Christmas Eve came and Alex was on day shift leaving Henry alone in the apartment. He hates leaving Henry alone and tried his best to check up on him as frequently as he could but today was a hell of a day for him. The amount of patient he had to see since he stepped into the shift is too overwhelming and they are out of staffs, as usual. Everyone wants to go home and celebrate Christmas and he might have heard four staffs had called in sick by now and it starts to irritate him.

It wasn't until his phone buzzed in his scrub pockets and he pulled it out to see who it was. His first thought was Henry since he had persuaded him to buy a phone and finally he did but when he looked at the screen he groaned. He slides to answer and sighed, "Mum."

"Darling, tell me again why are you guys skipping Austin?" She asks and Alex clenched his jaw tighter. "Mother, after all the years we haven't spoken to each other, I kind of missed it." Alex greets her and he could hear Ellen sighed. "Alex, you skipped Christmas for God knows how many years. Now you're telling me you're skipping New Year as well? Why didn't you let us come to New York and we can celebrate altogether." Ellen suggested and Alex sighed longly over the phone.

"Jesus mum, I told you I had to work. Why are you nagging me about this? Henry knows I'm working plus we're not married yet to make that promises on holidays." Alex blurted and the moment he did his jaw fell apart and he can hear the silenced over the other line.

"What did you just say?" Ellen asks and Alex soon regretted it after hearing his mother screamed on top of her lungs. He had to pull his phone away from his ear hearing his mother high pitch voice. "Mum." Alex called but she is too far gone screaming calling her own husband. "Mum." Alex called again and this time he is gotten more annoyed at her.

"Mum."

"Mum, listen.."

"Mama, espera.." Alex can hear her yelling for his father.

"MAMI! CALLATE!" Alex yelled and he almost felt embarrassed about it seeing there are other people in the hallway and they all laughed at his annoyance.

"Seriously woman control yourself!" Alex told her and she was cheering over the phone for Alex accidental blabs. "I'm so happy! I'm so so happy for you and Henry, Oh God I wish June was here. Your father is happy too, you have to tell us how did you propose? Was Henry the one who proposed? Or was it you?" Ellen outburst of question doesn't help Alex in shutting her up.

"Mum, we talk later, I'm working. DO NOT CALL HENRY ABOUT THIS!" Alex warned her and he can hear her sniffing her tears and he groaned. "Mummy..... please don't cry. I can't do this right now. I'm working." Alex begs her and she knows he is only she doesn't care. Alex promised her that he would call her once he is done with his shift so they could talk further and when he ended the call, he smiled shaking his head.

He pulled out his phone again and tapped on the screen before he starts another call. It took longer than usual for Alex's call to be answered and it got him worried. But soon as he heard his voice, his heart immediately relieved. "What took you so long? Are you alright? What the hell are you doing? Are you hurt?" Alex asks and all he could hear is silenced.

"Are you done? Jeez Alex, breathe, I'm in the loo for Christ sake. You expect me to take the phone there too?" Henry told him and he can hear Alex relaxed after a long exhaled. "Sorry, just wanting to hear your voice." Alex says and he can hear Henry sighed on the other end.

"I miss you too darling. Are you okay? Why the sudden call? Is everything alright?" Henry asks and Alex smiled at his concerned. "My mum called and I don't know how it happened but they know that we're engaged now." Alex scrunched his nose and pressed his lips together waiting for Henry replied. He was met with a possible anger or maybe couple of cursed words coming out of Henry but he never expects Henry would laughs at him.

"Alex, why are you so afraid? They are your parents, they deserve to know plus it's either now or never. Unless - you're regretting it." Henry's voice lowered by the end and Alex cuts him off immediately. "WHAT? NO! Are you fucking kidding me? It's the best thing that ever happened to me. I love you and I can't wait to marry you Hen." Alex says and the moment he did, he could hear couple of gasped coming from behind him and when he turned, Sophia stood there with Nora beside her holding coffee in her hand and both had the same expression on their faces.

"Uhh, babe. Think Nora and Sofia knows as well." Alex whispered into the speaker and he could hear Henry laughs after uh-oh. "Good luck dealing with those two." Henry told him and he pressed his lips together with a sharp inhaled and exhaled after. "We'll talk more when I got home, love you." Henry replied the same love and they both ended the call.

From the corner of Alex's eyes he could almost see Nora and Sofia jumping together in excitement and he rolled his eyes at them trying to get away from this girly situation. "Are you really? Seriously? Why didn't you tell us?!" Nora smacked his arm and he groaned in pain. "What the hell are you doing here anyway? Aren't you supposed to be in LA? With your parents?" Alex asked annoyingly and tried to pass them both but they had their gripped over Alex's elbow and pulled his tall figure into one of the empty rooms.

"Talk! Seriously how can you keep this a secret from us." Sofia crossed her arm over her chest and Nora had her on her waist. Alex sighed staring at them both shared equal heights and decides to take a seat over the bed in the room.

"It's true, Henry and I are engaged." He starts and the girls squealed the same way his mother did. "Tell us, oh please tell us how did you both engaged? Who proposed?" Nora asks grabbing Alex's hand in hers. "I did." He says and another squealed coming out of them and Alex swore he wanted to shove a cloth down their throat.

"More, please, tell us more." Sofia asks and Alex snickered a laughs towards them both. So he did. He told them everything that happened in London and the sole reason for Henry's misery and why he is the way he is. Nora couldn't believe Henry finally met the person that had tortured him mentally over the years and finally able to find peace with himself.

Nora told him that she's decides to stay in New York cause her parents are going for a cruise trip and she didn't want to go with them. She decides to stay and might celebrate with Alex and Henry but now she didn't regret her choice. She won't find out about Alex engagement if she was in LA.

Alex was finally gone back to work and after few hours, he was done and finished handing over his patient to the next shifts and the clock showed almost eight in the evening. He walked home and he can feel that something in him changed. Before this he was dreaded to go home thinking there was nothing in his apartment that would make him happy. But now, every single second he counted to come home and seeing Henry's face making him the happiest man he'd never knew existed.

The moment he entered, he can smell the food coming from the kitchen and classical music was heard around the apartment from his stereo. He smiled seeing Henry in the kitchen cooking with Alex's apron around his waist, his blonde hair shines under the fluorescent light and his shirt that he had on, is always one of Alex. He had his sleeves rolled up to his elbow with a towel over his right shoulder still didn't realized Alex is home.

He closed the door slowly and lurked into the kitchen before he stood behind Henry and wrapped his arm around his waist and Henry gasped upon the contact. "It's me. It's just me." Alex assured him resting his lips over Henry's neck and he immediately relaxed in his embrace. "You scared me. When did you walked in? I didn't hear you." Henry turned his head to his side to face Alex and caught him smiling. Alex pressed his lips over Henry's in one deep kiss before Henry heard a sizzle coming from the pan before him and he immediately pulled away from Alex and starts flipping the steak from getting it burnt.

"Smells so good, gosh I'm hungry." Alex says peeking his head over Henry's shoulder and he can see the smile on Henry's face grew wider. "Go and take a shower, we'll have dinner soon." Henry says and Alex pulled him by his waist to turn him around and face Alex instead. Alex pressed his lips over Henry again and it caught him in surprised when Alex grabbed his behind and clenched it hard. "Someone's hungry." Henry smiled into his lips and licked his lips before Alex continued his kisses. "Hmm, hungry for you." Alex said before their lips connected again with each other.

"Alex." Henry moaned his name when Alex mouth sucked on Henry's neck and he throw his head back. "I love you." Alex whispered into Henry's ear and it made him smile wider, "I love you. You okay?" Henry cupped Alex's cheek with his hand still holding on to the thongs but carefully not to let it touched Alex's skin. "I'm just happy that you're in my life." He says and it made Henry smiled too. There is nothing in this world he could be wanting more than a life with Alex. It is all he ever wanted, love, family and protection from someone.

After dinner, Alex told Henry what happened today and practically everyone they knew is aware of their engagement and Henry was silenced the whole time Alex told him. His eyes focused on the rim of the wine glass that half filled in his hand twirling around between his fingers. "Hen?" Alex called but Henry was lost and when Alex grasped his other hand on the table the glass slipped from Henry's finger and it fell on the table spilling the wine all over.

Henry gasped grabbing the napkin over his lap and patted on the spills trying his best to clean his own mess but something is wrong with him from what Alex can see. "Hen, it's okay. It's okay. It's just wine. Don't worry about it." He tried to take the napkin from Henry's hand but he kept going and Alex can see how upset he got.

"No, no it's my fault. I'm so sorry. I was so stupid and reckless." Henry says and continued his cleaning with his hand shaking and Alex felt something is definitely wrong with Henry. So he got up from his seat and grabbed Henry by his wrist before he pulled him to face Alex. "Look at me, look at me." Alex pulled Henry's face to look into his eyes and he can see Henry's eyes are red and tears starts pooling. He's practically panting for his own breaths and Alex saw how Henry is clutching on to his shirt and his mouth are half open trying to catch a breath.

"Breathe baby, you're safe. You're right here with me. You're home." Alex says cupping Henry's face and let his palm silenced his ears from all the voices he might have heard. It took him a while but Henry managed to soften his gaze and slowing his breaths. Alex had him sit on the couch and he can see Henry still staring into the empty space in front of him. He cleaned up the mess over the dining table and saw how Henry barely touches his dinner. He sighed before making Henry his tea hopefully it would calm him down.

He held the cup in his hand before he joined Henry on the couch and Henry turned his head to the side to meet Alex and he can see Henry had been crying. His eyes are bloodshot and his cheeks are wet. "Babe." He handed the cup hoping Henry would take it from his hand but Henry didn't and instead, he stares at the cup in Alex's hand and Alex felt like he was just woken up from a coma.

He placed the cup over the coffee table before he pulled Henry by his shoulder to let him face Alex on the couch. "Henry, you're home. You're safe. Whatever it is inside your mind right now, share it with me." Henry looked up to meet Alex's eyes and his gaze soften, "I'm sorry." His voice breaks and Alex pulled his chin up to face him after Henry lowered his gaze down again. "Tell me. Don't keep it inside." Alex told him and he can feel Henry's pulse quickened under his touch on his wrist.

"It's Christmas." Henry starts and only then Alex could hear the carol bells singing over the window and the beauty of New York people are caroling in every Christmas party there is. Probably it was coming from the next door balcony or the roof but the voices are echoed around the apartment. "Oh baby." He pulled Henry by his neck and let him rested his face over Alex's shoulder.

"I miss them, I miss all of them." Henry breaks further and Alex holds him tighter in his arm. Henry sobs making him feel sorry for the life that Henry had before him. "Cry all you want my love. I'm so sorry. I wish I could make it better for you." Alex says and Henry can hear the breaks in Alex's voice as well. He didn't even realized that his own tears fell over his cheek hearing Henry voice breaks like that.

Henry fell asleep after crying on Alex's chest and Alex let him laid on the couch before he took a throw and placed them over Henry's body. He stroke Henry's hair from his forehead and saw the swollen underneath his eyes. He never seen Henry breaks this way before and he feared for him. Alex decides to go to his bedroom and grabbed his phone, tapping on the last call entry and waited for the line to connect.

"Mum." Alex called and as soon as he heard his mother's voice, he breaks into more tears. "Alex, baby, what is it sweetheart?" She asks concerned and she can hear Alex is crying over the other line. "Is it Henry? Is he okay?" Oscar voice heard from the speaker and Alex sniffed. "He's uhm, he's fine for now." Alex starts and they both sighed in relieved.

"I changed my mind." Alex says before he continued. "I need you guys here with me. I want us together for Christmas. I don't want to waste anymore time not spending it with you guys. I want Henry to feel all the love he needs after everything he had lost. I can't see him like this." Alex breaks into more tears and he can hear Ellen soft voices comforting him.

"Of course darling. It was supposed to be a surprise but we are coming to New York, our flight leaves in six hours." Ellen says and Alex laughs before he breaks into more tears.

"Merry Christmas mum, papi. I love you guys." He wished them and they both replied to him simultaneously over the speaker. "Henry will be fine mijo, we'll be there soon to watch over him. Don't you worry about this." Oscar promised him and Alex nodded before he replied to them. "See you soon." Alex told them and ended their call. 

A/N: You know the sudden realization when you looked around the room and noticed the person you love is no longer sitting there with you. All the years during your childhood, the person is there with you and now during your important time and holidays, you looked at the same corner, same living room, they are no longer there. It hurts unable to see them, or hear them anymore. 

I haven't spoken about my grandmother in years with anyone in my family and they all seemed to forgot that she ever exist. Sometimes it seems that they forgot I'd ever existed. I talked about her to one of my colleague yesterday and I cried. I didn't know I'm still holding on to her memories that made me missed her so much. I didn't know whether it's because sickness making you sappy or anything but I cried a lot thinking about her lately. I didn't want to relapse but I miss her so much and I wish I could be with her instead. At least people appreciate you more when you die better than when you live.