A/N: Feeling a bit sappy today, enjoy the chapter.

After It All

Claire could not control the scowl that took her features. The purse of her lips, the crease of her eyebrows, the dangerous look that flashed in her eyes, no, none of these were of her own control. She could not stop them even if she wanted to- she wanted to, but couldn't. The reason for her scowling you ask? The sight before her as they stood in the cereal isle of their supermarket.

Ralph and herself had been walking through the shopping centre, doing their weekly shop. Everything had been great, they had been talking about renovations to their recently purchased home, when, a group of young girls had walked up to Ralph.

"Excuse me," one of the girls had said. "Are you Ralph? The android who was the first to marry?" they had batted their eyelashes and Ralph, being the nice person that he was, had replied in the positive and that had led to the group surrounding him and barraging him with questions and statements. Claire had ended up being pushed to the side by one of the women in the process, which led to her standing to the side, near the boxes of captain crunch, watching her husband being flirted with.

A high pitched laugh caught her attention and she looked over to see one of the girls- a blonde with long legs, grab Ralph's arm while she tilted her head back in laughter. Claire pushed her pink hair out of her face and sucked in a breath. She gripped the handle of the trolley and pushed it down the isle and away from the scene.

She had been married to Ralph for three years, and every time that something like this happened, she died a little. It hurt, it hurt that people, that women would just walk up and start flirting with him in front of her.

She bit her bottom lip as tears began to form in her eyes. She felt that she was being paranoid, she knew that she was being paranoid, but every time that girls went up to talk to him, she felt that it would be a matter of time before Ralph found someone that he liked. Claire was getting older, she was hitting thirty and she knew that she was starting to look older, it would only be a matter of time, a few years maybe, before she was too old, before he stopped wanting her.

She reached over and put a jar of spaghetti sauce in the trolley. Why would anyone want her when she was older? Especially when they looked as amazing as Ralph. She placed a bag of pasta in the trolley and tried not to jump as Ralph fell into step beside her. She glanced up at him, he seemed happy at least.

"Those girls are happy for us." he said cheerfully, his brown eyes glittering with happiness.

"I'm sure they were." an edge that she did not mean sneaked into her voice. She took some crackers from the shelf and put it in the trolley before walking down another isle.

Ralph watched her retreating back and tilted his head in confusion.

X

"Here, let Ralph help you." Ralph said as he took the the paper bags from Claire and walked to the kitchen. He put the bags on the counter and began to unpack the items and place them into their homes.

Claire followed him into the kitchen and wordlessly took items out of the bag and put them away. Ralph offered her a smile and frowned when she ignored him and continued with her task. What was wrong with her? Had he done something? If he had done something, why did she not tell him? He tried to think of what he could have done, but he was unable to think of anything. He watched as Claire put away the last items from the bags and wordlessly put the bags in the recycle bin and walked off into the living room where she put the television on. Her eyes bore into the screen, Ralph found himself flinching at the fire in them, whatever was wrong, she was furious.

Ralph slowly sat beside her on the sofa. He assessed the various scenarios that could happen; he could ask her what was wrong and she could actually answer. He could ask her what was wrong and she could shout at him. She could also completely ignore him. He reached over and touched her hand, he felt her muscles tense. What was wrong with her?

"What is the matter Claire?" Ralph asked, he rubbed his thumb against the top of her hand.

Claire's lips thinned and curled downwards.

"Please..." Ralph asked quietly. "I want to know what has made you sad." he brushed her hand again and repeated his plea. "Please."

"Why don't you ask those girls." her voice was low, were he human he would not have caught it.

Her words gave him pause. What had caused her to say that? Was she talking about the girls in the shops? What did they have to do with anything? Had one of them said something to her? He could not remember anything happening but maybe they had said something? If so what and why was she angry with him? He lifted her hand to his lips and brushed against them.

"What is wrong Claire? Ralph need to know, I cannot do anything if I don't know why you are upset."

Claire tilted her head to look up into his pleading eyes. She tried to stay mad at him but instead found herself smiling fondly at him- damn him having such innocent and wonderfully beautiful eyes. How dare he make her melt with a single glance, he was just like a puppy. No wonder he was so popular with women. She reached up and touched his cheek, she smiled lightly.

"I'm sorry," she began slowly. "I'm just..." she shrugged helplessly. "I'm feeling insecure and

I'm taking it out on you..." at his questioning expression she let out another sigh and elaborated. "Those girls… when they were talking to you, they… they're so pretty, so flirty with you.. it makes me feel as though it's only a matter of time..." she look away with a shaky breath.

Ralph clutched the hand on his cheek and leaned forwards. " 'a matter of time'? What does Claire mean?" he asked, his voice shook with worry.

"Matter of time before you find someone else…" she felt him tense and her eyes watered. "someone younger, I'm not going to look like this forever..." her throat closed as she tried to breathe. Her eyes stung and she looked down at the coffee table, she couldn't look at him.

"Claire." Ralph's hand moved to her chin and lifted her face to look at him. His eye bore into hers. "Claire." he repeated quietly. "Ralph only wants to be with you. I don't want anyone else." his thumb rubbed against her chin. "I love you Claire."

Claire sniffed and shook her head. "I love you too, but-"

"No buts." he shook his head. "It's not going to change. Ralph married Claire, Ralph isn't leaving." he leaned forwards and placed his lips against her forehead. Claire felt herself smile and lean into the touch. She trembled and closed her eyes as he pulled her close to him.

"I'm sorry.." she said quietly. "I'm just so worried… I overthink everything..." she felt herself snuggling into his warmth.

Ralph ran his fingers through her hair, he smiled as the pink strands flowed through his fingers. Something inside him soared as he felt her sigh into him. Gods he loved her. He tilted her head to look at him, he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. She melted into the embrace, her hands moved to clutch at him. His fingers rested in her hair and she moaned.

"Ralph..." she gasped as she pulled back for air.

Ralph smiled tenderly. "Shall I show you how special you are to me?"

XXX

Adrian hummed to himself as he turned on the tap and filled the sink. He watched as the water mixed with the detergent and the became bubbly. Turning the tap off he went about washing the dishes, he had a dishwasher, but the thing had died and he had been lazy in getting it repaired. He hummed to himself and scrubbed at a pan.

He jumped as lips touched his neck, he smiled and tilted his head back to lean into the touch. Two hands slid around his waist and brush against his stomach. Adrian smiled and pulled his hands out of the water, he dried them with the tea towel.

"How's Hank?" he asked as Connor's chin leaned against his shoulder.

"Hank is well, he has been taking better care of his home. He even wants us to go to work early tomorrow so that we can get started on a case." Connor slid his right hand under Adrian's shirt, causing the other to shiver. He smiled and brushed his lips against the others neck.

Adrian smiled. "I'm glad that he's made so much progress over the past years- if anyone deserves happiness, it's him." Adrian reached for a plate to continue washing the dishes. He nearly dropped the plate as the hand stroking his abdomen slid under his waistband. He put the plate back down and tilted his head back. "I am trying to do the dishes."

Connor's smile widened and he nipped at the offered neck. He slid his left hand to cover Adrian's, his eyes locked onto the matching gold bands, his eyes softened at the sight and the memories it invoked. He lifted the hand to his mouth and kissed the golden ring, his systems twitched as his lips touched the band.

X

Adrian cried out as his prostate was hit. His head threw back as the belt wrapped around it was tugged."Yess~"

Connor's lips twitched as tugged on the belt and sped up his thrusts. He had thought it before, but he would always love the sounds that his partner made. Adrian was perfect, so sensitive, so eager, so responsive to him. Gods he loved him. Adrian started to gasp harshly, Connor eased the grip on the belt and instead put all of his focus into his thrusts. Stars flashed before his eyes as he drew closer to the end, he moved harder and faster and as he felt Adrian go rigid, he let out a gasp as he met his own completion.

Collapsing beside Adrian, he pulled him to his side and rested his head atop Adrian's brown damp locks. He kissed the other's head and tugged him closer to him. Adrian closed his eyes and sleepily put his arms around Connor's waist. He smiled as Connor pulled the belt away from his neck.

"I love you." he rasped as he kissed the androids chest.

Connor stroked the other's cheek and kissed him in response.

"You're so wonderful." Adrian murmured.

Connor continued to gently touch him. Adrian was tired, he could tell, he also couldn't blame him, they had been 'active' for the last two hours. He smiled warmly as he ran his fingers down the other's arms. He was content with life, the last three years had been wonderful. He and Hank had continued to work together and crack homicide cases. Hank had done so well for himself, he had even started to drink less, that's not to say that he had stopped drinking but instead of being hungover every day, he was only hungover on his days off. Connor had also changed his fortunes, he had moved in with Adrian and the two of them had been renovating the house, building on the garden and things were just great for them.

"Marry me..."

Connor was thrown from his musings at the words. He felt himself go still. Had he heard that correctly? Adrian hadn't said that, had he? If he had Connor had no idea that Adrian had been thinking about marriage- Connor hadn't.

"Sorry?" he asked quietly.

Adrian must have noticed something for he jumped up and watched Connor with wide eyes. His heartbeat picked up and he licked his suddenly dry lips. He scratched at his arm and seemed to scramble for something to say. Just as Connor was about to open his mouth and say something, Adrian seemed to find words.

"That is, I… I, you don't have to, I was just… Connor, I..." he let out a shaky breath and jumped as Connor cupped his jaw.

"Adrian." he said quietly, he leaned forwards and brushed his lips against his. "It would be wonderful to marry you-" he was cut off as his now fiance let out something that sounded like a shriek and tackled him to the bed.

X

"What are you thinking about?" Adrian asked as he twisted in Connor's arms.

Connor leaned forward. "Just how glad I am to have you." he said simply before kissing his love.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it!