“Where are you taking me?” Damien groaned for the fourth time this past hour.

“Now if I told you it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it?” I replied, I tried to keep the amusement from slipping into my voice but the more Damien complained, the harder it became.

“You could at least take off the blindfold. Being in the darkness for hours and hours isn’t as fun when you don’t know where you are.”

“Okay for starters it hasn’t been hours and hours, it’s been just over one hour, and second if I take off your blindfold you will know where we are going.” I chuckled. With all the stress that Damien had been going through lately, Xander and I decided to take him out for a day to get away and relax. At first I had been hesitant as Xander was only a week away from giving birth and wouldn’t be able to come with us, but he had insisted that we go just the two of us.

I honestly can’t remember the last time Damien and I spent time together alone, ever since we found Xander we hadn’t thought of anything else other than spending every second we could with him, and we were happy, very happy. But I do miss spending time with my brother, we’ve been joined at the hip our whole lives, doing everything together and going everywhere together. We never bored in each other's company, pretty much having everything in common since we began to walk and talk. We loved the same foods, the same toys and books, when we got older we liked the same songs and clothes, played the same games, the only differences we ever had were our taste in books, Damien always loved murder mysteries whereas I loved books on cooking.

We were also together throughout all our hardships in life, from Damien being bullied to us almost losing Xander. But before Xander there was a place where we used to always go, it was a place where we could escape from everything, just being together.

And that place we always went to, was the very place I was taking Damien today. I was a bit worried about what his reaction would be, it has been a few years since we’d set foot in this place that I wondered if it would upset him too much.

“Why is your heart beating like crazy?” Damien asked, worry etching into our bond. We were only five minutes away now, and I was tempted to turn back, but I knew that he needed this, we both needed this.

“Nothing really, we’re almost there.” I tried to play down but I could tell by his sigh that he wasn’t having it.

“I’m your twin brother dumbass, we are also part of the same soul, I know when something is up with you.”

I let out a sigh of my own as the car finally pulled to a stop in front of an all too familiar tree, my heart clenched as I stared at it, so many memories beginning to flood back to me.

“Okay seriously Matt what’s wrong? You're freaking me out!” Damien exclaimed as he took off his seatbelt. I stared at him for a few seconds before I took a deep breath, reaching over and gently untying the back of the blindfold letting it fall into his lap. I watched him slowly open his eyes, my chest in knots as he let his vision adjust before he froze. He didn’t move, not one inch, he just stared. I tried to listen to his pulse but his heart remained level, no rapid breathing, no shaking or trembling, nothing.

Then his eyes began to well up in tears, they slowly built up until they spilled down his cheeks. All kinds of thoughts swarmed through his mind, there was confusion, he was trying to figure out how we ended up here after so long.

“With all the stress and worry you’ve been going through lately, this was really the only place I could think of to take you. It always helped before so maybe it will help now.”

“Thank you.” he said after a long while of silence, “I somehow thought we’d never make it back here again, it’s been so long.” He turned and looked at me with a small smile that made my heart leap, I always wanted my brother to be happy. From the past in bringing Damien here it was always filled with so much pain, to see him happy in a place like this made a smile of my own stretch across my face.

“Shall we get out of the car and have a walk around?” I asked, my heart finally starting to ease again.

“Yes please.”

We both got out of the car and slowly made our way towards a wide open field, bright green grass covered the ground with little flowers of all different colours that lay amongst it. A big oak tree stood to the far right, providing shade for a warm day, and to the left the same river lay, twinkling with the sun's beams.

“It’s the same as the last time we were here.” Damien said as he glanced around, taking a deep breath in. “Wanna take a dip?”

My lips lifted up into a smile, “I thought you’d never ask, race ya.” I whipped off my shirt and sprinted down to the river, losing the rest of my clothes along the way.

“Hey, that's not fair.” Damien whined behind me, I looked back to see Damien dragging his feet as he slowly removed his clothes.

I turned back and dove into the river, the crisp water feeling amazing against my skin. I came up for air when I felt a light splash next to me. I stared at his face as he relaxed, letting the water move gently around him as he floated on his back.

“That great huh?”

“As great as I remember it to be, goddess I missed this place.” Damien sighed contently. “We need to bring Xander here.”

“Yes, yes we do. I think he’d really enjoy it here.” If Xander wasn’t pregnant I would’ve happily brought him along, but maybe when Luca is born we can come here as a family. I still feel sparks of excitement when I think about it, in just a few days from now I’ll have a son, we will have a son. It’s an event I’d dreamed about my whole life, becoming a father, and now it was finally going to happen.

“Do you think I should tell him?” Damien suddenly said, pulling me back to reality.

“Tell him what?”

Damien made a deep sigh before turning his head to look at me, my heart clenched when I saw the slight pain in his eyes. “Tell him about what happened, tell him about why we used to come here?”

It was now my turn to sigh as I swam a little closer to him. “If I’m being honest, you should’ve told him about the bullying ages ago. As his doms we expect him to tell us everything that bothers him, it would only be fair if we did the same, if you did the same.”

Damien frowned at my words, but he knew I was right, his eyes gave everything away.

“I just don’t want to come across as weak to him. I’m his dom, I’m supposed to take care of him. How can I do that when I let myself be pushed around so easily?” he said, his voice cracking a little.

I reached over and took Damien into my arms, holding him as close as I could. He relaxed instantly in my arms, taking all the strength and warmth that I pushed through our bond.

“You are not weak Damien, do you understand that? What those assholes did to you all those years ago was not your fault, they had you trapped, they had you traumatised. And being hurt does not make you weak, nor does it make you any less of a dom.” I felt him begin to tremble in my arms, those painful memories from our youth replaying in his head. I wanted to take them from him, I wanted to erase them from his memory for good, so he’d never have to feel the pain he felt all those years ago.

“Xander loves you Damien, your his mate, his dom and his daddy. He will always see you as his strong mate that will protect him from anything.” he pulled back slightly and my chest tightened as I saw tears building up in his eyes.

“Really?” he said, his voice sounding so broken.

“Yes Damien. Even the strongest of doms need comfort too. Xander may be our sub but he is still an Alpha, perhaps his comfort could soothe you?”

I watched as his eyes showed hesitation, it was a big thing for a dom to be vulnerable in front of their sub, letting go was not easy, but with the baby on the way it may help Damien.

“Okay. I’ll talk to him.” he sighed reluctantly.

I smiled at him and ruffled his wet hair, the same way I used to when we were young.

“Good, let’s go and dry off.” I said as I pulled him from the water. He nodded at me with a smile and went to retrieve his. We walked to the oak tree in a comfortable silence. I'm really glad I decided to bring him here. “Are you okay?”

He looked over to me with a faint blush and smiled, making my heart warm, “Yeah, I am. Thank you Matt.”

“Your welcome brother.”

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