A/N: Chapter 3! Yay! I really like this chapter, and I hope you like it, too. Again, I don't own Dove chocolates or their cute little sayings. Otherwise, usual disclaimer applies. Please review!

Chapter 3

"So take these words and sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again"

"And the first thing I want to say to you," continued Ryan, his brow furrowed and his eyes dark, "is to tell you, no, to command you, to stop being so goddamned noble."

Greg raised both eyebrows in shock, his mouth falling open. "Excuse me?" he blurted, a flush rising to his cheeks. "Stop being noble? I'm not being noble, Ryan; I'm being honest."

"Bullshit." Ryan's voice was soft, the tone almost playful, but there was steel in his voice that would not bend no matter what defense Greg gave. "Absolute bullshit. You would never be content with 'just loving' me. You may say that now, but you know as well as I do that your contentment will not last for long. It's not the way you are."

Greg's face darkened, and he glowered at Ryan. "I just poured my heart out to you, and your reaction is 'bullshit'?" growled Greg, his tone dangerously calm.

Ryan nodded emphatically. "Yeah, Greg, that's my reaction. You didn't pour out your heart to me; I know your heart well enough to know that. What you just gave me was a load of crap based on what you thought I wanted to hear. And, while it is noble and gallant of you, it's not what I want. And it's most certainly not what you want."

"Oh yeah?" countered Greg, setting his jaw in anger. "Well if you know me so well, Ryan, why don't you tell me what I really want to do?"

Leaning forward so that their faces were only a few inches apart, Ryan said calmly, "You want to fight. That's what you really want more than anything right now. You want to fight for me, you want to fight whatever it is holding me back from coming back to you, but you think that because of what you and I have gone through, I don't want you fighting for me. That I want you to give me time so that I'll come back to you." Ryan paused, his eyes glittering savagely. "Well, that's not what I want, Greg. I want you to fight for me. I want you to put your heart and soul into winning me back instead of pandering about how you're content just loving me."

Greg just stared at Ryan, his mind and his heart racing at a million miles an hour. Finally, he slumped back in the couch, shaking his head in disgust and despair. "I do not understand you," he said, only half-joking. "Just a few weeks ago, you were the one telling me that you needed time to readjust, and now you're telling me that I shouldn't give you time? Which is it? How am I supposed to know what I'm supposed to do when you keep changing it on me?"

Shaking his head, Ryan reached out and cupped Greg's chin in his hand, gently stroking Greg's cheek. "Don't you understand, you silly, stupid man? The whole point is that it's not about what you're supposed to do. There's no right way in this relationship, nothing you're 'supposed' to do. Hell, there hasn't been a right way in this relationship since its beginning. What's been most important in our relationship, what's been the driving force, is that we've never done what we're supposed to do, that we've never done the so-called right thing, but that we've done what is best for the both of us, and we've acted on impulse and we've been stupid about it, yeah, but that we have filled our relationship, our love, our lives with passion. That's what I want from you, and I know for a fact that that's what you really want, too."

Greg stared at Ryan, his brain alternately numb and on fire. Then, completely on impulse, he leaned forward, pinning Ryan against the back of the couch as he kissed him, fiercely and full of the fire and anger and all the confusion of the evening. And to his surprise, Ryan kissed him back, just as passionately, even grabbing Greg's hair as they kissed. Finally, reluctantly, they broke apart, Greg's face centimeters from Ryan's. "Passionate enough for you?" he panted, his brown eyes glowing.

"Yes," answered Ryan simply, a smile spreading across his face. "That's exactly what I was talking about." Greg grinned and leaned in to kiss Ryan again, but Ryan laid a finger across Greg's lips, stopping him.

Greg leaned back, frustration evident on his face. "What is it now?" he asked, clearly disgruntled.

Ryan gave him a look. "Just because we've figured out that we both want to be passionate together doesn't mean we've figured everything out." He paused, taking a deep breath. "Like, for instance, the fact that I still don't really trust you."

Swallowing deeply, Greg averted his eyes and nodded slowly, more to himself than Ryan. "I deserve that—I know I do. I've given you no reason to trust me." Pausing, he looked at Ryan. "So, what do you want me to do about it? How can I fix this?"

Ryan raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "What do you think you should do about this? How do you think you should fix this? And I don't want to hear any noble, self-sacrificing words coming out of your mouth."

Greg couldn't help but smile at that, though his brow knitted together as he thought about it. "I guess," he said slowly, mulling over the best way to say it. "I guess if I had my way, we'd just forget about the whole thing. We'd acknowledge that it happened, we'd realize and respect the ways we have changed and evolved because of it, but we'd move on from it, looking forward to the future."

Ryan was already nodding before Greg had even finished speaking. "I couldn't agree more."

Greg stared at Ryan, again shocked by what the younger man said. "Wait, so you want to just forget about it? But what about the fact that you don't trust me? What happened to you needing to put your life back together?"

Holding up a pacifying hand, Ryan explained. "I meant all those things, and I still do. But I know, Greg, as well as you, that I can't put my life back together without you in it. And yes, I will probably have more issues than usual with trusting you as we begin this journey together. But what you said, that we need to look forward to the future—I believe that with all my heart. Focusing on this, focusing on what tore us apart—that's not going to bring us back together. Instead, we need to focus on building our life together, from scratch, a healthy, lasting relationship."

All of this sounded wonderful to Greg, but there was one part still missing for him. "But what about trust?" he asked again. "You said before that we can't make this relationship work without trust. So how do you expect us to now?"

Ryan sighed, but he looked at Greg, his face full of love. "I do trust you, Greg. Not on all things, and I believe that I have that right. But I trust you, and I believe in you enough to know that neither of us would do anything to tear this relationship apart, ever again. That, in my eyes and in my mind, is more than enough trust to build this relationship on again. The rest of the trust—that will come with time, as we build our future together. But for right now, for this very moment, I want to leave this all behind, so that we can move forward. But," he said quickly, interjecting into his own thought, "I think, and I hope you'll agree, that we should still take this slowly. Even though we're moving on from it, there is still a lot of hurt here, and I share the blame equally with you. So we need to ease back into this."

Sighing as well, Greg looked plaintively at Ryan. "So I guess that means doing those aforementioned unmentionable things with you tonight is out of the question."

"Very much so," agreed Ryan, sounding just as disappointed as Greg. "However," he added, looking slyly at Greg. "I don't think that it would be taking things too quickly if you were to kiss me again."

Greg grinned. "I hoped as much," he whispered, leaning in again. This kiss was so gentle in comparison to the last, yet somehow, the two managed to convey the same passion as before with such a gentle kiss. Greg deepened the kiss , cupping Ryan's cheek with one hand, bracing himself against the back of the couch with the other.

Ryan pulled away this time, a grin on his face but reprimand in his voice. "I think you just moved into 'too fast' territory," he told Greg, grinning wickedly.

Greg groaned and bowed his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I swear you're doing this on purpose, Wolfe," he sighed, his voice muffled. Then, abruptly he stood, taking his water glass into the kitchen.

"Are you ok?" asked Ryan, unable to hide the amusement from his voice.

"Fine," called Greg from the kitchen, his voice still a little strained. Ryan heard the water running as Greg washed out his glass. "I just seem to sense a lot of cold showers in my future."

Laughing out loud at that, Ryan got up to join Greg in the kitchen. He wrapped an arm around Greg's waist and rested his head on Greg's chest. "Thank you," he whispered, closing his eyes and feeling so right. "Thank you for understanding."

"Of course," said Greg, tilting Ryan's head up, his own eyes burning with love. Then, he kissed Ryan very gently on the lips before wrapping him in a deep bear-hug. "I love you so much," he whispered.

Ryan grinned like a goof, even though he had the words so many times before. It was still just as magical as the first time Greg had said them. "I love you too," he whispered back, still grinning.

Greg pulled back, though he held Ryan's hand in his. "C'mon," he said suddenly, pulling Ryan back into the living room. "The chocolate had sage wisdom for me tonight, and I think it just might for you, too."

Ryan rolled his eyes, but he obligingly grabbed a piece of chocolate, unwrapping it as he curled against Greg on the couch. After unwrapping it, he popped the chocolate in his mouth, startled when Greg suddenly swooped in to kiss him. "What was that for?" he asked as they came up for air.

Grinning like a kid in a candy shop, Greg just shrugged and said, "You tasted like chocolate." Then, suddenly embarrassed, he quickly changed the subject. "C'mon, what does your wrapper say?"

Ryan read to himself, and a huge smile broke out on his face. "You were right about the sage wisdom," he said, his eyes suspiciously bright. "But somehow, I think I already got this one covered."

"Why, what does it say?" Greg pestered, trying to grab the wrapper from Ryan's hand.

Ryan just grinned, the pieces of his life falling back into place. He read it out loud for Greg, knowing that it described them perfectly, and always would. "Dare to love completely."