I'll be home for Christmas

Chapter 60

Chapter 60 - I'll be home for Christmas

Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.

Thanks to BanSidhe [ruadh sidhe] and Feebes86 for betaing and pre-reading.

The doubters who had spoken out against Josh at the tribal meeting started to accept him. He was unfailingly polite and patient with people new to phasing and wolf life. He'd go over things repeatedly or show them himself if he could. He could literally see what they thought of him and it didn't make a difference. He never showed them how it hurt him, but sometimes he would talk to Bella about it. She was his sounding board.

"You are helping," she said.

"I am doing my best, and I know it's trite, but it's the best I can do."

"It's a difficult situation for everyone."

"I know." He sighed.

"How can I make you feel better?"

He laughed throatily. "I always feel better after sex."

"Wow. Now I am psychic, I knew you were going to say that."

"But we don't have much time."

"So, just a quick blow job, then?"

"Now you're talking my language, although you are still talking."

"I can change that."

Lucas was so happy. The women teased him about getting some and he raved about his super dreamy Brady. His self confidence soared; he stopped blaming himself if things went wrong or didn't work out. Accidents happen, he'd say now. Brady was more confident as well.

Brady might think he was the boss of Lucas in bed, but he definitely wasn't in the house. He had to put a coaster under his glass and a napkin on his lap and use the correct flatware. Lucas had better table manners than his mother.

And heaven help him if he put out the wrong color towels in the bathroom. They had to match. What was the point of buying a matching set if you didn't put out the whole set?

Being fussed over made something feel settled and concrete inside Brady - he utterly adored it.

Lucas was so demonstrative, that Brady could not hide that they were together even if he had wanted to. And he didn't. Lucas would touch him all the time; just casually bump him, or hold his hand, or brush down his arm or pat him low on the back and Brady loved it. When they managed to get time together to watch television, Lucas would pull parts of Brady towards him; pull his arm over against his, or drag his leg over his thigh, or put his feet up into his lap and absently rub them.

He'd keep touching him with one hand whilst waving the other around to talk. Brady smiled at how many gestures Lucas needed to use to communicate. And the more excitable he got, the bigger the gestures got.

In return, Brady scratched through his hair with his fingers, kissed Lucas on the tip of the nose, and made him nuts when he was trying to cook and Brady would wrap his arms around his waist and nuzzle at his neck.

Two wolves needed no extra bedding, no matter what the temperature was outside. Lucas even slept neatly. It amused Brady. He knew that he tended to sprawl; legs apart, arms splayed, the pillow often thrown off onto the floor.

But Lucas slept on his side. Always the left side. With his face at the edge of the bed, his legs together and his knees drawn up, his left hand under his head and his right hand would grip at the edge of the mattress as if to anchor his body in place. And he never seemed to move. It didn't matter what time Brady came in from patrol, if Lucas was asleep, he was always in the same position.