Infinite

In 1995

𝄃 𝄞♬♪ 𝄂
No matter how hard I try
I can never earn your love
It'd take a battle general
And a thousand suns
Looking into your eyes
I can't understand why
But, you don't know the kind of love I want
In 1995
𝄃 𝄞♬♪ 𝄂

Alex looked at the shops on the pier, remembering what his house looked like before he died. Reggie and Luke found their parents after twenty-five years, and he only hoped to do the same. But, his abilities with a computer were nothing if not useless.

The memory of his parents kicking him out of their home was but a distant one, yet the feelings felt just the same as they did in the 90's. Heartbreaking and earth-shattering and scared. At the end of the day, he was terrified because, if his parents didn't approve of his sexuality, who would?

At least, as a ghost, lifer laws didn't matter. He could do as he pleased and be around whoever he wanted to be around. Willie wasn't off the table as a ghost. Even if the law didn't permit them to be together—though, he was pretty sure that the laws had changed. He rather enjoyed being a ghost because he was free. And his entire afterlife was perfect.

After everything that happened, it was perfect.

Well, almost perfect. He wanted to find his parents, see that they were happy. Even if they never accepted him for who he truly was, he wanted to make sure they still had some kind of joy in their lives. Alex still loved them, even if they weren't perfect. Nobody was perfect.

"Alex?" He heard Willie's voice, but it didn't pull him out of his trance. He just wanted to watch the people walking about for a little longer.

But, when Willie placed his hand on Alex's shoulder, Alex couldn't stop himself from turning his head to his boyfriend.

"Hey, what's up?" Alex smiled, but it was laced with a solemn expression. Willie knew that this was where his parents used to live, but he'd never been great with technology. If he had, he would've attempted to look them up. He wanted to make Alex happy. After all that had happened, he wanted to preserve the joy that sparkled in his eyes on the good days and banish the tears that came on sad ones.

"Nothing. What's up with you?" Willie slung his arm around Alex's shoulders.

"Just... reminiscing." Alex shrugged, wrapping his own arm around Willie's back. "My parents lived right here, but I have no idea where they went. There's a part of me that wants to know if they're happy or still mourning or what they're doing with their lives now. They were lawyers, and they couldn't support me because it was against the law. I wonder what they'd think now."

"I think they'd be happy that you're happy." In that moment, Willie knew what he had to do. Finding Alex's parents was more important than anything else. "And I'm sure they're still mourning you, because that's what parents do. They can't forget, no matter what happened while you were alive."

He knew that for a fact. His mother and father, neither of whom approved of half of the things he did as a teenager, mourned his death until their own dying day. They kissed his picture each morning and said a prayer with breakfast asking if he was okay up in heaven. Willie loved watching that whenever he could. It wasn't every day, but at least once or twice every couple weeks.

Once or twice, he gave a little reply, putting a smiley face on the groceries list like he did when he was a kid. The little smiley face told her that he'd seen and approved of the grocery list. The first time he'd done it four years after he passed, she nearly bawled her eyes out, collapsing to the floor with grief until his father came home and told her that this was heaven telling her he was okay. After that, each time he did it, she smiled and a single tear slipped down her cheek.

He loved seeing his mom happy, especially once she got older. Dementia ran in the family and, by the time she turned seventy, she thought her child was alive more than she remembered her child had died.

It took a big part of him when they both passed away fifteen some-odd years ago. His mother first, in her sleep, and his father a couple weeks later after a bad stroke.

"You think?" Alex's question snapped Willie out of his thoughts.

"You know, we can always try to find them," Willie suggested, though he wasn't entirely sure how to.

"Can we?" Alex looked so excited that Willie didn't want to disappoint him with his inability to use the internet. "Lynn should be able to help us. She managed to find Reggie's parents and they live somewhere way north of us."

"We'd definitely need help because I'm terrible with computers." Willie laughed, but it was because Alex had managed to read his mind. "You know, now that I think about it, I don't know your last name."

"I don't know yours either, Willie." Alex looked to his boyfriend expectantly.

"I asked first." Alex's smirk fell as he replied with his last name.

"It's Mercer. Alexander Theodore Mercer." Willie didn't need his middle name, but would surely use it now that he knew.

"My full name is William Daniel Ortega." His middle name had been the middle name that, over the generations, had been passed down through his mother's family. She didn't let his father pick his first name, either.

"William Daniel. It's nice. It suits you." Alex liked his middle name. It didn't mean much—middle names never did in the grand scheme of things—but it made Willie happy to know that.

"Well, we should go find Lynn and beg her to help us before we forget." Alex knew where Lynn lived, unlike Willie, so Willie followed Alex's lead. "Here we are." The house was worn down and had clearly seen a few decades of L.A.'s unbearable heat but was still standing. Alex knocked on the door and waited for Reggie or Lynn to answer.

"Hi, Alex, Willie. Please, come in. What do you guys need?" Lynn let them inside her haunted house with a big smile on her face. She loved seeing them, but it was rare that she did. And, if they required something regarding the ghost police force, they would've gone to the theatre and rang the bell.

"We are hoping to find Alex's parents. But, we're both really, really bad with technology and you did it for Reggie so—" Lynn's face lit up with excitement at the fact that they thought of her first.

"Of course I'll help. Let me go get a piece of paper and a pencil and I can get all of the information I need to start looking them up." Lynn scurried off to find paper and a pencil, excited to help the two boys out.

Once she got back, she wrote out every detail she needed to find Alex's parents. Their names, birthdays, where they last lived, and, by the time she finished, the page was full of questions. Alex wasn't even sure he could answer all of the questions, but she drew a line indicating the necessary questions and the ones that, if he didn't know, wouldn't be extremely detrimental not to have.

"Let me know when you're done, I've got some things to do at the theatre." Lynn poofed away, leaving Willie and Alex alone.

"That is a lot of questions. I don't even think I could answer most of these about my own parents." Willie watched over Alex's shoulder as Alex answered just over half the questions.

"I can't. I mean, what was the name of my mother's first pet? I don't know. We didn't have a pet growing up," Alex grumbled, scanning the list of questions one last time. What he didn't answer he didn't know. And what he didn't know his parents had never talked about.

"Are you all set?" Willie asked.

"It's as many answers as I'm getting on the page, so yes." Lynn appeared at the perfect time, just as Alex set down the paper. She took it and looked it over. "This is more than enough. It will take me at least a week to find any information, probably longer, but I'll come find you guys or let Reggie know to tell you to come here whenever I find them. But, I will find them eventually. I can promise that."

"Thanks, Lynn. Really. You're awesome." Alex gave her a hug and he and Willie left.

Author's Note: Do you think Lynn is going to find Alex's parents? I hope so. Crossing my fingers. Vote and let me know what you think in the comments. All the best, MistyRider921.