Chapter 2

A few days later, in the early evening, Dorian made his way to the car waiting in the parking lot of the hotel. James had already finished... whatever he'd been doing (Dorian had decided that under most circumstances he didn't want to know) and had already slipped into the passenger seat. He looked up hopefully as Dorian opened the door. "Any luck today, m'lord?"

Dorian shook his head regretfully as he sat down in the driver's seat. "If he's like this even to me, I can't imagine what it must be like working under him. Those poor alphabets..."

James looked speculative for a moment, then pouted, sitting back and crossing his arms over his chest. "Maybe G's better off in Alaska, then..."

"Don't talk like that!" Dorian rebuked him in dismay. "You know he didn't want to go there - nothing but snow and bears and Americans! At least in Bonn, even if his life wasn't ideal, he had his friends and countrymen."

"And the boutiques," James added grouchily. "Boutiques with cute little dresses in light, breezy fabrics. In Alaska, he's probably forced to wear stiff wool - and wool is so horribly expensive compared to synthetics..."

"Oh, Jamesie..." Dorian reached over to hug him lightly - he hated seeing James this way. ...In the sense that he was sulking, and not over something that he had done for a change. The obsessive, detailed stinginess was normal.

"Don't give up hope yet," Dorian urged him. "The Major's just being especially stubborn right now because he's under a lot of stress. Headquarters called and told him to stay put, to wait for a package or some such that has to come back to Bonn - but they haven't told him what it is or when it will arrive. He's been holed up with his men for two days now, with nothing to do but wait. No wonder he's being spiteful."

"Nothing to do, is that right?" James muttered sarcastically, pulling away. "Even though you've been spending every day with him, at his hotel, while he's essentially on vacation... No doubt he's terribly bored, m'lord."

Dorian sniffed haughtily. "As a matter of fact, I haven't laid a finger on him."

"...What?" James' eyes went wide and astonished. "Why?"

"I told him I wouldn't - not until he changed his mind and had some mercy on you and G," Dorian stated. "He said I'd be the one to get desperate enough to change my mind first. I told him we'd see." Secretly, Dorian was beginning to think that Klaus might have been right. When Klaus was this frustrated, it made him even more prone to glaring and shouting - and Dorian found his glaring and shouting almost unbearably sexy.

James' eyes widened further. "For me, m'lord? You chose not to touch him... for my sake?"

Dorian couldn't help smiling at the look of amazement on his face. James could be terribly cute when he wasn't being terribly annoying. "In part, yes. I also find his utter disregard for people's feelings repugnant, and his hypocrisy appalling - but you know perfectly well that I take care of my own. Besides, I know my pursuit of the Major made you unhappy - but after you and G sorted things out, you seemed so much happier. It pleased me to think that we could all be satisfied at once."

"M'lord...!" James leaned over to throw his arms around Dorian, burying his face in the taller man's shirt as he practically fell into his lap. Dorian laughed softly and hugged him back - this was the James he'd invited to join his entourage years ago...

...Until James looked up to him with a devious gleam in his eye. "So then, if you haven't touched that awful Major... are you becoming desperate...?"

"Not that desperate," Dorian replied coolly, pushing him back into his own seat and turning away. "Honestly, James - one excuse the Major keeps giving is that he can't believe you're serious, that you really love G. Keep saying things like that, and I'll have trouble believing you myself."

"Hmph. I suppose I can see why." James settled back down into a sulk, resting his chin in his hands. Then, after a moment's thought, he straightened abruptly, a determined look on his face. "I have no choice, then - I must state my case to the Major myself!" he declared.

Dorian stared, and fortunately bit back his instinctive response until he was sure it wouldn't come out as a shriek of horror. "...I'm not certain that would help," he began dubiously. "Besides, the Major scares you."

"The power of true love will give me courage," James said firmly, opening the car door to get out - and then sitting back to unfasten his safety belt so that he could get out. "And he's obviously slipping. Even after he found out about the videos, he hasn't even tried to punch me, much less shoot me! And he's able to resist your seduction now, m'lord? He must be getting old and harmless!"

Dorian looked on in dismay, rolling down the car window to call after James as he ran off. "I really don't think this is-"

"No turning back! I'm off to rescue my true love from the belly of a polar bear and the tyranny of an old decrepit Major!" James shouted gleefully, giving Dorian a wave before he dashed into the hotel.

Dorian sat back with a frown. Well, the worst that could happen, he supposed, was that James would come back with a black eye. Leaning over, he confirmed that there were still first aid supplies in the glove compartment... oh, of course there were - James never let anyone use them, so that they wouldn't have to buy more.

Something just seemed off about this, Dorian thought, staring off into an uncommonly boring sunset. Klaus, old and harmless? Where had James ever gotten such an idea? It seemed obvious that the reason Klaus hadn't said or done anything to James about the contents of that video was because he had no authority to do so. Obviously he could send G to Alaska, but James wasn't under his jurisdiction.

And as for James, he was certainly not as prudish or self-conscious about his sexual activity as Klaus, but it was rather surprising that he wasn't cowering all the more, knowing that the Major had seen that video. Klaus had something to hang over his head now, after all.

...Wait.

Had he ever actually told James which video he'd shown Klaus, Dorian wondered? He hadn't seemed the slightest bit surprised, really, or asked for an explanation of what had been on the video or where it had come from, though Dorian had never mentioned his own secret recording.

And, Dorian realized in horror, this was likely because there were other videos that James was aware of. Other videos that had involved a secret alliance between himself and G - which Klaus would undoubtedly have sent G to Alaska for, and which he would definitely have punched James for, if not worse.

...No, definitely worse.

After a painful, cringing moment of terror, Dorian bolted from the car.

Dorian had just left when Klaus retired to his room, so he had not the slightest idea who would be knocking on the door so insistently only a few minutes later. His men knew better, particularly when they knew he'd been having to deal with Eroica and his obnoxious attempts at seduction all day. At least he'd had good reason to resist, this time - very loudly and publically. Any worries he might have had about some of his men catching on were lessened a great deal by the knowledge that they'd all witnessed him trying to get rid of a pestering Eroica for the entire afternoon. (Now when Dorian gave in, he thought, no one would suspect anything...)

The knocking continued to be loud and insistent. Maybe someone had arrived with that package he was supposed to be waiting for - and had no idea who they were delivering it to. Klaus yanked the door open, glaring out into the hallway - and saw nothing. Until he looked down at the top of a dark curly head. "Get the hell out, or I'll call an exterminator," he growled.

That head tilted up to glare right back at him defiantly. "No. I've made up my mind - if the Earl can't make you bring G back, I will."

Klaus snorted incredulously. "What makes you think I'd give in to you any more than your foppish boss?"

"He said you don't believe me," James stated, actually pushing his way into the room and closing the door - where had the little man managed to summon up that much courage? "He said you don't think I truly love Mr. G. I came to make my pleas directly to you!"

Klaus groaned, dropping his head into one hand. "I don't fucking care if you love him, idiot. What you two were doing made him a liability to the team!"

As usual ignoring things like logic, James fell to one knee in the center of the hotel room, in a posture Dorian himself might have envied for its dramaticism - though with not so much grace. "I admit that it didn't start out as love," he declared with a humble bow of the head, placing a hand over his heart. "It was only later that Mr. G and I discovered that we felt so strongly not only for Lord Gloria, but for each other!"

"Give it a rest. Even if it mattered to me - you don't give a damn about anything but money, and everyone knows it."

"Not true, not true!" James protested, with a grand gesture. "It's fair enough to say that G and I only began this arrangement because I wanted a little extra money, but it changed. It changed so quickly..."

"...A little extra money?" Klaus' eyes narrowed in disgust. "G was... buying you as a male prostitute!"

James gasped. "No, he would never lower himself that way! His eyes were only for you, and for Lord Gloria!"

"Then how do you explain that video Lord Gloria showed me?"

James cocked his head at Klaus, looking puzzled. "I would have thought that would prove it to you."

Klaus thought about this. ...That didn't make any sense. But then, when did James ever make sense? He sighed; he'd already begun to get a headache, and this was making it worse.

"Yes - G loved you, and he loved Lord Gloria," James repeated, before Klaus could say anything else. "So when the two of you began to love each other, his dreams were shattered. Just as mine, of the Earl..."

"Do I look li..." Klaus began. Then he stopped short. His eyes narrowed further. "...What makes you think Lord Gloria and I are involved?" The bug shouldn't know anything about that - if Dorian had told anyone about their liasons...

James had the gall to glare at him. "No point in pretending now. Lord Gloria said he showed you one of the videos. And that was why you sent G to Alaska, wasn't it?"

"Yes, he did - and yes, it was." Klaus had a feeling he was missing something. "You say 'one of' the videos? You and G made more than one amateur porn tape?" he gaped in horror suddenly.

James nodded, though he looked a bit nervous all of a sudden. He stuck his lip out defiantly anyhow. "It's a small market," he stated. "There had to be new material."

"Market!" Klaus exclaimed, slamming his hand down on the bedside table as he took a step towards where James knelt. The little bug had been selling tapes of himself having sex with one of his agents! Dorian hadn't told him that! And the prospect of who might have been interested in such tapes was horrifying. "Who the hell were you selling to, you little bastard!"

James blinked. He looked like he might take flight at any second - which would have been wise. "...Mr. G, of course."

That gave Klaus reason to pause. Perhaps G was smarter than he'd expected - buying up the evidence of his indiscretions so the bug wouldn't have occasion to sell it to someone else for a quick buck. It wasn't a bad plan. "...So you're saying that G himself was buying videos... of the two of you."

"No, of course not," James replied, confused. "Why would he do that? I was selling him the videos of you and Lord Gloria."

Klaus hesitated for a moment, trying to make sense of that - then suddenly, everything that hadn't made sense abruptly did.

The puzzled-turned-terrified expression on James' face was the last thing Klaus saw before his vision blurred into white.