A/N: This chapter is rated "M" in part due to depictions of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Eddie's phone rang, startling her. She looked to see who it was.

She swiped the Answer button.

"Don't ever hang up on me like that again!" she said with a mixture of anger and concern.

"I'm sorry," Michael said sincerely. "Um… Can I come over on my meal break and I'll explain?"

Eddie paused.

"I'm sorry," Michael repeated. "I shouldn't have hung up on you. I just… It's not something I talk about. I don't even know why or how it came out like that, it just…"

He sighed.

"Just when you think you're over it," he muttered to himself.

Eddie's anger vanished and concern washed over her.

"Hey," she soothed, letting him know all traces of anger were gone. "It's okay. We can talk tonight. Focus on the job and coming back to me safe, okay?"

Michael exhaled. It wasn't over. He hadn't blown it. At least, not too bad.

"Okay, will do. I gotta go, now. For real, though," he said.

Eddie smiled.

"Okay, I believe you this time," she joked.

Michael hung up and wrote himself a reminder note in his phone.

Eddie hung up and sat in her apartment. Flashes of Jake Singer played in her mind.

Just when you thought you were over it, indeed…

Eddie answered the knock on her apartment door and saw Michael with a bouquet of flowers.

Eddie rolled her eyes and flashed a sympathetic smile.

"Michael," she said, "you didn't need to do this."

"I did," he said, "and I'm sorry."

Eddie sighed.

"May I come in?" he asked.

"Of course," she said.

"Thank you for the flowers," she said as she walked over to put them in a vase and fill it with water.

They both made their way to the couch in Eddie's living room.

"So, about this morning…" Michael began.

Eddie held up a hand and placed her other hand on top of Michael's hand.

"Before you start," she said carefully, "I want you to know that your story is your story, and you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I was just… I was taken back by it… I was sexually assaulted my first year on the job and I'd be lying if I said it still doesn't haunt me from time to time."

Michael sat there, stunned and in awe.

"So, I completely understand if you don't want to talk about it," she continued.

"No," Michael said resolutely. "If we're going to sleep with each other, you deserve to know."

"I promise you," Eddie assured him, "whatever you say, if you say anything at all, will remain between us. No one – Kara, Jamie, no one – will know."

Michael shifted on his side of the couch and cleared his throat.

"I went on this date with this gal and from the word, go, things were weird with her. But I was still nice and polite as I could be, dropped her off at her place. And…"

He looked out in the distance, the pain etched in his eyes.

"You don't have to – " Eddie began.

"No, I want to," Michael insisted. "As soon as her door was opened, she pulled me in by my shirt collar and threw me to the ground. She started kicking me. Once she realized I was immobile, she got on top of me and started rubbing her hand against my crotch while she smacked my face with the other hand."

Eddie sat there, her heart breaking for him.

"I told her to stop, I begged her to stop. She just laughed."

Michael shook his head.

"I can still hear the laugh."

"What happened next?" Eddie asked tenderly.

"She groped me and fondled me until I… You know."

Eddie nodded. When she had her violent dalliance with Jake Singer, he rubbed her genitalia and she became involuntarily wet. Intellectually, she knew it was a natural physical reaction, but in her heart, she felt deep shame.

"I pushed her off me," Michael continued, "ran out of her apartment, ran down to my car, and went home."

Michael hung his head.

A tear escaped Eddie's eye.

"I'm so sorry, Michael."

Michael nodded.

"I'm sorry to have dumped that all on you, that wasn't fair of me," he said, the shame rising up in him as he stood up.

Eddie stood up, placing an arm on his.

"Don't go," she softly pleaded, extending her arms out. "Come here."

Michael got closer, albeit reluctantly so. How could she possibly want him after hearing all of that? How could she want to touch him in an intimate manner after hearing all that? As if she could read his mind, Eddie pulled him in for a tender embrace. They stood there, swaying from side-to-side.

"I am so sorry," Eddie whispered.

"I know it's not my fault, it's her fault," Michael said as they held each other. "Especially as a cop, I know it, but…"

"You feel like you were asking for it," Eddie said as they pulled away.

"Exactly!" Michael said. "Like I was too nice, or I was being punished for walking her to the door!"

"Did you ever press charges?" Eddie asked.

"I did," he said, "but she got off with a slap on the wrist. Two years' probation."

Eddie's mouth opened and her fist clinched.

"That's not right," she said, shaking her head in disgust. "That's not right."

Michael shrugged. He knew the justice system wasn't perfect, especially when it came to prosecuting women who sexually assaulted men. But at least it was on the woman's record until the day she died.

"Look," he said, "I know you were only joking about the whole consent thing, but…"

"It triggered something," Eddie deduced. "No, I get it. My attacker asked me if I could make him coffee, his sly way of asking if we could have sex. When I told him, very politely I might add, that wasn't going to happen, he attacked me. To this day, when I hear someone asking if they can have coffee in the tone my attacker used, even if it's for a split second…"

"You're right back there," Michael said.

Eddie nodded and grunted.

"I didn't allow any guy to walk me back up to my apartment door for a loooong time after that," Eddie confessed.

The apartment was silent for a beat.

"And now, here I am," Michael said, "explaining myself to a woman I really care about, hoping she won't…"

He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.

"I won't," Eddie said with a soft smile.

They embraced.

"I really am sorry I hung up on you," Michael muttered as they held each other.

Eddie had a concerned look as they pulled away from each other.

"When we had sex last night…" she began, "I didn't touch you like she did, did I? Because I would never want to – "

"You didn't," Michael assured her. "When we had sex, you'd ask if this was okay or that was okay, remember? I knew…"

He looked down at the floor, then up at Eddie.

"I knew I was safe."

Eddie took Michael's hands into hers.

"When you could have taken advantage of me," she said, "in my vulnerable state after Barry's death when I apologized to you for how we ended things the first time around but didn't… I knew was safe. When you burst down my bedroom door when I had that night terror and held me until I went back to sleep… I knew I was safe. When even earlier this morning, you said you were fine keeping our relationship discreet when I know other guys would've bragged about this hot chick they just banged…"

Michael chuckled, blushing slightly.

"I knew I was safe," she said.

Eddie looked at her lover longingly.

"Michael, is it okay if I kiss you?"

Michael chuckled.

"Eddie, you don't have to – "

"Just… Trust me," she said.

"Yes," Michael said. "Yes, you can kiss me."

Eddie tenderly kissed him, their lips slowly dancing.

Eddie gently pulled away.

"Michael, is it okay if I unbutton your shirt and kiss your chest?"

Michael nodded.

Slowly, Eddie unbuttoned Michael's shirt, planting warm, tender kisses on his chest. Michael closed his eyes, taking in how good it felt. How safe it felt.

"Michael, if I lift up my arms, would you mind taking off my blouse?"

Michael nodded and proceeded to do so, revealing Eddie's ample bosoms contained in her bra, only for her to reach back and unhook it.

"Michael, I'd like to take you to my bedroom and make love to you. Is that okay?"

Michael took in a deep breath.

"Yes."

Like the night before, Eddie extended her hand. Also like the night before, Michael took it, and they walked the short distance down to Eddie's room.

Wise to what Michael had told her, Eddie was cautious about her next question.

"Is it okay if I put my hand down your pants and touch you?"

Michael stood there for a moment, taken aback.

"Yes," Michael whispered.

While she kissed his chest, Eddie unbuckled Michael's belt and undid his pants, letting them fall to the floor. Still kissing his chest, she slid her free hand down his boxers and gently rubbed his manhood.

"Close your eyes," Eddie said as she kissed Michael's chest then rested her head against it, still massaging him as his manhood grew increasingly firm.

"Lay down on the bed," she gently whispered as she removed her hand from his boxers.

"I'm off tomorrow, also," Eddie said. "You're off tomorrow, too, right?"

"Yeah," Michael replied.

Eddie smiled as she slid off her panties and laid beside her lover.

"Then let's take our time," she said. "Let's take all night."

Michael smiled.

"I'm okay with that," he said.

Eddie smiled as she and Michael drew near to each other and kissed, Eddie leaving a trail of warm kisses down Michael's chest and stomach…

Across town, Jamie and Kara had made their own love in the shower, both blissfully spent and glowing in their robes, sitting on the couch, watching Netflix while Jamie massaged Kara's feet.

"Sooo, not to sound like the bad guy, here, but…" Jamie began.

"But what?" Kara asked, her eyes still closed, reveling in Jamie's magic foot massage skills.

"Do you think Eddie and Michael will last?"

"Maybe," Kara said with a shrug. "Maybe not. But we can still be happy for her, right?"

Jamie sat there, massaging his wife's feet in silence.

Kara opened her eyes, lifted her head, and looked at her husband askew.

"Riiight?"

Jamie snapped out of it.

"Oh, yeah. Right, of course. Happy."

Kara leaned back and closed her eyes, smiling at her husband.

"Good answer," she said. "Now keep rubbing my feet and tell your very pregnant wife that she's pretty."

"But you are!" Jamie declared.

"That's the spirit."

Jamie shook his head and smiled.

It doesn't get any better than this.