To have and to hold

End of previous part -

Ren rested his forehead to Micah's, smiling the small smile of the relieved and the patient. "That makes two of us then." He whispered as he leaned of the kiss.

The kiss which Micah hardly registered staring wide eyed at his best friend. His best friend whom he loved with everything he had. Whom he had been prepared to give up to keep safe.

When Ren lifted his head again he saw but one thing in those intense chocolate eyes... 

**************

I saw hunger.

Raw. Powerful. Hunger.

I saw a man in need. A man pushed beyond his own limits of strength. A man still standing as the walls fell around him and he confessed he loved me.

In love with me just as I was in love with him...

... from the first second I laid eyes on this man... I've loved him.

Micah needed to reaffirm his claim on life. Though I wished our first time would be slow and sensuous and not hard and fucking. Seeing the look in his eyes I know it's going to be neither one of those.

I let him strip me as hastily as he strips himself; I let him push me down on the floor with my back against the bed. My own hands never leaving him for a second and my lips just as feverish has his. He straddles my hips kissing me as he cradles my head in his hands. His hold is firm yet so very intimate. My head's resting on the bed as he hunches over me pressing myself against me as much as he can. His skin heated but supple under my fingers, toned muscles moving in rhythm. He isn't ripped he didn't need to be; he was absolutely stunning just the way he was.

The scent I've smelled a hundred times before now so intense I'm intoxicated with it. His lips as smooth and passionate as any I've ever tasted. His hand enclosed my very hard and very ready erection, I groaned into his mouth as he grinds into me. He breaks the kiss as he strokes me staring into my eyes. I reach up to brush his now wild hair from his face.

This was affirmation.
This was not making love.
This was not fucking.

It was neither yet it was both.

It was Micah.
Micah in my arms and on my lips.
Micah touching me and holding me.

Finally after so long, finally after so much longing and restraint... Finally Micah... Il mio cuore...

>=<

He's in our apartment again... I smell him....

I've warned my Mimi about having too many friends...

I've been nice and I've been very understanding...

...very understanding considering...

...I smell him... and I smell...

>=<

I wake to feel Ren's arms hold me tight. It's late but I know we haven't slept long, just dozed off after...

I burrow my face in Ren's shoulder and feel his arms tighten around me in responds. We're stretched out on the bed, completely naked but warm enough pressed together as we are with not a breath of space between us.

His hand sliding over my skin tells me he's waking too. They travel down my back to my cheeks caressing them softly. He's trying to sooth the ache down there... I shiver and Goosebumps raise every hair on my body as I wander through the memory of what just happened...

He let me take him and ride him like it was the only chance I was ever going to get. I know I was forceful but he had been in no way a passive participant.

I still feel him...

I feel him inside me, his hands on my hips gripping me... the motion of this thrusts meeting my own. Not always rhythmic or in sync but still loving every single second of it. His body told me he wanted me and in more ways than one. I felt it is his kisses and saw it in his eyes, the way they sparkled light blue in the dim light of the room. The way he wouldn't let go of me even for an instant.

I just wanted him, wanted him so badly I let it take over every sense I had. I know I bit his neck at one point and he whispered Italian I didn't understand in my ears...

Though even I know what Ti amo means...

I shift to level my head to his. He's gazing at me lazily untangling an arm to brush hair from my eyes. Even now... even now my body is still saying yes to this man.

Though neither one of us speaks. We've said all we needed to say.

>=<

Deep chocolate brown eyes gaze back at me and he looks just how I feel... completely content. There is something to be said about holding a warm sleepy naked body against your own. Especially when you are holding said warm sleepy body after a very exhausting activity you both have craved for and have enjoyed in unspoken ways.

The room is quiet, our breaths are calm and our bodies still. It's that post coital peace and absolute conviction that you are right where you belong. Until a noise from the living room has Micah in an instant panic. He's off the bed and by the door bat in had in a flash.

I locked the door. I'm positive I locked the door. I always lock the door even if I tricked this one open.... I did lock the door didn't?

Yes defiantly I locked the door.

>=<

I ease into the living room bat at hand. In the darkness hear a stump and a whispered cuss. I know that voice... Relaxing I lower my bat flipping the light switch to see a frozen cop caught in the act of creeping in the dark like some red-handed cartoon character.

"Mathias? What the frak are you doing here?"

He doesn't answer but swiftly raises his gun as I feel the prick of a knife pressing against my neck.

"Honey... I'm home."

>=<

I slide my hand around his waist and feel him shudder under my touch.
It thrills me I can still raise such a reaction from him.

I am the only one that can make him happy. Only me and me alone.

The others... mere playthings... toys for amusement...

But Mimi... Mimi is mine... I always kept him pure.

The green-eared pest is shouting at me.
I don't hear a thing... I revile in having him close again.

... naked...

Naked and smelling of...

>=<

I'm a cop.
I'm trained to handle a number of situations
I can incapacitate an assailant within seconds.
I've been trained to handle a gun. I know how to talk down spiralling individuals
From crazy junkies to enraged and entitled parking ticket reoffenders...

The second that blade touched my throat; I hear three of the most scariest words I've ever heard.

I'm a cop. I've been trained and I'm good at what I do.

We're taught how to react, we're taught how to manage, we're taught so many things... And I freeze the second I hear Vance's voice and feel his blade. Ex-lovers can do wicked things so ones control...

There is only one single thought pulsing through my mind: Rens in the other room.

I'm repulsed as his fingers touch a place he's been banned from and coveted by someone else. My stomach churns and I feel violated as he probes my anus. I feel his muscles tense and the knife press harder, I clam up and I grit my teeth as he shoves his finger up inside.

"You let him touch you!" He shouts in my ear. "YOU LET ME BREED YOU!"

I'm trying not to squirm as he's wiggling his finger around feeling Ren's fill still in me. The blade pressing hard on my throat with each shout in my ear.

I love Ren. I love him with every single cell of my body. I know we're both save and tested. Why wouldn't I want him in the most primal way there is?

It's something Vance could never understand or maybe he deluded himself into thinking that if he didn't go raw with me like he did with just about everyone else, that I was special. Mathias is still trying to get Vance to lower his knife but I think we both know Vance is not about to surrender...

>=<

I quickly slip on my shorts and reach for Micah's robe as I see him flip the light switch. I relax its only Mathias. In a second I am tense again, why the fuck Mathias inside the apartment?

I hear some whispering just as I'm about to leave the bedroom. Then a thud as the bat falls to the ground and Mathias is shouting. I stop. My hand on the doorknob with my knuckles turning white as I clench it.

Vance is inside... he's got a knife... He's got Micah.

I physically restrain myself from rushing in. Do I rush in? Do I stay? Which gives us the best advantage... What do I do?

He's got Micah...

I creep to my crumpled up trousers on the floor and thank anything in the universe listening that my cell still has some battery juice left to make the call to the police.

"Vance put the knife down." Mathias orders calmly but we all know Vance isn't just going to give up. Not now... not anymore.

My heart stops, my hands are shaking and the edge in Vance's voice has me almost gasping for breathe. I keep my voice as whispery as I can while informing the dispatcher of the few details I know. I keep the line open and peer out through the crack in the door.

My heart lurches as I inform him there are three people in the room; a cop with a gun, an assailant with a knife holding it against Micah's throat from behind. I almost crush the phone in my hand seeing Micah stretched out balancing on the tips of his toes held up by Vance holding his arm painfully twisted behind his back with a knife high against his throat.

Vance has managed to get him in a hold that leaves Micah's body prone to any attack. Micah's eyes flitter to the door and catches my stare.

He's afraid. His eyes shout at me they are terrified...

Not for himself...

I read everything as clear as day in those chocolate eyes. Micah's terrified Vance will come looking for me. I hear Vance's rant berating my Italian ass and detailing to Micah just how he was going to kill me and make me suffer for touching him.

Micah turns his eyes to the ceiling fixing them there.

"Bur I don't want Ren, Vance." He croaks and Vance quietens immediately.

"You're just saying that Mimi... You let him touch you ... that is unforgivable Mimi."

"I was missing you Vancy. He's nothing to me. I was missing how you used to fuck me."

"You love my big cock don't you..." Vance grinned licking Micah's ears from behind cradling his prone body against him. I saw Micah's muscles tense. He was trying not to show his shiver and repulsion. Luckily Vance wasn't looking at his face...

"Yes Vancy I love it. You can understand that I was angry you shared it can't you?" Even his voice sounded off trying to poor emotion into false words. Luckily Vance seems oblivious to it.

"They meant nothing to me Mimi. I always came home to you honey... and I always will." Vance's voice lost his harden edge and Mathias had wisely held his mouth keeping this gun locked on Vance.

"I know that now Vancy." Micah slowly raised his free hand to touch Vance's arm stroking it softly. "I know you'd do anything for me right?"

The bat.
I remember the bat, seeing it lying just behind Vance's feet.
It's only a few yards away from me. If I open the door and creep to it I could ...

"NO!" Vance screams jerking Micah's hand away. I've hardly opened the door and I freeze fearing my discovery. "Don't lie to me MIMI! Tel me you don't love him. TEL me you love only ME! TEL me NOW."

"I love you Vance. I've never loved Ren. You know that Vancy, you know I only ..." Micah stops gasping breath stretching up to the tips of his toes again.

"YOU'RE A LIAR." He grips Micah's twisted arm harder backing him grunt with pain.

While he's distracted I creep from my position. Mathias is trying to calm Vance down talking to him soothingly. Don't be a hero is what his eyes are telling me. Hero's get killed is what Micah always says... Right at this moment being a hero is about the last thing I'm thinking about.

I want Micah and I want him alive.

I gently close my hand around the bat handle and ...

"That's Enough My Boy." The voice booms through the apartment and again I freeze mid action.

In the open door way stands a tall older man. He's dressed in a crisp pinstriped suit and dark blue neck scarf. His build is lean and slim. His posture hard and straight.

Vance doesn't move. "But Sir he..."

"I've let you have your fun my boy. But you've simply gone too far." He speaks in a calm voice as if chastising a naughty child. Vance visibly wilts under his gaze, still holding on to Micah.

"But..."

"You need to be punished." This triggers a response in Vance as he shudders letting Micah's arm drop and lowers the knife. The blade is trekked with blood from where it's been cutting into Micah's skin. The apartment is in shock, no one moves or breaths as the stranger directs Vance to step away from Micah. Which even in his limp state he obeys immediately.

The man turns to Mathias who still has his gun pointed firmly at Vance.

"Officer Jamison I presume?" He questions receiving a weary nod from Mathias. "Would you be so kind as to take out your cuffs and arrest the intruder?"

Mathias eyes grow wide and Vance's head snaps up "But..."
A single stern look from 'Sir' shuts him up and he hangs his head dejectedly.

"You did a bad thing my boy and you need to be punish accordingly. Anything less simply won't do."

Slowly Mathias edged forward and cuffed the limp Vance in one clean swoop.

"I suspect the police will be arriving any moment now so why don't you wait downstairs with our little criminal Officer Jamison?" Orders giving in questions, completely void any thought of them being suggestions.

A nod from Micah and he marched Vance to the door.

The man stopped them briefly as they passed laying his hand against Vance's cheek.

"It won't be long until you are home again my boy. I will be waiting for your release and this time I trust you'll stay home where you belong." He said softly almost... tenderly. Vance's head still hung low but he inclined it to press into the man's hand cupping his cheek. Nodding meekly.

In a second we were alone.

>=<

The guy watched Mathias march Vance down the stairs before turning to us.

"I do believe Mr Couch is in needs a robe Mr Aquila?"

Suddenly I'm aware I'm still naked. Standing in my living room, feeling blood drying on the cuts at my throat and I'm completely naked. I register this but I don't react to it and just stare at this stranger man standing in my doorway.

Ren's by my side and covering me before I can even blink, I feel his arms around me I regain some of my senses feeling his warmth.

I look up at the stranger man again and finally find my voice. "What the hell just happened?"

"Ah." He says stepping inside yet remained standing.

Ah?

"I do regret letting him loose on you. It won't happen again. He will do his time and I will be waiting for him once he's released. I shall see to it he never bothers you or Mr Aquila again and this time he shall listen to his masters voice." The stranger man ducks his head respectfully and smartly walked out of my apartment

We stood there staring at my open door hearing the sirens of the police cars pulling up and the ambulance reaching my door.

What the fuck had just happened?

---

Statements made to officers, paramedics attending to my cuts, just minor injuries nothing serious a few cuts and a sore shoulder...

We're in the eye of a storming whirlwind around is.

Officers collecting evidence, officers snapping pictures, my apartment overrun by people... Mathias retrieving the box from my closet. Handing it directly to the Chief... even the chief is here.

We're the eye of the storming whirlwind around is. Two people sitting close staring at the ground a blur of soundless activity surrounding them.

A few hours later I hear the click of the lock as the last of the officers leave. I look up and look around. How quickly silence can return... deadly soundless silence...

Ren is still beside me, like he always has and always will be. His hand is holding mine tightly. I look around the apartment again...

"Ren?"

"Yes Micah?"

"You wouldn't happen to have a cousin in real-estate would you?" Turning to look right into his dark blue's. He cracks a small smile holding up his free hand.

"Guilty as charged."

"Good." I nod looking around again, I love this furniture I'll be keeping every piece.

"Ren?" I whisper leaning into him.

"Yes Micah?"

"Take me home." Cause home is where Ren is.

>=<

In a street near a very popular Italian restaurant there is a house. Where at this very moment a young man is packing up his room. Trying to decide what to take and what to leave behind... there is only so much space in a small dorm room you know.

He packs his current journal stowing the dozens of older ones in the big wooden chest. They will keep; he resists the urge to flip through every single one. Knowing what they hold and feeling slightly embarrassed at the musing of a developing teenager.

He straightens knowing he's packed every essential he can think of. Especially he's lucky mitt. The first one he ever owned, although it's worn to threads now and useable on the field he still keeps it close. This mitt changed his life.

Eying a double photo frame on the dresser he stops and reaches for it. One showed three happy faces looking at the camera. Two grown men holding up a 10 year old proudly showing off his baseball trophy. The other showed one a very crowded family photo. The young man smiles and stuffs the frame in his pack. No one has as large a family as he does.

Descending the stairs he hears some commotion and shushing coming from the living room. He stops and tries not to laugh; the loudest people are often those trying not to make a sound.

Putting on his best 'Oh gosh what a surprize!' face he enters the living room to a horde of shouting people. A big banner had been spun across the room.

"BON VOYAGE! BILLY GOES TO COLLEGE!"

Everyone is here.
Everyone rushes forward to hug and kiss and pinch his cheek.
Even nonno and nonna though older now in no way slower. He's never seen them prouder than the day the letter came announcing his baseball scholarship.

Every cousin gets their turn, Mart, little Lucy, the chief, Aunt Katie and Suzie and Mathias and even their little boy James delve him in shoulder slaps and kisses. After a long procession of hugs and trusted unsought advice ... two men stand waiting for him at the other side of the room.

The Eagle and Captain Red.

This was a hug he gladly received and one he'd certainly miss.

"Now don't forget you come for a long line of blue bloods." Micah whispered in his ear
"And you're half Italian." Ren continued.
"So no one" Micah implored.
"Is going to mess with you." Ren finished
"And if they do."
"They will never know what hit them."

Billy grinned burring his head in their combined hug. These were his dads. These were the two men that meant most to him in this world. Behind them hundreds of framed photo's covered the full length of wall. Each portraying a moment in their shared lived that had been immortalised forever. From stately wedding photos to dancing in your short in the kitchen to pouty angry faces to happy sleeping faces cuddled up on the couch.

Each photo told a story and each story created a link in the chain they made together. A chain that keeps on growing day by day. Sometime people added to it sometimes they subtracted from it. Yet the chain always stayed as strong as the day it was forged.

Even now, on the eve of his departure to an unknown world full of adventure and strife... Billy lived in the certain and happy knowledge that their chain would never break.

FIN

******************** 

If you are reading this I am deeply grateful that you have stuck with these two for as long as you have. Every single comment has been a drive to complete this story. Just like every comment and email makes me want to write even more.

This is a piece of fiction. My piece of fiction which may not be borrowed, altered, taken or copied without my explicit permission. These stories are registered under my name.

A. Sonky