And Tell Me You Love Me

-Alex's Point of View-

Officer Fuentes took both of our statements (and some pictures for evidence purposes) before releasing us to go our own way. He told us that it may take a few months before we had to make a court appearance, but it didn't matter. As long as the two of them were out of our hair, Jack and I were perfectly fine.

Jack's hand was linked with mine as we walked the Baltimore streets, heading back to my house to assess the damage that Dan had done to it. Jack hummed mindlessly and I held his guitar tightly in my hand, trying not to drop it on the concrete ground.

"What's next?" I asked him quietly and he gave me a small smile and squeezed my hand tightly. There was a sneaky look in his brown eyes and I watched him in confusion. "Jack..."

"I suppose we'll find out when we come to it," he said, not looking at me. His eyes watched the world in front of him and a gentle smile graced his lips as he said, "I love you, Lex."

"I love you too, Jacky," I said as we continued down the path, letting the road take us wherever it felt like next.

~~~

Everything that belonged to Dan was boxed up and put out on the porch. I tore the sheets off the bed and threw them in the washer as if they had bloodstains on them. Well, actually, they did from the times that he beat me, but never mind that. I pulled new sheets over the bed before remaking it.

Jack walked into the room a moment later, wiping off his hands. "I just carried out the last box of his things," he said and I nodded my head, sitting down on the edge of the bed for a moment and thinking about everything that went on here. I tried so hard to burn the images out of my memory, but I just couldn't. I don't think I ever could...

"Hey, are you alright?" He asked, concerned as he took a seat beside me. He placed a hand on my shoulder and I just looked at him and shook my head.

"This was my childhood home and he just... He ruined it for me. He raped me here and beat me an-and he just enjoyed every single fucking moment of it," I said, choking on my words as I felt my eyes well up with tears.

Jack wrapped his arms tightly around me and said, "Hey, hey, it's over now. Don't think about it. You have me. Come on, let's make everything happy again. Just you and me." I looked at him and I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand before leaning down and kissing his lips gently, feeling a spark as I did so. He kissed me back forcefully and I felt my heart leap around in my chest as he laid me down on the bed and trailed his hands along the bottom of my shirt.

"I want to make everything alright," I said, breaking our kiss for a moment and he gave me a smile before moving his lips to my neck.

We were going to make everything alright.

~~~

Three months passed. Dan and Josh were convicted of rape, assault and battery, kidnapping, and the possession of illegal drugs (something we didn't even know about). Their sentence was up to forty-five years which neither of them were too happy about. Jack and I didn't mind a single bit though.

We continued living in my childhood home and had our stuff from Essex shipped back over to Baltimore. Though my parents were too happy about it, we thought it was for the best. Both of us knew more people around here and Jack's family was just a short walk through the park.

I continued working on my music and Jack took up a position at his father's company since its founder had recently passed and he had a son with some business experience. The two of us were living a pretty happy life in Baltimore and I couldn't think that it could get any better. I released a small album for my fans around town and it was sold in the small music store that was next to Starbucks.

Jack and I sat at home on the couch. His arm was wrapped tightly around my shoulders as we watched a horror flick on tv. It had something to do with zombies and robots, but to be truthful, I thought it was cheesy as hell. Jack loved it though so I put up with it.

"We should go out to dinner tonight," Jack said softly as the end credits rolled across the screen and I nodded my head.

"Can we get Chinese? It's been a while since we've had any and I know how much that you love their orange chicken and rice. I wouldn't mind having some sort of stir fry myself..." I trailed off and he gave me a cheery smile. He loved it when I got lost in my words. He had always thought that it was the cutest thing in the world.

"I was going to suggest somewhere fancy, but I think I like the idea of Chinese better. You want to get takeout and have some red wine that I've had sitting in the cabinet for a while?" He asked and I nodded my head, grabbing the phone to place both of our orders so that'd we be able to pick them up later when they were ready.

~~~

We ate our takeout by candlelight, each of us having a glass of wine that we had bought from a local grocery store a few weeks ago. Jack flicked a piece of his chicken at me and I growled at him as it landed in my box. I poked him with my chopstick and said, "Jacky," dragging out the nickname longer than it was meant to be.

"Are you almost done? I've got somewhere where I want us to go," he said tapping his foot against the floor and I glanced up from my stir fry to look at his brown eyes.

"Where?"

"That's the surprise, Alexander. Now, hurry up and I'll lead you to where we're going," he said, finishing off the last of his chicken before throwing the paper box into the trashcan and throwing his plastic chopsticks in the sink.

I finished off my dinner at the speed of a racing car and when I threw the box away, I bounced into the living room to see Jack pulling on a sweatshirt and putting his wallet and phone into his pocket. I grabbed my jacket and scarf and pulled it on before following him out the door and linked his hand with mine.

"Where are we going?" I said as we made our way towards the park, the streetlamps lighting up the night.

"Shh, we'll be there in a little bit," he said walking with me. I kicked a stone across the ground and Jack squeezed my hand, smiling. There was a bright look in his eyes and I knew that he had something on his mind. His palm was slightly sweating and eventually, he stopped at a park bench and sat down, gesturing for me to join him.

"What are we doing here?"

"Don't you remember this place, Alex?" He said and I shrugged my shoulders.

"We went here after our first date..." He muttered a few moments later.

"I don't remember much of that. Remember? I had a little bit too much alcohol in order for me to stand properly. If I remember right, you're the one who had to take me home," I said and he just shook his head for a moment.

"Well, we ended up here and this is where I kissed you for the first time. This is where I really felt something for you the first time. Lex, I love you and there's only one way that I could think to show you how much I really do," he said and I stared at him in confusion as he reached into his pocket of his sweatshirt and pulled out a small black box.

I stared at it for a moment and felt slightly astonished. It wasn't what I thought it was, was it?

He opened it up and I saw a small silver band before saying, "Alex, will you marry me?"

Notes

Title Credit: Space Enough to Grow by Of Mice and Men

EmptySighsAndWine