Ethan woke the next morning and felt invigorated, like last night had been a new testimony to their love and everything they could get through. He gazed down at Derrick’s sleeping form and leaned over, softly nibbling his ear lobe. Derrick tried to swat him away in his sleep, but Ethan chuckled softly and kissed his neck where he had left the hickey.

Derrick began to stir. He rolled over into Ethan’s arms and snuggled into his chest, which made Ethan feel like he was king of the universe. He glanced down at the top of his head, realizing Derrick was awake when he began to tease Ethan’s chest with his tongue.

“Good morning,” Ethan murmured as Derrick grinned up at him, almost entirely under the covers.

“Morning,” Derrick mumbled as he continued to lick his way down Ethan’s chest and abdomen. Ethan’s stomach muscles quivered as he felt Derrick’s hot, wet lips wrap around the tip of his cock.

Derrick worked him like he had on the bench in the park, and Ethan laid back, watching his mouth bob up and down on his dick as he sucked him in and drew him back out between his lips. It was one hell of a sight to see first thing in the morning, and the more eager Derrick became for him to come, the more aroused Ethan got. Derrick tried to tease him, but Ethan let his palm find the back of Derrick’s head, urging him to continue the steady pressure as he felt himself tingle, then throb while he listened to Derrick’s moans as he enjoyed the pleasure he was giving Ethan. It finally tipped him over the edge into his orgasm. He jerked as great waves of erotic pleasure coursed through him and Derrick continued sucking at the tip of him.

When it became too much, he grabbed Derrick’s head with both hands and eased him off of his cock before forcing him backwards with his body until they were standing. He kissed Derrick, not caring that he tasted himself, and walked him backwards toward their master bathroom.

Sunshine was yipping at his heels, so he left Derrick standing in the bathroom with the order to warm up the shower, as he went and opened the back door so she could go out. He loved the view of the back yard. There was nothing but lawn and trees back there, with no one to look in on their privacy, as it was fenced in.

He left the door propped open, so Sunshine could come back in when she was done, and returned to the bathroom to find Derrick already under the hot spray. The shower had two shower heads on either side, mounted high, and Ethan stepped under his own spray to avoid standing in the cool mist that came from Derrick’s, which always left him shivering. He wrapped his arms around Derrick and pulled him back to his chest, feeling the warmth of Derrick’s body at his front and the warmth of the water on his back.

He took the washcloth that Derrick had lathered up and slowly began rubbing it over Derrick’s chest and down his arms. He took his time washing Derrick off, taking special care to see to every inch of him. His favorite was when he finally discarded the washcloth in favor of slickening his hands with the suds and slowly worked Derrick’s dick in his palm. The soap made it easy to rub him, faster and faster, until Derrick was leaning against his chest, panting and arching his back so his hips jutted forward as his cock slid in and out of Ethan’s hand.

Occasionally, Ethan slowed his pumping and watched as Derrick picked up the speed with his own hips, jerking himself off in Ethan’s hand. He loved seeing how desperately Derrick needed him. It was further reassurance that he wasn’t going to lose him.

He kissed Derrick hard when he came, and the thick come shot forward between his fingers and landed in the drain. Derrick turned around when he was done and let his forehead drop to Ethan’s chest as he stood there, breathing hard and regaining awareness of his surroundings. Ethan held his arm as he helped him step from the shower and watched as Derrick wrapped a towel around his waist. He then quickly washed himself off and brushed his teeth, then he exited the shower and joined Derrick in the bedroom as they got dressed.

“How am I supposed to cover this up?” Derrick pouted at him.

Ethan gave him a wicked grin. “You’re not. You’re supposed to wear it, so people see that you’re mine.”

“It won’t look very professional when I go to work tomorrow,’’ Derrick pointed out.

“Just tell them a wild dog got at you,” Ethan teased. He twisted his towel in a thin rope and snapped it at Derrick’s ass before he tossed it in the hamper in the corner.

“Hey!” Derrick chastised, but he was grinning.

Once Ethan was dressed, they met Sunshine, who had come in with muddy paw prints, out in the hall. Derrick scooped her up, took her to the bathroom in the hallway, and washed her paws, before setting her back down on the floor.

Ethan went into the kitchen, flipped the coffee pot on, and began gathering things from the fridge. He was starving, and he loved to cook for Derrick when he had the opportunity. He picked up his phone and texted the office to tell them he would work from home today. He felt like he needed to be home with Derrick, despite Derrick’s plan to spend most of the day with Misha planning the party.

As Ethan began to crack eggs over the skillet to make an omelet, Derrick said from across the room in the living room, “Hey, come here a second. You’ve got to see this.”

Ethan set the skillet aside, turned down the flame on the stove, and walked around the island, until he was standing in front of the television. Derrick had flipped the news on and the headline story showed the captain of the San Francisco PD looking at the remains of his house, which was a mess of rubble and burning wood. The news reporter was detailing the story of the captain’s house being blown up the previous evening around midnight. It was said to be the work of the notorious Switch Slasher Killer, come back to seek vengeance for being injured ten years ago when the captain went undercover with his retired, injured partner, now private investigator, Raymond Knott. The camera zoomed in on the man standing next to Captain Ferguson, and Ethan’s mouth hung open as he saw Detective Knott say something to Captain Ferguson. The man nodded, and the two looked briefly at the camera.

“Is that, is that our P.I.?” Derrick asked in horror.

“Yeah, you might not remember him back when the story of the SSK was big. He was the only one who got close enough to catch the guy, but they injured each other and the SSK got away.”

“Who was the SSK?” Derrick asked. Ethan’s stomach went cold. In light of all of the events happening to them, he really didn’t want to spook Derrick anymore, but he could easily figure it out on his own if he wanted.

“The SSK is a man, they presume, who targeted gay couples. I remember my parents talking about it on the news but I was only fifteen at the time so don’t remember it much. You would have been ten, so I wouldn’t think you would have heard much about it either. They think he was brought up in a super religious family, or he is gay and closeted himself, or possibly both, and he was lashing out at couples.”

“Oh my God, you don’t think he could be after—I mean, we’re gay!” Derrick cried, looking at Ethan in horror.

“Well, yeah, good observation, hon, but no. I don’t think whoever is throwing bricks at our windows is the SSK. It’s not his style,” Ethan tried to reassure him. But he saw the look of terror in Derrick’s eyes and knew he was internally convincing himself that the SSK was who was after them.

“You don’t know that. He could have changed his MO,” Derrick insisted.

“Babe, come on. We’ve just moved here. And besides, it seems he is going after the captain and—”

“And our investigator!” Derrick cried.

“Yes, but we were being targeted before we hired Detective Knott. Please, just calm down.”

“Calm down! How can I calm down when we have a target on our backs by some crazy stalker guy and, come to find out, so does our investigator!” Derrick picked up Sunshine, who yipped, and Ethan dropped his hand. He had been reaching to pull Derrick into a hug, but the dog beat him to being the comfort giver.

“I’m sorry. I know this is a shock, but let’s wait and see what Detective Knott says before we make any assumptions and decide what to do next, please?” he asked. Derrick looked ready to tell him he had had enough and was leaving that very instant but, fortunately for Ethan, the front gate buzzed at the panel near the front door, and Ethan moved to see who was visiting.

“Hello? Is this thing on?” The voice came through the buzzer.

“Hello, who is this?” Ethan asked warily.

“It’s Misha, Misha Crawly. From Knott’s Investigation Services. How the heck do you get in here, a climbing rope or a jet pack? This gate’s bigger than the one at Fort Knox!”

Ethan pressed the buzzer, letting the gate swing forward. “Come on down, Ms. Crawly,” he said, before letting off the button. He turned back around as squawking sounds came through the buzzer, but he ignored her rant about the impressiveness of their front gate. Derrick was standing in the living room looking lost, and Ethan felt like he was slipping away again.

“Derrick? Baby?” he said softly. Derrick jumped and looked at him like he was looking at a stranger, and it cut Ethan. It hurt so much that Derrick didn’t trust him to take care of things.

“I don’t know how much longer I can do this.” Derrick said truthfully.

“You promised me two weeks. Please, give me that?” he begged. He walked over to him and put his forehead against Derrick’s, something they always did when they were tired or stressed out. Derrick stepped back.

“I’ll try, but things keep getting worse and worse. And this party, we’re asking for the stalker to walk right through the front door, in hopes that the investigator, who clearly has baggage of his own, will recognize him for what he is. I don’t know, Ethan. I just don’t know.” He shook his head. Even Sunshine looked a little down.

Ethan didn’t know what else to say. He answered the door when the doorbell rang and was greeted by Misha, who carried a large bag and wore a huge, wide-brimmed hat with sunglasses, lace-up sandals, white capris, and a black t-shirt that said, don’t be a party pooper!

Ethan shook his head when she said, “What?”

“Nothing, come on in. I was just making breakfast. Are you hungry?” he asked.

“Mhmm. What are you cooking?”

“Eggs, bacon, coffee, the usual,” he said bleakly.

“Oh, Lord, yes. Coffee. It has been one heck of a night, let me tell you.”

“We saw that. We were just watching the news. How are Detective Knott and his partner?”

“Ex-partner. They’re at odds with each other. Captain Ferguson doesn’t want Ray on the case, but after last night, I don’t think he has a choice. Oh, look at this little ball of Sunshine!” she exclaimed as she spotted Derrick and the dog.

“Hello Misha,” Derrick said, equally as glum as Ethan.

Misha’s eyes narrowed between the two of them. “Uh uh. Nope. You aren’t doing this, you two. You hear me? Old Misha’s going to fix this place up right, and we’re going to catch your man. You two need to stick this out together. You heard Ray when he told you this is what the stalker wants. He wants you at odds with each other. Now snap out of it.”

“But, Misha, what if the stalker is…” Derrick began to protest. Ethan cringed when she put her hand on her hip and glared at him.

“Did you hear me, Dr. Marlow? Misha said that it’s going to be alright and we’re going to make it alright. Understood?”

Some people just have a larger than life personality that affects everyone around them. That was Misha, and Ethan noticed she used it to empower people and promote positivity, even if it was in an off-handed way. He saw the tension in Derrick’s shoulders lift slightly, and he hoped and prayed that by the end of spending the day with her, he would be feeling much better about their circumstances.

After breakfast and a full recount of the prior night’s events from Misha, Ethan excused himself to his office, where he tried to work on some of the portfolios that were due for a random review. About midmorning, Derrick popped his head in to tell him that they were taking off to go shopping for the party, and they would be back later.

“Do you want me to come with you?” he offered. He had taken the day to work at home to be around Derrick as much as possible, but hadn’t accomplished much.

“No, I think we’ll be fine. I just need some space,” Derrick said flatly. It was like a kick in the gut to Ethan. The dreaded words. The ones that meant he was shutting down, and if Ethan continued to push, that was it. They would be over. He nodded instead, hating feeling like he was letting Derrick go, and turned back to the computer.

After Derrick left without another word, Ethan turned to the door to say, “I love you.” But he was already gone.

Ethan tried to work for another hour or so but gave up when he just couldn’t focus on the numbers and decided to get up and hit the gym instead. On the way home after his workout, he stopped in to check on their flower arrangements, hoping that if he focused on the wedding plans, it would distract him from feeling like the wedding was somehow doomed.

When he walked into the flower shop, he walked right into Investigator Knott. “Hey, what are you doing here?” he asked.

Detective Knott looked confused for a moment when he saw Ethan, then he ushered him outside to a small garden beside the brick walkway, where they could have a little more privacy. There was a rack of chemicals set away from the various plants that were in the garden. Ethan noticed some of them were pretty potent, given the labels of hydrochloric acid and the like, so it was good they were stored back here, out of the way of the public. There was a small bench in the middle of the courtyard, where they sat down.

“I was just following up on all the leads you gave me the other night,” Ray said.

“Anything pan out?” Ethan asked hopefully.

“Not yet, but I’m still working on it.”

Ethan nodded. He wanted to ask him about the SSK case but, at the same time, he wasn’t sure he really wanted to know. He wanted to pretend that his case was more important, and there was nothing that could distract the detective from solving it, so he and Derrick could go back to the way things were before it all began, stress free and a whole lot in love.

“Why are you here?” the detective asked. It didn’t bode well for Ethan.

“Um, because I wanted to check on the flower arrangements for next week.” It seemed pretty obvious to him why he would have been here, but it took Knott a minute to catch up.

“Right, right, sorry. Busy night. I’m sure Misha filled you in,” Detective Knott said.

“Yes, about that, do you think it’s a good idea for us to maybe find someone who…”

The detective turned his piercing blue gaze on him. Any thought Ethan had about finding someone who was less distracted had just gone out the window, as the detective focused on him with fixed determination.

“I will find the person who has been harassing you. You can count on that. Everything that happened last night has been brewing for ten years. The entire San Francisco Police Department is on that case. I can assure you, I will not let it distract me from solving yours.

Ethan nodded, holding out his hand to shake it. “Alright. I’m glad you’re okay, though, and I do hope you catch the guy.”

Ethan noticed the haunted look in the detective’s eyes when he said, “Me too.”