"You want to what?"

"You heard me."

Jazz looked askance at his lover. It *sounded* like Adam had said that he wanted to *dance* with Jazz at the Prom. But that couldn't be.

Could it?

"I agreed to wear the white dinner jacket with the black dress pants because *you* said I looked hot in it--"

"No, I didn't. I said you looked like you stepped right out of a Bogart movie. Elegant and yet...daring me to touch you." For a moment, Adam appeared truly transported, as if he could visualize what he was describing with no effort at all.

"Uh huh," Jazz agreed, straining to swallow the lump that suddenly took up residence in his throat. His lithe young body swayed dangerously close to Adam's, tempting the older teenager to kiss him. But they were at school, in full view of students and faculty alike, and Adam valiantly resisted.

"Anyway," Adam continued hoarsely, his eyes trained on Jazz' beloved face. "I think we should practice."

"Practice what?" Jazz asked, having completely lost track of the conversation.

"Dancing."

"Oh. You want to dance with me? In front of everyone?"

"Yeah," Adam said softly. He wanted to bury his fingers in Jazz' long golden brown hair. It was curiously free of tangles this morning, as it was freshly washed and conditioned, and yet, his hair seemed to bounce upon his shoulders with a vibrancy only Adam could see.

"What if--"

No, Adam mouthed, this morning there would be no 'what if' to ruin their dream of being together. When Jazz looked as though he would interrupt, Adam lowered his head and whispered, "Please? I want this," against Jazz' mouth. Their lips barely touching, technically it wasn't a kiss, but damned if Adam's body knew that. It knew the touch of his mate and it reacted predictably to Jazz' proximity.

He moved a centimeter closer and brought their lips together ever so briefly. "I want you."

"Adam...."

"Meet me later. You know where. We can...practice." Adam's slow drawl of the last word nearly shattered what little calm Jazz managed to cling to.

It was all he could do not to run after Adam as he sauntered away from him.

*****

The kennels were relatively quiet. Except for the soft padding of a young man's booted feet across the weathered wooden plank floor. "Adam? You here?"

Adam sprang from the shadows, provoking a sharp gasp from Jazz. "Thanks for scaring me half to death!"

Adam smiled crookedly. "You knew I was here, didn't you?"

Jazz nodded.

"I brought my portable CD player. Are you ready?"

"Don't I get a kiss first?" Jazz frowned.

"Of course." Adam placed both hands on Jazz' shoulders and bent his head slowly, surprising the younger man by licking his lips instead of kissing him.

"Hey..." Jazz protested automatically, belatedly realizing that Adam was seducing him. "Thought we were here to...dance."

Adam groaned and slid his hands down Jazz' back until he cupped his jeans-clad bottom. Giving Jazz a gentle squeeze, Adam began to rock back and forth. "Slow dance," he whispered into his lover's ear.

"Mmm...but you can't grab my ass on the dance floor."

"Tease."

"Hey, I'm not the one who was copping a feel."

Adam chuckled and playfully tongued the younger teenager's ear. "Wait till you see what I'm going to teach you."

Jazz laughed. "You're giving me bad habits, Adam. I'm going to tell your father that you're corrupting me."

"He's the one who taught me the dance I'm going to show you."

"No way."

"Uh huh." Adam brushed Jazz' hair away from his neck and kissed him almost hesitantly. "He said it was for someone special someday."

"You're making this up," Jazz scoffed, feeling his wariness give way to Adam's tentative caresses.

"Nope."

"Bet he never figured on *me* being your significant other," Jazz threw out, desperate to ask Adam what his father's reaction to their increasingly close relationship was.

"You'd be surprised at my old man." Adam pushed both hands through Jazz' hair, tilting his head back for a deeper kiss.

"So...what's the name of this dance you want to teach me?"

Adam reached around Jazz to turn on the CD player. Strains of the twelfth track on the Moulin Rouge soundtrack began to fill the shadowy space they shared. "Tango."

"Does this mean you're going to throw me to the ground, stomp on me a few times, then haul me to my feet like a sack of potatoes?" Jazz murmured.

Adam buried his face in Jazz' hair, his fingers suddenly tightening their grip. "I don't know, baby. Would you like that?"

Jazz made an inarticulate noise deep in his throat. "I think we're getting further and further away from...dancing."

"God, I hope so," Adam prayed fervently.

*****

With his natural grace, Jazz found it easy to follow Adam. Still he couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure I'm doing this right?"

Adam pulled him closer, his right leg insinuating itself between Jazz' legs until their hips touched. "You're wonderful," he whispered.

"I was talking about the dance," Jazz said.

"So was I. You're so good at this."

"I am?" Jazz tightened his hold on him, his supple body molded against Adam's heat and hardness. "How do you know?"

Adam closed his eyes, his senses so attuned to Jazz that he could literally smell his arousal. When he opened his eyes again, he caught Jazz openly staring at him. His mouth suddenly dry, Adam whispered, "If you're doing it right, it feels just like making love."

"Oh." Jazz felt Adam's hand slide slowly over the front of his jeans. "Oh!"

Adam smiled as he forced Jazz back into a dip so deep, the younger man's hair touched the floor. With one foot off the ground, Jazz could do nothing but hang onto Adam, trusting him not to let him fall. As Adam pulled Jazz back up to his feet, Adam caressed his exposed neck with butterfly-soft kisses, only to graze the same spot with his teeth seconds later.

Jazz' moan echoed throughout Adam's painfully-aroused body, his groin throbbing in time with the music now. "Adam?" the sensual creature in his arms called to him.

"Yeah, baby?"

"We can't do *this* at the Prom," Jazz said breathlessly, his green eyes glittering.

"I guess not," Adam admitted, his knee nudging the bulge between Jazz' legs. With a huge sigh, Adam rubbed his cheek against Jazz'.

"Of course," Jazz panted, "that doesn't mean you should stop now."

In answer, Adam licked Jazz' lips quite thoroughly until his lover opened his mouth. They kissed voraciously, hands wandering into hidden places, hips rocking together.

When Jazz stiffened in his arms, Adam swallowed his cry of completion along with his own. The heel of his hand ground against the sodden spot on Jazz' jeans as he came, too.

"Mmm...I love you, Adam," Jazz whispered drowsily, his face pressed hard against Adam's chest.

"I love you, too, Nick."

"Any ideas on how to sneak inside like this?" Jazz asked, indicating the wet spot on his jeans.

"Wait till dark?" Adam replied brightly.

Just then, Adam's hand slid inside the waistband of Jazz' jeans. Jazz froze, his sensitized body filled with just enough teenaged hormones to allow him to react. "I don't think that'll help."

"Speak for yourself," Adam quipped as he finally encountered bare skin.

Jazz laughed when Adam took his shirt off. "It's not that warm in here."

"Wanna bet?" came the husky response.

Adam bent over, sweat glistening between his shoulderblades, and set the CD player to repeat. As he straightened up, he noticed that Jazz' eyes went instantly to the black leather belt that encircled his waist. With barely functioning hands, Adam slowly unbuckled his belt, drawing it through each belt loop with a slight jerk of his hips.

But when Adam popped the top snap on his jeans, Jazz sprang to life. "We're not going to make dinner, are we?"

Adam shook his head.

"What if Dad and Pete come looking for us?"

Lazily draping his arms around his lover's neck, Adam said, "Then we'll certainly give them something to talk about."

"You love the idea of almost getting caught, don't you?" Jazz asked, grinning as Adam hooked a thumb through a belt loop on Jazz' jeans and pulled him flush against his groin.

"I love you," Adam whispered. "All of you."

Hiding the deep flush that crept up his face, Jazz bent his head and began to unbutton his own shirt. When the shirt was open to Jazz' waist, Adam abruptly stopped him. "Let me."

Adam bared his lover's shoulders, one at a time, kissing the skin he revealed. "Every time I hear this, I think of you," he whispered, indicating the song playing on the CD player.

With a brief alteration in the lyrics, Adam sang to Jazz, his voice untrained but clearly reaching the younger teenager's heart. "My eyes upon your face...my hand upon your hand...my lips caress your skin...it's more...than I...can stand."

"That's beautiful," Jazz murmured, finding it hard to believe that anyone could feel that way about him. But the sincere emotion in every word that Adam sang told him it was true.

"You're beautiful."

Borrowing a page from Adam's book, Jazz began to dance the way Adam had shown him. He shrugged his shirt off and tossed it onto the floor. With a flourish, he unzipped his jeans, allowing them to settle low on his hips. As Jazz danced, the jeans tantalized Adam as they dipped low enough to reveal untanned flesh.

Getting into the spirit of the tango, Adam extended his arm as he passed, his fingers lightly grazing Jazz' nipples. When he was behind Jazz, he turned sharply and wrapped his arms around Jazz' chest. Laying his head on Jazz' shoulder, Adam slid his hands down the front of Jazz' body, spreading his fingers wide to capture the tiny hairs that arrowed down to his groin.

Jazz closed his eyes and leaned back against Adam, powerless to do anything more than react now. "Oh, God."

Adam sank to the floor slowly with Jazz cradled in his arms. "My sweet, hot Nicky," he whispered as his own arousal throbbed to life between his legs. Nestled snugly against Jazz' near-naked body was the only place he wanted to be right now.

Suddenly discontent to lie passive in his lover's embrace, Jazz twisted around to straddle Adam's lap. Adam gasped at the intrusion of Jazz' nimble fingers teasing his zipper the rest of the way open. Jazz kissed him hard before springing to his feet with an exuberant cry. "Time to hit the showers!"

"You little tease!"

Jazz laughed and scrambled for the door that opened on a small shower room maintained for grooming the kennel's dogs. Without taking off the rest of his clothes, Jazz turned the shower on full blast and stood beneath the stiff spray. His long hair plastered to his head, he closed his eyes and savored the feel of the warm water as it hit his back. But that wasn't the only thing that clung lovingly to his body.

The jeans that Jazz was barely wearing molded themselves to his body, outlining the state of arousal he could no longer hide. When Adam jumped into the shower as well, Jazz opened his eyes and shook his head, his long wet hair fanning out in all directions with a soft splattery sound.

Adam stepped into the space between Jazz' legs, his knee insistently probing the hardness it found there. Suddenly they were both wet, drenched to the skin, but neither one of them seemed to care. Adam pushed Jazz to the wall and kissed him. They traded kisses, each one hotter than the last, their lower bodies rocking together in a powerful rhythm that they could no longer fight.

They came together in an exultant rush of heat that had nothing to do with the temperature of the water. Clean-up was slightly more problematical.

"Mmm..." Jazz moaned as Adam reluctantly tried to move away. "I love you."

"I love you, too, but if you don't get some clothes on, we're in serious danger of missing breakfast, too."

"It's not *that* late," Jazz chuckled.

"It will be...eventually." Adam allowed himself one more taste of Jazz before he started to get dressed. "Hey, your lips look all swollen. Did I do that, baby?"

Jazz nodded.

"I'm sorry," Adam said apologetically.

"I'm not. I *love* when you get carried away."

"You do, huh?" Adam kissed Jazz again, this time with considerably more tenderness than passion.

"Call me when you get home, okay?"

Adam wrinkled his nose. "I have no idea how I'm going to explain getting so wet."

"Maybe no one will notice."

*****

By the time Adam walked to the Samuelle house, his clothes were slightly drier. But his hair still clung to his head in wet clumps. Adam cursed the fact that he seemed to have inherited his father's thick but impossibly fine hair.

As soon as he entered, he knew that he was under scrutiny. By a very small person.

Luc tugged at Adam's still damp pant leg. "How come you're so wet? It's not raining."

Adam sighed. "I took a shower at Jazz' house."

"Why? What's wrong with ours? Does his shower work better?"

The dining room was almost empty. Michael and Nikita were clearing the table, but there were no other children around. Except for a very persistent Luc.

"You missed dinner," Nikita said. "Would you like to grab a plate and have something to eat?"

"No, that's okay. I can fix myself a sandwich."

"How come you were late?"

Michael's question sounded innocent enough, but Adam wasn't fooled. The man didn't miss anything. Especially when it was pointed out in capital letters by his youngest son.

"Adam took a shower at Jazz' house."

"Really?" Again, Michael's tone of voice indicated a certain level of indifference, even disinterest, but Adam didn't believe it.

"Shut up, squirt," Adam whispered to Luc.

"Why? You said that's how you got wet. Did you and Jazz take a shower together? Is that why you took a shower at his house? Cause his is bigger?"

Adam made a choking noise, but the earth refused to open and swallow him up.

Michael shot his wife an amused look, which Adam didn't see. By the time Adam was looking in his direction again, all he saw was Michael's patented blank stare.

"Luc, it's not polite to ask if your brother's, ahem, friend has a bigger, um, anything," Nikita explained.

"Why?"

"It just isn't, that's all."

"But why?"

To which Nikita was forced to pull out the worst reason for doing anything ever uttered. "Because I said so."

"Oh." Luc accepted that at face value and the topic was promptly dismissed from his active little imagination. For the time being.

As Nikita passed Adam, she playfully swatted him on the arm. "You owe me one, kid."

"For what?"

"For putting an end to what could have been a very embarrassing conversation." She eyed his straggly hair and his obviously rumpled clothing. "So tell me something..."

"Yeah?"

Nikita leaned close and whispered, "Was it worth it?"

Adam couldn't speak. The heightened color in his cheeks told her everything she needed to know and then some.

"I'm glad," she continued in the same low voice.

So was Adam. He would risk any amount of censure to be with Jazz. But it heartened him to see that he wouldn't need to. "Thanks, Mom."

When Michael came out of the kitchen, he tossed a thick towel to Adam. "Here, dry your head."

"Dad, I hope you're not...well, like disappointed...in me."

Michael raised an eyebrow. "For having wet hair?" he asked, deliberately misunderstanding Adam.

"No, for...you know."

Michael shook his head. "Why would I be? I trust you not to let things get out of hand. They're not, are they?"

"No."

His father nodded, as if to say, Things are as they should be. "Adam, I want you to be happy."

"I am, Dad. I swear." To Adam's surprise, he felt almost on the verge of tears. "I've never loved anyone like this. He...fills me up when I feel empty."

Unconsciously echoing his wife, Michael said, "I'm glad."

Laughter rang out upstairs, catching the ears of children who should have been asleep long ago. "Ssh, you'll wake up the kids."

"Neddy..." Neil pleaded. "Please..."

"Do you want Connor to catch you like this?" Ned hissed.

Neil retreated to his side of the bed and rolled over. "No, it's just--it's taken me this long to admit how I feel about you, Ned."

"If you want to wait, we'll wait, Neil. I told you...I love you. I don't want to do anything that would make you feel uncomfortable."

"That's just it, Neddy." Neil turned so swiftly that he caught Ned by surprise. He peered anxiously into the younger man's eyes, eyes that were soft with the love and affection that he willingly proclaimed whenever he was given the chance.

"I want this. I want *you*. And I don't think I can wait much longer," Neil whispered.

"This is a big step," Ned warned.

"I know," agreed Neil, reaching out to stroke the face of the man who'd captured his heart.

"It's a big deal to me," Ned said, his eyes slowly sliding shut with the feel of Neil's caress.

"Me, too."

Ned opened his eyes, their color suddenly vivid and vibrant. "You'll have to be quiet."

"I will."

"No more laughing."

Neil smiled and kissed Ned lightly on the mouth. "I swear."

"Don't swear. It's a bad habit."

"Okay, baby."

"And don't call me baby."

"Okay, Neddy." Neil's voice was barely more than a murmur, but Ned's ears caught every nuance, his heart swelling with the magnitude of a love he hadn't been totally free to express before.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this agreeable," Ned wondered aloud.

"I don't think I've felt this good in a long time," Neil replied.

"I just want to make you happy, love."

"You do."

"What'll your kids think when I come out of your bedroom in the morning?"

Neil buried his face in Ned's thick brown hair. "That it's about time?"

*****

Connor smiled as he padded down the hallway to his own bedroom. His father was finally putting the past behind him. Things could only get better.

*****

"I told you, I'm not interested." Madeline's clipped tones left no room for argument, should anyone be foolish enough to attempt such a thing.

"But you look delicious. Good enough to eat," her admirer added with a salacious grin.

"Just try it," she snapped.

She returned her attention to the monitor in front of her. Two months ago, she had accepted an invitation to make use of her particular talents again. Everyone, and that included people above *and* below her, knew enough to leave her alone.

Except for this man.

He wasn't foolish. He was the new head of Oversight. He claimed he could change her mind about becoming his mistress...without threatening to cancel her. Little did he know that cancellation held no fear for Madeline any longer.

She had cheated death too many times to fear it.

She knew she had no friends here now. But that didn't matter.

She had something better.

She had power.

Oversight was like any big organization. Easy to get lost in. For certain people, that was an advantage.

Madeline sighed and pushed a lock of dark hair out of her face. She enjoyed the challenge that her work presented. But the personal relationships that still existed, even after all these years, were already making her life difficult.

A lush bouquet of fragrant red roses fell across her desk. Stifling an urge to scream, she looked up, a polite smile frozen on her face, to see her supposed benefactor. "Well, if it isn't the new head of Oversight."

The gentleman in question gave her a slow, sensual smile. Time had been kind to Egran Petrosian. Always a striking figure, he still possessed charm in greater abundance than nature allowed. "Madeline..." His husky, slightly accented voice caressed her ears in invitation.

She acknowledged him with a brisk nod of the head. "Egran, we're not going to pick up where we left off."

"We were good together, Madeline. You...and me."

"That was a long, long time ago."

"I've thought of you often."

"Really?" she queried curtly. "It's been, what, fifteen, sixteen years?"

"Seventeen, but who's counting? You are lovelier than ever."

"Thank you. I have work to do."

"Madeline," he chided. "Don't you like the flowers?"

She picked up one long-stemmed rose and studied it. "Roses. How original."

"They're exquisite. Like you."

"They're boring. Like you."

"Madeline, you wound me. Truly, I meant only to welcome you."

"With open arms, no doubt."

"But of course, tovarisch. You *love* flowers. I remembered."

"Not enough, Egran. Your memory fails you. I raised *orchids*. Not roses."

"I knew this. Bah, orchids. I wanted to give you something you were...unfamiliar with."

"Like yourself?"

"Perhaps."

Madeline stood up and adjusted the hem of her black bolero jacket. "Egran...there are some things I never want to be *that* familiar with."

Petrosian scoffed at the way Madeline tried to put distance between them. "One day you may regret those words."

"I don't think so," she bit off coldly.

But her chilly facade did nothing but intrigue a man like Petrosian. He loved a woman of mystery, and if Madeline was anything, it was that.

"Your work consumes you. Such a thing is not healthy. You should come out with me."

"You don't know when to give up," Madeline clipped out.

"That, my dear, is the one thing you haven't told me." Petrosian smiled broadly and not for the first time, Madeline saw him for what he was: a grotesque predator who wore charm as if it were a suit.

Abruptly abandoning her previous tack, Madeline smiled, quite suddenly and provocatively. There was an immediate response from the grandiose head of Oversight. He clearly thought she was seeing the error of her ways.

In a way, that was true.

Power had to be practiced in order to be perfected.

*****

Connor sat on top of the low stone fence that separated the Samuelle and Hunter properties, his knees drawn up in front of him. He wore an enigmatic smile as he idly skipped rocks across the grass.

Kady approached her older brother with something akin to awe. Connor was more than a brother to Kady; he was her lifeline to everything normal and safe. "How come Daddy didn't eat breakfast with us?"

For a moment, Connor's smile broadened before it faded to a less noticeable intensity. "What, you didn't like my pancakes, squirt?"

"I liked 'em," she answered seriously. Kady tilted her head to the side and eyed her brother crookedly. "But you don't usually cook, 'cept on the weekends."

"Uh huh."

"When Daddy goes out."

"Uh huh."

Kady frowned. "Does Daddy have a girlfriend?"

"No," Connor said with a chuckle.

"Good," Kady pronounced. "Cause I think that would make Uncle Ned jealous."

All at once Connor realized that he had no need to keep the truth from his little sister. She already knew that Neil and Ned belonged together and she accepted it, probably more readily than some of the others would.

"Yeah, squirt. I think you're right."

Kady beamed. "Is Uncle Ned going to live with us?"

"I don't know. Would you mind if he did?"

"No. I like him. He makes Daddy smile. Like in the olden days."

Connor laughed. "Olden days? You're only 6, Kady. How far back *are* the olden days?"

"You know. Like when I was a baby. And 'sides, I'm almost 7."

"You couldn't remember stuff from when you were a baby, Kady."

"Do, too," Kady protested. "I 'member when you were kidnapped by the bad man. Only, only, we were never sposed to talk about it."

Connor swore under his breath. "Jeez, Kady." He didn't like remembering those days himself. How would they seem to a baby who had no words for such evil?

"C'mere, squirt."

Kady went willingly into her older brother's arms. He held her tight for several seconds before reluctantly releasing her. "You know I love you, right?"

"Yes," she said somberly.

"Good. Sometimes that's really all that matters. Being around people who love you."

"You're so smart, Connor. When I grow up, I want to be 'xactly like you."

Connor smiled. He'd never been anyone's role model before. It made him feel like hugging the world.

Things had definitely changed for the better.

"Are you planning to stay in bed all morning?" Ned asked with just a hint of exasperation.

Neil poked his tousled blond head out from under the covers and peered blearily in the other man's direction. "Huh?"

"Bed? Morning? Was there a word there you didn't quite get?"

"Break-fast?"

"I suppose that means you expect me to feed you," Ned said, his thick dark hair falling rakishly across his face as was its wont.

"Have pity on those of us who don't have your obvious powers of recuperation," Neil said dryly, ruining the entire effect by indulging in an expansive yawn.

"You'll have to get up," Ned said. "I don't do breakfast in bed."

Neil smiled slowly, as if he'd just remembered something, and Ned quickly looked away, though not before Neil noted the heated glance he sent Neil's way. Neil eyed the younger man's flushed cheeks with amusement and couldn't resist teasing him. "Oh, really? Come over here and I'll refresh your memory."

"You're a swine before you've had your toast, Neil," Ned muttered, but it was clear that he would forgive Neil anything.

"Can I help it if you've turned me into a veritable beast?"

"Should I be flattered then?" Ned asked, the color of his cheeks fading to a dull pink.

"What do you think?" Neil replied, affection softening his tone.

Ned sat down on the bed, his fingers restlessly playing with the edge of the blanket. "I think you look sweet first thing in the morning. All rumpled like a teddybear who hasn't gotten enough sleep."

Neil reached out and grasped the back of Ned's wrist, stilling his restless motion. When Ned looked up suddenly, his hair fell into his eyes, momentarily obscuring his expression. But there was no mistaking the look of love in Neil's dark blue eyes. "I think you look bloody adorable," Neil said huskily, realizing that at some point, he had given up his previously held beliefs about masculinity.

Ned was undeniably masculine, and yet, there was no way Neil could look at him and not see how beautiful he was.

"Am I doomed to be the cute one in this relationship?"

"You can be *anyone* you want, Neddy. As long as you keep looking at me like that."

"Well, if you're going to be nice about it, I suppose I could fix you breakfast."

"Speaking of breakfast, what time is it?"

"I already fed the kids and sent them off to school. Good thing one of us is Mr. Responsible."

"You're too good to me."

"True. But you do have certain...assets...worth exploring." Ned peeked out from under his hair at Neil and he was rewarded with a glimpse of Neil's naked body as he rolled out from under the covers.

"Neil!" Ned yelped. Neil tugged hard on the wrist he'd been holding and pulled the suddenly squirming man down on top of him.

"I say we give breakfast a miss and hit the shower...together," Neil whispered before claiming his lover's mouth.

"What if I don't want to?" Ned whispered back, mesmerized by the look in Neil's eyes.

"Oh, you'll want to," Neil responded.

Neil pushed a hand through Ned's hair as he continued to plunder the younger man's mouth. Ned sighed helplessly as Neil moved down the line of his jaw to his neck. But when Neil began to suck on the side of his lover's neck, Ned moaned and closed his luminous brown eyes.

When Neil was satisfied with the way he'd marked his lover, he paused to admire his work. "Take your clothes off."

"But I--just put them on."

Neil's blue eyes darkened. "I want to see you."

"You saw me last night," Ned murmured shyly.

"It was dark."

"I know, but--"

Neil kissed him hard, his tongue disappearing inside Ned's mouth with a speed that betrayed Ned's lack of resistance. "I think you're beautiful."

Ned panted, his half-open mouth an invitation that Neil couldn't help but take advantage of. "I'm not."

"You are." Neil kissed his eyelids shut with a tenderness that he'd reserved for the children until now. "I love you."

"You're determined to make me cry," Ned whispered.

"Why on earth would that make you cry?" Neil asked gently.

"I was so afraid this would never happen," Ned confessed.

Neil smiled. "Are you kidding? *I* was the one who was convinced that I would never be lucky enough to be loved again."

Ned dropped his head to his chest, but Neil refused to let him hide this time. "I love you, Ned. This is for real."

Ned blinked, his brown eyes suddenly shining with unshed tears. "I love you, too."

"Then get undressed and come back to bed."

"What about your shower?"

"Screw the shower. Let's stay in bed all morning."

"Well, Kady did say I should be extra nice to you..."

Neil nuzzled Ned's neck. "My daughter is a very smart kid."

"Then there was Connor."

Neil stopped nuzzling immediately. "What did he say?"

"It wasn't what he said. It was--well..." Ned blushed, but plunged his hand deep into his pants pocket to produce a handful of colorful plastic-covered condoms.

"Shit, he's too big to spank. But I'll be damned if I'll congratulate him for paying such close attention to *my* sex life."

Ned chewed on his lower lip and it was all Neil could do to keep from kissing him again. "Still..."

"What is it, Neddy?"

"It'd be a shame to waste them."

Neil's thumbs pressed the corners of Ned's mouth and the younger man parted his lips obediently for Neil's kiss. Several minutes later, when Neil had resumed nuzzling Ned's neck, he mumbled something that Ned couldn't quite hear.

"What was that, love?"

"I said, I wonder where Connor got the condoms."

For a long moment, Neil and Ned stared at one another, then, almost as one, they started to shake their heads. "Adam?"

Neil froze. "*Faith*?"

"You don't want to know."

Neil smiled. "You're good at this parenting thing."