A/N: I am so sorry for how long this has taken, I've been so caught up with lab reprts and reserch essays that I've barely had time for anything. Anyway, hope you enjoy this, its a bit of a filler and a little bit sappy but oh well.

Chapter Nine

Once the rain had stopped being a daily occurrence they were lucky enough to have a couple of weeks of boiling hot sun and Cole started to come home to find Jazz in the back garden covered in mud, attempting to do something with his boring garden. He wasn’t very good at gardening, constantly getting distracted and forgetting to do things like check that the plants were attached to the plastic nets that Cole had helped him put up. Sometimes he’d even arrive home to find Jazz asleep in the sun, curled up with the radio playing some old swing songs.

“Hey! You’re home late!” Jazz threw his arms around his neck and kissed him deeply; smile bright despite the fact that Cole was in fact nearly three hours later than usual.

“The meeting ran over and then Sam wanted to talk afterwards,” Cole explained, slipping his expensive jacket off before Jazz managed to get more dirt on it, “Had a good day?”

“Sort of. I got my pay check! I actually own over nine hundred!” Jazz pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of his back pocket and waved it at him, “My boss had to help me set up a bank account today. I’ve never had one before but he didn’t mind. This is the most money I think I’ve ever owned.”

“You didn’t have a bank account?” Cole asked in surprise, quickly checking the maths in his head concerning the pay check. It seemed like the correct amount, “What did you do with the money your cousin gave you?”

“I kept it in my jacket pocked. He gave me three hundred. It was the money he’d got for the dogs,” Jazz shrugged, eyes lighting up, “If I put that in the bank too then I’ll have over a thousand!”

“You’ve been walking around with three hundred pounds in your pocket for the past two months?” Cole said weakly, shaking his head. Sometimes Jazz had such a childish naivety that he was amazed he’d got through life without parents. He assumed that his cousin must have had a lot of say in bringing him up.

“Uh yeah.”

“The jacket that you kept leaving in restaurants and in that café?”

“Yeah.” Jazz wrinkled his nose, suddenly looking a little ashamed, “I guess I should have been a little more careful with it.”

“You think?” Cole shook his head and kisses him softly, “Come on I’ve got a surprise for you.”

“Oh?”

“Yes.” Cole pulled out a blindfold and Jazz raised an eyebrow, “Don’t look at me like that, its not sexual.”

“What’s the occasion?” Jazz turn on the spot to let Cole put the blindfold on him and smiled at the kiss to the side of his neck.

“Does there have to be a reason for me to surprise you?” Cole questioned, helping Jazz to the door, making sure he missed the walls and the door frame.

“No, but there usually is you know.” The quiet reply made Cole frown but he shoved it away and made sure to be as happy as Jazz was as they drove to where his surprise was. The journey was filled with Jazz fiddling with the radio, singing along to old songs and guessing what Cole had arranged for them.

“Can I take this off yet?” Jazz grumbled, tugging at the blindfold, “I’m out of the car.”

“Just a little longer.” Cole urged, guiding him across the uneven ground, “Watch your right foot, its close to a rock.”

“A rock?”

“Yes a rock. Now watch where you’re putting your left foot.”

“Where have you taken me Cole?” Jazz asked again, giggling as he stumbled over the rocky terrain, giving up and holding tightly onto Cole.

“You’ll see in a moment. Stand there for a moment and then I’ll take the blindfold off,” Cole moved away, feeling safe that Jazz wasn’t going to be able to do much damage to himself on the position on the large flat rock, “And no peeking.”

He quickly prepared the surprise, laying the blanket out on the other flat rock. He watched Jazz out of the corner of his eye as he laid the food out and smiled when he saw the curious expression on the blonde’s face.

“Ready?” He asked when things were set out properly and Jazz nodded easily, nodded energetically.

He carefully removed the scarf from around Jazz eyes and turned him to see the picnic and the view, silently pleased with himself when he saw the way Jazz was struck speechless, probably for the first time since they’d met. He’d chosen a section of the cliff that sloped down a little so they could see the expense of sea stretching out. It was starting to get dark and soon the sky would be full of stars. Nick had bought him there when he first came to England.

“Wow.” Jazz breathed, smile a little bemused, “You did all of this for me?”

“Yeah,” Cole slipped an arm around him and guided him to the food, “I thought I’d treat you for once instead of you being the one to surprise me all the time.”

Jazz nodded and sat, peering at the food and grinning when he saw that Cole had actually made sandwiches and snacks himself instead of buying them. He tucked in the moment Cole did and watched water.

“I’ve seen the sea so many times but I never get tired of it,” Jazz stated, putting the crusts of his sandwich on Cole’s paper plate, “Do you like it?”

“I do. I think that’s because I didn’t see it unless I went on holiday, we lived quite a long way from the coast in America,” he ignored the crusts on his plate, he was used to Jazz’ strange eating habits.

“Do you know any of the stars?”

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“The constellations?”

“Yeah.”

“Not really, Jared told me a few once but I can’t tell one star from, another.” Cole admitted, moving his food aside so Jazz could ‘sneak’ more crusts onto his plate, “Why? Do you know any?”

“I know most of them.” Jazz shuffled closer and pointed up to a selection of stars, “That’s Ursa minor. Draco. That’s part of Corona Borealis.”

“Where did you learn all of these?” Cole questioned, putting an arm around Jazz when he shivered. He should have bought extra blankets but he’d not thought to think ahead.

“My cousin’s wife. She’s a fortune teller, uhm, she can read palms, tarot cards, know the star signs and the constellations, and the whole crystal ball thing. She comes from a proper gypsy family and had all of those strange superstitions,” Jazz shrugged, leaning against Cole, “She didn’t really like that my cousin had me as an added burden to look after.”

“How did your parents die?”

“There was a fire when I was little. The straw needed for some of the animals and the forest where we were camped were so dry they went up in flames in seconds.” Oddly, there was no sadness in Jazz’ voice, it was like he was talking about an everyday occurrence, “They tried to put the fire out and the big top collapsed on them. I was only about one or two so I don’t really remember it.”

“Do you miss them?” The only person he knew that had lost both parents was Sophia and she was always very closed about the subject, preferring to act like Seb’s parents had been her parents all along.

“I don’t know if it’s possible to miss people I don’t remember but I guess when I was a kid I used to miss the idea of having parents that would love me.”

He let the subject drop at that and gestured to the sky, urging Jazz to carry on naming stars.

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Cole couldn’t help smiling when he saw Jazz stacking the cereal on the shelves. It was the first time he’d taken the time to go to where Jazz had been working for the past three months and he had to admit, his boyfriend looked very young in the uniform surrounded by teenagers that were taller than him. He was chatting amiably with a tiny old woman about the benefits of eating different cereals. It was typical Jazz. When the woman made a decision and walked away Jazz started to sing to himself, one of the songs on the demo CD that Jon had sent him, nodding his head to the tune in his head while he opened the last huge box of cereals in order to put them on the shelf. He was so absorbed that he didn’t even notice when Cole cleared his throat. Instead, Cole resorted to walking over to him and handing him the last box.

“Thanks.” Jazz turned to give him a smile and practically jumped into his arms in excitement when he saw who it was that had offered help, “What are you doing here?!”

“Seb sent me an extra ticket for you to go to America next week. So, I thought I’d come and meet you to take you for a milkshake after work before we buy you some more clothes for the week.” He explained, smiling a little when Jazz nodded and quickly tidied up the mess of boxes and plastic wrapping he’d made while doing his job. They’d been meaning to buy Jazz more clothes for a while but Jazz was very difficult and avoided shops if possible.

“I’ll be ready in ten minutes. Let me just let my boss know which days I’ll be on holiday. They owe me apparently,” Jazz gave him a wave and skipped off, arms laden with cardboard. Cole mentally added the time he knew Jazz would take to get changed and faff around.

It took him half hour in the end but he’d successfully got the week off work.

“Where are we going for a milkshake then?” Jazz bounced beside him, hand sliding into Cole’s, and Cole pointed to a small milkshake bar in the middle of the row of clothes shops, “How long has that been there?”

“About a month. The twins went there and said it was worth a try.”

“What flavours do they do?”

“Practically everything.” Cole picked up one of the menus and Jazz’ green eyes widened.

“What are you going to have?”

“I was thinking I’d get a smoothie. You’re the one with the sweet tooth.”

“DO they have a strawberry milkshake?” Jazz asked, bouncing on his toes and peering at the fruits the girl had being the counter.

“Yeah. It’s there. Strawberry, raspberry, banana, natural yoghurt and a summer fruit sorbet.” He tapped where it was on the menu, “It sounds pretty good actually.”

“I’ll have that one!” Jazz announced happily, looking to the girl, who smiled at him and went about making it for him.

“Make that two.” Cole put in and leant down to kiss Jazz lightly on the lips.

It had taken a while but he was feeling like he had when he was younger and happy with Nick. He didn’t feel awkward or uncomfortable showing some signs of affection in public and Jazz was always incredibly happy when he got that attention whether in public or at home.

“Nick called.”

“Oh?” He handed the girl the money and let Jazz claim a table, “What did he want?”

“Said something about flights and getting to the airport. I told him I’d tell you so you could ring him back,” he slurped some of the milkshake and grinned, licking his lips, “This is amazing!”

“I’ll call him later then.”

“Yeah. Probably better for you to talk to him. He hates me.”

“I just think he finds it difficult adjusting to me having you in my life.”

“You’re not his anymore.” Jazz stated bluntly, smile dropping, “He needs to grow up. He’s moved on. He needs to let you go so you can as well.”

“Jazz.” Those green eyes darted up to meet his and Cole gave him a smile, taking his hand and squeezing it lightly, “I have moved on.”

That triggered the return of that smile and Cole laughed when Jazz slurped the milkshake as loud as he could, giggling when the woman on the table next to them gave him a disapproving look because he’d spurred her children on to copy him.

“You’re nothing but a big kid sometimes Jazz.”

“There’s nothing wrong with letting go sometimes. You should try it.”

“Yeah sure.” Cole shook his head, eyes darting skyward when Jazz did it again. He couldn’t fault him for enjoying everything he did though really, regardless of what other people might think.

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