Master Apprentice Archive First Review
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First Review

by KatBear

Title: First Review
Author: KatBear (katbear@cox.net)
Archive: MA
Category: AR
Rating: NC17 for explicit sexual activity
Pairing: Q/O (Quilan Finn/Ben Kennan)
Feedback: Appreciated.
Thanks: To the beta readers who made this a better story (Merry Amelie, Bonny Magret, Temve). All mistakes are my own.
Summary: Ben reaches his first major milestone at Midway Motorcycles, but it doesn't turn out quite the way he expected or wanted.
Warnings: If male-male sex bothers you, you shouldn’t be here.
Spoilers: None, alternate reality set in 21st century Earth in fictional part of the western U.S. (Wyoming)
Notes: 1. The primary setting is not based on any actual specific real location or persons but is a composite of possible geography, town features, transplanted state university, etc. 2. The federal agencies mentioned are real but liberties have been taken with some policies, practices and job duties. 3. This is the ninth story in the Master's Voice series.

Master's Voice
MV 2 - Honeymoon
MV 3 - First Session
MV 4 - Morning Blues
MV 5 – Relocation
MV 6 – Snow Falls
MV 7 - Attentions
MV 8 - Giving Thanks
MV 9 - First Review

Disclaimer: The boys belong to George Lucas, I'm just playing with them.

Ben swatted vaguely in the direction of his neck.

Rough stubble rubbed along his nape.

"Mmphmm," Ben mumbled and snuggled closer into the warmth spooned against his back.

A wet tongue slipped inside his ear.

Ben shot into wakefulness with a shudder. "Dammit, you know what that does to me, you bastard." He struggled to shift around to face Qui, their morning erections bumping.

"That was the idea, boyo." Qui grinned and leaned nearer for a kiss.

Bodies pulled close, they enjoyed a leisurely morning buss. Leisurely, that is, until Ben glanced at the clock.

"Shit," Ben muttered. He pushed back from Qui, grabbed the bottle of lube under his pillow and slathered a dollop over their cocks. Ben took firm hold of both phalluses and rapidly jacked them to a grunted joint climax.

"Jaysus!" Qui blinked, still trying to catch his breath from the sudden onslaught of pleasure. "You after setting some kind of speed record?"

"Sorry, but I couldn't take time to play this morning," said Ben as he wiped off, then climbed over the recumbent body. "I need to make particularly sure I'm ready to go. Rafa promised to drop me off at work; she has an eight o'clock class today, plus both of us agreed to leave even earlier than usual in case the roads are still slippery after all that snow the last few days."

"Is there some special occasion?" Qui leaned back into their stack of pillows, hands behind his head.

"I've been at Midway six months now." Ben pulled clean clothes from the bureau and laid them across the desk chair. "Frank said he wanted to see me this afternoon, and I'm pretty sure it's for my first performance review." He paused and looked around. "Have you seen my good boots?"

"I believe they ended up under the bed." Qui tilted his head. "How do you think it's going to go?"

Ben knelt and peered into the darkness under the bedframe, then reached and pulled out his engineer boots. "It should go well. I've put in a lot of work, and I got my safety instructor certification like Frank asked me to do, so I think I'm in line for a raise." He dropped the boots by the desk. "I know it can't be much since I haven't been there very long, but every little bit helps." He grimaced. "Been working on the final list of parts I'll have to buy to finish repairing Myrna; even with the employee discount and getting a few pieces used, it's not looking good."

"Ben, it has only been six months. A lot of places only give raises every year or two if they give them at all." Qui sat up, swinging his legs off the bed. A mild frown furrowed his brow. "And you know the economy hasn't been so good."

"Hey, you're supposed to be on my side. Don't you think I deserve a raise?" Ben turned to face his mate, hands on his hips.

"That's not my place to say since I never see what goes on where you work." Qui held out his hands. "I'm just concerned about you getting your hopes up too high. 'Tis better to be pleasantly surprised than disappointed."

For a moment longer Ben stared, frowning, but the obvious concern in his mate's blue eyes finally made him relent and sigh. "Sorry, I know you meant well. Guess I still have a lot of that damned pride to get over."

"It's alright." Qui stood up and gave Ben a soft kiss, then pushed him toward the door. "Go on, you take the bathroom first."

"Thanks." Ben caught one of Qui's hands, kissed his palm. "Love you."

"Love you, too." Qui smiled as he gave Ben a firmer push. "Now go get your sorry arse cleaned up."



The thud of the not-quite-slammed door preceded the heavy bootsteps approaching the kitchen.

"Evening, Ben." Jane looked up from the counter where she was chopping vegetables. Rafa was at the table with an open textbook. "Dinner will be about an hour. Got a new recipe for baked chicken I'm trying out."

"Fine, whatever," Ben said curtly. He tromped through the kitchen toward the back stairway, oblivious to the looks and raised eyebrows Jane and Rafa exchanged.

In the basement, Ben pulled an envelope from his jacket and slapped it down on the table before tossing the jacket onto the couch. He stared at the plain white envelope for a long while, jaw set and eyes thundering, before finally blowing out a noisy breath. Ben trod slowly to the small refrigerator and pulled out a beer, unusual for this time of day, downing almost half the bottle in one long pull.

"Qui?" Ben called. He had seen the truck parked in the carport so he knew his mate was home. He called again as he restlessly wandered from bedroom to bathroom and around the main area. He wanted, no, needed, somebody to vent to, and Qui's absence caused his simmering temper to escalate, regardless of how unreasonable the cause. "Where the fuck is he?" Ben muttered as he took a second drink. He made another grumbling round of the basement; when nothing handy to kick presented itself, he decided Qui must be out in the barn and charged up the outside stairs, not even bothering with his jacket.

Ben's mood was turning even fouler after he slipped twice, ignoring the fact that it had been his turn to clear their steps and a path to the main walkway between the back of the house and the barn. He opened the door and moved inside, only making it in a few steps before he stopped short at the sight before him. A tall figure in sweats moved in a graceful rhythm, a wooden practice sword held lightly in his hand. Seemingly oblivious to the interruption, Qui continued his routine, working seamlessly from one figure to the next.

A flashback made Ben's shoulders twitch. He clearly saw that day in Qui's old home: he had been sick, recovering from an illness, and had picked up the elegant steel sword in Qui's display case. The memory of Qui's immediate flat refusal to even consider training him in its use fed his anger.

"Well, that fucking sucks!" Ben stalked closer. "This must be "screw Ben" day!"

Qui completed his stance, dropped the sword to his side, and took two long, slow breaths, ignoring his glowering mate until he had finished. "Is there a problem?" he asked softly.

"Yeah, there's a problem!" Ben growled. "Everybody seems to think I'm some kind of punk kid who doesn't know anything."

Eyes narrowing slightly as Ben tossed off the remainder of his beer and threw the bottle in an open trash can, Qui cautiously responded. "Did you get your performance evaluation?"

"Yeah, I got the damned evaluation, and no, it didn't go well." Ben scowled, hands on his hips. "And if you're even thinking of saying 'I told you so', you can sleep out by the fireplace tonight."

"The only thing I mentioned this morning was not getting your hopes up too high about a raise," Qui said. "I thought you were doing good work. Was there something wrong?"

"Oh, sure, good enough for a young kid," drawled Ben sarcastically. "What the hell do you care? You think the same thing." He pointed to the sword. "I was a damned good fencer and I know my way around a blade. But you won't even let me start on the basics for your precious stupid Tai Chi sword."

Qui pursed his lips, his jaw working for a moment before he spoke in a quiet, even tone. "You are already working on the 'basics'. Weapons are an advanced level, and you haven't mastered even the fundamentals or essence of Tai Chi yet. So, no, I'll not be teaching you anything about swords until I feel that you are good and ready." Ignoring Ben's baleful stare, Qui carefully set the wooden practice instrument down on his jacket, which was lying atop a bale of hay. Straightening, he turned back to face Ben. "You obviously have some kind of issue eating at your gut, Ben Kennan, and we need to sort that out. I'll not let you take it out by disrespecting Tai Chi, but I'm more than happy to be giving you a practical demonstration of advanced Tai Chi so you can work off your frustrations and maybe understand why you're not ready to move on yet."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Ben snarled.

"Come on, boy, put that energy to work and try to hit me," Qui said softly, standing with his arms hanging loosely by his side. "If you can."

Those last words set Ben off. He moved in closer, dropping into a crouch, then springing forward to wrestle Qui into submission. A moment later he was on his back, blinking up at the high ceiling. "Lucky trip," he muttered as he sprang back to his feet and bulled forward.

Over the next few minutes Ben tried repeatedly to make some kind of contact, changing his tactics from attempts at wrestling to boxing and his remnants of karate. Qui, however, seemed like a ghost, never there no matter what Ben did, and yet he somehow managed to keep putting Ben on the floor. The only comfort Ben had was that he seemed to be successful in slowly forcing the elusive figure toward one end of the barn.

Qui stood in the open doorway, one eyebrow raised. "Is that the best you can do, boy?" he said in a bored tone, beckoning with two fingers as he stepped backwards into the snowy yard. "Come on, at least put a little effort into it."

"Alright, damn you," Ben grunted, "you asked for it." He sucked in a deep breath and charged.

Unfortunately, the change of venue did not help. If anything, Ben found himself working harder to even less effect, fighting to keep his feet on icy walks or plowing through heavy snow. He did manage a few glancing blows as both men were hampered by the conditions, but mostly he was still on the losing end. His breath grew short, his shirt and pants grew wet from repeatedly going down on his back or side.

"Had enough yet, boy?" Qui stood a short distance away, looking down at Ben.

Ben staggered to his feet and made one last desperate lunge. His shout of triumph when he wrapped his arms around Qui's middle quickly turned to a muffled 'whump'. Ben ended up face down in the snow, one arm forced up behind his back, and a knee shoved firmly enough into his balls to let him know that his tormentor could have done serious damage if he wanted to.

"Can we talk now?" came a hot rumble in Ben's ear. Ben weakly waved his free arm, struggling to spit snow out of his mouth. He was quickly hauled up and set on his feet.

"Are you alright, Ben?" Qui asked as he brushed off his mate.

"I guess I will be." Ben leaned over, hands on his knees, trying to suck in oxygen. With his adrenaline spent, the crisp chill was penetrating his sodden clothing.

"Let me get my stuff and then let's get you into some dry clothes." Qui swept a bit of slush from Ben's hair before heading quickly for the barn.

Ben took in several more deep breaths before slowly straightening when Qui returned. He thought he could feel bruises forming as they turned their steps toward the house, and he was certain he saw two faces peering from a window, but they were gone when the men paused on the back porch to shake off the rest of the snow and remove their footwear. Carrying his boots, Ben was grateful for the warmth of the kitchen as they stepped inside.

"You boys need any help with anything?" Jane asked from her spot by the stove, carefully avoiding eye contact by focusing on her cooking. "Dinner can wait a mite if need be." Rafa paused to listen, the table half set.

"No, that's okay. I just need to change clothes and we'll be back up," Ben replied. He looked at Jane and Rafa, their expressions carefully neutral. "Look... I'm sorry if I was kind of short when I came in earlier...."

"I'm sure you had something bothering you, so don't worry your head about it, Ben," Jane said. "Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes or so."

"Thanks." Ben nodded and followed his mate down the back stairs.

As soon as their door was closed, Qui put away his jacket and practice sword, then turned to Ben. "You planning on telling me what all that was about?"

"I will, but..." Ben finished pulling off his wet top. "Can we talk after dinner? I need to get my head together."

"Of course." Qui touched Ben's arm briefly. "It's not that I'm after pushing you, Ben. I just don't want something like this lingering between us."

"I understand." Ben nodded and sighed. "I promise we'll discuss the whole thing."

"Deal." Qui kissed Ben's forehead. "I'll see you upstairs after you get cleaned up."

After a hot shower and a set of dry clothes, Ben was feeling much better physically. Throughout the evening meal, however, he was quite subdued as he realized how unreasonable his earlier anger had been; he had trouble meeting his lover's eyes and kept his focus on his plate. He excused himself as soon as was polite and escaped downstairs, glad that it was not his turn to clean up.

Ben sat at the small table, reading and re-reading the single sheet of paper. He didn't look up when Qui entered and locked their door.

"Ben? You okay?"

"Mostly." Ben winced a little as he shifted in his chair. "Guess there'll be a few bruises."

"I've got plenty of liniment. I'll fix you up before we go to sleep."

"Thanks." Ben hesitated a moment. "How did you do that out there? You said you were going to use advanced Tai Chi, but you hardly moved at all."

"It is quite advanced. To do what you saw I had to be relaxed and in harmony with my environment and myself," Qui said. "The general idea of the technique is to meet hard with soft, like bamboo in a storm, bending to the wind instead of being uprooted like a stiff tree." He shrugged. "You were angry and unfocused, so I was able to use a minimum of energy to divert your attacks. It only took small movements like pushing, pulling or throwing to let me control your center." Qui raised an eyebrow. "Easy to explain, and looks simple when you watch somebody else, but very difficult to master. It takes years of practice to do it well."

"Oh... point taken." Silence lingered for a long moment. "Umm... I guess I owe you an apology," Ben said. He finally looked up as Qui sat in the other chair across from him. "I was quite an asshole this afternoon and I shouldn't have been taking my issues out on you."

"Apology accepted." Qui raised an eyebrow, glanced down at the paper in Ben's hand. "I'm assuming that is at least part of the problem. May I?"

Ben reluctantly slid the sheet across the table, then leaned forward, forearms on the table.

The room was quiet as Qui read. He raised his head after a moment and said, "This is a damned good evaluation, thoughtful and well-written. Frank Mendoza," Qui glanced down a moment to make sure he had the name right, "even wants to get more training for you. What the hell is your problem with this?"

"I suppose it's okay." Ben rubbed little circles on the wooden surface with a forefinger. "Frank's usually pretty good to work for."

Qui frowned, then turned his attention back to the page, reading through it again more slowly. He put his finger on one sentence, read it once more. He shook his head as he looked at Ben. "You didn’t react well to this bit about needing more experience and being cocky, did you?"

"Uhhm, well, I guess not." Ben rubbed a little harder. "I was sort of pissed 'cause I wasn't getting a raise, and something about the way Frank said I was too cocky rubbed me the wrong way... maybe I said a few things I shouldn't have."

"And what did Mr. Mendoza have to say after that?"

Ben hunched his shoulders and stared down at the table. "Frank was nice enough, but he started asking me questions." Ben sighed. "I thought I knew a lot about motorcycles, but by the time he got done cutting me down to size I felt like I was six inches tall."

"Ben, how old are you?" Qui asked, as if he didn't already know.

"Twenty-two."

"That's right, you're only twenty-two bloody years old, Ben. Why do you think you should be knowing everything already?" Qui leaned back in his chair. "I'm twice your age and amazed at how much I still have to learn. Seems to me you should be grateful that your boss is taking so much of an interest in you and wants to help you get better."

"I know." Ben abruptly stood, walked restlessly around the room a few times, then headed for the couch. "Dammit, I do know I owe Frank a lot and that he has helped me a lot." He sat. "It's just..."

Qui trailed over behind Ben and sat on the couch next to him.

"Ben, you really like working at Midway, don't you?" Qui asked quietly.

"Yes, I do." Ben looked at Qui for a moment before staring straight ahead. "Along with finding Jane, getting that job was what helped me to start turning my life around."

"And you've put a lot of effort into what you do at Midway, right?"

"Well, sure..."

"Not just effort, maybe, but a lot of yourself, perhaps?"

Ben twisted around to face Qui. "I don't understand what you're trying to get at."

"I've heard you talk about Midway, how great it is working there and how you want to stay with them," Qui said. "That's all good, don't get me wrong, but it seems to me that you've got a lot of personal investment there. I'm just trying to say that you need to understand your feelings, and what that means about why you reacted the way you did when things didn't go as you expected today."

"Investment?"

"Aye. Sounds to me like you consider yourself part of their team or their family. You want to be a good team member and you want them to like you." Qui took Ben's hand. "When something doesn't go well, it hurts more than if it was just a place you go so you can get a paycheck. Is that making sense?"

"I think so." Ben nodded slowly. "That could help explain why I reacted the way I did." He looked down at the floor and sighed.

Qui gently squeezed Ben's hand before he replied. "Ben, is there anything else that happened? You were very upset, and I want to help you, but I can't if you're not telling me what the whole problem is."

There was a silence for a moment. "Well..." Ben worried at the corner of his lower lip.

"Ben? Talk to me, please."

"It started as such a great day and ended up so miserably," Ben muttered. "Did a couple of nice jobs, Frank showed me more stuff on how to do basic welding and seemed really happy with how I was doing. I thought I was going to be getting a good evaluation when I went into his office. That started off fine, too, until we got to the part about not getting a raise..." Ben hesitated, sneaked a glance at his lover. "Frank said I was doing good work for my level of experience and age. I realize now that when he said that I over-reacted, I was too sensitive. I felt like I was a lot better than that, until he started asking all those questions and I couldn't answer very many of them."

"And?" Qui softly prodded.

"At the end of our meeting, Frank talked about how I had a really great natural touch with the bikes, and I was starting to feel a little better. But then he said my instincts were too good, and I had been starting to rely too much on that, and it wasn't always enough without the experience and knowledge to back it up." Ben stopped, squirmed a little. "He said he was pleased with my progress, but I needed a reminder." His voice dropped to almost a whisper. "For the next week, I'm not allowed to work on any jobs unless there's a rush; instead I have to do QA on everybody else's work, including any jobs Frank works on. And he's going to be checking to make sure I do everything on the QA list."

Qui pulled Ben into his side. "Obviously that bothers you, Ben, but you understand that he's just trying to help you to get better?"

"I realize that now. I mean, I like Frank and I have a great deal of respect for him. At the time, though, it was embarrassing and I felt like I was being treated like a kid. I wasn't listening and I didn't handle it very well."

"It's a good sign that you're not still mad and just blowing him off." Qui rubbed one hand up and down Ben's arm. "If you're open to the opportunity and willing to learn, you will keep getting better. Sometimes it does just take time."

"I need to get that through my thick head. I let my expectations and my opinion of myself get too high and Frank brought me back down to earth; I think it hurt more coming from Frank because I do care so much about earning his respect." Ben snuggled a little closer. "And I want to apologize again for pitching into you when I got home."

"You were upset and needed to work through things. I understand that, and I don't mind helping. I'll run or work out with you, talk with you, whatever it takes." Qui stilled, his voice turning distant. "There is one thing, though..."

"What's that?"

"I know it was probably just a bad coincidence, but I would appreciate it if you'd stop dragging Tai Chi into your issues and disrespecting it. It's something that's important to me and it hurts me when you do that."

Ben sat up, moved away a few inches and looked at Qui. He started to speak, stopped, hung his head. "I didn't mean to hurt you," he said. "It was an incredibly stupid thing to do."

"I know you didn't mean it, but when you're angry you seem to say or do stupid or hurtful things. We need to work on that, too," Qui said. "Maybe it's something I'm a little over-sensitive about myself, but I was offended, and I'm afraid you probably got more bruises than I should have laid on you."

"It was my own fault, and I deserved them." Ben leaned forward and rested his forehead on his hands. "God, I've been such a jerk today. First Frank, then you and...." Ben's voice trailed off.

"Ben, today was just another piece of living life; we'll keep sorting through things together."

"I'm sorry, Qui. I guess one of these days I do need to learn to grow up, get my head together and actually listen to your advice." Ben sighed as he stared down at the floor, shoulders slumped, hands dangling between his knees.

"Don't worry, Mr. Kennan, I won't be holding my breath waiting for that to happen," Qui said. He took Ben's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Ben looked up, a little miffed at the unexpected reaction to his attempted apologies.

"Someday, when I'm really drunk, I might tell you about the time I spent five miserable days out on a cold, wet mountain and ended up losing my uniform and gun to a band of poachers. I wasn't much older than you and thought I knew it all, the hotshot rookie officer applying those newfangled theories he learned in college." Qui shook his head ruefully. "Jaysus, I still remember the dressing down I got from the patrol commander. He said he needed a map to find my head, it was so far up my arse, and that was one of the nicer things he had to say. And there was the god-awful paperwork I had to fill out for that bloody pistol." A big grin lit Qui's face. "So, no, I'll not be after thinking that you're not just as hard-headed, boyo. There really are some things you just have to learn by experience."

"I'd definitely like to hear about that little adventure." A snort of laughter escaped Ben.

"Like I said, when I'm really, REALLY drunk, you might be hearing a lot of things, but until that day I'm thinking a discreet silence is in order." Qui stood up, leaned over and kissed Ben's nose. "I have to be in to work early tomorrow, so I'm for bed soon. You want that rubdown or not?"

"Yes, thanks." Ben rose, looked up into Qui's eyes. "I love you, and I am truly sorry for being such an asshole."

"I love you, too, my sexy little eejit." A lop-sided smile graced Qui's lips as he ran his thumb along Ben's cheek. "Now let's get you taken care of."



Ben took Qui's words to heart, and determined to embrace the opportunity to learn. He was a little embarrassed the next morning when he had to face Frank Mendoza again after his behavior of the previous afternoon, but his boss graciously accepted his apology. Frank also spent some time with his young mechanic explaining why he considered a QA checklist so important, what sorts of things he was particularly concerned about, and how easy it was for even a highly experienced person to get complacent and miss something.

"I think I'm getting it, sir," Ben said. He leaned back in the visitor chair in Frank's office. "I guess I never really thought about it like that before. I'll admit I thought the checklist was just a piece of paperwork you wanted for the records."

"Well, we do need the records for tracking, but I believe the real value is the discipline and repeatable process you get," Frank replied. "That's really what I hope you'll get out of this, Ben. You are damned good and you have a remarkable intuitive feel for how the bikes should work, a lot of self-confidence and you're not afraid to tackle hard problems." Frank smiled. "That's also your problem; you're too good, the self-confidence sometimes become over-confidence, and you don't always realize when you're taking shortcuts. With more knowledge and experience, a little more discipline, you can be great."

"I appreciate that, sir." Ben ducked his head and blushed a little. "I think that's what you were trying to tell me yesterday, but I wasn't listening very well. A friend of mine helped me figure that out."

"Sounds like a good friend."

"Yes, sir, he's got a talent for helping me get my head out of my rear." Ben smiled wryly.

"As long as you listen to at least one of us, that's good." Frank smiled back. "Anyway, you've got the QA for all the jobs for the next week, whether it's Gordy or me. I expect it's going to stay pretty quiet, so I'd also like you to work on updating the inventories, okay?"

"Yes, sir, no problem."

"You ready to start getting serious about learning welding?"

"Yes, sir, I sure am." Ben leaned forward.

"You might not be so eager after I tell you about it." Frank gave a little laugh, pulled some books from a desk drawer. "Most of the welding we do is either pipe or sheet metal, which is a lot different from soldering for electrical parts. That means shooting for at least a couple of different Certified Welder tests. Every test has a different welding procedure specification, so the next thing you need to work on is reading the QC7 standard and these supplements." Frank shoved several of the volumes toward Ben. "For the test every weld has to pass a bend and x-ray test AND has to look good. I'll do the little bits of finicky work you'll need to finish fixing your bike, but you are going to be doing a lot of practicing on the basics this winter before I pop for $200 a test or let you touch one of the big jobs."

"Thank you, sir," Ben said, trying not to look keen. "I'll get started on learning the specs right away."

Frank nodded. "Alright, I'll give you two weeks to take a first run through the books before we sit down and talk about it." He stood up and pointed to the door. "Let's get to work."



Ben stared down at the electronic tablet in his hand. He had read it three times already, but still wasn't quite certain what to do with it. He glanced at Frank's open door, glanced back at the device, then decided to get this over with.

"Do you have a minute, sir?" Ben asked.

"Sure, come in and sit down." Frank took a sip of coffee from his mug, then set it down next to the sandwich on his desk. "What's up?"

"Well, everything's been fine on most of the jobs so far..."

Frank nodded. He had double-checked Ben's assessments the day before, but was letting him go solo today.

"This last bike, though, I have some questions on." Ben laid the tablet on Frank's desk. "I don't think Gordy did everything he was supposed to do."

"Think or know?" Frank asked as he took a quick scan of the list.

Ben hesitated a scant moment before looking squarely at his boss and quietly replying, "Know, sir. What I'm not sure of is why the mistakes are there." He leaned forward and touched a button on the side of the tablet which changed the display to a different page. "He did sign the job off as being complete." The bold scrawl reading 'Gordy Taylor' was on the last line.

"So what are you going to do about it, Ben?" Frank leaned back in his chair.

"Me?" Ben sat staring with his mouth half-open.

"Yes, you." Frank put his hands behind his head as he looked steadily at Ben.

"Ummm... I don't think I understand, sir."

"A lot of the time when you guys do a job, you sign off on the job and also certify that you did a QA check. At the moment, I'm having one person sign for the job and a separate person sign for the QA; nothing new about that since I change up sometimes, especially with new employees and interns. What is new this time is that the QA person is you. So, if you're not satisfied, it's up to you to deal with the mechanic on the job." Frank leaned forward and rested his arms on the desk. "I did hear you rather loudly claim you deserved more responsibility and respect just a few days ago, didn't I?"

Looking down at the floor, Ben muttered, "Yes, sir." He squirmed a little in his chair.

"This is an opportunity to start earning that, Mr. Kennan," Frank said quietly. "Your choice – you talk to Gordy and make sure the job is done correctly, or tell me you want me to do it. He leaves at two today and the bike has to be ready to hand back to the customer this afternoon. My bottom line is that Midway does not do half-assed work and I expect the same attitude from all of my people, whether they're full-time or part-time."

Ben took a deep breath and let it out slowly to calm the fluttering in his belly. He might have seniority at Midway over Gordy, but the man was at least five years older and Ben's relationship with him had been that of a casual work acquaintance; he wasn't at all sure he was comfortable with this unexpected turn of events. Ben looked at Frank, hesitated a moment more, then finally nodded before answering firmly, "I'll take care of it, sir." He buried his instinctive first reaction and spread his hands. "But I don't know how I'm supposed to handle this sort of thing. I need some advice, sir."

"Fair enough." Frank smiled. "Actually, I'm glad you asked first instead of charging off to try to tackle Gordy on your own. Maybe there is hope for you."

"Yes, sir. I'm just kind of a slow learner sometimes," Ben replied with a wry grin.

"That's a lot better than not being willing to learn at all," Frank said. He then spent the next thirty minutes gently leading Ben through a discussion on leadership versus management, how to keep a situation professional instead of personal, taking responsibility for your decisions and making a correction about something a person did without attacking the person.

"Damn, I've never even thought about any of that sort of thing," Ben said.

"We've barely scratched the surface of what it takes to be in charge," Frank replied. "Like I told you at your eval, you do need to consider where you want to go with your career. Going back to college is good, but I don't think you're the kind of person who's going to be satisfied with just having a job working for somebody else your whole life, and if you're going to advance you'll need technical, people and management skills. I don't intend to throw you in the fire during our summer season," Frank snorted, "hell, somebody like Jake would eat you alive. He's got over thirty years experience and his crusty Navy vet side does come out sometimes. But a one-on-one without other people watching is a good place to start."

"Yes, sir." Ben nodded thoughtfully as he tried to digest this latest bit of education. "I appreciate the opportunity. And your help." He looked up at the clock. "It's almost one, so I'd better get on with it." He stood up and retrieved the tablet from Frank's desk.

Ben didn't see the part-time mechanic on the shop floor, so he headed for the employee lounge. He found Gordy sitting on the couch reading a sports magazine.

"Hey, Gordy, when I was doing the final check on that red Super Glide, I saw a couple of things I think we need to take a look at." Ben waved the electronic tablet. "Just want to make sure everything is A-OK before I sign off, you know."

"Sure, no problem." The lanky blond stood and stretched, his usual affable smile in place. He tossed the magazine aside. "Gotta keep the boss happy with his silly paperwork, right?"

Gordy's words caused an uneasy twinge in Ben's gut, but he had to admit he had only recently had his own opinion changed. He just nodded and led the way back to the shop floor. It took only a few minutes to correct the mistakes Ben had found on the motorcycle repair, but Gordy's nonchalant dismissal of the problems made the twinge inside Ben twist a little harder.



All in all, the next several days were not among the happier ones of Ben's life. Business was pretty slow, so much of Ben's time ended up being dedicated to mundane tasks like inventories with occasional jobs to QA or forays into the front of the shop to help out. In between, Ben began working his way through the welding specifications books. It was boring work which was punctuated by guilt from having to turn down a request from the forest volunteer service for help with finding a pair of lost skiers because he had no way to get to the assembly point for the search teams. On top of all that, Qui was not home until late most nights because he was either working or helping the WCC.

A few days after Ben's talk with Gordy, a repair request came in for a brake overhaul – Frank took that one himself. When it was finished, he handed off the job for Ben to check with a nonchalant, "Here ya go." Ben was acutely aware of whose work he was checking and that it had apparently been a tricky job based on Frank's log notes. He took special pains to go through every detail of the QA list for that type of repair, but despite the appearance of everything being correct, he still had a nagging feeling that he had overlooked something. The customer wasn't coming back for a few days to pick up his motorcycle, but Ben wanted to finish the job even though it was almost his quitting time.

"Any problems I need to fix on the brakes for that Fat Boy?"

Ben looked up from the tablet in his hand. Frank was standing a few feet away, still wearing his blue Midway coveralls, one eyebrow cocked. "It seems to be okay, sir, but..." Ben's voice trailed off.

"But what?" Frank's tone was routine, almost bored.

"Something doesn't seem right. I think I must have missed something, so I'd better start over, sir," Ben replied. "Sorry it's taking so long, but I'll finish before I go home."

"There's no rush, but if you really want to stay, why don't you talk me through what you're looking at?"

"I don't want to hold you up, sir." Ben looked up at the wall clock. "It's almost time to start clearing up to close. I'll take care of it."

"No problem, Ben, I didn't have any plans for tonight." Frank shrugged and moved closer. "Let's knock it out while it's still fresh in your mind."

"Yes, sir."

Another half hour found Ben no closer to feeling comfortable with putting his name on the checklist.

"Looks like everything is fine," Ben said. "Every connection, every cable, every old part accounted for, the brakes work like they're supposed to, not even any loose screws." He stared at the electronic tablet, his face screwed up in frustration. He couldn't explain the feeling of incompleteness that still nagged at him and was beginning to wonder if there was something wrong with him or if he was just being antsy because it was a job his boss had worked.

"But you still think something's not quite right, don't you?" Frank asked.

Ben fidgeted with the stylus as he considered his reply. Finally he sighed and nodded yes.

"Tell me what the last item on the checklist is."

"That's the generic 'once-over', sir." Ben didn't have to read the words – he'd seen those so many times by now he could probably recite them in his sleep. "The stuff like general fit and fitness, completion of work, cleanliness, operability of the bike and such."

"Hmmm, right." Frank slowly looked at the motorcycle from end to the other, then replied very casually. "So is this bike fully operable?"

"Yes, sir. I checked it three times; even wheeled the damned thing out to the warehouse to get some more room to let it run to make sure the brakes worked for a soft and hard stop." Ben stopped his next words as he noticed the half smile on Frank's face, a sudden suspicion hitting him that all was not as it seemed.

"I'll ask you again: is this bike fully operable?" Frank's smile got a little wider.

Ben stared at Frank, certain now that there really must be something he had overlooked. He remembered his new resolution to learn and not react so he simply nodded and said, "I'm not sure, sir. May I ask what I missed?"

"Of course." Frank leaned over the front of the bike and flipped the turn signals twice in both directions.

"The directionals don't work." Ben stared at the clearly unlit blinkers. "The customer said everything else was fine and he clearly wanted only the brakes fixed. Why the hell don't the damned directionals work now?"

"Because I screwed them up when I was fixing the brakes," Frank said cheerfully. "Take another look and tell me if you can figure out what happened."

Now that he knew what the problem was, Ben checked out all of the lights. He quickly found that the wiring for the turn signals was loose; it was the sort of thing that might have been either deliberate or careless. He quickly fixed the problem and checked all of the lights to ensure he hadn't missed anything else.

"I should have caught that," Ben said, disgusted with himself for such a simple mistake.

"You probably looked at it several times, but didn't 'see' it," Frank replied. "One of the things you have to be careful of when you're doing QA on somebody else's job is that you didn't observe them doing the work, so you don't know what else they might have touched that wasn't directly part of the specific task. I was supposed to fix the brakes, so you closely checked everything related to that and just a general once-over for everything else. What you didn't realize was that I also found a problem with the brake lights, and while I was working on that, I played with the wiring harness to see if that was part of the trouble. When I was done I didn't put everything back properly. I also didn't log the extra work very well – there's just a tiny little comment about the lights."

"Damn, I didn't catch that either," Ben muttered.

"Just another part of your continuing education, Mr. Kennan." Frank patted Ben's shoulder. "You need to keep an eye out for both the mechanic's log entries and for any part of the bike they might have been fussing with while doing the assigned work. I find that you remember the things you screw up more than the things you get right." He glanced at the tablet. "I promise I didn't leave in any other gremlins, so are we ready to sign off and call it a night?"

"Yes, sir," said Ben. He shook his head as he affixed his name on the QA portion of the job. "You're right, I'll definitely remember this."



Over the course of the week, Ben also began taking a deeper interest in his fellow mechanic, Gordy Taylor. Ben hadn't paid much attention to him and knew little about the man beyond the fact that he was working part-time twenty hours a week and had often talked about his family, a wife and two young children. The short work-week made Ben initially sympathetic; he remembered what that was like when he had first joined Midway and was trying to make ends meet. After he had to start doing QA on Gordy's work, however, Ben became troubled about his attitude and work ethic and started digging deeper.

The first thing Ben did was take some time to think about what he had in fact seen or heard about the new mechanic. Gordy had been hired in a probationary status as a temp over three weeks earlier and most of his hours were on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, which overlapped the majority of Ben's own hours. Ben remembered that his first impression had been favorable: Gordy seemed like a nice guy, had a picture of his family in his locker and had done his first couple of test jobs properly. He didn't know what Gordy had put on his application form about his background and Ben hadn't pressed the issue when Gordy waved off his questions with a friendly grin and vague answers. Ben realized that in reality he knew practically nothing about the man named Gordy Taylor.

Feeling increasingly uncomfortable, Ben started making a list of the things that bothered him about Midway's new hire. The clearest issue was with Gordy's work. When he actually wrote it out, Ben realized that Gordy had several times taken longer to do what should have been simple jobs, had laughed off Ben's concerns about the quality of the repairs, and had even asked Ben to finish a job so he could leave on time. Ben remembered some occasions when Gordy had taken long lunches, usually claiming he needed to do something for one of his children. And after he started updating all the inventories, Ben came to the very unpleasant realization that little things like parts and tools were turning up missing, especially from the toolboxes in storage. Ben kept his thoughts and observations to himself; he had no proof and wasn't sure what to do, so decided to keep a discreet but much closer eye out.

Things took a more serious turn the next Saturday. Ben had cleaned up the shop for closing and was in the employee locker room changing out of his coveralls. When he opened his locker, he realized that some cash he had left in there had been disturbed. He counted what was there – two singles and a five dollar bill were missing. It was a heavy-duty lock and Ben knew it had been fully secured; he always made sure of that, even though there had never been a problem with thefts. Again there was no proof of who might have taken the money since many people had access to the room, but it was an ugly coincidence.

Ben continued to mull over the situation after he got home, going over the list he had created, adding the locker theft as another potential incident, but by the time Qui finally got home at ten he was no closer to a resolution. He greeted his mate with a kiss, but his heart wasn't really in it. Qui tried to run his hands under Ben's t-shirt and hugged Ben a little closer, but backed off when Ben's response was less than enthusiastic. Eventually they both mumbled something about being tired after a long week and ended up in bed with just a short cuddle and kiss.

Long after Qui had fallen asleep, Ben lay awake. His thoughts circled in an ever-deeper rut as he restlessly shifted about until a hand on his arm stilled his body.

"Ben, are you alright?" Qui asked. "You seemed awfully distant tonight."

"I'm fine," Ben muttered. "Sorry if I woke you; I'll try to be quieter."

"Look, I know I haven't been around much for several days," persisted Qui. "If that's bothering you, we're both off tomorrow and I'll stay home with you or do whatever else you'd like."

"No, you told me you'd be out and I'm okay with that." Ben sighed. "Just a little something at work going on."

"Would you like to talk about it?"

Ben slid over into the offered comfort and snuggled into his lover's side as he felt Qui's arm gather him in. There was a long silence before he finally spoke.

"You remember I told you a while back we got a new part-time guy at Midway?"

"Right... Gordy Taylor was his name, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. He seemed like a nice guy and a decent mechanic, didn't really say much about himself except for talking about his wife and two young kids."

"Have you had a problem with him?" Qui asked.

"The trouble is I don't know if he's a problem or not." Ben's voice was rough with frustration.

"Anything in particular been bothering you?"

"It's mostly lots of little things that seem to add up to a damned sketchy picture," Ben replied. "But I don't have any real proof about some of it."

"What sorts of things?"

"Like I said, I thought he was a nice guy when he first got there, and he does always seem pleasant and easy to get along with. I didn't really think about it until Frank had me doing the QA on all the jobs. That's when I started noticing that Gordy's work wasn't all that good, he was taking short cuts, leaving little stuff undone, that kind of thing. When I called him on it, he seemed to think it was no big deal. He even laughed about it a couple of times." Ben paused to collect his thoughts. "His attitude made me start keeping a closer eye on him and trying to figure him out. I realized he was sloping off for long lunches and sitting around the employee lounge reading magazines when he could have been helping out. The worst part, though, is that stuff has started to come up missing since he got here." Ben fell silent.

"What sort of things have gone south?" Qui gently prodded.

"Mostly little things like tools and parts. Today, though, I found some cash missing from my locker." Ben scowled a little. "And you can tease all you want, but I always know exactly how much money I have and I always make sure that it's locked up. There was precisely seven dollars missing out of forty-two and the lock was still locked."

"Sounds like it's starting to get serious. What are you thinking about doing?"

"I feel like I should talk to Frank about the situation, but dammit I don't have any proof he took anything and I don't know that the rest of it is any of my business." Ben shifted over to hug his lover, letting his head rest on Qui's chest. "If Gordy really has been doing all that shit, that's a firing offense. And I just feel sick thinking about his two little kids, especially with Christmas just a few weeks away, and what might happen to them."

"That's surely a tough decision." Qui gently rubbed Ben's back.

There was a long silence as Qui continued his caresses.

"I need to make up my mind about what to do pretty soon," Ben mumbled.

"Aye," Qui agreed. He continued softly, "I know you feel bad about this guy's family, but what about your Midway family?"

"What do you mean?"

"You have a responsibility to the people where you work, Ben. Things like thievery and pilfering make everybody suspicious and poison the workplace, to say nothing of the losses to the owners. And what makes you think your boss hasn't been noticing some of the same things, especially the poor work you said Taylor has been doing? I don't want to be making your mind up for you, but from what I've heard you say before it seems like Midway tries to take care of their people. Do you think you should be taking care of them in return?"

There was another long silence until Ben finally spoke. "You're right. I've been holding back because I didn't want to be the bad guy or the snitch." He sighed. "I'll talk to Frank on Monday about my suspicions and ask him what to do. Maybe there's a way they could help out with something for his kids even if Gordy has to be let go."

"That's my boy. In this case, I think you'll feel better giving your boss a chance to work things out." Qui hugged Ben. "How about tomorrow we do a Tai Chi session in the morning, go for a nice cross-country ski run in the afternoon, and then in the evening we indulge in some 'us' time?"

"Sounds good," Ben mumbled, already feeling better as he drifted off to sleep.



Monday morning Ben was at work when Midway opened. Although he had seen Frank Mendoza when he came in and knew Gordy was not due in for another hour, he spent a good ten minutes nursing a cup of coffee in the employee lounge after he had changed into his blue Midway coverall while he screwed up his courage and tried to calm the butterflies in his stomach. Finally, he tossed his paper cup in the trash and ventured out.

"Can I talk to you, sir?" Ben asked.

Frank looked up from his desk. "Sure, come on in."

Ben carefully closed the door behind him before sitting in the straight-backed visitor chair.

"Ummm... I need some advice about something if you don't mind." Ben noticed that his right knee was bouncing a little and put his hand on it to keep it still.

"Okay. What's on your mind?" Frank finished the last of the coffee in his mug, then set it on the desk.

Ben took a deep breath. "Sir, I don't know if it's my place to be bringing this up, but there's been a problem with things coming up missing and with some of the work going on."

Frank raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "What sort of things are missing?"

"Tools, parts and some cash." Ben swallowed, then plunged on. "We didn't have a problem until Gordy got here. I don't have any real proof about that part, but I do know that his work that I QA'ed wasn't very good and he didn't seem to care. And he's been skipping out for long lunches."

Frank nodded slowly. "Pretty serious allegations, Ben."

"Yes, sir, I know." Ben sighed. "I've been thinking about it for a while, but I decided it was something I needed to talk to you about. I'm just not sure what else to do, sir."

"I know that what you just did was not easy and I do appreciate your coming forward. Unfortunately, most of what you told me is not a surprise."

"It isn't?"

"No. We've had complaints of thefts from Karen's team also and I've been keeping notes on Gordy's work quality and attendance. You're not the only one who's been noticing things, and it's becoming a problem for our people." Frank looked directly at Ben. "If you are willing to write up what you told me, with what I've already got I'll have more than enough to take to Dennis and Margaret. Since he's still on probation, that means Margaret will want him fired immediately, for the work problems if nothing else."

Ben sat looking at the floor, an acid lump in his stomach as he chewed on the inside of his cheek. "Yes, sir." He swallowed hard as he looked up. "I'll put together what I found missing on the inventories and all the other stuff. It's just... well, I feel really bad about Gordy's family, especially with the holidays coming up. Isn't there anything we can do for them?"

"I understand how you feel, Ben, which makes me even prouder that you came to speak to me before things got any worse." Frank smiled sympathetically. "If it helps you feel any better, I'm going to recommend we give Gordy a severance check, and I've already asked my church to put them on their Christmas basket list. I'll also be talking to him about counseling and training programs the county has." Frank reached into a drawer and pulled out a folder. "I think you should also know that Gordy lied on his application, which is reason enough by itself for Margaret to put him out the door. Took me a while, but I was able to track down some background info on our Mr. Taylor." He tapped the folder. "He's been fired from three other jobs and served two months in a county jail for theft."

"Jesus, that's pretty bad," Ben said. "He seems like such a nice guy."

"Yes, he does. It's a sad case, but we can't let him stay here. As soon as I get your report, I'm going up to finalize things with Margaret. Don't worry about it, Ben, you did the right thing." Frank leaned forward. "And I don't want you talking to Gordy or getting involved in whatever happens. It's my problem to take care of. I'll talk to him and do what needs to be done."

"Yes, sir, I understand."

Frank stood up and came around his desk as Ben stood up also.

"Ben, I know this sort of thing isn't easy to deal with. I meant it when I said I really do appreciate your support." Frank shook Ben's hand. "Thanks."

"Yes, sir." Ben nodded.

Ben gathered the notes he had been keeping in his locker. He checked out front and there were no customers, so he borrowed a tablet of paper from the head salesman, Tony, and accepted his offer of a desk to use. He carefully wrote out everything he had put together: inventory results, times and dates of Gordy's absences, the specific job issues he had found during his QA checks and the missing cash. Ben read it over twice before dropping it off with Frank.

The next few hours everything seemed normal. Gordy was his usual carefree self. When Ben offered to handle the few ongoing jobs in the shop, Gordy grinned and said thanks before disappearing into the employee lounge. Just before lunch Frank came out and asked Gordy to come to his office, then closed the door.

Whatever Frank said must have been short and to the point. Within twenty minutes both men came out and headed back up to the admin offices, Gordy looking grim. Ben was eating his sandwich when they returned and came into the employee lounge and he couldn't help staring.

"What are you looking at?" Gordy snarled.

Frank spoke before Ben could say anything. "Ben, would you mind giving us a few minutes so Mr. Taylor can clean out his locker?"

"Yes, sir, of course." Ben grabbed his food and hurried out. He went up to the customer lounge on the second floor since it was empty. Ben had an excellent view through the huge glass windows when Frank escorted Gordy across the shop floor and out the door.

The rest of the afternoon was quiet except for the arrival of a locksmith. Ben finished the repair jobs and retreated to the employee lounge to try to study the welding specification books, but found it difficult to concentrate. His certainty that he had done the right thing didn't stop his remorse over the end results.

"Ben?"

"Yes, sir?" Ben looked up from his book to see Frank next to him.

"You okay?" Frank sat down at the table.

"I guess so. I've never been involved with anybody getting fired before," Ben replied with a shake of his head.

"That's one of the hardest parts of the business," Frank said. "We've been pretty lucky here at Midway for the most part, but now and then you get somebody who doesn't work out. When that happens, you do what's needed for the good of your other people and the business. It's a lot worse when you don't have any idea who's stealing things; people get suspicious of each other and it makes for a bad atmosphere."

"Yes, sir, I see where that might happen. I suppose it's best to get it resolved quickly." Ben closed his book. "I still feel bad about Gordy's family, though. The kids didn't do anything wrong and it just seems sad that they might suffer."

"I know, that's usually the worst part when there's family involved. We gave him enough to see him through the holidays and the county social services will also give them a hand. We've got to protect ourselves, though. I reminded Gordy that we have surveillance cameras and a good relationship with the local police. If you run into him, just say hi and don't let him try to take it out on you." Frank handed Ben two keys. "Just to be on the safe side, we had all the outer locks changed. Silver one is the shop back door and blue is my office door."

"Thank you, sir, I understand." Ben looked down; it took a moment to register that he had been given two keys instead of the old one he had had. "Shop AND your office, sir? But all the other downstairs keys are in your office, including the master keys for the high-value storage areas and the warehouse."

"Yeah, call it a vote of confidence." Frank laughed. "That's not actually what Margaret called it – it was more like 'better give Kennan both keys so we have another person we can have come in early or stay late without having to wait on anybody else'."

Ben smiled. "That's still quite a compliment, coming from her."

"It is." Frank smiled back, but then turned serious. "Ben, I'm going to have to ask you to put in some extra hours for a while so we can keep coverage. I got hold of Matty and she agreed to come in during her school break to help out, but we're probably not going to look to hire again for at least a couple of months. Is that going to be a problem?"

"No, sir, I don't think so." Ben had a momentary wrench, but forced himself to go on. "I was hoping to have a couple of days off for Christmas and New Year's, but I can get by without that if we have to."

"We'll be closed for the two holidays and I'll see what I can do about getting you some other time off in there also – Matty can probably help out with that. And there'll be overtime pay, too." Frank grinned. "When she agreed to come in, Matty said to say 'hi to Mr. Scrooge' and that you must have infected her with the money bug to want to come work when she could be out skiing."

Ben laughed and shook his head. "I hope I haven't gotten that bad, sir. It'll be nice to see her again, though."

"You bet." Frank stood up and slapped Ben's shoulder lightly. "We'll be keeping busy after Christmas, Ben. We've got a couple more big rebuilds coming in next month, three safety classes and I haven't forgotten about getting your bike fixed. And you need to keep hitting those books, too."

"Yes, sir. Busy is good. Thanks." Ben smiled as Frank left. Although it had started on a nerve-wracking note, things had gone better than he had hoped and Ben was finally starting to feel at peace with his decision to confide in Frank about his concerns.



Ben wanted very much to talk to Qui about what had happened, but his ranger did not make it home that night until the other three had almost finished dinner. Jane got the plate she had put aside for him and Qui ate while Ben and Rafa cleaned up. Then Ben hung around making small talk until Qui was done and helped him wash his dishes.

Downstairs the men locked their door, took off their boots and socks, then adjourned to the couch for a long kiss.

"This is so good to come home to. I don't think I'll ever stop loving it," murmured Qui.

"Mmmhhmmm." Ben leaned back, settling next to Qui.

"So, how did it go this morning?" Qui asked.

"Didn't start out so good, to be honest. I almost funked it before I got my nerve back and went in to talk with Frank."

"But you did do it. That wasn't easy and 'tis proud of you I am." Qui turned and kissed Ben's forehead.

"Thanks." Ben snuggled in closer. "After that it went pretty well. I told Frank my concerns about Gordy and he believed me." Ben was silent for a long moment. "Qui, I learned something else today."

"What's that?"

"You were right. When I talked to Frank, it turned out he already had a good idea of what had been going on. In fact, he probably knew more about it than I did and was getting ready to take action. And he'd already planned on some things that would help Gordy's family." Ben turned his head to look up at Qui. "I was so wrapped around the axle over my own feelings I didn't give my boss nearly enough credit for knowing his business. I feel pretty self-centered and stupid about that. I thought I was getting over that sort of thing, but it looks like I've still got a ways to go. I put another section in my journal for it while I was waiting for you to come home."

"Learning to look outside yourself does take time when it's not something you grew up with." Qui smiled and ruffled Ben's hair. "Sounds like you're damned lucky to be working for a man like that."

"Yeah. It's a pisser place to work and a wicked pisser boss I've got. I don't think I've learned to appreciate that nearly enough yet." Ben gave a little grimace. "As for the rest, it was pretty unpleasant having to discuss Gordy and the stuff he'd been doing, and talking about him getting fired. Frank said he was proud of me for coming forward, though, so in the end I was glad I did it. And I will say when the people at Midway start something, they finish." Ben shook his head. "Gordy was out of there by lunch and they had the locks changed a couple of hours after that."

"So it's all over, then?"

"Right. Gordy's gone, they gave him a severance check to help his family get through the holidays and Frank had signed them up with his church for a Christmas basket. The kids were the part I had been worried about, so at least there'll be something to help. I'm just damned glad all that is over with, though." Ben sighed, then brightened. "I almost forgot. When they changed the locks, I got keys to both the back door and Frank's office, which is good. And Frank said I'll probably need to work extra hours for a while, so I'll get overtime pay I wasn't expecting. He also said he'll try to make sure I can have some of the days off I asked for, so we should be able to be together for at least part of the holidays."

"A good day's work, then." Qui pulled Ben tight for a moment. "You've done well and this calls for a reward. The evening is still relatively young, so what would you be having me do for you, love?"

"I'm still feeling kind of wired, I think." Ben thought for a moment. "How about a bathroom break while you build a fire, and then you can teach me some more about how good foreplay is for a while? We can finish in bed... I want to be in you tonight."

"Your wish is my command." Qui waved a vague salute and headed for the fireplace.

Several minutes later both men had completed their evening ablutions, turned out the lights and gathered again by the crackling fire. Qui pulled down the rollaway bed left over from their Thanksgiving break and pulled back the covers. He noticed Ben's raised eyebrow and said, "'Tis a damned sight softer than the floor, boyo." Qui slipped a bottle of lube and a couple of small towels under one pillow. "I like being prepared," he leered, "in case you decide to get frisky out here instead of waiting."

Ben smirked. "If I do, I'm sure you'll be the first to know, my sexy boy scout."

Qui laughed, scooped up his lover and laid both of them on the bed. He stretched out facing Ben and reached up to gently run a thumb along Ben's cheek. A slow breath drifted from Ben as Qui leaned forward. Their lips brushed, almost a phantom touch, and the sensuous dance of seduction began.

The pace was unhurried as Qui explored his lover's body. Fingers and lips mapped face and neck, detouring to trace each ear and pull quivering delight from his lover with a delving tongue. Hands roamed at random over clothing, sweeping strokes alternating with deft lingering massages.

Ben felt his residual tensions from the difficult day dissolving under his lover's ministrations. For a long while he was content to close his eyes, lie quietly and absorb the myriad sensations: light kisses and random touches, mingled odors of clean skin and wood smoke, hiss and spit of the fire underlying almost inaudible murmured endearments.

The sudden touch of skin on skin as his t-shirt was removed drew an appreciative sigh from Ben. By now he was feeling mellow enough to start taking a more active role and let his own hands discover anew the delights of his ranger's flesh.

Both men caressed and kissed as the mood took them. Time passed unmarked as clothing gradually disappeared. Ben's ardor grew as the fire died; his cock gradually filled as Qui worked his magic. He moaned when Qui alternately nipped and suckled his hard nubs while a long thigh worked between Ben's legs. Soft snatches of poetry whispered into Ben's ears set Ben's blood simmering. They wrestled in slow motion, naked bodies shadowy in the dim light as first one, then the other, rolled over, hands clasping flanks.

Ben was fully erect when Qui suddenly pushed him flat and laid full length on top. Qui ground his own hard organ into Ben's while holding him down and kissing him deeply.

"Fuck!" Ben gasped when Qui finally released his head. He was breathing heavily, every rise of his chest rubbing their bodies together and fanning the flame of lust that was igniting in his belly. "Where's that damned lube?"

A log fell in the fireplace, the shower of sparks lighting the wicked grin on Qui's face. He leaned down to run his tongue into Ben's ear; the resulting shudder pulled a groan from his lover. "Now what would you be after wanting that for, boyo?" Qui grinned. His hand sneaked between them to squeeze Ben's cock.

"You bastard!" Ben pushed Qui over onto his back. "Your ass is mine."

Ben groped under the pillow until he found the plastic bottle. He went to his knees and moved between Qui's unresisting legs, taking a moment to position each long limb over his shoulders before flipping open the cap and pouring a dollop into his right hand. Ben quickly worked one finger, then two, into his receptive partner.

"Aaahhh, Jaysus," moaned Qui. "There! Right there!"

Ben obligingly spent several moments pleasuring his lover, working his fingers over the sweet spot despite Qui's squirming hips. Finally he pulled his fingers out and poured another generous measure along his erection before leaning forward.

"Coming in now." Ben positioned the head of his cock at the relaxed opening and pushed.

"Unnng," Qui grunted at the sudden intrusion.

"Alright?" Ben stopped and waited.

Qui sucked in a few breaths, relaxed, then nodded.

Ben gradually but steadily drove forward until he was fully inside his lover. In the flickering firelight, Ben watched the passion building on Qui's face, joining him in the nearly simultaneous groan of fulfillment when he sank down the final inch.

"Jesus," breathed Ben. "Fucking fantastic..."

"Aye, bloody fucking fantastic," replied Qui. He grinned and flexed his hips. "So you going to just be sitting there admiring the scenery, boyo?"

"You're damned pushy for being on the bottom," Ben muttered. He ignored Qui's smirk, pausing to shift the long legs to a more comfortable position. "Let's see how you like this action."

Ben took a firm grip on Qui's hips as he withdrew almost completely, then plunged back in. In and out, Ben gave himself over to the physical sensations of heated flesh and thundering blood, taking and giving in turn as Qui bucked beneath him meeting his thrusts. Ben dragged out their pleasure, alternating slow lazy pushes with fast, deep pounding. He shifted his angle until Qui groaned his need and grabbed the sheets. Sweat-slicked flesh slapped together and the air grew heavy with musk flavored by smoke from the fire.

Together the two lovers became one as passion pulled them into a single being. Ben had eyes only for Qui, burned only for Qui as lust spurred him on. Faster and faster he moved, their moans sharp and desperate. His hips jerked as he worked hard. One hand joined with Qui's paw to fist Qui's hard cock. Hard frantic thrusts, once, twice, thrice, and a yell of triumph as they soared to completion.

Ben sucked in deep breaths. He floated, eyes closed, luxuriating in the warmth of the body underneath him. "God... so fucking good," he muttered.

There was a pleasant silence broken only by the sputtering rattle of the dying fire.

Ben's reverie was broken by a grunt as he was very unromantically shoved over to his side. He leaned up on one elbow. "What?" he complained.

"Shit!" Qui was sitting up, rubbing his calf. "Bloody fucking cramp!" He rubbed harder as he stretched out his leg.

"Let me help you with that." Ben slid over and kneaded the tight muscle until it relaxed and Qui sighed in relief.

"Sorry about that. I think my leg got caught underneath you," Qui said. His rueful half-smile was barely visible in the dying light. "Other than that, it was wonderful."

Ben laughed as he grabbed one of the towels and wiped them off. "Glad you enjoyed it." He stretched out next to Qui and kissed him. "'Cause I sure did."

Qui reached down to pull up the covers, then gently urged Ben onto his side so he could spoon close behind him. "Happy to be of service." He draped an arm over Ben's side and slowly ran his hand up and down Ben's belly. He whispered into Ben's ear, "Love you."

"Love you, too," Ben murmured.

The red coals in the fireplace slowly dimmed as they drifted into pleasant dreams.

finis