Larry sat in the family lounge, bouncing his knee, and tapping his foot. Laurent had already come down from his room to greet him, telling him he'd be down again shortly, and ready to go, sharing a sweet, chaste kiss when no one was looking. Want and need was roiling through both of them, and they were both having trouble reigning it in. But they would not, could not let it bubble over, not here, and not now. When they were alone, and they could be alone for a long time. They had a lot of time to make up for, and they were both looking forward to ..... making up.
Larry could hear the thud and rattle of suitcases coming down the stairs, accompanied by two male voices, chatting and laughing. Laurent and Phillip were just about friends now, closer than therapist and patient, closer than two acquaintances.
"Hey, Larry" Phillip smiled, "You're early". It was 9:45, and Larry had been sat in the family lounge since 9:20.
"You expected different ? I need my man back !" His face was positively beaming.
"Mmm hmm" Phillip gave Larry a sideways smirk, knowing exactly what he wanted his man back for. For the first few days, anyway. Laurent stepped forward to hug Larry and kiss him on his forehead. He turned to Phillip now,
"Doc, how can I thank you, really"
"Just seeing you two now, like this, happy, is enough" he told Laurent sincerely. Then a small smile crept across his face. "And your astronomical fee is a great thank you too !" he laughed at his own joke. Laurent, not so much. But anything, any amount of money, the pain and the hurt, and healing, was worth it, just to come out the other side, and for Larry to still love him, through all of it. An arm around his shoulder, he pressed a small kiss to Larry's temple, he couldn't get enough of him right now.
"OK, you two, I get it !" Phillip didn't offer them his hand this time, he just opened his arms wide for the hugs he knew he had no choice but to endure. And relish in. Laurent hugged him tightly, not letting go.
"Thank you" he told Phillip quietly, sincerely, his voice wavering with emotion slightly. "Thank you." There was nothing else appropriate enough, nothing so eloquent as the genuine thanks and affection that had settled in his heart and soul for this man. Being the ever-so-British, stiff upper lip toff that he was, Phillip stepped back, slightly embarrassed at his own feelings and humility.
"Yes, well ..... you, um ..... better get going ...." he coughed a little, so his words didn't betray the emotion he was feeling. Larry hugged him too, Phillip knowing it was going to be nearly impossible to not cry now.
"Thank you, Phillip. Thank you for bringing him back to me, to his children. I can never thank you enough" That was it then, the tears that were teetering on his lashes fell. He didn't do this with every patient at the clinic, only the special ones, the one's with special families. And these two were certainly that. Caroline interrupted them then.
"Your uber is here, Laurent. I um ...." she was in tears too, as Laurent enveloped her tiny frame in a bear hug, as she all but disappeared in his arms.
"When you come to New York, you stay with us, OK ?" he told her as she nodded into his chest. She secretly, or not so secretly, had a crush on this large, beautiful man, but she loved Larry too, so it made it hard to be upset that he would never, in a million years, be hers.
As Larry and Laurent pulled his suitcases through the lobby and out of the front doors, Laurent stepped off the pavement and into the road behind the car, as the driver put their luggage in the trunk. He shaded his eyes against the sun, as he looked up at the handsome facade of the Georgian building, remembering the day he had stood there, in the rain, that day three months ago, the day before he first burst through those doors, anxious and excited. Excited at the prospect of this very moment, this moment right here, right now. He felt Larry's hand in his, and his grip tightened around it.
YOU ARE READING
YOU PROMISED ME FOREVER -- Sequel to "DIFFERENT"
Fanfiction5 years later, Laurent and Larry Read-Bourgeois and their two children, are living a seemingly perfect life. An unexpected, and traumatic event leaves them lost and bewildered, their perfect life now a nightmare. They keep their life, but can they...
