A/N: I have written this type of scene before. And while these things are tough to write the first time because it is new, it is definitely difficult the fourth or fifth time around because you do not want it to be a simple retread of those earlier stories.

I've worked on this a bit over the last few days... and after the last read through, I told myself, "Hey, this just might not suck!" Feel free to concur.

Monday after work he arrived at Mary's once he had grabbed a few things from home.

Tonight felt different for them both. And standing in Mary's kitchen together, they found they were reduced to making nervous small talk at first.

"I don't think we dare make a habit of staying the night together too often... not when we both have to be at work in the morning," Lou told her at last.

"But?" she supplied, as she handed him a drink.

He didn't even take a sip before he placed the glass down. "But tonight," he began seriously. "I want to be with you." Mary was a bit surprised then when he looked away in order to get the rest out. "I hope you don't think I'm presumptuous and horribly unromantic when I say this, but... I've been to the drug store. God, just kick me out if I'm making a mess of this."

In his strangely shy, but straight forward way, he was saying he wanted to sleep with her. And telling her he had removed the obstacle of a lack of contraceptive.

"I had hoped to be a bit more romantic about this," he continued. "Something more charming and enticing than, 'Hey! I stocked up. We could make love like rabbits and not run out.'"

Mary laughed and playfully pulled him closer by grabbing his shirt front. She touched his cheek then to make him meet her eyes fully. "Oh, Lou. I went to the pharmacy, too," she said smiling broadly. The idea that they had both armed themselves with condoms struck her as reassuringly funny. "And I had the doctor write me another prescription for... A couple of things. We can skip the details..." Too much honesty could certainly kill whatever mood they were currently blundering across. She reached around him to grip at the wrinkled fabric at the small of his back. And she plied the material free until she could run her hands over the comforting heat of his back.

Lou stood watching her. He was enjoying this, watching her seduce him, registering the rush of feeling she caused in him. He felt like a man apart.

And God, he wanted her.

Once she had kissed him almost cautiously, she whispered, "Dinner can wait."

"That is the most beautiful euphemism I've ever heard," he told her.

She began to methodically unbutton his shirt. As she made her slow progress, he rested his lips against her forehead. Finally, he finished his pervious thought, "And you, Mary, are the most beautiful thing I ever wished for."

Even after all the years she had known him, Lou could still amaze her. And tonight, it wasn't just his words, but they way he said them. He made her feel adored and desired. She kissed him and put her mouth to his ear. "You are romantic. You are marvelous."

/ /

She managed to get the bedroom just shy of pitch black. And she took off her dress while he worked on his trousers. He was behind her then, quietly working her straps down, wordlessly opening her clasp. When she tried to speak, he shushed her and guided her to the turned down bed.

"Slowly," he assured her in answer to something he saw in her face. Something that said she wanted it to be perfect.

"Mmm. Yes," she replied.

He teased at her. Kissed and touched her. But it was never quite enough to answer what she was feeling.

"Oh God, Lou. Not that slowly," she told him, sounding breathless... And a bit bemused.

He laughed, chuckled really. Like a man who was truly amused. And she loved that he had, deep down, that sort of self assurance and sense of humor.

Lou was no longer pressing at her. No longer looming over her. He had rolled to his back next to her, but his fingers were still entwined with hers. He raised her hand to his lips to kiss it sweetly. She heard the breath he took a moment later. Deep, almost shuddering. And his mood - and hers - changed in that instant.

He moved over her again, and she shifted to welcome him tight against her.

"I've never wanted to get anything right more than this," he told her.

"Please. Now," was all she managed.

And somehow, even with all their expectations...

Even after their weekend of unwelcome restraint and the work hours that had felt like frustrated foreplay...

Still, the reality of finally being together like this was wonderfully astonishing for them both.

…

"Do you ever get scared?" she asked him far later.

There was a long pause. And then he gave her a smooth, "Oh, sure. There was that shelling in France. There was the time I let Ted drive..."

She sighed. And he knew.

"You're scared, aren't you?" he whispered.

"Of course, I am. What if this goes badly? What if..."

"What if..." he interrupted. "What if it goes well?"

"What?" Mary protested.

"Are you sure that for you... maybe, just maybe, having things work out wouldn't be almost as frightening to think about?"

"No. That's not it," she insisted. "But … There are all these changes. There's this constant feeling that everything is a risk... "

He wasn't really sure that Mary was being honest about her fears – with herself or with him. But there was nothing to do about it but hold and reassure her. He put both arms around her and drew her closer. "It's not just you, Mary. I've been worried, too. About a million things. I don't want problems for you at work because of me. I don't want to push you. To overwhelm you. Hell, I don't want to underwhelm you. I never want you to resent me."

"And you aren't the type to worry," she pointed out.

"Me? I dunno. I worry about things now and then. I get scared." There was a long pause then. "I just haven't admitted to anyone that I was scared in the last 25 years."

She put her hand over his heart. Leaned in and kissed his chest.

He pulled her a little tighter. "Oh, Mary. What you do to me."

And she didn't know if he meant the kisses or this new reality where so much was shared. Because there was a frightening amount of sharing now. Not just of the physical, but the emotional.

Mary felt the way his heart was surging.

She moved higher up to kiss at his neck and she slipped her hand to his arm. There was the slightest thought from her, then, a wish. Her fingers may have pulled at him slightly, but more than that, he responded because he just knew. Because, she decided, he knew her.

She moved to her back, and he followed her. He kissed her softly again and again as he lightly pinned her there.

"We could..." she told him as she brushed at his hair.

"Could we?" he asked. And in the dark there the want in him came through in those simple words. And for the second time that night, they were both exactly what the other needed.