Ben looked around the apartment with wonder. Flavien had wanted him to stay at the hotel because it was easier to secure, but he'd put his foot down. He wanted to spend the night with Dave, at Dave's home. They could revisit the situation in the morning, but this was important to him. Flavien had hesitated, but had finally given in.

It was so worth it. Dave had put up all kinds of decorations. There were streamers, the crepe kind, in red, white, and blue. There were little French and American flags hanging from the windows. There was bunting, bunting everywhere.

The little bedroom had been dwarfed by a king sized bed, with a memory foam mattress and sheets so new they still had creases in them from the packaging.

He turned to his lover. "Now Dave." He couldn't keep the awe from his voice, but he wagged a finger at him anyway. "I'm like, ninety percent sure you were given very strict orders not to go exerting yourself. And I can see with my own two eyes how much work you did on this. It's so much. I feel so…" He blinked back tears. "I feel so loved. So wanted. I feel like you went to such great lengths to make me feel at home here."

Dave pulled him close and kissed his forehead. "Aw, babe. You know I want you here. You know I love you. And it didn't feel like I was exerting myself at all. I had to do something or else I was going to drive myself and everyone around me right up a wall with worrying. I had to feel like I was making some kind of effort, you know?"

Ben stroked Dave's face. "I know." He couldn't stop smiling, even though tears burned his eyes. It was the most contradictory thing. "I know." Then he laughed. "My God, this is wonderful. I'm so happy just to be here, with you, at home. There's nothing quite like it."

"Even though the apartment is small and only has one bathroom?" Dave touched his forehead to Ben's.

"It doesn't feel small right now. It would, eventually, filled with baby things. But right now, it's everything I need, because you're in it." Ben felt a pang. Was Dave still sensitive about that fight they'd had? Was inequality still going to be a problem for them?

Dave answered his question by claiming his mouth with a searing, passionate kiss. Ben opened right up to him. If they were going to really make a go of this they were going to have longer separations, but this one had been the worst. It had come closest to Ben's worst fear, and now he needed to re-imprint Dave's taste on his tongue and on his brain. He had no other way to truly erase the sour taste of fear.

Dave slipped his hands up underneath his shirt, and Ben backed off. He would be naked, if his alpha wanted him to be naked. He would give him anything he wanted.

Dave unwrapped him like a present, pupils growing with each new layer removed. Ben preened under his gaze. For Dave, it probably was a lot like looking at a whole new body. When they'd parted, Ben wasn't showing at all. There had been a few small changes in his appearance, but they'd only really been noticeable to him. Now he had a baby bump, small but real. He hadn't gotten to the "big as a house" stage, just a little bump on his slender form that told the world he loved his man enough to give him a child.

He was proud of it. Every time Dave looked down at that little round spot that had once been flat, his face lit up. Dave was proud of it too. "Do you want to touch it?" he asked Dave.

Dave licked his lips and nodded. It was as if he didn't trust himself to speak.

Ben kissed Dave's swollen lips. "All right then. If you can take your shirt off, you can touch it."

Dave smirked, but he still didn't speak as he stripped his uniform off. He took the whole thing off, and he hung it carefully in the closet too. Ben didn't ask about that. It seemed like a silly thing to worry about at a time like this, but a lot of the Navy guys he'd met over the past few months had hangups about their uniforms. Maybe it was a regulation thing.

Dave came back and dropped to his knees in front of Ben. Ben tried not to pay attention to the angry red scar on Dave's leg. It would go away soon enough, and it wasn't a reminder of Ben's failure. It was a reminder of Ben's success instead. He'd successfully kept his lover alive, and he should celebrate it.

When Dave pressed his lips reverently against Ben's swollen belly, he wrapped his hand around Ben's half-hard cock. Ben couldn't think about success, failure, or anything else anymore. The only thing his brain had room for was the incredible way Dave's hand felt against the sensitive skin on his dick, the heat of it and the comfort. He bucked his hips as his cock got harder, more insistent.

"Someone's eager." Dave grinned up at him, right before closing his mouth around the tip of Ben's cock.

Ben groaned. The moist heat of Dave's mouth, the friction of his tongue and his throat, they were too perfect. His hips twitched, but Dave put his hands on them as a hint to keep them still. Ben fought to obey. He didn't want to lose it already. He wanted to come for Dave, when Dave was ready, and not before.

Dave, though, Dave wanted him hot, bothered, and wanting. Dave teased and sucked until Ben thought he was going to explode, and then he pulled back. "You're sweating, Ben. Look at you. It's beautiful. Oh, my God, I could keep you right here just like this until kingdom come." He chuckled darkly and then led Ben over to the bed. "I've been wanting to fuck you on this bed for weeks. Since I bought it, in fact. Can I do that, Ben? Can I?"

Ben's mind was already spinning. He went to lay down, but an insistent little voice in the back of his head reminded him that something was very wrong here. "I can't. You'll hurt yourself."

Dave gritted his teeth and whined in frustration. "Oh, come on, I've been so good."

Ben gestured to the bed. "I've got a plan. Sit down."

Grumbling, Dave sat down on the bed.

Ben went to his duffel and grabbed the lube. He drizzled some on his fingers and worked himself open as quickly and efficiently as he could. When he'd gotten as far as he could, he slicked Dave up. Then, he climbed into Dave's lap. Straddling his lover, he lined Dave's big cock up with his hole and slowly sank down, impaling himself an inch at a time until he'd fully engulfed his partner.

Dave stared at him, enthralled. "Ben," he whispered. "Oh, Ben, if you knew how this felt."

Ben held himself still and controlled his breathing. The intrusion felt so much more intense this way. He wouldn't say it was painful, not exactly, but he couldn't say it felt good either. Not yet. He was fuller than he'd ever been in his life, and it was only going to be more intense.

His body finally accepted what was happening as good, right, and appropriate. He rocked his hips, and Dave cried out. Yeah, that felt nice. He adjusted his angle and the way he held his weight, and...

"Yeah, right there," he grunted, as Dave thrust up to meet him. He'd gotten him right in the sweet spot, twice as hard as Ben had intended, and he didn't just see stars. He saw galaxies, universes, and he was never coming down.

Dave grabbed onto his hips to guide him, controlling the rhythm even from his position and keeping Ben connected to what was happening on the ground. Ben cried out in his pleasure as he ground down on his lover, again and again. Oh, this was bliss.

He exploded in thick ropes of come, all the way up his chest. If Dave were the one on top, Ben could just zone out and let his bliss overtake him, but that couldn't happen this time. He had to fight to keep himself in the now so he could bring Dave over too.

Fortunately, Dave seemed to get where he was coming from. His grip on Ben's hips tightened and he helped Ben move up and down, moving him like a doll. Ben let himself go, enjoying the friction as Dave built and then lost the rhythm.

Dave came too, shooting into him as he panted into Ben's ear. Only now could Ben collapse, boneless, onto his lover. They sat like that for a long moment before Ben carefully dismounted, wincing.

Dave looked over at him. "How in the hell do you get more perfect with each passing day?"

Ben just kissed him. He was too tired for words.

They showered, and then they headed back to the mammoth bed to sleep in each other's arms. Here there were no more shipmates. Here, there was no requirement that Dave sleep in a barracks or a bunk. Here, they could enjoy one another's arms for as long as they needed to.

The next day was a Saturday, which was, apparently, a day off. They headed to the hotel to meet up with Flavien and Aziza. Aziza wasn't up to much, but she wanted to find a place to live sooner rather than later. Dave surprised Ben by being willing to look for houses too, and so the whole family went out to house-hunt together.

If the realtor they met, Jerry, was surprised by the presence of a foreign dignitary and security detail, he didn't say anything. He just smiled and focused on his actual customers. Ben had to give him credit for that, even if Jerry quickly lost that credit by showing them several houses with unsecured pools in bad neighborhoods.

Each house hunter did eventually find something they liked. Ben put offers in on each of them, although his father insisted on buying Aziza's house "just because of Khadijah, she's the sweetest child alive." Jerry just gaped as Ben and Flavien politely debated who got to drop cash on two houses, and Dave finally took pity on the guy. "Just go with it," he advised. "They're going to do what they're going to do. It's a family thing."

Ben knew Dave was a little uncomfortable with getting such a large house. He was even more uncomfortable with the idea of a nanny. When Flavien offered a nanny who was also a security officer from his staff, however, Dave got a lot more comfortable with the idea.

Ben set about getting himself and Aziza settled into their new homes. Aziza was the priority, since she was living out of a hotel room and still wasn't able to do much for herself. She was living next door to Ben and Dave, so it wasn't exactly going out of his way to take care of things.

He was at the furniture store one day about a week after they'd bought the houses when there was a medical emergency on the street outside. A woman who looked to be in her mid to late forties had collapsed on the sidewalk in front of the store. Ben ran out to assist and found that she had no pulse. He provided CPR and got her heart started again before the ambulance arrived.

He didn't think much of the incident, and he continued on with his day. When he got a call from the hospital to which the woman had been taken, telling him that the patient had survived and wanted to thank him, he supposed he might as well go. He didn't need her thanks, but it couldn't hurt to network with the local hospitals for after his baby was born.

Besides, he might not need to receive her thanks, but sometimes patients needed to give it.

He made his way to the hospital and headed up to the cardiac unit, where he announced himself. "I got a call from Dr. Yu?" he said.

The nurse smiled brightly at him. "Oh, yeah, I'll give a call. You just have a seat, he'll be up in two shakes."

Ben sat where she told him and examined the ward. The cardiac unit didn't look all that bad. It was clean, and it was sunny. It didn't have that oppressive feel some similar places could carry. He wondered if the ER was similarly nice or if it was one of the more neglected parts of the institution.

Dr. Yu turned out to be a handsome young doctor with high cheekbones and a nice smile. "Dr. Michaud! It's nice to meet you. Our patient asked to meet the man who saved her life. I'm glad you could make the time to come in today."

Ben blushed. "Well, I'm kind of between jobs at the moment so I was definitely free." He grinned. "How's she doing?"

"Well, her heart was in pretty awful shape. She's alive, and we're going to be able to keep her that way assuming she takes her medicine and lays off the cigs. But she spent most of her life in coal country, and I'm sure you've seen the data on risk factors for cardiovascular disease in coal country."

Ben grimaced. "I did. My partner's from West Virginia, so I refreshed my memory after we got together."

Yu chuckled. "Ah yes, the danger of being a doctor. You know everything that could possibly go wrong. I do the same thing. Anyway, come on, I'll introduce you."

He led Ben to a room about halfway up the ward. The room had two beds, but only one was occupied at the moment. Ben froze when he saw the name on the nameplate: Hopper, L.

He bit his lip and walked in. It had to be a coincidence, right? West Virginia was a big place and had a lot of people in it. Hopper wasn't an uncommon name.

Yu knocked on the door. "Mrs. Hopper? I brought your doctor friend to you."

The woman in the bed looked terrible. Ben hadn't examined her closely when he'd been working on her. His concern had been her airway and her heartbeat, and that was it. "You're the doctor that saved my life?" Her eyes were so ringed with dark circles she looked like a raccoon. She was rail thin, with few teeth, and jailhouse tattoos on her arms.

"That's me." Ben forced a smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Better than I was, I guess. They say my heart's shot. Say it's contaminated water, from my hometown, what done it." She closed her eyes. "I haven't been there in fifteen years, and it's still killing me."

The fifteen years clinched it. "Did you have family there?" he asked, settling in.

"Yeah. But I did something desperate, and I got caught, and I went to jail. The state said I couldn't see my family no more. After I got out I came here to clean hotel rooms." She wheezed her words out. "I got an oldest son, they say he lives around here somewhere. I've never seen him, though."

Ben considered telling her everything. He considered telling her how successful Dave had grown to be, how happy and how healthy, how loved and respected. She didn't deserve to know. What she'd done to Dave had been monstrous. She'd been desperate, it was true, but nothing justified handing her son over to a killer. "Maybe it's just not meant to be," he suggested in a soft voice. "You keep trying, though. But if you want to keep trying, you have to live a good, long time. You know what that involves, right?"

Dave's mother smirked. "Yeah, yeah. I've got to quit smoking and take my pills." She coughed. "I don't think I can even look at a pack of smokes right now anyway."

"Well, every cloud comes with a silver lining," he told her with a grin. "You stay here and get better, okay?" He patted her hand and got up to leave.

Some crimes deserved a very long sentence, indeed.

* * *

When Dave got home from work that night, Ben was sitting at the table looking glum. Dave's internal alarms were going off just based on the expression on Ben’s face. He usually had a bunch of pictures of mostly useless furniture for Dave to look at. He wasn't usually sitting there and looking glum.

"What's wrong?" Dave asked him.

"I'm pretty sure I met your mother today," Ben told him.

Dave wasn't proud of his response, which was to hide in the bedroom. Ben came in after him, and wrapped his arms around him and held him close until Dave was ready to hear the rest of the story. It took about an hour.

Apparently he'd given CPR to someone out on the street, because he was physically incapable of leaving the house without doctoring someone. That person had asked to see him, and Ben had recognized her based on name and origin. He hadn't been sure until she mentioned jail time and loss of custody. The timelines matched, but the kicker for Dave was that somehow she'd known where he was. Someone in the family knew where he was.

They hadn't bothered to reach out to him in years, except for Aunt Sadie of course, but they'd told Mama where to find him.

He cried about that. He didn't think it was unmanly to cry, when his family let him down like that yet again. Ben didn't seem to look down on him for it either. He held him in their big bed until he was done. "Did you tell her where to find me?"

"Hell no." Ben snorted. "I told her to keep on trying, and to go on and live a long healthy life."

Dave scratched his head. "For real?"

"It's not going to happen. She's not going to take her meds. She's not going to quit smoking. She's going to keep on doing what she's doing, and the next time she has a heart attack no one's going to be around who can help her. She's alone, and she's miserable." Ben sighed and rested his head on Dave's back. It was warm and soothing. "If by some miracle she does lower her risk factors, and takes her meds, she'll live longer, and be miserable for longer." He sighed. "Sometimes death is kinder."

Dave bit down on the inside of his cheek. "You have a vicious streak in you, don't you?"

Ben kissed the back of his neck. "When it comes to people who hurt the people I love, yeah. Yeah, I do. We're not going to let her get to us. And we're not going to let her anywhere near our baby." He put his hand on his baby bump, which was the most endearing little habit he'd developed in the time Dave had known him.

They moved into the new house a couple of weeks after that, and Dave breathed a little bit easier. Mama wouldn't find him in the new place. Mama wouldn't even think to look in the new neighborhood.

The whole platoon came over for a housewarming, which was a little bit of a surprise since Ben and Dave hadn't been expecting to hold a housewarming. The guys all brought their own drinks, and the omegas organized the food.

This was Ben's first time meeting any of the other platoon spouses, and Dave was a little bit nervous at first. Wasn't there supposed to be a little bit of tension or struggle between doctors and nurses? They had two on staff. But Mal was excited to meet two staff people from Borderless, since he'd apparently had to use their services many years ago. Nick was just excited to ooh and aah over Khadijah, so he hit it off with both of the new arrivals right away. Colin was a little more reserved, but he tended to be like that around the platoon spouses. He loosened up with Ben and Aziza once they discovered they had something in common, and Aziza and Mansur were the only two people from their part of the world in the room so they were able to be friendly with each other.

Dave was hopeful that getting Ben in front of Mal and Nick would mean good things for Ben, because he knew Ben was going absolutely insane trying to keep busy. Coincidentally, both Portsmouth and St. James, the hospital where his mother had been taken, were facing staffing shortages. They were willing to bring Ben in on a contract basis during his pregnancy, and then after the baby was born they would see what arrangements could be made.

As Aziza healed, she found work too, at St. James. As Ben had predicted, she went back into OBGYN work. She liked the work better, and it allowed her to have more regular hours with Khadijah. She took a driver's exam and bought a car. Soon, she could barely be distinguished from her neighbors. "I was nervous about moving to America," she admitted. "I didn't know where else to go, but I knew it could be a scary place. Now, I'm happy I came. I have friends here. I have family. I miss my first family, of course, but I'm happy in my life here, too.

Ben was happy just to be doing something. Dave could wish he would rest more and take better care of himself, but he knew that wouldn't happen in this lifetime.

He had a chance to chat with Ben's dad about that one evening, as they sat over dinner. Flavien was still in the States to discuss issues related to the bombing with the American government, but he came down to Virginia Beach during the weekends to spend time with his family. "When Ben was young and lived with me, he was always busy. He was never someone who liked to let the grass grow under his feet. He would go to summer school just because he wanted to find out what happened next, you know? He's younger than most other doctors at his level because he's that much smarter than they are. He just wanted to keep going, especially when he was younger. That was him. Keep going, never stop." He sighed. "I made a huge mistake, sending him to his mother. I was in love, and I convinced myself it would be good for him to live in America for a while. I was wrong. By the time I recognized my mistake, it was too late."

Dave watched as his partner, growing bigger by the day, brought in a plate of hors d'oeuvres. "Maybe not too late," he said, and smiled.

Ben wasn't the only one with family to entertain. Dave called Aunt Sadie with his new address, and she promptly told him she was coming for a visit in exactly one month. That was how long it would take her to arrange schedules and make sure she could get the time away from the sheriff's office. It had taken her a long time to work her way up to the top, and she took her responsibility seriously. Dave had always respected her for that.

Aunt Sadie was awestruck when she saw the house. Dave could understand that. Around here, it counted as a middle of the road kind of house. Back home, it would be a palace. She admired it, though, and she did love having a bathroom to herself while she stayed with them. "I've got to tell you, Davy, this place sure is fine. You've done all right for yourself."

Dave blushed and looked away. "I can't take credit for it. It's all Ben's money, and it's really family money. It's not even like he earned it with my support. It's just there."

Sadie laughed. "Dave, sweetheart, I mean, yeah, I'm talking about the house, sort of, but I'm also talking about you. You've taken everything you've been through, and you've become a strong, beautiful man who defends his country, who stands up for what's right, and who has the courage to be one of the country's most elite warriors. My old sergeant used to tell me the best revenge was living well, and you've accomplished all that in spades, son. You've found love, and from what you've told me about your young man, he sounds like he's amazing. You're starting a family. You're financially stable and yeah, that's on your own merits, because you've used common sense and avoided any disasters before this Ben came into your life.

"And you're out here living your life, in love and light. You're not letting the rest of that pack of jackals hold you back. I am so proud of you I could just cry." Sadie hugged him, Dave hugged her back, and Ben came home just then to find them like that.

Ben met Sadie then, and for the two of them it was love at first sight. Ben adored her plain-spoken, no-nonsense way of dealing with things. "She's like a nurse!" he marveled. "Just with a gun!"

Dave had to laugh at that.

Sadie loved Ben's kindness and his work ethic. "I've never seen a guy born into that kind of money who works half as hard as he does. God love him." She shook her head as Ben got a call to go in to St. James for a multi-car pile up.

The platoon had been reduced to training and light duty as its members healed from their injuries. Everyone in the platoon resented the setback, none so much as the men who'd been injured, but it couldn't be helped. In the meantime, they had a senior member of White Dawn in custody.

Not, of course, that Conley's status was going to help him at all. Agent Aliprandi got to interrogate him for three days before she and several of her co-agents had to bring him to Texas to report to Death Row. She reported to Baldinotti, who passed the message on to Chief, that his only comment about allies in congress was that it all boiled down to the same thing it always boiled down to.

The eleven congressmen implicated in the Chaos Tree scandal were arrested and charged with terrorism. The charge was controversial, because no one could pretend that the congressmen themselves had planted the bombs. Prosecutors, on the other hand, insisted that their membership in a known terrorist organization and their repeated attempts to stall or disband investigations into the bombings amounted to material support for terrorism, if not treason.

All eleven were denied bail on the grounds that they were flight risks. This caused a huge uproar, especially in their constituencies. Dave and Ben were horrified to learn that their own congressman, while not one of the accused, was actively supporting the eleven and calling for "vigorous resistance, by any means necessary, to this sudden outbreak of tyranny."

Their "nanny," a member of Flavien's secret service, showed up early. Her name was Chantal. She was of average height, with big brown eyes and a trim body. She assured them that she was actually certified in infant and child CPR and had studied child development in high school, before joining the service. She and Dave hit the range together, and he was impressed by her talent.

Ben's older half-brother on his mother's side, the congressman, stopped by once. The whole meeting was awkward. Dave was glad he wouldn't have to repeat it.

Their daughter, Camille, was born in the winter. Trials for the eleven congressmen were getting underway, and the President's rhetoric toward France and their "soft" stance on Islamic terrorism had escalated to dangerous levels, but babies don't generally wait for external conditions to be safe before they decide to be born. She emerged from the womb after a brief but intense labor and impressed the whole labor and delivery department at St. James with her APGAR scores and her powerful lungs.

Camille was a darling. She looked more or less like all other newborn babies, at least as far as Dave was concerned. She had a thick shock of dark hair that stood straight up from her tiny head and liked to stick her tongue out while she tried to look at the world. Her favorite place to be was to cuddle with her daddy or with her pa.

Khadijah, now about a year old, was fascinated by her tiny cousin. She pointed and said, "Girl!" with mixed joy and awe. Sometimes she went so far as to try to say, "Cam!"

Flavien flew back to Virginia to see her. He didn't ignore Khadijah in favor of Camille, but he held them both. "I have two arms, one for each of you," he told them with a smile. "Oh, yes, look, this is so nice." He took great delight in caring for the babies and playing with them, and in helping his son to adjust to parenthood.

Ben's mother's PR guy sent them a fruit basket.

By the time Ben had recovered, the rest of the team had recovered and trained enough to be deployed again. Dave worried about Ben, of course. He was sorry to leave him alone, especially with things so volatile at home and a new baby to care for. Dave still had a job to do, though, and Ben understood that. Ben had a job to do too. He'd been hired on part time as a trauma surgeon at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth.

This deployment took the platoon away from home and out to Morocco for three months, all told. When Dave got back, his daughter was sitting up and starting on solid foods. He couldn't help but feel like he'd missed out on a lot, but he'd signed up for that. It was part of the job.

One thing he was not going to miss out on was taking on a new role. He grabbed Adami and headed into town as soon as he got back. He dragged Adami into a jewelry shop, and he made Adami look at so many rings he thought Adami might throw up.

Then he headed home. He waited for Ben to get home. According to Chantal there had been a bad boating accident, and Ben was going to be home late. That just gave Dave more time to plan. He fixed dinner, nothing fancy, and took the time to cuddle his little girl. He poured some wine.

When Ben got home, he found his partner waiting for him. He smiled and reached out when he saw dinner and wine all set up for him, but Dave wasn't done yet. "Ben, we don't have to do anything big and fancy. I know you're not that guy, and you know my feelings on the subject. But I need to tell the world just how important you are to me. I need you to be my husband. And I need to be yours." He pulled the rings out of his pocket. "Ben Michaud, will you marry me?"

Ben covered his mouth with his hands, a gesture their daughter imitated. He fell into a chair. After a moment, Ben looked up at Dave. "Yes, Dave."

Dave caught Ben’s mouth up in a kiss, a kiss that was a promise.