Threads of sunlight filtered through the thin curtains, casting a yellow glow on the far wall littered with pinned photographs. Some of them featured the two of us smiling, laughing, kissing, holding hands—happiness caught by a camera, fleeting moments forever captured. They showed precious moments that we had shared together during these last few months.

I let one of my hands escape the heat beneath the cover and rubbed my eyes, eager to start the day but reluctant to get out of bed. Cameron blew hot, regular puffs of air against my neck, which made it next to impossible to move.

Carefully, I turned in his arms and simply watched my boyfriend. He had the softest expression when he slept. His lips full and inviting, the crease between his brows smoothed out, his long lashes still enough to be studied—he was perfection.

He was my light, almost brighter than the sun. Of course, I would never dream of saying something so cheesy to his face, but I could think it.

The alarm began to sing behind me. Cameron stirred, forcing his eyelids apart with great difficulty, it seemed.

"Good morning," I said, touching his lips with mine.

"Mornin'." He yawned and placed an arm around my back.

Lazy snuggling followed. Hands touching skin, lips seeking contact.

"How much time do we have?" he asked.

"About an hour or so."

"Bad planning."

"Bad planning? You set the alarm. Remember?"

"Yeah, I know. Should have given us an extra hour."

"Why?"

He kissed me, pushed my right shoulder until my back hit the mattress, and took his spot on top. "Because you're too damn tempting." He nibbled my lower lip, knowing exactly how to tease me into surrender.

"Bad planning, you said?" I tried to rein us both in before we got too far. We didn't have time for morning sex, no matter how much we wanted to explore each other all over again.

He groaned and fell against my chest, almost driving the air out of my lungs. "You might have to make it up to me."

"Again. You set the alarm. This is not...I repeat, not my fault."

Chuckles traveled between us, soft rumbles that warmed me from within. I loved it when he laughed. It was an odd kind of validation, but an important one. His smiles revealed that I made him happy, and that boosted my confidence like nothing else.

"You make us breakfast, and we're even."

I squirmed beneath him, trying to reach freedom. "Still not my fault. You're not framing me for this. I object."

"What happens if I don't listen?" he asked before gently biting my ear lobe.

"I'll force you to sleep on the couch."

He snorted, well aware that I would have a hard time keeping him out of his own bed. "We'll see about that."

As soon as he let me go, I rose and tried to forget that he was staring at me from behind. Even after months sleeping in the same bed, I still felt slightly awkward walking around buck naked in front of him. Distance made it worse. Distance made me embarrassed. The farther away he was, the worse it became. Of course, it wasn't a bad feeling.

I stole one of his large shirts from the wardrobe and grinned at his reaction. He had this ambivalent relationship with my habit of stealing his clothes—part happy and part annoyed because I gave him extra laundry.

"I'll make breakfast," I said and left him to deal with his sexiness alone.

* * * *

Hours later, tired of endless lanes of tarmac and speeding cars, we finally reached our destination. The gravel along the driveway ceased with its crunching, and as soon as Cameron cut the engine, the silence was absolute.

Minutes passed while I observed both our surroundings and Cameron's fidgeting.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked, looking out the car window. His frown betrayed what he really meant. Meeting my family was a big step, and he worried that they would judge him based on his age, and perhaps also that he'd been my teacher a few months ago.

Entwining my fingers with his, I smiled at his antics. "You'll be fine. They know we're coming and they want to meet you." And I really wanted them to meet him. It was yet another thing that made our relationship different from the one I'd had with Gabriel. Cameron wasn't ashamed of being seen with me. He actually wanted to see my family even if he was a bit nervous about it for no reason whatsoever.

His gaze wavered, studying the old two-story house with its wrap-around porch. I still considered it my home even if years had passed since I'd lived there permanently.

The front door opened, causing Cameron to startle in his seat. We'd been sitting in the car for an unreasonable amount of time, so I wasn't all that surprised when Dad waved at us from the doorway.

I nodded toward the house. "Come on, time to face my parents."

His hold around my fingers tightened. "Was that supposed to help?"

Smiling, I leaned over and gave his cheek a swift peck. "You're a brave guy. You don't need me to hold your hand."

"But what if I want to hold your hand?" he asked. The humor in his words erased the tension. He was definitely ready, or at least pretending to be.

"You can hold my hand if you promise not to agree when Mom asks if you want to see my baby pictures."

A careful smile danced across his lips, and I knew it was time to open the car door and face the crowd. Mom had joined Dad on the porch, and my niece, Alicia, was hiding behind Mom's legs, a lollipop dangling from her mouth. Mom sure knew how to spoil her grandchild.

Not waiting for Cameron to gather more courage, I left the car and waved at my family. It was always good to see them. They'd given me great support once I'd told them about everything that had happened. It was weird to think that I hadn't wanted them to know, but it had all been about protecting them when I hadn't been able to protect myself.

"Took you long enough," Mom said, moving to meet us on the stairs. Alicia held on to Mom's leg and stumbled a little. I couldn't believe that I had missed the moment when she had started to walk. In fact, I'd missed a lot of things but was determined to make up for lost time. Mom kissed both my cheeks and gave me a smile that announced that she was happy to see me, but even happier to see the man behind me.

She effectively got me out of the way and approached my boyfriend. "Cameron, how lovely to finally meet you. Adam has told us so much about you." She kissed his cheeks as well, which resulted in a serious case of embarrassment on my part. Does she have to be so full on?

He handled her with ease. "It's nice to meet you Mrs. Webb." He gestured at the garden in full bloom. "You have a fine setting here. We should take some family photographs later."

Mom beamed. "Oh that would be fantastic, wouldn't it, Ben?"

Dad gave Cameron one of his more social greetings, which amounted to a nod and a grunt. He would most likely interrogate Cameron about the finer details of photography later, or at least the technical details, but Dad had a thing with first meetings—regardless of who he met.

"Well, let's get inside." Mom adjusted her blouse and fanned her face with little success. "We really need to get away from this heat. Vera should be here somewhere, maybe she's preparing some lemonade." She turned to Cameron, blinking rapidly. "Or maybe you would prefer something else? Something stronger?"

Cameron shook his head. "I'm fine Mrs. Webb. Cool lemonade sounds amazing."

Still flustered, Mom disappeared into the kitchen. I could hear her talking to Vera, but not the specifics. It didn't take long for my sister to appear with a tray of drinks.

"Hi guys, how was your trip?"

"Warm," I replied, while Cameron said something much more positive at the same time. Ever the charmer when he wanted to be.

My sister beamed and handed us two glasses of pale lemonade with chunks of ice and crushed strawberries. "You've hidden this man too long, Adam." She turned to Cameron. "We've been dying to meet you since he told us all these wonderful things about you." Clearly, Cameron had worried over nothing. My family was more than accepting, maybe even a tad too loving.

I winced and clenched my fingers around the cold glass. Apparently, they had decided to embarrass me as if I didn't do that well enough on my own.

"I'm glad to be here," he replied, smooth as ever. During these last few months, I had discovered that being smooth was one of his many talents. It unnerved me from time to time, and if it wasn't for the fact that he dropped that facade when we were alone, I would have eventually hated it. Oddly enough, he was difficult to get to know beyond that first acquaintance. I hadn't realized until later how rare it was for him to open up about himself, especially about his past with that hateful man who had hit him as a kid.

Vera touched my arm. "Are you listening?"

"No, what?" I had spaced out, like always.

"Mom wants us to sit in the garden while she fusses around with whatever it is she needs to do."

"Oh. Okay." I followed the others to the only spot of shade in sight across the lawn. The large oak was probably older than the house, and it gave off a certain majestic air that I had come to love even as a child.

I sat down with my back to the house across the street. Vera noticed and patted my shoulder. "He's not here, you know. He's in jail."

"I'm fine."

"No you're not," she said.

Cameron must have guessed what we were talking about and began to study the very ordinary house behind me. I remembered it clearly. Red bricks. White window panes and shutters. Ivy climbed from the ground to the second window on the upper floor. Gabriel's room.

I had lost count of how many times he had scaled that ivy to sneak away from his parents.

"They've moved."

I glanced at Vera. "What?"

"They moved away the second the news got out. They couldn't face anyone."

I thought it was sad, but at the same time, I was glad that I never had to see them again. I didn't need the reminder.

Cameron placed an arm around me. The weight helped to settle my feet on solid ground. "He's never going to hurt you again." He was right—Gabriel was gone, locked away. The house was empty. When that realization hit, I did something that I hadn't really done since that day in Gabriel's room.

I cried.

I let go of months of repressed tears—emotions that I didn't want anyone to see or feel or hear. It had been easier to cope that way, hiding away the strange fear that he still watched me from afar.

Cameron hugged me with everything he had while I shook in his arms. Vera joined in from behind, resting her chin on my shoulder. She cried too, as if she had been waiting for this moment to happen.

I cried the tears of shame. How could I have allowed it to happen? How could it have gone so far?

I cried tears of regret, of pain and of tainted memories. Nothing from my childhood years with Gabriel would ever mean the same ever again.

We stood there for far too long—two sets of arms holding me steady while I opened the floodgates. Cameron who had never wavered, who knew some of what I went through based on his own tragic experiences. Vera who I had deliberately kept in the dark, but who gave her support when I finally accepted it.

When my tears ran dry, I tried to form words of gratitude, but nothing seemed to be enough.

I kissed my sister's forehead. "I love you. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, little brother. I wish I could have helped you more."

Using the pad of my thumb, I removed a black streak of running mascara.

"Oh look what I did," she said, like that was an even greater offense.

Cameron laughed softly. It was a familiar sound—a sound that offered comfort and love.

I locked my gaze with his, searching deep. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"And, I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about. I've told you that too many times to count."

"I know."

"You have to forgive yourself, Adam," Vera said.

"I know."

"Do you? I mean, do you really know?"

I filled my lungs with air and exhaled slowly. "Yes. It wasn't my fault. None of it was my fault." I had practiced the line many times, and it rolled off of my tongue with ease. And, for once, after crying over everything, I almost believed the words.

Again, I turned to Cameron, opening up the last part of myself. "It wasn't my fault." The conviction grew, steadily claiming more and more ground, and Cameron's smile grew with each passing second as if urging me on. "It wasn't my fault."

"It wasn't your fault," he agreed, gently placing a soft kiss on my lips. A kiss that gave instead of took—a kiss that forgave.

Steps on the porch behind us brought me out of Cameron's embrace. Mom and Dad held Alicia between them, one of her small hands in each of theirs. "It's time for some lunch." Mom smiled until she saw me. "Adam, what's wrong?" My eyes must have been red.

"Nothing's wrong."

"Are you sure?" she asked, worry creasing her forehead. She shouldn't have to be worried. None of them should. But, I had to let go of that guilt as well. What happened between me and Gabriel had affected so many, but the only way forward was to let go. I would always have ghosts to battle, but all that mattered was the future.

"I will be okay."

Mom's careful smile filled me with warmth. It had been a good idea to return home and embrace everything that was good in my life. It was time I forgave myself just as they had done. It was time to give them nothing but love. And, what better moment to start than when the family was gathered.

I clasped Cameron's hand, whispering to myself, "I will be okay."

THE END

A/N THANK YOU!! Thank you for joining me on this journey. 

I don't know what I would have done without you all. I hope you know how much I appreciate your support, your lovely pictures that you send, the comments, the messages. You're all amazing. Truly. 

Again, from the bottom of my heart, Thank You <3