Title: Commitment
Author: Mr. Denny Crane's Ghostwriter
Emails: to archive: yes, please just notify me where
Fandom(s): Boston Legal
Genre (general, hetero or slash): slash
Pairing/Characters: Alan/Denny
Rating: FRM
Summary: The way I would have finished the episode "LA."
Warnings: SPOILER FOR SEASON FINALE "SPRING FEVER" and "LA"
Notes: Thank you to the awesome BLSlash posse who spoiled me and then joined me as I watched the finale. Your opinions, insights and generally lively discourse are real fuel for the fire!
Acknowledgments: Denny Crane.

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"Did you sleep with her?"

Alan frowned and looked across at his friend. "I beg your pardon?"

Denny met his eyes. "Did you sleep with her?"

"With whom?"

"Courtney, of course."

Alan put his drink down and rose to his feet, his frown deepening. "No, Denny. I didn't."

"Did you kiss her?"

"Denny!"

"What?"

"You should know better than that."

"Better than what?" Denny asked, also rising. "Don't kid a kidder, Alan. I know damn well she was interested in you." Alan looked surprised. "I can read 'em. Just because I wanted her doesn't mean I couldn't read her."

Alan nodded. "No. We didn't kiss. We didn't sleep together. We did nothing." He cocked his head, eyeing Denny. "Tell me, why did you ask me that?"

Denny took a swig of his Scotch. "Testing you."

Alan put his cigar down in the ashtray. He walked up and took Denny's drink and cigar and also put those on the table. "You still think you need to test me."

"Don't I? I know what I do. I know how it makes you feel. I wouldn't blame you if you had, you know."

"You wouldn't."

"No." Denny backed off and walked to the wall. "I have no claims on you other than the fact that you've signed my living will. You won't let me sign yours. It's obvious that…while I'm ready to commit…you're not." He turned his head to look at him, the ghost of a smile on his face. "Funny, I always thought it would be the other way around."

Silence descended upon them until Alan finally spoke. "I suggest we stop dancing around each other."

"But you're a good dancer."

"Yes, and so are you. But that's not the kind of dancing I'm talking about."

"I know."

Alan joined him at the wall. "You want to know why I don't want you involved in my arrangements, don't you?"

"You're afraid I'll be too happy to…God, Alan. To kill you."

"It came across that way."

"Gleeful, Alan?" Denny looked at him harshly. "If I had any glee at that moment, it was because you'd accepted my proposal." He looked back out over the city. "Trouble is, I don't know that I could pull the plug. Not on you."

"Exactly my point, my friend." He watched as Denny turned to face him. "I couldn't put you in that position…of choosing whether or not you wait to see if I wake up. Of choosing to end my life."

"But I've put you in that position."

"And I dread it. But I know it's important to you."

"And it's equally important to me to know you trust me enough to do right by you when and if the time comes." He watched Alan contemplate those words. "Let's face it, barring some hand of God intervention, I'm going before you anyway, and probably…with less panache."

"Denny, I don't have a living will."

His eyes widened. "What do you mean, you don't have a living will?"

"Just what I said."

"You said you did. At dinner."

"No, I said such as it is."

"But for God's sake, man, why not? You want to stay hooked up to ventilators and…and tubes if there's never a chance you'll recover?"

"I don't know. I once, in the course of working on a case, met a woman whose family had fought for years to unplug her. Four years after her initial lapse into a coma, she woke up and is still, to this day, living a perfectly normal life."

Denny watched him, but as usual, Alan's face gave nothing away. "I see."

"Denny, I can't stand by and watch you deteriorate, lie there as just the shell of Denny Crane."

"But that's exactly what's going to happen. Mad cow." This time when Alan looked at him, Denny could see the emotion embedded in his blue eyes. "If you really don't want to be put in that position," he whispered, "I'll understand."

"I already said yes." His voice was wavering. "Do you really think you could do it for me?"

"If it meant releasing you from suffering, yes."

"Home?" Denny asked gruffly.

"That would be nice, yes."

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"There's no 500-count thread sheets like those on your own bed."

Denny looked at him amused as Alan settled in next to him. "I know." He waited until Alan stopped moving and picked his in-progress book up off the night stand. "Comfy?"

"Reasonably."

"Reasonably? What would make you more comfy?" Alan cast a sidelong glance and Denny nodded. "All right. Come here."

Alan smiled and put his book aside, as did Denny. He lifted the covers and Alan scooted down until his head was resting on Denny's shoulder, Denny's arms enveloping him.

"Why are you so hell-bent on getting married again?" Alan asked after a few blissful moments enjoying their closeness. "If it isn't Courtney, it's Shirley."

"I like commitment."

"Denny, you're the most unfaithful dog I've ever met. Myself excluded."

"So what you're saying is that we're a perfect match."

"We are."

"I know. But I can't marry you."

Alan stiffened. He turned his face up to find Denny looking right at him. "If I were a woman, and you married me, you'd be as unfaithful to me as you've been to all your ex-wives." He sighed and laid his head back down on Denny's shoulder. "I wouldn't want to share you like that."

"Yes, but you're not a woman and anyway, I wouldn't cheat on you." He paused thoughtfully. "I haven't."

"You mean you haven't slept with any other men?"

"Not a one." Denny chuckled. "How could I with you in my bed every night?" He unconsciously began rubbing his hand up and down Alan's bicep. "Why'd you have to be a man?"

Alan pushed himself up so he was looking down at him. "Does it really matter that much? After all, you told Courtney you could live with it if she was a man."

"I did, didn't I?" Denny smiled. "I guess you've gotten to me in more ways than one."

"Have I?" Alan asked, eyes boring into his. "Have I really?"

Denny's impish eyes gleamed at him. "Yes," was his simple reply.

Alan's heart started racing. The pain of the bruises and scratches on his face and the pain in his leg that had made him limp while walking seemed to disappear as if by magic. His eyes moved down to Denny's lips. He swallowed hard.

"Denny…"

"Do it."

Alan summoned every last bit of courage and leaned in. When their lips met, fire raced through their bodies. He pressed harder and Denny's mouth opened in a moan. Alan's tongue darted inside, searching the crevasses, the teeth, caressing Denny's tongue. Denny hesitated only a moment before bringing his hand to the back of Alan's neck and crushing them together. Alan's senses reeled.

At last. At last he was kissing Denny Crane.

He was surprised when Denny rolled them and wound up on top, straddling Alan's hips. They parted with a pop and looked wildly into each other's eyes.

"You still in heat?" came Denny's gravelly voice.

"Like a bitch," Alan replied, and Denny pounced.