Behind closed doors (2)
Adjusting to their new arrangement took a little more getting used to. Danny and Ethan were comfortable around each other, as were Becker and Danny, but Becker and Ethan had never spent any time together without either trying to kill each other, Becker trying to arrest him, or with Danny present. Most of what they had spent together was in bed or at work.
Danny had returned to work at the ARC, taking Ethan along with him. Not everyone was happy about that, but they could accept that the years he had spent in the past gave him valuable knowledge that they could utilise. And they still thought he was under guard, not that Becker was ever armed, or even watching him too closely. Ethan rarely left Becker or Danny's side, anyway.
He and Danny had also moved into Becker's house, the official line being that Becker had the room and he could also keep an eye on Ethan. Connor had immediately assumed that Danny and Becker had gone back to sharing a bed, and that Ethan had Becker's spare bedroom. It seemed that everyone had known that they were sleeping together; Becker had honestly thought it was a secret.
So, he let them assume. He didn't correct them, nor did he confirm anything; the rumour mill would keep the others from working out the truth, and prevent Danny and Ethan facing the backlash should everyone find out about their relationship.
They had a weekend off from the ARC, none of them even being on call, five days after Becker had spent that first night in the brothers' bed. Danny finished his breakfast and put his coat on.
"Right, I'm going out."
Becker and Ethan both immediately got up too, to go with him, but he stopped them.
"No, I'm going out, you two are staying here," he told them. "You need a bit of time alone."
Becker frowned. "But we're fine, aren't we?"
"Have I done something wrong?" Ethan asked, looking worried.
Danny picked up his wallet and tucked it into his pocket before going back to his boys.
"No, no one has done anything wrong. You two have never had the chance to get to know each other without me here. Talk, fuck, whatever," he told them. "I'm meeting an old friend for lunch. I'll be back this afternoon."
When the door closed behind him, Becker and Ethan just looked at each other. There was a long silence and only then, when he couldn't think of a single thing to say, did Becker realise that Danny was right.
"Maybe we could go for lunch somewhere," he suggested.
"You mean like a date?"
Becker sighed. "It's okay, it was a stupid idea."
"No! I want to do it." Ethan paused, not meeting Becker's eyes. "I've never been on a date before."
~.~.~.~.~.~
Two hours later, they sat at a table on the patio of the café in the town centre. The waitress had just cleared away their plates, leaving them to talk once more. Becker shared stories about his time in the military and then at the ARC, answering Ethan's questions about his family. Ethan had told him stories about the mischief he and Danny had got up to as kids, although he always steered clear of that day in the old house. The memory of how he had ended up stranded in the past as a teenager still haunted him, as did the thought of the friend he'd lost on that same day. Becker didn't push him on the subject, just let him tell the story at his own pace.
As he began to talk about how he'd lived through the anomalies at that early age, Becker found himself surprised that Ethan wasn't more fucked up than he already was. He spoke of hunting things for food, of avoiding predators and learning to defend himself, with such detachment that Becker reached over the table to cover Ethan's hand with his own. He talked of killing creatures for food as though they were everyday things for any kid to do.
There was no wonder that he hadn't thought twice about simply hurting anyone who got in his way, who tried to stop him the last time he was here. After all, he'd grown up doing just that.
"How long were you on your own for?" Becker asked.
Ethan shrugged his shoulders. "Few years. Then the others found me," he said. "There was this man, Kristof, and he sort of took me in. He gave me clothes and showed me how to make better weapons."
"He sounds like good bloke."
"I suppose. He let me stay with him for a couple of years, looked after me," Ethan told him. "He had me sleep in his tent at night, said it was how I could repay him for helping me."
Becker frowned. "He made you have sex with him as payment? If that was only a few years after you got there you were what- Sixteen? Seventeen? If I could get my hands on the bastard!"
"He's dead," Ethan said. "Kristof liked to hurt me as he fucked me, liked to see how far he could push me before I broke. One night he had this blade…" He paused, looking down at his cup, the tea inside forgotten and cooled. "He cut me; I didn't think he'd stop and so fought back. I took it from him and stuck it in his gut. Charlotte hadn't been with us long at that point. She said seen what he'd done to me before, but she was scared that he'd hurt her if she interfered. She fixed me up. Didn't ask for anything in return, just helped me."
Discretion be damned, Becker thought as he took hold of Ethan's hand properly, bringing it up to his lips to press a kiss to the palm.
"If I could go back and prevent it, I would," he said. "No one should have to go through all that."
Ethan looked at Becker's fingers still clasping his hand and smiled. It was the first time that Becker had shown affection for him in public, always too afraid that one of their colleagues would see them. Just as he and Danny never made any overtly affectionate gestures whilst they were outside of the house.
"I think that Danny was right about us needing to get to know each other," Becker said as they strolled back to his house. "Not that we're going to tell him that, though."
"Of course not; we'd never hear the end of it if he was right about something." Ethan paused, then asked, "Becks, why does Danny call you Hils?"
Becker was surprised that Danny hadn't told him, given that they shared everything else. He did know how much Becker hated that name, however.
"Because it's my name: Hilary Becker. He found out one day and when I told him never to call me that again, he started to shorten it to Hils instead."
He sat back and waited for Ethan to laugh, or at least make a joke about it, but nothing came. Instead Ethan was watching him thoughtfully.
"Do you think I could call you that, too?"
Becker smiled. "I'd like that."
Hils didn't bother him nearly as much as Hilary; he rather liked Danny using that name. That didn't mean that he'd tell it to anyone else, though, as it would mean explaining where the nickname had come from. Quite why his mother chose to call him that he had no idea but he'd often wondered if she had been hoping for a girl and had the name already picked out. Even so, why name your kid something that's going to earn them endless amounts of teasing? Goodness knew he'd suffered enough of that at school, and even when he joined the military.
"So, what do you want to do now?" he asked as they left the cafe. "We could go see a film, or have a walk through the park seeing as it's a nice day."
Ethan thought about it for a moment before reaching a decision. "The park," he said.
Becker looked around at the other people enjoying the nice weather: families with kids running about, people walking their dogs, a young couple having a picnic. He watched them longingly as the young man leaned over to give his girlfriend a kiss, out in the open where anyone could see them. He barely showed any indication of his involvement with Danny in public, let alone Ethan, for worrying about other people's reactions. Would it really be so bad if his colleagues knew about his relationship with Ethan? He wondered which part they would have the most problems with, the fact that Ethan was a killer, or that he was sleeping with both Danny and Ethan, or that Danny and Ethan were sleeping with each other. He had no idea but what he did know was that he felt bad for hiding his affection toward the man next to him.
Impulsively, he reached out and took Ethan's hand, pulling him to a stop. It wasn't as big a gesture as it could have been given that they had reached a relatively secluded area of the park, but it was a start.
"What's wrong?"
Becker smiled at him. "Nothing. I just wanted to do this," he said, sliding his arm around the other man's waist as he kissed him on the lips.
~.~.~.~.~.~
By the time Danny got home at five thirty, Becker and Ethan were slouched on the sofa together watching a film. Becker's feet were propped on the coffee table, Ethan leaning against Becker's body with his legs over the end of the sofa.
"Die Hard, Hils?" Danny asked, recognising it instantly. "How many times have you watched that? You can probably remember the script word for word."
Becker didn't bother to move. "It's a classic, and Ethan hadn't seen it before."
"It's pretty good," Ethan chipped in, stretching up to look at Danny over the back of the sofa. "Do you want to join us?"
Before he could sit down, however, Becker nudged an empty bowl on the coffee table with his toe.
"I don't suppose you could get us the rest of the popcorn before you sit down, could you?"
Danny sighed. "And you couldn't get it yourself, why exactly?"
"We're comfy," Becker pointed out, looking up at him. "Please?"
Ethan looked up too. "Pretty please?"
Two sets of begging brown eyes stared at him and Danny knew he didn't stand a chance. Grumbling, he refilled the bowl before lifting Ethan's feet out of the way and sitting down, putting the other man's legs over his lap instead.
"So, did you two have a good day?" Danny asked. "Please don't tell me you just sat around here watching stupid films."
Becker glared. "It's not a stupid film."
"Yeah," Ethan agreed, still watching the film. "Bruce Willis is cool."
Great; he left them alone for one day and already Becker had corrupted him with his obsession for Bruce Willis films. Danny could see the change in them, even after a day. Before this, they wouldn't have just sat around like this, cuddled up together. When it came to sex and to the attraction between them they had no problem but out of bed they didn't really know each other. Goodness knew what they'd talked about but whatever it was, he was glad.
"Actually, Hils took me on a date. We had a nice lunch, and then we walked back through the park," Ethan told him, smiling as Bruce took out another bad guy on screen.
Danny's eyebrows shot up in surprise at Ethan's use of 'Hils'. As far as he knew, he was the only one Becker had told his name to and that had only been after two months of them sleeping together. It was even wiped from his personnel record at the ARC; Connor had tried to hack the system once to find out and found just a blank line. It appeared that Becker had got in first and deleted it. He must really have opened up to Ethan if he'd told him that.
"Sounds like you two had a good day," he said, quietly, letting Ethan watch the end of the film.
Becker smiled at him over Ethan's head. "We did, and let's just say that we understand each other a bit better now."
Over their take-out pizza dinner, Danny told them about his lunch with David Pearson, one of his old friends from the Met. It had been a chance to catch up on gossip about his former colleagues more than anything.
Becker started to clear the dishes away when they were finished but found himself face to face with Ethan, the other man blocking his path.
"They can wait," he said, taking the plates from Becker's hands and depositing them in the sink. "But I don't want to. I want you to finish what you started in the park."
Becker had to admit that Ethan's argument had merit. The other man pressed him back against the counter and kissed him, first in a mirror of the almost-chaste kiss they'd had in the park. Becker took control then, kissing him as he'd really wanted to earlier.
"I had fun today," he told Ethan. "It was nice to just spend time with you."
Ethan smiled. "You know, there's still another five hours of today left for us to enjoy." He took Becker's hand and led him upstairs, leaving Danny to go and make sure that the house was locked for the night. "Let's have an early night."
Now that sounded like the perfect end to the day, Becker thought as he stripped, dumping his clothes on the floor. He barely had time to stand up again before he had an armful of naked Ethan, the other man pressing close as he kissed him. Becker had to smile at Ethan's enthusiasm; the man's hands were everywhere, touching and teasing, needy sounds coming from his lips and being swallowed up in the kiss.
Becker stumbled slightly as Ethan's weight leaned against him and pulled back.
"Bed," he said, giving Ethan a gentle push that had him landing on the mattress with a surprised look on his face.
Reaching out a hand he tugged Becker down with him, pouncing on him once more. He kept Becker pinned beneath him as he shuffled down the bed.
"Oh fuck." Becker felt the swipe of Ethan's warm, wet tongue across the head of his cock. Raising his head he saw Ethan's grin moments before he ducked forward again, engulfing Becker's cock completely.
Becker's fingers curled into the sheets he lay on as Ethan's talented mouth sucked and teased, driving him to distraction but never going far enough to give him what he wanted.
"I see you've started without me."
Becker turned to see Danny standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame and watching them with a smile on his face. Ethan let Becker's cock slip from between his lips as he looked up.
"By all means, carry on," Danny told them. "It was just getting interesting."
Ethan laughed. "Perv."
"Yeah, and you love it," Danny fired back.
Becker held out his hand in invitation but Danny shook his head. "I think I'll stay here and enjoy the show for a while," he said, unfastening his jeans and slipping his hand inside.
Ethan and Becker shared a look; so that was Danny's plan. He liked to watch them as they played.
"What do you want us to do?" Ethan asked, stretching his body out alongside Becker's and resting his cheek against Becker's chest. "Tell us, Danny."
"Fuck him," Danny told his brother. "I want to watch you fucking Becker's tight little arse."
Ethan smiled, reaching into the cabinet next to the bed for the lube as Becker looked to Danny again.
"Get naked, Quinn."
Danny obliged, stripping quickly and adding to the assorted clothing abandoned on the floor. His hand around his cock, Danny watched as Ethan's slicked fingers slid in and out of Becker's body, opening him up.
"Do it now, Ethan. He's ready."
Both men looked up as Ethan eased inside Becker, meeting Danny's gaze.
"Okay, now fuck him. Nice and hard. That's right; just like that."
Ethan did as he was told, as he wanted to anyway, and took Becker hard. When he glanced at his brother he saw Danny's hand wrapped around his hard cock, his hand moving though his eyes never left the two men on the bed. He hooked his hands under Becker's legs, opening him up even more, going deeper with each thrust.
He jumped slightly when he felt the cool press of lube-slicked fingers pressing into his arse, stilling as he looked over his shoulder to Danny.
"Just do it, please Danny."
Danny pulled his fingers back and, moments later, Ethan felt the thick head of this brother's cock pushing slowly inside him. The action made him move inside Becker again, causing the other man's grip on Ethan's forearms to tighten. Once Danny was all the way inside him, Ethan started to move again, caught between pushing back onto Danny's cock and fucking Becker.
It wasn't long before the three of them landed in a messy, sated heap on the bed in a tangle of limbs. Ethan lay sprawled across Becker's body, his chin tucked into the crook of Becker's neck, Danny's arms around them both from where he lay curled around Ethan.
~.~.~.~.~.~
The following day, the three men sat at a table in the staff room enjoying a lull in anomaly activity. Suddenly the door was swung open forcefully and they all looked up as Jess came storming in, stopping at their table.
"And here I was thinking you were a nice guy but I guess I was wrong," Jess snapped at Becker, glaring at him with her arms folded across her chest and a furious look on her face. "Slimy bastard."
The room's only other two occupants, two lab techs, grabbed their mugs of tea and made a hasty retreat, not wanting to get involved in whatever was wrong. Especially since very few people could speak to Becker like that and get away with it. Becker and Ethan got to their feet, Becker to try and placate her for whatever she was ranting about whereas he was sure that Ethan just wanted to get a better view of the proceedings.
"Jessica, what are you talking about?"
"As if you don't know." At his frown, she waved her arm in Ethan's direction. "You, sneaking around with him; I thought that you were with Danny. I saw you, in the park. You know, I thought that maybe I was wrong so I went to your house last night and I saw you..."
"You were watching us?"
Jess shook her head. "I came to talk to you but I got to the door and I could see through the kitchen window- I didn't mean to!"
Ethan smiled, the look on his face saying that he found Jess rather amusing, but she noticed and rounded on him instead. Becker sighed. This wasn't going to end well; Ethan had calmed down a lot, but he still wouldn't put up with her yelling insults at him.
"Jess, have a seat," Danny told her, closing the staff room door and locking it so that they wouldn't be interrupted. "You really have got this all wrong. Now, would you like a cup of tea?"
Danny's demeanour took the wind out of her sails and she sat down in the chair at the opposite side of their table, as far away from Ethan as she could get, accepting the mug of tea when Danny returned with it. He passed mugs out to the others as well before sitting down next to Ethan.
"Now, before you launch into another round of insults toward Becker, you should know that he's done nothing wrong," Danny told her.
"But I saw them. I take my neighbour's dog for a walk at weekends if she's working and I was in the park. I saw them kissing. And then again at the house."
"I know."
He shared a look with the others, Becker nodding his head in agreement. Ethan just shrugged his shoulders; he didn't really care one way or the other. Becker and Danny had the most to lose when all this came out. Everyone already had it in for him and so one more thing wouldn't make a difference.
"I am well aware that Becker is involved with Ethan," Danny said. "We both are."
Jess just looked at him, puzzled, until it finally clicked into place. The expression on her face would have been comical under any other circumstances, her eyes widening. She coughed around the mouthful of tea she'd just taken and set her mug down on the table.
"What? But he- I mean, Ethan is-"
"Now do you see why we wanted to keep this quiet?" Danny asked. "I know Ethan's my brother-"
Jess shook her head. "I was going to say that he's a bloody psychopath who tried to blow me and Becker up! He shot Becker for goodness' sake," she said. "But thanks for putting that thought into my head!"
Ethan folded his arms across his chest, lips pressed tightly together as he listened to her, and Becker could see that he was just one more remark away from telling her exactly what he thought of her. Unfortunately, Jess wasn't finished.
"He murdered people, or have you forgotten that?" she asked Becker. "I can't believe that you'd stoop so low as to sleep with someone like him. He's a total nutcase."
She scrambled to her feet and backed away quickly as Ethan stood, stopping when her back hit the wall. He rounded the table and advanced on her, cornering her, his face only inches from hers as he leaned an arm on the wall next to her head to stop her escaping.
"You better watch what you say to me, girl," he told her in a low voice. "I could snap your scrawny little neck like a twig."
Jess's hands went up to her throat as she shrank back from him. He smiled, looking pleased with himself.
"I think you're just pissed off that you can't have Becker. That's right, I know all about your pathetic little crush but you know what? He's mine now," he said, the wicked smile widening. "But you're still hoping, aren't you? Well, I wouldn't bother. He's been fucking me for weeks but I bet he hasn't even given you a second thought."
"Ethan, that's enough. Leave her alone."
He reluctantly went to Becker, still glaring daggers at Jess.
"Can you give us a minute?" Becker asked. "I need to talk to Jess."
Danny and Ethan left the staff room. They didn't go far, both hesitating just outside and occasionally casting concerned glances through the small window. Becker ignored them as, right now, Jess was his problem. She was visibly shaking and almost in tears; it was the same look he'd seen on her face when the Dracorex had been loose in the ARC and heading for her desk. When he tried to give her a hug she pushed him away.
"What are you doing with him, Becker? He's dangerous."
He shook his head, indicating for her to sit down again and taking the chair next to her. "No, he's not."
She looked up at him in disbelief. "Did you miss what happened in there?"
Ethan had gone too far but it wasn't right to lay all the blame for this at his feet. She had just kept on poking at him until he reacted; it was like jabbing a Rottweiler with a sharp stick and then getting upset when it finally fought back.
"No, and I didn't miss the fact that you were baiting him, either. Quite frankly, our personal situation is none of your business but you barged in, throwing insults around. What did you expect?" He sighed. "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have kissed Ethan, then you wouldn't have seen us and this whole thing would never have happened. I just got tired of hiding him."
For a while they sat in silence until Jess finally spoke.
"You're right; it isn't any of my business," she told him. "But you're my friend and I was worried, not only about the two of you going behind Danny's back but also about you. After everything he's done, I didn't want to see you get hurt."
Becker smiled. "Believe me, I've already thought of every worst case scenario at least twice and, at present, the only thing likely to be a problem is other people's reactions. I'm flattered that you're concerned but you don't need to be. He's changed. Even I didn't believe it at first, but he has."
Jess still didn't look completely convinced but she nodded. "You really like him, don't you?"
"Yes, I do." He glanced down at the table, embarrassed to be admitting it. He didn't talk about shit like this, especially not to colleagues, female ones, who had been flirting with him for the past year. "None of this was planned but then Danny and Ethan approached me and despite the problems I knew it would cause, I didn't want to turn them down."
"I still can't get my head around that," she told him. "Danny and Ethan. Are they really together, like properly together? Don't you find it weird or just a bit creepy?"
Becker shook his head. "I did find it strange to begin with, but like Danny said, the brother he knew has gone; Ethan is a totally different person now."
It was another half an hour before Jess left, giving the other two men a half-hearted apology as she passed in the doorway on her way out. Ethan had, when prompted, offered the same grudging commiserations and while it was clear that the two of them were never going to be friends, at least they weren't still sniping at each other. Becker leaned his head in his hands, elbows resting on the table, and heaved a sigh of relief.
She didn't intend to tell anyone else, she'd said, and he believed her, but it hadn't been the easiest of conversations. Why couldn't anything be simple? All he wanted was to be left alone but they had to keep poking about in his private life.
"Hils, I'm sorry," Danny said as he came back into the staff room, Ethan closing the door as he followed. "We never meant to fuck up your life like this."
Becker gripped their hands on top of the table as they both sat. "I should be thanking you for doing just that," he told them. "I wouldn't want to go back to how it was before. I had no one; I came home every night to an empty flat to watch crappy TV shows on my own. It was miserable."
"You've got friends, and you must have had dates," Danny said, but Becker shook his head.
"Once or twice but it never went beyond a few drinks," he told Danny, refusing to meet Danny's eyes as he added, "I kept comparing them to you."
Feeling Ethan pull away slightly as though trying not to intrude, Becker held on to his hand, speaking directly to him. "I know that it hasn't been that long, but I care about you. Both of you."
Ethan studied him for a moment in that quiet, contemplative way. "You really mean that, don't you?"
Becker smiled at him. "Yes."
"I heard some of what you said earlier," Ethan told him. "You defended me to her."
"Of course I did."
"People usually don't," Ethan pointed out. "No one except Danny."
"Well, now you've got me as well."
~.~.~.~.~.~
In the safety of the house that night, with the curtains closed against nosy colleagues, the three of them sat together in the living room, watching CSI. Ethan's choice; he'd won the earlier argument with Danny over what to watch. Danny was sitting on a cushion on the floor, between Becker's knees, Ethan sprawling along the sofa with his head resting against Becker's shoulder.
"I've been thinking," Danny began, leaning his head back to look at Becker. "You've got some holiday time coming up, Hils, so I thought that we could have a holiday. Just get a way for a while."
"Anywhere in particular?"
Danny shook his head. "Just someplace where no one knows us, where we can go out and not have to watch over our shoulders all of the time."
Becker had to admit that sounded like a great idea. If no one knew them then the risk of the team seeing him and Ethan and it undermining his authority with them, or seeing Danny and Ethan together and working out exactly what the brothers' relationship was, would be gone.
"Can we go somewhere with a beach?" Ethan asked. "I haven't seen a beach since I was a kid. You remember, Danny? Mum and Dad took us to Blackpool. It was just before…"
Just before you went into that old house and disappeared, Danny finished silently. Neither of them said it, though.
"I think the beach sounds like a great idea," Becker told him. "We'll fill out the holiday requests and give them to Lester tomorrow."
His time off was already booked, and he doubted that there would be any objections to Danny taking some too. As for Ethan, he got the feeling that Lester would be happier not having to deal with him without Becker and Danny around for a couple of weeks. That, and the fact that he didn't actually work at the ARC. No one could quite decide what Ethan was- prisoner, guest, consultant or, in Lester's words, a pain in the arse.
Becker looked at the huge smile on Ethan's face and couldn't keep the one from his own as they all went back to watching TV.
Tomorrow, he'd go and pick up some travel brochures.
~.~.~
End.