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Chapter 50 - All Out
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Cailen was pulled into both the room and William's arms.
William held him close, bent over slightly, allowing Cailen to fit his head over his shoulder to see Asher sitting on his bed looking at the floor. Noah was standing beside the bed with his eyes on Cailen. Matthew was standing at the end of the bed, arms crossed over his chest, his eyes also directed at him.
"Why didn't you answer any of us?" William demanded, pulling away from Cailen to look at him.
"My phone died. I'm sorry," Cailen apologized, trying his best to ignore Noah's knowing stare and Matthew's blank stare. "I'm sorry."
"I- We thought you were- running and I didn't know what to do," William said quietly, somehow making himself look small even though he towered over Cailen.
William must be a bit torn between his best friend and his brother and Cailen felt like shit for putting him in
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The room remained silent,but the silence was accompanied by a hand slipping into his and squeezing ever so slightly.When Cailenlooked over to his hand,he recognized William's long fingers and looked up to meet his emerald green eyes, slightly shining but mostly just happy."It's okay,"Williamsaid quietly, smiling at him through shiny eyes. "We love you no matter what,"he repeated Noah's words and he could tell he meant every one of them.Cailenmade a noise at that-a noise that was partly a laugh and partly a sob as Williampulled him into a hug. He really couldn't stop the tears that were soaked up by William's shirt and he thinks that he is not allowed to cry for at least a year after this.He just felt so relieved and happy that it was finally out there and he didn't have to worry about losing anyone.Soon,he felt another body press against his side and two more arms wrap a
A Place To Call Home Chapter 52 - Finally Together
Cailengiggled, curling into a ball on the couch as he tried to get his neck away from a pair of ticklish lips.He didn't mind Asherkissing his neck. It was actually one of his new favorite things, but Asherwas trying to tickle him and it was working. He would lightly brush his lips down his neck, smiling to himself and then chasing Cailen'sneck when he pulled away.It was irritating and childish and pretty much the most amazing thing in the world right now, especially since they were laying out in the open on the couch in the living room-Deanin his office with the door cracked so he could easily see them, and ‘keep an eye on them’ his father had said teasingly,but Cailendidn't have to worry.He was allowed to do this, he was allowed to be with Asherlike this whenever and wherever he wanted and it was amazing.He knew Edenwas just in the kitchen, Stellawas downstair
A Place To Call Home Chapter 53 - Celebration
7 Years LaterAsher : Hurry home ;)Cailensmiled down at his phone before slipping it into the pocket of his winter jacket.He was just getting off his shift at the hospital, having spent the day wrapping up sprained ankles and tending to sore backs from slipping on the icy sidewalks.He was looking forward to going home and spending the night wrapped up in a blanket by the fire with Asherto snuggle up to. Of course it'll be a fake fire, one of those gas powered heater ones with the fake flames because they lived in a flat and not a house but it'll be just as nice.Even though they had moved into the flat several years ago, Cailenstill found himself smiling at the thought of it being their flat once in a while. He just couldn't believe this was how his life had turned out.He remembers when he thought he'd be living his life alone and miserable with a not-so-d
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Everyone looked so happy and was smiling, so obviously,he was grinning back at them, despite his confusion."Correct me if I'm wrong," Cailensaid, still smiling as he turned to Asher. "But this looks like a party."Ashergrinned at him, hooking his fingers in the waistband of his scrubs and pulling him close, wrapping him in his arms again."You didn't really think I wouldn't want to celebrate your birthday, did you?" Asherasked, pecking him on the lips.Cailencould see everyone closing in around them from the corner of his eyes and knew he was about to give out a million and one hugs. Not that he really minded.Asherwinkedat himbefore stepping back and giving space to the people who want to greet him.Not a minute passed and he was being engulfed in a hug with Hazel.Hazelwished him a more personal 'happy birthday' to which he replied with a kind 'thank you'. Matt
A Place To Call Home Chapter 55 - The Place In His Memories
The orphanage was not as Cailenremembered.The outside still looked tall and intimidating, at least to Cailen, but the inside had changed completely.Where there used to be dull beige walls, there were light blue walls, decorated in the children's paintings.There were also large photo displays along the main hall that lead down to the playroom and then the bedrooms.In the displays,there were photos of many different children, all with bright smiling faces, some playing in what he recognized as the playroom, some playing outside on the structure he remembered well, and some sat down to eat the food the orphanage made.The inside no longer looked rundown. It looked like a nice place,a happy place, but he knew better.He knew all too well that the smiles on those kids' faces were only a glimpse of brief moments.He knew that not even half an hour later of these picture being taken, those kids probably di
A Place To Call Home Chapter 56 - A Way Back Home
"Do you need to step outside?" came Asher's voice, soft and concerned, right next to Cailen'sear.Cailenwas about to nod his head yes because he felt like he was on the edge. But then,his eyes locked on a little brown eyed boy sitting in the corner with his knees pulled up to his chest.It was the boy from the hall.He was a bit older than the rest, probably about seven or eight, with shaggy brown hair that nearly hid his brown eyes.Cailenshook his head and jerked it towards the little boy then looked atAsher. He could tell Asherunderstood what he wanted when he looked over at the boy then back to him, his eyebrows raising."Really? The foot-stomper?" Asherchuckled as Cailennodded his head. "Okay, but I'm keeping my feet away from him."Cailensnorted as they made their way over to the little boy, Cailentrying to not pay too much attention to the disappointed looks of
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A few weeks later…"Again, really?" Cailenasked as he walked into the office of Ezekiel's school.The halls had been empty, all the children still in their classes…All the children except for his.His child was sitting in a hard looking metal chair that didn't let his short legs reach the ground, his hands folded in his lap, his head hung as he waited patiently for someone to address him.When Cailenentered the office, asking his question without a greeting, his head shot up, his brown eyes wide and scared for a brief moment before concealing themselves into a relaxed sort of resolve.It was very brief, and had it not been for Cailen'sown childhood, he may have missed it but Cailenknew this game well and it didn't fool him for a second."Mr. Hale," came a voice,pulling his attention fromhis little boy to a rather plumplooking man in a dress shirt&n
A Place To Call Home Chapter 58 - Being A Parent
Of course becoming aparent required a big lifechange and added manycomplications, one of whichbeing ditching work to gobail the little squirt out ofjail.The worst part aboutbeing a parent is the lackof sleep.Cailenthought thatmaybe since they weren'tdealing with an infant,that they wouldn't have asmany long nights as mostparents complained aboutwhen they had a newbornbaby.Boy was he wrong.Maybe it wasn't as bad,he wouldn't really know,but it was certainly tiring.The first challenge wasactually getting Ezekiel to goto bed. Either of them wasreally good at being thestrict, 'no fun' parent thatthey sometimes needed tobe, though CailenthoughtAsherwas worse at it.Sure,he was good at pointingout what they should bedoing,but when it cameto ac
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"Hey, hey, it's the superstar, finally making an appearance!" Matthewcalled out when they entered the kitchen.Cailengrinned at this while Williamlooked a bit sheepish. He knew he was never around much and constantly apologized for it, but they all understood and were all proud of their friend."Shut up, I've been busy!" Williamdefended just as the two girls at the counter turned in their stools and gasped.They each climbed their way down from the stools, Aariyahalmost taking a tumble but she caught herself and then they were each latched onto one of William's legs, the older man chuckling."Uncle William!" Maddisonsquealed, squeezing William's leg tight.Williamawkwardly bent down as far as he could without hurting or squishing the small girls, reaching out to rest a hand on each of them."How are two of my favorite girls?" he asked.It was truly adorable how much they each loved
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Cailenonly had to look over the boy's shoulder to see his brother saunter in, but Ezekieland Ellianahad to turn around and Cailencouldn't say he was exactly surprised by the reaction.Ellianagasped in surprise while Ezekieldarted forward and threw himself at his uncle.Williamchuckled and wrapped Ezekielup in a tight hug, rocking him back and forth slightly before letting go."Uncle William, you made it!" Ezekielsaid happily.It had been a while since Ezekieland Maddisonlast saw him."Papasaid he didn't know if you were coming," Ezekielexplained.William mockscoffed."Of course I will! I wouldn't miss my favorite nephew turning fifteen!" Williamexclaimed.Cailentook a peek over at Ellianato see a look of confusion mixed with awe and nearly lost it. He would never understandthe effect Williamhad on teen
A Place To Call Home Chapter 118 - Their Daughters
Both Matthewand Cailenlooked over to where the girls were sitting.It was instinctive now, whether it was your own child saying it or not, when you heard 'Daddy'or ‘Papa’, you look.Maddisonwas standing from her spot and making her way over to where Cailenand Matthewsat, a sheet of paper in her hands."Look, isn't my flower pretty?" she asked holding up the paper to Cailenwhere he saw a simple flower drawn on it.It was pink with big petals and a small green stem and looked like every other flower drawing she'd ever done but Cailenstill nodded along, smiling at his daughter."Yes, it's beautiful, love," Cailensmiled, his arms still bouncing Mishaup and down on his knee."But- But isn't mine beautiful-er?" Aariyahstood in a hurry, rushing over to them and nearly tripping as she held up her own drawing of an almost identical flower.Cailens
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"Dude, she'll be here soon," Trippsaid, leaning across the island in the kitchen to reach for the bowl of crisps that Cailenhad put out. "Calm down or you'll start getting sweat stains," he added, scrunching up his nose in distaste.Tripp, if possible, had grown up to be even bigger than Ezekiel, though that wasn't much of a surprise with how much taller he's always been than Ezekiel. He still had his blonde hair,though it wasn't quite so golden anymore-more of a dirty blonde, and has acquired glasses over the years.Cailenremembers the first day he had come over with them on, the boy had been mortified but he's grown to love them, claiming the girls were really into the 'nerdy' look these days."And no girl likes sweat stains," Aireneadded from her spot at the island.Airenehad grown up to be quite the beautiful girl, her hair still a fiery red and her green eyes bright and enchanting.Ezekie
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Cailenstopped a ways back, pulling his coat tighter around him as the fall breeze blew and made him shiver.He was always surprised sometimes when he really looked at Ezekieland saw how much he's grown.Up until last year,it seemed as though he had missed the puberty bus until one day,Cailenreally looked at him and noticed he had grown about a foot and was stealing his cologne to wear.It was a bit of a shock that he quickly got over and went out to buy Ezekielhis own cologne along with some shaving supplies since he had noticed the boy had also started growing some scruff.It was something he never had a problem with in the first place because until now, he never had a single hair grow on his face, well aside from his eyebrows and his head, of course.Cailenknew he was going to be one of those teenagers that looked way olderthan they really were just because puberty decided to randomly
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Maddison rushed over to them, throwing herself into Asher's legs hard enough that her feet left the ground and she was able to crawl into Asher's lap, with his help of course."What do you mean ‘Zekeleft’?" Asherquestioned as he wrapped his arms around his daughterso she wouldn't fall off.She had nestled herself nicely in his lap so her legs dangled over the edge but she was able to look up at them both with her big blue eyes.They adopted Maddison out of the orphanage when she was six years old, soon after Ezekielhad come up to them one day and asked if they were ever going to adopt another child.It was completely random and out oftheblue and had taken them both by surprise so much that they didn't know what to say.They honestly hadn't thought about adopting again, but when Ezekielexplained that he was only wondering because he thought it might be nice to have someone to play w
A Place To Call Home Chapter 114 - Their House
Seven years later…"Alright," Cailenheard come from down the hall.It was only a couple steps further so he made the small venture to poke his head around the corner and into the hall to see Asherjust coming up from the basement."The basement isofficially 'Teen-Proof'," Asher said around an exhausted sigh.Cailenfully stepped into the entrance of the hallway, crossing his arms over his chest and waiting for his husband to meet him at the end of the hall and proceeding to follow him into the kitchen.Cailenstill cringed slightly whenever he walked into the kitchen, more so when he had company following him.They were in the middle of renovating the kitchen, the last of the house's renovation, thankfully.When they purchased the house four years ago, they had gotten it pretty cheap because it needed so much work done to it. They just hadn't realized how much work it ne
A Place To Call Home Chapter 113 - Leaving
"Yeah, I love you too," Cailensaid with a small smile before hanging up his phone and slipping it into his pocket.He went to turn around but paused as a man in a suit rushed by him, obviously in a hurry.They were at the airport saying goodbye to Noahbefore he got on a flight to Scotlandand apparently,he was not the only one planning a trip that weekend.You could barely move without bumping into someone and Cailenhad to step away into a corner in order to answer his phone because it was so loud.Once the man had passed,Cailencontinued back towards the small group that was gathering outside the gate Noahwas to go through to get to his flight.They were all there, Matthew, Hazel, and of course Aariyah, William, Asherand Ezekiel, all hugging Noahgoodbye before his departure.He had been in the middle of saying goodbye when his phone rang and he excused himself to answer
A Place To Call Home Chapter 112 - Family Night
Cailen is startled from his sleep by a sudden weight crashing into him and then a wet nose sniffing at his face.He knows who it is instantly and groans, not caring if he wakes Asher up at this point.It's his dog, if Loki is waking Cailen up, then Asher can get woken up as well.Cailen brought his arms up, having to untangle himself from Asher's grasp in order to do so, and shielded his face from the intruding nose.It's not like this has never happened before, but it didn't happen often.Loki was usually pretty good at just sleeping at the foot of their bed, but recently, he's been cuddling up to Ezekiel in his so it was a bit strange.Either way, Loki was waking Cailen up so he started to sit up, just remembering to be gentle in case Asher's arm or leg was in the right position to get squished."Loki, down," Cailen mumbled, his tone firm.Cailen heard a groan come from behind him and knew Asher was now awake.
