It had been hard to believe, when he’d gotten the call, but seeing Tristan sitting there, waiting for him, free of handcuffs, was eye-opening for Josh. He threw himself at his alpha and wrapped his arms around him, finally able to kiss him just as passionately as he wanted to.

“I barely understood what you were trying to say over the phone, Tristan, how did this happen?” he asked, stunned, and still trying to wrap his head around the fact that Tristan was, for once in over a decade, actually his.

Tristan smiled, hugging him tightly against himself.

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you in the car.” He wrapped his strong arm around Josh’s shoulders and the younger, taller man led Josh out to the parking lot, away from the county jail.

They were both trembling a little as they got themselves buckled in, and then Josh began to drive.

“Okay, you’d better start explaining,” he demanded.

Tristan chuckled softly.

“It’s all thanks to my Captain. The girl that I thought had been killed, she’s alive, and she and her mother came to thank me, but the Captain… she decided to let me go. She said I had served long enough, basically.”

“She’s not wrong,” Josh admitted. “You gave them over a decade of your life. Your whole youth, basically.”

Tristan smirked over at him. “Are you calling me old?”

Josh laughed. “I’d be calling myself old, if that’s the case.”

Tristan laughed with him, and Josh was relieved to see that familiar crinkle around his mate’s eyes.

“Well, everyone knows you’re old.”

“Excuse me!” Josh said with mock outrage. “I am the father of your child!”

“Likewise,” Tristan pointed out with a wink.

Josh shook his head, but he couldn’t stop smiling. He was back. They were back, together, and finally working things out. He hoped.

“We need to talk a lot, you know,” he pointed out. “There are going to have to be some changes, if you’re going to be in this baby’s life…”

Tristan heard him, he thought, but he also seemed distracted.

“Hey, Josh, can we stop by the bank?”

Josh frowned in confusion. The bank? Did Tristan really need to take out money now?

“I guess,” he allowed. A little annoyed, Josh headed in that direction. He pulled up in front of the bank and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as he waited for Tristan.

Before long, Tristan had come back out to the car and settled down.

“Okay, thanks. That’s dealt with.”

Josh gave him a curious look, but got no answer.

“Fine,” he sighed, “Be mysterious. Where to next?”

Tristan gave him a charming smile, and Josh sort of hated himself for how it made him melt.

“Dinner?” he offered. “My treat.”

Josh was actually starving, for the first time since he’d found out he was pregnant, probably because of the lifted stress of having Tristan free.

“Okay,” he agreed. “Yeah, that sounds pretty good, actually.”

He drove them to his favorite restaurant, the local steakhouse, and was pleased when Tristan wrapped his arms possessively around him while they waited to be seated. It made him feel wanted.

Josh settled down across from Tristan, and after they’d both requested water from the waiter, he reached over and took Tristan’s hand.

“Baby, we can’t keep avoiding this subject.” He looked into Tristan’s bright blue eyes. “If we’re going to go any further, I need to know you’re really committed to me. To us.”

* * *

Josh set down his suitcase and glanced around the old saloon, a smile spreading over his face. He’d tried to make it in the city, he really had, but this was where he belonged. With or without Tristan, Josh had made his decision. This old family bar was his home, and he would make a life for himself here, alone, without a relationship.

From then on, Josh decided, he wasn’t going to think about love. He didn’t believe in marriage, and he was going to give up on the dream of a baby. All he had to do to be happy was put himself to work.

Maybe, Josh decided, he would find someone to sleep with, a friend with benefits to pass the time. But no dating. No romance. He couldn’t afford another broken heart, not while he was still stuck on his first.

And he was, years later, still stuck on his first. As he began to sweep the bar slowly from one corner to the other, his thoughts always passed to Tristan. Every time he wiped over the polished bar top or poured Tristan’s favorite beer from the tap, he thought of him.

Senior saw it. Once or twice, he tried to bring it up, how he still wanted a grandkid, and maybe Josh could try with someone else, but they both knew the truth. Josh belonged to Tristan, and always would.

As long as Tristan was overseas, as long as he kept running from their love, Josh would just have to get used to being alone.