Thanks to Nicole and Lori J for beta. Any mistakes left are my own damn fault
Comments, questions, criticisms, and complaints may be directed to jb7811@bellsouth.net
For Shug and Barb.
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Bobby hung up the phone and lay back down, pulling the covers up to his chin. He hated getting woken up in the middle of the night because it always took him so long to go back to sleep. Especially when he was alone.
Bunching up his pillow and shoving the blanket down to his waist, he rolled over and stared at the empty side of the bed. It shouldn't bother him that Dominic wasn't here, because, if he stopped to count them up, he was sure they spent more nights apart than together. But it did bother him. Maybe it was Billy's automatic assumption that Dominic would be here, or maybe it was just his growing resentment of all those nights apart.
As resentments go, this one was pretty pointless. Bobby understood the reasons Dominic didn't like to leave Gabriella alone all night. And it wasn't as if he wanted to sleep over at Dominic's place--in his bed-- every night with Gabriella sleeping right next door. The idea made him very uncomfortable, and although they'd never discussed it, he suspected that Dominic felt the same. He'd never asked Bobby to stay when she was home. It was an unspoken rule that Gabriella's presence anywhere in the vicinity squelched any thoughts of going to bed together--even to sleep.
But...hold on a minute. Did it *have* to be that way? After all, she knew they were lovers, even if it was never stated as such. She'd seen them be casually affectionate with each other, since they didn't freeze up and spring away from each other any more when she walked into a room. She even teased them about it sometimes, and overall seemed pretty relaxed about their relationship as long as they didn't do anything embarrassing in front of her friends or in public--the typical teenage response to just about anything.
If it wasn't Gabriella, the problem must be with Bobby and Dominic. Was it because they were both men? Did they feel a homosexual relationship should be held to a different standard then a het one? Laid out in those specific terms, Bobby found the idea puzzling and rather disturbing.
He played with that idea, imagining if Gwen had found Madeline sometime after she'd moved in with him. They hadn't been married, so what would they have done? Assuming that Gwen wouldn't have wanted to move back to Portland right away, Bobby figured they'd have set Maddy up in the guest room and started looking for a bigger place. They wouldn't have stopped sharing a room or sleeping together.
Why did Bobby conduct his relationships with Dominic and Gwen so differently? If anything, he felt more for Dominic and the relationship should reflect that. This double standard was ridiculous, and it was time to put a stop to it.
Sitting up, Bobby picked up the phone again and pushed the speed dial button for Dominic's number. It took three rings for him to hear Dominic's sleepy, disgruntled greeting.
"Dominic. It's me."
Dominic sounded a bit more alert when he said, "Bobby? What's wrong?"
Bobby shifted to get more comfortable against the headboard. "Nothing. We have to talk."
"Shit. What'd I do?" Just from the tone of voice, Bobby could imagine Dominic closing his eyes and raking his sleep-tousled hair off his forehead with a frustrated gesture.
Bobby smiled and asked, "Now why would you assume you did something wrong?"
"I was married for a long time, Bobby. I know what 'we need to talk' means. It means 'you screwed up, buddy and I'm gonna tell you exactly how you screwed up and then you're gonna tell me why you did it and how sorry you are'. Oh yeah, I know that one all right." Dominic's sigh drifted lightly through the telephone before he continued, "So what did I do that was so terrible you had to call me on it at three o'clock in the morning?"
"You didn't do anything. This is about something we've both been doing, but it can wait until later, I guess." Bobby's voice dropped low and sheepish as he admitted, "Maybe I just wanted to hear your voice."
"Oh. Think you could have this craving at a more reasonable hour next time?"
"That's a good word for it. Wanna know what else I'm craving?"
"Mmm hmm, since I'm awake anyway..." Dominic's voice was a soft purr in Bobby's ear that sent a shiver through his body. It was all too easy for him to put a picture to the sound. Dominic would be lying against those dark blue sheets that Bobby liked, wearing a white undershirt and boxers. He'd be holding the phone in one hand and rubbing the other across his chest in a slow, self-soothing caress. On second thought, Bobby removed the undershirt from the picture. Yeah, that was much better, but he left the boxers because the tease made it all the more arousing.
"I was thinking about you...about sleeping next to you..."
"Sounds good so far. What else?"
Bobby lay back against the pillows and slid his hand down his belly and under the waistband of his shorts. He touched himself slowly, almost tentatively--easier to pretend it was someone else's hand. "What else? What else...well, thinking about having you nearly naked, stretched out on those blue sheets you had on the bed last week. Nice contrast. Very sexy."
With a lazy smile, Bobby closed his eyes as Dominic made a faint, inarticulate sound. "Yeah, and I'm thinking about holding you down while I start licking you from head to toe. 'Cause that's what I'm craving--the taste of you. I'm hungry for it."
"Bobby..." One strangled word, and Bobby knew that Dominic was as hot and lonely as he was.
"Got it in your hand yet?" Bobby's smile turned into a grin as he suited his actions to his words. Licking his hand and wishing it was Dominic's fingers circling his cock, turning him on and making him want to thrust hard into the tight grip.
"Mmhmm. Haven't done this in...a long time."
Amusement curled around every word as Bobby said, "Which? Jerk off or have phone sex?"
"Both. Haven't had to do either lately. Thank *you* very much." The seductive breathiness of Dominic's voice had Bobby's hand--slick with sweat and spit--sliding faster and faster, as heat washed over him. He could probably come from listening to him *breathe*, and wasn't that just pathetic? But it felt so *good*....
"You got awful quiet there for a minute, Bobby. Y' all right?"
Bobby gasped a laugh at the *knowing* in the solicitous words, and said, "You're breathing kinda sketchy yourself."
"Not too hard to imagine your hand on my dick...since it was just there three nights ago. Loved that, up against the counter... Your tongue in my ear and your hand down my pants--" A sharp gasp cut the words off, and Bobby moaned as he remembered that night in his kitchen. Cracking the smooth veneer, getting Dominic rumpled and messy and so hot that Bobby could still taste the sweat he'd licked from the side of his throat.
"Wish you were here now..." Rough, sweet words ripping right through Bobby's chest and down to his cock, and then he was coming and coming and gasping Dominic's name.
A low groan from the telephone cradled loosely in his slack hand let him know that Dominic was not far behind and he smiled tiredly as he caught his breath. After a few moments of nothing more than breathing together, Bobby spoke with not a trace of sincerity. "Sorry for waking you up."
"Uh huh, I'll just bet you are. Think you can sleep now?"
"Yeah...you?" A throaty chuckle was all the answer Bobby needed so he said, "Can you meet me for lunch? I still have something to talk to you about."
"Yeah, sure. Give me a call at the office and we'll set something up, okay?" Bobby was gratified to note that Dominic didn't sound worried any more. Instead, he was relaxed and probably willing to agree to almost anything. Only strong scruples and a sense of fair play kept Bobby from exploiting the opportunity.
"Okay. I--" Biting his tongue to hold back the not-too-surprising words that had sprung to his lips, Bobby settled for a simple, "Goodnight, Dominic."
There was a pause that seemed oddly tense, and then Dominic said goodnight and hung up.
Bobby hung up the phone and wiped his sticky hand on his shorts, debating
whether he could sleep as he was before finally deciding to get up and
put on clean boxers.
##
"So don't you find that odd?" Bobby had explained his middle of the night revelation to Dominic as best he could in the clearer light of day. Now he took a bite of his lunch and watched Dominic turning it over in his mind.
"Have we really been acting so uptight?" Dominic sat back in his chair, waving away the waitress when she stopped to ask if they needed anything else. He shook his head. "Yeah, we have. I guess I should talk to Gabriella before we do anything that might upset her."
"Well, I don't think she'll be upset anyway, because I'm not asking to move in or anything. I just want to keep all our options open, and make sure we're not making decisions based on prejudiced ideas. But you know your kid best and of course, talking never hurt anything." Even though he occasionally had selfish flashes of wishing he had Dominic to himself, Bobby found his concern and willingness to put his daughter first rather admirable. He'd seen plenty of parents put their personal desires ahead of what was best for their children, and the results were rarely pleasant. But on the other hand, Gabriella was practically grown, not exactly a little kid to be coddled.
"You've got a point there. She and I have had some illuminating discussions sparked by events rather than any voluntary decision to talk about something that turned out to be pretty important." Dominic's eyes twinkled with amusement. "It might be a refreshing change to talk first, before it becomes an issue that slams us in the face."
"Yeah, I can see that." Bobby remembered the leftover disbelief in Dominic's voice the day he told him about coming home early and discovering Gabriella cutting school and more with her boyfriend. It was a good thing for both kids that Dominic wasn't the violent type. Bobby couldn't be sure that he'd have been so cool discovering a naked boy in his baby girl's bed.
"The irony is that it wasn't quite two years ago that Patty and I were fighting about this very thing. Only it was her and Jimmy sleeping together in my house with Gabriella right down the hall."
The subtle emphasis Dominic put on the words 'my house' unnerved Bobby just the slightest bit. There was an unresolved issue there and although it may have been cowardly, he sidestepped the potential landmine by changing the subject. "So what's this I hear about Flynn maybe leaving the Coroner's Office?"
"He's moving over to the AG's office. What do you think about my chances of replacing him?"
"You as Chief Coroner?" Bobby considered it carefully before shaking his head regretfully. "Can't see it."
"Why not? You don't think I could do it?"
"It's not that you're not qualified. I'm sure you are. But it's a political job, Dominic, and you regularly piss off the very people whose asses you'd have to kiss. Why would you even want that misery?"
"It's a big promotion that pays a hell of a lot better, and I wouldn't be getting calls at six in the morning to go look at yet another body that's washed up under a bridge somewhere."
"So you want to ride a desk all day instead?" Bobby tried to keep the skepticism out of his voice but suspected he failed. He just couldn't see Dominic ever being happy strapped down like that.
"If some new prick has to come in and take over, I'd rather it be me than some outside prick."
Bobby couldn't help chuckling, but he could see that Dominic was serious. But then Dominic sighed and looked away for a moment. "They'd never give it to me anyway. Jimmy wouldn't even recommend me." He looked back at Bobby with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "He says I don't have the temperament. And I know I've pissed off too many people."
"Well, for what it's worth..." Bobby paused for effect, wishing he could touch Dominic right now. "You haven't pissed me off yet."
"That's something, eh?" Dominic smiled fully this time, and Bobby felt a little flutter in his stomach. He never got tired of seeing that expression.
Glancing at his watch, Bobby noticed how late it was. "I gotta get back to work. So I'll see you...when?"
"Maybe tonight. Can I give you a call?"
"You know you can."
"Yeah."
"You okay?"
"What? Yeah, just...it's been a rough morning and I doubt the afternoon will be much better." Dominic looked at his watch and took out his wallet. "Look, I've got to get moving. I'll tell you about it later, all right?"
"Only if you want to." Bobby took some money out of his wallet
and laid it on the check, wondering if Dominic would take the out Bobby'd
just given him or if he'd actually tell him what was bothering him.
##
After an uneventful day at work, Bobby went straight home, checking his answering machine as soon as he walked in the door. Dominic hadn't called him there either, so he went to take a shower. When he came back, a red light indicated a message, but it was somebody named Stan asking Rachel to call him. Since Bobby didn't know any Rachel, he erased the message and turned the television on.
After the news was over, he wandered into the kitchen and poked around in the refrigerator. After throwing out some green fur-wearing leftovers, he decided he wasn't particularly hungry, so he got a soda and went back to the living room. He flipped through the channels-- past a crappy teen drama, something featuring a sarcastic sock puppet, an unfunny sitcom, a depressing newsmagazine, and three infomercials-- until he found a movie that looked watchable, but halfway through started to yawn. Even though they were usually weeks apart, Billy's middle of the night phone calls were starting to get on Bobby's nerves. Twenty-four hours in the day and yet Billy always seemed to pick one of the six that Bobby was sleeping to get in touch.
Bobby was dozing when he heard the knock at the door. He rubbed his eyes as he walked over, looked out the peephole, and then opened the door. "Hey, Dominic."
"Forgot to call, didn't I?" Dominic stepped inside and hung up his coat.
"Yeah, but it doesn't matter." Bobby leaned in for a kiss, but withdrew slightly when he caught the scent of whiskey on Dominic's breath. Since he hadn't seen Dominic take a drink in all the months that they'd been seeing each other, Bobby was surprised and slightly confused when he asked, "You've been drinking?"
"Yeah, I had a farewell drink at the office with Jimmy." Dominic rubbed his hand over his mouth and chin. "And another one alone at my desk and then another, and I realized I didn't want to go to the bar to drink some more with Jimmy. I wanted to see you."
Bobby started to smile, but then the thought hit him. "You didn't--"
"Drive over here? No, I took a cab. You want me to go?"
"No, come on in." With a brief kiss, Bobby took Dominic by the hand, led him into the living room, and sat him down on the couch. "Want some tea?"
"Don't go to any trouble for me."
Bobby shook his head and walked into the kitchen, muttering under his breath, "Somebody should." Filling the teakettle, he briefly wondered how he'd gotten into the caretaker role in so many of his relationships. Billy, Gwen, some other lesser relationships, and now it looked like he was going there with Dominic. But in this case, it seemed more fitting since Dominic had taken care of him a few times too.
When he returned to the living room with two hot mugs of tea, Bobby found Dominic staring fixedly at the television screen. "So who did it? It was the kid, right?"
"I don't know. Maybe the time he's served *is* enough, but I still think he should share the responsibility. It doesn't matter that he didn't pull the trigger. He is still guilty of that cop's death."
Bobby handed Dominic his cup and said, "I was talking about the movie. What are you talking about?"
Dominic looked up in surprise. "Oh. Work. Yeah, you're right about the movie. I've seen this before. The kid did it."
"So..." Bobby sat down and blew on his tea before taking a small testing sip. "Something you wanna talk about?"
Dominic cradled his cup and stared at the contents as if the secrets of the universe might be floating on the surface. "No."
"Okay." Bobby nodded, and let the low sound of the television fill the silence between them. After a few moments, he asked casually, "Did the drinks help?"
When Dominic turned toward Bobby, chagrin and belligerence seemed to battle for dominance in his expression. Bobby thought for a moment he was about to be told to fuck off, but Dominic pursed his lips and looked away. "No. They didn't."
"Did you think about calling your sponsor?"
"How did..." Dominic's shoulders slumped as he let the question die unfinished. "Recognized the signs, huh?"
"I suspected." In fact, he'd been certain of it when Billy was in town and Dominic was so quick to help him find a meeting.
"Are you...mad that I didn't tell you?" He sounded curious but not too worried, as if any anger Bobby might feel wouldn't endanger their relationship. That made Bobby happy. There was something very comforting about having a lover who felt secure about his feelings.
Bobby patted Dominic's leg and smiled gently. "Nah. I figured you'd bring it up when you were ready."
"You've got a lot of experience, eh?"
"Some. More than I want." Bobby set his cup down on the coffee table and said, "You look tired. Wanna go to bed?"
Dominic smiled for the first time since he'd arrived, and said, "Sure. Just let me call Gabriella and tell her not to expect me until morning."
"Sure, go ahead. I'm gonna get ready for bed." Bobby got up and left the room to give Dominic some privacy, but he did leave the bathroom door open a little bit. He just wanted to listen to the soft murmur of Dominic's voice, as he took off his clothes and brushed his teeth.
The door swung open wider and Dominic leaned against the frame. "Hey."
"Hey yourself. Gabriella okay?" Bobby rinsed his toothbrush out again and put it in the medicine cabinet, taking out the spare he kept for Dominic.
"Yeah, she's fine." Dominic took the offered toothbrush with a sideways glance, and after a moment he stepped up to the sink to take his turn. Bobby stood behind him and rubbed his shoulders, loosening the little knots of tension with the tips of his fingers. He watched in the mirror as Dominic's eyes closed and the lines in his forehead gradually relaxed. When Dominic leaned over to rinse and spit, Bobby followed, fitting his groin against the curve of Dominic's ass.
Wiping his mouth with one hand, Dominic groaned and opened his eyes. "Bobby, I don't think..."
Bobby wrapped his arms around Dominic's middle and met his gaze in the mirror as he kissed the back of his neck. "I know, and I'm not asking."
"Oh. Okay then." Dominic tilted his head back on Bobby's shoulder, rubbing his cheek against Bobby's. "So you just wanna go to sleep?"
"Or we can talk, whatever you want." Bobby turned Dominic in his arms and kissed him deeply on the mouth, tamping down the arousal that naturally sparked through him. There might be time for that later or in the morning, providing Dominic wasn't too hung over. With a thrill of anticipation, Bobby carefully considered Dominic and doubted that would be the case. But if it was, that'd be okay too. He was in an extremely forgiving and tolerant mood right now. "Come on."
Dominic followed Bobby into the bedroom and climbed into his side of the bed as if he did it every night. Bobby made sure the alarm was set just a little earlier than usual, and then cuddled up next to Dominic's side.
Bobby was just drifting toward the edges of sleep when Dominic started talking about the case he'd wrapped up that day and that led into talking about Flynn's departure from the Coroner's Office. Bobby wrapped an arm around Dominic's middle and gave himself a mental pinch so he could give an occasional appropriate response and not fall asleep in the middle.
As Dominic talked, his body relaxed and his voice grew softer and lost
the tension that had characterized every previous word. After
a few minutes, he stopped speaking and started to snore softly. Bobby
smiled into the darkness and went to sleep.
The End.