I woke up to the smell of cigarettes and fruity shampoo filling my nostrils.

Obviously it was I who smelt from it, I was alone in bed. It felt like it was in the middle of the night, and I was awake. I do not know why I woke up, but I had obviously done it.

The wake up-alarm was on the side of my bed. It read 4:29. It wasn't the alarm's fault; it hadn't even been used, but yet I gave away a cry that sounded like a grunting child who had to go up to school. At least that's what I think I sounded like. Not that I actually cared, it's just that I hoped I could have slept for half an hour longer, least.

Not that that made any sense.

But what did make sense these days, anyway?

Oh well. Maybe he agrees to an early breakfast once in a while.

Oh right. He. He got here last night. I'm no longer alone here. No longer is it just me who is going to sit at the table to read the newspaper.. okay, maybe that it is, I actually don't know about his morning routines yet, but still.

I've never thought of him as the newspaper reading-kind of guy, anyway, and that certainly isn't the point, because he is back.

Who gives a shit about newspapers then?

My partner came back from the dead.

Well, sort of.

I swallowed thickly; got prepared to get out of bed. Just let what I just thought run off me. I didn't want to scare myself again. I mean, he did a damn good job with it himself, letting me believe I lost him like that.

I was afraid for seven months until this moment came.

I saw his face nowhere but in my imaginations until yesterday.

He didn't feel like talking yesterday, but today I hope that I'll get a few more words from him.

I step out of the bed, open the wardrobe and grab a clean shirt.

'I'm sorry, Captain..'

I would need a pair of pants too, by the way.

'I did it, for the BSAA; for the future..'

I had heard it replaying so many times in my head since he left me, after I had left him, involuntarily, that I hardly noticed it anymore.

Damn, he sure didn't give me any choice in that facility, did he?

"Captain?"

I'm glad he decided to show up before the funeral was set. How much of a breaking-down point wouldn't that have been?

"Chris?"

It would definitely have killed me.

I put my shirt on.

Not that it's a guarantee I wouldn't have already anyway.

I didn't mind putting those other pants on, I'd do that later.

And not that it would have been bad in any way, come to think of it.

I turn abruptly which I usually do when this comes up in my mind. I turn my head down to the ground and am not stopped properly until I come to the doorway. I nearly bump into something. Apparently, that is what it takes for me to wake up.

He repeats my title.

That 'something' was him.

I sure need to start realizing not everything is in my mind anymore.

"Yeah, Piers. Was it something you wanted?"

He looks at me hesitantly for a few seconds, so I take the opportunity to inspect him in the meantime. The color of one eye has faded slightly, and the wounds are still there but it is still nowhere near as noticeable as they had been seven months ago. The wounds on his face have healed really well, and his arm is pretty much in human size. It is really good to see that he is responding well to treatment.

Did I watch it for too long? Why was he so quiet?

"Actually not, I just heard that you were awake and all.."

I couldn't help myself from smiling a bit at that one. I don't have an idea why, but I did. And it must have looked quite stupid.

If he thought so he hid it very well, at least. He smiled back, and he brought that well-known smile of his; that smile that suits him so well.

Should I make a gesture towards the bed or out the door to let us sit at the table for our talk, or perhaps even the couch?

I glanced quickly towards the bed standing beside me. That would definitely not be a good idea. What would he think of me if I made a gesture at that thing?

I raised my hand and was just about to gesture for him to get to the kitchen; the only problem is that he was already sitting on the bedside. Alright, if he doesn't have a problem with that, I sure as hell don't have a problem with it either.

My mind was telling me to break the silence, but it went very slowly, and I wasn't allowed to do more than take one step at the time. I started by sitting next to him.

"Piers.. I'm really glad that you are back, you know?"

I realized myself how stupid it sounded to sit there and stare at him like a fool, telling him those words as if he had only been gone in an hour or so. I didn't have the time to say anything else, though. Not for a few seconds, at least. He turned his eyes to mine immediately, and it was enough. It would have been enough. But he opened his mouth, closed it again, and chewed on a word in silence before he opened it again, hesitantly.

"I'll try not to be a burden to you, Captain. Thanks for letting me stay here."

He half-smiled.

I still wanted an answer, though. But I didn't know if I would get it by just repeating it. Maybe I had to develop my question further.

"You know I missed you, right?"

I lay a hand on his thigh, regretting my action slightly, just giving him a light pat on his leg instead of holding it on its place which was my first plan. Well, actually my first plan was to.. it doesn't matter. I wanted to comfort him, but I could feel him tense under my hand, so I took it away carefully, but quickly.

"Should I know it?"

I don't know if I should take it as the question was spelled or as a pure 'no', but I am hoping that it doesn't mean the second option. I would have to be the giver of the 'yes' -answer this time, because he should have known.

"Yeah, do you even have to ask such things?"

"Is that why you're doing that, Chris?"

By the thought of how fast he answered me, he must have thought that answer out well. An eyebrow was raised and he had this surprised expression upon his face, but he didn't look back at me. He looked down at his own fingers. The first thing that struck me then was that I had done something wrong.

My mouth suddenly gets dry.

"What do you mean?" I try keeping my voice even, viewing flashbacks in my head of the evening before to hopefully get myself a reminder. It doesn't work too well.

I feel the bed lightly weigh down on my right side. He is moving a few inches closer, leaning against me, letting his hot breath reveal itself upon my ear. My eyes keep looking at the wall in front of me so I can't see him, not even in the corners of them. But my mind registers it; I know it does, those shivers are crawling down my spine like crazy.

"I mean, is that why you're taking your hands off of me?"

I almost forget that I was just in need of a glass of water when I hear him talking with that special tone that only he is worthy of using.

And it only gets worse when he takes my hand and places it on his thigh again.

I caress the top of his leg for a moment, watching his reactions; feel how he grasps around my shoulders. I'm wondering if perhaps I should ask him any of the questions now.

I reach the inside of his thigh, he closes his eyes, leans back a bit, and I find it's best if we take them a while later.

I'm sure there's time for it.

He opens his eyes and I think I can see just a small amount of lust there. There is not enough time to think further of it, though. What began slowly is now moving very quickly forward, and I don't know how to feel about it.

All I know is that I want to see more of him, relish him a bit more.

I am going to get my senses right to take this slowly, at least.

I put a hand against his cheek, turning him against me to let our faces come closer together.

My thumb rolls at his lower lip, down his chin, and I can feel how he breathes against my lips, he waits patiently, but I won't wait. I've never been as patient as him.

I press our lips together, and he reacts in such a way that I almost start to wonder about whether he wants this, or if he is just shocked about my sudden outburst. No exploration seems to want to be made, so I let him just play with the feeling of a pair of alien lips on his own for a few seconds.

I'm not sure if he responds, or tries to interrupt my kiss, but I'll continue for a little longer, because I myself don't want this to end yet.

Is that selfish?

Thank god everything falls into place just then.

I put my hand behind his head, he puts his hand around the back of my neck, and we move on to what we are doing. He parts his lips, I part my lips, and our tongues meet somewhere along the way, making up for a battle. He tastes like a mixture of something sweet; something that I can't put my fingers to what it is exactly, but I bet it is his signature.

He breaks the kiss, rests his forehead against mine for a moment, starts tearing at my shirt without taking it off, slips down from the bed, finds his location in front of me on the floor between my legs and I was just about wondering what he was doing until he watches me with that look upon on his face that screams of innocence.

I know now that I have an animal inside of me that is caged, but I don't know if I want to let it out.

But it's too late as he starts doing magical things with his hands, and that I say without him even having gone beneath the material of my pants.

"Piers, you don't.. you don't have to do this."

He chuckles lightly at my attempt on building a coherent sentence, but he doesn't do much more about what I said apart from that.

"Alright old man, save your breaths."

It doesn't take more than a second before he has already pushed my pants down a bit, and from that moment it all goes really fast. So fast that I'll have to let everything he said pass. He takes my length and starts stroking it slowly a few times. Almost painfully slow, actually. But he doesn't stick with it for too long since he leans forward, flicks his tongue at the tip and starts wrapping his lips around the top; slowly engulfing it inch by inch.

I tighten my grip in his hair, but I don't push him further in any way, he's already struggling, trying to fit everything as it is; I only need to keep my hands somewhere, to grasp something.

His rhythm is perfect.

He works me with the feeling of his heated tongue, with the muscles in his throat tightening around me.

It feels great.

He's going deeper.

And he's going to send me over the edge.

"Piers, I,"

My warning gets disturbed by sharp exhales.

He moves back to the top, quickens the pace with his hand, and I cum in his mouth.

He swallows, gives a tiny lick upon his lips and raises himself up to stand in front of me, grabbing my head in his hands while I put everything back in place.

I'm still panting harshly, but the noises get stifled by me burying my face in his standing figure, I choose a position somewhere around his hipbone.

I wrap my arms around his legs and we stand like that for just a moment.

I could have stayed there for longer if it wouldn't have been for us having to get going soon, well, at least me having to get going soon. I'm not even sure where it is I -or we- are supposed to be going today. Something just clicked. But I guess I'm finding that out soon enough.

"We should get dressed, they won't be very happy about us not getting there in time, will they?

He is saying it as if he has just read my thoughts; pulling his fingers through my short hair, trying to intertwine curls between his fingers. Not with much of a success, of course.

"Why did you pull that crap all those months ago?"

I know this can mean risk losing his smile for a while, but I have to ask.

The sentence stopped us from moving us for a while, so it seems we will be frozen for a while longer.

" I think you know why I had to do what I did, Chris."

That he would turn into one of them?

That none of us would make it?

I had heard it from Claire, Jill; hell, Leon had even told me the same thing, so somehow I knew I would hear the same explanation from him. I didn't want to hear it again, though, so I cut it off like that, without asking him any lead-question.

They just didn't seem to understand.

I would explain it to him eventually. Just not today. I think it still wasn't the right time.

"You shouldn't have done it, Piers. It could as well have been me."

I get up, pull him towards me and keep him in an embrace.

"Don't say it like that, Captain."

"I just did," I give him a chaste kiss on his forehead, and continue speaking. We can't let this conversation get any further right now, or else I will end up saying something stupid. "Now let's go get ready, shall we?"

He nods in defeat and his wrist ends up being in my hand when I start leading him out to the kitchen.

We don't have much time, but we'll do what we can to make it in time.

If we don't manage to I'm sure they can accept a few minutes of delay.


~A/N: If you have made it this far.. well, anything is a huge plus, so!