Sam’s breath caught as Sy’s eyes widened, spying the silver ring with a diamond set in its center. Unable to form words as his eyes watered, he nodded, throwing himself into Sam’s arms. “Yes, Sammy. Yes. I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you.” Pulling back, Sam took the ring from its black velvet box and slipped it up Sy’s ring finger. It was a perfect fit. “It’s beautiful, Sammy.” Each of them laughed as happiness of the moment overcame them both. With a stuffy chuckle, Sy said, “I thought there wasn’t supposed to be tears on this trip.” Smiling he wiped his face, before thumbing away moisture upon Sam’s cheek.

With a laugh of his own, Sam replied, “I think we can make an exception to that rule. I love you, Sy. I love you so fucking much.”

Sy kissed him. It was a kiss that conveyed everything he was feeling, but none more so than the love that was coursing through him for the man before him. Sy wiped his face again, his smile never wavering. “I love you too, Sammy. More than I can ever say.”

“You don’t need to say it. You show me all the time. You show me with your smile. In your kiss. You show me when you wrap your arms around me. You show me how much you love me all the time.” Sy blushed at his words, but he didn’t break eye contact, even as his vision continued to blur. Sam studied the ring that he’d placed on Sy’s finger. “I love the way this looks on you.”

“I’m pretty fond of the way it looks there, as well,” Sy replied, his smile wide and never wavering as he drew Sam in for one more kiss.

They arrived home that Friday afternoon and upon arrival, Sy rushed straight to Shelly, who was lounging on the couch with Reagan watching an old rerun of Friends. “Look! Look!” he cried as he rushed to her side.

Standing, Shelly took his hand in hers, her eyes alight with joy. “Oh my God, it looks beautiful on you!” She grinned before pulling him into a strong hug. “I’m so fucking happy for you!”

When they pulled back, he said, “You knew!”

Sam and Shelly both laughed then at the incredulity in his voice, despite the smile on his face. “Of course I knew,” she exclaimed. “I helped pick out the ring.”

“You sneaky bitch,” he told her as he pulled her into another hug.

Reagan stood then, pulling both Sy and Sam into a tight hug. “Congratulations to you both.”

“Thank you,” they answered in unison, grins going all around. They all gathered around then, shutting off the T.V. as they began to talk about the guys’ days away and subsequent proposal. In the midst of this conversation, Sy’s phone rang and he excused himself to answer it.

“Hey, Casey,” Sy greeted as he brought his phone to his ear. “Yeah, that sounds great.” Sam looked at him, trying to discern what the conversion was about, but found out soon thereafter. “Casey and Dex asked if we all wanted to go to their place tonight. They’re grilling and having a fire in the back. Sound good?” Sy smiled at everyone’s agreement to spend the night out with friends and told Casey that they’d be there. 

By the time seven o’clock rolled around, the fire and smell of the meat on the grill filling the air was in full swing. “So where’s the kiddo tonight?” Sam asked Dex as they stood at the grill. 

Dex flipped over the steaks as he said, “She’s spending the night with her birth mother tonight. It’s her birthday tomorrow, so she asked if Liz could stay the night and celebrate it with her.”

Nodding, Sam said, “I think it’s awesome that you two have no issue with letting them spend time together.”

Dex shrugged like it was nothing. “She was a kid when she had Liz. She knew well that she wasn’t equipped right then to properly raise her and requested an open adoption. She wanted to be a part of her life, but also wanted to do the best thing for the baby. She's a decent woman with a good head on her shoulders. Neither of us saw a reason to not allow them to have a relationship with each other, you know?” Sam nodded and sipped his beer, his eyes drifting over to where Casey and Sy stood by the fire talking. “How are you two doing? I hear that Sammy is well on the mend.” Dex said, his gaze following Sam’s.

Sam smiled. “He is. Better than the doctors anticipated at first. And we’re great.”

“Congrats on the engagement. I know I said it earlier, but I’m happy for you two. I was so nervous when I asked Casey. I was sure he’d say no.”

Frowning, Sam asked, “Why is that?”

“What happened at that camp back then…it took a long time for him to come to terms with it all. To accept that he deserved to live happily no matter what his parents or the majority of society thinks. He was still very much in pain at that point in time and…I honestly didn’t know if asking him would send him reeling or move us forward. It was a gamble on my part, but wholly worth it.”

“In the beginning,” Sam began, “how did you…handle things…when he got too far into his own head about back then?”

“Delicately. Very delicately. Sometimes I have to be easier with him than I normally would be. But that’s few and far between now. But when we first met, he was a mess.”

“How do you get him to open up to you about it?”

Dexter looked at him then, eyeing him closely before he said, “Does he not talk to you about back then?”

Sam shrugged. “To an extent. But not much. He’s told me some things, but…” He shrugged again as his eyes found their way back to Sy. “But there’s things he’s hesitant to say.”

“I don’t know if either of us will ever find out all that went on in that place,” Dexter responded quietly. “But the thing of it is, when you know he wants to tell you, you can’t let him run. From it or from you. Sometimes I have to coax it out of him. Especially the harder stuff.”

Sam met his eyes then and he knew that Dexter was referring to what David Negal did to Sy, but neither carried the conversation further than that.

Across the yard, standing over next to the fire, Sy and Casey were having a similar conversation. As there came a pause in their dialogue, Sy made up his mind to bring up a subject that was both painful and necessary. “Hey, uh…” Sy started quietly, making sure that Shelly and Reagan couldn’t hear what he was about to say. “I was wondering if I could talk to you about something.”

Casey frowned slightly as he turned his head toward his friend. “You can talk to me about anything, Sy.” Even as he said those words, Casey knew if not exactly what Sy was going to say, knew the subject of which he wanted to speak. That particular subject weighed heavily upon him when he got engaged to Dexter.

“I haven’t talked to Sammy about this yet,” he said as he looked to where Sam stood with Dexter by the grill. “But, I’ve been thinking a lot recently about…about going back there.”

Casey took an involuntary step backward, as if Sy himself were a portal to that hell and he needed to take caution to not get too close. “Go back? Why would you ever want to go back there?”

“I don’t want to. But…I have to. I have to face it. Him. Even if he isn’t there physically, he’ll be there. And I have to face it. I have to face it so I can finally be free of it. I’ve been running from that place, from David Negal, for thirteen years. And it’s time now to stop running.” Looking at Casey, his eyes shining in the firelight, he said, “I don’t want what happened to me back then to ruin what I’ve gained. After Sammy’s accident I…I could hear him telling me that it was my fault. That this is what he warned me about as he…and I don’t want him lurking behind every corner, within every shadow…and in order to even begin to really heal from it…I have to stop running and face it.”

Casey thought for a moment, his gaze transfixed on the flickering flames in front of him before he said, “Do you think that will work?” 

There was something in the way he posed the question that gave Sy pause. He knew well enough that Casey was haunted by his own memories of that place. “I hope so.” Turning to face him, he said, “Come with me.”

“What?” Casey’s eyes widened as a thousand memories flashed through his mind at once. He exhaled a shaky breath as he looked at his friend. “I don’t know if I can ever go back to that place, Sy.”

“That’s why you should go. It’s why we both should go. And you know that Dex will come with you just as I know that Sammy will come with me. I don’t want to be afraid for the rest of my life. I’ve been afraid since I was seventeen years old…and if that’s the way to…start to really heal from what happened…facing it…then that’s what I have to do.” He paused for a brief moment letting his words sink in. “I understand if you can’t come. And I won’t hold it against you if you don’t. I haven’t told Sammy this yet, but I plan to soon. Think about it. Talk it out with Dex and see what he thinks.”

Casey didn’t say anything else as he stared into the fire. He knew that his friend was correct in what he was saying. What he wasn’t sure of was his own constitution, nor his abilities to face going back there.

Just on the other side of the fire, Shelly and Reagan sat on a spread out blanket, arms entwined as they sat close, their lips periodically meeting and their smiles never melting as they explored each other’s minds and lips. 

When the food was finally finished cooking and plated, they each sat ‘round the fire, the conversations turning to lighter subjects. “So,” Shelly began, “now that the government has finally admitted that aliens exist and have made contact, what do y’all say about it?”

“I say it’s about time,” Dexter said between bites. “The general public has only been saying it since at least the ‘40’s. Look at Roswell. But I also say that with all the recordings and shit posted on social media from everyday people all over the globe, governments really didn’t have a choice anymore.”

“And on top of that,” Reagan added, “the novelty of aliens is pretty much gone at this point. Especially for our generation–growing up on The X-Files and such shows. We already knew…and now all this other proof…the government knew that if they admitted it, there wouldn’t be that mass hysteria and panic they were so afraid of. At this point we’re just all like… ‘duh’.”