Author's note: Okay, first off I'm sorry for the long delay in updating. Like a lot of writers around here, I'm doing NaNoWriMo to work intensively on my non-fanfic writing project, which means this story is taking a bit of a back seat. I promise I will try to update a few times this month, but it won't be the usual 2-3 chapters a week! Hope you can all understand, and won't abandon this story, because I promise to be back with a vengeance come December!
This chapter is one I've wanted to write for ages, so I hope you enjoy it! As ever, I adore a review, love a follow or favourite, and appreciate every single read I get.
Chapter 20 - Boys Night Out
Tex shook his head. "I still can't believe Rachel forgave you."
"Not sure if I have yet." Mike said, looking pointedly at Tom.
Tom gestured to their drinks. "How about if I buy another round?"
They were in the now infamous bar, the same one that had hosted Sasha, Rachel and Nina's night out, and the three men were getting a similar amount of stares to those the women had received, if not for the same reasons. On the plus side, the three drink limit seemed to have been miraculously waived in their case; as Tex called it, 'the Nathan James bonus'.
Mike was shaking his head. "No, I'm still going to be pissed at you." He drained his beer.
"Which is why your lovely wife sent us all here in the first place, so on that basis it's kind of a good thing." Tex knocked back another shot of bourbon. "Though Callaghan is going to be none too pleased when I get home too drunk to-"
"Stop!" Tom and Mike said at the same time, and Tex laughed. "Like you don't do it."
"I have a baby." Mike said in response, and Tom just shrugged.
"You know," Tex said, "You two need to loosen up."
Mike grunted. "I'm loose enough."
"That's always been true." Tom couldn't resist commenting.
"Whereas Captain Chandler here," Mike addressed his words to Tex, "Hasn't been loose since he made Lieutenant Commander."
"You two knew each other then?" Tex asked.
Tom shot a glance at Mike. "I was his superior officer."
"You were a pain in the ass." Mike drained his glass. "With a rod up yours."
Tom found himself chuckling reluctantly. "Tell me you didn't deserve it."
Mike stared him down for a second, then his face split into a grin and he shrugged. "Okay, I admit it."
Tom grinned back, and like so many of their disagreements over the years, his behaviour towards Rachel was forgiven without anything further needing to be said.
Tex was shaking his head slightly. "How long ago are we talking?"
"Fifteen years." Tom replied without hesitation.
"Just after he and Sasha broke up first time around." Mike explained, "Hence the rod up his ass."
"Hey, you admitted it yourself, you had a little trouble following orders back then, Detective Slattery." Tom countered.
"Alright, alright, I said that already." Mike turned to Tex. "I figured chain of command would be the same pretty much anywhere. Turns out I was wrong."
"Why'd you leave the force?" Tex asked.
"We'd just had a baby - Lissy - and Christine didn't like me being in a dangerous job. I never wanted anything else, but the Navy was always in the back of my mind, so that was the compromise." Mike started to laugh, "Of course that was about a year before 9/11, so things got hairy pretty quickly, but I was committed by then."
"And happy about it, I bet?" Tex gestured to their empty glasses. "Another?"
The other two nodded agreement, and while Tex went to the bar, Tom turned to Mike.
"You think about those days much?"
Mike shook his head. "Too much going on in the here and now." He looked at Tom carefully. "I'm betting you do lately, what with Sasha being back in your life."
Tom nodded as Tex returned with more drinks.
"You know," Tex commented, "I was just doing some math at the bar. You broke up with Sasha fifteen years ago, and you have a thirteen year old kid? You didn't waste time, did you?"
"He didn't." Mike agreed. "First I knew him was as a mean son of a bitch with a broken heart, then he meets this girl and before you know it I'm standing up there next to him while he pledges his life to her."
"Darien and I wanted the same things." Tom shrugged. "She wanted a family, and she was tough enough to do it alone most of the time. She was an army brat, she knew what she was getting into. It was easy, that's all, so it happened quick."
Tex shook his head, "Sounds to me like both of you boys were lacking a little romance in your choices back then."
"There was romance!" Tom protested, while Mike just shrugged and nodded.
"Christine got a raw deal, I'm always going to have to live with that." He stared into his glass, and Tom felt a pang of guilt. Because Mike had Rachel, he often found himself forgetting that his friend had lost more than any of them – his wife and two of their three children – and nothing could ever take that away.
Tex was clearly feeling the same, as he clapped a hand on Mike's shoulder. "We all made mistakes, nobody's alone in that." Then he grinned, "But it's all going to come good this time. Wives and babies and a whole new world." Tom raised an eyebrow in his direction, and Tex shrugged. "What? Go to look on the bright side, Commodore, or what else is there?"
"Unless you're not telling me something," Mike said, raising his head, "I'm the only one with a wife or a baby just now." He turned to Tom, "Or is that non-existent rumour about Sasha true after all?"
"No." Tom said shortly, then couldn't help adding, "Not yet."
It was Mike's turn to raise an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"
"Nothing." Tom took a gulp of Scotch. "Just not ruling anything out."
Tex was smiling quietly to himself, and Mike picked up on it. "What about you, 'Kansas'?"
"Oh, I don't know." But he was still smiling. "We might have discussed a few things. Nothing I'm going to share with the two of you." He took his cell phone out, looked at the screen and grinned. "Speaking of which, now you're friends again, I'm going to go pay some attention to my lady."
This time both Tom and Mike raised eyebrows, but Tex just shot them a dirty grin and left the bar at speed.
After one more drink for the road, Tom and Mike left together and walked halfway home in companionable silence. At a particular road junction, however, Tom hesitated and turned to Mike.
"I'm going to go see Sasha." He gestured in the direction away from their apartment building.
"You going to marry her?" Mike asked bluntly. "Just between you and me? Won't even tell Rachel."
Tom smiled, but decided not to answer as he turned and walked away.
Back at his apartment, Mike let himself in and took his boots off, quietly padding down the hall. Everything was in darkness, and he pushed open the door to the baby's room a little wider, looking at his sleeping son in the dim glow from the nightlight. He smiled and moved on to the bedroom, where a shaft of moonlight illuminated the bed and the sleeping figure of his wife. Nothing could ever fully erase the pain of what he'd lost, but the love he felt for Rachel and Jamie assuaged it. He shed his clothes and slid into bed beside her, wrapping his arms gently around her from behind. She stirred a little, her voice sleepy as she murmured to him.
"Did you have fun?"
"Mmm hmm." He kissed her shoulder.
"Are you and Tom friends again?"
"Mmm hmm." He kissed her neck this time, and she made a faint noise of approval.
She snuggled back against him, and he tightened his embrace. For a moment he thought about trying something, but she was so soft and warm and sleepy that he just closed his eyes instead, and let himself drift into sleep.
Tom had messaged Sasha as they left the bar, and he barely had to knock on her door before she opened it, wearing nothing but a pair of very tiny panties, and rendering him temporarily speechless.
"Are you coming in?" She asked, and he nodded dumbly as she reached out and pulled him inside by grabbing the front of his jacket. By the time the door had closed behind him, he had recovered his faculties enough to kiss her, pulling her tight against him as he did so and palming her bare breast. She pulled him towards the bed, helping him to undress as they crossed the floor.
"Good night?" She asked between kisses.
"Getting better by the second." He gently bit her lower lip and slid his hands down to cup her ass, slipping his fingers under the negligible fabric of her panties and pushing them down her legs. "You're still wearing too many clothes."
She laughed softly as he kicked off his pants and boxers, and they both fell onto the bed. He dragged her leg over his so he could reach between her thighs, stroking her lightly and hearing her breathing catch.
Mindful of the events of the past few days, he reached towards the night stand for a condom as he rolled her onto her back and positioned himself over her, but she caught his hand in hers and entwined their fingers.
"I went to the doctor today. We're covered, at least for three months."
"Well in that case…" He smiled against her mouth, then kissed her as he gently pushed inside her, enjoying her gasp and the feeling of her opening around him. Holding her hands over her head, he raised himself a little to look down at her, her eyes readily meeting his.
"Tom…" She pushed against him a little where he was holding still, not moving, just appreciating the feeling of being deep inside her.
Maybe it was the conversations at the bar, or everything that had happened lately, or just the effect that she had on him, but Tom felt a strange kind of peace in that moment. He bent his head again and kissed Sasha slowly, his eyes still on hers.
"I love you." He murmured, and for the first time, she managed to reply immediately.
"I love you too."
He groaned slightly and kissed her again, this time starting to move, thrusting slowly and almost gently as she whimpered into his mouth. His hands tightened on her wrists as he instinctively began moving faster, pushing deeper, and he felt her clench around him and moan his name as she neared her climax.
"Sash-" He managed, and then as he felt her tumble over the edge, he was powerless to stop himself following her, thrusting hard and groaning his release.
He let go of her wrists and flopped onto his back beside her, listening to her rapid breathing as he tried to calm his own. He turned his head to look at her, and found himself staring straight into those piercing blue eyes, and once again he felt that unfamiliar sensation of peace and calm. He reached out and pulled her into his arms, and they lay like that for a while, not needing to speak, because the most important words had already been said.