year since I stopped teaching, I mean don’t get me wrong I love being with the girls but to see thoughts and ideas form in our students minds is an amazing feeling. I’m sorry.” Jo’s bright shining eyes suddenly went dull.

“Why are you sorry?” Now Liam got up.

“I sound like taking care of our daughters is not enough for me.” Jo pressed herself against Liam.

“I grew up with a mother that was working, I think I want our daughters to have this to teach them that they can be everything they want and have a family.” Liam kissed Jo on the head and wrapped his arms around her.

“Thanks, I’m glad you see it that way and it is just a few hours per week so I will still be the main person that takes care of them and Betty is just helping and not raising them. That’s why I want the files. To work out a set of questions for every student that challenges them for their special way of thinking.”

“That makes you a great teacher.” Liam whispered. “So go and get the files, they are all in the teacher’s lounge. I moved the files for each student into the lounge so that all teachers have access to the learning journeys of the students. I told you about that right?”

“Yes and I said that it is a good idea, now go back to your projects as soon you are done grading as soon I have a project for you.” Jo tiptoed and kissed Liam.

“Jo?” Liam said determined when Jo was standing at the door. “I know that all window and doors are locked so you are completely safe.” Jo never had to tell him that she would always worry a little bit that the house was not securely locked, so he had installed an electronically system run by a generator in his lab he had a board that showed with red, yellow and green lamps if a window or door was open, closed or locked. And he had already checked all doors and windows were locked.

“I know. You already checked this.” Jo smiled and went out of the down through the dark corridors which were not terrifying and cold but comforting and warm. Jo was not scared anymore to be in the dark house, she smiled when she heard a floor above students go around they were in the common rooms and would not come down unless they needed anything, at night was just one maid staying in the kitchen so the only staff were the housemother and father which were taking care of the students so far they had thirty-two boarding students.
Jo knew her school by heart and even when she remembered the halls when they weren’t a school for gifted children. She didn’t see the light shine under the teacher’s lounge, even when it was just a small table stand lap, and she did not hear it at first but when she opened the teacher’s lounge door she was confused. Mr Douglas was sitting in one of the armchairs he had photographs on the table, Jo first didn’t think very much of it but then she saw it. Mr Douglas was masturbating loudly moaning and grunting and Jo had the full view of his package while his hand was rubbing it.

“Oh my God I am so sorry.” Jo didn’t even wait for the man to reply anything and ran out back to her flat to Liam.

“Liam!” Jo nearly kicked in the half closed door of Liam’s study. She was shivering and nearly looked like after the kidnapping. “Mr Douglas he… he is… he is masturbating, in the teacher’s lounge. He is… I saw his package, I saw him full frontal.” Jo was crying heavily into Liam’s arms.

“What? Seriously?” Liam made a face. “Eew.” He didn’t mention it, but at least Mr Douglas wasn’t an attractive, young man, so he didn’t need to worry about Jo liking what she saw. Well, it was obvious she didn’t like it at all, she was really freaked out.
“Did you…eh…did you say anything to him?”

She shook her head. “No, I only said I was sorry, and then I ran out.”

He gently stroked her hair. “It’s okay, calm down. Nothing happened.”

“But it was so…so gross! I really didn’t want to see that!”

“I don’t blame you”, he said. “But…um…you do know that it’s normal, right?”

“What?”

“Well…guys masturbate, it’s nothing abnormal.”

“Yes, I know that, but he shouldn’t have done it in the teachers’ lounge. It’s a very public place, imagine one of the students would have seen it! They would have told their parents and then the parents would think our school in inappropriate.”

“You’re right, it was really wrong of him of doing it in the teacher’s lounge”, he said, but then chucked: “That’s why we have bathrooms.”

Jo shot him a serious glance. “That’s not funny, Liam. I’m seriously freaking out about what I just saw and you’re making fun of it.”

“I’m not making fun of it-“

“Yes, you do.”

He sighed and pulled her into a hug. “Sorry. I’m not making fun of you, you know that, right?”

“But you’re not taking the situation seriously.”

“I do. I know it’s not okay what he did, I’m just less freaked out because I know that it’s normal when…well…yeah, you know.”

“But not in the teachers’ lounge!”

“Yes, I agree, it was really…not okay.”

“So what are you going to do about it?” Jo looked questioning at her husband.

“Me?”

“Aren’t you going to do anything about it?”

“Well…um…I mean, yeah, we should do something about it. Like, um…tell him that it was wrong, I guess?”

Jo sighed. “You want me to talk to him, don’t you?”

“Well, you were the one who saw him.”

“Which makes it only more awkward when I talk with him about it! And you’re a guy, you know about…those things.”

“Listen.” Liam pulled her a bit away so that he could look at her. “If you want to gain respect by the other teachers, then you have to speak up more. You can’t always send me to do things, you have to do them as well. I know you want to avoid confrontations, but I also know that you have a voice, and if there’s something that bothers you I hope you’re brave enough to speak up. I don’t like when you act like an obedient 50s housewife who’s scared to raise her voice. I like women who know what they want and who have an opinion, and you know that. Show them who the boss is.” He smiled at her. “You’re so much more than just a mum and a wife, and I know you can be bossy, in a non-sexual way, I mean.”

Jo smiled shyly. “I only became like this with your help.”

“Well, at least I’ve done something right after all.” He kissed her on the forehead.

“You did many things right handsome!” Jo cuddled tightly into Liam chest but the picture of the old man rubbing his old cock would not vanish.

“Okay I talk to Mr Douglas but not tonight, I’m sure he is still busy.” Jo whispered.

“So I guess your project is cancelled?” Liam mumbled sounding a little sorry.

“Yeah, sorry.”

“That’s okay. Come on it’s late let’s go to bed.” Liam turned off the light in his study and they passed the nurseries to check if both girls were still sleeping and they were. In Jill’s room a nightlight threw shadows of animals at the wall. She liked animals a lot and it calmed her down in case she wakes at night.
Liam and Jo snuggled into their bed after Liam had turned on the baby monitor. “You have done many things right since I met you and I am more than glad that Lorelai introduced us. I love you.”

Liam just held Jo close in his arm and smelt her vanilla sent. Even when he did not sleep with his wife -at least now a days- but was so close with her knowing that he would fall asleep while he held her in his arms and would wake up with her still snuggled into him and this meant so much with him.

The next day Jo went to Mr Douglas’s office to talk to him, she knocked and waited until the older man answered.

“Enter.”

“Mr Douglas we need to talk.” Jo looked determined at Mr Alfred Douglas.

“I thought you would come.” Mr Douglas snarled without looking up, which made Jo actually angry. She was his superior his boss and he did not even look at her when she talks.

“Mr Douglas, this is serious I am headmistress of the school and even when I worked the past year more in the background and the administration but I am still your boss so when I say we need to talk you put your work down and listen to what I have to say.” Jo sounded very strict and bossy the Mr Douglas looked up.

“I do not care what you do in your spare time but you do not masturbate anywhere but your private rooms, I do not want that the word gets spread that teacher masturbate in places where the students can find them. I will not accept such inappropriate behaviour.” Jo stepped closer to the desk of Mr Douglas and put a letter on it. “This is your first warning the next will be your letter of resignation, am I understood?”

Mr Douglas looked Jo for several minutes but then he took the letter and saw the official school crest. “Yes… Ma’am.” For the first time Mr Douglas seemed to respect Jo as his superior.

Liam waited until Jo left Mr Douglas’ office and greeted her with his widest cheeky boy grin.

“What?” She looked both confused and serious at him.

“I’m so turned on by you right now, you have no idea.”

“Heh?” She was still confused, but he already pulled her close.

“I really like you bossy”, he said and kissed her. “So hot.”

Jo blushed. “Well, one of us had to talk to him, so-“

“I know.” He grinned. “And I’m so proud of you right now, I really am.”

She smiled shyly. “Thank you.”

A few days later

“Why did we agree to go to this?” Liam looked at Alfie who just stared very suspiciously at the ice rink.

“I didn’t agree to this”, he mumbled. “I got dragged here by a certain someone…” His eyes wandered to Ricky, who sat next to Jo. Both were putting on their ice skates and were chatting excitedly.

“Same here, actually”, Liam admitted. “Why did Ricky want you to come?”

“Because he said I need more ‘normal’ life experiences”, Alfie replied sarcastically. “I’m sorry, but who defines what is normal and what’s not? I have plenty of normal life experiences…”

Liam grinned. “I think I know what Ricky means. Your definition of ‘normal’ might not be everyone else’s definition.”

Alfie sighed. “Maybe, but does that mean he has to drag me to an ice skating rink? I don’t skate, period. Ice skating is gay.”

“I heard that!”, Ricky shouted over his shoulder.

“Good!”, Alfie shouted back.

“You better get into those skates, Alfred”, Ricky said.

“The same counts for you, Liam”, Jo added with a grin.

Both Alfie and Liam crossed their arms and looked like they were about to protest, but then they gave in and grabbed their skates while Jo and Ricky got on the ice. Those two certainly knew how to skate, while their men didn’t even know how to put their skates on.

“This sucks”, Liam mumbled.

“I don’t have to do this”, Alfie grumbled. “I’m a Jackson, nobody can just tell me what to do, especially not little boys with too tight trousers”, he said, now louder so that Ricky could hear him, then he turned to Liam. “Can you skate?”

“No!”

“Of course you don’t, because it’s gay.” Alfie got up and Liam followed him.

“You two need to work on your attitudes and stop being so grumpy”, Jo said as she passed them and quickly stopped to pull Liam onto the ice. “You’ll be a good boy, right?” She looked at him with her doe eyes, and he just sighed.

“I guess.”

She grinned and kissed him, then she was off again while Liam stood a little helplessly on the ice, but when he was about to turn around, Alfie grabbed his arm and almost pulled him down.
“Dude, what are you doing?”

“Shut up, I don’t want to fall down!” Alfie still held on to Liam like a little child. The only problem was, Liam was just as unbalanced on the ice as his friend was, so they both barely could stand, not to mention move, so they fell down, Liam first, and Alfie on top of him.

“Dude, get off me!”

“This is so fucked up!”

“Tell me about it!”

Both tried very carefully to get up again, which looked hilarious as well, and then they went straight to the exit.
“I’m out”, Alfie said.

“Me too.”

“What? You were on the ice for barely two minutes”, Ricky said.

“So?” Alfie’s hand wandered in his pocket and he got out a flask. Ricky raised an eyebrow when he realized that his boyfriend couldn’t even leave his whiskey alone while they went ice skating.

“Hey, at least we tried, okay?” Liam said. “Until Alfie decided to clasp on me like a maniac and pulled me down.”

“Shut up, little man”, Alfie mumbled and handed him his flask.

“Thanks, but I’m getting hot chocolate”, Liam said, knowing how ridiculous that sounded, but he was really in the mood for hot chocolate.

“Aww, you want cookies with that?”, his friend asked him teasingly.

“Oh, shut up, Alfred!”

Jo looked at Ricky and then followed the two men up the stairs, well she was more interested in Liam. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you I just thought it will be fun to go ice skating together.”

“Well I don’t.” Liam mumbled but let Jo sit on his lap.

“I know I’m sorry I should have known this earlier. How about you sit at the side and um watch me from the side if you don’t mind?” Jo whispered she didn’t really care what Alfie would do but she hoped he would stay too for Ricky’s sake.

“That sounds nice admiring you from the side, I’ll took my new camera so I can take lots of pictures of you.” Liam kissed Jo and held Jo by her waist.

“I’ll get you a hot chocolate.”

“No you still wear your skates so don’t go you might fall.”

Jo smiled. “Okay so I can go back and skate with Ricky?”

“Yeah go and skate he looks miserable I can’t stand when he looks like a kicked puppy.” Alfie snarled.
Jo look at Alfie wondering how much he really cared when Ricky looked upset.

“Okay. Let me know when you want to go okay.”

“Yup I will I’ll just get a hot chocolate and then I can take some pictures try not to pay attention to the camera I want natural pictures.” Liam kissed Jo again before he let her go back on the eyes.

“Okay your boyfriend does not like ice skating at all and I’m not sure he actually cares about you, I hope you are not together with him for his sex are you?” Jo looked worried at Ricky.

“I promise you he is a lot kinder then he appears.” Ricky took Jo’s hand and together they skated over the ice, it felt nice to run on the ice, feel the wind and still sort of know that Liam would be taking hundreds of pictures of her and it flattered her a lot.

It was the last Wednesday before the Christmas holidays, and Ricky was invited to the Christmas party of the English Department. It was for the staff only, so no students. The party had been running for about two hours, and Ricky was just in the middle of a conversation with someone of the older professors, when a familiar face appeared in the doorframe. It was Dylan. Ricky didn’t see him at first, but a few others did and wondered what the young man wanted. They didn’t have the time to ask anyway, they would find out soon enough. Dylan took a deep breath, his eyes only fixed on Ricky who still didn’t notice him.

“I love you, Professor Butcher!”, Dylan shouted through the room, and it suddenly became very quiet. More and more people stopped talking and slowly turned towards the student, among them Ricky, who looked shocked and speechless as he turned around and face Dylan. The young man kept his eyes on Ricky, he didn’t even blink. This was not a joke, Ricky could tell. Dylan seemed really serious about this. “I love you!”, Dylan repeated, and now the others started to gasp and chatter behind hands, looking at both the student and Ricky.

“Ex…excuse me…”, Ricky said to the others, then he walked straight to Dylan, grabbed him by the sleeve and pulled him away from the staff. Ricky opened the door of an unoccupied room and pulled Dylan with him.
“What’s going on?”, Ricky asked with a serious tone.

The younger boy’s cheeks were bright red. “I love you, Professor!”

“Dylan, you can’t-“

“From the very first moment! I know that the situation is a bit tricky because I’m your student, but we can work this out together and-“

“Wait, what?” Ricky looked confused at him.

“Our bond is strong enough, it doesn’t matter that you’re my professor, I’m not a child anymore.”

“Our…bond?”, Ricky repeated. “Dylan…what kind of bond you think we have? You’re one of my students, you’re a nice young man, yes, but there is no bond between us.”

“But…but we always had this connection”, Dylan said with excitement in his voice. “We like the same things, we have the same interests. I never see you talk with anyone like you talk with me, you share your interests with me and-“

“Dylan, no!” Ricky shook his head. “You got this all wrong. I’m sorry if you got the impression that I…that I was interested in you, but that is completely wrong. Yes, we do have many things in common, I can’t deny that. And I like you, I do, but in a very neutral, friendly way. You’re a decent young man, but there’s no connection between us, do you understand? Not that kind of connection that you would like to have.”

“Is it because you’re scared what people might think because I’m your student? I mean…I can be quiet about it from now on, sorry that I burst out in front of the others, I’ll be quiet, we can keep it secret and-“

“Dylan!” Ricky was surprised about himself how serious he could sound. “There is no connection between us, and I don’t have those feelings for you that you want me to have, I’m sorry if you got the wrong impression and thought I had feelings for you.”

Dylan looked like Ricky had just hit him really hard, and Ricky felt so bad for hurting him, he knew how unrequited love felt like, it was literally like a slap in the face. Until Alfie came along, he always had feelings for someone who didn’t love him back, and even nowadays he still wasn’t completely sure what Alfie really felt for him.
“I’m sorry”, Ricky said quietly. “You probably don’t want to hear that, but you’re still young and I have no doubt that you’ll meet someone great someday who will make you really happy and who will return your feelings.”

Dylan looked defeated, and if the situation wouldn’t have been so weird, Ricky would have given him a hug, but that would be inappropriate right this moment.
“Do you…do you love someone else?” Dylan stared at the ground.

It was obviously a personal question, but Ricky thought the least he could do was to tell this poor boy the truth, so that he might have an easier time letting go off the idea that he and Ricky would work out.
“Yes, I do”, Ricky answered calmly. “But that’s not the reason why I’m not interested in you, it’s just, you’re-“

“Are you happy?” Dylan looked up.

Ricky was very quiet and surprised, he hadn’t expected that question. He needed a moment before he finally answered. “Yes, I am.”

Dylan looked him right in the eyes, with a seriousness that made him appear older than he was, but there was still sadness in his eyes too.
“I hope he treats you well”, the younger boy said quietly. “You deserve the best. If he doesn’t treat you well enough, he doesn’t deserve you.” He had a hard time holding back tears, and before he would start crying in front of Ricky, he quickly walked out of the room.
Ricky didn’t move, he just stared at the empty space where Dylan just stood while the boy’s words were running through his head, but then he quickly walked to the door.
“Dylan?”
But the student was already gone. Ricky sighed and sat down on one of the desks, staring for another ten minutes at the wall before he finally left the room again.

Ricky came home early, he didn’t feel like spending more time at the Christmas party. He had briefly met with the Head of the English department to explain the situation to him and to make sure he knew that it had all been an unfortunate misunderstanding, and after he had convinced the Head of the department, he went straight home.
When he entered the living room, he found Alfie lying on the couch, a book opened on his chest, his eyes closed. He had obviously fallen asleep while he was reading. Ricky stopped for a moment and just watched his boyfriend quietly, he loved watching Alfie when he was asleep, he looked so young and peaceful. A smile crossed Ricky’s face and he was about to sneak out of the room when Alfie opened his eyes.
“For how long have you been standing there and staring at me, you little creep?”, he asked teasingly while he sat up.

“I literally just walked in the room, really”, Ricky said innocently while he walked over to him, and Alfie pushed the book away so that he could pull him on his lap.

“Why are you home already? I haven’t been expecting you for another two hours.”

“There…eh…has been a….an incident.” Ricky hesitated to make a decision whether to tell him the truth or not.

“What kind of incident?” Alfie studied his face closely, which made Ricky only more nervous. He took a deep breath, willing to tell him the truth. He just didn’t like to lie to him.

“Dylan showed up at the party.”

“I thought only the staff was invited!” Alfie didn’t mean to sound harsh, but he just couldn’t control it. The moment he heard that name, he had this weird feeling inside of him again which made him very tense.

“It was only for the staff, but he came anyway”, Ricky said, his heartbeat going faster. “And he…he…um…”

“He what?”

“He told me that he loved me.”

Silence.

Ricky could feel Alfie’s whole body underneath him stiffen.
“He just…he basically shouted it at me, and then I talked alone with him and told him I had no feelings for him at all. He was just very confused because he had the impression that I liked him, but I swear, I don’t like him that way, and I told him that, and he knows that now, and he knows that I’m in love with someone else, and he definitely got that message.” He talked so fast that he almost stumbled over his own words. Alfie still didn’t say anything, which made him incredibly nervous. Ricky looked shyly at him. “Alfie?”

Alfie pushed Ricky roughly off his lap and got up and went to bar. “I told you this bloody bastard means trouble, I told you that he wants you.” Alfie mumbled angrily.

“Alfie nothing happened.” Ricky wanted to get up but something kept him clued to the couch.

“God Ricky of course something I told you this fucking boy wants to fuck you and you let him. I know you only took him into another room to fuck him and then you dumped him.” Alfie shouted wanting to drink his whiskey but instead he threw the glass against wall that it smashed at the wall.

“Alfie, nothing happened I swear.” Ricky tried.

“Who are you kidding Rick? I can’t… I need to get out.” Alfie marched out of the living room and then out of the flat. He didn’t know where to go, or what to do and it was snowing anyway and he didn’t have a coat. He was sitting on the bench he had been sitting a long time ago and saw his… Ricky for the first time well he had seen him a while before that but back that day on the grass had been Ricky and Jo sitting talking about their essays.
It was the early morning hours when he came from frozen and feeling awful. Ricky was sitting in their bedroom, on his old suitcase. Alfie looked confused.

“What’s that for?”

“Well I know that you want me out don’t you?” Ricky whispered.

“To do what to move in with Dylan?” Alfie asked coldly.

“No, I would go back to my parents. At least for a while.”

“You are an idiot! I told your months ago to throw away these old shabby clothes.”

“You also told me that Dylan is interested in me and I didn’t listen to you.”

Alfie didn’t say anything still standing on the top step of the spiral staircase that led from the lower floor of their flat to their bedroom. He shook his head and went to take Ricky’s suitcase and went int the walk in closet. “You will not go back to your parents. This is your home.”

Ricky looked at Alfie.

“And I swear whatever you are feeding me give me acid reflex. I feel like my inside is burning.” Alfie said annoyed.

During the time Alfie was out, Ricky felt like his heart would stop any second. He had never been so scared of losing Alfie, after all, his boyfriend was convinced that he had an affair with his student, and Alfie just didn’t want to believe him, which made Ricky really sad. Alfie acted like Ricky was the one who constantly cheated on him, although it was the exact opposite. Ricky didn’t even look at any other guy while Alfie wouldn’t stop sleeping with other people. Ricky knew that he should be ‘used to it’ by now, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt him every single time. But the fact that Alfie accused him of sleeping with his student hurt him even more. Still, he was scared that this was it, and that Alfie didn’t want him anymore, so the next thing he did was to get out his old suitcase that was hidden somewhere and pack his things together. Not that he owned a lot, pretty much most of the things he owned were presents from Alfie, Ricky had barely anything that really belonged to him. But that was okay, he was used to not having much.
With a heavy heart he got his few things together, but he didn’t leave. He couldn’t leave just yet, not before he was sure that Alfie got back home safely, even if that meant that Ricky had to wait until the next day. He needed to know Alfie was okay. He really did have to wait long, Alfie didn’t get home until the early morning hours and Ricky’s heart stopped when he saw him, scared that he had to say goodbye now.
However, to his surprise Alfie obviously didn’t want him to leave at all, and then he said something that warmed Ricky’s heart.
This is your home.
Ricky was so incredibly relieved, he had no words for it. He didn’t have to say goodbye to him, not today. Alfie still wanted him here.

“It’s not the food, you know?” Ricky had to smile because Alfie obviously didn’t know that the feeling he had this evening was nothing else but plain, old jealousy.

“Yeah, Sherlock, what else is it then? Ever since you keep feeding me all this stuff, I have this-“

“Maybe it’s ever since I entered the picture, you know?” Ricky tried to hold back a grin because he didn’t want Alfie to get the impression that he was making fun of him.

“Well, yeah, obviously since then it started.”

“You know what’s that called, that feeling that you had today? It doesn’t take Sherlock to detect that it was something called ‘jealousy’…”

Alfie crossed his arms, almost like a sulky child. “That’s ridiculous. I don’t feel jealous. I never feel jealous, okay? Never. I don’t even know…”

“Exactly, you don’t even know how it feels like to be jealous because you never had a reason to be jealous, you got everything you wanted. But recently you started to come across jealousy, and since you’ve never known that feeling before, you obviously don’t know that it is exactly what you were feeling today.”

“Why should I feel jealous of that little worm? As if that kid is ever competition for me…”

“He’s not”, Ricky said calmly. “But you still got jealous, because…”

“Because what?”

Ricky actually lowered his gaze because the way Alfie looked at him made him nervous. “Because you care.”
For me, he added in his thoughts.

Alfie didn’t answer, he didn’t want to contradict Ricky about that point. Of course he cared about Ricky, a little too much, in his opinion, otherwise he wouldn’t have felt jealous of a little kid…wait, no, he wasn’t jealous, of course not! Why did he start to think that he was jealous? Geez, Ricky got too much to his head, and maybe it was the food after all.

Ricky ended the silence. “So…you really want me to stay?”, he asked shyly, looking up again.

“Yes.” Alfie didn’t even hesitate a second to answer him.

“Alfie, you have to stop accusing me of things that I would never do. I would have never slept with Dylan, and it’s not only because he’s my student, it’s because he’s not you. And the same counts for everyone else out there. Actually, the thought of being that close with someone other than you really freaks me out, I don’t want that. I don’t want to be close to anyone but you, no matter how hard it is for you to believe, but when it comes to this we are very different people. I don’t want to be with anyone else, I don’t need anyone else, don’t you see? I’m happy just being with you.” There was so much honesty in Ricky’s words and so much truth in his eyes that Alfie had a hard time looking at him.
“I’m sorry if I make you uncomfortable with all that talking again”, Ricky said while he got up and walked over to him. “I just don’t like that you think so wrong of me. After all this time you should know better…” He put his arms around his boyfriend, but then he looked worried at him. “You’re so cold!”

“I forgot my jacket”, Alfie admitted, sounding like a child.

“Excuse me?” Ricky raised his eyebrows. “You just…you were outside without a jacket? Are you crazy? It’s December, not June!”

“I’m okay. You know that I don’t get cold that easily, so…” He didn’t admit that even he was pretty darn freezing outside.

“You go right to bed and I’ll make you a hot water bottle and a tea and-“

“I don’t want a hot water bottle”, Alfie complained, sounding like a child again.

“Well…then I’ll run you a hot bath, okay? And you’re still getting tea, and you have to get warm and…never mind, I’ll still make you a hot water bottle, whether you like it or not, and-“

“If you don’t shut up, I’ll drown you in the bathtub”, Alfie said teasingly and pulled him into a hug. “You little freak.”

Ricky felt that Alfie was actually shivering. “Okay enough I’ll run you a hot bath you are frozen.” Ricky pushed Alfie back on the bed and went into their bathroom to run the huge bath. Not long after he called Alfie in the bathroom.

“Dude you are naked!”

“So this is my house I can were what I want.”

“You are shaking go in the bath.” Ricky shook his head. Alfie was really cold so he actually didn’t complain, but before Ricky was able to leave the bathroom he said.

“Hey Ricky?”

“Yes?”

“Come over here for a moment.”

Ricky went to back to the bathtub and before he could say anything Alfie pulled him still dressed into the hot water. Ricky was splashing, puffing and blowing but it sort of felt good to lie in Alfie’s arm.

“You knew that I am possessive I just don’t want you to share with anyone, ever.” Alfie whispered while he unbuttoned Ricky’s shirt. “I just can’t.”

“But you said you don’t mind when I was sleep with others.” Ricky whispered back, he meant what he said.

“I was lying, but if that is what you want just don’t tell me. The thought that someone else touched you… just don’t tell me okay?” Alfie whispered sounding so hurt and actually nearly scared. Ricky turned around that he could look and him better and then started kissing Alfie while he climbed properly on his naked lap.

“I don’t you I never want to sleep with anyone but you!” Ricky grinned at Alfie, as usual he was a little nervous when he was the pushy one but Alfie had learnt to let him do things a little slower and just follow his boyfriends lead.

“So I guess I can be lucky to be your boyfriend.” Alfie teased Ricky a little but he meant it. He was the lucky one.

Ricky had to grin from ear to ear. For the first time Alfie had referred himself as his ‘boyfriend’, and Ricky felt like jumping up, he was so happy when the older boy said that one particular word. And he loved the fact that Alfie didn’t want to share him with anyone, that only showed that Ricky really did matter to him, no matter how hard Alfie tried to hide that.

“Why are you grinning like that?”, Alfie asked.

“No reason”, he replied innocently.

“When I grin like that I usually have dirty thoughts.”

Ricky rolled his eyes. “You always have dirty thoughts. And believe it or not, but some people grin because they are just happy, you know?”

“So, since you’re already so happy…”, Alfie said while he had opened all of the buttons on Ricky’s shirt. “Is there any chance you can make me happy tonight as well?”

“Well, technically it’s already morning, but yes, there might be a chance.” He smiled shyly and kissed his boyfriend.

An hour later they were snuggled up in bed, Ricky’s head resting on Alfie’s chest.
“Are you warm enough?”, Ricky asked. “I can still make you that hot water bottle if you want to.”

“Dude, I’m plenty warm.”

“Okay, just checking. I don’t want you to get ill.”

“I don’t get ill.”

“I hate to break this to you, but you’re only human and the possibility that you get ill sometime in your life is not that small and-“

“You talk too much”, Alfie said teasingly, but then kissed the top of his head. They fell silent for a while, Ricky just listened to Alfie’s heartbeat.
“You know…”, Alfie said quietly. “You’re the first one I ever let in my-“
He paused for a moment. He was able to stop himself on time, to stop himself before the word heart actually slipped out.
“Flat.”

Ricky looked up and studied his face quietly for a moment. “I am?”

“It’s not a big deal.” Alfie cleared his throat. “I just…um…noticed that. So far I’ve not taken anyone here.” Now he was getting a bit uncomfortable because Ricky got that lovesick puppy look on his face again. Ricky seemed to understand that the fact that he was the first one who Alfie let in his flat meant a lot.
Alfie sighed. “Geez, you look at me like I just proposed to you! Go to sleep.” He couldn’t hold back a grin when he said that, and Ricky obediently but happily nodded.

The next day, while Alfie was out for a while, Ricky decorated the entire flat with Christmas stuff. He knew that his boyfriend was a bit like the Grinch when it came to Christmas, but that didn’t stop Ricky from getting into his annual super-mega Christmas spirit, and he firmly believed that one day he would get through to Alfie and would manage to make him appreciate Christmas a little more. For now he just kept trying.
By the time Alfie came home, the flat was one giant Christmas wonderland- of course not too cheesy, it was still classy, after all, Ricky had good taste and was talented in decorating. He knew that Alfie would hate it if the flat was drowned in kitsch, so he decorated the flat as classy as possible- even though he had a hard time not to put up the little naked cherubs with their cute little wings and curly hair.

“What. Is. This?”, Alfie asked very slowly, his eyebrows raised sceptically.

“What do you think it is? It’s almost Christmas, you have to get into the mood!”

“I certainly don’t have to get into the mood.”

“Oh, come on, Grumpy!”

“Why is there weed hanging all over from the ceilings?”

“That’s no weed, those are mistletoes.” Ricky put his arms around him. “So on that way we have to kiss every time we stand under them, over and over again.”

“I don’t need a stupid plant if I want to kiss you”, Alfie said dryly.

Ricky rolled his eyes. “It’s tradition, and you know how much I love traditions.”

“Yeah, I’m aware of that”, he mumbled. “And what’s that smell?”

“I just prepared eggnog.”

“Eggnog?” Alfie stared at him. “Do I look like I drink eggnog?”

“That’s why I also made mulled wine with cinnamon.”

“What?”

Ricky chuckled. “Just take off your jacket, make yourself comfortable and try the things that I prepared, okay?”

“Fine.” Alfie sighed and sat down on the couch while Ricky vanished into the kitchen. “But if there’s glitter or pixie dust of God knows what kind of girly crap in any of those drinks, I’m not going to try it, understood?”

“Oh no, I promise no glitter or girly stuff. Just good Christmas stuff.” Ricky came back with a glass of eggnog and a cup of mulled wine.

“So do you like it?” Ricky smiled.

Alfie sipped at his hot wine and looked at the decorations he was not yet sitting, he put his cup on the table and kissed Ricky. “I guess I feared this day when you turned our home into a Christmas store, but I know you like it and thanks to this weed I can kiss you every time we are under it even when you are busy.”

Ricky grinned, he was glad that Alfie just sort of said that he like the decorations.

“I’m looking forward to the Christmas Eve celebrations at Waterfall Downs. It is always so lovely and I’m dying to see the twins again. They are so cute.”

“They are hairless and have a potato head.” Alfie said in his usual cold bored voice.

“Alfie! Don’t you dare to say that to the twins or Jo. They are beautiful. “

“They are bold.” Alfie grinned, Ricky shook his head. He had the two great presents for the twins.

“Remember that we have to wear something red it’s tradition at Waterfall Downs.”

“I know.”


A few days later it was the first Christmas Eve morning for the twins. The house was buzzing with people to help preparing the party tonight. Jo was looking at Liam he was holding Jill and fed her, while she was feeding Jane.

“You can’t believe how nice it is to have my boobs to myself again.”

Liam looked up. “Your boobs never belong to you they are mine.” A cheeky grin appeared on his face.

“Oh you think they are yours?” Jo giggled.

“Hell yeah! And they are awesome.”

“Girls don’t listen to your daddy.” Jo smiled. “I love Christmas.”

“Yeah I know you do.”

“Hey Liam I would like to give you your present right now.”

“Oh um okay, do we need to call Betty to watch the girls?” Liam looked at the little girl in his arm.

“No you don’t need to.” Jo got up and put Jane still drinking her bottle into the high chair. She went into her study and got a small parcel. “I hope you like it.”

Liam unwrapped the little parcel and help a small picture sized painting of all four of them in his hand. Jo had painted it in many hours with tiny brushes while she was watching their daughters sleeping. But it was not one of those stiff family portraits but them in the field not far from his grandparent’s house. They were running around trying to catch a flying Dandelion seed to tell them their wishes and send them to heaven.

“That’s really pretty.” He looked up from the picture and smiled at her.

“You like it?”

“Love it!” His eyes wandered back down. “That looks like…”

“Ireland.” Jo put her arms around him. “It’s the girls’ heritage, after all.”

“Well, they are half English, as far as I remember”, Liam said with a grin.

“True, but they see the English part every day, that’s why I want them to especially get to know their Irish side. It would mean a lot to me.” She looked from the picture to her husband. “It would mean a lot to you as well, wouldn’t it? Ireland is your home.”

“No, this is my home.”

“Yeah, it is now, but Ireland used to be your home.”

“Actually, my home was where my mother was, it didn’t matter what country and continent that was”, he said quietly. “And when she was gone, I literally felt homeless. I got sent back to my grandparents and the first thing my grandmother said to me was ‘Now you’re home at last’, but all I could think of was that I will never have a home again…” He kept looking at that beautiful picture in his hand. “Luckily I was wrong. I found a new home, and I don’t mean Oxford…” His eyes met hers. “You and the girls are my home, even if we end up on a deserted island cut off from civilization…then that will be our new home, as long as you three are there.”

Jo smiled and buried her face in his chest. He smelled so good, just the way she loved it. He always smelled like the outside, like a field of grass and wild flowers, despite the fact that he was inside all day.
“You’re my home too”, she whispered into his chest. “If you would disappear, I would be homeless as well.”

“But that’s not going to happen.” He kissed her gently on the head, his eyes wandering back to the picture. “But I agree, I want the girls to know where their grandmother came from. She really was a proud Irish woman, no matter where we lived, she never hid the fact that she was Irish. Most of the time we spoke English though, but when she got strict the conversation immediately turned Irish and she didn’t even notice that. So sometimes when we were in a room with other people, they just looked confused at her because they didn’t understand a word of what she was saying, and then she realised that she was speaking Irish again.”

Jo chuckled. “But you were such a good boy, there was no reason to be strict, ever…”, she said teasingly.

“Yeah, in your dreams.” Liam grinned. “She always called me by my first and middle name when she got strict, like ‘Liam Seamus, did you set the curtain on fire again with your dangerous experiments while I wasn’t at home?’”

“Oh, I bet that happened a lot.”

“Yes. Dick’s and my flat suffered from that too, but he didn’t really care, as long as I didn’t set his room full of his beloved guns on fire.”

Jo laughed. “He’s coming tonight, right?”

“I invited him, and I reminded him over and over again that he’s the twins’ godfather, and as such I expect him to attend those events.”

“I bet he complained.”

“Of course he did”, Liam said. “But I know he’ll come anyway.”
That moment he heard Jane yammering- probably because of the lack of attention- so he walked over to her and lifted her up on one arm. “It’s okay Princess.” He turned towards Jo. “Look, I’m a very lucky guy because that woman over there is my wife, and you’re a very lucky girl because that same woman is your mummy.” He smiled at Jo. He really meant what he said about her being his home. He didn’t need a country to define his home, all he needed was her- and those two little ginger girls, of course.

Jo looked at Liam for a while just watched him calm down Jane and make her finish her bottle, while she had given Jill some toast to munch on. Jo loved Liam so much and even more seeing him with his daughter.

“Liam don’t get mad at me okay, but I need to say this. I wish your mom could be here, not just because I wish you could see her again but also because I wished the girls and I could meet her.”

As expected Liam froze for a moment but then he leaned forward and kissed Jane on the cheek. “So do I.”

Jo hugged him tightly when suddenly the dorrbell rang.

“Are you sure you don’t mind spending the day with Jill?”

“Nope she and I will have lots of fun and that give you a little space and just one baby while you prepare the party.” Liam grinned.

Jo nodded and took Jane out of the highchair and put her into the carrier she was already wearing. But before she left the kitchen she went back to Jill and kissed her and then she kissed Liam. “I’ll love you.”

“You look so lovely day.”

Jo went to answer the door. “Merry Christmas Ellen.”

“Merry Christmas Jo and…”

“Jane.” Jo smiled other people still had problems to recognize the girls.

“Excuse me Missis Jo? Can I go and play with your other baby?” Grace asked.

“Oh um yes I think so but Jill is with Liam so you have to ask him. Okay sweety?”

“Okay I go and ask him.” Grace smiled at Jo and then she hugged her. “Merry Christmas Missis Jo.”

Gracie hopped away into the kitchen to find Liam.

“I’m sorry her brother was to watch her but he disappeared. And she was really eager to play with the girls well one of them because it confuses her that there are two.”

“Oh no need to apologize that is okay. Come on we have lots of things to do. Did all food arrive…” Jo, Jane -happily gurgling- and Ellen went downstairs.

“Hello, Mr Liam.” Gracie appeared behind him in the kitchen, smiling shyly at him.

“Oh, hi Gracie. How are you?”

“I’m fine. It’s Christmas Eve today, so I’m happy.” She walked a little closer. “Can I look at her?”

“Jill? Of course.” Liam took a step aside so that the little girl could take a look.

“She looks bigger than the last time I saw her.”

“Oh yes, she grew a lot.”

“Is she ever going to get hair?”

“Let’s hope so.” Liam grinned while he touched his daughter’s head gently. “It looks like she and her sister will be little red-heads.”

“So not like you and Missis Jo.”

“Obviously not.”

“I have a present for you, Mr Liam.” Gracie’s hand wandered in her pocket and she got out something round. “It’s a planet”, she said. “It’s Saturn. I built it myself, well, my mom helped me, but I know that you like the planets so much so I wanted to make you one.”

Liam couldn’t hold back a smile as he looked at the present in his hand. This obviously looked more like Saturn that was just hit by an enormous meteor rather than the actual model, but he appreciated it anyway.
“Thanks, Gracie”, he said.

“You’re welcome.” The little girl blushed.

“You know what? Saturn is actually my favourite planet. It looks nicer than the others, don’t you think?”

She nodded excitedly, then turned her head back to Jill who made funny noises.

“Will she get Christmas presents too?”

“Of course she will, it’s her first Christmas.”

“But she won’t remember it, will she?”

“True, she won’t, that’s why I’ll take lots of pictures so I can show her when she’s older”, Liam explained. That same moment he heard a knock on the door. “Yes? The door is open!”

“I just came to see how my beautiful granddaughter was doing.” Graham appeared behind them and smiled friendly. “Well, and of course my son.” He hugged him. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas to you too. You do know that the party doesn’t start for another few hours, right?”

“Yes, but I wanted to help your lovely wife out. She always works so hard on those Christmas parties…”

“True.” Liam nodded.

“Hi Gracie, nice to see you again.” Graham reached out for her hand.

“Hello”, she said shyly but smiled politely at him.

“And there she is, such a big girl.” Graham bent down to kiss his granddaughter on the head. “Jill, right?”

Liam nodded. Jill grinned widely at Graham and stretched one hand out.
“May I hold her?”, he asked.

“Sure.”

Graham lifted her up carefully, which made her giggle. She generally giggled a lot, more than her sister.

“Okay, let’s go downstairs to help the others”, Liam said, turning to Gracie. “You want to help the girls a bit with the Christmas party?”

Gracie nodded excitedly.

Jo and Ellen were like busy bees running through the house to make sure every bit would be perfect. The party would start at six so that the girls could participate Jill didn’t mind staying up longer but Jane had troubles that was why Jo carried her all day because her older daughter loved to sleep while holding other people hold her. So she slept even more then her normal amount. It was nearly six when Jo came downstairs with the two girls they all were wearing red dresses while the girls were also wearing a matching red ribbon well around their heads since they had not yet a lot of hair. Jo’s hair was pixie messy.

“What do you think?” She asked shy when she reached Liam who was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. She was always a little nervous when she was wearing makeup on it. But this time she was just wearing a little makeup but bright red lipstick matching her dress.

“You are perfect, all three of you.” Liam hugged her and kissed his wife. Jo giggled when she looked at him. “But I hope you do not want to wear my lipstick.”

Jo was still holding the girls so she couldn’t wipe it off his lips but he did he very hasty anyway. “Gone?”

Jo nodded. “Liam I’ve want to give you a present tonight. It is from Jill. Do you mind holding Jane for a moment?”

“Sure. Come to daddy Princess.” Liam took Jane who was wide awake due to her very many naps -more than her normal amount since she was already normally sleeping a lot during the day-.
Jo put Jill on her feet -matching red shoes to her dress- on the floor. “Okay cupcake, show daddy what we practiced so long.”

Liam was first not sure what was supposed to happen since his daughter was just seven month old and would not start dancing, he was actually very unsure what this present would be. But then it happened Jill took a step and another and then she walked about ten steps while holding on tightly to her mommy’s hands and she had a very concentrated face.
When she reached her daddy who by now was crouching on the floor still holding Jane in one arm she squeaked her daddy-squeak and smile widely.

“Merry Christmas Daddy.” Jo whispered looking proud at her daughter.

Liam’s heart stopped for a moment when he saw his little Cupcake taking her first steps towards him. He quickly knelt down, still holding Jane in one arm, while her sister stumbled into his other arm.
“Look at you!” Liam had a hard time believing what he just saw. He smiled widely at Jill, looking like the proudest daddy on the planet. “You walked!”
Jill grinned happily at him.

“She started a few days ago, completely out of nowhere. I wanted to tell you first, but then I decided to keep this as a little Christmas present”, Jo said. “But I filmed her first steps to make sure you would see it, I don’t want to keep you out of great experiences like that.”

“Oh man, I can’t believe out little girl can walk.”

“I know, they are growing up way too fast!”

“And what about you, Princess?” Liam looked at the older twin who had her head rested on his shoulder.

“I think Jane doesn’t see any reason to rush all of this”, Jo said. “She seems to be quite happy just sitting and watching everyone quietly.”

“Oh yes, I have noticed that.” He planted a kiss on Jane’s head. “I’m actually glad they don’t start to walk at the same time, can you imagine how busy we will be as soon as those two are both on their feet and run around? We will constantly have to run after them, so it’s good that Jane takes her time.”

“Oh yes, twins on the loose…sounds quite challenging, if you ask me.”

“Yes, that’s what I will be prepared for.” Liam looked from one daughter to the next. Jill grinned cheekily at him.

It was six o’clock when the guests arrived, some earlier than others, some a bit later, but that was okay since Jo said that people could arrive from six o’clock on. She wasn’t as precise with the time as her mother always used to be. Speaking of which, Elizabeth didn’t come to the party, apparently she was suffering under the bad weather since it had started to slightly snow. Not that Liam cared…actually, he was very glad when he saw that only Colin came, who, of course, went straight to his granddaughters to hold them, which also gave Jo and Liam the opportunity to properly greet the guests. There were many students from Waterfall Downs and the teachers, as well as Lorelai, John and their sons, and Ricky and Alfie. When Liam saw his friend, he burst out into laughter because Alfie was actually in partner look with Ricky, which meant that he was wearing a hand-knitted Christmas jumper with a reindeer and snowflakes on it.

“Leave your comments to yourself, little man”, Alfie said without any emotions.

“My mom made us jumpers”, Ricky said and looked up at Alfie with a goofy grin. “And I made him wear his.”

“How on earth did he make you wear this thing?” Liam couldn’t take his eyes off Alfie in this funny looking Christmas jumper, which, on top of everything, was slightly too small because obviously Ricky’s mom was used to knitting jumpers for smaller men and not someone as tall as Alfie, so the sleeves were definitely too short.

“I could tell you how he made me wear this, but you will get all awkward about it again.”

“Oh…” Liam could see that Ricky was blushing, and he felt like he was about to blush too. “Yeah, maybe I don’t want to know.”

“Hello you two, Merry Christmas!” Jo showed up next to Liam and was about to hug Ricky, but then she saw Alfie in that jumper and just held in her breath for a moment. “Oh wow, that is-“

“Here.” To everyone’s surprise, Alfie handed her a little bag with as much warmth as Elizabeth would have done that. Even Ricky obviously didn’t know that his boyfriend had bought a present for her and he couldn’t help but be a little suspicious what in the world that present would be.

“Oh…um…thanks…” Jo was probably the most surprised of all, and actually started to think that this might be the first step towards getting accepted by Alfie. She was pretty sure they would never become ‘buddies’, but obviously he seemed to have finally accepted her- maybe. She opened the bag and held up some really expensive and very sexy lingerie. She first thought that was a joke, but there was not one expression on Alfie’s face.

“Dude, did you seriously give my wife some underwear?” Liam raised his eyebrows.

“I’m doing you a favour”, Alfie answered dryly. “Since she finally has some boobs, she might have a tiny chance of getting away from that Girl Scout image. Maybe. Anyway, who do I have to sleep with in order to get some drink over here? And please spare me with that eggnog stuff.”

Ricky rolled his eyes and turned to Jo. “We do have a more appropriate gift.” He held up a nicely wrapped present. “I’ll put it under the Christmas tree, okay?”

Jo, still staring at the bag in her hand, nodded. “That would be nice…”

“And of course I’ve got something for the girls as well, and let me assure you, it’s not underwear.”

“Well, that’s a relief.”

Jo moved closer to Liam, for some reason having the lingerie made her feel a little nervous. “Um Liam?”

“Yes?”

“I don’t think I like that Alfie thinks about me naked.” Jo whispered.

“Tell me about it.” Liam pulled Jo a little bit closer. “Come on I think Lor wants to say hi to you”

Jo saw Alfie and Ricky talk rather heated apparently Alfie wasn’t very happy about the present his boyfriend given Jo. But Edward had been running to her and hugged her tight. “Josey! Josey you kow wad? Me has a Schniedelwutz and me pee in toilet.”

Edward grinned just as proud as Jill early had. Jo looked at the little man in front of her. “Um okay.”

“What’s a…” Liam thought about repeating the word Edward said but he knew he would never be able to.

Edward giggled and then Jo joined in. “He said he has a willy.”

“Okay, Edward of course you do you are a boy.” Liam looked at the little boy who suddenly looked rather shy at him. Jo picked up Edward and kissed him. “Edward you are a Schlingel. Did you see that Jill can walk?”

“Oh!” The little boy wriggled and when Jo put him on the floor and he ran off to find the twins and see how Jill was walking. The twins were with a few others students and not too far from the group Mr Douglas was sitting on the couch, starring at them.
Jo giggled when she hugged Lorelai. “So your son has a willy? I hope your other one has one too that is sort of a given thing when being a boy.”

“Yeah he discovered this morning that I look different then he does when he surprised me this morning under the shower. And what did I hear there about one little girl walking? Oh and Frohe Weihnachten.” Lorelai kept hugging her little cousin.

“Merry Christmas. Yes Jill is walking. Wait Edward saw you under the shower? Like naked?”

“Yeah I am normally naked under the shower. Aren’t you?” Lorelai laughed.

“Merry Christmas Liam.” Lorelai pulled him into a tight hug.

Liam wasn’t really interested in what the ladies said about the little boys, but then he heard the words ‘shower’ and ‘naked’ coming from Lorelai, and that made him immediately prick up his ears. He obviously was very bad in hiding his sudden interest in their conversation, and he suddenly felt like that 17-year old boy again that always got so excited about every tiny thing Lorelai said or did. Just the thought of her in the shower…

“Merry Christmas, Liam.” Lorelai hugged him tightly, and this was actually a moment Liam didn’t necessarily wanted to be hugged by her, not while had this image of the shower and-

Dude, you’re married! You love Jo, remember?
He didn’t need to remind himself that he loved Jo, there was nothing in the world that would ever change that fact, but he felt bad for thinking about Lorelai in the shower. Well, technically he was only thinking about that because she mentioned it herself. It wasn’t like he was thinking about that all the time. A few years ago, before he met Jo, he might have been thinking about those things all the time, but not anymore. Or at least when he thought about it now, it was Jo in his thoughts, not some other woman. And not Lorelai either.

“Are you okay?” Lorelai took a step back, she clearly noticed that the young man was thinking very hardly about something.

“What?” He looked completely startled. “No! I mean yes! Of course I’m okay. Um…Merry Christmas.” His eyes met with Jo’s, and she looked at him as if she just read his mind and was now worried because he might have gotten Lorelai in his head again.
He quickly cleared his throat and pretended to pay attention to Edward. “So…how are the boys?”, he asked.

“Excuse me, I’ll check on the girls”, Jo said and quickly turned away from them. Liam was worried now that Jo felt betrayed, he really didn’t mean to think of other women like that, it just happened when Lorelai mentioned the shower thing.

Lorelai pursed her lips and crossed her arms. “Real smooth, Liam.”

“What?” He tried to act like he had no idea what she meant, but he was a bad actor. “I’ll better go to her”, he said.

“That’s what I would suggest as well.”

Liam shoved his hands into his pockets and looked for Jo. The girls were surrounded by a few students, and Ellen looked after them. There was also Mr Douglas who watched the kids, and Liam saw him talking to Jo, but the moment he got close to them, she suddenly turned away from the old man, grabbed her daughters and stormed out of the room. Liam looked confused, but then he followed her. Obviously Mr Douglas had said something that upset Jo.
He found her in their flat, still looking furious.

“Jo?” Liam approached her carefully. “What was that about? Are you okay?”

Jo starred at Liam for a very long moment until she pushed him out of Jill’s room both girls were sitting in her bed looking a little confused.

“Mr Douglas…” Jo took a deep breath. “Mr Douglas said that our daughters are the most beautiful girls he had seen in a very long time. He said it is arousing to see them dressed up. Not to mention that he said he likes being the one watching the girls when they go swimming.”

“Wait, wait! What do you mean our daughters are arousing?” Liam looked at her he felt the anger rise.

“Liam he had a boner while he was watching our twins with female students. We have to do something.” Jo looked desperately at Liam.

“Okay…” Liam tried very hard to stay calm since Jo was freaking. “Are you sure about this?”

“Liam I saw how he looked at the twins, it was the same way when you see me wear the lingerie Alfie got me. We cannot have him teach in this school, he is thinking about the children in the worst case. What if he hurts one of the students or our daughters?” Jo was shaking in fear, anger and worries. It hurt Liam to see her in this stage and it reminded him a lot of the time in summer when she was in such a bad mental health, so he pulled her into a tight hug.

“We will sort this.”

“No Liam I want him out tonight, before he touches any minor in this house!”

Liam knew that she was serious.

“Okay um lets go back downstairs we take the twins because we cannot leave them up here and they are the safest with us.”

“Okay, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have just taken them up here but I was scared that he would dare to touch them.” Jo leaned her head against Liam’s shoulder but she looked up at him.

“Don’t worry about it, you were right to take them away from him.” Liam didn’t need to tell his wife that he was furious in the inside. They took their children and went back downstairs when they run into Dick.

“I’m here so shut up and don’t start that I am late.” Dick said in his usual grumpy voice, but there was this tiny twitch around his mouth as if he was nearly smiling.

“Well yeah but we got a problem, so Jo can you go inside and make sure no child is going close to him I fill in Dick and consider calling the police.” Liam kissed Jo on the cheek and watched his wife go back into the large ballroom to find Ellen or Betty or better Lorelai and then to get all children away from Mr Douglas. How could they not have noticed it? How could they have hired this… pig. They had to talk to every student to make sure that not one of them got hurt by him.

“Okay, what’s going on?”, Dick asked, looking suspiciously.

“There’s this creep, he’s one of the teachers, and he made really inappropriate comments about the girls”, Liam explained.

Dick didn’t look particularly interested. “What girls?”

“My daughters.”

That seemed to have caught his attention. “They are…babies”, he said dryly.

“Yeah, no kidding”, Liam mumbled. “But obviously there are some creeps out there who are into infants, and it’s absolutely disgusting! How can you even…how…they are babies!”

“You sure that guy really said something like that?”

“I don’t know exactly what he said because I wasn’t there, but he said it to Jo, and I trust her. I don’t think she would make up something like that.”

“Okay.” Dick nodded and then turned away from him. “Who’s the guy?”

“He’s the older one with-“ Liam didn’t have time to finish because Dick already walked right towards Mr Douglas, grabbed his arm and pushed him aside.

“Listen, you old scumbag. If you touch those babies I will personally find out where you live, I will break into your home, I will beat you unconscious, and then pour gasoline over you and accidently drop the burning match right over you, do you understand?”

Mr Douglas didn’t have time to answer because Liam showed up next to Dick, but the old man sure as hell looked intimidated.
“Sir!” Liam looked coldly at the teacher. “I’m asking you to leave. You are no longer a teacher at this school.

Mr Douglas looked from the scary, tall guy who had just threated him to literally burn him, to the young man who looked like he wasn’t out of high school yet, but Mr Douglas knew that he couldn’t mess with him, even though he was young, he was still the headmaster.
The old man cleared his throat. “I think there has been a misunderstand-“

“Oh, I don’t think so”, Liam interrupted him harshly.

“Very well, then.” He cleared his throat again. “These students here have been greatly spoilt and disrespectful anyway, I wouldn’t want to work here much longer anyway.”

“I think the only spoilt and disrespectful person I see in this room is you.” Liam crossed his arms and watched the older man mumbling something and leaving the room.

“I can still find out where he lives and burn his house down- including him”, Dick mumbled.

“Thanks for the offer, but I think we’re okay now”, Liam said. “But if he ever shows up again, I’ll take you up on that offer.”