Title: Catching the Stars (14/14)

Pairing: Pike and Henry (from the movie Big Eden)

Rating: NC-17

Word Count: ~ 4200

Summary: The courtship and evolving relationship between Pike and Henry is told in flashbacks after a horrible incident shakes the foundation of everyone who loves them both. (i.e.: The entire town of Big Eden!) (In my universe the last scene of the movie - the dance and kiss - happened a year later at the annual summer picnic.)

Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Friendship

Disclaimer: They don't belong to me - I just play with them a little.

Warnings: Injection of harsh reality into the idyllic world of Big Eden.

AN: Sorry for the long wait (Cindy!). I'd love to hear your thoughts on how it ends - these two were a challenge to write!

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PRESENT

When he walked through the door of his studio - the one lovingly constructed by his true love, then reconstructed by his chosen family of friends - he stopped short at the sight of a young boy standing in front of a half-finished canvass with a broom in one hand.

"You like it?" Henry asked the distracted lad. He tried not to chuckle when the boy startled and almost dropped his broom.

Eddy quickly and nervously moved the broom around. "I was just finishing up the sweeping."

Henry was amused.

He wasn't sure when that happened.

At first he had to force himself not to hate them, then he realized they weren't all bad and soon enough he found them to be kind of funny. Now he actually liked them - especially Eddy. There was something about Eddy...almost a connection that had no explanation. "Forget the sweeping for a sec and answer my question. Do you like it?"

Eddy relaxed a little and turned to once again look at the canvas. He tilted his head in concentration before he answered. "It's...loud."

"Loud?" Henry took two steps so he was standing next to the boy. "How so?"

"Um...maybe I don't mean loud...it's like...I don't know...just...all over the place...it makes me feel...jittery." Eddy struggled to explain. Without knowing it, the young man was giving his first artistic interpretation.

"Chaotic?" Henry asked. "Sort of all over the place and crazy?"

"Um..." Eddy suddenly looked a little guilty. "...I didn't mean..."

"You're right though." Henry saved him from himself. "That's exactly how it supposed to feel."

"It is?" Eddy asked with wide eyes.

"Mmmm Hmmmm." Henry nodded. "I was thinking about how it felt to wait for Pike to wake up at the hospital after...well...you know. I'm still working on it though. So far I've only captured the chaos part - there was the thankful part too. I still need to capture that."

"Thankful?" Eddy asked after a long pause.

Henry looked right into the kid's eyes. "Yeah. I was so thankful he was still alive."

Henry held him captive for several minutes. He watched the boy struggle to not look away - he watched his young eyes well from so many emotions - he watched the child apologize without words. Henry thought it was an act of bravery in a way. He finally let the kid off the hook and broke the connection. He cleared his throat and tried to smooth out the sudden awkwardness. "You're a natural, Eddy. You have real potential artistically - you have a good eye and excellent sensibility."

"I do?"

Henry felt himself smiling at Eddy's disbelief. "Definitely."

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"The fish were biting today." Pike looked proudly at the ice chest full of trout.

Bird nodded while Jim said, "They were biting alright. I'd say we got us the makings of a fish fry."

Pike nodded with his hands on his hips. "How many of these did you catch, Dillan?"

"Oh man! I caught like almost all of them. I got the biggest one for sure!" Dillan spoke excitedly and seemed proud.

Pike noticed. "Well, let's go get 'em cooked up!"

Dillan cocked his head curiously at Pike. "Cook?"

"How do you think we're gonna eat 'em without cooking 'em?" Bird asked with a smirk.

"Boys don't cook." Dillan explained to Bird with a well timed eye-roll.

"Pike's a fine cook." Jim said proudly while he smacked Pike affectionately on the shoulder.

"Never heard you complain about it." Pike looked at Dillian expectantly. "You seem to eat up anything I've cooked."

"I...I didn't mean...I mean I..."

Pike's innate kindness took over. "Let's just go get these fish cleaned up. We'll start there...is gutting fish manly enough for ya?"

While the Peanut Gallery tried their best to contain their giggles, Dillan nodded nervously before following Pike into the back of the store. As they passed the open door of Henry's bright studio, Pike leaned into the door and spoke to his lover. "There's a big box that just came for you. I put it next to the bookshelf."

"Wow - that was fast!" Henry turned from his almost complete painting - the one that represented tragic fear and hopeful resilience. "I just put the order in last week."

"I put a rush on it." Pike smiled. "You got something right here." Pike smirked while he pointed to his own left cheek.

Henry wiped the same spot on his own face and chuckled. "I had an itch."

Pike smiled fondly. "How does a fish fry sound?"

"Fishy." Henry grinned.

Pike pointed at the canvass behind his lover. "That one looks a little less..."

"It is...less...I wasn't as terrified once you were at the hospital...I mean I was, but I also knew you were going to make it so...I guess I was..."

Before Henry knew what was happening he was swallowed up into Pike's long arms, pressed against his broad chest. "We'll hang it next to Trepidation in the den." Pike kissed Henry's forehead and tightened his hold around Henry.

These sudden bursts of grateful affection had become common between the two. As the months passed, they became more about connection and appreciation than pain and reassurance - but they were still necessary moments of spontaneous, loving touch.

Henry buried his face into Pike's chest and took a deep breath before he lightened the moment. "Don't you have some fish to fry?"

Pick chucked. "Yep. But first I'm supervising a young man who thinks cooking is just for girls or gays."

"Dillan said that?" Henry was a little shocked that the child would be so insulting after all the weeks they had spent together. "Not in so many words, but it was implied. So I thought an hour of gutting fish would show him the manly side of cooking."

"After all these years, I never knew you could be so mean, Pike Dexter." Henry smirked through mock surprise.

"The Village Circle of Accountability isn't all fun and games." Pike explained with a masterful deadpan expression. "Sometimes it gets a little dirty."

"I'll just go check out my delivery while you mold the men of the future." Henry playfully smacked Pike's denim covered cheek before his lover turned and walked out of his studio quietly laughing.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Pike wanted me to tell you that it's time to eat." Eddy spoke from the doorway of Henry's studio.

Henry didn't turn around, he just spoke to the child while looking at his canvas. "Did you finish up at the school?"

"Yeah..." Eddy nodded even though Henry couldn't see it. "She said I saved her a couple of days of work."

Henry heard the pride in his voice. "So we need to find something else for you to do for the next couple of weeks?"

Eddy nodded again. "I guess so."

"Hmmm." Henry finally turned his head to look behind him. "Come here Eddy."

Eddy stepped into the room until he was standing next to Henry. He found himself looking at a wooden easel with a blank canvas snugly fitted between brackets. Next to the canvas was a small wooden supply box that had been opened and placed upon the hinged legs that could be folded up and locked into place for portability. The box was opened like an accordion with three layers of hollowed out shelves brimming over with brushes, paints, cleaners, and other new artist's tools. Eddy's eyes were nearly bulging out of his head.

It was obvious to Henry that the child wasn't sure what to make of it all. "I was thinking about it the other day, Eddy. You know - every great artist needs an equally great apprentice - someone with natural ability who can learn the style and craft of the masters and apply it to his own art."

Eddy looked at Henry with disbelief as his young mind started to understand.

"From what I've seen, you're a natural. You're probably already a better artist that I am, you just need the right tools. Learn a few techniques and you'll be all set." Henry pointed to the blank canvas. "What do you say, Eddy? Even though I'm not famous and I'm far from being a master, will you do me the honors of being my apprentice."

Eddy gasped. "You got all of this for me?"

Henry nodded. "And it's portable. You can take it with you."

"Why?" Eddy asked. Henry could see the boy trying his best not to cry.

Henry couldn't stop himself from reaching out to comb his fingers through the boy's messy hair. "Because I see great potential in you, my friend."

"You do?"

"Absolutely."

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"Not so hard." Henry instructed. "Just a light brush of the bristles and swirl it in the opposite direction with each touch on the canvass. That's how you get the spray of the waves coming off of the rocks."

"LIke this?" Eddy asked as he did exactly as he was told.

"Perfect!" Henry was always amazed by how natural it was for Eddy to do this. "How do you know so much about what the ocean crashing against a rocky coastline looks like?"

"The last time I saw my dad was in Oregon. We went on a picnic. The tide was coming in and it looked like this." Eddy explained then cocked his head as he looked at the canvas. "Sort of..."

"You'll get it right, just take your time." Henry encouraged. "Where did your dad go?"

"Heaven."

"Oh." Henry didn't know what else to say.

Eddy shrugged. "His car was hit by a big truck."

Henry swallowed the emotional lump in his throat. "I'm sorry, Eddy."

"Can you show me how to make a sea gull?" Eddy asked.

Henry recognized the diversion tactic and was more than happy accommodate. "Sure. Grab an angled brush..."

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Henry watched the small boy cling to Pike. Dillan was crying and Henry found the irony of the moment a little heart-wrenching. The same child who joined his young friends in beating his gentle-giant into unconsciousness before leaving him bleeding on the dingy floor of his own store - that same child was now refusing to let go of Pike's neck.

Pike knelt on one knee, one big hand gently skimming the boy's back as he murmured word of comfort. Eddy suddenly appeared at Henry's side and wrapped his thin arms around his waist. "Can I email you?"

Henry placed an arm around the boy's shoulder. "Of course."

"Will you send me pictures of Survival when you finish it?" Eddy referred to the almost complete canvas that would be a companion piece to Trepidation.

"I will." Henry promised. "And I expect an honest critique."

Eddy squeezed Henry around the middle. "Thanks for everything, Henry."

"I'm glad you and Dillan chose to come here." Henry ruffled Eddy's mop of hair. "You are brave boys with a lot of integrity and I'm a better man for knowing you."

As the boys traded places - Dillan hugging Henry and Eddy hugging Pike - the two men exchanged glances. Henry never expected to feel so sad to see these two boys leave. He realized with a swelling in his chest that Pike had been right all along - bringing the kids here had been a much needed salve for the wounds of everyone involved - Henry felt none of the tangled emotions from before - he had healed and moved on - he had reclaimed the power he lost the second he saw Pike bleeding on the floor.

Pike's painful and much disputed decision to offer up Big Eden and a community service option had restored the two men, the boys, and the people most impacted by the violence that took place so many months before.

Henry found himself doing the impossible...

...tumbling deeper into love.

After meeting Dillan's rather aloof mother and packing their belongings into the trunk of her car - belongings which now included portable art supplies and a complete set of Bobby Flay cooking essentials - the boys and men exchanged a few more emotional hugs before the Peanut Gallery, Dean, and Grace said their own farewells. As the car drove away, the boys waved through the back window.

They were all wondering the same thing.

How long will I miss them and will we ever see them again?

The rest of the day was melancholy. Grace hung around the store, dusting shelves and periodically touching Pike or Henry with nurturing concern. Jim and the boys spent most of the day on the front porch - mostly in silence. Henry and Pike went through the motions - trying to make the day as normal as possible, but realizing that normal had changed over the summer.

Eventually Pike and Henry found themselves alone in the store. As the sun set over the horizon, their Big Eden family had dispersed. Henry couldn't stay away from Pike all day. When the time he would usually head home came and passed, he found himself still lingering in the front of the store - staring at Pike as he stocked the display of cigarettes behind the counter.

"You want me to lock up?" He asked his somber lover.

Pike looked toward Henry and nodded. "Please."

Henry crossed the store, flipped the sign on the door to read closed, locked the deadbolt and turned around to find himself only a few inches from his lover. "Why'd you have me lock up if you were coming over here anyway?" Henry asked with a grin.

Pike just stood there with a strange look on his face.

"Hey..." Henry closed the tiny space between them until he could rub small circles with his palm onto Pike's ribcage. "...you okay?"

Pike nodded before he wrapped his arms around Henry and lifted him off the floor. "Thank you." He said before he kissed him.

Henry understood. Henry had taken a chance - trusted Pike's choices even though they scared the hell out of him - and gave Pike the opportunity to change a tiny piece of the world. For that, Pike was grateful. But in doing that - trusting Pike, Pike had also change Henry - a change that made Henry's world a little bit better than it was before. Henry was a better man today than he was at the beginning of the journey. He completely understood the term restorative justice and was proud to have been a part of it. "I should be the one thanking you." It seemed so obvious.

But Pike's brows crinkled with confusion. "Why? You're the one who..."

"I just trusted you. You're the one who took the risk and gave all of us a chance to heal and move on." Henry pulled Pike tighter against him. "YOU did that, Pike. Thank you."

Instead of arguing, Pike simply kissed him. Henry's feet were still a couple of inches off the ground, but he barely noticed - the kiss was just that good.

"It's been a while since we ravaged each other in the kitchen." Pike gushed into Henry's neck before he nipped his way back to plunder his mouth again.

Henry lifted his legs and wrapped them around Pike's hips while he deepened the toe-curling kiss. "I'm only letting you carry me because it's hard to walk with a full erection."

Pike chuckled into Henry's lips. "I miss them already - but it's nice to have a little privacy." He said as he wobbled them toward the small kitchen where it all started a few years earlier.

"Privacy's good." Henry agreed breathlessly.

FUTURE

It was hard to believe a year had passed already. Henry remembers Sampa saying time goes faster the older you get. When he was seventeen, it sounded like the musings of an old man. But as a forty-something man, he realized that truer words were never spoken.

He looked into the bright, excited eyes of his lover as a familiar car pulled into the gravel lot in front of Dexter's General Store. A short, pudgy woman exited the driver's door and walked briskly toward the two men. "You must be Pike and Henry." She said before she hugged each of them in turn. "I'm so glad to finally meet you face-to-face."

Eddy's mom had been emailing them all year. In the beginning she was simply sending her thanks to the two men for the change she saw in her son. He had grown over the summer - he was more settled and sure of himself. He stopped hanging around with the kids that she blamed for his downward spiral.

She had her son back.

They corresponded throughout the year after that first email. She wasn't a big believer in forming relationships on the internet - until now. She had grown to love Pike and Henry and was thrilled when they invited Eddy and Dillan to Big Eden for a few weeks of summer fun. She knew Dillan's mom wouldn't really care either way - she was just happy to get her kid out of her hair for a while. She was convinced that Pike and Henry were the only reason Dillan hadn't stayed on the wrong path himself. He and Eddy had become best friends and she considered it her duty to be a support for the boy - to give him a chance in life that his own mother didn't seem to be capable of doing.

As she pulled away from the tall, dark, and handsome man she knew to be Pike, she struggled to keep a lid on her emotions. The man towering over her could have easily hurt her boy on a dark night so long ago - but he chose not to despite the fact that her son was being brutal and hateful. Then he chose to give her boy a chance - an unbelievable chance that most people wouldn't even consider. How could she ever express how grateful she felt?

"It's so good to see you, Susan." Henry greeted her before he took his turn hugging the nervous woman. "Thank you for letting us spend some time with the boys this year."

"Are you kidding. You're all Eddy ever talks about! I'm so happy you're open to this. And Dillan...well, I'll just say he can use all the positive adult attention he can get." She shook her head sadly. "Especially from good men. He's been going on and on for the who drive up here about a recipe he found on Rachel Ray's website. He can't wait to cook it for you guys!"

"Pike will like that. I can't cook anything worthy of eating." Henry chuckled. "Hey guys!" Henry waved as the boys got out of the back seat of the car. They ran until they almost leapt into the waiting arms of their mentors. Dillan hugged Pike and Eddy hugged Henry before they traded.

"Let's get your stuff into my truck." Henry said while he ruffled Dillan's hair. "We got your room all ready at home and Frances seems excited about your visit."

"I want to show you something first." Eddy grabbed Henry's hand and pulled him toward the car. "Open the trunk, Mom!" He demanded impatiently once he got there.

"Eddy?" Pike said with a warning tone.

"Please." Eddy added obediently.

Susan smiled and winked at Pike before pushing the button on her key fob that released the trunk's latch.

Eddy carefully pulled out the canvas he had been working on since he left Big Eden the year before. He wanted it to be perfect, so he took his time.

"Is that it?" Henry asked. He had been giving Eddy tips on techniques via email all year long. Henry was so excited that Eddy was bringing his first piece to show him.

Eddy nodded proudly before he turned the canvas around and showed his mentor his work. Henry was astounded. Not only was it beautiful, but it was painted in the style of his own work - as if Eddy was truly his apprentice and would some day carry on his artistic legacy. If he weren't so stunned he would surely be crying.

"It's beautiful!" He managed to speak to the nervous young artist. "I mean it, Ed. It's just...I'm..."

"Looks like something you painted, Henry." Pike observed wistfully. "Eddy, it's..."

"So you like it?" Eddy interrupted.

Neither Henry nor Pike corrected him for his rudeness. They simply nodded and smiled.

"It's called Second Chances and I made it for you." Eddy said with relief and pride.

"You sure you want to give away your first piece?" Henry asked.

Eddy nodded with a wide smile. "Aren't you going to ask me what inspired me?"

Henry felt Pike's arm drape around his shoulders. He knew Pike was grinning like a fool without even looking at him. "Okay - tell me - what was your motivation?"

"Pike." Eddy said as if he had been rehearsing his one word answer for weeks. "And you, of course. But at first it was about Pike." Eddy looked into Pike's intense eyes. Unlike the year before - Eddy now knew that Pike's eyes weren't showing anger - they were thinking - always thinking. They were filled with kindness. And this year Eddy saw something else reflected in those dark eyes...love. "You gave us a chance that no one else would. After what we did to you. I don't really know how to tell you how I feel about you. But when I painted this...and when I look at it...I feel it." He turned to look at Henry. "That means I got it right - right Henry?"

Henry couldn't speak around the giant lump in his throat - so he simply nodded and pulled the boy into his arms. He held the boy's head into his chest and kissed the side of his face. He was taller this year and soon Henry wouldn't be able to hold him like this, which was probably a good thing because he's fairly certain that Eddy will be in the 'don't hug me stage' soon. Once he had pulled himself together, he released his young friend from the bone crushing hug and gave Pike a turn.

Henry noticed Dillan shuffling his feet in the gravel with his head bowed. "I hear you're going to be showing us your cooking skills, Dillan."

The boy puffed up a little and Henry could see the green-eye monster fade away. "I printed a bunch of recipes. All your favorites."

"I can't wait to try them." Pike pulled Dillan into his arms for one more hug. "I've missed having another cook around."

Susan looked at her watch and apologized sincerely. "I'm so sorry to run, guys. But I need to get back in time for work."

She hugged them all - hugging the boys twice - and left in a cloud of dust. Henry took a deep breath and held up the canvas to admire the work of young Eddy. "This will look good on the wall with Trepidation and Survival. Thank you for completing the set, Ed."

"So. Did I get it right?" Eddy asked apprehensively. Henry realized that he never answered the question the first time the boy asked. He was just too overwhelmed with emotion to speak.

Get it right? He got it perfectly. Every single nuance of the feelings that come with second chances was expressed on canvas. It showed every single speck of love and admiration he knew they all felt for Pike and his tenacity and faith. The kind of faith Pike had in each of them was what pulled them through the darkness. It was Pike who had patiently waited for each of them to fall from the stars - right into his waiting arms. And Henry could see all of it in the colors and brush strokes of this boy who was so young to be so wise. Henry held the painting at an angle that caught the light of the morning sun. He nodded and smiled and tried not to cry as he spoke. "Yeah, Eddy. You got it just right."

FIN