Klaus sat down in the chair Dorian was listing into, waking him gently, with a careful shake. "We can't go yet, but you should wake up."

"Mmmm," Dorian answered, sighing and laying his head on Klaus's shoulder, eyes still closed. "When?" When could they go, he meant, though he wasn't quite capable of more coherent questioning. It had been a busy few days and there had been nothing to do but sit and be bored while waiting for Klaus, so he had slept, again.

"Once they've verified our stories as best they can," Klaus murmured, shifting his aching body closer to Dorian's. "Hopefully soon; I need to take my medications..." Dorian's questioning had lasted half of an hour, if that -- Klaus's had stretched to four straight, his voice aided by lukewarm soda. They'd kept trying to find out every last thing Mischa had said to him, and believed at last that they had.

Believed.

"Mmmm." That still sounded sleepy, Dorian's head cradled on his shoulder. "Took a long time," he noted. "I thought they weren't ever going to let you out. Missed you."

"Yeah. But we did a good job today," Klaus told him, moving his arm to snag Dorian's leanly muscled body closer to him. "Enjoy the rest of this vacation, then take care of business, and..." He shrugged, but it as a calm, easy gesture. "We'll manage. You just keep resting here, and I'll wake you up when it's time to go."

"Hmm." Still, now that Klaus was back, he was a bit more awake. "And then after that, we can see what we might like to do," he said almost dreamily. "I think contracting will be good for us, Klaus..."

"It will for me... would you be happy with that?" Now they had a foot in the door through this mission, and Agents A-Z could convince the chief to get them for missions that would suit them -- less work than he faced before, but God, it was something!

"Yes." That was said as if there was no other way for it to be, nothing else more perfect. "Once you're happy and I can stay with you, always... yes."

"You'd live with me at the Schloss?" /If I can still live there.../

"Wherever you are," Dorian answered him, eyes still closed. "I don't want to be away from you." /I can't bear to be apart.../

"Where do *you* want to live, though?" Klaus pressed. "I don't want to make all the decisions..."

That golden head lifted off of his shoulder, clear aquamarine gaze looking at him solemnly. "If you left it up to me, we'd travel all over Europe. I actually think that'd be much nicer than staying in one place all the time. I wouldn't mind living with you at the schloss, though, Klaus. That and the castle at North Downs... it's always right to have somewhere to call home."

"All over, then," Klaus uttered -- he liked that idea, since he was so used to moving constantly, place to place. "Hmnn, we'll decide more when we get back to the house."

"I'll get James to send a listing of the houses I've got. They're *dreadfully* expensive and he complains awfully when I want to open one of them up, but there's more than one," Dorian told him, smiling slightly. "All over."

"Just remember that I have a pension we can use," Klaus told him, settling closer to Dorian. A chance glance down the hall brought him back to himself, as he saw Agent Williams approaching -- probably with more questions to ask. Klaus didn't bother to pull back from Dorian, keeping his arm around the thief's narrow, muscular waist.

It was something that brought the CIA agent's eyebrows to rise, seeking his hairline as he stepped forward, clearing his throat. "Ah... Major. Eroica..."

"Yes?" Dorian drawled, one of his own eyebrows rising in response to the man's expression.

"I want each of you to make a written statement of the events, and then you'll be driven back, along with Agent Z," Williams told them.

The thief shrugged slightly. "Not a problem, I don't think," he said, glancing at Klaus to be sure that was so.

"I'll have to dictate mine," Klaus told the agent, without bothering to explain why.

A glance at the man's ruined right hand was enough to convince the man that it would be necessary, though his lips thinned slightly, a sigh held back just barely. "I'll get someone to do it," he simply said. "Both of you, come with me. I'll settle you in a room so you can write."

Klaus rose to his feet, tugging at Dorian only a little since the thief was to his feet just as quickly; then Klaus let his grasp loosen, to a hold at Dorian's elbow with his better left hand. "And this will be the last time we have to tell this?"

"For now," Williams said simply. "There might be more questions later, if anything doesn't check out, but quite possibly."

"Of course," Klaus murmured, nodding. "You have the number to contact us at for the remainder of our stay in America; beyond that, NATO can find me." /Because I don't know where I'm going to be living./

With a nod, the agent turned to head back in the direction of the interrogation room, and Klaus and Dorian followed him. Dorian stretched as they walked, back popping slightly with the motion. They were soon settled in a room with a table and two chairs, Williams pausing as he watched them. "I'll bring in someone," he said, giving Dorian a pen and a notebook. "You go ahead and start writing."

The urge to snap out a quick affirmative 'yes, sir!' was difficult to resist, but Dorian managed, only poking out his tongue at the man's back in disgust as Williams turned around to walk out of the room.

"Don't do that," Klaus chided him, as he sat down at the other chair and relaxed into it, knocking a cigarette free of his pack. Last one -- a pity. He'd have to do without until they could get to the store the next day. /I'll manage./ "We'll have to run a load of laundry once the Alphabet leave."

"Towels," Dorian agreed, beginning to scrawl out the details he'd already given the interrogator. "There're probably not any left. Besides," he noted, looking across the table at Klaus. "He deserved it!"

"You only had him asking you idiotic question for half an hour -- if must have asked me what Mischa told me forty times!" Another sigh, as he watched Dorian write. "I'm glad we've finally started to figure things out between us. I know this isn't the place at all to talk like this, but I don't give a fuck. Idiot Yanks."

That gained him a smile, a tilt of Dorian's head as his fingers paused momentarily in their writing. "I'm glad," he said simply, eyes conveying so much that words did not. "And he deserved it from both of us, since I had to sit alone without you while he asked you forty times what Mischa told you!"

"'s why I don't like Yanks," Klaus sighed, looking to the door. He'd have to tell it all over again, and his voice would go! He *knew* it!

"Well," Dorian told him, scrawling out a few more lines, "if it makes you feel at all better, I think most of 'em are scared clean to death of you, darling. I mean, I heard two of them as they passed in the hall speaking in glowing terms of sheer terror. You'd have been proud."

"Sheer terror?" Klaus asked in an amused term. "Why -- I haven't yelled but so much today."

"*Reputation*," he was informed with a nod as the door opened and a mousy secretary peeked around it. The woman looked nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs and she was clutching her steno pad to her chest, dark curly hair frizzed slightly, brown eyes wide.

"Erm," she began timidly. "Major Eberbach?"

"Ja -- let's begin," he told her, and then began to tell his story for what had to be at least one time too many.

"We'll see you when you arrive back in Europe, sir," Z said firmly, nodding at them both as he offered his hand first to Klaus and then to Dorian. "Thank you for your help. Lord Gloria, I'm sure your accountant will be sending an itemized statement...?"

"Of course," Dorian replied, more than a little amused. "Knowing Jamesie, he'll manage to recoup the cost of the house and all sorts of things!"

"The chief will be the one he has to deal with," A told him with no small amount of glee in his voice. "Sir... Major, we'll be looking forward to you coming back and helping NATO whenever possible."

"Thank you, Mr. A -- I'm looking forward to that, too," Klaus told the small agent as they shook hands.

"We'll see you soon," Z said again, and then the two Alphabets headed into the yard to slip into the last of the cars remaining.

Dorian smiled up at Klaus, slightly relieved. "Well. It's just you and me again, darling."

"It's still morning -- the sun is out, and after sleeping the past day.." And evening, but that had been lounging in bed a lot. He felt tired and lazy for having done *that*, so... "Let me go put on my trunks and then you can watch me freeze to death in the lake."

THAT gained him what was almost a wicked smirk, and the other man wrapped his arms about Klaus's neck, pushing him slightly to make him go into the house. "I'll pull you out when you turn to ice, so long as you aren't *too* far out. I wouldn't want to turn to ice with you," he teased, prodding.

"You know, it's hard to go up these steps with your arms around my neck like this," Klaus murmured, back-stepping up the last of the cement steps, and then from the platform into the house itself, dragging Dorian with him. "I won't go far. And if I haven't turned to ice that needs to be thawed out, we're going to hike around in the woods here -- the trees are beautiful..."

"And I'll have you all to myself," came the appropriately appreciative murmur, Dorian pressing his lips to Klaus's lightly.

A kiss carefully returned; Klaus was still adjusting to their more intimate touches, still accustoming himself to their feel and his comfort, to his personal control. Holding, hugging, touching was more familiar and more harmless, too, than some of the kisses that Dorian gave him. "Yes -- just you and I for the rest of this month."

"I can't wait," was the whisper, one that brushed his ear as Dorian momentarily held him close, hugging him tightly.

Warm arms around his neck, Dorian's now familiar body pressed close to his... Klaus sighed warmly, chest tightening as he ducked his head forward to rest on Dorian's shoulder. "I'd thought everything was over for both of us when I woke up in the hospital."

"Never." The sound of that was softly spoken, but it was uncompromising. There was no doubt in Dorian at that moment. "It will never be over for us."

"Hmn, I hope you're right." Klaus's voice was a thick murmur as he gave Dorian's torso a squeeze of pressure, not wanting to let go. "Those first days you were..."

"So sorry," Dorian said softly. "I couldn't sleep. I kept seeing everything in my dreams and when I looked at you, all I could see was... that it was all my fault."

"You don't still think that, do you?"

"...sometimes," Dorian admitted quietly. "Mostly, I think it was neither of our faults. It's not that I feel as if I'm responsible. It's more that I feel... guilty. Even if it's not my fault."

"Guilty... I feel that sometimes," Klaus murmured, starting to pull back -- but it was only to guide Dorian upstairs with him, crossing through the kitchen to mount the stairs. "We... couldn't do anything, it's just..."

"It's just that the human mind wants to come up with a reason for things that happen to a person. If something terrible happened, then there must be a reason why, and it must be with you, somehow," Dorian reasoned.

"Well it wasn't *you*, so..." Klaus shrugged as he entered the bedroom with Dorian, and moved to the suitcase to pull out a pair of swim trunks. Bonham packing for him was as bad as his butler packing for him. "I'm just glad we're better than we were before. I... couldn't have managed if you didn't ever get better."

Dorian's voice was soft when he answered. "I'm sorry to have been such a burden on you. I hope I won't be again."

"You weren't a burden, Dorian," Klaus told him, shaking the black, elastic waist-banded things out. "I was just as bad. You needed me to sit by your bed, and I wouldn't be anywhere else." Even now, they did the same, though it was less awkward now that they just outwardly *slept* with each other... and possibly more.

"Mmmm," came the murmured agreement, Dorian dropping onto the bed to watch him begin to undress. Klaus was still shy, but... there wasn't so much point in it, now. "Things will stay better," he said solemnly.

Still, point or no, Klaus wasn't going to be blatant like Dorian was. He ducked behind the little screen that separated the currently vacant computer desk from the rest of the room, and slid off his trousers, and on his trunks, behind it. "I really hope they do."

"They will," Dorian said again. "We have two more weeks here, Klaus. What do you think we had ought to do with them? And where should we go when we're ready to do so?"

"With the rest of our time here, I want to relax -- this area has a beautiful countryside, and I think we can both enjoy it... and I want to go into the downtown again and look at a few of those odd shops. I think I saw one that had antiques and things like you like."

"And you're willing to suffer through them for me?" came the teasing response as Klaus came back towards the bed. "Now that's..." Love, he would have said, but he wasn't sure he wanted to push that envelope just yet. "...truly magnificent of you!"

"If I go with you, you might decide to buy something, instead of just tracking it down for a later theft," Klaus told him good naturedly, striding towards Dorian; he wasn't conscious of the way he looked so much as he was of Dorian watching him. "I need to put a bandage over my eye so the spacer will stay in; I'll be back in a moment." What Dorian could see, in the clear light of day, was the dancing line-work of scars the Stasi officer had left on his chest and upper stomach; the symmetrical cuts that had gone through his pectorals and were still healing; each nipple sliced clean through and scarred that way.

/My poor, darling Klaus,/ he thought to himself, desperately sad for a moment. It hurt him, not because Klaus wasn't beautiful; after all, to him, Klaus would have been beautiful even had he been scarred much worse than he was! No, it hurt him because no one should ever have been allowed to hurt Klaus that way -- or to hurt *him*. /I'll find a way to make it up with you. When we go, when we find that man.../ Violence made him sick, but to make this up to Klaus...

He could live with it.

"All right, darling. Then, you can go and try the water. It's cool out today. I hope you don't get frost nipped toes!"

"If I do, I can just have you sit on them to warm them up," Klaus said in parting, as he moved down to the bathroom to tend to his eye. That was something, too, he didn't want to do with Dorian around -- it was a bit disgusting, having to blot up tears and secretions from the corners, clean there, and then tape a simple gauze square tightly in place all around the eye. It would get wet, but this way it couldn't fall out. That done, he stepped back into the hall and called, "Let's go!"

"Coming, Klaus!" THAT brought a few images to mind which were probably best not contemplated as Dorian smiled at him, moving close. "Let's go, then!"

/I have a sick, sick mind,/ Klaus thought mournfully as he started down the stairs ahead of Dorian, and then out the front hall. He knew he probably wouldn't get more than a few strokes in before he deemed the water too cold, but he wanted to give it a shot!

The walk to the pier was fairly brisk beneath the clouding-over sky, Dorian chuckling as he watched a few chill bumps raise up on Klaus's flesh. "Darling, I hope the water's warmer than the air," he said with what was almost enjoyment. "Truly, I do!"

"We'll see," Klaus said bravely, standing at the end of the pier and looking down into the lake's beauty. Oh, he was going to freeze... A moment of brief hesitation, and he dove in.

It was *just* as cold as he had thought it was going to be and maybe even colder! Out of pride alone, he didn't burst to the surface right away -- instead, he started to swim, down along the cement wall's line, towards the set of steps that lead into the water, a few hundred feet down.

"Is it cold?" Dorian called mischievously from the pier, seated on one of the pilings near the shore to watch him.

"Fuck... Yes!" Klaus called back between gasped breaths of air, still swimming, further and further, until the water was shallow and he stood, walking towards the steps. "No worse than when you dropped me in the lake in Alaska!"

"You had on more clothes, then!" came the amused yell, Dorian laughing softly. "I've got a towel for you!" He had one and it was waved about madly, the smile on his face one of pure delight.

"Good." Klaus didn't bother shouting -- just shivered that word, as he mounted the rough cement steps back onto the lawn again, nearly into the woods. Then he began to walk, shivering with every step, back towards Dorian and the house.

"That was an exercise in futility."

He was met halfway, and the other man smiled at those words. "Well, at least you got into the water. Maybe from here we can go somewhere warm, Greece or someplace, and then you can swim all you like," Dorian offered.

"Yes... we can do that -- after here." It meant more resting, of course, but he was getting accustomed to that idea, to Dorian still... "And after that we can go back to Europe." No harm in delaying the inevitable!

"Thank you, darling." And that was meant from the bottom of Dorian's heart, how his face lifted, almost begging for a kiss!

Klaus was wrapping the towel around his shoulders just then, though he was looking clearly at Dorian. "Want to help warm me up?"

"I'd love to," was the soft answer, Dorian's lips parting just the way Klaus loved for them to!

His sweater got wet from Klaus's dripping hair and from his still water chilled body when Klaus pulled him close to steal a kiss. "Inside the house," he shivered, "so I won't be cold anymore."

"I'll start a fire while you get dry," Dorian whispered against his lips, nose rubbing lightly at one high, cold cheekbone. "We can change into pajamas and lounge in front of it for the evening. You think?"

"I think I need to keep you away from romance novels," Klaus sighed, but nodded. Even the worst cliches sometimes made for good real-life moments, he decided as they started across the near part of the line, and then the driveway, to the steps.

The objection that gained him was light, only teasing. "Romance novels occasionally have fine notions," was the protest. "The only way that could be better were if we were both naked in front of the fire, Klaus, and I didn't suggest *that*, you know." He rather figured Klaus would have a massive internal hemorrhage and die of a nose bleed if he'd actually MEANT a suggestion like that, regardless of what went on between the two of them late at night!!

Somehow what they did under the covers was so greatly different from what they did out from under them. "I'm glad you didn't," Klaus uttered. /Because if you did, I might take you up on it, and then... then we could both end up hurt. I don't know./ He was glad Dorian seemed to understand his limits now, even if he teased at them.

"I love you," was the solemn answer as they slipped into the warmth of the house. "I wouldn't want to make you unhappy. Go upstairs and shower. I'll slip into the living room and check the wood box."

"I'll bring some of what's behind the house in tomorrow," the German told him, heading up the stairs. The towel around his shoulder could only absorb -- it didn't help with warmth much.

"Go get warm!" Dorian told him again, parting ways and heading for the other room to make the promised fire.

It was twenty minutes later that Klaus returned, already dressed in warm pajamas that helped to add to his chilled body's warmth. The shower had helped, but not *quite* enough -- somehow the lake's chill had seeped into his bones, it felt. Still, there was hope that Dorian's fire would help to finish thawing him out, and if not, Dorian himself would.

There was only a single lamp on in the living room, but that was typical of Dorian, somehow. It helped to instill that sense of romance that the other man liked, and Klaus wasn't going to yell at him about it. How could he, when he was laying on a blanket in front of the fireplace in the white silk pajamas that absolutely made his heart flutter with a tray of sandwiches and coffee next to him? *Waiting* for Klaus to be beside him.

"Hi."

"You're not cold in that?" Klaus asked him as he padded across the wooden floor, onto the living-room rug. Coffee? Dorian could be painfully thoughtful at times, though Klaus suspected Dorian did things like this as much for his own comfort as for Klaus's. He sat down beside the earl, and patted the reclining man's stomach with a smile. "Hello. Been waiting long?"

"Forever." It was said teasingly, but the double meaning was unmistakable even as Dorian smiled at him. "I was hungry, and I figured coffee and sandwiches wouldn't be a bad idea. Watched the weather. They say it's going to rain..."

"If I thought you could control the weather, I'd suspect you've orchestrated it all from the cold water to the rain," Klaus murmured as he picked up a cup of the coffee -- the one that was nearly black, assuming the pale brown colored cup was Dorian's, half cream, half coffee.

Those blue eyes became wide, innocent, remarkably, startlingly gorgeous. "Would I do a thing like that?" Dorian murmured.

"Maybe -- if it rains, there would be no way to even bother doing anything else today but sit here," Klaus said, as if Dorian needed reminding of that wonderful fact. "The Alphabet have been gone long enough that we won't have to worry about them turning around for any reason."

The smile that gained him was positively wanton as Dorian laid back, gaze gleaming up at him from beneath golden lashes. "Mmmhmmmmmm..." Klaus's hand was still on his belly and he felt almost as if he should be purring in response.

Klaus seemed only half aware of his touching Dorian there, as he took a sip of the coffee, letting it settle warmly into his system. "Have... you read any of those books?"

"Started some of them," Dorian admitted. "I haven't learned anything I didn't know already, but I've only just started..." He'd begun with the rape trauma books, and those were things both of them had already been dealing with since they'd left Germany. Guilt wasn't new, the feelings of just being disgusting and dirty that had been contended with... nothing new, really. But apparently it was normal, and there was something vaguely reassuring about that.

"Hmn. If you learn anything interesting, tell me," Klaus mused.

"I will." It was a promise, spoken solemnly, Dorian looking at him with serious expression. "Klaus. Are you pleased to be here, this way, now? With me?" It was a question meant solely for reassurance for both of them, and in some ways it was meant as an overture.

"You mean here in American with you... like this?" 'This' being the way they were about everything and about each other. "I... yeah. I am."

"I'm glad." The way those words parted his lips, the look of them as they curved upward, the expression of cat-that-ate-the-canary on Dorian's face... "Kiss me, Klaus." It was a whisper, an invitation, a need.

A kiss wasn't so hard for him to grant, though he first moved the coffee cups aside, and the plate Dorian had made up. Then he leaned in and over Dorian, pressing his mouth against the earl's inviting lips.

"Klaus..." It was a prayer barely heard and mostly felt as Dorian yielded to him beautifully, back arching slightly to press them together, his hands moving to lightly tug the German man closer. It was a delicious touch, the way his arms wrapped around broad shoulders, caresses stealing down Klaus's spine. "Mmmm..."

"I won't ever hurt you again, Dorian," Klaus murmured when he pulled back from the kiss. His body was fairly screaming at him to do more than just kiss the blond man, while his mind was screaming at him to stop. "You... you're beautiful, and I swear I won't ever hurt you again..."

"I love you." Those words were meant as much as they had ever been, Dorian's fingers lightly caressing over him. "I know. You... wouldn't hurt me by touching me, Klaus. I promise. If you could, I'd tell you..."

"Tell me what?" Klaus pressed softly, leaning down again to take another kiss.

"If you were... ohhhhh...." That was little more than a sigh, Dorian shifting to squirm slightly beneath him, fingers working up into Klaus's hair. "If you were hurting me," he managed to say, shivering. "I would tell you if you were hurting me..."

"I don't want to know -- I mean, I wouldn't want to find out if I were, I don't want to even get that close..." Klaus shuddered as he shifted closer to Dorian.

"I want you to touch me," Dorian told him tenderly, hands stroking down his side. "I want... I want to feel you against me, close, hot... I love you so..."

Klaus was terribly glad for warm pajamas just then, shivering at the touch for a moment. /'You see, it begins this way. It is always best to show a little of what you may do, do you not think, Eroica?'... No, no, he's not Stasi, he's Dorian, he's.../ Perhaps it was too blatantly sexual for Klaus just then, not as secure as their shared bed -- but for whatever reason, Klaus was assailed with thoughts and flickers of the humiliations pressed onto them.

The shiver went unnoticed, Dorian offering himself up to Klaus's hands, his kisses. "I love you," he whispered. "I love you. I love you..."

What to do? To... to give into memories of things that Dorian had told him were wrong, that shouldn't be the way they had been, or to give in to Dorian...? "I know," he whispered, seeing in his mind's eye the fear and pain that had been on Dorian's face when they were cutting his fingers off. With another shudder he just closed his eye and settled against Dorian, grasp a crushing one.

"...Klaus?" The sound of his name was questioning, worried. Dorian was still touching him, but the feel of those hands were now simply rubbing his back, slowly, carefully. "Are... you all right?"

"I..." God, Dorian had just been touching him, and now... "I'll be fine," he said quietly, a denial of what was wrong. "Just... wait..."

"Are you sure?" That sounded hesitant, and he hated to hear Dorian sounding that way!

"No." Harder still to say that *back* in the face of Dorian's hesitance; but Klaus at least wasn't letting him go, even as he shook again. "'m not sure of anything, just... you wouldn't hurt me like that, would you?"

The little hiccoughing gasp of breath that he heard accompanied by the slight stiffening of Dorian's body was inevitable. "Never." It was a defeated little sound, Dorian's grasp on him loosening, the feel of him withdrawing almost physical as he lay beneath Klaus, eyes shut tightly in an attempt to keep a sudden wash of tears from flooding over, escaping. "Never. Never. Never. Never..."

"Dorian, I didn't mean that you would! I meant... I don't know what hurts or not, if it's supposed to, or..." He was still unsteady as he pulled back enough to press a kiss to Dorian's mouth, a gentle brush of lips. "I'm sorry, I'm so fucking sorry, Dorian..."

"I would die before I'd hurt you, and be glad of it," Dorian told him, brow remaining tightly knit, eyes closed. "Just die. I couldn't bear it if I knew I'd hurt you..."

"I wasn't thinking -- I'm sorry. I just remembered..." Remembered what the Stasi had said, and just asked to be *sure*. "I need you -- you wouldn't hurt me, and I wouldn't hurt you..."

"I'd die first," Dorian whispered to him again, damp eyes opening to look up at him. "You do believe me, don't you?"

"I believe you," Klaus said tightly, taking another brushing buss of a kiss. /You wouldn't hurt me willingly... / "It's just so hard to believe it wouldn't hurt... but I know you wouldn't."

"It doesn't, you know." Dorian's hands were on his face, lightly tracing his features. The conversation was absurd, speaking of sex as 'it', as if they couldn't say that word between them. "At least, not that way. It..." How could he make Klaus understood that it hurt in a *good* way? He didn't think he could. "It's just different. It's not like that."

"Sometime... we will," Klaus murmured, still not sure of *that*, as he finally started to relax again. "Sometime. But for now... what we do is all right." The awkwardness, Klaus knew, probably stemmed from himself more than Dorian -- but at least he sensed it and knew it wasn't normal to skirt the topic the way he did.

The whisper that responded was soft, quietly spoken. "I know. I'm sorry if you thought I was pushing you, Klaus..."

"I didn't just... sometimes I remember things." It was lame to say that, Klaus knew, but it was the truth, given sincerely as he laid down beside Dorian completely.

"What happened," Dorian said, turning on his side slightly and reaching for his coffee cup. "We... I don't want to think about it or talk about it or deal with it but I know that we have to, at least with one another..."

"I know... I know," Klaus sighed shakily, watching Dorian's movements. "Just... I don't know what we need to do, or how..."

A finger lightly traced his jawline. "Talk about it. Just... I don't know, either. In your arms, it might not be as terrible. It will never be good."

"Never...?" Klaus was tracking Dorian's face and expressions with his careful gaze, frowning intensely. "I don't... want something if you wouldn't enjoy it."

Blue eyes widened slightly. "I'm sorry, darling. I meant that talking about what had happened would never be good. Not... *that*." The slight flush on his face and his sheepish expression said it all. "No, I think *that*, with you, would have to be absolutely miraculous," he finished in a whisper. "Nothing at all like the other."

"I don't think I could ever do... that unless I... had things figured out more..." Which he obviously still didn't.

"Would you like... for me to tell you about it?" Dorian murmured, looking at him thoughtfully.

"I..." That thought made him more on edge, more nervous, but he nodded, sitting up on his elbows to look at the screened in fireplace. "Just.... yes."

Laying back, Dorian watched him, head turned to the side. "Mmm. How to start?" he murmured to himself, expression thoughtful. "D'you know, I think I was only fourteen the first time I did it. Just a boy, really. I didn't know what you were supposed to do then, and that hurt, but not...." His voice trailed off momentarily into silence. "Not like what you saw. Even that was more of just a discomfort, of not knowing, not of consciously trying to hurt someone..." He paused, looking at Klaus. "Touching a man is so different from touching a woman, or so I'm told. You don't have to worry about a man breaking, somehow. I've never worried about that, one way and another. It starts the way we start, the way we touch, the way we kiss. It goes on from there, an infinite number of ways..."

"It could go wrong an infinite number of ways," Klaus said almost mournfully. "Will everything we do feel as good as what... we already do?" Naive, idiotic questions to ask, but Dorian wouldn't laugh at him -- he knew Klaus well enough to know the wondering was true and *real*, not just a game of some sort. Klaus simply didn't know.

"Sometimes," Dorian told him truthfully. "Everything feels different from one person to the next, so something I like that feels good to me may feel uncomfortable to you, and you might not want to do that. So, you would do whatever it was to me, if you wanted, but I would do something different, something you liked better, for you. Making love is a lot of learning, give and take. Experiment."

"Experiment," Klaus murmured to himself. "We... should experiment, as far as we can get, before..." Before one of them just couldn't anymore.

That gained him a smile, Dorian looking at him solemnly. "Whenever you're ready. I enjoy being touched, when it isn't meant to be a cruelty..."

"Touched like... you liked the last time we were upstairs?" He meant when they were in bed together, doing things, not the last time they slept... though that was enjoyable in its own way. Safety and a feeling of protecting, being protected, needed and needing.

"Yes," the other man replied simply.

"That did feel good," Klaus agreed, turning to his side, weight on his better left arm, so he was facing Dorian. "Do we do that... the way it's normal to?"

Dorian smiled at him, nodding his head in its nest of curls. "We did it the way it felt good. That's always the right way."

"It... it's morally wrong, what we do," Klaus said -- his last, wavering line of defense... that he shot down himself. "But we've never fit in, have we?"

"No." It was said gently, easily, Dorian's head shaking at him slightly as the other man smiled up at him. "But we aren't hurting anyone. How wrong can that be?"

"We're... helping each other." Klaus's took Dorian's thought a step further -- a necessary step to be taken. "It... helps you, doesn't it?" /It helps me./

"Yes."

"Then it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks," Klaus murmured, leaning slowly towards Dorian -- he wanted to touch the other man, but didn't want to disturb his drinking the coffee.

The way that Dorian's lips curled upward, inviting him, made it impossible to resist the draw. Coffee was abandoned in favor of tasting that mouth, warm and pliant, tasting of coffee and cream. "Mmm..."

"'s good," Klaus breathed against Dorian's hum of air, putting his right hand down on the other side of Dorian as he settled in to 'explore' properly. Dorian's mouth was a warm cavern that invited him in, clean-tasting and heatedly slick, and the other man was infinitely willing when it came to Klaus touching him. It was easy, then, to kiss him, taste him, to contemplate touching him and the possibility that he would enjoy it immensely.

And maybe after a little exploring of Dorian, he could get himself to relax enough and let Dorian do the same to him. The thief would *never* turn on him, or hurt him... Klaus pulled back from the kiss to meet Dorian's gaze with his own half-gaze, hands going to pull up the tunic of Dorian's pajamas. "Can I?"

The answer was husky, blue eyes half-lidded in the growing gloom of the evening, a little smile chasing the Briton's mouth. "Yes."

It was pulled up easily, with Dorian's help, and Klaus set it aside; and then moved the coffee further out of reach. No spills of breaks were needed. "You're beautiful."

Dorian had never thought that two words such as that would ever be anything that he would do more than take for granted. He trembled slightly, a hand stroking up his belly to run lightly across puckered nipples, teasing at them for Klaus's enjoyment. "Thank you," he whispered, tongue darting out to moisten lips gone dry.

"Why thank me?" Klaus asked him, setting his hand atop Dorian's, shifting to simply be closer.

Lightly, his fingers were taken in the other man's hand, cupped to brush them over tiny hard bits of flesh, drawing a little sound of pure pleasure from Dorian. "B...because... I'm glad you... Oh, Klaus, I'm glad you think so!"

Klaus let himself be guided so, finally moving his maimed hand of its own volition to rub those two fingers with a careful tenderness over Dorian's nipples. First one, then the other, and then he circled them a bit -- they perked up even more, if it was possible. "You are."

"I love you." The words seemed so important for Dorian to say, and they just seemed to come out of him completely naturally. His eyes were closed by then, body writhing up beneath Klaus's touch as he sighed softly. "Oh, God, that feels so good..."

He remembered some of the things the Stasi had done to Dorian, and instantly decided to not do more than just rub those nubs; at least, until the thought struck to lean down and kiss the nearest one lightly. "Feels good?"

The reaction that gained him was a cry, given quietly, and a rock of Dorian's body. "Yes!" he moaned, shivering. "Oh, yes! Klaus!!!" He was so sensitive. He always had been, but now it seemed somehow even worse, perhaps because Klaus was touching him and it felt so good and was so very different from some of what had been done to him. Another kiss like that followed, and then over on the other one, two slow, lingering kisses, before Klaus began to trace up. Over collarbone and the dip of Dorian's neck, he moved slowly, exploring relentlessly. "Please, Klaus..." It was prettily said and just as prettily meant. "Please, Klaus, *please*..."

"Please what?" Klaus asked, lifting his head from the warm skin of Dorian's neck.

"Kiss me," Dorian sighed. "Touch me... *more*..."

"More... Dorian, I don't know..." How to do *more* or what was okay yet.... His voice trailed off in a bewildered tone until he pressed a little closer and felt Dorian's erection against his thigh. /More./

"Anywhere," Dorian told him, leaning to steal Klaus's lips, to kiss him ravenously. "You can touch me anywhere. I'm..." He sighed, shivering. "Very sensitive today. Anywhere will feel good to me, Klaus..."

"Just pleasure?" he pressed, tone minutely worried as he shifted to kiss Dorian again, hand creeping slowly down Dorian's lean belly, to the inside of his waistband. The sound of Dorian whimpering, the feel of a nod, was enough to reassure him when accompanied by the hand that moved to lightly touch his elbow, seeming to direct him to go farther.

He did, hand meeting slick flesh. Dorian was hard, a little slick, and wanting... He let his hand slip down more to stroke the length once, at the same time he kissed Dorian's nipple. That gained him a cry, an arching of Dorian's body, one that was distinctly pleasure, completely and totally enjoyable. "KLAUS! OH! God, *yes*!!"

It was an assailing of pleasure that didn't let up. Klaus stroked again, and then wrapped his hand around Dorian's cock, pumping his awkward grasp over it the best he could. /He feels good. So damn good... and he's enjoying it as much as I am -- this can work, we can *make* this work..../

"Please, Klaus... please, Klaus, please, Klaus, *please*, *please*!!" The pleading was sweet to him, Dorian's arms reaching for him, caressing over chest and shoulders, upper arms, the blond man's moans and rocking motions unbearably erotic. "Yes...!" answering Dorian's cries, Klaus picked up the pace of the stroking, rubbing his thumb of the slick head as he kissed more at Dorian's chest. He *wanted* so badly to bring Dorian to pleasure...

It seemed almost too easy, the steady rock and thrust of hips shifting up to his touch sending his slim lover closer to the edge with every motion, and when Dorian's arms wrapped around him, face pressed tightly to his neck, he knew it was close. It didn't stop him in the least; except, he wanted to see Dorian's face in that pleasure again, not to have it hidden against his neck, where he could barely feel it and not see it at all. /Another time... not... not now.../ Positioned like that, he couldn't do more than kiss at Dorian's temple and stroke still, barely a thought spared to him having to add those pajamas to the wash of the next day.

The sound of Dorian's breath hitching, little mewls of absolute bliss coming from him, were almost enough for Klaus. Seconds later, the other man came, hips rocking wildly to that two-fingered touch, hands clutching him closely. "U...unh!!"

It took perhaps another few minutes for Klaus to pull his hand free, the semen drying on his fingers wiped on the edge of their shared blanket. "That felt good."

"Mmmmm," Dorian managed to get out in agreement, smiling at him drowsily. "Shall I do it for you? See if you like it...?"

"Yeah," Klaus agreed, but he didn't pull back to lay down until he took another kiss from Dorian with almost desperate force. It didn't seem to bother the other man, though; Dorian only yielded to him before moving closer to him, fingers lightly plucking at the buttons of his pajama top.

"May I?" he asked politely, just to be certain.

"Please." Klaus laid on his back, hands holding Dorian's waist lightly. Just to give them something to do, he supposed, and to take comfort from a little sense of control.

"I want to kiss you everywhere," Dorian murmured, nuzzling the buttons open slightly, following words with action, smatterings of kisses following his fingers. "I want to taste your skin. I want to please you..."

"Ohhh... if it doesn't hurt, then it's good... you're so good," Klaus sighed, arching a little against those sweet touches.

"Love you..." Those words always came to Klaus, always, and the steady nuzzle of Dorian searching across his scarred pectorals was somehow delicious in conjunction with them.

"'s good, too." A sigh of air, and he let his eye close in relaxation as he let out a pleasured huff of breath. His better hand slid up from Dorian's waist to press at the back of his shoulder.

"Darling..." Mouth latched onto those scarred bits of nipples, the reaction there not as prominent as Dorian's, but no less a sign of pleasure as he nuzzled, suckling slightly at the first of them. "Mmm.."

"Ahh, yes... feels odd, but..." But he arched again, pressing Dorian closer -- but it felt perfect, sending an odd spark from the spot, down to his groin. THAT gained the blond man a little noise, one he recognized as approval, and he nearly purred, fingers plucking at the waistband of Klaus's pajamas even as he kissed lightly at the other man's diaphragm.

/Oh, Klaus.../

He could feel the sharp breath Klaus drew, and then feel it let out by slow degrees. "Ah, God... Dorian, you don't have to if you don't... "

"Shhh," Dorian soothed him, fingers already at work on the buttons. "Tell me if I do something that makes you uncomfortable or hurts you..." That was the last thing he said, mouth leaving a warm, damp trail behind, the caress of tongue and lips infinitely delicious as they made their way down to his navel and just below it.

"What're you..." He slitted open his eye, and lifted his head a little, and then closed his eye, putting his head back down just as quickly as he'd peeked at the earl. Lips there tickled slickly, close to... No, Dorian didn't mean to do that, did he?!

The slow tug to remove underwear and pajama bottoms seemed to indicate that he *did*, though, and when those lips trailed down to the pubic hair cradling his heavy erection, it was almost enough to send Klaus into a paroxysm of nervousness. "It's all right," Dorian told him soothingly, feeling him tense slightly. "You'll like this, darling," he whispered, lightly kissing the shaft.

Like it?! Klaus drew a sharp breath, gasping loudly from the intensity of feeling that shot through him from that simple kiss. "Oh, God, ohhh, Christ..."

The feel of that soft mouth taking him in, heated, wet, was nearly enough to kill him, much less the image of it in his mind. Pink lips, soft, suckling at him, and it felt so damned *good*... *SO* good, incredible, and trying to remain still was simply impossible, especially given the soft sounds of pleasure that were spilling from Dorian. Those, accompanied by the resumption of the erection so lately tended to, said much about his lover's own enjoyment.

This was just what the Stasi officer had felt when he'd been in Dorian's mouth -- had to be, such a dragging heat and tender suckling... but it wasn't hurting Dorian like the Stasi had. Was there so much difference...? Klaus didn't think on it long -- just let the thought flick through his mind, in and back out again, as he tried hard to not move his hips up to the tight pleasure. All the while, he bit back at his own sounds of pleasure, but there was enough to hear that Dorian knew it was right. The feel of Dorian's hand moved up his side, seeking out his own and twining them together even as his left took up stroking behind the dampness of his mouth, and that somehow made things even better, more difficult to resist.

Hand clutched in hand let Klaus free some of his body's tension in a clenching tight grasp, lips parting as he quietly choked back noises of need until he couldn't manage it anymore. Halfway through a tentative rocking up to Dorian's lips, he felt the tightening of his groin that told him he was done for, and an increase in suction seemed to be timed perfectly to meet that need. He came in a wash of exhilaration, unable to stop himself, and Dorian swallowed most of it, lapping up the few drops that had spilled a moment later before shifting to cradle himself against Klaus's side.

"Not so bad?" he whispered.

"It felt so good," he shuddered, turning minutely to curl against Dorian in turn, only absently pulling his pajama bottoms back in place. "You... didn't have to do that... But... thank you." /And I didn't hurt you, did I?/

Fingers caressed over Klaus's face, those blue eyes watching him warmly. "You taste delicious," he whispered, breathing in deeply. "I've always wanted to do that, with you. It was... perfect."

"It wasn't as bad as I'd thought it would be," Klaus murmured, moving nearer to kiss Dorian properly for such sheer pleasure.

The taste of what they'd just done was on the other man's lips, but it never occurred to Dorian *not* to kiss Klaus in return. It was salty, slightly musky, and strangely mixed with the taste that was purely Dorian and coffee, somehow a good thing. "Mmmm..." THAT Noise was definitely a good one!

Tasting Dorian and coffee with it somehow diluted it; Klaus knew he wasn't ready to taste *just* that. Not yet. For a few lazy moments, he let his mouth twine warmly with Dorian's, before breaking the kiss. "I suppose we'll be lazy and lay here all day."

"Might be nice if we ate our sandwiches," Dorian told him, obviously satisfied with himself. "I can heat up our coffee. We can lay here and just... play. Talk. Whatever."

"Talk. We... we should talk more; it helps," Klaus said, half-reminding him of that reality -- that the talking helped a little more every time. Even if it wasn't about what had happened, just *talking* often cleared things up.

"What should we talk about?" Dorian asked him, propping himself up on an elbow. "Where should we start?" It was an opportunity purely to see what Klaus would say, and curiosity was certainly there.

"That's the problem. I don't know where." Dorian could *feel* Klaus's sigh, even if he couldn't hear it. "Do you?"

"Do you...think we can talk about what happened? Yet?" came the hesitant suggestion.

"I... could." Klaus was contemplative as he murmured that quietly after a moment's hesitation. "I just... don't know where to start."

A little release of breath, not quite a laugh, spilled from Dorian. "Yeah. That's the trouble, isn't it? Where to start. D'you know..." He tried to pick any one moment. "I really thought we were going to die when that door shut and the gas came on, though. I did. And I had to tell you, then, that I loved you. I knew we weren't getting out of there somehow."

"I kept shooting at the window until I passed out," Klaus murmured -- perhaps Dorian hadn't know it. "I didn't even think that we were... going to die; I just couldn't get us out."

"Maybe it was scarier to think that we *wouldn't* die than that we would," the other man said softly, looking into the flickering of the fire. "There wasn't any way to get out, once we were in. That was nobody's fault. They'd planned very well."

"Hmn, I know," Klaus sighed, "which makes me question the orders I was given to carry out the strikes in such a... traceable manner. I'd almost think... someone higher up wanted us to get burned in this."

Blue eyes looked at him seriously. "You think we were set up."

The German man shifted to lay back, nodding. "I thought the orders were idiotic from the start; if one facility gets broken into, won't the others up their security? Each night we were closer and closer to getting caught... I should have aborted it before we reached the point we did."

"I suppose there are lots of things we *should* have done," Dorian said quietly. "We didn't, though. We did just what we're known for -- charged right in with full intentions of finishing it all and damn the consequences."

"And now the consequences are damning us." He hadn't meant to say it aloud -- only meant to think it, but the words left him anyway, much to his chagrin. "But 's all right. We manage."

The slight tremor of Dorian's lips said much about his reaction to those words. "Yes."

A shift, and Klaus pulled Dorian against him, sitting up a little more. There was always comfort in the other's warmth, the feel of skin against skin. "So it isn't either of our faults that we got caught."

"Do you really think we're damned?" Dorian asked him softly, uncertainly. "We're neither one of us anything but atheists. We'd be damned for that alone if we could be, so what would this matter?"

"I didn't mean it literally," Klaus murmured, stroking a hand along Dorian's side. "I just meant that for once the consequences actually amounted to something."

"Mmm." That was true, and Dorian smiled at him slightly. "I'm glad." He glanced up at the ceiling, hidden now in shadows. "I don't think I've ever felt anything that hurt so much. You?"

"Never." Nothing had ever hurt more than his fingers being removed, the humiliation of being touched in such a way by a stranger and enemy, and the pain of his eye being ruined, which had passed him right out. "I never thought something could hurt so much."

Carefully, Dorian shifted himself more firmly into Klaus's grasp, pressed tightly to him. "I used to think about it sometimes. About what it would be like to be... not hurt, but to be *forced*. Held down and... and..." He shuddered, hard, clinging. "I never really thought it would happen. I didn't really ever want it. But I thought about it. And sometimes, I wonder, if thinking about it was why it happened. If I made it happen..."

"That's not why things happen." Klaus kept his voice even as he said those words, even though he closed his eye. Against the high half-window a few feet away, he could hear the reverberation of rain bouncing.

"I know." It was barely whispered, but he could feel Dorian against him, trembling. "I know. It's one of those things I can't help but think, though... that maybe it all really *is* my fault. I know it isn't, intellectually, but..." He sighed, nuzzling against Klaus. "Knowing it isn't and feeling as if it *is*... that's hard."

"Ja." He understood that just as well as Dorian did, the need/urge to put all the blame on yourself. "I just keep thinking... I... *we* did what we were supposed to, but..." But it hadn't gotten him anything but discharged for it. All that suffering to protect NATO, and nothing in return but a kick in the balls. "You didn't know anything to tell them."

Dorian gave a little sound, soft. "I wouldn't have told them anything even if I had..."

"I know you wouldn't have -- but it... it wasn't even your fight," Klaus decided at last -- yes, that was why it bothered him so much. "You were a civilian."

"A contractor," Dorian corrected gently. "*Your* contractor. And they knew it."

"You shouldn't have come with me -- if you hadn't come with me..." Then it would only be *him* suffering the risks of his job.

"You couldn't have gone without me." He felt more than saw the smile that Dorian gave him; a brave one, really, against his throat. "I would've chased after you, anyway. Besides, if I hadn't..." If he hadn't been there, they might have done to Klaus what they'd done to *him*, and he wasn't sure he could've borne that terrible knowledge. It would have been his fault if that had happened, simply for *not* being there.

Or they simply might have killed Klaus -- and no one would have been wiser, because no thieves would have been there to alert the Alphabet.

"I know. But then you... you'd be fine," Klaus told him.

"Not without you," Dorian replied almost sadly. "I'd never be fine without you."

"It isn't... like anything can be changed. I'm not going to leave you, you wouldn't leave me, not now." He turned his head a little, brushing his lips against Dorian's soft curls. "I'm much warmer now." /Than I was before everything happened./ But if Dorian wanted to reference back to the lake, that was all right, too.

"I still love you," Dorian told him softly. "I love you even more now than I did before. I really didn't think that was possible."

"Why more?"

How to explain it? "Because now, you're... you care for me. You don't revile me or not want me. It makes it better," he murmured quietly.

Perhaps it was a skirting explanation, but it seemed to work for Klaus. "I'm glad you do. It's helped a lot."

"Klaus..." His voice was deliciously deep, almost rumbling against Klaus's throat. "When we go after him... what will we do?"

"Sneak into his house, catch him and tie him up," Klaus replied slowly, pleased thoroughly by that idea. "And then take care of him."

The sound of that was ominous, but it didn't make Dorian so much as flinch. "I want to go in first. He won't be expecting you now that you aren't NATO. He doesn't know we're going to be contracting together..."

"Go in first...? What do you mean?"

Dorian shifted, moving his head away from Klaus to look him in the eye. "I'll go in before you and distract him. That way, you can come in a different way and surprise him."

"I don't want you alone with that sicko for even a minute!" Klaus's voice rose in level as he held Dorian still, expression bewildered. "No!"

"It would be easier for you then," Dorian told him, his own face earnest. "He wouldn't be expecting you, would he? If I was there and he thought I was alone. Klaus. I trust you to keep me safe..."

"Dorian, I don't want you in that kind of risk!" How could he get the Englishman to understand *that*, the urge to protect as much as possible. "I want you to come with me, but what if something goes wrong? We shouldn't separate when doing something like that..."

"I trust you," Dorian told him again quietly, holding Klaus's right hand with his left, pressed against his heart. "Nothing will go wrong. No one will be expecting us now. *HE* won't be expecting us now...."

Klaus's expression was miserable when he finally nodded to that. "Fine. We'll do it that way. but we won't charge into this one -- I'll get detailed layouts, we'll stake out his activities for a few nights..."

"It will work," Dorian told him softly. "I know it will."

"We'll do it, then." Klaus pulled Dorian closer again, and laid back down on the blanket. "Let's just... go back to relaxing."

A deep sigh sounded, acquiescent. "I feel a little better, I think," Dorian decided.

"You do?" Klaus wanted to be sure he hadn't just riled things up -- that Dorian truly did feel better for the talk.

"Yeah." A deep sigh came from him. "I guess because I was worried, because I'd thought about it and it had happened..."

"I never thought about having my fingers cut off," Klaus mused grimly, holding Dorian close. "Or what it would be like to be interrogated by the Stasi."

"...I know," Dorian said, head cradled against Klaus's shoulder. "I know. It will get better. It has to. It already *has*, some, mostly because of you. When you touch me, I don't have to think... about the other."

"Don't think about that -- not... I'm just worried that what we do isn't really so different from what happened." Klaus peered at the fire, resting his cheek atop Dorian's curls. "Hmn. I think I need to add wood to the fire... and maybe put a record on? We can rifle through the records that're in the cabinet and see if there's anything worth playing."

A deep sigh sounded. "That would be lovely," Dorian told him a little sleepily. "You know, what we do's nothing at all like that. Not in the remotest. You wouldn't ever hurt me. I know. I have faith in you." It didn't matter that Klaus had done so before; that didn't come into the situation anymore, and it wouldn't ever again.

"Faith... I've never had faith in someone as much as I have in you," Klaus breathed as he started to pull away to tend to the fire. "Never. Even... when we were at odds, I trusted that you'd come through."

That gained him a chuckle. "And I always knew just what you'd say when we were done, too. I never really believed you meant any of it, though."

"I got angry," Klaus shrugged. He *still* did, but now it was more often at himself. "So, what did we decide we were doing next?"

"A record," Dorian answered him teasingly. "But from here, we're going to Greece, darling."

"Mm -- I should book our flight, then," Klaus told him as he got up to his knees and moved to tend the fire. "And figure out a place to stay there."

"Tell you what. Why not take a boat? I can have James make the reservations when he figures out what to do in Greece. I'm sure he'll get the best price. You know how he is," Dorian said.

"Not someone I want to deal with," Klaus agreed as he put a new log carefully atop the already burning ones, keeping it just so that air could circle through. "Why a boat, though?"

A shrug and a smile answered him. "It's romantic, relaxing. Knowing James, we'll end up taking one from here down to Florida and then across to Greece. I'd imagine it's cheaper that way," Dorian said contemplatively.

"The more connections, the cheaper it is," Klaus agreed with a curling smile that Dorian couldn't see. He checked that the flue was open with a set of the prongs, and then closed the metal screen. "I think I'm actually happy. I mean really contented and happy."

"I'm glad that I make you that way," Dorian drawled, smiling up at him even as he sat up to reach for a sandwich half. "I'll go warm up our coffee while you look through the records..."

"Sounds perfect. The way the rain's falling, I wouldn't be surprised if the lake rose up and ate the garage," Klaus uttered, standing fully. Only then was he really aware of the fact that his pajama top was open, parted still from when Dorian had kissed him so. /Want. This... this is what everyone says is so great about sex./

"Hmmm..." His lover rose with him, kissing his collarbone lightly before gathering their cups. "Be right back."

That teasing kiss more than made him shudder -- Klaus was desperately glad that *he* wasn't the one with the cups. /Music. Find music..../ Klaus walked towards the cabinet he'd been told about, and opened the two doors. Record player, and... a cardboard box of records to dig through. By the time Dorian had gotten back, Klaus had been through most of them and picked out a pile. "What's hiding there, love?" he asked lightly, kneeling down with coffee in both hands.

"Not a lot -- some classical -- Vivaldi's four seasons, Beethoven's ninth, 'Jethro Tull' and a lot of Burl Ives. I pulled out the better classical and Jethro Tull." Four records total, shown to Dorian. 'Songs of the Woods' was at top, a smallish man with a flute on the front.

"Take your pick, then. I'm familiar enough with the classical stuff..."

It shouldn't have been too hard to guess what he'd put on, given the record that was on the top. "All right. Do you want me to bring a couple of books down...? We could fold out the sofa and lay there..."

"That sounds marvelous. I'll pull it out while you get the books, then," Dorian said firmly.

/If the Alphabet ever knew that *I* had suggested something so decadent as laying around for the day.../ The record was already playing, though, so he started up the stairs, and snagged a book for each of them. The Dragon and the George for himself, and the thriller novel for Dorian. By the time he got back downstairs, the bed was out, blanket on it, and Dorian was finishing off the sandwich half he'd started on before, drinking his coffee and still seated before the fire.

"Oh, thank you!" he said, smiling. "That was just the book I wanted!"

"I think you would have said that if I'd brought you a dictionary!" Klaus chuckled softly, holding the book out to Dorian as he moved to pick up his own coffee.

"Probably, but that'd just mean that *I* got to nap while *you* read," Dorian pointed out to him.

"Hmn -- perhaps you're right. Then again... perhaps I wouldn't mind, cat-man," Klaus teased as he moved to stretch out his long legs on the pulled out sofa bed.

Laughing, Dorian moved to join him, flicking on a second lamp before curling up on his side near Klaus, enjoying the feel of being close to him. "This is perfect," he sighed. "Just perfect."

"Ja."

God help him, it was perfect -- a joy, and sickeningly domestic to lay there with Dorian, reading and warmed by both burning logs and his companion's presence.