"Vinaigrette or bleu cheese, love?" Jack's bright voice calling from the kitchen stopped Zach with the door still slightly cracked.

"Whatever you don't want," he called back, then shut the door the rest of the way, smiling at the little pulse of rebuke Jack sent him in lieu of verbal chastening. The takeout place had been thrifty with the condiments.

He realized he was humming as he walked along the hallway holding a small trash bag carefully away from his slacks. Jack had been singing something under his breath, Zach didn't even quite know the song, but he had picked up the tune.

\\ You sing so much better than I do. // Real pleasure at hearing Zach's fairly good tenor.

~I have to learn more of the words to the songs he likes.~

The trash chute for the floor was all the way at the end of the hallway, and Zach saw a door open between him and it and a big black trash bag emerge in the hand of his neighbor. A truly beautiful blonde dressed in what had to be workout clothes, a skin-tight tee and very brief shorts. "Hey, Zach," she called pleasantly.

He thought of the game he'd played for Skyler, how Jack hadn't been fazed at all. He'd made himself look so silly.

~He really liked that gray suit though. Maybe I could take us for a moonlight picnic on the beach and wear that.~

"I thought you might have been off an another business trip when you didn't get home. Working late again?"

"Something like that." He would have to figure out what to do about Jack when he did have to go away. At least the apartment would start feeling like home now, with all the things they'd chosen together in it. He could have a designer come in sometime just to make it perfect.

~He shouldn't be left alone in an empty apartment in a town where he doesn't know anyone. I could offer to fly one of his friends in.~

The image of Jubilee sleeping in his apartment with Jack alone flashed through his mind.

~Well, if I'm only going to a base somewhere civilized he could come with me and stay in a hotel. I usually do that anyway.~

"Are you even listening?" the neighbor, Shandra Something, was asking in a good-natured voice.

"Sorry. Thinking. What did you ask?"

She just shook her head, expression that careful mix of personal curiosity and physical interest Zach had gotten used to seeing on nice people who wanted to share his bed. "Staying late and bringing it home with you? That's the first sign of burnout, Mr. Exec."

His brain belatedly processed her earlier stream of friendly chatter. "Oh. Actually I took the day off and went shopping for things for the apartment."

"Finally getting enough time at the home base to settle in? That's nice. But a whole day at the mall, that must have tried your patience."

His body remembered the feel of Jack's slender strength wrestling through the big comforter. The sight of that lovely body sprawled across a pale blue mattress.

"It was -- eventful. But we got a lot done."

"Well, that's good. I've officially barred myself from the mall until I get my credit cards back under limit. I get to buying clothes and start forgetting that I've only got one body to put them on." A light, unspoken invitation that he might glance over the body in question. Zach declined.

"Oh, we did a little clothes shopping, too. I'm pretty self-indulgent in that department myself. Fortunately Jack's the complete opposite, so I didn't get too out of control."

Jack sensed the direction of his thoughts and sent a similar languorous pulse, to hurry him back, no doubt.

Zach felt the blood starting to warm his face and wondered when they'd made this corridor so much longer.

"You really are out of it aren't you?"

He blinked at her and realized she'd still been talking, though her physical posture was a little toned down now that he'd passed up the invitation to flirtation. "I'm sorry, Shandra. Today's been…"

"Eventful, right, you said that." The teasing was gentle and Zach wondered briefly if she might be someone he would have wanted to know better, before.

"I asked you who Jack was. I know this building's expensive, but I didn't think you'd be one to need to pick up a roommate."

That was a little more presumption than Zach was comfortable with, and he realized he'd been more responsive to her companionable chatter than he would have been if he'd been paying attention. He'd lived in one apartment for six months and learned from his security review that his neighbor across the hall had described him in total as 'Zach, some kind of corporate type. Kind of surfer-looking.' This neighbor was a relatively high profile trial lawyer. She would be trained to note details and seek information. Zach decided she would have to be discouraged from paying too much attention to 'the boys next door.' He could brush her off harshly, but that only made some women more interested.

She was looking at him expectantly as he lowered the handle on the garbage chute. "He…isn't exactly my roommate." She had gone out of her way when he first met her to make it subtly clear that she only even considered fornicating with people of good moral character. He could see her being the self-righteous type.

Jack must have sensed his rising sense of wickedness, because he sent a stronger flow across the link, gentle warmth touched with heat, the psionic equivalent of a tender caress.

Jack didn't want him getting distracted. That was convenient, since Zach didn't want to let himself be. It was shaping up towards a beautiful night and he'd already set the small table out on the balcony.

He held the handle for Shandra while she maneuvered her oversized bag through the opening. "Oh, just a guest?" There was a tone in her voice that suggested that though her mind had processed the other possible option, this was the only one possible for someone as respectable (read affluent) as Zach. He felt a tiny prick of that anger at something he knew would never have bothered him before Jack. What had he himself said, about subtle judgmentalism? And Jack's so knowing reply.

She might be rude to Jack if they met in the hallway -- but it was the simplest solution to her over-friendliness. Jack had asked that Zach keep a sense of proportion about these things. Small steps.

"I certainly hope not. I hope Jack's going to be here for a long time."

"Oh, family, then?" Her voice had that not quite embarrassed hope that she wasn't stumbling into a conversation she could find no graceful way out of.

~Family.~

"He will be. Jack's my fiancé."

She actually stumbled a step and he tried very hard not to laugh at her. She made a fumbling goodbye and took off back to her door at a race walk. Zach had a vague impression of reflexive disapproval and complete embarrassment. Well, that was two worries off his mind. He doubted she'd even meet his eyes after this. Or say a word to Jack.

The emotions Jack sent down the link in response to his amusement were enough to make Zach quicken his own step. He went in just in time to get a lovely view of Jack silhouetted in the French balcony door. The sunset had faded, leaving only a deep, glowing blue in the sky. Then Jack turned, hair and eyes indescribably rich in the light of a dozen candles. And when his gaze found Zach's face that slow, impossibly expressive smile.

~He's the blind one. He doesn't even understand how much more pleasure I get from knowing he's here.~

Zach crossed the room with a very slow step, hoping Jack couldn't see that he trembled. Too much in the psilink, too much in his heart. Jack reached for him so tenderly, and Zach folded the precious form into his arms. A kiss, a touch, a murmured word, and they moved on out to the balcony where a simple dinner waited.

~My husband.~

An apartment, a day shopping, a quiet evening. Nothing short, or occasional.

"So, love. What are we going to do tomorrow? After work, of course. "

"Well, we forgot about the microwave."

"That's nothing to rush over. I like doing real cooking. Didn't you say you wanted a hair cut? We forgot that too."

"And I have a meeting tomorrow. Somehow I don't mind."

Fingers raised to slide through thick, soft gold. "Believe me, I don't mind either."

The palm lowered to his neck, pulled him into a brief gentle kiss. The stars were beginning to come out. He couldn't resist catching the hand as it let go and bringing it to his lips. Jack had the most beautiful hands. "Then you think you'll keep me?"

Another slow smile, the realization of internal distance crossed. "Love, I don't think there'll be any returns from today."

***