Unlawfully Wed

Alex waited until John and he were back on the highway before blurting out, "George and Michael Martinez were sleeping together."

John looked at him in surprise, his eyes wide and his mouth gaping. "Really? Jayme didn't tell me anything about that--did Martha know? I figured something like that in a town this small would of spread like wildfire. I mean, that's some juicy gossip for the rumor mill."

Alex shrugged and recounted everything that Michael had told him about their meeting. John's eyes widened with every bit of information Alex mentioned, finally letting out a low whistle when Alex brought up the anniversary date. "Jesus, Alex, I can't say I'm exactly surprised that it fucks with him. You're a mess about it every year, no matter how 'over it' you say you are."

"Thanks, John. That makes me feel just awesome."

"Oh shut up, you know it's true. I'm just saying, we've been acting under the impression that George had no problem leaving you, but maybe that wasn't really the case. Maybe all of this shit between you guys was just a really big misunderstanding."

God, talking about this hurt. Alex never should have taken up this case. He really thought he was over this, and seeing George the second felt easier than the first--he didn't feel overwhelmed by George's beauty, he was able to talk about Martha without wishing the last several years away, and he actually felt like he had a good chance of making this case turn out in George's favor, but now, hearing that he was just as broken up about the break-up as Alex was, that he was still acting on his feelings, Alex could feel the start of something akin to hope creep into his belly, making his heart race and his min whir of what things could be like if George and he got back together.

Maybe he should just back out of this all together.

Alex sighed and sunk down into the seat, crossing his arms over his stomach and looking out the window. He could hear John rambling about something beside him, but he wasn’t paying any attention. He tried to block it out, but he couldn't get his mind to stop replaying the image in his mind of George being intimate with someone who looked like him.

He closed his eyes for a moment to steady his pounding heart before opening them and looking back at John, finally tuning back in to what he was saying. "--we should be able to call him as a witness in court, have him testify that George really was arguing with his brother in the cab."

Alex just nodded in response. John glanced over at him and rolled his eyes. "Did you hear anything that I just said?"

Alex hesitated before shaking his head and looking down at the ground. Clearly, he should have been paying more attention to what very well could be a tool in setting George free. "My mind is in a million places right now. I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's not me that your lack of focus is going to hurt." He grimaced as he saw the look of hurt that overcame Alex's features. "Shit, I didn't mean--"

"It's fine," Alex interrupted, twiddling his thumbs and keeping his gaze locked firmly on the ground. "You're right. I need to be more focused, or George is going to spend his life in jail for a crime of passion he did not commit." He cleared his throat and reached behind him to pull John's notebook out of his bag. "Let's discuss everything we learned today, and see if that gets us anywhere."

*

Several hours later, Alex was back home, sitting on his bed and surrounded with photographs of lGeorge and him from years past. He had avoided it as long as he could, had tried to hard to black out that portion of his life, but with this new news, the hope was burning brightly and his heart felt full. He knew he was taking a huge risk, opening himself back up to those feelings, but he couldn't help himself.

Honestly, he thought he'd be able to last longer than two weeks, but clearly he wasn't as over George as he like to tell himself he was.

He grabbed one of the stacks of photographs and leaned back against his headboard, kicking his feet out in front of him as he looked through the memories of their first year together. In most of the images, Alex looked happy, but he could remember how desperately anxious he was for the first few months that they were dating, constantly afraid that he was going to wake up to everything being a dream.

Their first date, especially, stood out vividly in his mind. He had been so nervous, but even then, being with George had felt so right.

*Alex was standing in the parking lot of George’s apartment with sweating palms and a racing heart, trying to decide if he was really going to do this. He was fortunate that George’s apartment looked out on the opposite side, so he wasn’t making too big of a fool of himself. He had shown up nearly forty-five minutes early (really, he thought the highway was going to be much worse . . . how would he have known the back way would make his commute less than fifteen minutes?) and spent the first half hour sitting in his car, looking around at the concrete scenery and twiddling his thumbs. When he finally started to get anxious just sitting there, he shut his car off and tucked his keys into his pocket, waiting for a few breaths before getting out of the car.

He had been wandering around for almost ten minutes before his palms started to sweat, and it was another five before he realized that there was a very real chance that he might have an anxiety attack. The racing of his heart was getting faster and faster, and it was getting harder and harder to breath.

He wiped his hands off on his pants before going over to the sidewalk and turning around, backing his heels up against the concrete before squatting down and falling backwards, hesitating only to make sure that he wasn’t going to sit down in a patch of mud or a puddle before landing heavily on his rear. He put his head in his hands and tried to breath in and out through his nose, keeping count of the seconds in his mind as he alternated in through his nose and out through his mouth.

Jesus, what was he doing? This was someone he had known for years, someone who he once called his superior. Wasn’t it some kind of disrespect, acting like they were equals? There had to be some kind of law against it, be it unspoken or not--

"Alexander? What are you doing?"

Alex jolted, looking up at the intruder with pure panic in his eyes. His chest felt like there was a rubber band around it, and any progress he had made with calming down flew straight out the window.

When he saw that it was George he was looking at, his panic of it being an attacker morphed into shock and embarrassment at being caught. Gosh, just their first date, and Alex was already making a total fool of himself. Why did he ever think this was going to work? He was too young for George, and too inexperienced--

"Breathe, Alexander," he could hear George soothing him, a warm hand rubbing against his lower back and holding him close. "In and out, Alexander, that's it, breath with me. In and out, in and out--there, that's better, isn't it?"

Alex closed his eyes and took a few more deep breaths before he looked at George, giving him a small smile. "Hi," he said, meeting his eyes for less than a second before looking back at the ground.

George moved his hand from Alex's back to his shoulder and squeezed lightly, kissing him on the cheek before leaning his forehead against Alex's temple. "Hey."

Alex's heart began to race again, only this time, it was for a whole different reason as George moved his hand to cup his cheek, and gently turned Alex's face before kissing him gently, lovingly, for the first time on the mouth./

Alex leaned his head back against the wall as the memory drew to a close, his vision beginning to cloud as the ache in his chest made him feel vulnerable and empty. God, how did something that felt so right hurt him so badly?

Although, if Michael was to be believed, George was at least a fraction as hurt as Alex was.

He closed his eyes and breathed in and out, just like he had in his memory, to try and get rid of the emotion. He knew it wouldn't work, but it at least made him feel less like he was having an anxiety attack than it did like he had just sprinted a marathon.

Once he had his breathing back under control, Alex leaned his head back down and shuffled the pictures again. He had already gone through them twice, so he went through them one final time before swapping them out for a later year.

Before he could get too deep into his memories, however, he was interrupted by his phone ringing. He grabbed it off the end table, glancing at the caller ID before answering. It was Phillip. "Hello?"

There was heavy breathing before Phillip whimpered, "Dad?"

Alex sat up sharply, his brows furrowing and his feet already scuffing around the floor in search of his shoes. "What's wrong? Are you hurt? Is Angie hurt? Did something happen to one of your mothers?"

Phillip didn't say anything, but he was quite obviously crying now, the sound of his sons echoing in Alex's ear. Alex tried to pick up on any clues, but he couldn't hear anything over his son's distress. "I'm on my way over now, Phillip, stay on the line--hello? Dammit!"

Alex almost threw his phone as Phillips ancient iPhone 4 dropped the call, something it was notorious for doing. Alex had offered time and time again to buy him a new phone, but he was just as frugal as Eliza was and would not budge. Fortunately he didn't throw it, though, as te phone rang again--this time, it was Angelica.

"Angie? What's wrong?" he asked immediately after he answered, sprinting down his stairs and grabbing his jacket from where he had tossed it over the back of the sofa. He grabbed his keys, as well, and ran outside to the car, cursing under his breath as he jumped into his car and started the engine.

In his rush, he had failed to notice that Angelica had not said a word. Once he was driving, however, the panic hit him full-force. "Angie? Are you there?"

"I'm here, Dad," she replied in a shaky voice, the sounds of Phillip's anguished cries from somewhere close to her, "I'm here."

"What's wrong? Where are you guys?" He cursed again as he made a wrong turn. He pulled into a driveway and turned back onto the street.

Before Angelica had a chance to answer, Alex's heart sunk as he reached an accident at a four-way intersection near Eliza and Maria's house. There was debris scattered all along the intersection, from one end of the sidewalk to the other. One of the cars was nothing more than a jagged bits of scrap metal, the driver thrown into the grass next to the car. Alex didn't look long, but he could tell that the man's neck and leg were both broken at a gruesome, unnatural angle. The other car wasn't as completely dismantled as the first one, but it was most definitely totaled, as well.

Alex's heart stopped as he realized that it was Maria's car in front of him.

He swerved over onto the side of the road just as an ambulance and fire truck arrived on the scene. He jumped out of his car and ran over to the van, jumping around the metal shards and *praying* that his family was going to be okay.

From up close, the van was in even worse shape than Alex had realized. The top had clearly buckled under the force of the crash, and was pinning Angelica and Phillip into the back of the car. Alex could see Phillip through the window, and Phillip, who was looking back, began to wave frantically before he held up his sister's hand and pointed, clearly trying to show Alex that they were both mostly all right as firemen began to use the jaws of life to get them out of their metal prison.

Alex tried to look into the front windows to see if Maria and most likely Eliza (the twins never both sat in the back unless they had to) were all right, but the workers were blocking most of the view. He tried to run over and check, but when he got too close, one of the EMTs held his hands up and tried to move Alex away from the scene.

"God damn it, those are my kids, in there! Let me through!"

"I understand that, sir, but we can't let anyone in right now. I understand your panic, but you have to stay back right now." He moved as Alex tried to jump past him, effectively blocking him again. "Sir, the police are already on their way--I will have them restrain you, if necessary."

Alex let out a growl of frustration, but he took a step back, crossing his arms over his chest and rocking his weight onto his hind leg. He sucked in a breath through his teeth and watched helplessly as the metal was split and the first of his children climbed out.

As soon as Phillips feet hit the ground he was running towards Alex, Angie only moments behind him as the men and women shifted their attention on the overwhelming dismemberment to the front of the car. Alex leaned forward and held his arms out. Phillip and Angie crashed into him with enough force to knock him to the ground, where they laid in a pile for several seconds before sitting up as the metal let out a sickening crunching sound.

Alex sucked in another breath as a second ambulance pulled up and unloaded a stretcher, another slew of workers running out and surrounding Maria's car. "What happened?" he asked quietly, his eyes widening as Eliza was unloaded first, pulled out of a hole in the top of the car with a brace around her neck.

Phillip seemed to stunned to speak, but Angelica squeezed her father around the waist before saying, "Mama was craving ice cream, so we were going out to get some. We were talking about baby names with her and Mom, and that other guy just came out of nowhere--he ran the light and slammed right into us. We didn't know what to do, and Mom and Mama weren't answering to us--we didn't know what to do. We just wanted you."

Alex kissed Angelica on the forehead before doing the same to Phillip. He moved his hands up to their hair and massaged their scalps gently, making soothing sounds and humming gently, just like he had done when they were upset as children.

Eliza was loaded into the first ambulance. She was clearly conscious--she kept trying to sit up on the gurney, and she was yelling abuse at the workers who were still rescuing her beloved partner. She was ignored as she was wrestled the rest of the way into the vehicle, and soon she was being carted off to the closest hospital in town.

When it came to Maria, however, things didn't seem to be so cut and dry. Alex couldn't be sure, but from afar it looked like her swollen belly had gotten lodged in the steering wheel. The side of the van had been almost completely removed, so he could see the dark crimson stain that had soaked the midsection of her white tee shirt and beige pants.

"Are the babies going to be okay?" Phillip asked as some of the mangled front was cut and moved away, letting out another quiet whimper when the steering wheel began to sink backwards, Maria's head falling with it. One of the paramedics worked on getting a brace around her neck while the other pushed against her stomach.

Alex kissed his head again and let out a deep exhalation through his nose. He wasn't even sure if *Maria* was going to be okay. "I don't know, buddy. I sure hope so." He winced as the steering wheel finally dropped all the way down to the ground. The medic held Maria up again before, finally, *her* side of the van was removed, and she was able to be loaded onto the gurney. Unlike Eliza, however, her journey into the ambulance was silent, and she didn't move an inch.

Alex and his children looked on as the medics who had taken to the sprawled man ceased their support before officially calling it. They loaded him, too, onto a gurney before taking a stiff white sheet and using it to cover his face and body. Angelica looked stricken, but Phillip, ever the more sensitive of the two, watched in horror before turning to the side and vomiting onto the ground.

Alex grit his teeth and reached down to take his children's hands before standing, moving over to the police officer to find out exactly where Eliza and Maria were going before moving back to his children and getting them to his car. He made sure they were buckled in and had taken a few sips of water and had a few bites of chocolate before taking off to see their mothers.

Boy what an awful day this had become.