Dorian and Cullen grabbed some takeout and headed back to Cullen's apartment. Cullen had a lot on his mind, things he needed to say, things Dorian needed to know.

They settled on the sofa, picking at their food for a few minutes, but neither of them had much of an appetite.

Cullen had butterflies in his stomach. He had been putting off this conversation for a long time, but it needed to be said and discussed before they could move deeper into their relationship. It was made easier by how much Dorian had shown he trusted Cullen today.

"Dorian," Cullen began. "We need to talk. I know I've mentioned getting my heart broken, that it was the reason why I was hesitating in the development of our relationship."

"Yes, and I told you I would be patient. That I would wait as long as it takes," Dorian replied softly.

"I'm...finally ready to tell you what happened, to share with you why I've hesitated all these months. Please let me get it all out before I lose my nerve," Cullen said with a nervous chuckle.

Dorian turned to face Cullen, giving the detective his full attention.

"This happened several years ago. I was still only a beat cop then, assigned to a different precinct," Cullen began. "I fell, hard, for my partner. Her name was Solona."

Cullen noted Dorian's eyes go wide. "Remember, I confessed that I'm attracted to both men and women?" Dorian nodded and let Cullen continue.

"Anyway, there is an anti-fraternization policy. Our relationship was forbidden, but we threw caution to the wind and pursued it anyway. Maker, I loved her so much," Cullen said, his voice cracking.

Dorian reached out and held Cullen's hands in his.

Cullen regained his composure and continued. "Anyway, we had managed to keep our relationship a secret for a long time, and then all hell broke loose. There was an internal investigation and corruption in our precinct was rampant. Infiltration at the highest levels. Even Solona was in on it. I sometimes think I was the only one not part of it. I wasn't even aware of it, no one tried to recruit me and I was too naive to see what was going on under my very nose."

Cullen reached for the glass of wine he'd poured for himself earlier and took a long drink.

"It...nearly broke me. I almost quit the force entirely, until they transferred me over here. It's...taken me a long time to learn to trust people again," Cullen looked at Dorian then.

"Dorian, you've restored my ability to trust, with what you went through in the last 24 hours," Cullen confessed. "The fact you trusted me enough to come to me first, you really don't know what that means to me."

"Cullen..."

"No, let me finish, please," Cullen said, putting down his wine and taking Dorian's hands in his again. "What I'm trying to say is, I'm finally ready to put my past behind me and move on. I want to move on with you. Dorian...I love you."

"Oh Cullen, you dear sweet man," Dorian said, leaning closer to him. "I love you too. I have for quite awhile now. You're everything I ever wanted."

Cullen leaned in then, pulling Dorian closer, kissing him sweetly, tenderly on the lips for the first time. They held each other close and kissed for what seems like hours. Cullen finally got up and pulled Dorian along with him towards the bedroom with a wicked twinkle in his eye.

"Welcome home, Dorian."

...

Bonus chapter! If you would like to see what Dorian and Cullen get up to in the bedroom, I wrote a separate story on Archive of Our Own, titled "Want" (search for my name, Kleineganz first). (I'd link directly to it but FF isn't allowing it).