"days will pass and turn into years, and I'll always remember you with silent tears."

~ unknown

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July 24th, 1996.

Central London, England.

"Eli, this is amazing." Vince said as he awed at the preparation of the pride parade. The parade was yet to start but the pair came early along with all the children from the foster home and all of the carers as well as all of the children that had been adopted and their foster parents.

Eli smiled and pecked his boyfriend on the cheek before looking down at his arms and cooing at the tiny baby. Eli couldn't get over how blue the baby's eyes looked, like an ocean. He was absolutely gorgeous and it was painful to think that anybody would leave their baby in the foster home not even a few months after being born. The real parents of the baby just handed him in like a parcel and moved to Canada.

"Let's just hope this parade counts, it's awful to think people like us aren't allowed to marry or adopt, or even join the military." Elliot sighed and glanced down at the ground in disappointment.

"I know but we're here today to prove that love is a human right." Vince thought optimistically. Jace started crying, no wonder, it was incredibly noisy and very hot outside. "Here, let me hold him."

Elliot diligently placed the tiny baby in Vince's arms and in a heartbeat, Vince was grinning and looking down at the baby with so much love, Elliot saw this and felt as if his heart was exploding, but in a good way. Seeing Vince and Jace together was definitely a sight to see, it was absolutely adorable, and the two looked like they had a extremely strong bond, as if Vince was Jace's biological father. Vince wasn't though, he was just a very good nurturer.

Jace stopped crying but he kept fidgeting so Vince shifted his blanket around until he stopped moving so much.

"You know, it truly does look like you and Jace belong." Eli smiled to his boyfriend who smiled back and gave him a kiss on the lips and replied with an agreement. Vince had thought this over many times, when it's legal, Eli and Vince could adopt Jace, they were basically already raising him. It would be an incredible thing for the two to start a family together. The only question that wafted around he air was how long was he meant to wait?

Vince was turning twenty eight next month and Eli had only recently turned twenty one; he still had his life to live. They can't just be beating around the bush, Vince was not that type of person and that is what Eli feared.

Eli gulped down a bit of bile that had risen up his throat and took a few discreet, calming breaths. He turned around and smiled from ear to ear upon seeing all the children from the foster home. They were each carrying rainbow flags and had plastered similar grins on their faces.

Eli loves children, he really did, but could he grow to resent them if they just so happened to adopt together? What if the stress gets too much? He was young, still discovering himself, he wasn't ready to settle down. Vince on the other hand felt like the world was collapsing, he wasn't gay, nor straight, not bisexual. Who needed labels anyway?! He could settle down with a woman and have children together like a common couple would and it was awfully tempting.

Sometimes, sacrifices had to be made and a huge sacrifice for him would be to end his relationship with Eli because it didn't look like it was going to get anywhere if they're just being restricted. Love isn't meant to have any boundaries and even though he didn't know what love was, he guessed that he would eventually fall in love with Eli and then things would spiral out of control because the anti-gay laws could be overturned whenever, he could be forty by then.

A big group of people walked past them and they looked at them in awe. Some of them were cross dressers and Vince thought that they were extremely brave. The same group of people involved a bunch of teenagers, holding hands and being all affectionate. The plot twist was that some of them were holding hands with someone of the same gender.

"Do you remember that used to be us?" Eli asked. "We were a bit older than them. I was nineteen and I had only just discovered how much I liked you."

"Oh yes. My mum always wondered how I put up with you." Vince grinned cheekily. Eli frowned and flicked Vince's forehead. "No, I mean how we could act like such a happy couple in this heavily bigoted world at such a young age." He quickly saved.

"It was a difficulty. We're older now, people aren't so surprised." Eli shrugged and checked his watch. The parade was going to start in half an hour. They'd be walking all around London, protesting, not parading.

The young children from the foster home carried various signboards, all for same sex families. Some on the older children felt brave enough to write on their sign about how their parents left them as children and how a same sex couple (Eli and Vince) were doing the job of parenting a million times better than any common couple could ever do.

They were true too. Eli worked as a carer at the foster home and even though Vince wasn't officially a carer, he visited the children often. The children still stuck in the foster home were confused about who their parents are, they had always seen Eli and Vince as their nurturers, their father figures, and even without a proper mother figure around except for the female carers who didn't do as good of a job as Eli and Vince, the children believed they would benefit more with two loving dads except for one loving dad, and a half-arsed mother.

"Has everybody got their signboards ready?" Eli asked the children, who all chortled back and held them high up in the air in triumph.

"Great!" He said in an extremely cheery manner and held up two thumbs pointing upwards. "Gemma, Carlisle, you need to be at the front so everybody knows where we're coming from."

Gemma and Carlisle held up a huge, handmade sign that had the name of the foster home written in big, colourful letters and lots of coloured handprints from all the children from there. They both nodded and smiled and made their way to the front of the group.

Loud music boomed from behind them and the group stood in awe as they saw a marching band practicing. There were many of them and they were so in unison that the kids were half questioning whether or not they were all just robots.

For ten minutes straight, they all stood, watching as the band performed and applauded when necessary. It wasn't until a very buff looking man motioned for the first group of people to get ready into position and get their float starting up. Eli and Vince and the children all stood in their order, with Gemma and Carlisle at the front, holding the sign up high, and everyone else behind them.

The next group of people starting following shortly after and all cheered as they left. The children were all excited and shaking with nerves. It looked like the entire population of England were crowding the streets, there were so many people!

It came to their turn, and Gemma and Carlisle walked forward, holding their sign up proudly and smiling like there was no tomorrow.

The children and parents all hollered and cheered as they stampeded through the long winding roads in London. The children were all in awe at the city, they had never been in the heart of London and they were barely allowed to go on 'field trips'. Even though Eli tries so desperately hard, they've never had enough money to take the kids out in a day trip.

The parade lasted for a few hours. A number of the foster children held buckets out for people to donate to the home. They had collected an incredible sum of money; a lot more than they hoped. The donations can go towards upgrading the foster home a little, maybe to buying some bikes for the children to play on or perhaps some new crockery because the ones they have now have been dropped way too many times so now they're damaged.

A couple people watching the parade also promised they would visit the children and perhaps adopt them or become a carer even. It was fantastic because the home would finally get more staff who couldn't care less about earning the minimum wage.

It was when everyone from the parade gathered up at the festival that Vince turned to Eli, who had a giggling Jace in his hand placed one hand on his broad shoulder.

"Eli, I just.. I'm really doubting we're going to make a difference. People aren't going to want to adopt children from a long way away, I'm sure they'd much rather look at foster homes nearby."

"Vinny, don't think so negative. Be optimistic, it's a wonderful day and the children are having a great time. Don't ruin it for them, they might hear you say all those things."

"No, Elliot." Vince sighed, using his full name. Eli knew Vince only used his full name when he was serious. "I'm getting old, I want to get married, I want to have a child with my own genes."

Elliot frowned, and looked like he was about to burst into tears, which he was. So he gulped back his tears, got rid of that frown that set on his lips in hopes of not upsetting the children and spoke up. "Vince, you mean..."

"Yes." He answered. "I do mean that."

Elliot saw it coming, he knew this moment would happen soon enough, he knew that waiting for legalised marriage was a farfetched dream.

"I love you, Vin." Eli choked.

"I know, and I love you too. So much. So very much..." He trailed off, wiping a tear that had slipped out.

"Children, let's all go over to that tree so we're out of the way." A female care worker named Holly ordered as soon as she saw the thick tension between the two men.

Holly took Jace from Eli's arms and Eli let out a quiet 'thank you'. The two headed the opposite direction and found a seat under another tree, under the shade where it was cool and breezy.

"Vince, I don't... I don't understand." Eli did understand, he just didn't want to believe it. The young adult fumbled with the hem of the t-shirt he wore that promoted the foster home but Vince stopped him and held Eli's warm hands.

Forever wasn't as long as they thought it would be.

"I'm sorry Eli, I just can't wait around." Vince explained.

"Fucking hell Vince, just.. Fuck it. Fuck it all." He exasperated, a little unsure on what else to say. Cursing helped to relieve the anger.

"El, that doesn't mean you can't go out and find somebody else to replace me. Somebody who can wait, somebody who's great with kids, somebody-"

"It's not really that easy," Vince explained, scratching the back of his neck. "You know how it is. Can we just finish this day and talk about this tomorrow?"

Vince didn't want to argue, but he didn't want to hang around either. He reluctantly nodded, standing up and wiping invisible dust off his pants.

They both walked towards the children, hand in hand, hoping none of the children would suspect that they were having issues. They didn't want to upset the kids, the two were their rocks. Somebody to rely on, somebody that will make them feel the happiest they can possibly be.

"Who wants ice cream?" Eli boomed, forcing a grin.

The children all jumped in excitement as they all follower the pair towards the ice cream truck that was parked at the edge of the park. The children all spoke at once and the very perplexed driver found it difficult to keep up, but luckily he didn't mess up the orders. Vince and Eli both started taking their wallets out and paid however much the final price was while the children happily devoured their treats that would surely give them a sugar hype soon.

Vince glanced to the stage where a wonderful dance group were wilding jumping around and doing cool tricks. He gulped once, glancing back to the ground.

Holly noticed this, again, and took all the kids to get a better view of the act on the stage.

"Eli, I don't think I can stay for the rest of the day." Vince mumbled as soon as the children left.

"You said you would." He sighed, squeezing his lover's hand. He loved Vince with all his heart, and Vince felt the same way about Eli.

But some things weren't meant to be.

Eli lifted Vince's chin up with his index finger and with sad eyes and a sad smile, pecked Vince's cheek. Vince leaned into his touch, almost like a cat would, and trapped him in a bear hug.

It was questionable how long the hug lasted, but it felt like years because they both knew it would be their last hug.

Eli nuzzled into Vince's neck and let a few tears slip from his eyes, it wasn't long until Elliot was full on crying and Vince was holding back his own tears.

Vince traced his thumb under Eli's eyes, wiping away the tears. The hurt that was in his lover's eyes broke him completely, the eyes that had once been so jolly and bright were now clouded with a darker colour and filled with tears trying to slip out.

This was goodbye.

Vince stood still as he watched the man who meant more than anything in the world to him walk away. He watched as Elliot went smaller and smaller and then all of a sudden disappeared in the distance. Elliot didn't turn back once, fearing that he'd just run back to Vince.

They were both breathless and their hands were shaking, their knees felt weak and their hearts were being shattered into a million pieces, they were slowly, ever so slowly, breaking themselves but they both saw it coming.

They had always seen it coming.

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