A/N: This is it, my loves. Mwah.

Dedication: For jessypt. I love you so very much, dear one.

The very first photo of Edward and Benjamin together was taken some time before Edward's graduation.

Years down the line, neither of them could remember the occasion, why it had been that day that someone snapped a quick picture. But that one image told a heartbreaking story. It was the picture worth a thousand words.

In so many ways, the picture was painful to look at. The Edward in the image was a shadow of the boy he'd been before. He was skeletal, stress and fear having robbed him of his appetite for too many months on end. His cheeks were gaunt, and he looked so frail. No one would have believed this was the same boy who was in the running for a wrestling scholarship only months before.

Beside him, Benjamin wasn't much better off. He didn't look as frail, but there was a caution in his eyes that was more frightened kitten than anything. His body language seemed to indicate he'd be cowering under the table if he could.

Actually, both boys' posture was stooped, guarded. Their shoulders were hunched, heads ducked, and their eyes were haunted.

But even then, there was a small glimmer of hope.

They were holding hands. Despite their obvious fear and discomfort, they hadn't ever let go.

Of course, in the intervening years, there had been countless other pictures taken of them. Edward's favorite had to be the trio hanging on the wall in their room to the right of the door.

The pictures were taken on the best day of Edward's life: his wedding day.

The men in these pictures couldn't be more different from the injured boys they had once been. These men radiated confidence. They both looked healthy. More than that, they both looked deliriously happy.

On the right they'd been caught mid laugh. Benjamin had Edward in a dip, his arms firm on his back holding him securely. Edward's arms were around his neck, hanging on tight. It captured so much of who they were together. No one made him laugh like Benjamin. No one made him so happy and completely free. There was a deep trust in the way they held each other.

They'd been through hell and back, and they were unshakable.

The picture on the left was another facet. They were cheek to cheek, their faces turned toward the camera. Their hands were clasped together, fingers overlapping. They were a pretty picture - pale skin against dark skin, dark eyes and green eyes lit with the same joy, tinted with mischief in that particular photo. These were two men who had discovered the secret to true bliss.

The photo in the middle was both the most serious and the most beautiful of the set. Their eyes were closed, their heads tilted as they shared a sweet kiss. This was a couple very much in love.

"B-but, Mr. C... That's just... It's..."

Edward raised an eyebrow, looking at one of the students in the class he was leading. "Say what you want to say, Liam. Remember, you're not going to get in trouble here."

Among Edward's many responsibilities in his job with the LGBT advocacy group he worked with, he taught a week long tolerance class at the junior high and high school level. The class was mandatory for kids who'd gotten into trouble over some kind bullying or another. It was part of recent legislation cracking down on bullying behavior in schools.

The fifteen-year-old grimaced, looking back at the picture Edward had brought with him. "Your, uh... Your husband is wearing a dress."

Only practice kept the smirk off Edward's face. He crossed his arms, leaning against the desk behind him. "That's an astute observation," he said lightly, drawing a few giggles from the class. He made a go on gesture with one hand.

"Well, okay. You're gay and all, but why does that mean he has to be a girl?" One of his classmates hissed, and Liam ducked his head, looking a little nervous. "I mean, sorry."

"Don't apologize. Again, this is a safe room." Edward grinned. "First of all, I don't think being called a girl is an insult. A lot of my favorite people, some of the strongest people I know, are girls." He pushed himself up off the desk, pacing a few measured steps in one direction before he turned around. "But okay. Let's talk about this. My husband chose to marry me in a dress. Why does this make him a girl?"

"Because it's a dress." Liam sounded flustered. "Boys don't wear dresses."

Edward picked up the picture. "And yet, here is a boy in a dress. The dress didn't change his sex nor his gender, right?" He tilted his head at the boy. "If you were to put on a dress right this minute, would you be any less of a man?"

"Yeah, he would," another boy, Santiago chimed in. "He'd be a little girly boy."

"No fucking way," Liam hissed, his shoulders hunched defensively.

"Boys," Edward said warningly before things could get out of hand. He glanced around the classroom. "Jane. Leah. Will you stand up?" They weren't the only girls in the classroom, but they were the roughest by sight. They both wore their hair short in severe cuts. Their styles were similar to the boys, though Jane's shirt was fitted where Leah's was loose. "You're both girls, right?"

They'd already been over sex versus gender, so the girls knew why he was asking, not assuming. They both nodded.

Edward looked back to the class. "So what do you think? I think Leah's wearing the same brand of jeans as you are, Liam. Is she not a girl?"

Leah crossed her arms, glaring down at Liam.

The boy ducked. "Course she's a girl."

"Thanks, Jane, Leah. You can sit down." Edward nodded at the girls. "Benjamin's dress on our wedding day didn't make him a girl anymore than Jane and Leah's t-shirt and jeans made them boys. So let's think about this. Why does it make you feel uncomfortable?" Edward glanced over the class. "Anyone can answer."

"It's just wrong," Santiago grumbled. "Why would any guy want to wear a dress?"

"Why do you wear that shirt?"

Santiago shrugged. "It's comfortable."

"These shoes are not comfortable," Lauren contributed, lifting her foot. She grinned. "But I like the way I feel when I walk in them."

Edward nodded. "Both of those reasons are great reasons to wear what you want to wear." He smiled fondly, remembering. "For your information, to the best of my knowledge this is the first and last time Benjamin ever wore a dress."

As he expected, he heard huffs of disbelief and confusion.

"Then why the hell would someone wear a dress if they didn't even like it?" Leah asked, sounding incredulous. "I hate dresses."

"I didn't say he didn't like it." Edward pursed his lips. "My family was very excited when we were planning our wedding. Neither of us was picky about what we wanted. We knew we wanted a service in front of our family and friends, but we weren't the type that grew up planning our dream wedding or anything like that.

"My sister and my then-fiance were talking tuxes, and she said she always wanted to help pick out a wedding dress. He started trying on dresses to indulge her." He huffed, shaking his head. "Which, if you know my sister, is what ends up happening nine times out of ten with her. You indulge her whims because she's just that kind of charming.

"Anyway. To make a long story short, they got to talking, and Benjamin, cheeky bum that he is, decided there was no reason he shouldn't have a pretty white dress. It was comfortable, and he felt good wearing it." Edward chuckled. "Alice and the friends that were with him stroked his ego, believe me."

Lauren looked uncomfortable. "But... it didn't bother you?"

"Why would it? It didn't change anything between us. What he wears any day doesn't change who he is to me, how much I love him, or the way we live our lives. Why would it bother me?"

"It was your wedding day." Lauren still sounded boggled. "You looked good. Didn't you want him to look good?"

Edward's smile was patient. "He did look good. You know all the cliches you've read about. When I saw him that day, he was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, and I was the luckiest guy on the planet. But I probably would have thought the same thing regardless of whether he was in a tux, a dress, or his birthday suit."

He waved his hand. "But enough mush. It's important to think about these things. Really think. It's all connected. Why did my husband wear a dress on our wedding day? Because that was what he wanted to do. That was how he felt comfortable. It didn't change anything about him. Not his personality. Certainly not his gender. Santiago over here will still be Santiago if you put him in a dress, or a toga, or lederhosen. And all of that should be fine, you know, unless he's breaking the dress code."

That earned him a few rolled eyes and a small titter.

"The point is, eventually, we all figure out what makes us comfortable." He crossed his arms, a more defensive than relaxed movement now than it had been just a few minutes before. "When I was eighteen, I figured out it made me happy to kiss members of my own sex. In particular, one member of my own sex. My Benjamin. It didn't change anything about me. It didn't make me a girl or any less of a friend. I was exactly the same person I had been the day before he kissed me.

"You're going to see things, hear things that make you uncomfortable. Maybe it's going to be a boy in a dress, or a girl kissing another girl."

"That wouldn't make me uncomfortable," Liam said. The class snickered.

Edward shot him a warning look, but he continued. "A natural reaction to being uncomfortable, to being afraid, is anger. But that's where you have to think, why are these people doing these things?

"The answer is because it makes them happy, it makes them comfortable, it's what they want to do. What they aren't doing is specifically trying to make you uncomfortable. They aren't trying to piss you off. What they are doing has absolutely nothing to do with you." He looked at each of the kids in turn as he spoke, watching their expressions. They ranged from angry to thoughtful. Edward had led this class often enough to expect anything. He knew damn well he wasn't going to get through to all of them.

But he always imagined these kids were Felix, James, Demetri, Paul, or Riley. He tried to think about how different things would be, not just for him but for them, if someone had given them a different perspective.

Every once in a great while, he would see the light of understanding dawn on one of the kids' faces. It made every battle he fought, even the ones he lost, worth it.

~0~

It was getting toward evening by the time Edward made it home. He had no sooner opened the door then he heard the pitter patter of little feet accompanied by a rallying cry of, "Daaaaaaadddddddeeeeeeeee," before Tia, his three-year-old daughter appeared. He quickly put down his bags so he could catch the girl as she leapt at him.

"Mia Tia." There was nothing quite like baby girl hugs to cure a bad day.

As he stood, it occurred to Edward there was something digging into his chest. He held his baby girl at arms length. "Oh, my goodness. Tia, does Papa know you've got what must be most of his necklaces on?"

Tia giggled, but it was Benjamin who answered as he appeared from his workshop. "Tia was being my model, weren't you, bent alby?"

"I's very pwetty, Daddy," Tia informed him, holding the the necklaces aloft for Edward's inspection.

Edward touched his forehead to her much smaller one. "You're beautiful, baby girl." He cuddled her close again, letting the feel of her small body in his arms calm him further.

When he looked up, Benjamin was staring, his expression concerned. "What's wrong?" he asked in Arabic, his tone light so Tia wouldn't pick up on it.

Edward shook his head, leaning over to give his husband a hello kiss. "I'll tell you later."

The boys settled down to the dinner Edward had brought home then. As usual, Tia chattered happily about her day, happily oblivious to her Daddy's stress. Benjamin was very aware though. He kept his hand on Edward's knee under the table, squeezing comfortingly every now and again.

"Miss Cah-men brought her Aunt today," Tia told them of her daycare teacher. "She called her tia so I kept going, 'What, Miss Cah-men?' But tia means aunt in Spanish. Didjoo know that, Daddy?"

"I did."

"So I know English, an' Ar'bic, an' Spanish now."

She looked so smugly pleased with herself, Edward and Benjamin both laughed. Edward stroked his hand down her sleek black hair. "You're so smart, Mia Tia."

"I know," she chirped merrily.

They ate, cleaned up, and spent the rest of the evening together in the living room. Edward watched from the couch as Benjamin and Tia drew together.

He wanted to shake off his melancholy. What did he have to be sad about? Look at what he had.

There was his husband, the man he'd been with for almost all of his adult life. Eleven years they'd been together. They'd stood by each other from those early days when they were forced to face the ugliness of humanity to the more mundane problems of growing up. They'd had their ups and downs, almost broken up twice as they grew and changed. They'd persevered and were stronger for it. Like any couple, they had their problems, but they were also deeply in love. Benjamin was passionate, talented, and smart. He was everything Edward could want in a partner.

Then there was their daughter, their precious Tia.

In his work, Edward often met people at the lowest points in their lives. Now more than ever he understood how lucky he'd been having the family he had when he was nearly beaten to death. So many suffered the same or worse fates than he had and had no one to put their arms around them, no one to pick them back up and tell them they could be safe again.

Tia's birth mother, Maggie, was one such sad case. When a boy she'd trusted, her best friend for many years, had found out she was gay, he'd forced himself on her. To show her what she was missing, of course. If only she knew what she was missing, she would get over the idea she didn't want to have sex with men. When they found out why her friend had done what he did, her family hadn't blamed him; they'd cast her out for being unnatural.

It was, like so many of the cases he worked with, heartbreaking and frustrating. But out of that ugliness, there were also happy endings.

Seeing the unconditional love and adoration Edward and Benjamin had for Tia even before she was born had healed something in Maggie. When Tia was born, Maggie had told Edward the best thing he could do for her was to raise the little girl with love and compassion.

"Don't let what happened to me happen to her. Just promise me you'll love her no matter who she becomes."

Watching his baby grow, Edward couldn't imagine a day when she wouldn't own his heart. Tia was the light of their lives. She completed them.

For now.

Edward was a very lucky man.

He reminded himself of this when he put Tia to bed, stretching out alongside her to read her favorite bedtime story. Three times. She fell asleep, her cheek hot against his shoulder. Edward pressed a long kiss to her forehead before he carefully eased himself out of her bed and tucked her in.

Benjamin was leaning up against the doorjamb watching them with a serene smile on his face. He offered his hand and drew Edward to him, bringing his back up against his chest and resting his chin on his shoulder. "Bent oona gameela," he murmured. Our girl is beautiful.

"Yes," Edward agreed, stroking his fingers along Benjamin's hand.

"Tell me what's troubling you, ya omry."

Edward sighed, but he haltingly told Benjamin about the encounter he'd had with an angry parent after his class.

It wasn't anything he hadn't heard before. Hate and intolerance was a learned behavior. The vast majority of the parents of the kids who'd ended up in his class didn't feel like their kid should be there. It was a requirement, though, or else the kids could be expelled. The schools were finally taking bullying seriously.

Tonight it had been Lauren's mother. She'd ranted and raved at Edward, telling him how much she didn't appreciate anyone telling her daughter homosexuality, among other things, was okay. She'd continued to spew the usual righteous nonsense backed up with arbitrary Bible quotes and a healthy smattering of, "you're going to hell."

When she'd gotten to the obligatory, "Two members of the same sex cannot produce children," Edward had politely informed her he had a daughter.

"She was so disgusted," Edward told his husband.

Benjamin sighed, nuzzling his nose along Edward's neck. "Look at our baby. She is happy and healthy. She's kind to the other children at daycare. Why is that so immoral, hmm?"

"I know that." Edward leaned back against Benjamin, comforted by his arms. "It's not that I doubt us. Of course I don't."

"Then?"

"It's the rest of the world." He nodded toward their sleeping daughter, the fears and frustrations he'd been wallowing in the past few hours spilling over. "No matter what we tell her, she still lives in a world trying to convince her nothing about us is normal. The fairy tales she reads, the movies and television shows we watch, are all about straight people's happily ever afters." He lifted their hands, pale skin overlapping dark. "White, straight people." He sighed. "We still don't quite fit into the design of the world."

This wasn't the first time he'd had this exact fear. It was a horrible, helpless feeling - wanting to fix a world's worth of injustice and inequity.

Benjamin said nothing at first. He shifted Edward in his arms, cupped his cheek, and kissed him. They were slow kisses, designed to warm the cold places in Edward's heart where fear still resided.

This kind of injustice, the normalization of a very specific kind of life, family, had almost cost him his life once upon a time.

"The world changes only in increments, Edward," Benjamin's words rumbled against his lips. "You can't change everyone's mind." He gestured again to the baby. "We will teach our Tia how to be compassionate and accepting even of things she doesn't understand. Then, one day, she will teach her children and they their children. And the world will change."

Edward closed his eyes, letting his husband's kisses chase away the last of his bad mood.

"Now, come with me to bed." Edward opened his eyes to find Benjamin smirking at him. "Maybe we can't make a baby, but that doesn't mean we can't practice. You never know when science might catch up with us." He winked.

Edward laughed, kissing him adoringly.

"Noor 'inayyi, ya omry," Benjamin breathed between kisses. "And I love you."

"I love you, too. Always."

~The End~