Alex dropped his bag full of packing tape and labels on the floor beside the flattened boxes Jared had carried up the stairs. Looking around, he wondered why it looked like they had so much stuff now that packing it up had become reality.
"I hope we can finish before midnight." He picked up one of the boxes to assemble it. "I didn't really want you to do it by yourself."
Jared shrugged. "No big deal if there's stuff left to do afterwards, but I don't think we'll have a problem getting it all boxed up. We're packing, not sorting. Once we're done, we can load up the truck and I'll stack the boxes in the closet under the stairs. We can sort and unpack after the wedding."
"Sounds like a plan but it's already eight so we better get started." He tossed Jared the box he'd just taped. "You take the kitchen. I'll do the bedroom."
"Aye-aye!" Jared mock saluted and ducked the slap he aimed at the back of his head.
After assembling another box, Alex headed for the bedroom, excitement bubbling at the thought of leaving. He had no regrets at putting the apartment and all its dark memories behind him. A knock on the door surprised him, and with Jared already in the kitchen, he detoured to answer it.
"Are you expecting someone?" he called over his shoulder.
"Maybe." Jared's head, buried in a cabinet, muffled his voice, lending Alex no clue to who he'd find when he opened the door.
"Thanks for telling me," he muttered without heat, and pulled the door open to find his parents standing there. "Mom… Dad!" Thrilled to see his father, Alex grabbed him and hugged him hard. "You made it."
Frank returned his hug and he held on tight. "Of course I made it. A man's son doesn't get married every day. Now let me look at you."
He stepped back and met his father's eyes. He grinned as his dad looked him over, inspecting him carefully from shoes to hair.
Finally satisfied, Frank stepped back and nodded. "You look good, a hell of a lot better than when I saw you six months ago." He reached out and touched Alex's face. "It's like a miracle."
"Naw, just good medical care." He backed into the apartment, opening the door wide in invitation. "Come on in. What are you guys doing here? When do you have to go back?"
His parents followed him into the apartment. "Jared called and asked if we'd help pack. We weren't doing anything else so here we are." Frank smiled at Janet who had been lingering in the background watching the reunion between father and son.
"Jared knew you were home?" Alex turned an accusing look towards the kitchen where Jared stood braced on a counter with both hands, observing the happy reunion.
He quirked a brow and raised his hands in a gesture of innocence. "It was a surprise."
Torn between being annoyed about not knowing his dad would be there for the wedding, and his intense joy at having him home, Alex gave Jared a look promising payback. He got a grin in return, an entirely unsatisfactory response. He decided he needed to work on his glower and turned back to his parents.
"It'll be great to have help. We need to be packed and have the boxes unloaded by midnight. Clark's expecting me." He slung an arm around his mother and hugged her close. "Hi, Mom," he whispered, and felt well rewarded by her answering hug and smile.
"Janet, want to help in here?" Jared called, pulling out a drawer to dump the contents in his box without looking to see what it held.
Janet's eyes widened. "It looks like I better."
Jared looked between the drawer and his box, expression puzzled. "What?"
"Never mind, just don't 'pack' anything else. I'm coming." Janet expertly put together a couple more boxes and headed for the kitchen, determination to set things right written all over her face.
"If we hurry in the bedroom we can get it finished before she gets done in the kitchen," Frank whispered to him.
He led his dad to the back of the apartment without argument. Alex knew enough not to get caught in his mother's 'how to pack' trap. He'd have warned Jared if he'd asked. All things considered, packing under his mother’s keen eye might be payback enough for keeping secrets.
In the bedroom Frank pulled Alex to him for another long hug. "I'm sorry I haven't been here for you and your mother." Frank's voice filled with pain and regret, twisted his heart.
"Dad, you'd been out of work for almost a year after IBM downsized, and already signed the government contract. What were you supposed to do? Stay here and go bankrupt while you watched me go crazy?" Alex shook his head and moved away picking things up off the nightstand to pack.
"You weren't crazy." The vehemence in his father's voice stunned him and he looked up in surprise. "I should have been here."
"I went pretty far off the deep end, Dad, and you couldn't have done a thing. I had to come to terms with everything and the only person who had any influence was right here with me. Stop beating yourself up." Heart sore and tired, Alex sat on the edge of the bed. "It was awful and I hope nothing like it ever happens to me again, but it wasn't anyone's fault. Least of all yours."
Frank's hand on his shoulder made him look up. "I'm your father." The words were heavy with the weight of responsibility.
As quickly as it had come his morose mood fled and his smile lit his face. "That's true, Dad, and I love you. But you have to remember I'm an adult. If I'm accountable to anyone these days, it's Jared, and has been for a long time."
"It's not easy for a dad to just hand his child over to someone. I know I've left you in his care for years, but this feels different. Permanent." Frank studied him, searching his eyes and face. "You are happy?"
Alex laughed. "I'm getting married, to Jared. I'm so happy I'm giddy."
Frank squeezed his shoulder. "That's what I want to hear."
"You better be working in there and not just sitting around gabbing!" Janet called from the kitchen, and the sound of her voice brought Alex to his feet.
"We better get busy before Mom catches us slacking off," he teased his dad who grabbed a box and headed for the dresser.
"I'll be home for the whole month, so we'll have time to get together after the wedding. Have dinner together and talk." Frank began dumping the drawer contents into his box without discrimination.
"That sounds fantastic. Tell me about what you're doing over there." Alex returned to emptying the nightstand, carefully wrapping the lamp from the bedside table before adding it to the box. Perhaps not all the memories from the apartment were bad.
He couldn't keep from stealing glances at his dad as they worked and talked, hardly able to believe the man had made the arrangements in only four weeks to fly halfway around the world for a wedding. He felt incredibly lucky considering the fact there were gay men in the world whose fathers wouldn't cross the street to say hello.
"Dad."
Frank looked up from clearing off the top of the chest of drawers to meet Alex's eyes. "What is it?"
"Thanks, you know? That's all, just thank you."
"I love you, Alex."
Their gazes held for a long moment. "I know you do, Dad, and something I've learned makes that mean a lot. Little boys think their fathers have to love them. Men understand no one has to love."
Frank studied him in silence, his expression thoughtful. "That's one lesson. One day you're going to have a son or a daughter, and you'll learn another one. When a man is the sort of father he should be there is no choice. You just love."