Snowflake, the writer and the vet

Chapter 17 - Family

Magnus woke up. It was still dark. He watched his boyfriend's face in the moonlight, his chest, his hips, the curves of which were barely concealed by the thin satin blanket. It was an overwhelming sensation just to look at his lover. The beautiful silhouette of his body. He could see Alec was freezing. Carefully, he pulled the blanket up to his shoulders. He put on his boxers and a pair of sweatpants. He went into the study and looked for a nice booklet. He took out his fountain pen, sat down and began to write with his hand. His handwriting was beautiful. He just wrote the lines for at least an hour. He filled half the booklet. Then he carefully hid both the booklet and the pen. He smiled proudly to himself and made a coffee. It was still dark. Magnus went back to the study, took out his laptop and started writing. He wrote as he had done before. He could never explain to anyone how it worked. He just sat down to write and put his thoughts on paper, unstoppable. Occasionally he'd make a little note if he had a good idea for later, but usually he would just start and find himself in a dream world of writing.He didn't have to think about what to write. It was as if his fingers were guided by some force. He wrote until the sun came up. He looked at the clock, it was just after 6 am. Coffee kept him awake. He took out Meliorn's book, worked on it for an hour, then left the study, fed Snowflake and set to work on breakfast. He squeezed fresh oranges, made eggs and bacon, and cut fresh vegetables. He made a black and cream coffee. By the time he had finished everything, it was past eight o'clock.

Magnus put everything on a tray and went into the bedroom. He put the tray on the bed, sat down, put the tray on his lap and waited for the scents to take effect. And they did. The tip of Alec's nose began to move gently. Then Magnus heard a barely audible snooping. Alec wrinkled his nose and lifted his head, his eyes still closed, Magnus pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose and Alec opened his eyes.

"Good morning Alexander"

"Good morning Magnus, what a delicious scent. When did you make this? Didn't you sleep?"

"Yes, I slept, but I got up early and did some work, then I made breakfast for my Love."

"Then I am the luckiest man in the world to have you. Now please feed me some bacon." Alec said, still lying down. He opened his mouth like a hungry little bird. As he crawled up a little higher, the smooth satin blanket slid back over the curve of his hip.

Magnus picked up some bacon, put it in Alec's mouth then he had a bite to eat. In this way they ate breakfast, talked and shared soft kisses. When the tray was empty, Magnus felt sleepy because he had got up early. Curled up on Alec's arm, Alec began to caress Magnus' bare back, and he fell asleep within moments under the gentle, soothing touch. Alec watched his sleeping Love breathing calmly in his arms. He didn't move, letting Magnus sleep. As Magnus curled up beside him, he lay on his side. Alec looked at the wounds on his back. The cuts were deeper and more severe, especially on the upper back. Of course, they were all over his back, but they were faded in several places. As he watched, a non-figurative pattern slowly formed before his eyes. He had a crazy idea. On the bedside table was his copy book and a pen. He reached for it carefully, so as not to wake Magnus, and began to draw. Then he put the copybook down, hugged his lover tightly, and went back to sleep for a while. They both woke to a sudden bang, Snowflake balancing on Magnus' waist with two hind legs, two forepaws propped up on the tray, licking the remains of the bacon off their plates. Then her hind legs slipped on the slippery satin blanket and she fell on Magnus. The two boys burst out laughing. Snowflake jumped up in fright and ran out of the room like a shot, knocking over everything on the tray.

"Jeez, Snowflake, what's got into you?" asked Magnus in a sleepy voice.

"I think she's hungry," said Alec, also hoarse and sleepy. And that's when Alec's stomach growled.

"My suspicion Alexander is that you are hungry too."

What time is it? Did we fall asleep again?

Alec looked at his phone. "Magnus, we didn't have anything scheduled for today, did we? It's 1pm." he said, laughing. "We slept through half the day."

"Nothing to do. I just wanted to do some work on Meliorn's book. Are you ordering pizza? I'll feed Snowflake."

The pizza arrived, they ate it in the kitchen, and while they were eating, Magnus told Alec that he would like to invite Catarina to dinner in 2 weeks on Friday. "I was thinking of inviting Ragnor too. What do you think?" asked Magnus.

"Okay. Have they known each other for long? Alec asked.

"Alexander, that's the best part. They don't know each other. Catarina's divorced, Ragnor's been alone ever since I've known him. I think they deserve a chance for dinner to see if they have any chemistry."

"Magnus you are incredible" Alec said laughing.

"But whatever happens, I'm sure we're going to have fun." Magnus winked at him.

After lunch they went into the study, Magnus was working on the book, Alec also took out his laptop. He got ready for Monday's class, and when he was done he took out Izzy's pendrive and opened the file. There were quite a few files in there, unorganized. Of course Izzy had to hurry. She must not have had time to go through everything, she just copied it quickly. He started to open the files and organize them into folders. He couldn't find any names. There were amounts, there were event descriptions. There were files on the defendants. The more documents he read through, his feeling grew worse. Finally, he found the trial documents. There were no names either, only references to the perpetrators. When he read it, he also found some police photos of the victim. When he realized what he was seeing, he suddenly slammed the lid of the laptop down and stared at himself as if he had seen a ghost. Magnus looked up from his work.

"What's wrong Alexander?"

His face was pale, unable to speak. He buried his face in his hands, not knowing what to do. What was the right thing to do? He was just sitting there as white as a wall. His eyes filled with tears.

"Alexander, say something. You're scaring me. Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

Alec was at a complete loss. He didn't know what to say. Magnus stood up, rushed to him, worried, and hugged him.

"Alexander, please say something."

Finally, he reached for the laptop and opened it. At that moment Alec cried out. "Magnus no!" But it was too late. Magnus' face turned white as he saw why Alec had slammed the laptop down.

He saw himself on the screen, with fresh wounds, in the photos the police had taken as evidence for the trial.

"Alexander, this.... this." was all he could say. His knees began to tremble, he became weak. He sat down on the floor there, next to Alec. Alec sat next to him. And in complete silence, he held him tightly and protectively for a long time. For how long, they don't know.

Suddenly Snowflake appeared, but he didn't come alone. He brought the tabby kitten in his mouth. He put him in Alec's lap first, and he climbed into Magnus' lap. It was an incredible moment for all four of them. The boys smiled at each other through their tears. Snowflake purred loudly, the little one couldn't yet, but he stuck his little wet nose into Alec's big palm and snuggled in. Magnus' and Alec's stormy souls calmed a little.

"Alexander, our family will solve any difficulties. I know."

"Our family, yes Magnus. We will solve it. Together."

From that moment on, the four of them became a family.