“Is anyone still in the room?” he whispered again. Opening my eyes I saw that there wasn’t so I shook my head and closed my eyes as he continued the assault on my body.

“Good.” He whispered. I gasped when I felt his hand wrap around my shaft. I didn’t even realize that his hand had slipped below my pants and undone the button and zipper so he could work better.

“Shane.” I hissed when he moved his hand.

“Shh..” he said in my ear before he captured my moan in his mouth while his hand started to move faster. My hands gripped his hips harder as I felt my self control slipping. Break the kiss I put my head on his shoulder and panted heavy breaths. Everything felt too good and too fast.

“s-stop or I’m g-going t-to-“

“Let go.” Shane whispered. Biting his shoulder hard, I muffled my shout as Shane caught my release on his shirt.

“Sorry.” I managed to get out after I caught my breath and released his shoulder. Shane softly chuckled before he kissed me once more. He then stepped back and pulled his shirt off carefully. Hissing at the sensitive skin when Shane cleaned the little that was left on me, he then tucked me back. I watched in a daze as he walked to the closet and grabbed his bag out. He slipped into a new shirt before he came back to me.

“Shane” I whispered in a daze, as I relished in saying his name. Never would I have thought that he would be the one to fill in the void of what I wanted as ‘home’. Shane walked me over the couch. He laid down and feeling out of energy and just wanting to continue feeling whole, I laid down with him. His arms held me close as we fell asleep.

My nightmare woke me a few hours later. It wasn’t me that was being tortured, but Shane. My heart was racing as I slipped out of his arms. Looking back at him from the steps I saw that a small frown was on his face before he sighed and readjusted. I continued up the steps and laid down on the couch in Alison’s living room. I kept my eyes close as I thought about the pain my heart felt from that dream. What did it all mean? Bare feet made me quiet my thoughts. I listened as they paused before I heard them go down the steps. A few minutes passed before the feet came back up the steps. Peeking an eye open I saw that it was Alison.

Quietly I got up while she made hot water for her tea. When she sat down I walked closer and then sat beside while I spoke.

“You are up early for a day off.” Alison jumped at my voice.

“What is it with our family member startling me all the time?” she mumbled as she sipped her tea.

“So what got you up?” I asked.

“Bad dream.”

“Anthony?” I said not surprised.

“No. for once no.” my eyes widened at this news. “Marcus was running into a burning structure and just when he got in, it collapsed on him” She whispered.

“Ali.” I said shocked and sorry for her.

“I can’t lose him too.” She said painfully. “I can’t, I’m finally okay with moving on, but I can’t lose Marcus.” Her voice was hoarse from the unshed tears. She looked at me and I watched her gain control over her emotions.

“So tell me about you and Shane.” She said with a smile.

“What do you want to know?” I asked softly.

“For one, I didn’t think he would actually get you to blush like that with just a smile and handshake.” I blushed but wiped my hand down my face to help gain some self control over my body before I spoke about this. Sighing I turned away from her to make things easier.

“I didn’t know what came over me. I’ve never been into guys before. But when he looked at me with those piercing green eyes, I felt vulnerable and it was unnerving. Like he could see all the pain I went through overseas.” I paused as I tried to tell her the next part. “But when he shook my hand, I don’t know how to explain it. It was a firm grip, but it was gentle. Like…I don’t really know how to describe it. I guess comforting would be a good description. I felt through his hand that he would always be there for me; always holding my hand through the pain. What also caught me by surprise was the electricity that shot up my arm through it. I didn’t want to let go of his hand. But then you told me about the Clearwaters.”

“Wow” Alison said after a few seconds of silence.

“Yes and every time we touched or talked, I felt safe and relaxed. There was no more pain in the scars.”I looked at her relieved. “My side doesn’t hurt anymore. My leg isn’t burning anymore.”

I saw understanding and hurt in her eyes. “Luke.” She whispered. I never told any of my siblings how much they still hurt.

“It was all mental pain of course, but Shane… His smile and laughter is so comforting that he has washed away every ache I had engraved into my mind.” I rubbed my right side as it started to tingle a little from talking about it. “I can finally relax because of him. And we haven’t even talked about what happened over there. The only thing we have talked about that was serious was about his Fiancé. It hurt me that he loved someone else but once I saw the pain and fear in his eyes, I immediately forgave him without knowing.” I looked at Alison pleading “What is this Ali? What did Shane do to me?”

Alison smiled at me as a tear ran down her face. “he brought my brother back.” She said through a hoarse voice. “You have feelings for him right?” I nodded at her. “How strong?”

“So strong it scares me Ali. I’ve faced so many things that should terrify me, but it’s what I feel in my chest that scares me with Shane. I can’t take anymore pain.” Alison held my hand before she spoke again.

“If I take a risk of getting hurt again, you should too. Better to live and get hurt, than to live and regret not taking the chance.” She kissed my cheek and stood. Quietly I thought about what she said and what I was feeling. Just how strong are these feelings? I dug deep inside my mind and my heart and analyzed them while Alison worked on a skillet. Something finally clicked in place when Alison sat down beside me with the food.

“Do you love him?” I asked her carefully as I started cutting into my pancakes.

“Do you?” She whispered back.

“Yes.” i admitted out loud before looking at her again.“You?” Alison smiled.

“Yes I do. I still have my fears, but it comes with my past, just like yours does.” We sat in silence while we ate, but then Alison broke the silence again. “Where did you sleep?” she voiced curiously.

“I was with Shane on the couch for a while, but I had a flashback dream, and ended up trying to fall back asleep on the couch up here, but then you came down. I waited for you to come back from downstairs before I approached. What were you doing anyways?”

“Motherly habit; Check on everyone who is still asleep. Mom, Molly, and Jake are upstairs. Lucas is in the library. Steven and Tiffany are together downstairs along with Mary and Jason. Then there is a sleeping Shane. Are you going to return to him, now that things are clearer?”

“Yes, but there is one thing that I don’t know if I can do.” I said softly.

“What?” she said confused.

I glance at her sideways, before I started picking at my food while I debated how to put it.

“Submit.” I finally whispered. Alison was silent for a moment before she started to giggle. I growled at her and she put a hand over her mouth.

“Come on. Hearing that from my brother? You would burst out laughing at one of the others for different reasons than mine.” She sighed and shook her head as a blush filled my cheeks. “Relax.” She started. “Shane will help you, and who knows, you might not have to.” I blushed more and looked away.

“Truth is I’m too curious not to, plus Shane is the more dominant looking one. He is taller, and more buff than I am.” I said voicing my first thought of Shane from the firehouse. I took a drink of water to help my dry mouth from the images in my mind.

“So you have a naked wrestling match for dominance.” I choked on my water as Alison chuckled at me. I looked at her wide eyed. Who would have thought Alison had that much of a gutter mind? “What? It’s a good idea, and would be fun and sensual at the same time.” She winked at me before she walked away to the sink. My mind filled with possible images of wrestling Shane and I felt a dark blush stain my cheeks from the images. My pants tighten from them as well and I had to shift to keep them from pinching.

Alison handing me a Gatorade brought me out of my mind and I smiled at her in return. I saw her eyes moisten. I got up and put my dishes in the sink before I turned and looked at the basement door. The invisible force was tugging at me to rejoin Shane.

“Go.” I heard Alison whisper. I looked back at her before I started for the basement. I felt her follow behind, but didn’t mind. I walked to Shane and carefully moved the arm on his stomach to his side. I then slipped in front of him with my back to his chest. I felt his chest expand with a breath before his arm wrapped around me.

“Missed you.” He whispered to me as I smiled and enjoyed the comfort that his arms brought me. I dreamed of the incident in the locker room again, but this time my subconscious changed things up. Instead of him walking out I stopped him and shoved him in one of the showers before I kissed him. When I release him he slid to the floor with that surprised and stunned look on his face.

Shane stretching woke me up. I looked at the clock on the DVD player and saw that an hour and a half had passed.

“I smell coffee.” Shane said as he sat up. I too sat up and stretched but paused mid stretch when Tiffany came out of one of the bedrooms with her eyes shut. She quickly climbed the steps to do who knows what. No more than a few seconds later Steven came out shaking his head as he followed Tiffany. I glanced at Shane and saw him smiling. I sat beside him.

“You going to explain?”

“Tiffany is a coffee addict, but when she smells it in the morning she only makes a cup, sips it and falls back asleep. Steven has been coming in behind her and finishing it before he makes her another cup when she wakes.” He chuckled. After a little internal battle and a few moments of silence I finally gathered enough courage to talk to Shane.

“Shane.” He turned his head to me while I looked straight ahead.

“Yes?” he said softly though I thought I heard fear in his voice I knew what I was going to say make him feel better.

“How about this Friday we go see a movie when you get off shift?” I asked nervously. When silence greeted me I finally looked at Shane and saw relief in his eyes and a gently smile that made my heart leap.

“Of course.” He said before he kissed me gently. Noise broke us apart when the other bedroom door opened.

Jason walked out of the room all dressed up in his business clothes. He went upstairs, but before Shane and I could go up, he was returning down the steps and slipped into the bedroom, and was just as quick out again.

“Oh… she won’t be happy about that.” Shane whispered. Shane walked upstairs and I followed. We sat together at the table and enjoyed coffee with each other.