It was another two weeks before Lester came home. I was on monitors and Steph was sitting beside me when she saw his truck appear in the garage. She looked just like a kid on Christmas morning. I could have been jealous, but I wasn't. One, I knew that wouldn't get me anywhere and two, I knew what Les meant to her. He was her best friend; someone she could talk to and tell anything to. Well, other than me, but I guess she can't talk about me to me, so she has to have someone else.

When the elevator doors opened, I had Steph's chair right there so she was the first thing Les saw. When he stepped from the elevator, he leaned down and hugged her as tight as he felt he could. I couldn't make out what she whispered to him, but I saw him nod and then he kissed her cheek. When he stood up, he shook my hand, "Congratulations, man. I'm happy for you two."

"If you were so happy, then why'd you take off when she needed you most?" I wasn't going to say anything, but I guess I've developed my wife's filter. He stood there with his blank face and I wondered if I'd said the wrong thing. I didn't know what was going on with him, but it had to have been something for him to be like this.

"Matthew," Steph said as she reached for my hand. "Not now, okay? Just let him get settled back into the swing of things." Looking at Les she asked, "Would you please wheel me down to the apartment? I'm ready to get out of this for a little bit and sit on the comfy couch. Maybe you could keep me company for a little bit."

Lester looked at me asking for permission. "Go ahead. She still needs help moving from the chair to the couch, and she'll need to put her leg up on the table. If you need something, call." I kissed my wife and watched as she left with Les. Again, I could have been jealous, but I tried to contain it.

When I headed back to the monitors, I saw Zip look at me. "What?"

"Man, I don't know how you just let your wife go to your apartment with Les. You know he's a player and he's wanted Steph for so long."

"She's my wife and I trust the both of them. They are friends and she wants to make sure he's okay. That's all."

"Whatever," he mumbled as he shrugged his shoulders.

It had been two hours, my monitor time was up and while I didn't want to imagine what was going on in the apartment, ever since Zip made his comment, all I can think about is what are they doing? Has Les made a move on her? Stop it, Binkie! You know he'd never do that. He doesn't think of her like that. She's more like his sister.

My time at work was done for a few hours; I was needed on a takedown later. I took the stairs down to the apartment and quietly opened the door. I wasn't trying to snoop, I just didn't want to disturb Steph if she were sleeping. When I walked in, I found Lester and Stephanie sitting on the couch talking still. I was surprised, but glad they were talking.

"There you are," my wife greeted me as I leaned down to give her a kiss. I could see she'd been crying at some point and I was about to get pissed.

Wiping her cheeks, I asked her, "What's wrong? Why were you crying?"

"I best be going. I need to get ready for the takedown." Lester stood up, leaned over and gave Steph a kiss on the cheek, then offered me his hand, "I'll see you later tonight?"

"Affirmative."

He showed himself out the door as I sat down next to Steph. "Want to tell my why you've been crying?"

She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Les was telling me why he left and stayed away so long." I waited, knowing that when she was ready to tell me she would. "He said he left because he needed to sort out his feelings for me."

Shit. I knew he had feelings for her, but I always thought they were brother/sister type. Guess I was wrong. He never said anything, though.

"He told me that he kept his feelings hidden because everyone thought I was with Ranger. But, when he found out that you and I were married, then he felt like he'd lost his chance at ever asking me out. He was afraid that if he told you about his feelings, that you'd be pissed at him and never let him near me."

"Honey, I can't and won't control who you have in your life. That is your decision. If, however, I ever saw him make a move on you, then I'd have something to say about that. But, I trust you completely."

She pulled me to her and gave me the sweetest, most gentle kiss. "I'm glad you trust me," she said against my lips, "but you need to trust Les, too. He and I talked, and while he still loves me, he's trying to make sure he doesn't do anything to piss you off. He's afraid that if you find out about his feelings towards me, then you'll end your friendship and ask me to do the same. I tried telling him that won't happen."

Damn, how'd this get complicated? "Is that why he took off for a few weeks?"

"Yeah, said he wanted some time alone to deal with the fact that you and I were married and that he may end up losing two friends. He doesn't want that to happen, but he's not sure how you will feel about it."

"He's my go-to guy here. If I've had a bad day, he always makes some fucked up joke to make me laugh. If I needed a date, he always knew what girl to call for me. If I needed to spar with someone because I was pissed, he was there. If I needed my ass kicked, he was more than happy to help."

"Then, go and talk to him. He's hurting right now. He isn't sure what's going to happen between you two. Make him understand that things won't change… well, nothing other than he can't kiss me anymore."

As much as I wanted to just spend a few hours with my wife, I knew she was right. I needed to talk this out with Lester and make sure he understands that, while my wife is off limits to him, he doesn't need to avoid either of us and he isn't losing our friendship. Damn, when did our lives turn into something other than guns and kicking ass?

"I'll be back as soon as I can," I said as I kissed the daylights out of her. I really didn't want to leave her but knew this needed to be done. So, I headed across the hall and banged on his door. The door swung open, and Lester stood there looking lost. "Can I come in?"

He backed up and motioned for me to step in. After he shut the door, he looked at me, sighed, and hung his head. "She told you, huh?"

"She did. We need to talk now." We walked into the living room and sat down. I wanted a beer for this talk but knew we couldn't have any since we had the takedown tonight.

"Look, if you want to kick my ass, go for it. But, the truth is, I've been in love with her for as long as I can remember. I never made a move on her because I assumed, like everyone else, that she was with Ranger. The few times that I knew they weren't together, she was with the cop. So, when you guys came back from your weekend away and we all found out you two were married, I was pissed. Not at you, but at myself. I lost any chance I had at ever getting the girl. I needed some time to come to terms with that and think of what I'd do if I lost not only one friend, but two."

"I know you are Steph's best friend," I told him, "and I'm not going to make her choose between us. You are her friend and I'm her husband. We can both be in her life. We just need some boundaries where you are concerned."

I saw him look up at me and smirk, "I know… no kissing her, right?"

"For starters." Here is the hard one. I know what I want to happen, but I also am not sure it is the best idea.

"Starters? What else is there?" I could see he was about to get pissed and I needed to head it off quickly.

"Well, she and I are going to need new partners. You know Tank and Ranger aren't going to allow her and me to partner up when she's ready for field work again. So, I was hoping that you and I could change. You partner with Steph and I'll partner with Bobby."

Lester sat there for a few minutes; I'm assuming he was stunned. Here I was offering him to spend more time with my wife and he was expecting me to take her away from him. "You mean you'd actually trust me with Steph?'

Nodding, I added, "I look at it this way. You love her almost as much as I do, so whose going to protect her like I would? She trusts you and she'll listen to you. You just have to keep your hands to yourself."

"I really appreciate you doing this, man. I thought for sure that once you found out how I feel about her, you'd not want me near her."

"As long as you keep your hands and lips to yourself, we're good."

Lester nodded and smiled, "Can I be the one to tell her?"

"I've not even discussed this with management yet. I'm not even sure she'll want to partner with your ass," I joked with him. He finally busted up laughing, and I knew he and I would be okay. He would still be my wingman when I needed him to be.

Later, after the takedown was complete, I checked on Steph. She was fast asleep and had left a note for me on the counter telling me to go have a beer with Les. She knew me so well. Who was I to go against her wishes? So, I found myself back over at Les' with a couple of beers. We sat around and shot the shit for two or so hours before we finally decided to call it a night. It was good to have him back home. Now things could hopefully get back to normal.

Shrugging out of my clothes, I crawled into bed next to my wife. I began caressing her and wishing I could make love to her. It had been over a month and I was dying to be insider her again, but knew I had to wait until she was fully healed. I just wish that the casts could come off now instead of in a few more weeks.

Oh well… I guess it will be another ice-cold shower for me in the morning. But tonight, I'm going to enjoy the feel of her body next to mine. Sweet dreams are so made of this!