They didn't knock when they arrived at the house.
They both climbed out of the car, Asher barely remembering to lock it and hurried inside.
The house was quiet and dark except for the quiet noise of the television and low glow from the screen that was coming from the living room.
Cailen and Asher kicked off their shoes and hurried into the living room where William sat on an armchair, his attention on the screen though it looked like he was ready to pass out from how tired he was.
On the couch that was facing the television, they could see a blonde head poking over the top and as they drew closer, they could see Ezekiel's as well.
When they stepped into the living room, William turned to them and stood in relief, gesturing to the couch where Ezekiel was.
"Zeke, look who's here." William said, smiling softly at the boy.
Both Noah and Ezekiel turned to see Cailen and Asher rounding the couch, Asher taking a seat beside Ezekiel and Cailen kneeling down infront of him, their frustration with each other temporarily forgotten.
Ezekiel was tucked up in a blanket beside Noah who smiled apologetically at Cailen.
Cailen realized then that they knew what Asher had planned that evening and were sorry to interrupt but Cailen didn't mind.
If Ezekiel needed them, Ezekiel needed them.
"Hey, buddy, you okay?" Asher asked, reaching out to the boy and wiping at his cheeks because he was, in fact, still crying.
Ezekiel looked to Asher, eyes wide and searching before he jumped into Asher's arms and wrapped his own around Asher's neck.
Asher was surprised to say the least, but automatically wrapped his arms around the small boy, looking to Cailen in slight confusion but mostly fear that Cailen had been right.
Cailen looked away from Asher, looking to the couch and biting on the inside of his lip, because honestly, he kind of didn't want to be right.
"Did you have another bad dream, Zeke?" Asher asked softly, turning back to Ezekiel when Cailen made no attempt to ask Ezekiel what was going on.
"I thought you died." Ezekiel cried and really, Cailen couldn't ever remembering feeling this shitty.
He knows he didn't want Asher to be a firefighter anymore but he hated that Asher had to go through this.
Firefighting did make him happy and Cailen wanted nothing more than for Asher to be happy, but the emotional toll on everyone just couldn't be worth it.
"You thought I died?" Asher asked, his voice filled with dread as he pulled away from Ezekiel to look into his scared brown eyes.
"Noah, maybe we should..." William said, nodding towards the door.
Noah nodded and stood, squeezing Cailen's shoulder as he shuffled by, silently wishing him luck as the two men left the room.
"Why would you think I died?" Asher asked, glancing at Cailen and back to Ezekiel.
Cailen shifted and took a seat on the other side of Ezekiel, avoiding looking at Asher now.
"B-because you went into the house and didn't come out." Ezekiel said as if they should've already known this. "You didn't come out and the house, it- it burned down!" Ezekiel added, sniffling and wiping at his face.
Cailen risked a glance over at Asher but Asher wasn't looking at him. He was staring in shock at Ezekiel, his eyes roaming the little boy’s face. Cailen could actually see something shift in Asher's eyes, he just didn't know what it was.
Anger? Maybe he was upset that Cailen had been right? Shame? Maybe he felt guilty for making Ezekiel worry like this?
"Zeke..." Cailen said because Asher was still thinking about something, not responding to the boy and Ezekiel needed someone to say something. "Love, you have nothing to worry about. That's not going to happen to Asher." Cailen said even though he had no way of promising that.
"B-but you said, you said that you didn't know if he would come back." Ezekiel said, making Cailen frown because he did say that and he really had nothing for the boy.
This was something Asher was going to have deal with. Cailen couldn't sit here thinking one thing and telling Ezekiel another- he refused.
There was a moment of silence before Asher seemed to realize that it was up to him as he slipped his hand around Ezekiel's waist and pulled him into his lap, kissing his head and holding him close.
"Zeke, you don't have to worry about me not coming back." Asher started off, looking to Cailen briefly as if he wanted Cailen to listen to this as well.
"I'm always going to come back. There is nothing that could keep me from coming back to you and Cailen. I'm always going to-"
"But if you die, you can't come back then." Ezekiel interrupted, sniffling again.
Cailen had to look away as his eyes started to burn while watching Ezekiel. He couldn't sit there and watch Ezekiel cry over the possibility of losing Asher. It somehow made the risk seem all the more likely to Cailen and he couldn't deal with that.
Cailen didn't know if Asher was connecting the dots but he knew he sure was.
Ezekiel was thinking about his mother and father and the accident and how they couldn't come back for him. He was thinking about losing the two people he had loved the most and them not coming to get him at the hospital, about being told that they never would come for him again.
Ezekiel was thinking how that could happen again with Asher.
"But I'm not going to die." Asher said, sounding so sure of himself.
Cailen wanted to scoff, he wanted to scream at Asher about how he couldn't promise that, he wanted to ask Asher how he could sit there and make empty promises to Ezekiel, but he didn't.
He kept his mouth shut, squelched his urges for later when they were alone. This was something he wouldn't be keeping quiet about.
It was one thing to tell Cailen this, he could handle it and he knew that Asher couldn't really promise this, but Ezekiel didn't.
To Ezekiel, this was real, this was a promise that he thought Asher was going to keep for sure.
"That's not going to happen, I promise." Asher assured.
Ezekiel sniffled and turned his face into Asher's chest, clutching at his shirt as Asher held him close until he started to calm down, apparently believing Asher's promise.
When Asher looked over Ezekiel's shoulder, his arms still firmly holding onto the boy in his lap, Cailen really couldn't handle it. He felt an incontrollable urge to scream at Asher, to smack some sense into him or something because he didn't understand how he could sit there and lie to Ezekiel like that.
Cailen couldn't sit there, he couldn't even meet Asher's eyes for long, so he stood, bending down to give Ezekiel a kiss on the head, then stormed out of the room, needing to calm himself down.
This wasn't the kind of conversation they could have infront of Ezekiel. That wouldn't help matters at all.
Cailen couldn't really remember ever being this angry with Asher. He wanted to hit something, the wall or fridge, something that could take it and he wouldn't have to worry about the consequences.
He wanted to throw a fit, he wanted Asher to see just how hard this was on him.
How could he not see this? How could he not see how hard it was for Cailen to stand by and say that he was okay with this, when he really wasn't?
How could Asher expect him to just be okay with the idea of possibly losing him one day?
And Cailen feels horrible about putting all this pressure on Asher about his job because it was, apparently, what made him happy but...
He couldn't just let this go.
He knows he told Asher that he would support him through this but that was before it involved Ezekiel.
That was before their son started having nightmares that reflected Cailen's worries.
Cailen didn't mind putting himself through this, yes he would have his moments where it was too much and he would freak out, but he could handle it. But he couldn't put Ezekiel through this.
Ezekiel was eight years old and he's already been through so much, more than most people will ever go through in their life.
Cailen didn't want to put him through this as well. He couldn't. He couldn't promise Ezekiel a family only to allow Asher to possibly rip that from him again. He just couldn't.
Cailen stormed into the kitchen, needing a glass of water because it felt like his blood was boiling and he needed to cool down.
He didn't know what he was going to do about this, he didn't know what he was going to tell Asher, but something needed to be said.
Cailen wasn't really surprised when he walked into the kitchen and saw four sets of eyes staring back at him.
William and Noah sat at the counter in the middle of the kitchen, Noah sitting forward and tipping his stool towards the counter. Dean and Eden stood by the stove, Eden heating up some water that Cailen assumed she was going to use for tea.
Ezekiel had probably woken up the household with his screams.
No one said anything as he went right for the cupboard, grabbed a glass and flipped on the cold water. They remained quiet until Cailen got some water in him.
"Everything okay, son?" Dean asked, stepping over beside him.
"No." Cailen said honestly, filling his glass again.
"Lots of children get nightmares, love, it'll be okay." Eden assured but that's not what Cailen was talking about.
"I know. I- Asher, he's- I-" Cailen really didn't know how to say this.
He wasn't mad at Asher, not really. He was just mad at the situation and lack of solutions.
"I don't know." Cailen sighed.
Silence fell over the room as everyone realized there was a lot more going on here than Ezekiel's nightmare.
"Well, why don't I bring this to Zeke. It should help him sleep." Eden said, pouring some water into a tea cup and blowing on it gently.
Cailen nodded, watching her leave.