A mix of smut and plot. 50,000 words in already! I have no life. But to be fair, no one has any sort of life anymore with this damn bug spreading around.

Ah well, the fuck do y'all care? Here's the next chapter!

Refers to episode 8x02, "The Longer You Stay"~

(((and yes, part of this chapter was inspired by the bathtub scene from the first fifty shades book, DON'T JUDGE ME)))

It was yet another chilly evening in the city of Chicago. In fact, today's chapter takes place a small leap from where we left off, bringing us back to yet another Autumn night in the metropolitan area.

The stars glittered over the bustling streets that refused to sleep, even in the dead of night.

The L ran dutifully on its tracks, transporting tens of thousands of miserable cunts to where they needed to go.

Kerry Weaver had just smacked a homeless guy in the shin with her cane for trying to pick a fight with the vending machine in Chairs.

And our very own Robert Romano was in the bathtub, surrounded by puffy white clouds of soapy bubbles that smelled like lilacs. The only light in the room had been the various candles he'd litten up, tying the entire scene together with their soft, moody glow.

He wasn't alone, of course.

"I really appreciate you letting me and Reese spend the night, Robert." Peter said dejectedly from behind him, running his hands gently across Robert's shoulders. The bald man wedged between his legs sighed at the feeling of his warm palms against his freckled skin. He leaned back against Peter's front as he continued.

"My head's still reeling. One minute she was bugging me about who Reese was gonna go trick-or-treating with this year and the next, she was lying in a morgue. My God, what if he'd gotten worse than a simple head lac?" Peter fret, staring at one of Robert's cinnamon bun scented candles with a look of pure anguish. "He could've been lying in that morgue, too, if that car had been going just a bit faster."

"Well Peter, he isn't, now is he?" Robert said shortly, that pit at the bottom of his stomach returning from earlier, when he'd gotten Peter's call. The taller man had been so distraught on the other line he'd actually drawn Brenda to pull the other surgeon out of his laparoscopy. "Last I checked, our little munchkin is snuggled up in the other room with the teddy bear his mother gave him and Gretel passed out in front of his door."

The bald man reached back, taking one of Peter's hands off of his shoulder and in both of his own, stroking his palm in little circles with one of his thumbs.

"I know...I know," Peter said, as if trying to convince himself. He nuzzled the back of Robert's fat head, pressing a kiss into the silky auburn down there. "I just can't help thinking about it. And what about Reese? He's still pretty confused about when Jessie died, never mind his mother. No matter how many times I tried to explain it to him..." the taller man trailed of, letting out a heavy, exasperated sigh, his words falling against the bald man's head.

They were both silent for a moment, not a sound in the room with the exception of a popping bubble here or there.

"I still can't believe my boy is gonna grow up without a mother."

"Peter, we both agreed to meet in this unique setting to forget about what happened today." Robert squeezed Peter's hand then, giving his knuckles a soft kiss. "I know it was terrifying...traumatic, really. Trust me, it scared the hell out of me too. I damn near ended up like that cardiologist who had himself a fucking heart attack at County of all places." He shuddered at the thought, despite the steamy temperature of the water around the two of them, coupled with the heat radiating from his subordinate, who currently sat wedged between his boss and the far end of the tub.

"We've spent the last several hours worrying about it today, and we're probably gonna spend another several hundred more worrying about it later. Whatever happens further down the road, it'll all work out." The bald man said against his knuckles, still stroking his palm. "And I'll make sure of it. Nothing's gonna happened to you or that little rugrat. Not on my watch..."

He placed Peter's hand back down then, leaving it to rest on his abdomen.

"And as long as that little clusterfuck is taken care of for the night, Dr. Benton," Romano began again, caressing the inside of the man's wrist from where it lie near his belly. "As your boss, I am politely demanding you to stop wrapping your pretty little head around the latest platter of bullshit that life has decided to serve us and enjoy our little meeting together. Before we have to re-enter the ol' Cook County cesspool. Bright and early, might I add..."

Peter let out a small laugh at that, shaking his head a little. He brought his hand up from Robert's sleek abdomen to stroke his chest. He piped up again finally, the short man's words sinking in like the expensive bath salts Robert had added to their bath, which soaked into his muscles, easing away the day's tension little by little. Slowly, he'd begun to feel less like the world was about to come crashing down on top of him like cheap drywall at any given second.

"I suppose we are both quite overdue for a little R&R..." Peter noted softly against the nape of Robert's neck, causing the man to shiver, just like always.

"Yes, we are," Robert purred, his voice dropping down to a sultry tone then, strikingly different from the earnest tone he'd used with the man not long before. "And it just so happens that I could use a big, strong man like yourself to soap me up..."

Peter leaned forward slightly, picking up on the bald man's suggestion. He pressed a soft, lingering kiss against his lips before his hand sought out a tall bottle of body wash.

The other surgeon squeezed out a dollop of the slick, lavender scented liquid, spreading it between his hands before they connected once again with Robert's broad shoulders.

The bald man groaned loudly as Benton ran his hands over his shoulder blades, across the small of his back, and eventually to the bottom of his neck, working him into a lather. Romano shut his eyes at the sensation, the feeling of his subordinate expertly massaging the stress from his muscles making his knees weak and his upper half grow slack.

He dissolved in Peter's hands like a heaping spoon of sugar into some smooth, hot coffee on a cold winter's morning.

"So...Dr. Romano," Peter began with that low, silky tone that made Robert salivate, murmuring his words right in the bald man's ear. He shivered as Peter's large hands came around to his chest, rubbing the soap into the hard muscle there. "Since you're the one who insisted we meet in this exclusive little setting..." he paused in his actions, obtaining another small handful of the body wash.

"How do you suggest we unwind...?" He finished, whispering his last words against Romano's temple. Dread and anxiety soon morphed into excitement, which pooled in the shorter surgeon's gut as it increased with every brush of Peter's hands against his chest. No doubt, his tall, brawny lover could probably feel his racing heart through his bare flesh, giving him some idea of how Robert really wanted to relax after such a miserable day.

"Well go on. Tell me...I know I'm not usually one to your request your noble input, but outside of the OR, I'm much more than willing to hear you out..." he moved his hands away from where he was massaging his pectoral muscles then, moving them lower, much lower. He stroked the inside of Romano's pale, freckled thighs then, guiding him to open his legs a bit.

The bald man leaned back against Peter, already feeling the man's unrestrained arousal pressing against his lower back. His subordinate's manhood only fed the fiery sensation brewing between Romano's thighs. It wasn't at its full length yet, he could tell, yet it remained substantial considering how slow they were starting off.

Robert moaned softly as Peter slid his palms closer and closer to his growing erection, but not quite touching it. He tried not to squirm as best he could, afraid that the man would stop.

"Amazing," Peter commented as he cupped Robert's balls with one hand, only making him even less worried about the day's events and more desperate to be touched by the man behind him. "The noble, all-powerful and all-knowing Rocket Romano. Reduced to nothing but a few lewd vocalizations..."

"God, Peter..." the bald man groaned as Peter turned his attention to his entrance with his other hand, running his finger over the twitching hole slowly.

"That's a little closer your norm," Benton smirked, murmuring his words against Romano's gingerbread-colored sideburn, the contact causing another wave of ecstasy to hit him as if it were Caitlyn Jenner driving her car and he were some innocent pedestrian. He closed his eyes, taking it all in, the scent of the body wash filling his head to the brim, combined with the faded aroma of Benton's cologne.

"But you still haven't told me..." Benton purred, both of his hands moving to Romano's backside now, caressing it on both sides. Another soft moan escaped the bald man's lips then, one he'd been trying to bite back.

Speaking of biting...

"It's not like you to be shy, Robert..." Peter's teeth came down hard on his tender earlobe then, causing Robert to gasp audibly.

"I..." the shorter surgeon was finding it difficult now to string together a few words, let alone a proper sentence as Peter's hands moved back up, running up and down his sides in a gentle caress. "I..." the taller surgeon's erection, now rock-hard as it sat pressed against his hypersensitive skin was making it even harder to think. He settled with his own turbulent stammering, hoping the man behind him would get the hint.

Peter took his hands off him suddenly, much to Robert's despair.

"Dr. Romano," he began again. His tone by itself was almost enough to finish our favorite bald surgeon off right then and there. "I think there's someone else in this tub that could use a big, strong man to soap them up..."

A bit slow on the uptake, Robert eventually moved so that he sat facing Peter in his generously sized bathtub, leaning against the other side, his legs drawn up slightly towards his chest.

Robert drank in the sight of his bare lover, who eyed him as if he were some fat kid and Robert was a double cheeseburger with a side of chili cheese fries. Peter sat back in the shorter man's tub, his arms resting along its rim. His bare chest glistened on account of the steaming hot water he'd been soaking in with his boss, and bubbles surrounded his long, muscular form. The candles around them flickered, bathing the darker surgeon in warm, tinted light.

His eyes moved lower on his body, flicking from his rigid abdomen to his rampant member. It stood above the waterline, resting against his wet abs. The bath water lapped at his hips, bubbles surrounding them in a thin, uneven sheet.

Romano licked his lips at the scene before him before his eyes sought out Peter's own smoky gaze. His honey colored eyes smoldered with raw desire, causing the bald man in front of him to shift in his spot.

"Well, don't just sit there..." he passed Robert the tube of body wash, his voice as rich as a slice of German chocolate cake.

The other surgeon poured a small amount of the slick liquid into one of his own hands, before setting the bottle off to the side again. He lathered the soap between both of them, just as Peter had done before.

He leaned forward so that he was straddling Peter's thighs. Robert's hands met with his sleek, soft skin as he rubbed the fragrant soap into his chest, moving them in small circles that grew larger and larger as he continued.

The taller surgeon sighed, settling his hands on Robert's hips as he lost himself in the feeling of his bald lover's hands on him, gently caressing the expanse of warm, dark skin on his naked body. Those hands moved upward after a while to Peter's shoulders, gently massaging them from the front, causing him to groan.

"God, Robert..." he sighed as the man hit a particularly tense spot, easing away the tightness in it little by little. He pressed a soft kiss to the man's forearm, throwing his head back as his boss turned him into nothing more than a limp noodle of a human being. "Christ. Right there..."

Robert moved his hands lower again, once he'd had his fill with Peter's shoulders. He ran them across his hips, tracing the chiseled, well defined V-line there with his thumbs. Robert's coffee stained orbs then flicked back to his thick, hot length, which lay swollen against his belly, his sensitive pink tip already dripping from his excitement.

Succumbing to temptation, Robert lowered his mouth to Peter's manhood, giving the head a soft, almost chaste kiss. The sudden attention caused the other man's legs to twitch slightly as he took a sharp breath, though he made no effort to stop his boss. He gave it another more lingering kiss to it, licking away the spent that'd coated his lips from the action before wrapping them around the throbbing, aching bundle of nerves, his tongue caressing it. Peter yelled, gripping the sides of the tub until his palms grew sore.

"Robert..." he moaned as the man slowly pushed more and more of his turgid length into his mouth, sucking hard. Robert moved his head, up and down, drawing Peter's member in and out of his mouth, occasionally pausing to lap at the tip.

The bald man pulled him out of his mouth all the way, pressing kisses against the delicate underside of Benton's erection. The tall surgeon moaned and writhed at the attention, waves of pleasure wracking him to the core.

"God, you taste so good..." Robert mumbled against him, the vibration from his voice causing Peter's eyes to slam shut for a brief moment. He held the man's hips in both hands as he pulled his head back up, wrapping his lips around him, licking the head as if it were his very own Peter-flavored lollipop.

The room was filled with moans and groans of appreciation as Robert continued, pushing the man's length to the very back of his throat and back up again, until Peter felt like he was going to explode.

"Ah...Robert..." he whined, his voice an octave or two higher than usual. "Don't stop...please don't stop!"

Peter's entire form tensed up as he erupted into his boss's mouth, before growing slack again. He took his hands off the side of the bathtub to caress the back of Robert's head as he swallowed every last bit of what he had to offer. He took his mouth away from the man's subdued erection, sitting back to enjoy the fruits of his efforts.

He was rewarded with the sight of Peter Benton, panting and gasping for air, his cheeks flushed and perspiration covering his forehead in a sheen. His half hard member lay curled towards his hip, and his chest rose and fell with each labored breath he took.

"Well that was one hell of a bad day therapy session..." the taller man gasped once he'd caught his breath a bit. Robert leaned in, giving him a soft yet passionate kiss, straddling the man's hips. Peter wrapped his arms around the man as he tasted himself on his lover's lips, pulling him close.

"Only the best for my guy..." Romano purred once they stopped for air, gazing into those lovely dark eyes. He brought his head up slightly, kissing away the beads of sweat on Benton's hot skin.

The taller surgeon brought both his hands up to hold Romano's bald head, running his fingers through the feathery remainder of his hair on the sides and back of it.

"I suppose...after treatment like that," Peter began seductively, his intense gaze penetrating Robert more deeply than his generously sized member ever could. "You're entitled to a little reward. My treat." He finished, giving the man a suggestive smile than made Robert's knees feel like shitty hospital Jello all over again.

And with that, they climbed out of the hot tub, one after the other, allowing it to drain.

Peter wrapped a fluffy gray towel around his short lover, hugging him from behind as he did. He kissed the man's temple before his hand sought out his own, drying off as best he could before the two would inevitably find their way back to each other, kissing passionately, hands wandering, groping, caressing as their bodies prepared to become one yet again.

Neither had managed to dry off even half way before they fell back onto Robert's extravagantly large bed, kissing each other hungrily, as if not doing so would cause them terrible physical harm. Their towels lay discarded on the floor by one side of the bed as Peter's mouth met Robert's neck, exploring it ravenously, taking no prisoners.

The man underneath him moaned into the candle-lit room at the feeling of Benton's hot, wet kisses, which trailed all the way down to his chest, stopping at his sternum. The intimate skin on skin contact made Romano feel warm, real warm, almost as warm as he had the night he'd been stuck in the hospital with the flu and Benton had refused to leave his side until morning. It'd taken place over a year ago, but he remembered that night as if it were just yesterday.

"Peter, love..." he choked the words out through his various noises of appreciation, which came involuntarily now as Peter's kisses travelled the expanse of his searing porcelain skin. "Feels...so good."

Romano's panting only got heavier as Peter kissed his stomach. His tongue circled his navel, tracing it. Those large, yet gentle hands found their way to his heaving chest yet again that night, teasing his hard, sensitive nipples.

Shivers ran up his spine as Peter's mouth ventured lower still, down between his thighs. His hot breath hit his entrance, causing him to gasp, automatically spreading his legs to give the man better access to one of his most delicate spots. He gripped the sheets as Peter ran his tongue over his tight opening before thrusting his tongue inside, pushing it as far as it could go.

Robert held Peter's head, guiding him as he fucked him with his tongue, feeling his muscles tighten and twitch with each time he pushed it in and out of him. He moaned loudly, pulling the man's head closer to him, his stomach feeling hot and tingly with each movement inside of him.

Eventually, he just couldn't bear the feeling any longer. He wanted more, needed more than he'd been offered.

Robert pulled Benton's head away, pulling on his shoulder, urging him to cover his naked, perspiring body with his own once more. Their tongues locked into their usual battle against each other as they kissed, stealing the breath from one another's lungs.

"My, my. Aren't we impatient tonight..." Peter teased as soon as they'd pulled away, caressing Robert's cheek with one hand.

Unable to string together the perfect set of words in his head, let alone out loud, that would properly convey what he wanted...no, needed from the other man in that moment, Romano sputtered the only coherent terms he could think of.

"Now, Peter...give it to me..." he whined, aching to be rocked into oblivion by the man on top of him. "Please."

The darker of the two surgeons tore himself away for a moment, reaching onto Robert's nightstand, fumbling for the little bottle of personal lubricant he kept there.

For what seemed like ages, Peter stroked his recovered erection, covering it in the slick gel, on his knees between Robert's thighs. The sight only made the shorter man hungrier for him, hungrier for the sensation of his entire member to fill him completely, to rock him to his core.

Peter covered Robert with his body once more, allowing himself to glide into the man with ease. His muscles tightened around him, now well accustomed to their inevitable combination occurring on a regular basis.

He held both of Robert's hands upon having entered him completely, lacing their fingers together.

Benton thrust into him, hard and fast, sinking his teeth into that sweet spot between his neck and his shoulder. Robert cried out as his member slid against his prostate at the perfect angle, the sensation intermingling with the delicious stinging pain near his neck. It was so much intimacy, so much raw, intense pleasure, it almost hurt.

Gradually, each bump and jolt against his boss's hips became less coordinated and more frantic as he became desperate, dragging Robert alongside him in his race to their own unique sense of nirvana.

Sharp nails sank into Benton's flesh as they came together. Robert's strangled cry caused his ears to ring. And, frankly, he'd have been happy if that were to be the last thing he'd ever heard again.

He collapsed next to Romano then, still wheezing from his exertions. Peter held his hand tightly, almost as if he were scared he'd let go, as if he'd leave.

He curled up to Romano then, once he'd recovered sufficiently, pulling him close. Burying his head into his shoulder, he lay on his side, taking the bald man in his arms.

For what seemed like the millionth time that evening, Robert grappled for the right words to tell his lover.

He came up empty, though, and only settled for pressing a soft kiss against the side of his head, wrapping his arms around his warm, perspiring body. He held him tight, doing his best to tell the man without a single word that he wasn't going to leave, that he couldn't leave. Not now, not ever.

Peter returned the action with a kiss of his own against the throbbing bite mark in the crook of Robert's shoulder, his lips caressing the bruised skin almost apologetically, as they drifted off in each other's arms.

And at the end of the day, it didn't matter what kind of havoc was released into their lives in the hectic little city of Chicago. It seemed that as long as they had each other, our two surgical heroes could withstand anything.

to be continued...