"You don't get it," I'm sitting in the break room down at the hanger, trying to get the guys to understand what's wrong. "It's like she doesn't need me for anything, I got nothin' to offer her."

Luke's eyes are big as saucers, watching the conversation unfold between the older men in front of him like it's the biggest learning experience he's ever had.

Rogue's kicked back in his chair, just listening to everything I've said with a serious frown on his face.

Joe is the one giving me shit.

"So you're saying, that cute little thing that Rogue and Mel set you up with has spent the last 3 days bustling her sweet little ass around your house, cleaning it from top to bottom?"

I take a gulp of my coffee and nod.

"She's been cooking up a storm for you, and yesterday you come home to find her splittin' wood all by herself?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm fucking saying."

Joe shakes his head in sympathy that I know is pure bullshit, "Yeah," he makes a show of leaning in and grabbing one of the cinnamon rolls I brought in off the table, "you got a real problem there, man. I feel for ya. A woman like that's hardly worth having around."

I'm not in the mood for Joe's sarcasm, but these rolls that Dorthy made this morning for me to bring down to the guys sure are good. I pull another one apart and try not to enjoy it.

"So what is the problem, exactly?" Rogue speaks up.

"The problem is that she won't let me do anything for her!" I spit out around the chewy dough in my mouth, "she hasn't let me do anything for her since I opened a damn beer for her over at your place."

"How's that a problem?" Luke asks with a big ass 23 year old kid grin on his face.

I growl at him, "You don't understand, I'm a man. I want to take care of my woman. Wanna make her life easier in ways that I can cuz this life is tough, you know?"

Joe and Rogue both grunt, seeming to understand what I'm getting at.

"If this gal is gonna move up here and be my wife, she's got plenty of work cut out for her as it is. She don't need to be taking over all my chores and leaving me with nothing to do at the end of the day but eat her cooking."

I lean back and pat my stomach. It's damn good cooking, I gotta admit, but she needs to leave some stuff around the house for me to do.

"So are you just feeling like you're not in charge? Like she wants to wear your pants for ya?" Joe asks.

I shake my head, "Not exactly."

"Well, I thought the whole point was that you wanted a woman who could hack it up here? Especially when you're not home and she'd have to be all alone up the house with that pack of kids you keep talking about making?" Lucas pipes up.

"Yeah, but she's so damn independent," I tell him, "I mean, that's good and all, but she doesn't need me for anything."

"She's gonna need you to make those babies," Joe snickers.

"Yeah, Bear, how's that part going? Is the chemistry good? Everything working out between the sheets?"

I look up at my buddy, Rogue, and try to figure out how to answer him.

With a deep sigh I finally fess up, "I ain't even kissed her, man."

The guys all gasp like a bunch of old hens.

"Well no wonder you're all wound up," Joe laughs, "If I had a sweet little piece of ass like that running around my house that wasn't puttin' out, I'd be going out of my mind too."

Joe can talk all the shit he wants, he barely even got a look at Dorthy when Luke flew her in and he's got no idea what's going on with us.

Of course, I'm starting to think I got no idea either.

"Bear, man," Rogue leans forward with his elbows on the table between us, a whole lot more serious than he was a minute ago, "is she not interested? Are you not interested? What's the hold up?"

Rogue knows me better than any of the guys, which is why I had him pick a wife for me, and now I see real concern on his face like he's worried he picked wrong.

I kinda wish the other guys would scram. We're past the usual bullshit around the break room point and I'd rather keep the serious shit between me and Rogue. Too late for that though, so no point in stalling.

"Yeah man, of course I'm interested," I admit quietly, "I mean, when you guys first walked in with her, I was kinda shocked, you know?"

Luke laughs, "Yeah, she's gotta be what? 4 foot 10?"

We all chuckle.

"Yeah and I'm damn near 6 and half feet, I mean," I shrug, "You know?"

Rogue smiles, "Yeah, but buddy, you know how it works out."

"No no no, man, I know," I mumble too fast, "I'm just saying it was a shock is all. I'm not worried about...that stuff."

Damn, this is not a conversation I want to have with the whole crew listening in.

"So what's the hold up?" Rogue asks again.

"Yeah man, you tellin' us you haven't even tried to get a piece of that yet?" Lucas adds.

"Ah man, you guys know how I am with women," I try to smile, "I don't even know if she wants me to kiss her. She hasn't said anything, or made any moves like she's looking to get out of my guest room. How am I supposed to know if she's even planning on going through with this marriage?"

Joe reaches back to the plate of cinnamon rolls sitting on the plate in the middle of the table. Pulling one off the ring he makes a big deal about "mmm-ing" and "ooh-ing" over it as he takes a bite and chews slowly with his eyes closed.

Rogue watches the older man and starts laughing. Before I know it, my boss is doing about the same thing, grabbing one of the remaining rolls and making a big fuss about it.

I don't know what these too are getting at but it's pissing me the fuck off and I'm about to let them know.

"Mmm," Joe says, smacking his lips and licking the cream cheese frosting off his fingers, "These are some good cinnamon rolls, ain't they, Rogue?"

Rogue nods, still grinnin' while he finishes his.

"You know, my wife used to bake stuff like this," Joe says, "way back in the day. Before we were even dating really, she'd show up down at the shop I was wrenching in at the time with a big old pile of brownies for me and the guys, or sometimes cookies. Nowadays I'm lucky if she buys me a coffee cake from the grocery store when she goes to town."

"Mel bakes," Rogue adds in, "but not like she did that first year we were married." He shakes his head, momentarily lost in a memory, "Damn, she used to bake a lot."

"Yup," Joe goes on, "Seems like the ladies love to show off their talents early in the game-- it's almost like doing little things like that for a man is their way of--"

"Begging for cock," Rogue elbows Joe in the upper arm and the 2 of them fall apart laughing.

I might be thick but I ain't that thick. I might be catching on to what they're gettin' at.

"You saying you think Dorthy's working so hard around my place while I'm down here shootin' the shit with you losers because she's trying to get my attention?"

Lucas snorts, "Dude, even I picked up on that," he laughs.

"Bear," Rogue pulls himself together and looks back at me, "I know you've never been comfortable making the first move, but that little gal is working hard to get in your pants." He holds up the last bit of his most recent cinnamon roll, "If you don't wise up soon, she just might get the idea that you're not interested."

"You teach her to shoot yet?" Luke throws out.

"Yeah," Joe brightens up, "Isn't she from California or some place? Shit, do they even have guns down there?"

"It's something she should get comfortable with if she's planning on making a life here," Lucas points out, "That's something you could show her, right?"

Rogue's nodding, "Yeah, my old Ruger went a long way in getting me into Mel's pants."

Joe and I both laugh our asses off, "It took you all summer to get in Mel's pants," I remind him.

"Yeah, I recall a lot of bitching about blue balls that year," Joe laughs.

"Don't remind me," Rogue grumbles.

I shake my head, and push my chair back from the table.

"Where you going?" Joe demand as I walk back to my station.

"What's this?" Rogue asks as I hand him the stack of papers.

The guys all whistle low in unison as Rogue separates the targets and passes each one around.

"Dorthy's targets. I took her out shooting yesterday. Thought the same thing you guys are thinking. Especially since she's been out at the house by herself and doing so much stuff outside, I wanted to make sure she knew her way around a pistol in case she had any encounters while I was gone."

Rogue holds up one of the targets and puts two fingers through the bulls eye that's been neatly obliterated from the paper.

"This the .38?" He asks.

"Hell no. She started with the .44." I tell him.

All eyes lift up to my face.

"Started with?" Joe asks.

I shrug, "Turns out she's from some crazy part of California that still believes in self defense. She's been shooting since she was a kid." I bend down and pull one of her targets from the back of the stack, "That's the .50."

Rogue studies the target and hands it over to Joe, "Dude, you need to get your ass back home and take that woman to bed and make sure you never let her go."

"She did this with the .50 cal?" Joe asks, incredulously, "how many shots is this?"

"She emptied the barrel in the bulls eye," I tell him, "I'm telling you, she's a crack shot with a pistol. Says she used to shoot competitively when she was younger."

"What Rogue said, man," Luke says as he gets a look at the targets, "a woman who can bake and shoot like that? You can't screw this up, dude."

Great, I think as I gather the targets from our shooting practice the other day back into a stack, try to have a serious talk with those guys and all they can focus on is food and guns.

I know Dorthy's a hell of a catch. I don't need them to point that out to me.

It's just that she's also so damn capable all on her own. I can't imagine what she'd want me for. There's nothing I can do for her.

I waited so long to have something to offer a woman. Made sure I invested wisely so when I did have someone, she'd be taken care of, and now Dorthy shows up in my life and she doesn't need anything from me.

The one thing I got left to offer her, she hasn't made any mention of wanting.

That's gonna make taking the guys' advice a whole lot harder.