Alright guys - I have FINALLY gotten this chapter finished and I hope you like it and that it was worth the wait (at least a teensy bit). I'm about to go and work on the next chapter so hopefully you lot won't have to wait months for another update.

I love you all and I hope you let me know what you think!

M

Boris rose early the next morning. He'd delegated the finding of another security agent to Josef, trusting the younger man's instincts as far as character and trustworthiness were concerned. Josef had been with him for much longer than any of the others and Boris trusted him in all things safety related – whether it be for himself or for his guests. He was glad, therefore, that the chief security agent got along with Hank as well as he did. It put Boris' mind to rest knowing that Josef would keep the most recent events in mind while he was interviewing possible candidates. If there was anything that Boris' security team have learned from all this it was that Doctor Hank Lawson was to be treated with respect and protected should the need arise.

He walked soundlessly through that many halls of Shadow Pond. Even despite his injury, his movements were fluid and gave the impression that nothing was the matter with him in the least. His side ached, however, and though he wouldn't admit it, Boris was looking forward to sitting for a few minutes; preferably within the company of his friend and private physician.

The door to Hank's room came into focus and for a moment Boris simply stood outside to listen. Not surprisingly, he heard nothing and felt his heart rate decrease a little as the worry that he hadn't realized he'd been harboring subsided just a little. Having done this the day previous only to hear Hank shout in pain was not an experience that Boris was wanting to repeat any time soon; if ever.

Out of courtesy, Boris knocked, not wanting to disturb the younger man should he be in the middle of work or, more than likely, sleeping. After hearing a bid to come in answered his request, Boris entered and shut the door quietly behind him.

"Boris," Hank greeted, a smile on his face. He sat on the bed with the covers thrown to one side, exposing his braced leg and bare foot. In his lap lay his portable computer, its screen bright despite the lateness of the morning.

Briefly, Boris' eyes flicked towards the curtained window to check the time. He then conceded that it was only late in the morning to him and that to Hank, it was probably quite early still as the sun hadn't fully risen yet. For a moment Boris felt guilty for calling on the doctor so early in the morning for him but having concluded that he'd been awake already, he let the feeling flow out of him, dissipating into the air like a fine mist.

"How are you feeling?" Hank asked, not letting Boris return his greeting. He shifted a little so that he could face Boris more easily and the corresponding wince had Boris' heart picking up its pace again.

"I am well, Hank," Boris assured, finally stepping more into the room and coming to sit in one of the armchairs that had been placed by Hank's bedside. To make it easier on the injured man, Boris took the chair that sat opposite Hank's position so that they could face one another without putting too much pressure on any of Hank's injuries. "How are you feeling?"

Hazel eyes flitted over Boris' form, taking in and calculating his posture and appearance for signs of pain or discomfort. Boris hoped that he hid them since Hank truly needed to stop worrying about him. Judging from the way Hank squinted, however, he was unsuccessful. Still, he sat in silence, patiently waiting for Hank to answer his question.

"Better," Hank finally answered after having finished his virtual examination. "I was hoping to be able to go back home this morning but I think that will have to wait another day, possibly two."

The way Hank spoke about it made it sound like he was apologizing. Boris ignored the tone, figuratively wiping it aside. It wasn't Hank's fault that he was here in the first place, therefore he had nothing to apologize for. Boris, on the other hand, did. His arrogance had gotten the better of him and as a result, the doctor had gotten hurt. He'd begun to apologize during one of their previous conversations but the topic had gotten pushed aside due to Hank's inevitable curiosity. At the time Boris had been grateful since he'd begun to feel as though Hank were, unintentionally, accusing him of harming him. It was true but it had not been Boris' intention in the least when he'd scheduled the meeting. Indeed, had he been given a choice, he would have gladly taken the beating and pain in Hank's stead. But how to express that in a way that wouldn't give his feelings for the doctor away?

"Of course," Boris granted, his heart continuing to beat a little more frantically than was necessary. The thought of Hank leaving so soon was not one that he wanted to entertain and so he didn't. "You are welcome to stay here as long as you need," he added, wanting to make sure that Hank knew he was welcome within Shadow Pond at any time.

"Thank you," Hank responded, another smile coming to his face. It warmed his beautiful eyes to a bright green – though that could have been the tee shirt he was wearing, bringing the color to the fore – and it made Boris smile in return. "So, no meetings today?"

At this, Boris ever so slightly cocked his head to the side. "What makes you say that?" he asked, curious as to how Hank had arrived to that conclusion.

"Normally you wear an impeccable suit," Hank reasoned, using his left hand to point towards Boris' current attire. "Today, you're more casual." He paused with another smile and then amended, "Well, for you."

"Today is what you would call a light day," Boris answered, sitting back just a little as though relaxing into the chair. "There are a couple of meetings later on. But for the moment, I am able to get that rest that you keep telling me I need."

Now if only he could rest. Sitting still and being inactive were not things that Boris did very well. It was why he had yet to – as Hank would put it – take it easy and let his side heal. He'd made sure to keep moving throughout the past day or so. Granted, he had business to take care of but it was more that he felt restless and was trying to find ways to assuage it.

"Good," Hank answered, his head nodding just a little bit. It appeared that his head no longer ached badly enough to where he couldn't – or wouldn't – move it and for that Boris was grateful.

There was a pause as Boris waited to see what Hank would say next, for he could tell that the younger man wanted to say something. At long last, and sounding as though Hank couldn't hold it in any longer, he asked, "Can I ask a favor?"

"Of course," Boris calmly granted, his curiosity piqued. He couldn't remember the last time Hank had asked him for a favor. Sure, he'd accepted Boris' proposals or suggestions and he'd made demands throughout the past year, but he'd never asked for a favor.

"Would you mind handing me those crutches by the door?"

Almost disappointed by the lackluster of it, Boris did as he was asked. He was stiff as he shifted and got out of the armchair and his side briefly pulsed with pain, bringing his arm down to cover it. Perhaps that was the reason for the doctor's hesitation in asking? Was it that he did not want to cause Boris any pain with his request? Or was it simply that the man had trouble asking for help, even when he needed it?

As he went and grabbed the instruments, he heard the rustling of clothing behind him and so was not surprised to find Hank sitting on the edge of the bed with his legs hanging over. His left foot was flat on the floor, his knee bent, while his right foot merely rested on top of the carpeted wood. Either the position was not all the comfortable for him or it had hurt him to get to that point. Which one, Boris didn't know. But what he did know – if the tightness around Hank's eyes was anything to go by – was that the younger man was in pain and it made Boris struggle to keep a neutral expression on his face at the sight of it.

"Thanks," Hank said as he reached out with his good hand to take the crutches. He used them to leverage himself off the bed and then began to, slowly, hobble across the room where Ms. Katdare had left the HankMed bag full of medical supplies. Resting on his good leg, Hank dug through the bag and then Boris heard a slight crack before the doctor began to make his way back to him.

Boris' curiosity about what the doctor had been doing was relieved when he noticed the instant ice pack that was inside Hank's mouth. Compared to how long it had taken him to get over to the bag, Hank's trek back to the bed was infinitely quicker.

"Here," Hank said, handing the ice pack to Boris with a soft, almost concerned expression on his face.

Boris eyed the pack and then looked up at Hank who stubbornly remained where he was. Only when Boris had taken the ice pack away from him did he sit back down on the bed. Relief relaxed the lines on his face and it seemed that he almost instantly became younger with the change.

"I noticed that you're walking a bit stiffly," Hank filled in shortly after sitting down. "And if I had to guess, I'd say that you haven't been taking care of your rib as you should have been."

"You could have just asked me to grab the bag, Hank," Boris said. His breath hitched as he placed the ice against his wounded side, making it sound as though he were, once again, tripping over Hank's name.

"Yeah, I could have," Hank granted. "But then," he grunted a little as he once again leveraged himself off the bed, "I wouldn't be able to move about the room as freely." He gave Boris a small, almost triumphant, smile. "Besides," he added, his voice a practical shrug, "the crutches were closer and I didn't want you having to go too far with your side hurting you."

"And I appreciate that, Hank, truly," Boris began. Then he stopped, unsure how to communicate what he was thinking without putting his feelings to the fore. "But next time, please take your own pain into account as well."

Instead of going back onto the bed, Hank chose to slowly make his way over to a nearby window where a small sitting area had been formed, diagonal from the bed. He settled himself into one of the armchairs, which sat opposite one another with a small, elegant-looking sofa in between them and a coffee table in the center of them all, and then laid his crutches on the floor as out of the way as possible. Boris understood the doctor's desire for change and so he didn't comment on it. And while he knew that the coffee table could be considered a suitable place for Hank to elevate his leg, he also knew that Hank would do no such thing and so became determined to get the man onto the couch instead.

"You should sit on the sofa," Boris said as he slowly made his way over to the small area.

Hank smiled, strained though it was, and settled further into the seat. "Thanks, but I'm fine where I'm at," he answered, not sounding nearly as annoyed as the words made him sound. He was trying to be polite while telling Boris to leave it be, and the businessman could understand if not respect that.

"So what brings you around so early in the morning?" Hank asked once Boris had seated himself in the other armchair.

Boris gave a small smile which barely registered on his face. As he had suspected, it was early to Hank who assumed it was early for himself as well.

"I had some matters to discuss with Josef and thought I'd check in on you before the day got too..busy."

Boris had wanted to say crowded, but he had abstained. In his opinion there had been too much traffic in and out of his home ever since Hank had become a resident, and much of it wasn't welcomed. Ms. Katdare, Boris gladly allowed; she was vital not only to Hank's physical recovery but his emotional one as well. But whereas she looked out for Hank, it appeared that Hank's brother only looked out for himself and his father. If the younger Lawson had cared half as much about his brother as he said, surely he wouldn't have brought their father into Boris' home and caused so much emotional distress for Hank. Lawson senior wasn't welcome. Period. Not only did Boris not want him in Shadow Pond but neither Hank nor Ms. Katdare wanted him there either. Thankfully Hank had been awake the last time Lawson had visited and so had been able to tell him not to come back. Whether or not he listened – and Boris believed he would since it had been his son and not Boris telling him – would be another matter entirely.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about everybody constantly coming by," Hank apologized, apparently having guessed precisely what Boris had meant. He looked uncomfortable, in a sense. Not ashamed per se. But it was decently between embarrassed and ashamed to be counted as either. Clearly he felt badly for what he perceived as disrupting Boris' life.

But Boris had invited him to stay until he'd gotten better and that was something that Hank needed to get through his apparently thick skull. None of this was his fault.

"I apparently work with a bunch of mother hens." Hank smiled at that and this time Boris would classify it as embarrassed with a touch of love thrown in.

Boris couldn't help himself, he smiled along with Hank. Seeing the doctor smile always made him smile. He was sure that Hank would say that it was simply a human reaction to seeing another person smile – much in the way a second person yawns after having watched the first person do it – but Boris would and could argue that it was something much more than that. He liked seeing Hank smile. The way his eyes lit up every time he did it was enough to soften Boris' cold exterior. Not to mention the smile itself; it seemed to penetrate straight through to Boris' heart, making it flutter a couple extra times.

"It's quite alright," Boris easily forgave, essentially wiping all guilt off of Hank, though he doubt the doctor knew that he'd done it. "It is my fault that you are in the position of having to stay here, after all," he added, hoping that the reminder would help sink his point in.

It had quite the opposite effect that he'd meant to have. Not to imply that it made Hank blame Boris; Boris doubted that Hank would ever, could ever, do that. But it didn't seem to make him feel less like an inconvenience either. Instead, a spark spread into the hazel eyes and his attention seemed to focus on something that only Hank could see.

"Boris, what happened to Ivan?" Hank asked.

The subject wasn't necessarily out of the blue but it was close enough to make Boris pause for a moment. He had expected Hank to ask it eventually, but he was hoping that it would be sometime later when Boris had had a chance to come up with a perfectly good and believable reason for the Russian's disappearance.

Boris was no stranger to lies and their usefulness. But while he didn't mind to lying to someone for their own good, or to a complete stranger for any reason he felt suitable, Boris had discovered that he was beginning to find it harder and harder to lie to Hank. He hated every time that he'd been forced to do it and there had been a few times that he knew he should have just told the truth. But twenty-something years of habit is hard to break and each time Boris found that he easily slid into the lie.

As for this particular subject – Boris was at a loss. He knew that he shouldn't tell Hank the truth for the simple reason that Boris had essentially just had someone executed. But he also knew that when Hank found out – and he was sure to since the doctor was good at ferreting out lies and sticking himself in the middle of things that he shouldn't – he would be furious and Boris wasn't sure precisely how the doctor would react at that time. The thought of Hank leaving Shadow Pond for good made Boris' heart stop and he knew very well that that may just be the outcome of the whole affair. Not that he could blame Hank, after all one could only ask so much of the doctor before he has had enough. But knowing that he was the reason for the doctor's departure hurt and in more ways than one.

"I thought it best that he leave Shadow Pond," Boris answered, finally settling on a vague way to explain what had happened.

As expected, Hank was able to read between the lines. It became obvious when he asked, "And was he alive when he left?"

The light in Hank's eyes had gone and replacing it was a hardness that cooled like a frozen marred emerald. Boris knew that life was precious to Hank as a doctor and so he had to force himself to answer honestly, knowing that the outcome could be disastrous for himself.

"No, Hank, he was not," he answered. Feeling the need to explain himself, Boris added, "I add into all their contracts the precise terms of their departure. Shadow Pond is the one place in the world where I can feel safe. I cannot entrust that safety to someone who is not willing to commit fully to me. If one of my family were to get someone in here and onto my security detail, I cannot imagine that I would be alive when that person left. I cannot risk putting my life in jeopardy, or the lives of my guests, on the off-chance that any of my security would want to leave."

Throughout his explanation, Hank had kept a cool façade but Boris could see the anger boiling just beneath the surface. He was fairly certain that had Hank been physically able to, he would have left and then he and Boris would be having this conversation all throughout the halls of Shadow Pond as well as the lawn in between the main house and the guest cottage.

Now that Boris was finished, Hank leaned in further, placing his left arm on his left knee while the right leg lay stretched out before him.

"And so what happens if they want to go visit family?" he asked, apparently – mercifully – trying to understand.

"None of them have any," Boris answered simply. "I make sure that no one person who enters my employ has any family to speak of. Most have either never had a family or have had their family killed in one tragedy or another. Ivan's wife and two children had been killed by an unauthorized American strike team sent to capture and torture him for what he knew."

At this, Boris saw the color drain out of Hank's face and he knew that the doctor felt for the man that had hated him. Who wouldn't? Boris had even felt a twinge of pity when he'd been informed of the story. Even so, those kind of men were useful to him and so those were the ones that Boris kept an eye out for.

"Why hire him when you knew how he felt about Americans?" Hank asked.

"I had hoped that his limited face-time with my American guests would be sufficient. I had done my best to ensure that he was not exposed while any Americans were in the main house and he wasn't allowed to go within the security sector of the guest house because of you and your patients."

Boris paused, shifting in his seat to try and ease a brief twinge of pain from his side while doing his best not to let his emotions display on his face.

"Your experience with him was unforeseen, and I am sorry that you had to go through all of that."

Hank nodded, accepting the apology at face-value but looking as though he hadn't really heard it. "So, you attempting to make him apologize was, what? You trying to save his life?"

"Essentially, yes." Even though he knew it would hurt, Boris sat forward, resting his arms on his knees. "I do not enjoy certain aspects of the way I run my life, Hank, but I do them so that I may survive. I try not to let anyone leave my employ unless there is no other possibility and I was trying to ensure, not only for myself but for Ivan, that I had done all that I could before I enforced that part of the contract."

"I see," Hank said, though he still looked quite angry and sounded as though he didn't fully understand at all.

"Hank, I am truly sorry that you were involved in any of this and I am saddened by your injuries which occurred because of my stubbornness." Boris paused before he could say more as he had come close to expressing feelings that he wasn't sure Hank returned. But then, all this tip-toeing around the subject was grating on his patience and so he decided to finish his thought. "It was not my intention for any harm to come to you and if things had gone according to plan, none would have. You are too important for me to wish you anything other than joy."

There, he'd said it. Albeit not straight out but he was fairly certain that Hank had once again been able to read between the lines and infer what Boris hadn't said.

Outside, the sun began to dawn, bringing out what few birds that still lived in the Hamptons. Autumn was certainly ascending on the summer town and with it came cooler days and colder nights. This morning looked as though it would be sunny but the slight chill coming from the window pane spoke of a cool day rather than what they'd been having.

The new light drew Boris away from the hypnotic hazel eyes and forced him to focus on the time of day. Although his morning was light, it was in no way vacant. He had a few people on the other side of the world that he was due to call for a meeting and he knew now that he must get going if he were going to make the call on time.

He leaned back and got out of the chair.

"I'm sorry, I must go," he apologized, adjusting his shoulders and his stance so that he could hurry out. "I hadn't realized how late it was getting and I have a phone call to make." He turned to his left and started to leave. Before he got too far, he turned back and found Hank watching him with what could have been described as a dumbfounded look on his face. Boris smiled, appreciating the other man's confusion – having been there himself. "Take care of yourself, Hank. I shall come by later to see how you're feeling."

And with that, he left, hoping that Hank would spend more than enough time trying to determine exactly how he felt – and not just physically.

TBC

Sorry, one more thing. I apologize if Boris was a little OOC near the end. I was trying to figure out how he would express his feelings if this was all cannon (if he had these feelings in the show, of course) and that was what I had come up with. I hope it works well enough :)