Author's Note: Give thanks for the doctors, nurses, and caretakers who help us keep living and when the end comes, are the angels that guide us home.

For Anibodyhearme, Bash, and the warrior...

When Eddward stepped out of the car, he was grateful for the roar of noise in the house.

It meant he could sneak in and go hide in their bedroom for a bit before having to be Daddy for the rest of the evening.

Except the roar became silence as soon as he shut the door that led from garage into the living room.

"What was that?" A tiny voice asked as another whined.

"Shh," Kevin said as he walked out of the kitchen. "I'll check i-oh."

"Who is it, Da!?" The whining voice whined aloud.

Heartbroken blue met soft green and Kevin gave him an apologetic smile as Eddward slapped a grin on his face and walked into the kitchen.

A high course of "Daddy!," greeted him but Kevin knew he was in for a few days of grief.

It would start off with silence.

Eddward wasn't one to just talk your ear off and only really ever needed to fill the silence in his life with music.

But when he was grieving, he wouldn't turn on an extra sound unless asked or if someone made a note of how quiet it was.

Kevin always knew he was one to be thoughtful and occasionally he would brood. But grief would make him go into a near mute silence that could be unnerving if you didn't know better.

And too many people didn't know better.

When they were in high school, Kevin would just leave him alone no matter how much it killed him because Eddward was always alone.

His parents work was constant and his friends had their own lives to live, so when the silence crept in, it killed Kevin to add to it by leaving him to himself, but it was for the best because it was just how Eddward began working through his grief process.

When they got to college, he'd storm into their dorm rooms and apartments and scream into his pillow before begging Kevin to, "Turn it all off!"

What was worst in those days was the fact that Kevin always shared the space with other people as their different career paths put them in different housing areas and Eddward never wanted to impose his grieving state on his roommates when Kevin was way more understanding.

Too bad his roommates weren't.

Eddward was just weird in their minds and needed to snap out of it.

The fights Kevin caught himself refereeing in those days would have made some Pay-Per-View boxing matches look like playground stuff.

After graduation, Kevin got a job at a school in the same town Eddward was going to medical school in and they moved in together.

It made sense, but Eddward would worry if Kevin could truly stand to be with him as loss after loss mounted up.

But Kevin was there.

Tea would be made, loud noises silenced, ears ready to listen.

Listening would come last, though.

After dinner, Kevin cleaned up the kitchen while Eddward went to the basement.

The very first time Kevin ever heard him say, "I'm going to the basement. I just need to be alone for a while," Kevin was terrified.

The basement in Eddward's childhood home had a high open ceiling. And it was strong enough to hold Eddward's weight bags and Ed, who would swing through the rafters like a damn spider monkey.

Junior year of high school, when Eddward lost both of his grandmothers in a matter of months and then got the news that his favorite cousin's cancer came back and might be terminal, he called the redhead in tears.

Kevin ran over minutes later and held him through a long weekend of silence.

He brightened up during school at the start of the next week, but came home and headed to the basement.

Over the course of their then budding relationship, Kevin learned to really listen to him as sometimes things would get lost in context and tone and he grew tired of apologizing and being wrong all the time.

He knew he had to leave him alone, but he was too scared to leave the house, too.

He turned off everything that could possibly utter a sound and less than two minutes after Eddward went downstairs he was met with Eddward playing Ave Marie on his guitar.

The music filled the otherwise quiet space with a noise that damn near shook the house.

And Kevin cried in relief because the silence was gone and life started to resound again.

But then things got weird.

"Do you believe in reincarnation?"

"I think I'd like to come back as a tree and be made into a good book."

"All is silence and no one is around to enjoy it."

"I wonder if anyone will truly remember us when we're gone."

Kevin would sometimes offer an opinion to his question or comment, reassure him that they wouldn't be forgotten because you just don't forget awesome, but mostly he would listen.

And then Eddward would finally talk.

He had decided their sophomore year of high school to go pediatric oncology.

Meeting the doctors who worked for the better part of fifteen years to help heal and cure his cousin made him want to do the same, so he became the nurse's aide in junior high, and then a candy stripper volunteer when they got to high school.

He settled on his career choice at 16 and started to go with his cousin to his doctor's appointments and any other event the young man would attend as a cancer survivor.

But that led to meeting so many new friends and some were gone as quickly as he met them. The impact their short time together made on him made he want to fight all the harder to make sure that everyone survived even though so many told him that that would never truly happen.

"Everyone deserves a chance," he would retort and their silence at his remark let him know that his point was made, but that he had to prove it, too.

Nowadays, both points are proven on a damn near daily basis.

Kevin found him sitting in the dark corner that was his office, an old text book in his lap, a new legal pad on the desk, and a pen spinning in one hand while the other held a highlighter that was covering the once white pages in bright yellow hues.

"Got ya some tea."

Tired blue eyes meet his own and he smiles.

It's genuine, but tired.

So tired.

"Thank you," he sighs as he takes the mug from him and settles back into his chair. "I'm just gonna study for a while, ok?"

"Ok," Kevin replied before kissing him and heading back upstairs, Eddward's muttered medical jargon echoing around the quiet room.

Three days later, Eddward is gone for another 24 hour shift and doesn't get home until an hour before Kevin would usually make himself go to bed without him.

The redhead shot to the kitchen to warm up some leftovers that Eddward devoured with a vigor Kevin had only ever seen on nights like this and in Ed.

At least Eddward was a neater eater than his oafish friend.

And then he started talking.

"Her name was Angela."

"How old was she?" Kevin asked as he sipped his tea.

"Eight. Fought like hell, too."

"What...What happened?"

It was a question that they both hated, but it helped Eddward process things and start to cope so he would answer, but very reluctantly.

"She had...Ewing sarcoma. And God did we try...," he said as his voice cracked and then trailed off.

"Mhm."

Baby blue eyes glazed over and Kevin could see him looking into the distance of his mind as his eyes bored holes into the back splash of the kitchen sink. Time had taught him to just let Eddward vent. Even if that venting ended with them both in tears. Eddward over another loss, Kevin in empathy that his love's life's work brought as much pain as it did joy.

"Every day I went in there, she was always smiling. Even after the hip tests. Always had a silly story to tell," he chuckled. "Once she told her nurse that she was going to dance out of the hospital. And when Nazz asked for a show, she just waved her arms around," he laughed as tears streamed down his face.

Kevin rubbed his arm as he let the tears flow and then he remembered that Eddward had a new pin on his lab coat.

"Is she the one that gave you the Hello Kitty Angel pin?"

"The very same," Eddward whispered as a more tears flowed. A few moments later, he pulled himself together and said, "I wanna watch TV."

Considering the lateness of the hour, Kevin opted for some old cartoons from their kid days versus the usual late night fare on broadcast television. Because if he had to hear Eddward critique another medical show, he'd send the man back to the hospital in a body bag.

He may still be alive when he got there, but he'd rather let him explain it to people that got it, not another regular schlub like himself who just wanted to watch TV.

The bright music of the shows had the calming affect that Kevin intended considering Eddward couldn't blast his guitar because neither wanted to wake the twins. But soon he had to wake Eddward.

"Babe, let's go to bed," he said as he shook him awake after he fell asleep sometime between cartoon's five and seven.

"Wha?" Eddward muttered as he sat up and looked around.

Seeing Kevin grin at him, his eyes flew open and he laughed softly before yawning.

"C'mon," he said as he stretched and stood up, offering his hand to his human comfort blanket. "If I sleep another couch, I'm gonna be in traction."

When they crawled into bed, Eddward asked, "Are you free Saturday?"

"I can be. Why?"

"She wanted the guys to give her an escort home, so..."

"I'll call Justin in the morning," he said as he pulled him close and made a mental note to give an angel the sendoff she deserved.

Eddward sighed as they walked into the church and saw Ang's Girl Scout troop, a host of classmates, her younger cousins, and very best friend.

Every child was under the age of ten.

"They're too young for this," he sighed as Kevin squeezed his hand.

They exchanged head nods before Kevin went to talk to the president of his motorcycle club and Eddward went to speak to the angel's mother and family.

Not many in town knew that the two men were spouses as not very many events had them in the same space.

Eddward's work schedule was such that Kevin would take the kids to school, to their after school activities, go to the parent-teacher conferences and PTA meetings, and even get togethers with family and friends.

But when Eddward asked Kevin to come along, he came along.

There were medical balls and the occasional conference in nice vacation places where they'd take a few hours to themselves to reconnect.

But Kevin loved to go to the charity events the most because that is where he saw the fruits of Eddward's labors.

Survivors would run to him, hats in hand to show him heads full of hair, and cool battle scars. Families would thank him profusely for giving their child that chance they so richly deserved.

But for every survivor, there were more that just didn't make it. And yet, their families would be there to say thank you, to beg him to keep fighting, to reconnect with friends they made along the way and hold on to hope that someday no one would ever have to suffer such a loss ever again.

When Kevin told his old riding buddy Justin about what Eddward did, he offered the club's services wherever they were needed.

Kevin suggested rides and shows for the kids and Eddward told him to call Marie, the hospital's charity liaison, and soon Peach Creek's Hell On Wheels Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Club was at every children's event the hospital had.

Angela only got to see them come in from her bedroom window for a Family Fun Day the hospital hosted for their staff.

They reminded her of the Patriot Riders that came to her father's funeral when she was six, which was right about the time she started to get sick.

When she found out what these riders did, she told her mother that she wanted them to escort her home.

In everyone's mind, home shouldn't have been Heaven just yet, but Kevin was gonna make it happen no matter how much it hurt.

When her tiny pink casket was placed on the back of the Cinderella carriage, Eddward hopped on the back of Kevin's Harley and they led the escort out.

The graveside service was quick, and a mother's heartbreaking cries shattered the bright spring day.

It was a noise Eddward knew all too well and Kevin prayed for peace.

When they got back to the church for the repasts, Angela's mother excused herself for a quick break, her two oldest children following her.

Marie came dashing in some five minutes, and asked Eddward where she could put it.

"Oh," he gasped and then quickly looked around before whispering, "She just went outside with the two older ones. I think now is as good a time as any to give it to her."

Kevin only half listened to the conversation because the fried chicken was too good to ignore and Eddward and Marie were always going on about some thing that he only half understood anyways.

But four pairs of little hands tugged him away from his food and begged him to show them his big bike as their mothers and fathers nodded their approval otherwise the kids wouldn't shut up.

As he made his way outside, his tiny charges in tow, he saw Eddward seated on the back porch of the church with Ang's mother, her sister on her other side and brother standing off to the side as Marie came running up, a large flat package in her hands.

"Everyone gets one," Eddward said as the woman tore the package open and started to sob.

"What is it, Aunt Meg?!" the tiny children asked as they ran to her side and when Eddward started to well up himself, Kevin was quick to his side.

And when he saw what they were all looking at, his heart cracked but he was very much at peace with it.

Seeing the young girl in her casket was heartbreaking, even if she looked peacefully asleep, no longer in pain.

But the picture in her mother's hands was of a chocolate complected girl, a beanie just like Eddward's on her afro'd head, a bright smile on her gapped tooth face, her favorite Hello Kitty stuffy in her arms, angel's wings on her back.

The whole thing was set against the backdrop of a bright summer sky, the girl on a cloud.

"Her name was Angela, mom," her sister grinned through her tears and her mother laughed for the first time in days.

"So it was," she said quietly. "So it was."

Two weeks later, Kevin brings in the mail and a small package from Amazon is addressed to Eddward, who receives it with glee.

When he opened it, Kevin saw that it was a beanie just like the one he wore everyday.

"Everybody gets one," he said as he tucked it in his messenger bag and Kevin smiled as he pulled out his phone to send a quick text Justin to see who was available to give another survivor a ride home.