The next thing Brody knew, he was pinned tight to a red-painted iron girder, on what appeared to be the top of the Golden Gate Bridge. He wondered if he was dreaming, or dead. He tried to struggle, to escape, but his bonds were magical not mortal, and he was stuck fast. He cried out on frustration. He couldn't move his hands, his arms, his legs, his body – anything but his head. He twisted it to the right; the sky was dark, but the lights of the city sparkled against the ocean, casting a blue and golden glow over the water. He turned to the left, and his focus fell on the Avatar who had brought him there. Leo was leaning against a nearby girder, half in shadow, smiling dangerously.

"Agent Brody. Sorry, Kyle. Did it not occur to you after all your research that I might have been able to sense you as you arrived at the manor? I must admit it was kind of fun watching you creep around the house all serious and FBI-ish, thinking you could sneak up on me."

Brody didn't answer. He was burning up with shame and self-loathing. He'd have been kicked out of the Bureau for that kind of short-sightedness and stupidity. And now here he was, trapped, at the mercy of an Avatar. He had no idea what had happened to the vanquishing potion; only that it was no longer in his hand. He had failed.

"There's no need to look so defeated Kyle" said Leo. "I just brought you up here so we could talk. I have to say I'm a little pissed that you tried to kill me, again. This whole thing with the Avatars… it needs to stop. Right now. How many times do I have to tell you we mean no harm? We just want to make the world a better place. Have I ever tried to harm you? Ever? I could've killed you just now. But I didn't. And I wouldn't. Ever. Which is more than I can say for you."

Leo held up the potion vial and walked up to Brody with it. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"You know damn well…"

Anger flared again in Brody, and he tried again to struggle out of his trap, face flushing bright red from the effort. He yelled, cursed, spat. Then, just as quickly, all the fight went out of him and his head sagged down to his chest. He sighed.

"Agent Brody…" prompted Leo.

Reluctantly, Brody raised his eyes to Leo's. They met briefly for a second, before the agent looked away in shame.

"I… I don't know. I was confused. Angry. Didn't know who I could trust."

"Yeah, well if you couldn't trust me you could at least have trusted Paige and the sisters" growled Leo. He had stepped in closer to Brody so that they were less than an arm's length apart. "But what I've been trying to tell you is, you can trust me. Can I," he edged closer still to the other man, "trust you?"

Brody's heart was thumping as if it would jump out of his chest. Here was Leo, standing closer to him than he had ever stood before. The angel's hazel eyes bore a hole into his. He had never felt so vulnerable as he stood there, pinned, completely immobilised. Leo could do anything he wanted to him and Brody would be powerless to stop him. He could hardly think straight. His mind kept flickering images of Leo, the Avatars, the vanquishing potion, Paige, his feverish dreams…

His mouth tried to form words to answer Leo's question, but once more all that came out was a meaningless stutter.

"What's the matter Kyle, am I making you nervous?" said Leo with a sly grin. He noticed Brody's eyes flash to Leo's right hand, where the agent had just spotted the potion, still intact, safe within its Egyptian pottery casing.

"Oh" frowned the angel. "So you're still thinking about killing me. And here I thought we were friends."

"No, no, I…"

"Look, let's put an end to that idea once and for all, shall we? So we can concentrate on… moving forward. Now I want the truth – is this the last vial?"

Brody nodded the affirmative.

"Good."

Leo strode over to the edge of the bridge. He turned his head, looking over his shoulder at Brody, ensuring that the younger man was watching. He made solemn eye contact; held the other man's gaze for a beat, before turning back to look out over the ocean. He wound back his arm like a pitcher, then hurled the potion into the sky. They both watched silently as it arced down towards the water, growing smaller and smaller, before finally disappearing into the night.

Leo turned to face Brody again. Paused, then began walking slowly, calmly back towards where the agent stood, maintaining eye contact all the way. He didn't stop until the two men stood almost nose to nose.

Brody was in shock. He didn't know how to feel. On one hand, he knew he should feel devastated. His last potion lost forever to the waves, the Avatars free to unleash their new and unknown hell. But on the other hand – well, much as he didn't like to admit it to himself – but to have Leo here, right in front of him, so close in fact that he could feel the angel's body heat – it was doing funny things to him, making him feel like he did in all those vivid, intense dreams of late. It felt good.

"Y'know, Kyle…" Leo's voice sent a shock through his body. It seemed somehow deeper, more resonant than normal. And so close he could feel the other man's breath on his lips.

"Piper says she wishes we would just play nice." Leo raised his finger to Kyle's chest and traced it gently downwards. Brody let out a soft moan.

"Don't you want to play…" the finger trailed down over Brody's stomach "…nice?"

Leo hooked his finger over the top of Brody's waistband and rested it there, the tip of it just touching the bare flesh in the gap between his shirt's buttonholes.

"Yes" moaned Kyle, now in no doubt as to what he really wanted; too aroused to feel ashamed. Just below where Leo's finger rested, he could feel himself harden.

"Are you sure?" said Leo softly, pressing his smooth cheek against Brody's, breathing into the agent's ear and sending an involuntary shudder of excitement through his body.

"Because, if you still don't think you can trust me," he continued, "I can always…"

He unhooked his finger from Brody's waistband and took a half step back.

"I can always just orb you back to your apartment, and myself back to the manor. I'm sure I could arrange it so that we never have to cross paths again."

"No!" exclaimed Brody, breathless, panicked. "No, I trust you! I trust you, I swear!" He was aching for Leo to touch him again, to whisper something, anything, in his ear.

"So you don't want me to orb you home?"

"No! Please! I… please!"

Leo moved in close again. This time his chest was lightly touching Brody's. When he spoke, his mouth was directly over the other man's, their lips almost touching.

"If you want to stay with me Kyle, you need to tell me what you want from me."

"God, I can't! I…"

"If you don't, I can't let you stay" teased the angel, his lips now brushing Brody's softly, sending shocks right down to the younger man's groin. Brody didn't think he'd ever been this turned on.

"I want… God, I want you to kiss me, Leo" breathed Brody.

He watched as Leo's eyes widened and the playful grin on his face melted into a serious look of lustful determination. The angel raised his hand to Brody's face and gently stoked his fingers over the other man's slightly stubbled cheek. He leaned in slowly and pressed his lips on Brody's. Gently at first, but then, feeling the agent moan into his mouth, he kissed him harder, more passionately. Brody responded by opening his mouth wider, and Leo took advantage of this by probing Brody's mouth with his tongue.

Brody felt like he was on fire. He no longer noticed the chill wind that rose from the water, giving him goosebumps through his thin shirt. All he could feel was the angel's hot mouth, his hot tongue, and that strong body pressed up against his own.

Then, suddenly, Leo pulled back, breaking the kiss. Hurt, confused, Brody stared at the angel with wounded, reproachful eyes.

"We can't do this" said Leo. "Not here at least. There's too many people who could find us here. The Avatars, the Elders – they could sense us. The girls could scry for us. And I don't think we could come up with a plausible explanation for any of them." he said, with a troubled smile.

"Where then? Please Leo, I want you." Brody didn't care if he sounded like he was begging.

"I know a place… but you'll have to trust me."

"I do, you know I do."

"Well, it's in the Underworld…"

"What?"

"Come on Kyle, let me finish. You said you trusted me."

"Sorry, go on."

"Well recently, you know I was kind of obsessed with vanquishing as many demons as I could? To protect the boys? Well I wiped out this whole demon clan in some far off corner of the Underworld. They were unpleasant, y'know, and not too popular with the other demons. No demon would live near them. As far as I know, their leader's cave is still empty, and what's more it's magically protected so that whoever's in it can't be sensed or tracked or scryed for. It was only through chance and bloody-mindedness that I found it in the first place."

"Okay."

"Okay what?"

"Okay, take me there. Now."

"It might be dangerous…"

"I don't care Leo. Please. Let's go."

This time, when Leo orbed them, his hands weren't clamped aggressively on Brody's shoulders. He planted a quick, reassuring kiss on the agent's lips, embraced him tightly, and then once more they were lost in light.