Thought I would throw anther chapter at you as a holiday treat. If anybody out there has an opinion on things or any questions on some of the phrases or jargon I use, shoot me a line, I do respond to reviews and they are appreciated.

When I realized I was fond of fellas, I knew that I liked to be the boss in the situation, in fact I tended to be a bit on the rough and commanding side when it came down to getting my rocks off, but I did know how to romance and that is exactly what I intended to do with Whitlock once he dropped that little bombshell on me.

After he left, the day seemed to drag on forever. The results on his prints came back pretty damn quick, he had the speeding tickets in Texas he had reported, and beyond that nothing. Never even stopped for a field interview by any other departments. I gathered his and McCarty's packets and took them down to our hiring officer to make sure that they got expedited processing in time for the academy. I wanted those fellas to have the sheriffs departments brand on them before any of the other agencies came sniffing around the academy class looking for fresh meat for their grinders. I knew McCarty was going to be a hot property with his size and his Explosive Ordinance Disposal experience, and I had a feeling that wherever McCarty went, Whitlock would follow just out of habit, and I wanted to keep both of them with me for the time being.

After handing off their packets to the hiring team with the words, "Make it happen", I headed out to the Academy to eat a little crow and kiss the ass of the director so he would let me come out and play with Whitlocks class. I knew I wasn't going to have to beg too damn hard, after all they were always in need of warm bodies to teach the damn sections and I was certified to teach pretty much everything except First Aid, which oddly enough, Whitlock was. Turns out his papers show he was a fully certified medic and had functioned in his unit as the Senior corpsman for most of their deployments, saving more than half a dozen lives and was even decorated for it, he seemed to be the poster boy for the old saying, "Its not the size of the dog in the fight, it s the size of the fight in the dog." and I found myself contemplating him more and more as I drove out towards the campus.

The director of the academy was a crusty son of a gun that was what could be described as a, "Character", he had been a cop in one of the toughest beats in the U.S. and it had left him with gallows humor of the worst sort, diabetes that was minimally controlled and oddly enough a heart of gold when it came to taking in strays, including me. He knew I was alone in the world when I hit town over a decade ago, and when I came sniffing around his table at the college orientation seminar I was attending while I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do after getting out of the Corp, he put a bug in my ear about being a cop and making a difference that rang true, so before I knew it, I was signed up to attend his academy as and he was putting in a good word for me with the sheriff, and the rest they say is history. I owed him so I had spent more than a few years helping out with the classes that came after, wrangling recruits, volunteering to get whopped up on when they needed a bad guy, and once I got certified, then teaching classes and later entire sections. I had been trying to pull back a little and let the younger guys step up to the plate and contribute since I was constantly busy with running SWAT and working the undercover narco unit, but I knew they were hurting for help so I was going to kill two birds with one stone and protect Whitlock from the gunny as best I could while he was at the academy, as well as spend a little more time getting to know him and seeing how he was on a day to day basis.

The director was in his office putting the finishing touches on the curriculum changes for the new class when I walked in, and he looked at me over the top of his glasses with a smirk, " Well what the hell brings your rabbity ass out to this neck of the woods?" He had always called me, "Rabbit" because he said I was jumpy as hell when he met me, and I was lanky and funny looking like a teen age jack rabbit. I tolerated it from him, but no one else knew of that nick name or if they did, they were too damn smart to use it in my presence. I told him that I missed helping out, and since I was trying to stay involved with the line officers a little better, I wanted to do some bonding time by spending some time working with the new boots. He gave me his skeptical smirk and I knew he wasn't buying it for a minute, but he decided to let me off the hook for the time being. He knew we had a sizeable recruit class coming through with 15 recruits due to land on his deck in less than 6 weeks just from my department, and he needed all the help he could get, because between us and all the other departments, he was facing having a class of over 40 cadets, mostly Marines and probably all thinking they knew it all. He tossed me a file with the breakdown on the recruits and it was scary looking, 36 former Marines, 4 "Other" meaning that they had no background in military or law enforcement, though 2 of them had college degrees, and one was a doctor. The last one was questionable due to some discrepancies on his background investigation, and he might not even clear for admission, so we were looking at starting off with at least 39, if they all showed up.

Whitlocks name had a red check by it and that damn sure caught my attention, but I remained all casual about it when I asked why he was marked as a concern. "Im waiting for his psyche to come back clear, but even if it does, Im gonna try to wash him out because I don't think hes gonna make the cut in the long run." I about saw red when he said that, me and the director had been friends for years, but to not even cut the kid a shot due to some prejudice based on appearance, that was out of character and uncalled for. I called him on it, and brought to his attention that Whitlock was a veteran, as well as a medic and I asked if the director had even met him. He laughed at me, "Of course I met him, I know more about him than you do there, Rabbit. I know that he has and will put others above himself to the point of putting himself at risk, I know he pushes himself to the point of exhaustion and self injury to achieve what he sees as the objective, he is a great human being who cares nothing about himself, and is loyal to a fault, and its that fault that worries me, plus I don't know if he can get through all the physical challenges, have you seen how runty that fucker is?" It made laugh, I had to wonder myself about how he was going to go over a 6ft wall and fight some of the knuckleheads we had in the defensive tactics practical's, but I figured if he had survived a few years in Iraq as a combat medic, then he was going to be fine in the academy. I pointed that fact out to the director, "The kid is a survivor and hes been through a lot, I don't think our dogs are gonna give him too much hell that he cant handle. The director gave me an appraising look, " What's your game, Rabbit, why this stray? He's gonna be a problem down the road, maybe get himself killed, he's a pretty boy and pretty boys end up bringing a lot of grief down on themselves and their department." I mulled over his words, and I knew he was right in some ways, but I wasn't willing to let him write Whitlock off. "Lets give him a shot, if he cant hack it by midway, I will terminate him from the program personally, but if he's maintaining, then you owe me a solid, deal?" the director scoffed and looked at me like he knew I was up to no good, but he stuck his meaty paw at me over his messy desk and grudgingly said, "Deal, the pretty boy is your problem, if he fucks up, its your ass on the line and I will gloat over it." I grimaced with how aptly he put that statement, and decided it was time to take my ass on down the road to the house. I had critters waiting to be fed and tended and then I was going out prowling around to see just what my new pet project got up to in the evening.

It was getting onto midnight when I rolled into the apartment complex Whitlock had rented in. I was familiar with the place because we had a few deputies that had lived there in the past. It had a decent reputation and was clean, considering the area. I located the unit he was in and parked in a typical surveillance position to see if anybody was moving around inside,(yeah, a bit on the stalkerish side, but I wanted to make sure he was still awake before I texted him),when I saw a shape move in the window, I knew at least someone was up, so I sent him my number with a call number as a tail. Didn't know if he knew what that meant, but he had to learn sometime. He called me back right away and I knew by the drawl that my boy was just a little bit on the snockered side, I knew then this could be in my favor.

Taking him out riding around was a risk, but it was a risk that was easy to pawn off as showing him the ropes and introducing him to the narco team which I most certainly intended to do, if I happened to run across them. He was down the stairs and out in the parking lot in less than 10 minutes which I thought was kinda funny considering I called him outta the blue and he had obviously been in the rack and relaxing, I knew the boy was interested then and when he hopped up into the seat of my truck with that grin, I knew things could get very interesting if I let them.

EmPOV

Now that the elephant was out of the closet, or whatever that stupid saying was, Emmett felt like he could finally relax and breathe around Jasper, except for the fact his friend was now crushing on the one man that held their careers with the department in the palm of his hand. He was a little stunned to find out the Capt. was gay, but then he hadn't been around him more than a few minutes and truthfully the guy kinda weirded him out. He was friendly enough, but he gave off a vibe that he was evaluating each person to see what they could do for him. Emmett knew pure ambition when he saw it, he had spent enough time in the military to know that there were people who would use the knife they stuck in your back as a rung on the ladder up to the top and he hoped like hell the Capt was not like that for Jaspers sake. He knew Jasper had never put himself out there, and he didn't want his first time to end in a train wreck.

When Jasper hollered he was going out after he got the text, Emmett was concerned but he kept his fears to himself. Jasper was small but tough and he had been in tough scrapes before and come out on top, besides, Emmett knew who he was with and as he watched the truck pull out of the parking lot with his little brother in it, he made sure he was clearly visible in the window and that the driver knew he was watching.

JPOV

Jasper was nervous. He had survived missions under fire as a combat medic. He had been in fights and brawls to numerous to count, but sitting in the passenger seat of the Captains truck, headed out to God knows where, next to a man that he knew he had strong feelings for, Jasper was nervous, so much so his voice came out as a squeak when he asked, "So where are we going ,Sir?" The Capt. chuckled, "First off we are going to get you something to drink so you don't sound like you are choking to death anymore, and then we will see. Second, don't call me Sir, when its just us, Im Edward, Jasper." Jasper was glad there were no lights in the cab of the truck to show how flushed his face was, he laughed softly and said, "Yeah, a drink would be a good idea I think." The Capt turned onto a side street lined with liquor stores and fast food joints, and Jasper was stunned when the Capt pulled into a drive thru liquor store and ordered a couple 12 packs of beer and bottle of Jack Daniels. He grinned at Jasper as he waited for the clerk to process his card, "Tomorrow is my day off so im going to relax a little and indulge." He handed the packages to Jasper and drove out of the parking lot, heading towards the outskirts of town to where the railroad sidings were. As the truck turned down a dirt side road Jaspers insides clinched in worry. He wasn't willing to become some one night stand no matter how attracted he was to the Capt. and he damn sure didn't want to have his first time be in the cab of a truck on some dirt road in the desert, but he before he could say anything the Capt spoke up, "You are mighty damn quiet right now, are you okay, Im not bringing you down here to hurt you, I want to show you something."

Jasper drew a ragged breath, he leaned back in the seat and regarded the Capt for a moment, " Sorry, I just get a bit tense when I am riding in a vehicle in the desert." The Capt. slammed on the brakes and stared at Jasper, "Holy Jesus! Oh my God im soo fucking sorry man I didn't even think about that!, Do you want to go back into town? We can turn around right now." Jasper reached down and grabbed a beer out of the box and cracked it open and the truck sat there idling, "No, im okay, are we going much further?" He slugged down half the beer in short order and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, and looked at Capt Cullen, letting the weight of that statement settle into him. The Capt reached over and gently grasped his hand and slowly pulled him over towards him, bringing his other hand up to stroke the side of Jaspers face and he leaned down and whispered in his ear in a shaky voice, "We will go as far as you are willing to take me."

Jaspers body broke out in goose bumps and he shuddered in both pleasure and fear as the Capt ran his fingers gently up and down his neck, tracing the back of his ear and playing with his collar on his t-shirt. Jasper drew a ragged breath and softly said, "I don't know what to do, I have never…" the Capt interrupted him softly, "I understand, and I am not going to push you, I think we should go slow, but I want you to know I want you, and I will take my time with you and treat you right, but we have to keep it on the QT." Jasper nodded, "I understand after all I lived under, DADT for most of my adult life." The Capt continued stroking Jaspers neck and around his ear, his forehead resting against the top of Jaspers head as they both debated their next move. The Capt seemed to reach a decision and he reached down and took the beer from Jaspers hand and set it on the dash of the truck. He pulled Jasper closer and ran his hand over Jaspers cheek again and then running his fingers under Jaspers chin he tipped his face up until Jasper was looking him in the face. " I wont be able to acknowledge you or what you are to me in the academy or around the department, its against policy, and we would both be in a world of shit if anyone suspected, but if you could live under those terms we can be together. I don't know how much I can offer you, I am married to my career, and it's a jealous bitch, but I want to give things a try, do you?" Jasper was shocked, he wasn't even thinking that far ahead, the concept of a relationship was so foreign as to be a word he didn't even comprehend, but the idea was intriguing, and he filed it away for later consideration, he just knew he was feeling something, something powerful and something that had the potential to change him at a fundamental level and he would have agreed to cut out his heart at that point, so he looked into the Capts eyes and nodded as the Capt bent forward and gave Jasper the first kiss he had ever gotten in his life from another man.