Author's notes: Okay, so this chapter is MAJOR fluff!! But I just couldn't help myself. Hope you enjoy!

Going Home

With all the boxes packed, Greg had slightly reluctantly, followed James out the front door to take the trip to his parent's home. Hating car trips, Greg had immediately reclined his seat and drifted to sleep, leaving James to listen to his book on CD, with the background of his sleeping partner's soft snores.

When they finally pulled into the drive, James shook Greg awake. As he rose, "Ugh…I hoped you were going to change your mind."

"Well, we're here now, so let's make the best of it. It's only one night. We can leave right after breakfast if you want."

After a quick glance at his watch, "That should be about…17 hours. Eight hours of sleep, ten if I push it, leaves seven hours of idle chitchat. Great! Let's do this!"

James grabbed their bag from the back seat saying, "I don't need you to pretend to be someone you're not. I just want my parents to see that I'm happy."

Clambering out of the car, he tried to think of how important this was to his partner, but couldn't overcome his hatred for family events of any kind. With a deep breath, he tried to put James' feelings before his own. "Okay. I get it. I'll do my best."

"Thank you." Greg gave his signature curt nod with his eyes averting then followed James to the house. Without knocking, they entered, James yelling, "Mom, Dad, we're here."

A female voice answered, "In the kitchen!"

James dropped their bag at the bottom of the staircase and grabbed Greg's hand, pulling him gently down the hall. Suddenly, Greg felt like a teenage boy again, meeting parents for the first time. James met both of his parents with a hug before making introductions. "Mom, Dad, you remember Greg." Taking Greg's hand in his, "Greg, my parents, Evan and Victoria."

Not much for physical contact, and feeling more and more uncomfortable by the moment, Greg nodded with his greeting. "Hello." He had no idea what to say next. What should a man say to his adult boyfriend's parents?

James' mother saved him from making that decision. "Greg, we've heard so much about you. We're so glad you're here."

And again, he was at a loss. He hated small talk. He knew nothing about James' parents other than that they were Jewish, only having met them at James' weddings. He'd only just found out their first names. He went with what any other person would do; he lied. "Happy to be here."

With a huge smile on her face, "Well, Jimmy, I was just finishing up dinner. Why don't you help me in here so your father can go relax? Greg, are you more of a kitchen man or a brandy man?"

Finally a question he could truly answer. "Definitely more of a brandy man." James squeezed his partner's hand before walking toward his mother rolling up his sleeves.

Silently, Greg followed Evan into a large living room with a fireplace and watched as he poured two glasses of amber liquid and handed him one glass while motioning for him to take a seat. Suddenly he started to think he should have been a kitchen man.

He was shocked by the words that came out of Evan's mouth. "This is very rare for us, to have Jimmy bring someone home. He never brought any girlfriend home, ever. His first wife, whom I hated by the way, we met at the wedding. Bonnie we met at the rehearsal dinner. Julie was the only one we met ahead of time. She came for a barbeque; but only that once before the wedding."

There was no question at the end, just an opening for Greg to say something, explain himself. In all his life, he'd never felt as completely lost as he had in the last ten minutes. He took a gulp of the brandy in his glass, letting it burn his throat on the way down, hoping it would give him the nerve he needed. He'd never done this before.

"I love your son. He loves me. I know that sounds cliché, but it's the truth. We've been best friends for fifteen years. He knows I'm an ass and he's okay with it." He paused, waiting to see if that was enough. When there was no response, he continued. "Two men, doctors, who could get a woman if they wanted, don't choose to be gay after over forty years of life just for the heck of it. They do it because it's real and they can't ignore it anymore." He took another swig of brandy. "I'm not screwing with him. Well, not in the sense that would bother you." He looked up to see the slight amusement in the other man's eyes, giving him the strength to go on. "I've never been married. I've only ever had two real relationships in my life. One was a woman; a long time ago. We were together for five years. The other is with your son. I'm not going anywhere."

Finally, Evan spoke. "Good to know. So are you two getting married?"

Relaxing, Greg leaned back in his chair, tilting his head with a curious look on his face. "You're really okay with this?"

"Vicky and I are very open-minded. If Jimmy's happy, then so are we."

"He's happy."

"We know. He's told us."

"Good. Then this will be a lot easier than I thought." He cleared his throat. "New Jersey doesn't recognize same-sex marriages, but it does recognize civil unions."

"And?"

He chuckled, loving the fact that he wasn't going to get off easy. "I'm asking for your permission to give your son a ring."

After a sip from his glass, "I have three sons. I went my whole life knowing that I had absolutely no say in who my sons married. And now here I sit, getting to actually decide."

Attempting sarcasm, "And you've met me four times!"

It was a moment before Evan's chuckle followed and Greg allowed himself to join in. As the moment faded, the tone of the conversation turned serious yet again. "Are you Jewish?"

"No. I'm…not really religious at all."

"Are you dying?"

"No quicker than you."

A pause followed while Evan emptied his glass with one last swallow. "Don't hurt my son."

"I won't."

He studied Greg for a few silent moments before finally saying, "You're a very lucky man."

"I know."

"Will there be a ceremony?"

Scrunching his face, "I'm…not really a ceremony kind of guy."

"I can live with that."

He waited a moment before asking, "So…we're good then?"

"Yes, we're good."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me until he says yes."

As if the timing were perfect, James walked into the room. "Dinner's ready. You guys ready?" With a smirk, Evan rose and walked out of the room first. "What was that about?"

"We had a nice chat."

"Seriously? You…chatted?"

"In…a matter of speaking, yes."

"What did you talk about?"

"You." Without giving him any time to respond, he followed the direction Evan had gone.

Dinner was delicious. Obviously James had acquired his cooking skills from his mother. James kept the conversation going with his parents, leaving Greg to only need to interject a handful of times. They talked about work, their new apartment and James' family. When dinner was over, Greg helped clear the table as much as his cane would allow him before they all went into the living room.

Not at all shy about their affection, James took a place close to Greg's side on the sofa, while his parents took the two chairs. With his arm across the back of the sofa behind James' shoulders, he listened as the conversation continued about the family, James seemingly catching up on all the gossip. Instead of his normal discomfort in family situations, he was actually quite content seated beside his partner listening to the banter.

As the night drew to an end, James having snuggled closer and closer to his side, Greg decided he couldn't procrastinate any longer. "Before we head to bed, I have something I need to say." He shifted and dug into his pocket, feeling James tense beside him. Holding the black velvet box in his hand, "We both know I suck at this. I'm not lovey dovey. I don't have a paragraph of quotes or a list of reasons. I can't do the bended knee thing. I just have this." He placed the box on James' knee. Heat rose to his face, partly from expressing any emotion in front of anyone but James and partly because it hadn't been long since James had told him to wait. But he pressed on. "I love you. You make me happy."

With shaking hands, James picked up the box and glanced across the room to his parents before opening it. In all his life, he never expected to be given a ring. But even beyond that, he never expected Greg to do this in front of his parents. Glancing again at his father, he noticed the knowing look in his eyes. "Did you know?"

With a nod, "He asked earlier."

Completely shocked, he turned to Greg. "You asked my father?"

"I figured one father hating me was enough. Besides, if he would have disapproved then I would've been forced to listen to your complaining for the rest of my life because you have to go to Chanukah dinner alone."

"I've been asking you to come here for dinner for years and you've never come."

"Yeah, but now we're a couple. I have to do…couplish…things."

"So you're gonna come to dinner with me now?"

"You haven't said yes…yet."

"Oh cut the crap! You know I'm gonna say yes."

"Then I'm coming to dinner." He turned to Evan. "Thanks."

"You're more than welcome."

Victoria finally spoke. "Well, let's see the ring, Jimmy!"

He was just about to open the box when he turned to Greg again. "Wait! When did you get this?"

"Not this." Greg dug in his pocket and pulled out the other box containing the matching ring. "These." He wriggled the box in between two fingers. "I ordered them from a catalog the day you went to get boxes. I picked them up yesterday when I went to pick up my refills. Now, are you going to open it or not?"

Inside the box, was a gold band lined with diamonds. It was brilliant. Just as he was about to slip it on his finger, Greg told him to read the inscription. Inside, was the name, 'James House'. Without pause, Greg handed James his own ring. The inscription read, 'Greg Wilson'.

Without caring about his parents being in the room, James leaned over and kissed Greg on the lips. When he pulled back, he whispered, "I love you."

With an eye roll in their direction, "Not in front of the parental beings."

James chuckled and slid the ring he still held onto Greg's finger before handing him the one that should go on his own. Greg raised an eyebrow, but got the point when James held out his hand. As he slipped the ring onto his lover's finger, he felt the pang in his chest. This was it. This was how people felt on their wedding day. It was only then that he understood the inclination.

"Your mother is dying over there. Go show her the ring already!"

All four of them rose. James went to his mother and Greg shook Evan's hand. James moved to hug his father and Greg felt just a tinge of jealousy. A few minutes of congratulations followed before James took Greg's hand and led him upstairs.

Later, lying in bed next to each other in the guest room Greg caught James looking at his left hand. "You have worn a ring before."

"This time it's different. I've always bought my rings myself. This is the first time anyone's bought me any piece of jewelry, let alone a ring."

"You like it?"

"I love it. I still can't believe you asked my dad."

"I like him. Got a good sense of humor."

"What did he say?"

"He told me not to hurt you. And he told me I was lucky."

"I think I'm the lucky one."

With a snort, "I think you're the crazy one."

Ignoring his last statement, "So can we sign some sort of official paper, or are we okay with just the rings?"

"I…have no idea. I'm fine either way. You know paperwork is meaningless to me. You have my medical proxy, we own real estate together and you're the sole beneficiary of my life insurance and in my will. I think that pretty much covers everything, unless you want to combine checking accounts."

"Wait. I'm the sole beneficiary in your will? That takes a visit to a lawyer. When did you have time for that?"

"It doesn't take a lawyer if I didn't need to change it."

He was stunned. "How long?"

"Since Stacy left."

"Seriously?"

"You're my best friend; my only friend. You have been for fifteen years. That's never changed; still won't."

"You're a lot better at this relationship thing than you think you are."

"Only because it's with you." James rose an eyebrow and Greg continued. "You don't need me to change. You don't have any expectations of me. You're okay with me being me."

Quickly, as if wanting to say it before he changed his mind, "I want to sign papers."

Stretching his word, "Ooookaaayyy."

There was no spoken question, but he heard the unspoken one. "I want to make sure you have to put up a fight to get rid of me."

"I didn't leave the first time."

He felt like he'd been punched in the chest. "I…I deserved that."

Greg ran his hand over his face. "No you didn't." With a sideways glance at his partner, he saw the hurt in James' eyes. "I'm sorry. I just meant that I'm not going anywhere." Another short silence followed before he added, "I told you I suck at this."

James rolled further onto his side and ran his hand along Greg's unshaven cheek. "No you don't. You're blatantly honest; you never hide what you want to say. If I didn't love that quality about you, I couldn't love you. Besides, one of has to pick fights so we can have make-up sex."

A devilish grin came over Greg's face. "You minx!"

"A quality you can appreciate."

"You better believe it." Their lips met in the briefest of kisses before James snuggled into his usual position in the crook of Greg's arm, his head resting between his partner's chest and shoulder, an arm possessively thrown across his chest. As Greg ran fingers thru the soft brown locks of his lover's hair, peace washed over him. "We can stay as long as you want tomorrow." With James, he was home; it didn't matter where they were.