A/N: Milestone: Confessions has over a thousand hits! That made me very excited.

As I suspect many of my readers are also Australian and therefore unfamiliar with American weights and whatnot, we're told that Mother weighs in at an even 200 pounds which is somewhere in the vicinity of 90 kilograms. That sounds like a fairly significant amount but when you consider the muscle weight of an average marine – which is fairly similar to a professional sports player – 90 kg's is actually a fairly average amount. All the same, Schofield is always described as "lean" in the books, so I've got him weighing in at a fair bit less than that at around 77 or so kg's – 170 pounds. It's also not directly mentioned in this chapter, but just for interests sake in my head I see Jack as being a slightly stockier build than Schofield, so he'd be slightly heavier, maybe 80-85 kg or 185 pounds.

And for people who don't wear glasses (I do, unfortunately) yes, you really can poke yourself in the eye with them. It's actually far too easy, makes you look like a total idiot and very painful.

Also, just a quick word to my very favourite reviewers, twice now you've left me messages saying you're sorry you didn't get round to reviewing earlier. Don't be silly! You're under no obligation to review for me and I certainly don't want you to feel like you have to – though I will admit I await them with baited breath and they make me smile very much – I consider it a privilege, not a right to receive them. So with that said, thank you very very very much for the devotion you show by reviewing every chapter. I wanted to put this message up publicly instead of sending it to you all individually so that:

a) the entire world can know that you are wonderful people

b) they hopefully won't think I've beaten you into reviewing for me and know that I'm very grateful for it.

c) I'm going to send you a special message anyway with a special something else because I'm stuck on something and I need the help of the people whose opinions matter most to me.

This is just a short little chapter, gearing up to a big finale.

And I'm very sorry for being a tease.

Chapter 19

Schofield had barely entered the room and shut the door behind him when something solid – Jack – crashed into him and pinned his body against the wall. He still had one hand on the light switch as Jack raised a hand, brushing against Shane's, to flick the light back off, before bringing it up to join his other hand that was curled around Shane's neck. It always caught him by surprise, the feeling of Jack's hands against his skin because they were large and rough and so unlike any girl he'd ever been with. Even now, as they wrestled tongues, he was acutely aware of how they gently but completely encircled his throat. Just a little bit of pressure could turn this from ecstasy to danger in a matter of minutes.

With both their bodies pressed together and himself pushed against the wall, Schofield took charge of the situation. He pushed back and felt Jack respond, stepping backwards. Fisting his own hands into Jack's shirt, he pulled them both together again as he carefully navigated their bodies, still joined at the mouth, across the room. He tugged at the base of the shirt and Jack lifted his arms obligingly, allowing Shane to pull it over his head. Barely a second later, he had his own shirt off and on the floor beside Jack's, relishing the feeling of bare skin against skin. His teeth nipped at his ears and neck and collarbone whilst his hands roamed freely across Jack's chest, exploring in the darkness ridges of muscle that brushed roughly against his own abdomen and sensitive skin that shivered under his fingers.

He wasn't sure if he pushed him, or if Jack pulled him down – maybe they both just tripped over some shadowed object in the messy room – but they hit the bed together. Ever cautious, even when every hazy masturbatory fantasy he'd ever dreamed of was right before his eyes, Shane was careful to brace himself against Jack's biceps, straddling him without crushing him. Although he was fairly sure that Jack was heavier and probably physically stronger than himself, all the same, a 170 pound marine was quite a different reality to a 110 pound blonde-haired, blue-eyed beach babe, and so he held himself up on one arm, leaving the other free to continue roaming Jack's body.

Jack however, bemoaned the loss of complete body contact and it seemed, had other plans. If Shane pulled back, he pushed forward, bringing their mouths clashing back together or just nuzzling gently with his nose and forehead. The touch was totally at odds with the way he arched his body into Schofield's with his hands braced against the slight curve where hipbone met flat and well-defined abdominal muscles, fingers splayed down his thigh muscles. He twisted his hips into Schofield's and was pleased to hear – and feel – him respond. Shane managed to steal his mouth back from Jack for a fleeting second, long enough to drop his head to Jack's neck and moan into the warm skin there, sinking his teeth into his collarbone to stifle the sound. Jack had no such reservations and cried aloud. Immediately, two things happened.

Firstly, Schofield's extraordinary reflexes kicked in and all of a sudden, Jack found a warm, gun-calloused hand clamped firmly over his mouth with Schofield - all bright blue eyes and lips bruised to a dark red - leaning over him smiling, half-amused, half-scared as all shit.

Secondly, Jack decided very quickly that there were far too many layers of clothing between them and so hurriedly drop his hands to fiddle with Shane's belt. For the first time in pretty much forever, He didn't care one iota that it was a man successfully reducing him to this state.
Especially not when the man in question was breathing hard, skin flushed, eyes glazed and equally as hard against his thigh.

They moved as one and it would have been perfect had they been going for the same spot. Jack brought his head up to hopefully meet Shane's lips halfway but Shane had been aiming for Jack's collarbone and the resulting collision meant that where they actually met was Jack's forehead into Shane's covered eyes, forcing his sunglasses back into his eyes.

"Fuck, ow," was Schofield's response as he pulled back quickly, taking the glasses off and rubbing at his eyes. As Jack sat up beneath him, their eyes met. Jack was fairly sure he was the first one to laugh and in return, Shane hit him but he too was laughing. At that moment, Shane felt his lust-addled sensibility return and, with the glasses removed, Jack saw his eyes clear.

Kissing Jack gently, he took his hands from where they were resting on his now undone pants and lifted them off before doing the zipper back up – admittedly with a little bit of difficultly - but leaving the belt.
"We should stop," he said.

"You are kidding right?" Jack replied and Shane couldn't help but laugh a little, though when he spoke it was serious.

"Have you ever done this before?" Answering the question with one of his own. When Jack didn't say anything, the answer was as clear to Schofield as if he had.

"It hurts," Shane said bluntly, "a lot."

"Listen to me," he continued, taking Jack's hand in his. "You've just moved half-way around the world, started a new job, faced up to who you are, started a relationship with a guy and been forced to keep it a secret, I'd say that's quite enough for now."

Jack started to protest but Shane just held up a hand, silencing him.
"I want this too," he said and almost laughed aloud when Jack tried to glance down surreptitiously to check, "but I'd rather take the chance that this might be something really special than risking ruining it now by pushing too far, too fast. This relationship is already pretty intense, we've been forced to live together already and keep it hidden from everybody else around us. Let's not complicate it more than it already is this early."

He rolled off of Jack to sit at the edge of the bed and Jack cautiously swung his legs round to sit beside him.
"Besides," Shane said, "do you really want to sleep with me in some dingy marine barracks with paper thin walls and thirty people around us that aren't allowed to know?"

"You're right," Jack finally agreed, curling a hand around Schofield's shoulder and pressing a kiss into it.
When out of the blue, he asked, "This president's ball thing, do you get a plus one?"

Schofield just nodded absentmindedly.

"Take me," Jack said softly, making it Shane's turn to be startled.

"What?"

"Take me," he repeated. Shane turned to look at him and the look in his eyes was adamant.