"And then Hank had 'Lee working on an experiment with him, did I tell you about that? And she got turned into Bobby."

"No, really?"

"And then she and, well, he and Remy got together, and they ended up in Venice on their honeymoon."

"Did they?"

"Yes. And when they got back, at dinner one night Kai had to strangle them both."

"Oh?"

"Uh-huh. For only pretending to listen to her when she talked."

"I see."

"So after they were dead, she went ahead and ran Scott through with her sword so she could take Jean for herself. Logan didn't know what to think."

"That sounds interesting."

"Zach." Tired of the game, Jack pulled free from the hand at the curve of his waist.

With a single step away he had gotten Zach's full attention. But that I-am-not-scared look that he absolutely could not stand was in the blue eyes again and Jack found he'd lost all impetus towards sternness.

"Zach," he said again, more softly, catching the suddenly free hand between his own and falling back into stride so that their shoulders touched. Only when that terrible anxiousness faded could he remember what he'd meant to say. "Just leave it alone, Zach, please."

The instant's denied panic faded into a look of innocent confusion. "Leave what alone?"

Jack was hard pressed not to brush a kiss onto those playful lips. All Zach's innocent looks were fake. This wasn't something he wanted to let Zach pass off lightly, though. "Who. The tall guy, in dockers."

Zach's gaze was already drifting back to the plate glass store fronts they were passing on their way down the mall corridor. "I don't know what you mean. You were telling me how your friends were doing."

Jack gave his flat stomach a swat in token reproof. "The guy with nothing better to do this morning than follow us around."

"I haven't noticed…"

He was already back into his crowd surveillance and Jack swatted him again in exasperation. "Then what has kept you from hearing a word I've said since we got out in the mall?"

"I'm just window shopping, love, I was listening."

Jack looked around at the nearby shops. They were passing men's wear Zach might buy solely for the pleasure of seeing incinerated and Jack sighed. "That's the guy who made that faggot comment, isn't it? Back in the store?"

Zach looked at him sharply, not completely surprised but now more genuinely angry. "You heard that, huh? I'm sorry, Jack."

"Of course I heard him. Half the store did." Jack tried not to let his eyes roll in frustration at the senseless apology. "I just wish you were more interested in being here with me right now than in what some stranger has to say about it."

The first honest irritation Jack had ever directed at him brought Zach back into the moment with a sudden tightness in his chest. "Jack…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…I was listening, you said…"

"I know what I said," Jack waved off the contrition. He smiled and continued in a much gentler voice, trying to head off the slowly returning look before it undermined him completely. "And it wasn't anything worth repeating, okay?"

Zach's return smile was weak and Jack squeezed his hand, struck again and humbled by how profoundly his slightest mood affected his lover. He started again, choosing his words more carefully lest Zach still misunderstand.

"Love, you can't really believe that guy's going to try anything drastic in a place this public, can you? So why does it matter so much what he's doing?"

Zach's relief at the return to warmth was marred by the unpleasantness of his truthful answer. "I guess you didn't hear all of it. He said that we, that we were…"

Jack's gesture had no trouble silencing the reluctant words. So he really had heard it. Zach bit a lip lightly, hating the man for exposing Jack to such venom.

But instead of evincing distress or distaste or, worse to Zach, a distancing of himself from the fact behind the vulgarity, Jack merely shrugged. "Who cares?"

The bright eyes held nothing of the cynicism Zach would expect to accompany such a response. Zach's searching gaze found only an odd, bemused tolerance.

"His filthy imagination has nothing to do with us, Zach. So who cares?"

Zach found himself reduced to silence. He had thought it would be his place to ease Jack over the problems that inevitably rose for any obviously gay couple in public. He was the one with the experience, after all. Jack had never had a committed lover before, of either sex, and Zach had been prepared for anything from anger to revulsion towards anyone who would put the physical aspects of their relationship in such coarse terms. What he was hearing instead was a complete refusal to even waste time considering words Zach had been letting piss him off for the last ten minutes. If he weren't still caught in his desire to strangle the idiot, he would have laughed. He settled for slipping his arm across the slim shoulders, a smile finally softening tight-pressed lips. "Not you, apparently," he answered at last, with what he considered admirable mildness. "I just didn't want him to, well…"

"…upset me. That's sweet, Zach."

He was not entirely pleased to realize that Jack's tolerance was intended for him. "Yeah, well. I thought he might if he made a scene."

"Who…"

"…cares." Zach finished with him, and did laugh. This wasn't some act on Jack's part to calm or reassure him. He really wasn't bothered by the incident. It was Zach's response to it that distressed him and Zach struggled to dispel the last of his angry preoccupation. It really was hard, harder than it should have been given his years among the gay scene. In his professional life he knew he was considered clear thinking and unshakable. His associates attributed him with an almost preternatural, and frequently annoying, quality of inner stillness. With life and death and occasionally international security in his hands he found it difficult to get genuinely upset over trivialities. Facing the world simply as a man, rather than as an agent. had been a rare event for him. Facing it as a man in love for the first time he was discovering that nothing seemed trivial anymore. Not if it touched Jack.

Jack was watching him closely, the tolerance deepening into real, if amused, appreciation. Zach let a kiss whisper at his temple before shaking his head. "You're right of course," he finally admitted quietly. "And I did promise you to just go with the flow, today, didn't I?"

Jack's eyes lowered, made shy by his presumptions now that Zach was truly back with him. Zach chuckled and Jack raised his fingers to touch the warm lips for an instant. Zach caught them and kissed them, wondering how he could have ever let some fool's idle comment dispel the connection between them, however briefly. His reaction had given the malice its power, and he banished both insult and source from his mind when Jack looked up at him from beneath those so black lashes and smiled. "I'm an idiot, love. I'm sorry."

"Zach, I do appreciate it, really. But you're only bothered by it because I'm here. And my ears really aren't that sensitive." Dismissing in a moment issues Zach had struggled with for years.

Zach nestled aside a few strands of soft hair to nuzzle Jack's ear. "Are you sure?" he whispered, and watched them pink when Jack shivered. He laughed, feeling as if he'd done it more in the last few days than in the last few years. His arm hugged Jack lightly. "What can I say, love? You are right."

"First time for everything." Jack's chin was up, fighting the blush. Completely oblivious to the looks they got as they passed through the crowd, his attention for Zach alone.

~I really don't deserve him.~ He knew his expression was one he would have found nauseating on anyone else, but for once it didn't matter. "Have I told you today how completely amazing you are?" he murmured.

Jack brushed his lips with the softest of kisses, touched. "First time for everything," he repeated softly, securing his arm around Zach's waist. The look in Zach's eyes stole his teasing, and the brief kiss of reward on his ear had the blush up in earnest.

"That, love, is one you'll hear again."

Zach's mind never wandered a moment as they finished the distance to the restaurant, but somehow Jack found he had nothing more to say.

***