[closed - Spencer - June 19]

[just_another]

It's been over a year since their ruined attempt at a first date and Joel has been making plans for months now to celebrate. For a few weeks he had considered celebrating it on the same day, but he doesn't want to draw attention to the fact that it's been a year since Mark Fuller had kidnapped Spencer and dragged him up to the lighthouse to get revenge on Joel. He's in prison now, he'll be in prison for years to come, and his influence on their life together isn't something Joel wants to remember.

So instead of celebrating on the day, he makes plans for a week later. It's a Friday and he sends Spencer to work at the store with a kiss and a promise to call him later. He's made up an emergency repair in the bathroom and even made it look realistic by dumping a cup of water on the floor. (Something is leaking, he had insisted. I need to fix this because once the baby is here I won't have time to tear up the floor if I need to.)

Nothing is leaking. The bathroom is fine.

A year ago they had planned to meet on the boardwalk and watch a movie together and Mark had ruined that. So now Joel is bringing the boardwalk and the movie to their backyard. He's been very careful about his rentals, making sure to use the money he has in his own account so Spencer doesn't find out about any of it. There's a popcorn machine, a large, comfortable loveseat for the two of them to watch the movie, a projector and a giant screen all set up in the back yard. There's a cooler beside the loveseat with ice and beer -- because you can't get whiskey on the boardwalk -- and when Joel calls Spencer at the end of the day to make sure he's home on time, he's pretty satisfied with what he's put together.

"I took care of the leak," he promises. "But there's a bit of a clean up to do. You were planning on coming straight home, right? I could really use the help." And when Spencer promises he's on his way, Joel smiles before he ends the call.

A little over a year ago, someone ruined what was to be their first date. No one is going to interrupt this night. Joel isn't going to let them.

Comments

[just_another]

"Hey, it's been a long night," Joel says to his sister, digging his phone out of his pocket so he can check the time. It's nearing midnight and he has no idea how that much time has passed already when it seems like only minutes ago he and Spencer were in their backyard with a movie playing on that giant screen he'd had set up. He cringes faintly, hoping it's been left alone, that no one has touched it or the projector he hasn't given a second thought since they were called to the hospital. If something has happened to it, he'll deal with it later, because there's nothing in the world as important as this moment right now and he grins as he looks over at Spencer again, then shakes his head in amusement.

"What?" Charlotte asks, as if he might be making a joke at her expense. "What's so funny?"

"It's nothing," Joel tells her. "It's just... a year ago and a week ago tonight Spencer and I were supposed to go see a movie on the boardwalk together. Our first date." He knows he doesn't need to put into words what actually happened, his parents and his sister all know what happened on that first date instead of the actual date so he doesn't see any point in drawing it out and telling the whole awful story again. Not when tonight is full of such celebration and so much happiness. It's just funny in a way, drawing parallels to the fact that they've been interrupted all over again, though this time it's for a much better reason. There's nothing Joel wants more in the world than to just have his family together and tonight it had happened. "I was trying to recreate the whole thing tonight. I rented a projector and a screen to put up in the yard. We were finally going to get that first outdoor movie date."

"And it got interrupted again," Charlotte finishes for him, but she's smiling. "A hell of a good reason to have your first movie date interrupted, though. You got a way better outcome than any date could ever have. Unless you were gonna bang, which you probably were, so... I don't know. You wanted the baby, so that's still probably the better outcome. Plenty of time for banging in the future."

"Charlotte, please," Ellie says, closing her eyes as if her daughter is causing her physical pain and Joel would laugh, but the longer his sister speaks, the redder his cheeks get and he lifts his free hand to rub at one unconsciously, as if he can rub away his blush. That isn't how he had intended the conversation to go, but he should know better whenever Charlotte is around, that she's not only going to know exactly what Joel's plans are whenever it comes to spending time alone with Spencer, but that she'll also be perfectly comfortable saying them out loud in an attempt to embarrass him. It's not at all that he's ashamed of the incredible sex life he and Spencer share, but he likes to keep it just between the two of them. It's special and it's private and he doesn't want to talk about it with anyone else.

He's about to chime in that no one needs to hear all that when the doctor arrives in the room, giving Spencer and Joel a bright smile.

"How's everyone doing in here?" she asks, crossing to where Brian is holding Dane so she can check on him. "Sound asleep, just as he should be. We've got some bottles prepared for him when he wakes up, because he's going to want to eat right away, but we need to discuss what we're going to do for the next day or so. Now there's nothing at all to be worried about, Dane is perfectly healthy and he's only three weeks early, so he's technically still a full term baby, which is good news. Because he's a couple of weeks early, though, I would feel safer keeping him overnight to keep an eye on him. It's not likely any complications will arise, but it's better to be safe when it comes to early births."

[doublethepain]

Though less so than before, it can still be a bit of a struggle for Spencer to keep himself from getting lost in memories of the night of the lighthouse. He can see the brief flicker in both Ellie and Brian's eyes and though he appreciates that what had happened to Amy had changed so much of their lives, too, Spencer doesn't think he could ever really talk to them about what had happened. It's not as if it hadn't been in the papers, though not with all the gory details because Spencer had avoided the reporters' calls like the plague, and he's sure that Joel has told him whatever he'd been willing; but none of them have ever brought it up with each other because there's very little that can be said.

Apologies are useless when it's none of their faults, after all, and hashing it out when it's more than a year passed wouldn't do any of them any good. Spencer has had his panic over the incident, and Joel has always been the one there to talk him down. That day he'd had an attack in the library after Raleigh had broken a glass, Joel had been the only one who could have brought him back to a calmer state. He's yet to experience something like that because of what had happened with Roman, but Spencer would like to think that after New York and becoming a father, his mind will leave no room for anything resembling panic unless it's over what the baby wants when he starts to cry.

Of course, the fact that Charlotte brings up sex makes it easy enough for Spencer to keep his mind of Mark and the lighthouse, too. He suspects that none of them could ever forget when she'd walked in on Spencer with his lips around Joel's cock in the bookstore, and the way she'd pointedly looking at him now is enough evidence of that. He's scrambling in his mind for something to say, any retort at all that can be spoken without a stutter, but he looks to Joel with wide eyes as his cheeks start to flush a deep red.

That the doctor walks in at that moment is something Spencer wants to thank her profusely for, but he settles for a soft sigh of relief as he lets his forehead briefly drop down against Joel's shoulder before turning his attention back to the doctor.

"You're sure it's only a precaution?" he asks, bouncing slightly on his heels as he tightens his arm around Joel. It's a nervous habit, one that he knows his husband is more than familiar with by now, and he looks from the doctor to the baby to his husband and back, all the while biting down on his lip. "I mean, we'll obviously stay as long as you think is necessary if it means Dane will be healthy, I just-- I want to know with certainty that our son is okay."

The doctor offers him a gentle smile, one that soothes him well enough because she hasn't yet presented herself as the type to treat the truth lightly or to keep anything as important as this from them. If something was wrong with Dane, they'd already know, Spencer's sure of that; he just needs to be reassured.

"Dane is going to be out of this hospital and at home where he's supposed to be in no longer than a day or two," she says. "Now, there's always the chance for complications, but I can tell you that in our evaluation of him so far, he's in good health. The early birth is what has him looking so tiny, he's at 5.2 ounces right now, but that's what the bottles are for. Once you're able to start feeding him, I'm confident that he'll gain more weight in no time."

[just_another]

Dane is small, that's impossible to miss, but Joel doesn't feel any of that worry that had been nearly overwhelming him not much earlier in the night. The doctor has been forthright with them from the start and he knows if something was seriously wrong with Dane, he wouldn't be here in the room with them. The nurse wouldn't have allowed him to be passed around the room, one person after another holding him carefully, not if there was any risk to him. Every single time they've been in this hospital -- and Joel has to admit that's probably been more than the average person -- the doctors and nurses have been wonderful with them. The number of witches on the staff is probably a lot higher than anyone realizes, but the fact that no one has reacted to any of their injuries or stories in any extreme way has made it easier for Joel to trust them. Maybe there are poor nurses here, maybe there are rude doctors, but so far they haven't run into any of them and for that Joel is extremely grateful. Especially here and now, when it comes to their baby, the most important thing they've ever done.

This is where Joel would be comfortable demanding the best care, actually being bold and expressing himself with confidence if he had to, but he's glad it doesn't come to that. The doctor cares about them and she cares about their baby and if Dane is her primary concern, then she's more than alright by Joel. So when she says there's really nothing to worry about, that keeping him here is just a precaution, he believes her. The anxiety has slowly seeped away, leaving him tired and happy, but no less attentive to her words as she explains that he's small and that he'll need to eat and gain some weight, but Joel is confident they won't have trouble there. All he wants right now is to feed Dane for the first time, to hold their baby in his arms and give him the bottle and see what happens.

"Good," he says with a nod, squeezing his arm gently around Spencer. "Good, I'm glad to hear that. We'll do whatever we need." Even if it means staying awake for another week without sleep, even if it means they have be here for much longer than just a day or two. There's nothing the doctor could say to either of them now that would be too much or be something they looked at as being too difficult, Joel knows this for a fact. He knows this without having to ask Spencer, he knows it without having to ask himself. He's met Dane less than an hour ago and already he knows that the two of them will do everything they can to make sure nothing ever happen to him. That he's safe, that he's loved, that he's protected and cared for.

"What you can do first is get some sleep," the doctor suggests, although her expression says she already knows what sort of answer she's going to get. "Even if you sleep in shifts. One of you is welcome to stay here, but the other should really go home and sleep a little."

Joel understands the common sense in what she's suggesting, he knows it would be the right thing to do, but he can't sleep without Spencer. His insomnia isn't as bad as it once was, but that's only due to the fact that Spencer is beside him in bed every night and the only time they've been apart had been to Joel's own stupidity and then Roman, the man Joel still thinks he might kill with his own two hands if he were to get the chance. Without Spencer, he tosses and turns, he stares at the ceiling, he tries every relaxation technique he's ever known, but none of them work, because his husband is by far the most comforting presence he's ever known.

"I don't think I'd get much sleep if I went home alone now," he says honestly. He suspects the same can be said of Spencer.

"Somehow I thought you'd say that," the doctor answers with a sigh, but she's still smiling faintly. "We don't have a private room available right now, but there is a shared room with a bed in it. We're willing to put you three there overnight as long as you both promise to get some sleep so that you're somewhat coherent in the morning."

"I can promise that," Joel answers instantly, though he suspects he really won't sleep much at all. Not if Dane is beside them in his little bassinet, sleeping away and utterly perfect.