Growing Up

After lunch Jo and Liam had driven to the Von Gruensee stud farm, Liam went with John in his and Lorelai’s office. No it was not in any way s adult sex room it was John’s and Lorelai’s room in which they were 00- and Candy. Liam was talking about some gadget he was working on right now for 00- and Candy.
Meanwhile Jo was sitting in the sun in Lorelai’s garden the girls well Jill was running around with Henry and Edward while Jane was sitting on a blanket playing with her stuffed duck. Both girls were wearing white summer dresses and of course a double thick layer of sunscreen and matching white sunhats. Jo was closely watching them, in case she had to help them.

“Josie you can relax they are safe here.”

“I know, just Jill is so adventurous and always finds trouble and Jane is investigating so much while her walking is still very wobbly.”

“Edward will hold her hand, he really like her.”

“I’m sorry I know I’m too worried about them. Liam thinks it is a little silly. He thinks I should let the girls’ sleepover here.”

“It’s okay. We can make a practice day, you bring all their sleepover things and we see how the day goes and if you feel comfortable and called about hundred times they can stay the night.”

“But Jane is starting potty training and Jill is wearing the real nappies and…”

“All of this is no problem. Henry is getting toilet training as well and I know how to change their nappies.”

Jo sighed. “I’m sorry.”

Lorelai smiled and hugged Jo tightly. “Don’t be sorry for loving your daughters.”

“Mama, Mama. Look! Jane!” Henry was shouting excitedly as his brother was holding Jane’s hands while she was walking over the grass as she smiled shy at Edward. Lorelai smiled at Jo. “See the boys are helping me and everything is going to be fine.”

Jo sighed. “Okay on Saturday we bring over the girls and see how they are doing. And I will write down Jane’s routine.”

“Josie, Josie calm down I will be fine. I was able to watch you when you were little so I’m not worried about it. Here have some more cake it will calm you down.”

Jo laughed and took another slice of the Cream-cheese torte. “Where is John?”

“Oh… on a mission. He will be back in a few days.”

“I can’t believe that you both are still spies.” Jo looked admiring at her cousin. She never really wanted to be a spy but she still admired Lorelai for her adventurousness.

“I would get bored and I’m telling you it makes the sex amazing.”

Jo blushed deep red. “Oh Josie don’t tell me that the goodbye- and I’m-so-glad-to-be-sex is not amazing.”

Jo managed to blush even deeper red. “Um…”

“That’s not fair you talk with your ‘girl’ Ricky about it but not me?” Lorelai tried to look offended.

“Lor!”

Lorelai started laughing. “Josie you are adorable.”

Both women were quiet for a while until Jo mumbled. “I need to make a really good anniversary because the last I was…” Jo broke off and starred into her tea cup.

“How about I plan it, I can sit down with Ricky so that it is not too much. I will take the girls overnight and you guys celebrate your second anniversary.” Lorelai was very calm, she didn’t want to freak her out. She knew that Jo was always had been a little overly sensitive. Lorelai blamed Elizabeth for that. Jo had to be perfect for her and not even Jesus himself would have been perfect enough in Elizabeth’s eyes, so with the years Jo became overly sensitive and had troubles dealing with her emotions.
Jo looked at Lorelai. “That would be nice just don’t go crazy.”

“I’m never going crazy.”

“Liam doesn’t like it when I wear make-up.”

“None at all?” Lorelai looked shocked at Jo.

“Well he doesn’t like me dolled up. He prefers me natural.”

“And you?”

“I think me neither. I mean a little yes maybe a nice red lipstick but not too much.”

Lorelai giggled. “You are just too cute. Okay so on Saturday the girls stay here and I will call Ricky to plan your anniversary.”

Jo nodded watching the children. She was nervous to leave the girls but she was also looking forward to be alone with Liam. Speaking -or thinking of Liam- he just came out of the house, parents had been complaining about one of his classes and he had to talk to them for over an hour now.

“Hey ladies.” Liam kissed his wife and set down on the bench next to her, his hand resting on her knee as he did so often.

“Liam on Saturday the girls will be staying here over night so get in your sexy pants and shave all unwanted hair.” Lorelai grinned.

When Saturday arrived, Liam tried really hard to calm down his wife. Jo was so nervous, running around the flat and getting all things together for the girls’ sleepover at Lorelai’s. Actually, Jo had already gotten everything together the night before, but right now she was restless again and had to check everything twice- or rather, five times. Liam had both twins on his arms, waiting a bit annoyed at the door.

“Jo, it’s fine”, he said. “Everything was done yesterday, and now you’re just freaking out over nothing.”

“But-“

“We’re not sending them off to a different country, Jo. It’s just one night, okay? And besides, it’s one night at Lorelai’s, who happens to have experience with children, more than you do actually, not only because her kids are older but also because hers are boys, and little boys are tougher to handle than little girls, so if there’s one person who you can really rely on, it’s her.”

“I know that, but Jane is difficult and-“

“Jane will be fine too.” Liam looked at his older daughter who was resting her head against his shoulder. “Right, Princess?”

Jane looked up. “Dada.”

“Was that a ‘Yes, Dad’?”

She blinked. “Dada.”

Liam chuckled. “Alright, I trust that you’ll behave well at Auntie Lorelai’s. I’m a little more worried about your sister though…” He turned his head towards Jill who grinned at him cheekily.
Jo was still running around, now she was looking for something in the kitchen. Liam sighed.
“Honestly, Jo, if it’s all getting too much for you and you just can’t calm down, we can call Lor and cancel it.”

She came out of the kitchen and shook her head. “No, I don’t want to be that kind of mother who can’t handle giving her children into the care of others.”

“But you’re acting like that kind of mother, at least the past two days you’ve been like that.”

She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Liam, I was nervous, I know, but I’m okay now.” She grabbed the big bag which contained everything for the two girls.

“You sure about that?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t want you to be nervous during the entire time after we dropped them off. As much as I love them, but it would be nice to spend some time with you alone, and it would kind of ruin things if you were too nervous to enjoy it. So again, if you want to cancel on Lor, we can do that. I’d rather you would cancel now than being all nervous while we’re having time to ourselves.”

Jo looked at her little family, then smiled. “No, I want this. It’s what good mothers are supposed to do, letting go off their children now and then, isn’t it?”

“I guess it is.” Liam kissed her on the cheek. “They will be fine, I have no doubt.”

Jo and Liam had left several hours ago and of course Jo had called several times. Jane was standing in the hallway looking rather lost, she had been at the Von Gruensee house many times before but now without her mommy she was a little lost. She was pointing at something and looked expectantly at Lorelai.

“Okay Maus I have no idea what you try to tell me. How about we go back in the living room?” Lorelai loved the twins but they were so different from her boys. Jane continued pointed into midair and looked with her large blue eyes expecting at her cousin second degree or something like this.
“I’m so sorry Maus, I don’t understand what you want.”

And then Jane started hysterical crying well and Lorelai saw the puddle and Jane’s now darker tights -Jo liked to dress Jane in dresses now that she was walking-. “Oh Maus that is okay don’t worry about it, I’ll clean you up and then you’ll be as good as new.”

Jane just continued crying.

“Mommy can I help you?” Edward asked coming into the hallway.

“Seriously Edward? Do I look like I need help?” Lorelai snapped, but she felt bad for talking so mean to her oldest son. She sighed. “Yes that would be nice.” Lorelai was holding Jane on her arm as she wanted to go to the boys’ bathroom as John walked with Jill and Henry into the hallways coming from outside.

“Hello my darling, how are you doing in here?”

“Oh we are fine you got the easy twin while I have the adorable odd one, Jane had a little accident.”

“Anything I can do to help?”

“Yes keep Henry and Jill busy, while I’ll clean up Jane and then I do some dinner.” Lorelai looked a little stressed, she might have underestimated to have four little children in the house with two toilet trainers and one still in diapers.

“Sure a few new VHS arrived so I can watch a little TV with the two wild ones.” John smiled and took his son’s hand and picked up Jill which was looking at her sister with a little concern. “Jaja?”

“It’s okay Hase, Jane just had a little accident. I’ll clean her up and then she is as good as new.” Lorelai smiled at the little girl. But Jill shook her head “Jaja dirdy.”

“It will be okay little girl we will clean her up.” John kissed Jill on the cheek. Jill nodded and snuggled against his shoulder. “Shout if you need anything else Lory.”

“Thanks.” Lorelai turned around but then she remembered. “Oh and wat-…”

“Whoa.” John had put down Jill and as he walked away he slipped on the puddle Jane had left in the hallway and fell into it.
Lorelai started giggling. “And watch the puddle that I have to clean up.”

“Gel you could have warned me a little earlier. Jill are you okay?” John laughed as well.

“You wet.” Jill giggled because John had a large wet stain right under his bottom. “You pee?”

“No but it sure looks like it.”

In the background Jane was still hysterically crying.

“Go clean up Jane and I clean up this and keep the wild ones busy.”

Lorelai nodded and went upstairs into her boys’ bathroom, it was the easiest way to clean Jane in there because that bathroom was built to suit her boys’ needs. “Okay sweetie let’s strip you down and clean you up. Edward could you go down in the kitchen is the list of how Jane likes things to be done.”

Edward nodded and ran down to get the instruction list for his little friend. But he was too late when he read it and came back upstairs he heard Jane scream even more and with her along his mother trying to sound calm. “Jane sweetie please let go of me. I’m sorry it is okay, I turned off the water.”

“Mommy, nein nein water is nicht good. She is terrified.” Edward was out of breath from the running. Jane well she suddenly looked like a little agile kitten clawing herself into Lorelai’s skin to keep herself away from the water.

“Yeah I discovered that as well.” Lorelai peeled Jane off her chest and neck and put the little girl on the ground.

“Sorry I was to slow. But it says here that Jill is unnaturally afraid of water.”

“Okay then I guess a wash cloth has to do it.” Now that Jill’s wet knickers, tights and dress were off her and she was not to be drowned in the bathtub anymore she had stopped screaming hysterically and was only sobbing quietly; as she pointed again into mid air. Lorelai followed her little finger and saw where she pointed at… the toilet. “Oh you clever girl, you told me what you needed and I was too silly to understand you.” Lorelai kissed Jane and sat her on the especially for her bought pink children’s toilet seat. Edward came back with Jane’s bag of clothes.

“Mami Jane doesn’t look like me without clothes.”

“No buddy she doesn’t because she is a girl and you are a boy.”

“Oh okay she is like you?” Edward was very curious about this subject.

“Yes one day when she is grown up she will be like me but Edward we talked about this didn’t we? We do not talk about sexualities unless the people feel comfortable doing it and Jane is too young to understand what you are saying.” Lorelai didn’t sound angry or shocked that her son was asking questions like this, she spoke calmly just explaining how to talk about sexuality and the human bodies.

“Sorry I forgot.” Edward looked in Jane’s bag. “Mami how long does Jane stay here again?”

Lorelai started laughing again. “Josey wanted to make sure that Jane ahs enough clothes.”

“But Mami she has like twenty dresses in her bag.” Edward looked confused at his mother. While Lorelai pulled Jane’s little knickers up after she was all cleaned and even had done a little girl poo in the toilet. As Lorelai took a fresh undershirt for Jane the little girl started widely shaking her head -now that she was clean she had stopped crying but the incident had caused it’s toll she was still rather upset-. Edward was standing right next to Jane and had started humming, Lorelai didn’t know it but it was not a melody of any known song her son was just making up this little melody. “I know Josey cannot let go of her little girls that easily. What’s wrong sweetie?”

Jane walked the few steps to her bag and found the matching undershirt to go along with her knickers. “I’m sorry Jill didn’t I take the right shirt?”

Jane shook her head and looked at Edward in her typical investigating stare.

“She seems to like this melody what’s the song called?” Lorelai put on the rest of Jane’s clothes and a fresh pair of slippers.

“I don’t know.” Edward mumbled between humming. Lorelai didn’t pressure more and let it slip. She was never good with music.

“Are you feeling better now Jane?”

Lorelai kissed Jane on the cheek and put all of the dirty clothes in the laundry hamper so that she could later wash them.

“Mami, I’m confused why did you ask me and Henry to speak English while the twins are here?” Edward took Jane’s hand as they walked out of the bathroom.

“Because it would be rude to speak German because the twins do not understand German.” Lorelai smirked, her oldest son did just recently start to understand that he was able to speak two languages.

“Oh, okay.” Edward was still humming and to his delight did Jane start to hum along. It was adorable to watch the two more quiet children.

After John had slipped in the puddle, he quickly got changed, though he had taken both Henry and Jill with him- there was no way he could leave those two unsupervised. The two little trouble makers were running around in the big bedroom and giggling loudly.

“Don’t you two even think for a second that I’m not watching you”, John said while he pulled up the new pair of trousers. Jill ran towards him with a big grin, looking like she had some mischief in her mind, but he picked her up carefully before she had the chance to pull at his trousers.
“You’re a cheeky one, aren’t you?”
Jill just giggled and turned her head to Henry to check where her partner in crime was.

“So, how about we go to the living room and watch one of the new videos, does that sound good?”

Henry nodded excitedly while Jill was more occupied with grabbing John’s nose.
“Man, I remember how tiny you were after you were born, and so innocent”, John said to her. “Yet again, I think you were never innocent in the first place”, he added with a grin. “And you have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”

Jill looked at him for a moment, then she started grabbing his hair.
“Okay, okay, let’s get you two in front of the TV!” John took Henry’s hand while in the other arm he was still holding Jill. They went to the living room where he carefully put down the little ginger girl on the couch, and Henry quickly climbed up the couch to sit next to his best friend.

“Okay, let me see…” John got out a few VHS. “We’ve got Pinocchio…”

Both shook their heads.

“Okay, no Pinocchio. What about The Jungle Book?”

Both shook their heads again. Well, Jill only shook her head because Henry did, not because she knew anything about those titles.

“No? Okay. Um…One Hundred and One Dalmatians?”

They shook their heads.

“You two are very picky.” John sighed and held up the next VHS. “Peter Pan?”

Henry grinned and nodded, and so did Jill.

“Okay, Peter Pan it is.”

Jo was standing in the kitchen after Liam went frustrated with her into the living room and started watching cartoon. She had called Lorelai nearly every ten minutes but Liam’s reaction had sort of shaken her. Jo sighed at went in the bedroom and got the small box with something she had bought to please Liam. Luckily it was a nice warm May evening because she was not wearing a lot of fabric. Jo took a deep breath and then went into the living room.

“Hey there.” She sounded shy because she wasn’t sure how mad Liam was at her for calling Lorelai so often. Jo hugged Liam from behind pushing her hands into his shirt. Her lips were so close to Liam’s ear that her breath was tickling him. “You wanna play with me?”

Liam bit his lip and then managed to say. “What about the girls?”

“They are at Lorelai’s so you and I can do more advanced games.” Jo whispered seductively while she was kissing Liam’s neck.

“Are they?”

Jo climbed over the back of the couch and sat on Liam lap. “You know mister I don’t like this attitude, I wanna get laid and you talk about our daughters. Now shut up and touch me.”

Liam started grinning and leaned forward to kiss Jo passionately. “I love it when you are bossy.” Liam’s touch grew more intense and it made Jo moan. Jo loved the live she and Liam had, she loved her daughters, she loved the way she and Liam had sex in their everyday life but this night was something she loved so much. It was a little rough and anywhere but the bedroom and Jo had not to worry about being loud which Liam really enjoyed. After several hours of grown up fun Jo collapsed on Liam’s chest in the corridor. “Oh my God Liam, this was incredible. We should let the twins stay more often somewhere over night.” Jo was out of breath, sweaty and definitely needing a shower but also really happy.
Liam laughed. “Oh yes we should. God, Jo I forgot how bendy you can be. Come on let’s shower you will get cold on the floor.”

The two young parents went together under the shower and they didn’t stop the fun there.

The next morning Jo and Liam drove the short distance to the Von Gruensee stud farm to pick up their daughters.

“Lor you tired.” Jo grinned.

“Shut up Josey. Oh man your girls are a handful just so you know. And Jill and Henry are not to be trusted when they are alone. But Edward is really good in calming your little OCD girl down.”

“Hey she is not OCD.” Jo looked a little offended. “She is just very tidy.”

Liam was holding his little princess tightly. “She is perfect.”

Lorelai laughed John was working again so Lorelai had the last few hours to watch four children. “No but honestly any time you need a place for the girls. The boys loved to have their little girls here.”

Jo nodded and grinned cheeky. “Yeah it was nice to have my husband all to myself.”

Alfie came home in the evening, after he had to spend the last hours with his grandmother, who had forced him to join her on an auction. Alfie obviously hadn’t planned to buy anything there, neither had he planned to stare at expensive furniture for hours and to spend his afternoon with his grandmother among Oxford’s high society, but she had pressured him for almost two weeks, and he knew he couldn’t bail on her this time- and if he would, she would give him hell for the next months, so he just gave in this time and got it over with.
He didn’t know where Ricky was, it was really quiet, so he assumed Ricky was probably in his study.
“So it turns out my sister is pregnant”, Alfie said loudly while he put his jacket away and loosened his tie. “I already thought at the wedding that she looked fatter, but now it’s official. I just hope she’ll have a boy and my parents will leave me alone, but I doubt it…” He entered the living room and found Ricky on the couch behind Vogue magazine.

“I guess congratulations are in order, for becoming an uncle…”, Ricky said without any expression in his voice.

“Not really. Actually, quite the opposite. One more Jackson brat in this world, and any brat who has half of my sister’s genes can only turn out horrifying.” Alfie walked over to Ricky and planted a kiss on his head, but he could feel that Ricky was unusually stiff. “Something wrong?”

Ricky didn’t look at him. “Why don’t you ask your girlfriend? After all, she’s practically your neighbour now.”

“Sorry, what?” Alfie looked a bit confused.

“Of course you’re pretending you don’t know anything about it”, Ricky mumbled, still looking down.

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about. What girlfriend?”

“Sofiya.”

Alfie rolled his eyes. “Seriously? Why did you have to bring her up? I didn’t do anything, I was with my grandmother today, I have witnesses if you don’t believe me.”

“No, that’s not what I mean”, Ricky said quietly. “It’s just…I had to find out today that Sofiya lives in Paris and London now, and of course, you decided to keep that a secret from me.”

Alfie sighed. “It doesn’t matter where she lives.”

“It does matter! London is pretty much right next door, and I’m sure, being so madly in love with you, she will constantly show up from now on. And what annoys me the most is that you thought you could keep it secret.”

“I didn’t keep it secret, I just…didn’t tell you.”

“Great”, Ricky mumbled sarcastically. “Now I feel better.”

“Hey, I didn’t think it mattered, okay?”

Ricky finally looked up to him, and it was killing Alfie to see him like that again, with that kicked-baby-penguin face that he did so well. “You know it matters, that’s why you didn’t want to tell me.”

Alfie was quiet for a moment. “How did you find out anyway? Did she call here? Well, she couldn’t, I never gave her my number.”

Ricky handed Alfie the magazine. “Page 38.”

Alfie raised his eyebrows, a bit confused again, but then he knew what Ricky meant when he saw the picture. “You got to be kidding me.” There was a four-page spread with a photoshoot and interview.

“She sure looks pretty”, Ricky said with an almost sulky undertone in his voice. “Your babies will be gorgeous. Like, seriously, the most beautiful children.”

Alfie rolled his eyes and closed the magazine, then threw it on the couch. “Why are you reading this stuff anyway? It’s a woman’s magazine, and last time I checked, you weren’t a woman, unless that changed within the past eight hours.”

“I hate this gender labelling”, Ricky replied dryly. “I like looking at nice fashion, it doesn’t matter if I can wear it or not. But that’s not the point…” He looked at his boyfriend. “So, is she coming here on a more regular basis from now on?”

“No, she’s not”, Alfie said coldly and started to unbutton his shirt. “I have to get changed, I smell like rich old women, they were all over me, and they all smell the same.” He was about to go upstairs when he hesitated. Ricky looked like a kicked penguin, and he couldn’t leave him like this. Alfie ran his fingers through Ricky’s soft hair. “Don’t worry about this, okay?”

“Of course I worry. She always gives me a reason to worry.”

“That’s ridiculous”, he said. “She has nothing on you.” He bent down and kissed his head again, and this time Ricky smiled.

Ricky followed Alfie upstairs and let him shower while he got changed.

“You know you could always join me under the shower.” Alfie said loudly from the bathroom.

“I know but I showered earlier and…”

“What without me? Oh you finally masturbated!” Alfie reappeared in the bedroom dressed as God made him. Ricky blushed, he was sitting on the bed in just his underpants. Alfie laughed and went over to his boyfriend to kiss him. Ricky was still red in the face and Alfie large erect penis was not helping at all.

“Alfie I don’t like to… you know… touch myself.” Ricky mumbled.

“I know so let me do that for you.” Alfie grinned and really liked that his boyfriend was already pretty much naked.

“Harder Alfie.” Ricky mumbled through his teeth clearly showing that those were nothing but hollow words. He didn’t want Alfie to be harder with him but reading about Sofiya made him try so badly.
After a while and one or two positions Ricky leaned over the bed and picked something up.

“Alfie I got this so you know you can um… hit me, I mean like spank me.” Ricky said as he handed him a whip. Alfie starred at the whip for several seconds and then burst into laughter. “Oh my god Ricky why the bloody fuck would you think I want to hit you with that thing?”

Ricky first didn’t say anything and just starred embarrassed at the whip. “Because you like it rough like when you do it with Sofiya and I don’t want you to think that you can’t be with me. So hit me.”

“You are serious?”

“Yes!” Ricky’s voice was trembling but his eyes looked determined at Alfie who was still laughing. Ricky looked angry at him.

“Okay, okay. Got it I spank you.” Alfie was still laughing when he well he tried to hit Ricky but in the end he just gently tapped Ricky’s ass.

“No harder.”

Alfie couldn’t hold on to himself anymore and was laughing so hard that he actually started crying. Ricky tried to be rough and do him hard but then fell backwards out of their bed.

“Whoa careful don't hurt yourself, Lizzie.” Alfie crawled after Ricky to the edge of the be. He offered Ricky his hand but his Lizzie looked a sulking back at Alfie.

“I was serious Alfie.”

“Stop trying to be something that you are not. I know you were a virgin when we met and you still sort of are but you are like the most adorable virgin. It is odd every time when we have sex you do not lose the innocence you had when we first met. I don’t want you to be like Sofiya ever!”

Ricky crossed his arms still sitting naked on the floor. “I hate you. I want you to be able to do me like you do her because I know you really like it that way.” The whip had fallen with Ricky on the floor.

“And I told you a hundred times that I don’t want to be rough with you.”

“You only don’t want to because you think I can’t handle it, so you’re considerate, but I don’t want you to be considerate with me all the time. I’m sure you’re never considerate with Sofiya…”

“Can you just stop bringing her up all the time?”

“Well, she kind of is the big elephant in the room, and unlike you I’m not going to ignore it any longer.”

“So, because she’s the elephant in the room, as you put it, you think that you need to get spanked?” Alfie obviously couldn’t hold back the sarcasm in his voice.

“I don’t want you to think that you have to treat me like a baby.”

“But you are-“

“Don’t even think about saying that I’m a baby”, Ricky interrupted him. Alfie had a very hard time holding back a comment about that, especially since Ricky looked super helpless there on the floor, literally screaming ‘I’m so small and little and helpless’, which, of course, Alfie thought was super adorable, but Ricky didn’t have the same opinion.

“Look, I’m not considerate or anything like that, I just-“

“You think I’m too weak and whiney and a cry-baby and-“

“Hey, I never said any of that!”

“You didn’t have to.” Ricky finally got up and put his underpants on. “I’m a joke, you can’t even take me seriously.”

“Hey…” Alfie grabbed his hand and pulled him closer. “That’s not true. I’m not laughing because you’re a joke, I’m laughing because you’re the most adorable person I’ve ever seen. And trust me, I don’t use the word ‘adorable’ very often. In fact, it’s pretty much non-existent in my vocabulary.”

Ricky looked quietly at Alfie, trying to make out whether is boyfriend said the truth about not making fun of him, but he could tell that Alfie was honest.
“But adorable isn’t really a manly characteristic…”, Ricky mumbled.

“I don’t want you to be manly.”

“But I’m a man.”

“You’re a boy”, Alfie corrected him while a smile crossed his face.

“You’re still going to say that when I’m old and wrinkly, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Aren’t you tired of me being so ignorant?”

“First of all, you’re not ignorant, you’re innocent, and there’s a big difference. And secondly, that innocence makes you very special. You probably don’t see it that way, but I do.”

Ricky started to blush. “You think I’m special?”, he asked shyly.

“Hell yes. And by special I don’t mean ‘retarded’.”

Ricky chuckled quietly. “But you know that you don’t have to treat me like I’m made of glass. I was serious, you can be rougher with me.”

“I don’t want to.” Alfie paused for a moment.

“Why?”

“Because.”

“Because what?”

Alfie actually didn’t look at him when he explained. “You care a lot about your parents, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“So…because of that, you would never hurt them physically, would you?”

“Of course not.”

“And you would never hurt that girl-scout friend of yours, right?”

“No way.”

“I thought so…” Alfie still didn’t look in Ricky’s eyes. “And why is that? Why would you never physically hurt those people?”

“Because I love them”, Ricky said, and the moment the words came out, he realised where Alfie was going.

“And you honestly think I would want to be rough with you? Because that’s basically hurting you physically, and I…I don’t want that, okay?”

Ricky could tell how hard it was for Alfie to say those things, but the things he just said meant the world to him.

“Anyway!” Alfie cleared his throat, trying to change the subject when he noticed Ricky’s lovesick penguin look again. “That doesn’t mean that you trying to be bossy doesn’t turn me on. It sure as hell did…” He grinned at his boyfriend who started to blush again.

It is end of May 1972 in London on the Strand up on the top floor.

“Oh my fucking God, how can people write such shit?” Alfie threw the manuscript into his giant bin in the corner where lots of others so called manuscripts had found their last resting place. Most of them had rather offensive and mean comments in bright red on them.

“I don’t think that is an appropriated way of criticising a book.”

“You didn’t read the shit!” Alfie looked up and had this evil grin at him. There was this boy looking man sort of, he was actually older then Alfie about four month older but he looked several years younger well and less richly dressed. “What are you doing in London anyway, Scot.”

“Visiting my best friend, well and travelling. I quit my job because I couldn’t stand those students anymore so I thought I can crash at your place for a while until I find something better?” The man that had been called Scot smiled, he had a heavy Scottish accent.

“So you found me in my office?” Alfie snarled as he pulled his best friend into a tight hug. “It’s been too long that we saw each other you look not a day older.”

“Shut up. What is this you are having here?” Scot picked up the framed pictures of Ricky, even one of the O’Dohertys was in Alfie’s office.

“This is no one.” Alfie snatched the picture away.

“Oh that is your Ricky boy.” Scot laughed. “So how about the room you will offer me?” Scot sat down on the guest chair that no one ever and will ever sit on.

“Sure you can stay but don’t talk to Ricky. You are a classmate nothing more so no story telling.” Alfie looked at Scot. “And don’t mention this office or this job, I will tell Ricky about this when I find the right moment.”

“Sure thing at least about the job part.”

“Come on we gotta go or Ricky worries again. I need to cover this better so I guess work more from home.” Alfie walked out of his office and knew that Scot would follow him.

“So did you publish any books yet?” Scot was carrying his large travelling bag.

“No they are all shit.”

Scot laughed. “I’m not surprised.”

During the drive back to Oxford Scot -who got greeted by the driver as an old friend- and Alfie talked and laughed together. It was as good as in the old days Alfie and Scot got along insanely well. Joking and talking about their lives and it was crazy how easily Alfie could talk with Scot about his personal life. “… I do sleep less around I sort of don’t need to anymore…”

“So here we are this is my home.” Alfie unlocked the door and let Scot go in first. “Ricky are you home? I hope you don’t mind that got company.”

Ricky was just in his study, writing on his type writer, when he heard the main door unlocking.

“Ricky, are you home? I hope you don’t mind that I got company.”

Ricky immediately stopped typing. For a moment he thought he misheard what Alfie said. Did he actually say he had company? He never brought anyone home, never. Well, except Liam, but that was something different. Maybe it was Liam who was with him right now. It probably was, who else would it be?
Ricky got up. “Of course I don’t mi-“ He stopped when he saw that it wasn’t Liam but another young man Ricky had never seen before. He was quite cute and young-looking, and the worst part was; he was precisely Alfie’s type. Why did Alfie bring him here? This was their safe nest, nobody ever came here, except sometimes Liam, but usually when Ricky was spending time with Jo and Alfie was alone. Ricky reminded himself to be polite, but inside he was panicking. What did this all mean?

“Scot is an old school friend of mine, we know each other since elementary school”, Alfie said.

“Um…hi…ehm…”

“You must be the famous Ricky.” The young man smiled and reached out for his hand. “Alfie constantly talks about you.”

“I do not”, Alfie said dryly.

“Yes, you do.”

Ricky looked from Scot to Alfie. “You…um…you talk? I didn’t know you were, um…”

“Well, we don’t talk that often, but now and then check how the other one is doing”, Scot explained. “I just moved back to England, I lived in Scotland before.”

“But you went to the same school?”, Ricky asked.

“Yes, I was a boarding school student”, Scot replied, then he looked at Alfie. “Dude, you sure he’s legal? He looks very young”, he said teasingly.

Alfie rolled his eyes. “I’m pretty sure he’s of age.”

“You’re pretty sure?” Scot raised an eyebrow, but then turned to Ricky. “I’m sorry, I’m not actually serious. Although you do look very young.”

“That’s okay”, Ricky replied shyly. “I get that all the time.”

“I’m getting something to drink”, Alfie said. “Scot, the usual, or has that changed?”

“No, still the same.”

Ricky looked from the young man to his boyfriend. So apparently Alfie even knew exactly what his friend’s favourite drink was. Ricky was sure Alfie had no idea what Ricky’s favourite drink was.

“Don’t you want to ask Ricky what he wants?”, Scot asked, obviously noticing the younger boy’s strange expression.

“He doesn’t drink”, Alfie replied while he went to the bar.

Ricky looked on the floor, feeling a bit like the 5fifth wheel. He was about to excuse himself and go back in his study, when Scot smiled at him.

“So, you must be very special.”

“Excuse me?”

“I know Alfie since ages, and he was probably the last person on earth I would expect ending up in a real relationship, but here you are…”

“Well…um…our relationship is more…um…he still sleeps with others.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that”, Scot said very matter-of-factly. “But he never had a boyfriend before. He doesn’t even have one-night-stands, because that would mean that he would actually stay an entire night with one and the same person, and he would never do that. But you…” He paused for a moment, checking where Alfie was, but Alfie was still in the bar and couldn’t hear them. “I don’t know you, but I do know that you must be something special. Alfie literally can’t shut up about you, and he doesn’t even notice it.”

Ricky blushed slightly. “Really?”

“I’m telling you, you have a greater impact on him than you could realise.”

“What are you two gossiping about?” Alfie appeared next to them, handing Scot his drink, and Ricky a glass of chocolate milk. Ricky looked surprised at him.

“What? Do you think I don’t know what you like?” He shook his head and turned to Scot. “I’ll have to show you some new art pieces I bought, you’d like it to.”

“Please don’t tell me you bought an actual Da Vinci.”

“Of course not, he’s Italian”, Alfie replied sarcastically. “And they aren’t for sale.”

Ricky was standing a little unsure with his chocolate milk in the hallway. “I… um I made a chicken pot for dinner. Are you staying?” Ricky was whispering looking on the floor.

“That’s what I meant with ‘We have company’.” Alfie took a sip of his whiskey. “Come on Scot the kitchen is right here and Ricky always makes enough to feed an army. “ Alfie put his arm around Scot and led him into the large kitchen.
Ricky had actually a hard time not to look to hurt when he saw his boyfriend with the new toy of his.

“So um yes it’s nothing fancy just chicken pot.” Ricky sat down on his seat across Alfie while Scot was sitting next to Alfie.

“So how is old Scotland? It’s been years I’ve been at your distillery. Ricky we should go in summer.” Alfie didn’t even notice how much he was ignoring Ricky, but Scot did.

“Maybe Ricky doesn’t want to see Scotland.”

“Oh no I would love to see Scotland. It sounds very interesting that your parents own a distillery Scot.” Ricky mumbled.

Scot looked a little confused at Ricky but didn’t clarify his confusion. “Yeah they do, sort of. Alfie’s grandfather bought it when my parents had troubles and were about to lose it. So my father is just the CEO but Alfie owns it. Alfie said you don’t drink?”

“No I don’t like whiskey, sorry. When did you meet Alfie then?”

“Oh we were little lads about what four or five. When was it that your grandfather swooped in?”

“Oooh so you know stories about Alfie when he was little.” Ricky looked now a little more interested at Scot.

“Yes but I’m not allowed to talk about it, I took a blood oath.”

Ricky looked disappointed, the rest of the dinner Ricky was rather quiet and just watched Alfie and Scot banter away.
Later Scot was settled in the guest room, well the room that was called Ricky’s room. Alfie pulled Ricky into his arms, and he was wondering why his Lover Boy was shivering. It was a warm night.

“You know if you want we can have a threesome with Scot.” Ricky whispered shivering into Alfie’s chest.

“What?” Alfie looked confused.

“That’s why you brought him, isn’t it? So that we have a threesome, so that you can have two men looking likes boys. If you want I can go and get Scot and we can…” Ricky’s heart was so heavy, but he really wanted Alfie to be happy.

“Okay let’s start with, who the bloody fuck is Scot?” Alfie sounded actually confused.

“Your friend from school?” Ricky was confused now too, he lifted his head and looked at Alfie. Alfie looked a while at him and then burst into laughter.

“Oh Ricky his name is not Scot, I just call him Scot because he is from Scotland and Alba is a girl name. His name is actually James McAlister. And no he is not here because I want a threesome with him and you. I’m not sharing you with anyone! He is here because he moved down here and needed a place to stay. He is… well I guess my oldest real friend and I would never let him have to pay for a hotel so I thought it is okay if he stays here but when you don’t like it I will tell him he has to go tomorrow morning right away.”

“Oh he is your ex then.”

“No silly, he is not my ex. He was a friend and never more I tried to sleep with him but he was clearly not interested in it so I dropped it and we became very close friends. I made sure no one looked at him weirdly. I never slept with him and in the end I never wanted to.” Alfie whispered and pulled Ricky back into his arms. He felt Ricky’s breathing slow down and he knew that he just had mended the broken heart of his penguin. “I can’t believe you thought his name is Scot, Lover Boy.”

“Sorry, but you called him Scot the entire time, so what was I supposed to think?”, Ricky mumbled into Alfie’s shoulder. “Don’t make fun of me.”

“I’m not making fun of you. You’re just being adorable again.” He kissed him gently on the head.

“So…just to double check…James never was your boyfriend? I’m not just a replacement?”

“No, silly, you’re not. And James is very straight, so don’t worry”, Alfie assured him. “Although it’s a shame he is. Such a waste…”

Ricky immediately looked concerned. “So you are interested in him, only the fact that he’s straight holds you back?”

Alfie rolled his eyes. “How about you just try to sleep, okay?”

“But-“

“You don’t have to worry”, Alfie said calmly. “I promise.”

Ricky looked at him quietly, then he leaned his head against his shoulder again. “Okay.”
Alfie stroked his lover boy’s super soft hair gently. Man, it was so hard for him to ever keep his hands off him, it was almost impossible. He knew there was no way Ricky would sleep with him tonight, Ricky felt too weird because they had a guest downstairs, so he just wanted to cuddle, and Alfie was alright with that. At least for one night. And it wasn’t like he didn’t enjoy his penguin all snuggled up to him.

The next morning, while Alfie was still asleep, Ricky got dressed and ready as always to prepare breakfast, but to his surprise James was already up as well, just leaving the guest room, all dressed in sports clothes.

“Morning”, he said while he bent down to tie his shoe. “I’m just going for a quick run.”

“So, you’re quite athletic…”

James shrugged his shoulders. “I just do a lot of running and swimming.”

“Ah…” Ricky nodded, feeling very insecure about his own, little-boy body again. He so needed to work out if he wanted to maintain Alfie’s interest. “I…um…going to make breakfast, is there anything specific you like?”

“I’m not really picky, but thanks anyway. I can help you, if you want.”

“No, no.” Ricky shook his head. “You just go…running. Did you sleep okay?”

James nodded. “Yes, great.” He shot him a brief smile and went to the main door. “So, I’ll be out for an hour or so.”

“You run an hour?” Ricky looked a bit shocked. There was no way he could ever endure an hour of running, he would probably collapse after twenty minutes.

“Sometimes two, but that’s only at home, where I have a lot of space to run.”

“Oh. Wow…that’s…long.”

“You’re kind of getting used to it. Anyway, see you later.” James opened the door and was about to go outside when he stopped. “By the way, I’m really glad you happened to Alfie. He was never aware of it, but he really needed someone like you, he always has…” He smiled at the younger boy, then he went outside and locked the door behind him.

Ricky looked for a while at the door and then went into the kitchen starting to make breakfast, he decided to make waffles. He had been sipping at his cup of coffee while the waffles were baking. When he suddenly took the two full bottles of milk. Ricky stood there fully dressed in his at least eight layers lifting the bottles up and down, up and down…
Alfie stood there a while just dressed in his pants and watched his Lover Boy lifting the milk, it was cute watching him but he wasn’t really sure what he was actually doing.

“What do you think you are doing?” Alfie whispered.

“Oh… um… I was… I just needed some milk?” Ricky mumbled as he blushed.

“Well it looks like you were using those milk bottles as weights. I can get you a gym membership if you want to lift weights.”

“No I wasn’t… um it was just that…”

Alfie looked at Ricky curious as he took the cup of coffee from his boyfriend to finish it.

“Okay honestly I felt miserable and weak because James is going running even two hours and I, um I cannot even run for twenty minutes. So I thought maybe I try my biceps or whatever it is called because I wanted you not to lose interest in me.”

Alfie took another sip of his boyfriend’s coffee and then hugged Ricky tightly. “So Scot is out for a while?”

Ricky nodded.

“Good, how about a quickie on the kitchen table?”

“Alfie!?”

“Okay, okay in the living room.”

Ricky was tempted but nervous. He felt Alfie’s excitement definitely through his pants. Alfie really… enjoyed sleeping with Ricky and since he couldn’t do it last night he hoped so badly for a quickie while his friend was out.

“Alfie, James could come back any second.”

“He just left and he will not be back before an hour.” Alfie pushed his hand into Ricky’s trousers. “See you want it too.” Alfie teased him as he kissed his boyfriends neck. “That’s mean,” Ricky whispered not really meaning what he said. A quiet moan escaped his lips, and it made Alfie laugh and pull him into the second unused guestroom. Alfie just knew his boy, he preferred bedrooms over any other places.

“Honey I’m home!” James shouted from the door. Rick froze and tried to push Alfie off him to get dressed. Alfie laughed, took his pants and went not even dressed yet into the kitchen.

“So now that you are here you need to get socialised again. There is this weekend this Summer Festival.” Alfie said as he refilled Ricky’s cup of coffee and this time got himself one too.

“Dude some close?” James said as he pulled a plate with waffles to him. “What is this Summer Festival?”

“It is a wonderful invention Liam and Jo O’Doherty created. It is at the last weekend of the summer term from Friday until Sunday night the student of Waterfall Downs show the guests what they did during the year. It is like a science fair and well any other subject. And all money they earn goes into the Waterfall Downs Academy Fond which makes it possible that children from every stand can come to this private school for gifted youngsters.” Ricky was trying to pull his clothes into place without James noticing it.

“I guess you had some workout as well.” James grinned at Ricky, a tomato red blushing Ricky.

“Oh… um… I…”

“Give it up Ricky Scot knows the smell of sex. Anyway this Festival well my best friend Liam is the headmaster of this school and Ricky is best friends with Jo so he makes me go all three bloody days, but hey lots of people of the whole education section will be there. So maybe you find a new job. I can’t believe they start with a breakfast at eight tomorrow. What normal person is out and about by that time?” Alfie was drinking his coffee and actually eating a waffle with some fruit on them.

“I think it is a wonderful idea to show the society how the children are learning in WDA. You need to know that it is a very special school. I think it would be nice to see it.” Ricky smiled now shy at James.

James raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by ‘special’ school? Is it for children with special needs or –“

“No, it’s for very smart children. You know, you always have at least one of those in your class, who are just absolute braniacs. The ones who are unusually smart for their age and ahead of everyone, but they often get bored in class, so Waterfall Downs Academy is a school for those students in particular. The classes are obviously quite challenging and you need to pass a test to get in”, Ricky explained. “But the good thing is, it doesn’t matter if you’re wealthy or not, students from every background can get in, as long as they have the necessary intelligence of course. And, well, if your kid is lazy and hates school and studying, then Waterfall Downs is obviously the wrong place.”

“So, it’s a school for the nerdiest of nerds?”

“Pretty much, yes.”

“Well, that’s actually a good idea, because those nerds are often unchallenged and get bored too easily in class, so putting them all together in a school that’s challenging enough for them makes the most sense, I guess.”

“Yeah, those kids are the ones who never get laid”, Alfie mumbled.

Ricky rolled his eyes. “Those are very smart young people…”

“Ehm…yeah…big glasses, horse teeth, a horrible sense in clothing…”

“Come on, not all smart people look like that. You’re just using a very ridiculous stereotype.”

“That’s right”, James agreed with Ricky. “Or have you forgotten that you were the braniac in our class? What am I saying, in our grade!”

“Shut up, Scot, I was not.”

“Oh, I remember very differently.” James ignored his friend and turned to Ricky who immediately listened closely. “Alfie is pretty much the smartest person I ever met. I mean, he was about five years old when he read Shakespeare’s history plays, and he was seven when he started reading Faust- in German.”

“Ricky doesn’t want to know that”, Alfie mumbled.

“No, I want to”, Ricky said, but Alfie shot him an almost warning look.

“And I remember that you annoyed the hell out of the teachers because you were completely unchallenged and done with everything before most of us have started.”

Alfie shrugged his shoulders. “I just enjoyed teasing my teachers.”

“Yeah, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that you were too smart for us all, I know.” James rolled his eyes, then turned back to Ricky. “Actually, Alfie was supposed to skip second grade, but –“

“Ricky really doesn’t need to know that!”

“What, it wasn’t your fault that your parents didn’t come.”

Ricky looked confused from James to his boyfriend. “What happened?”

“Our class teacher asked several times for an appointment with at least one of Alfie’s parents so he could discuss Alfie skipping a grade, but they always forgot about the appointments and never showed up, so after trying to get in touch with them for over two months, our teacher gave up and decided to stop bothering them about it and Alfie just stayed in his current grade.”

“Nobody cares”, Alfie grumbled, not looking at Ricky. He could already feel Ricky’s pitiful look on him.

“Anyway, what I actually wanted to say is that you were the nerdiest nerd in our grade, and you didn’t have glasses and horse teeth and a horrible sense of clothing”, James said teasingly. “And you got laid alright.”

“True.”

“So I guess not all geeks fall into the stereotype.” James grinned at him, then he looked at Ricky. “Hey, you got something there…”

“What?”

“What’s that? Is that a bruise?”

“Where?”

“On your neck.” James took a closer look, but then he grinned. “Oh, I see… I guess Alfie was sucking very hard, wasn’t he?”

“Excuse me?!” Ricky looked shocked.

“He doesn’t mean the blowjob I gave you this morning”, Alfie said dryly.

Ricky turned completely red now, wishing for a hole he could hide in.

“You have a hickey”, James said very matter-of-factly.

“What?” Ricky still looked shocked at him, then he took the spoon to check his reflection. “Oh my God! I can’t go out like this! What if…and people…and…no!” He quickly jumped up and ran upstairs.

James couldn’t stop himself from laughing. “God, he’s adorable. Where did you find him? Was he between ‘cute puppies for sale’ ads in those magazines that are usually in a doctor’s waiting room?”

“No, I found him in a shelter for innocent, shy little babyfaced boys who needed a new home, and he looked so pleasing at me that I just had to take him with me”, Alfie said. “And he doesn’t even need a leash anymore, he can run around freely.”

James spent his day with Alfie while Ricky moisturised and nurtured his…. love bite. Alfie didn’t realise it but he showed James all the spots that were import for him because of Ricky. He let his best friend just ramble on for the day gathering how much he has changed and enjoying what he saw. James was always scared that he ends up alone.
Meanwhile did Ricky try desperate to remove the love bite. He found this in one of his housewife magazines. Ways to reduce the appearance of love bites include icing recent love bites to reduce swelling, rubbing them with a chilled spoon to break up blood clots, and applying a warm compress to older love bites to dilate vessels and promote blood flow.

Jo was running around like crazy up and down the stairs to her flat, back to her office, to the festival area in the grounds and back to her flat. In between she was kissing her girls and playing with Liam, no wait that was the other way around.

“Liam?” Jo shouted trying to work out if the kitchen has made enough food for the expected breakfast guest. It was not even seven yet and Jo was wide awake. “This morning sucks, I hate getting up early.”

Liam grinned and came out of his office where he had checked the name tags of the Friday guests. “I know you do. It will be fine, beautiful.”

Liam pulled his wife into a hug and kissed her on the forehead.

“I think we are all set. The students are buzzing busily, and are all ready. So I need you to get changed because it took you all day yesterday to pick your outfit and I want you to be happy.”

Jo nodded. “You think the girls are okay with Betty right now?”

“They love being with Betty and it is just for a while. There are several students that will take their turns to watch them. So they can enjoy the festival as well.”

“Okay, I’m sorry. It is just so important that the public sees that we are doing the right thing here at Waterfall Downs.”

“Don’t worry about that, I’m pretty sure they’ll see that we’re doing a good thing”, Liam said.

“Pretty sure?”

“Definitely sure.”

Jo sighed. “Okay.”

“Jo?”

“Hm?”

“You still need to get changed, unless you want to greet our guests in my boxershorts and my Bugs Bunny t-shirt.”

“Oh…” Jo looked down on herself and blushed. “Right.”

“You’re always all over the place in the mornings”, Liam teased her.

“Oh, be quiet! I hate getting up early, my brain doesn’t really function well.”

“Yeah, I noticed that.”

“Liam!”

“And it’s adorable.” He kissed her cheek. “Now move it!”

“Someone is bossy today, hm?” Jo grinned at him and then walked into their bedroom to get her changed. “Oh, and I forgot to ask, did you send all the invitations to the sponsors?”

“What?” Liam showed up in the door frame.

“Did you send out all the invitations for our school’s sponsors?”

“Oh yes, I did that three weeks ago.”

“Okay, just making sure. Could you help me with the zipper?” She turned her back on him and he zipped her dress.

“By the way, we have very generous sponsors. I mean, I know that some of the kids’ parents are wealthy, but there are some in between who are really, really generous. Like Anna’s parents, for instance.”

“Oh, Anna comes from a very rich family and she’s an only child, and her parents put most of their money in her education”, Jo said.

“Yeah, and then there’s Mrs Jennings who spent probably all her fortune on our school”, Liam mumbled.

Jo chuckled. “Don’t worry, that woman is loaded and she loves children. It’s nice to see her support our school.”

“Yeah, but still…I was really shocked to see how much she sponsors. I mean, I don’t complain or anything, it’s just…a lot. By the way, do you know who Scott Chadwick is?”

Jo thought for a moment. “That doesn’t ring a bell. Maybe he’s one of the students’ father.”

“No, I think we would know that since we met all the parents already.”

“Why are you asking about him?”

“Because he’s the most generous sponsor”, Liam explained. “And I don’t even know who he is. I found out his address so I could send him an invitation, but I would like to thank him personally if I see him, only that I don’t know how he looks like.”

“That’s strange, I usually know all our sponsors, and most of them are parents”, Jo said. “Well, maybe Ellen knows more, I could ask her.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“So, how do I look?”, Jo asked.

Liam took a step back and smiled. “Lovely.”

Jo smiled at her husband and stepped closer to him. “I love you so much, I hope you know that.”

Liam smiled back and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I think you have mentioned it once or twice since you know me.”

“Shall we go?” Jo whispered. She was still nervous it was a lot on line with this event. All sponsors have seen the school but this event was so much more.

“Yes, let’s go down we are expecting a few guests for breakfast.” Liam took Jo’s hand and together they went into the garden. There were large tents, and even more tables, under the large white tent -that had like all the other tents its walls open- was the buffet of breakfast. Most students were running around like busy bees helping out to set tables and show arriving guest to tables. To make it easier Jo had worked out a seating plan so that at every table two students were sitting and then a member of staff and then some guests. Jo spotted Betty with the twins at one table, Jill seemed not yet awake while Jane was sitting nicely eating her breakfast nicely. Jo smiled still holding Liam’s hand. “Okay let’s do this.” She tiptoed to kiss Liam and then to go and greet the arrived and arriving guests.
This event was a lot less formal then it appeared. After breakfast the students would take groups of guest to a tour through Waterfall Downs and its grounds. This would take a while since Three Lakes the stud farm of Lorelai Von Gruensee where the students learned to ride and the high arts of horse breeding.
In the afternoon there were some sport events. Several different teams showed what they have learned during the last year. The teams were now good enough to enter national competitions and all students were very proud of that. Later at night there was a fancy dinner which the students that enjoyed cooking have prepared -with the kitchen personal of Waterfall Downs- the dinner was accompanied by a fashion show. A small firework would finish off the day, Liam was looking forward to this part of the day the most because his class had made the fireworks.

But for now all guests arrived. “Jo this is amazing. I am impressed.” Colin smiled and hugged his daughter tightly. “I love what you made of the old dark house. I think it never saw a better time as when it is filled with your students.”

“Daddy! Oh I’m so glad you are here. I’ll got a really good table for you and some really good students to be your guides. I hope you don’t mind that I cannot be with you. I have not be everywhere at the same time.”

“Oh don’t worry about me. I still know my way around the old house. Hello Liam.” Colin shook Liam’s hand as he just came to them.

“Jo I don’t want to freak you out but there has a slight problem. There are a lot of more day guests arriving we might have not enough food for the breakfast.” Liam said trying to work in his mind how to solve the problem. Jo went pale. “Okay… um… Daddy please excuse me.”

Jo rushed to the buffet to work out how to feed all those guests, while she was working out a changed seating plan in her head. When she reached the buffet she had a solution. “Okay go into the kitchen and get all breakfast food that is the school food. I will make a call that we get the food replaced by late afternoon. Dan? I get the seating plan and change it as the guests come in and you get all tables and chairs from the dining room and every other place you can find chairs and tables.” Dan looked shocked but nodded and found a few students to help him. Jo was greeting guest and being terrified that they would be disappointed. But no one minded that the whole plan wasn’t working. Guests actually sat down in the grass and just enjoyed the moment.

“Liam this is so bad. They are sitting on the ground.” Jo had fled to her husband when Dan had taking over the seating arranging.

Liam smiled at his wife, which only irritated her.

“What’s so funny? This is a disaster! We are completely…and they…and now-“

“Yvaine”, Liam said calmly as he reached for her hand. “Look around.”

“What?”

“Just look.”

“I am looking, and I see half of the guests on the floor!”

“That’s right, but look closer.”

At first Jo didn’t understand what he meant, but then she saw it. The guests didn’t seem at all displeased while they were sitting on the grass, it was quite the opposite; they seemed to enjoy themselves and talked about all kinds of things while they had some food next to them on plates, just like a picnic.

“I think nobody cares that they have to sit on the grass, it’s a lot like a picnic and the parents seem to really like it. Most of them haven’t been to a picnic in ages, I bet.” Liam smiled encouragingly at his wife. “And the students make place for their grandparents to sit down on the chairs, so that they don’t have to sit on the grass.” He nodded in the direction where a few students got up from their chairs to let the older generation sit down, and then they brought them something to eat.
“It all works fine, you see?”

Jo took a deep breath. Liam was right, everything worked just fine and people really seemed to like having a picnic on the grass. Luckily, the weather was playing along too, it was supposed to be sunny and warm all day.

Meanwhile more and more guests arrived, among them also Ricky, Alfie and James. Alfie was really only here because Ricky dragged him to this, and he also knew that this whole weekend kind of meant something to Liam, so he didn’t want to be anti-social and at least show up today and show a bit of support, even though he couldn’t care less about any of these children- but he cared about his friend, obviously. Not that he said it all the time, but by showing up today it was more than obvious that he cared about him.
Ricky was half hiding behind James, although it was kind of difficult to really hide because James was not particularly tall, so Ricky moved closer to Alfie to hide behind him, but then Alfie took a step away from him.
“Can you cut it out? You’re acting like you’re a stupid-ass criminal who tries to be undercover.”

“But everyone is going to see it!”

Alfie rolled his eyes. Ricky was obviously talking about the ‘love bite’. It had taken them almost an hour to get ready to leave the flat because Ricky and Alfie had a little disagreement on Ricky’s outfit choice this morning. First, Ricky showed up in a turtleneck jumper when Alfie and James were already waiting at the door, ready to leave, but then Alfie complained about that ridiculous turtleneck and that it was way too warm for a shitty turtleneck, so he sent Ricky back upstairs to get changed, and then Ricky came down with something he called a ‘shawl’, which only seemed to provoke Alfie even more and he literally ripped that stupid thing off of him, getting Ricky very sulky and annoyed at that point. So, he ran back upstairs, and then returned with a Burberry neckerchief that was too gay to handle for Alfie, so Alfie just took the scissors and cut it before Ricky had the chance to stop him. After that Ricky gave up, bit his lip and crossed his arms like a sulky child, while James wished he had a camera to document this –in his eyes- hilarious event. And now, after what felt like five hours, they finally made it to Waterfall Downs and Ricky felt so naked without anything covering his love bite, so he constantly pulled up the collar of his shirt.

“I don’t want to take anyone’s side”, James said to Ricky. “But you kind of make yourself very suspicious if you keep hiding behind people and cover your neck very weirdly with your arms. I’m just saying, it looks…weird. And people will stare at you because of that.”

Ricky felt very defenceless. “Everyone is going to see it.”

“But if you keep acting suspicious, you will draw twice as much attention to yourself, and you don’t want that, do you?”

Ricky shook his head, kind of defeated. James was right, but on the other hand Ricky had this urge to hide as soon as someone looked in his direction. He turned to his boyfriend who watched him almost amused.
“You’re never going to kiss my neck again. Ever.”

Alfie grinned. “We’ll see about that, penguin. You know just too well how much you like it.”

Ricky blushed. “That’s not the point”, he mumbled and turned away from them, immediately covering his neck again when an old lady passed him and smiled friendly at him.

Liam had gotten Jo a plate with some breakfast while she walked from group to group and said hello, he kept refilling it whenever got the chance and Jo was good enough and continued eating. She saw Ricky, Alfie and apparently a friend of them from the distance but she had to talk to Dan first.

“Dan I was meant to talk to you yesterday but I didn’t get a chance. I talked with a friend of mine about you, and he offered that if you ever need to talk to someone he would be very happy to.” Jo smiled encouraging at Dan.
Dan looked shy away, he wasn’t sure what she meant but he was grateful that she cared for him. “His name is Rick Butcher, he will later talk to you and give you his number just if you need someone.”

“Thank you.” Dan mumbled he couldn’t look at Jo but he was thankful. Jo squeezed Dan’s hand and then more guest came to bring back their plates.

“Good morning Josey, this is amazing.” Lorelai smiled at her little cousin, John was with the boys they had found in a tree a birds nest. Edward had many questions and Henry just wanted to know why the Mutti and Daddy kept flying away from the babies.

“Thanks. Dan are you okay here?” Jo looked at the young teenager.

“Yes Missis Jo I got it.” Dan smiled he was glad how much Missis Jo trusted him. He was responsible for the entire breakfast catering and he had enjoyed it.
Lorelai hugged her little cousin tightly. “I want to make sure that we are coming every year from now on. The boys talked to everyone they meet and all your students are so good in explaining what they do, not even Edward is scared to talk to them. I think you build the most wonderful school I could have ever imagined. I am proud of you… Laura would be proud.”

It meant a lot that Lorelai thought that her aunt would love the school she had built with her husband.

“I will think that when the weekend is over. There is so much that can go wrong.”

“Josey you worry too much. This is amazing and I am very much looking forward to see your students shine on my horses. I hope when the hustle and bustle is over that you come back, the Kaiser is missing you.”

“Yes I plan to come more often riding during the summer and also have more hours riding in my schedule next term.” Jo took Lorelai’s cup of coffee out of her hand and took a sip. “Liam gave me food but I lost my cup of tea somewhere.”

“Oh Josie.” Lorelai laughed and watch her three boys approach Liam who was helping his science students to set up their booths for the science fair. The boys were really excited and curious, for a moment Jo wondered where her daughter where but she was not worried. She knew that every student of the school felt responsible for the little ones. Since their birthday Jo knew that there was no safer place for them as in Waterfall Downs.

“Mr Liam what is this?” Henry asked cheeky in his baby language, well his speech got a lot better again. He was good in speaking and was curious about the world. Edward was sitting on John’s shoulders and was humming again and observed quietly his surroundings while Henry was impatiently waiting for Liam to explain the project in front of them.

“This is a little project made from the 1st graders”, Liam explained. “It shows what kinds of colours in clothes absorb heat more quickly.”

“How?”, Henry asked, wanting to know how it works.

“You see those two glasses?”

The little boy nodded.

“So, you take each glass, and you wrap white paper around one glass and black paper around the other. As you can see, the glasses have the exact same amount of water in them. After the glasses have been in the sun for a while, you can measure the temperature of the water and see that dark surfaces such as the black paper absorb a lot more heat than lighter surfaces such as the white paper. So, the water glass with the black paper is warmer than the one with the white. That’s why you shouldn’t necessarily wear something black when it’s really hot outside.”

“Oh…” Henry’s eyes widened.

“And you see all the other booths?”

He nodded.

“See, from class to class we make more difficult experiments, and all of the students show their parents what they learned.”

“Cool”, the little boy said.

John smiled. “I’m pretty sure Henry would love to blow up things, that’s why we’re glad he’s not yet in school.”

“But it’s fun!”, his little son said.

“And it can be dangerous too”, John added.

“That’s true”, Liam nodded. “When I was your age I tried to build a little rocket, and the result was a burning curtain in my room. Luckily, my mum was at home and heard some noise, so she stopped the fire before it could spread. I was no older than four and I thought I was doing pretty well for my age.”

John chuckled. “Your mother must have been delighted. She was probably scared to leave you alone in your room.”

“Yepp, and she really had a reason for being scared.” Liam looked at Henry who had this mischievous look on his face that Liam used to have when he was that age, always looking for trouble. “So yeah, you and Lorelai might have to watch Henry a bit more closely when he starts doing science projects.”

Henry looked up to his dad with a cheeky grin on his face.

“Liam are you putting any ideas in Henry’s head?” Lorelai grinned and hugged him tightly.

“What? No I’m just saying…” Liam hugged her back but peeked over her shoulder at his wife. Jo smiled she knew that it meant nothing that Liam hugged Lorelai.

“Oh he will put ideas in Henry’s head.” Jo giggled and hugged John.

“Where are your girls?” John asked.

“Oh they are here somewhere.” Jo smiled she was by now well not without worry but she knew that the twins were perfectly safe at Waterfall downs. John nodded and smiled as Henry run from stand to stand and asked the students to explain their experiments while Edward was standing nicely next to his father waiting for him to take him around.

“So Liam you gonna show us around?” Lorelai asked.

“Sure come on, Jo are you joining us?” Liam was holding her hand and looked proud at his wife. He was for a moment worried that this festival was a really bad idea but after her little freak out earlier this morning she seemed very calm.

“No I have to go and see my class they are rehearsing a last time the play for later. But I see you for lunch?” Jo stepped closer to Liam and kissed him.

“Yup we will maybe our daughters even join us.” Liam laughed and kissed her back and then he went with Lorelai, John and Edward while Jo went to her English class. She had chosen her class to be through the grades so first grades where together with upper sixth and she had been right this was perfect set of students.

Not too far from their parents away were Jill and Jane with Betty and Teddy. Betty had a hard time following the twins because with Jill Jane was a little more confident and Jill made sure that no harm would happen to her sister. She was holding her hand tightly and led her through the large crowed.

“Oh!” Jane suddenly stopped and looked desperate at her sister and Jill knew what he sister wanted. Jill looked around but just Teddy had been able to keep up with them so Betty was not anywhere seen. Jane did her little dance and felt really bad, silent tears stared to roll down her cheeks.

“Te-y help.” Jill looked at the dog and he barked quietly and ran off to get someone to help his little pups. Yes Teddy thought that the twins were pups he knew his mommy Jo was also their mommy and his daddy Liam was their daddy too but he still saw the twins as pups. And right now they needed one of those large two legged dogs preferable one they knew. It didn’t take long and then he found the one that smelled a little like his daddy Liam. He very gently grabbed the two legged dog’s leg fur and pulled him along.

“What?” Graham looked down. “Oh Teddy, what is it?” Graham patted the dog’s ears, but Teddy just kept pulling at his trousers. “Okay I guess I come with you.”

“Deideo!” Jill squeaked when she saw Teddy with Graham coming. “Deideo, Janie pee!”

Graham picked up Jane and then it happened the little girl couldn’t hold it any longer in and she burst. And she was deeply upset about it. “It’s okay darling. I go and clean you up. Jill come along we need to get your sister changed and see if I can get a fresh shirt as well.” Graham smiled at his granddaughter while he carried her towards the house. But Jill shook her head next to him. “Deideo no. Come.” And now it was Jill pulling him to another place. It was they little corner of things, in a more quiet area in the garden, where the girls had a small table and chairs and of course a parasol and a wind screen so that the small garden area of the twins were secured at three side of wind and unwanted views and some toys in a large chest. And during the summer festival there were nappies for Jill and fresh clothes for Jane. Jill was not exactly in nappies anymore she had started toilet training as well but today she was wearing nappies that looked like knickers. Betty had made them for her so that the little girl could still go to the potty but also had some protection in case of an accident. Jill went right away on the little green potty and made a pee but Jane was standing closely to her grandfather. “It’s okay Jane no one can see you. Come here.” Graham gently took of the girls wet clothes and got fresh ones form the chest while Jane was sitting on her pink potty. Afterwards the little girl helped her grandfather to pick clothes that matched. She was now wearing a pale yellow dress and matching pale yellow knickers and second set of pants that would hide the actual knickers of the little girl, because Jo didn’t like that it was possible that someone could see her daughters’ underwear. When Jane was changed and Jill had peed Graham rinses the potties under the hose and took both their hands.

“Okay shall we see if we find someone to look after you?” Graham noticed that his shirt was still wet. “And maybe a fresh shirt for me.”

“Deideo wet.” Jill giggled while Jane was now very shy and quiet, she was so embarrassed that she had wet herself.

Meanwhile not far from Graham was Liam showing the Von Gruensees around the science projects a sudden barking next to Liam of no one other then Charlie, Lorelai’s Jack Russell Terrier. He was happy to see his friend Liam again and had already noticed the twins with their grandfather close by. His tail was wriggling so hard that his entire body was shaking.

“Hey, old sport. It’s nice to see you again.” Liam knelt down to stroke Charlie, but the dog was actually so excited that Liam decided to just lift him up. Since he wasn’t as big as Teddy, Liam had no problems picking him up. Charlie immediately licked his cheek. “I missed you too.” Liam petted the dog. He was generally never that interested in animals, but Charlie was an exception. When he first met Lorelai, Charlie liked him from the beginning- unlike John, whom he wasn’t fond of at all, which made Liam always feel a bit better back in the old days when he still tried to impress Lorelai all the time. So, he had definitely appreciated Charlie’s approval from the start.
Now he didn’t need his approval anymore, but he was glad that the dog apparently still cared for him, and so did he.
John raised an eyebrow while he watched Liam and Charlie getting all friendly again, then he turned slightly to his wife. “That old dog still holds a grudge against me.”

“Well, that’s what you get for leaving me at the altar. Liam never left me at the altar.”

“Liam still had all of his baby teeth when I left you.”

“Hey, I heard that!”, Liam said in the background.

“I’m just saying, isn’t it time for Charlie to be nice to me as well? I mean, he should be used to me by now”, John said.

“Well, yeah, he’s used to you all right, but that doesn’t mean that he has accepted you.” Lorelai smiled widely at her husband. “I just trained him too well, and I’m so proud of my little boy.”

“I’m your little boy!”, Henry shouted.

“Yes, I know, you and your brother are my little boys, but Charlie actually came before you two.”

“But Charlie is a dog”, Edward replied very matter-of-factly.

“He’s still a member of the family, isn’t that right, boys?”

Both her sons nodded.
Liam put Charlie back on the ground again, and when he looked up, he spotted his little girls with Graham, both holding on to his hands. They didn’t see him, however, because at that same moment Ellen showed up next to them and the girls were focused on her.

“What happened to you?”, she asked with an amused smile when she noticed the big stain on Graham’s shirt.

“Oh, that was a little incident.”

“I see.” Ellen looked down at the girls. “I raised two children as well, I know exactly what kind of stain that is.”

“Actually, could you do me the favour and watch the girls for a bit, only until I got a new shirt.”

“No problem.”

“You two are going to stay with Ellen for a bit, okay?” Graham looked down at his granddaughters and carefully let go off their hands. Since the twins knew Ellen very well –she basically watched them almost as much as Betty did- they had no problem staying with her.
“I’ll be right back, okay?”
Jill nodded while Jane still looked shyly and a bit embarrassed for letting that little accident happen.
“Thanks.” Graham smiled at Ellen now, and for a brief moment his hand rested on her shoulder. She smiled back at him, that very typical smile that teenage girls had when they saw their crush, but Liam didn’t see that from the distance. Well, and even if he would have been right next to them he wouldn’t have seen it, because he was quite ignorant when it came to things like that.

“What’s with the face, Jane?” Ellen knelt down and smiled at the shy girl. She was aware that Jane was probably still freaked out about the fact that she peed at her grandfather. “You know that you can light up an entire room with your smile. Do you want to show it to me?”

Jane hesitated a moment, but the way Ellen talked to her calmed her down a bit, and she finally showed a tiny smile.
“That’s what I’m talking about!” Ellen lifted up the little girl who finally became more relaxed.

“You know honey Gracie sometimes has an accident like yours and she is much older then you. Sometimes this just happens.” Ellen stroke gently over the girl’s cheek. “Oh honey your hairclip is a little out of place would you like me to fix it?”

Jane looked a little alarmed but nodded. Ellen smiled and took out the clip out and fixed it to make sure that it was all straight. “How about we go and find your -what do you call Graham again-?”

“Deideo.” Jill grinned, she was leaning on Teddy who was watching the crowed with his ears up to make sure he didn’t miss anything.

“Yes that’s it. Let’s see if he got the stain out.” Ellen took the hands of the two girls and went inside to find Graham. She found him in the kitchen where one of the kitchen crew members gave him a fresh white shirt. “Here you are.” Ellen smiled as she appeared next to Graham to button up his shirt. The kitchen was a busy place with all preparing that large lunch. Hundreds of sandwiches had to be prepared. Graham grinned Jane was sitting nicely on a chair while Jill was sitting on the floor with Teddy, they both had gotten some fruit from the main chef.

“I’m glad to see you.” Graham smiled at Ellen. He brushed a loose stray of hair back behind her ear.

“So am I.” Ellen smiled quickly turned around to look at the other people but no one was paying attention to them and then kissed Graham briefly.

“Ellen, please.” Graham whispered even when his eyes clearly said ‘Oh God don’t stop’ “I’m not ready to tell Liam, I just don’t want to destroy what he and I have now. I’m so sorry.”

Ellen knew that the engagement of Graham broke off because he his son appeared in his life and now that he has Liam back he doesn’t want to do anything to get between them. “I know. You don’t need to be sorry I understand.” She straightened his shirt.

“I will talk to Liam I promise.” Graham held her hand on his chest.

“Take your time.” Ellen smiled, and then she looked around to see what the girls were doing but… “And there we go again. Jill is run off.”

Graham laughed. “At least she took Teddy along.”

Jill had finished her fruit and took Teddy out and then went through the crowed. She wasn’t even scared since she had Teddy with her she knew that no one of those strangers could hurt her. It wasn’t surprising that her went took her to the sports fields. Today they were rather empty but tomorrow there would be several games and matches. But there were still small groups of students showing guest how to play games like football, tennis, handball and even lacrosse. Teddy sat down not far from the crowed while Jill walked around. On the floor was Sarah’s lacrosse bat it was covered in stickers. Jill liked it a lot, it looked very interesting. The little girl picked it up it was heavy but she liked it. Her mom always supported her with toys like tennis bats, footballs and several other things. She even liked Grandpa’s golf things.

“Pretty.” The little girl said in baby English mispronouncing the word a little. Jill dragged the bat round with the ball in the net while she was running over the grass. She fell twice and once it the grass left a stain on her short white leggings but she didn’t mind. Mommy would fix that. She was busy playing with this stick and the ball. She tried to throw the ball like the big people on the field but she had troubles lifting the bat. But all of the little hiccups didn’t matter to her she still had fun playing with this pretty stick.
She had to ask her mommy to get her such a stick, sometimes her daddy could build her smaller versions of it. Just like her small golf clubs he had built for her and she kept practising to impress her grandfather.

Teddy watched his surrounding closely without letting Jill get out of his sight. Every time one of the bigger kids was running past him, he immediately looked for Jill, making sure the little girl was still okay. So far Jill had a blast trying to be a grown-up lacrosse player, although the bat was twice as big as her and she couldn’t lift it up and stumbled now and then, but she got up on her feet again and continued as if nothing happened. Jill tried to pull the lacrosse bat behind her, but it was too heavy. Still, the little girl didn’t give up, she kept pulling, and suddenly she felt how the bat was slightly lifted behind her. Surprised, she turned around. An old man was kneeling down beside her and held the other end of the lacrosse bat.
“Aren’t we a little young for the lacrosse field?” He smiled friendly at Jill. “But I appreciate the enthusiasm.”

Jill was quiet for a moment, then she grinned cheeky at the stranger.

“What’s your name, little lady?”

“Jill.”

“That’s a pretty name, Jill. And you have very pretty eyes, too.”

Jill’s grin grew wider and she giggled. She certainly seemed to like the attention.

“Do you want to go to the lacrosse field, Jill?”, the older man asked and Jill nodded excitedly, then was about to run with the lacrosse bat that was way too heavy for her, so he kept holding up the other end of the bat and followed the little girl until they arrived at the field. Of course, Teddy had followed them as well.

“There is my lacrosse bat!” Sarah, the girl who owned the bat full of stickers, ran towards them and tousled Jill’s soft red hair. “I should have known it was you.”
Jill giggled again while the older girl looked up.
“Hello, Mr Scotty.”

“Hello, Sarah, nice to see you again.”

“I see you’ve met little Jill O’Doherty here. She’s a cheeky girl, that one…”

“O’Doherty? So she’s one of the daughters of-“

“Mr Liam and Missis Jo, yes.” Sarah nodded. “Her sister should be somewhere around here, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was asleep. Jane is a lot more quiet than Jill. Jill always wanders off.”

“I can tell.” The older man smiled friendly at the little red-head. “So, you want to play?”

Jill nodded excitedly, feeling like a big girl while he carefully put the ball into her tiny hand and helped her with some throwing tactics first.

Meanwhile, Alfie needed a little break from all those happy, cheerful and goofy-looking kids, and a break always called for a drink, so he went to look for some grown-up stuff that didn’t taste like lemonade or apple juice or God knows what shitty stuff kids liked to drink. James and Ricky stayed outside, Ricky was showing him around and explaining everything in detail, not just about this weekend, but generally about Waterfall Downs and how it worked. James showed much interest, but he couldn’t stop noticing how Ricky always tried to cover up his neck very awkwardly as soon as someone passed them, or how he conveniently turned the other way when someone stood too close. After a group of parents passed them and Ricky once again pretended to ‘scratch his neck’, James just couldn’t hold back anymore.
“They totally saw it”, he said dryly, trying to look serious.

“They did?” Ricky looked freaked out as he watched the group of parents walking away from them.

“Yepp, the older lady was even staring right at it, and you could totally tell that she knew exactly what it was.”

“What?” Ricky looked shocked, and James couldn’t help it, he just had to burst out into laughter.

“Relax, nobody saw anything.”

“You sure?” Ricky’s voice got even higher than it usually was.

“Yes, I’m sure. You have to calm down and stop doing weird stuff with your hand, that only attracts more attention.”

“But-“

“Trust me.”

Ricky sighed and lowered his hand. “I feel like everyone is judging me.”

“Geez, you sure have a low self-esteem, don’t you? Nobody is judging you”, James assured him. “And I think most of us have been in that situation already.”

“What?”

“I was sixteen when my grandmother asked me where I got that strange bruise from, in front of everyone, at the dinner table. A very awkward silence followed after that, and even a more awkward conversation, ending with ‘don’t get anyone pregnant’. And like I said, in front of everybody, including my parents, my four little sisters, two grandmothers and one grandfather. Oh, and a couple of my grandmother’s friends, since it was her birthday.”

Ricky chuckled. “That sounds embarrassing.”

“Yeah, it was, but you just have to go along with it and don’t freak out as soon as someone is looking at you.”

Ricky nodded. “True…” He was about to calm down a bit, when James grinned.

“But that older lady was totally checking you out”, he said teasingly.

Ricky had no chance to answer because he got suddenly hugged by his best friend. “Here you are and I thought you are hiding from me.”

“What? No, never Jo. Um can I introduce you to Alfie’s old school friend James McAlister? James this are Jo and Liam O’Doherty the headmasters and owners of Waterfall Downs Academy for Gifted Youngsters.” Ricky tried to turn a little away to hide the love bite form Jo.

“Oh hello.” Jo smiled friendly and shook James’ hand.

“Hello. Very nice to meet you.” James smiled his typical charming smile and spoke in his strong Irish accent. Liam look at James for a moment in disbelieve.

“Where are you from?” Liam asked taking Jo’s hand possessively.

“Inverness, Scotland. What about you?” James looked curious at Liam, he saw of course that the younger man was protectively took Jo’s hand.

“I’m originally from Cork.”

“I have to admit this is the most amazing school I have ever seen and you two still seem so young.” James more concentrated to talk to Jo who seemed more willing to do conversation.

“Thank you. Yes we are young but I think we are doing quite well.” Jo blushed.

“It is amazing. Ricky had shown me around I hope you don’t mind.”

“No not at all.” Jo looked at Ricky and then she noticed something. “Oh Ricky you have there a stain on your neck, let me just clean it. You must have been at the art stands.” Jo was about to start rubbing at Ricky neck when her best friend ducked away from her.

“No this is nothing.” Ricky was holding his neck with his hand as if he was scared his head fell off.

“Ricky there is something let me just wipe it off.” Jo was very persistent.

“Jo just leave him maybe he likes the stains.” Liam wrapped his arm around her waist.

“But Liam look,” Jo actually took Ricky’s face and turned it to see the stain and then she went pale, “oh. I see.” Jo let go of Ricky’s face and blushed.

“Gee first you want me to look at it and then you let go of his face. Jo make up your mind. And just so you know I think this looks like a bruise.”

Jo looked at her husband, in the background James was chuckling. “Um Liam this is a…” Jo looked at Ricky who was insanely pale.

“It’s a what?” Liam looked from one face to the other but neither Jo nor Ricky nor did James explain anything. “Jo?”

Jo sighed and leaned closer to Liam to whisper in his ear. “It is a love bite. You know from Alfie. When they... you know.”