Greg's mind, on the other hand, had been put quite at ease. He had found his answer at the resort, and however simple it was, it explained so much to him. He had realized he had been selfish and he was ready to make everything right. Starting with a change to how he worked.

“Okay, so, sit down for this one,” he said to Edward as he walked into the kitchen.

“No good morning? No thanks for making breakfast? I made breakfast,” Edward replied. “Seeing as it's going to be another weekend of you back at work.”

Greg shook his head. “Nope. I'm not going to work tomorrow.”

Edward stopped halfway through loading the toaster and turned around. “You... I thought you had things to do?”

Greg nodded. “I called in and said I wouldn't do overtime this weekend. Someone else is handling it.”

“Really?” Edward asked.

“Really. Is it so hard to believe?” He smiled and walked over to where Edward was, hugging him and kissing up and down his neck.

Edward wrapped his arms around Greg and sighed. “I... I knew you felt better since the resort, but I didn't think things would get this much better.”

Greg felt a little underwhelmed by the response. Normally Edward would react fairly intensely to something like this. He may be an introvert, but he was also very emotionally intelligent and expressive, in his own way. An onlooker might have missed the difference, but Greg didn't. “Are you okay? Normally you'd be way more excited about this.”

Edward nodded and smiled. “I am excited. I just haven't had my coffee today.”

Greg found it hard staying home with the kids when he normally would be pushing overtime. But he knew that now was the easiest time to break the habit. They had worked on this the whole time they were there, and the week away meant he had some leverage to cut off his ties to work. It was now or never if he wanted to get rid of the old Greg who did what he thought his family needed and become the new Greg who listened to them.

At first the kids were confused and hesitant too.

“So, you're like... not going to live at work anymore?” Jill asked as she and Greg cleared the table.

“Basically. You think you can handle Dad being around more?” he asked her back.

Jill paused. “Yeah. It's gonna be weird, though. We haven't done things together since I was, like, twelve.”

“I know,” Greg replied. “And I want you to decide what to do this afternoon. Your brother gets to pick tomorrow. I want to use these weekends to get to know you guys again properly. You've changed and grown so much and I feel like I've missed a lot of it.”

Jill, who had been reaching for another plate to dry, instead leaped and hugged her father. “I am so happy about this. That vacation was the best thing you and Daddy have done.”

“So, what do you want to do this afternoon, then?” Greg asked.

“Hmmm...” Jill carried on drying plates as Greg handed them to her. “I want to go and see the new Teen Dream movie, and I want to go get smoothies at the mall after.”

“A proper girly day. Tommy's gonna love that,” Greg chuckled.

“Well, he doesn't have to come. And he's definitely going to pick paintballing tomorrow even though he knows I don't like getting mucky, so...”

“No, no, I let you pick. So, movie and smoothies it is. All four of us.”

After they finished cleaning the kitchen from breakfast, Greg went to find Edward to work out a reasonable plan for Jill's day out.

“So,” he began, walking into the bedroom. He then stopped, as Edward had nearly jumped out of his skin.

There was a distinct sound of an app closing as Edward put the phone down. “So...?” he asked.

Greg dismissed it. They both had things they did online which were personal. And anyone could be startled by being crept up on. Edward seemed relaxed enough now, and he knew he would look like a paranoid jerk if he started bothering his husband just for being scared. “So, I was talking to Jill, and I've decided that for my first proper weekend off I want to do this thing where the kids each get a day to pick what they want to do.”

“Aw, that sounds so sweet,” Edward said, “and like such a great idea for all of us. It'll be nice to make the most of family time and give them their say in things.”

Greg nodded. “So, today she wants to go see some movie sequel—”

“Teen Dream 3: Dreamboys Beach,” Edward interrupted. “She has not shut up about it for five months and it sounds awful.”

Greg nodded again. “But, it's her choice. And then she wants to go to the mall for smoothies.”

Edward sighed. “Are you sure you wanna do this? Cause you don't have to. I mean, they're kids... they usually do their own thing.”

“I know that,” Greg replied. “And maybe when I'm as close to them as you are we can dial it back a bit and just do the odd thing together at the weekends. But right now I'm realizing that I barely know my own children, and I'd like for that to change.”

Edward nodded and smiled. “If you insist, but don't say I didn't warn you. I'm going to go and pack my teen movie survival bag.”

“Get one for Tommy and one for me too,” Greg replied.

As Edward left the room, he noticed a red car parked outside. It didn't belong to any of the neighbors that he knew of. Perhaps someone had relatives in town?

***

The teen movie was surprisingly not terrible. It had no plot, and the one liners were cliché, but the film itself was quite cute, and the songs were catchy. As they left the cinema with Tom still on his phone and Edward shaking his head, Greg found himself humming one of the tunes.

“Dad,” Jill whispered, “embarrassing.”

“Well, that's what I'm here for,” Greg replied. “And I will embarrass you for years to come.” He was about to laugh, but then he spied a red car again. Odd. Was that the same one? No... They were probably a new model, something that was everywhere now. “Okay, who wants a smoothie?”

“Can we go to the place that does cookie dough smoothies?” Tom asked.

Jill nodded. “Oh my God, let's go there!”

“Isn't that just a milkshake?” Greg asked.

“No, it's a cookie dough smoothie,” Jill replied.

“Okay, okay, just checking...” Glancing back, the car was gone. He was definitely getting paranoid. Maybe Edward's nerves had rubbed off on him at the resort? Whatever it was, he dismissed it and focused on having a great day with his family.

***

Tom, as Jill had predicted, chose to go for paintball followed by pizza. Which Edward was also not massively thrilled about. Greg loved it. He was beginning to wonder whether he actually liked the same things his kids did, or whether he was just enjoying the time with them so much that even bad films and running around in a cold damp field felt like a good time.

Tired, bruised from paint bullets, and covered in mud, the family made their way home to order pizza, preferably timed so they could eat it fresh out of the shower. But as they finally reversed into the drive, Greg noticed that red car again. If you could catch paranoia, he was certain he had caught it from Edward. Of course that car might be there again. The neighbors probably had relatives around.

Still, his gaze lingered on it as he headed indoors.

***

Going to work on Monday without setting off early was as odd as spending time with his family instead of doing overtime on the weekend. He turned off his alarm and noted that the sun was actually up, and Edward had not only left the room, but come back up to get out of his pajamas and bring Greg a coffee. It was not what he was used to but sipping a hot coffee in bed before getting dressed felt right.

After a more leisurely morning routine, including a nice breakfast and a kiss goodbye, he set off for work without checking his emails or texts. He knew he would already have five or six from colleagues who, used to him arriving early, were upset they couldn't dump work on him again.

The red car outside was gone now. He smiled. Just relatives visiting for the weekend.

As he drove to work, he could not believe what he used to put up with from them. The constant demands for help, the messaging, the guilt tripping. Well, he wasn't going to put up with it anymore. He had things going on just as much as anyone else in that office. And now he was going to do things for himself and his family.

Pulling into his parking space, he could have sworn he had seen the same red car before. It was not just a similar vehicle. It was the same red car.

He shook his head and carried on walking to the elevator. It was just the stress. Pausing at the doors, he snapped a quick photo of it, just to play it safe. But for some reason the photo turned out a little blurry, and the elevator doors closed before he could get another one.

As soon as he stepped into the office, Mark Trent and a number of coworkers practically crowded around him. Seeing the bigger fish, Greg's peers slowly dispersed. He noticed they were all carrying papers and folders for him. But he didn't do that anymore.

“Are you okay?” Trent asked.

“Yeah, never been better,” Greg replied.

“Are you sure? You've had so much time off work...” Trent began. “I mean the vacation first, now this—”

“You mean not working on the weekend and not doing unpaid overtime on a Monday morning?” Greg replied. It didn't matter if Trent was his supervisor. He was going to call him out on his manipulative attitude. It was better than accepting it.

Trent shrugged. “It's not like you though.”

Greg shook his head. “Maybe it is, though. I just want to spend more time with my family.”

“We're just... worried about you, is all,” Trent said, smiling.

Greg nodded. “Of course. Anyway, I'm going to get to work.”

“Ah, yes, about that, Truman has a few presentations he needs to put into slides and I was wondering—”

“Sorry, that really isn't my department,” Greg replied.

“Oh, but you're so good at it—”

“And I have my own work to do. I didn't do it on the weekend because,” Greg shrugged, “I wasn't at work.”

Trent pursed his lips but could say nothing against that. Greg smiled as he walked to his desk. That felt so much better.

***

Getting home, the red car was there again. It hadn't been in the garage when he had left work, but even so he felt it was familiar. It had to be the same one. He quickly scribbled down the number from the plates. Maybe he really was going crazy, like Edward did before the resort? But at least he would put the matter to bed without upsetting his family.

Walking into the dining room he felt his heart melt. Edward was wearing his baking apron, putting the finishing touches to a cake at the far end of the table. Jill and Tom were just finishing setting the four places around a huge roast dinner. It was... perfect.

“What's the cake for?” he asked with a little trepidation, just in case he had forgotten an important date.

Edward lifted the cake up with a grin. Congratulations on being here. Greg laughed and walked over to where Edward stood.

“So... what is it?” he asked.

“Your favorite, Victoria sponge,” Edward replied.

He hugged Edward from behind and kissed his neck and shoulders. “Is this what those 1950s guys were so into?”

“Yes, only I'm not on Valium, I put out, and I'm going back to work,” Edward replied.

Greg was about to say something, but then just nodded. The therapist had been right. Edward had been right. The kids were old enough, and Edward needed to get back into work.

“What's Valium?” Jill asked.

“None of your business,” Edward replied.

“What's put out?” Tom asked.

“Daddy means—”

“Put out the cutlery,” Edward interrupted her with a slight warning glare.

Jill laughed, but carried on setting the table. “I'll tell him later,” she threatened. “I wanna know what Valium is.”

“You both have internet on your phones, look them up in the dictionary,” Greg replied. “I want to have dinner before it gets cold.” He pulled out a chair and sat down.

Dinner with the kids. All the family around the table, in the dining room. Everything like every sitcom had always said it should be. And it really was nice. The kids weren't perfect and all laughs. The housewife was a gorgeous man with callused hands and very little fashion sense. And the roast dinner was probably considered unethical and unhealthy now. But it was nice. And it was perfect for Greg.

***

Leaving the kids to finish clearing the table, he and Edward headed upstairs. Going upstairs to spend some quality time with his husband, on a weekday, after work, not at some ridiculous hour of the morning, was another weird experience. He couldn't remember the last time he had done that.

Closing the door behind them, they made their way to the bed and lay down opposite one another, staring into each other’s eyes like they had when they were first going out and unsure where to go next. He ran his fingers through Edward's hair.

Edward smiled and drew circles on Greg's chest with his fingers. Greg reached around and grabbed Edward's buttocks hard. Edward leaned in and kissed him.

Edward's mouth tasted so sweet. Maybe it was love. Maybe it was just the cake. But just to be cuddling like that, in their own bed, enjoying each other’s company and bodies, kissing, stroking... it was beautiful. It was intimate. It was something so magical and precious, he didn't know how he had lived without it.

He rolled onto his back, pulling Edward on top of him. “You can be in charge this time,” he said. “It's been a while since you bossed me about.”

“Does that mean I'm topping, or that in the last minute you'll turn the tables on me?” Edward asked in a sultry, low voice.

“We'll just have to find out...” Greg growled with a smirk. He felt his heart skip with joy. It had been so long since Edward properly took charge. It had been so long since Edward had even wanted to do something other than submit. He hadn't realized how much he had been craving to reverse those roles until that moment. “I'm all yours,” he insisted, lying back on the bed, arms stretched out, as Edward began kissing and biting his chest.