Self Sacrifice

"Hello?" Andy fought the smile off his face as he answered Austin's incoming call.

"Hello Andy. Are you alright?" The tenseness in his voice made Andy sigh.

"Yeah I'm fine. Are you?"

"Yes...unfortunately I've got a problem to deal with, I won't be back until later tonight, possible even tomorrow, depending on how this goes."

"What's wrong?" He asked quietly.

"Don't worry. It's nothing major. I'll see you later, you promise you're ok?"

"Yeah, I spoke to my dad again last night, and I look worse, but I'm not in as much pain today. It's all good." Austin was silent for a few minutes. Andy frowned as he heard a voice in the background but didn't have time to dwell on it as Austin suddenly bid him goodbye and hung up.

"Well that was weird..."

"So who is he?" The man sitting in the chair, sweating with fear, shook his head.

"I can't tell you. He's on one side doing this, and you're on the other. Either way I'm screwed!!!"

"Trust me, I can do much worse."

"I don't think so- NO!! Please! Please-" Austin placed his gun back in its holster and looked at the man.

"I'm getting bored of this. Tell me who he is. Ah...Ive just received the files from my tech genius...father left when you were eight? Sad. Mother...ill...ovarian cancer, doesn't look good for her does it? Sister...doesn't speak to you anymore...although she does have two young children. Interesting, that's a lot to work wit-"

"SIENSON!! CONRAD SIENSON!! Please don't hurt my family!!" Austin locked his phone and nodded.

"Thank you. That's all I needed to know. Now...have you already sent the pictures to him?" The man wiped his tears away and nodded shakily.

"I'm sorry, I had to last night." Austin gritted his teeth.

"No matter. I will be extracting them from your computer, I trust you don't have any hard copies?" The man shook his head.

"N-no! I just did what I had to do, no more." Austin nodded and began wiping his computer of the pictures.

"I will ensure that Conrad doesn't get to you, or your family." Austin muttered quietly. The man blinked in shock.

"You will? I..thank you." Austin stood, satisfied that the pictures were gone, and called Charles to ask him to hack into Sienson's computer and erase the pictures.

"Hey! Wait!" Austin turned before he left.

"I'm Kellin, Quinn." Austin raised an eyebrow and shook his hand.

"We umm...we didn't. Y'know. I just slipped you something and took the pictures. The condom was just from me." Austin narrowed his eyes and nodded.

"Very well." He saw Daniel and Sean pull up in the car and left the house, slamming the door slightly harder than intended.

"Is everything alright, Austin?" Sean asked once he was inside.

"No...I don't think it is."

Andy heard a beeping noise and grabbed his crutches, moving out into the lounge to see an incoming call on the video phone.
"How the hell do you answer this thing..?" He pressed a button and Sienson's face flashed up on it.

"Oh, uh..hello Mr Sienson."

"Hello, Andy. How are you feeling?"

"Better than the other day, thank you sir. I'm afraid Austin isn't here, he's at-"

"The conference in Las Vegas, I'm aware. I actually rang to speak to you."

"Me? Oh, what can I do for you?"

"Well...its a bit of a delicate subject, actually."

"No worries, what is it?"

"It's about you and Austin....are you...dating?" Andy coughed.

"Umm...yes, I suppose so."

"Oh, well that's a shame."

"It is?"

"Well you see, I like to look out for Austin..he works himself too hard, but he's also prone to...pushing people away who care. I hope he hasn't done that to you."

"Umm...no, no he hasn't."

"Well, it's just something to be aware of. You see he's done things in the past that he's not proud of-"

"Haven't we all?" The old man smiled and nodded. Andy swallowed, feeling very uneasy.

"But you see...he's afraid of intimacy. It doesn't suit his lifestyle. And he's prone to doing things that hurt people-"

"Are you trying to tell me something, Conrad?"

"Yes. I'm afraid so, I am so sorry, Andrew, but I felt I had to let you know. In your state, the last thing you need is Austin hurting your feelings."

"What happened?"

Austin was relieved to be back on the plane home. Charles had managed to hack into Sienson's files and erase the pictures. But he still felt a little uneasy. If anything happened to make him lose Andy....well, he didn't know how he would feel. But there was something about the young man that felt like an anchor to Austin, a support, a ray of light, and he wouldn't let himself think of how it would feel if that ray of light was to be ripped away, and him left alone in the darkness again.

"Andy! I'm h-" Austin froze and dropped his bags when he saw Andy's suitcase by the door.

"No...Andy!!" He ran through living room, Andy was sat in the kitchen. He looked up at Austin with red-rimmed eyes.

"Have fun?" Austin hated the bitterness in his usually so gentle voice.

"Sienson called you, didn't he?"

"He did."

"Andy I swear-"

"That it's not true? That it was a set up? That's very true, it was a set up, which I think is disgusting, but you fell into that trap so damn easily, didn't you?" Austin shut his eyes and shook his head.

"Don't lie to me, Austin. I saw the pictures, I saw the picture of the condom next to you on the bed, I saw you with him-" He broke off and looked down at his hands, shaking his head slowly.

"Andy, I promise it didn't happen. I was drugged-" He snorted and shook his head.

"Don't you think I at least deserve to hear the truth from you? I mean..it must've been boring for you, having to look after me like a child, feeling guilty, and I couldn't do anything to thank-"

"Don't. Don't sit there and tell me that all I wanted from you all this time was sex-" Andy met his eyes again, clearly fighting back tears.

"Then why? Why did you...why?"

"I didn't!!! His name is Kellin Quinn, Sienson payed him to set me up, to try and extort money out of me!!"

"IT DOESNT MATTER!!! IT DOESNT MATTER IF IT WAS A SET UP!!" Austin flinched as Andy screamed at him wildly.

"But it does. Because I didn't sleep with him, I haven't done anything sexual, since the last time you and I-"

"Then how do you explain the pictures?"

"Quinn drugged me, took the pictures, he got off in the condom and placed it there. He told me all this this afternoon-"

"Didn't you know it already?"

"No, I can't remember anything because he drugged me! I had to go round there and threaten him until he told me what happened and who made him do it!"

"Aww...how sweet of you." Austin shook his head as he realised Andy wasn't buying a word of what he was saying.

"Andy, I'm not lying. I promise." He sighed and stood up, pushing his arms into the crutches, and began limping round the other side of the breakfast bar. Austin ran round and caught him.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm leaving...I knew it was a mistake to start this with you. I knew it, but I didn't listen to myself...and now all this has happened....I'm going home."

"No! No, you're not listening to me-"

"I am listening...I just don't believe you." Austin didn't bother to contain his tears as Andy fought with him.

"Let me go!!!"

"I can't! I love you and this is so wrong because none of it happened!!" He was panicking, Andy started sobbing, his head dropped down and Austin waited for him to say something.

"Don't tell me that now..."

"What?"

"That you love me...don't tell me that now just because you think it'll make me stay-"

"Well I'm not saying it because of that!! I'm saying it because it's true!! I love you! I cannot lose you, not like this! Not ever!!" Andy cried into his hands and Austin kept talking hurriedly, trying to get the words out before he became too scared to say them.

"You're the one thing in my life that I really treasure, I do. I didn't realise it before Veronés took you, but the instant you were gone...I felt like...I felt...I had to get you back, it was the only option. I can't lose you. People want to hurt me, and they use you to get to me, because everyone can see how much I love you!!!" Andy turned away from him.

"Talk to Quinn! Ask him to tell you what happened-"

"H...h-how do I know...t-that you didn't...threaten him to say these things?"

"Because I didn't!!! I...that's all I have." Andy turned back to look at him as he deflated, tears running helplessly down his cheeks.

"This is all I have...I love you and I swear on...everyone's lives that I didn't sleep with him, or even kiss him, or even want to. Any of it. I just want you. If you leave now...I can't do anything about that, but I will never stop trying to get you back, because I love you. You're the only person I've ever..." Andy stuttered and continued to cry.

"I...I can't stay..."

"Don't you believe me?"

"I don't know..anymore. I..I don't..." Austin swallowed and watched him try to figure out his own feelings.

"Stay tonight. See how you feel in the morning. Please. Stay in one of the guest bedrooms, you don't even have to look at me. But please don't go running off now, at this time of night, in this state." Andy inhaled shakily, his breath catching in his throat.