Fandom:	Houston Knights
Series:	Other Authors
Rating:	NC-17
Pairing:	Joe/Levon, Joe/Other, Levon/Other
Archive:	Starwinder's
Title:	Cousins
Author:	Etch
Standard Disclaimer: Houston Knights belongs to Jay Bernstein and Michael Butler and Columbia Pictures. No copyright infringement is intended. This is fan fiction, written out of love for the shows. I am making no money off this. I have no money so please don't sue me. Any original characters who may appear in these stories are the property of the author.

COUSINS
By Etch

"You're impossible, LaFiamma!" Lundy grumbled hanging up the phone. "You argue like this in Chicago too?"

"No," Joey started a grin spreading over his face, "I argued more! Arguing makes life interesting. Not only am I argumentative! But I can be as pig-headed, as stubborn and as stupid as you can! Oh yeah ... and when I get really tense - I fuck the heck out of my partners so you better lay in a supply of condoms and gel. Less of course you like it raw!" With that LaFiamma locked his desk drawer, got up from his chair and stalked out of the squad room.

"Hey," the new cop from Mexico said," if you don't want him as a partner, I'll take him. He's beautiful, man."

Joey leaned back against the seat of his partner's GMC 4x4 trying to figure out why in the hell Chicago had sent him here. What was wrong with New York or Miami? Or Dallas even, at least they had good restaurants. Two weeks in Houston had been hotter than the summer he'd spent in Israel, and that's saying a lot!

"You okay?" Lundy asked quietly, "you ain't said two words since we left the station."

LaFiamma looked around suddenly aware they weren't headed for his apartment. "Thought you were takin' me home."

"That call when we was leavin' was from Chicken, said there'd been a stranger hangin' round the pool table for a couple hours. Thought we'd drive by and have a look." Levon answered slowing to turn into Chicken's Bar-B-Q.

"Everyone's strange around here, how can he tell?" Joey remarked unbuckling his seat belt as the vehicle came to a stop.

"Chicken!" Levon barked striding into the restaurant as if he owned it.

"Levon!" Chicken called back giving a nod toward the back corner that held the pool table.

Joe was indifferent with the whole situation until he looked to see who was back there. Then his slow plodding footsteps quickly turned to dance steps as he flittered between his partner and the black man.

"Jerry!" LaFiamma exclaimed excitedly extending an arm to the man, not resisting the hug that followed. "Hey man, what are you doing down here? Slumming?" Joe chuckled picking a pool cue off the rack.

"Since you're captive down here, thought I'd come down and see if I could win back some of my money," the man replied sporting an equal grin.

"Move away from him LaFiamma." Levon said coldly his jaw tight.

Joe turned and was flabbergasted to see his partner pointing a gun at his cousin. "Levon put the gun away. If he were going to kill me I'd be dead already ... and so would you be, an' Chicken. Besides my bounty is peanuts compared to his prices. He flies his own plane, drives a bulletproof car. He wouldn't pick up my ... unless you've fallen on hard times, COUSIN ... which I doubt." Joey finished, cocking his head to the left to see Levon and Chicken's reaction. He could always size up his cousin. Ever since they were small Joey knew what made Jerry tick. When the family referred to J.J., it wasn't anyone's initials. It was Joey and Jerry.

"What are you doing here, Jer?" Joe repeated, walking around the pool table.

LaFiamma saw the dismay on his partner's face and Joe knew that the closer he got to his cousin the more dangerous it could be if he was indeed after him.

"I miss having you be there when I wake up," Jerry LaFiamma remarked watching Lundy's crotch come alive every time Joey moved past him.

"Actually, COUSIN, I've raised my rates so I don't have to work as often. Even have done a couple of jobs for Uncle Sam. Now - we going to play pool or we going to jabber?"

"Rack 'em!" Joey barked with a laugh.

Levon turned on his heel and headed for the pay phone. He'd give this 'Gerry' to Estaban and see what he could find out. Even though he and Joe had only been together for two weeks, he got the distinct feeling that LaFiamma didn't trust this man.

As Levon left, Chicken walked over to the two Italians asking them if they'd like a drink. Joe got the feeling he was under protective custody.

"Yeah, whatever you have on draft," Jerry answered corralling the cue balls.

"Just water for me, Chicken," Joe replied glancing around for the chalk cube.

"Water? What no Chablis -- Chardonnay or Zinfandel? Joe you haven't been gone that long! You give up the good life already?"

"Can't afford it down here, Jer. Since you're so busy jawing, I'll just start...."

"Wait a minute! I wanted to start! Last time I never got to play!"

Joey burst out laughing. Chicken stood there and watched LaFiamma call the play then sink one ball after another. This was not the way Joe played with Levon. This Joe LaFiamma was a pool shark and a good one.

"That's not fair," the high-priced assassin exclaimed, "now you get to ...."

"Your turn, Jerry. Losers go first this round!"

"Don't you hate it when he does that?" Jerry said looking Chicken directly in the eyes. It hadn't been lost on Jerry either that once the cowboy had left this big guy stood in his place. "Someone make a play for you, Joe?"

"Yeah. The shooter had me cold. My partner - Mister Cowboy - killed him dead, saved my life." Joey watched Levon walk back to where Chicken stood and Chicken walked back to the grill to get Jerry's beer.

"Must be kind of tough having a nurse like this. He sure flaunts his body, doesn't he? Makes me want to get in his pants just watching him walk to the phones. Got a nice ass on him. Them jeans are so tight you can see the ridge of the head as he moves ... you had him yet?"

Jerry grinned silently to himself as Lundy self-consciously glanced down to his crotch.

"Only been here two weeks, Jer," Joey responded quietly, "besides I ...."

"Hell, man, look at him!" Jerry LaFiamma broke in pointing straight to Lundy's crotch, "he's hovering closer than a stud in heat. If it were Sammy you'd have him in the john by now spread eagle against the wall jamming your rod in as far as it'll go."

Lundy stared at his partner. Joe's jaw was tight, his body rigid with tension. Levon had a feeling this was not normal conversation. Yet why was this cousin egging Joe on? Was it to get him mad? Fighting mad, maybe ... fight to the death?

"Levon! Telephone!" Chicken's deep voice vibrated around the small area the pool table was in. As Lundy moved toward the large black man, Chicken whispered, "It's Estaban. Says it's important."

Levon listened intently as the Hispanic explained what he'd found out about Gerald Alexander LaFiamma. As far as Levon was concerned it wasn't good news. This cousin of LaFiamma's was a hired assassin, collecting 500 thousand or more per hit. The bounty on Joe was only $100,000 though Lundy figured some family members could have gone together to make the stakes bigger. Then the Texan gagged and fell against the phone as Estaban said that Joe's own family had hired the man to protect Joe. Figuring the police down here weren't doing a good enough job, they hired the best to protect him until they could make a deal with the other side. Then the other side doubled the fee. This guy, this cousin, this friend of his partner's was here for one purpose ... to kill Joseph Anthony LaFiamma.

"What's going on Jerry? Who sent you? Why are you here?" Joe questioned stepping back from the pool table to within a few feet of Chicken's huge belly.

"Protection, Joey! Uncle Mikey didn't like the fact that someone already tried to hit you. He went into the reserve fund ... ordered me down here to ...."

"Uncle Mikey doesn't have a reserve fund. Never did." Joey replied sharply, placing his cue stick across his cousins'. "How much is Papa V paying you to kill your own kin?"

"Joey you got to understand, its business. They doubled my fee! A million bucks to kill a cop. I thought it would be an easy hit. I didn't know who it was until I was airborne, opened the envelope with half my retainer and saw your picture. It was too late to back out I'd already taken the money."

Joey stared at his cousin, his lover for half his life. This man was here to kill him? It was something he couldn't fathom.

"Once I put the plane on auto pilot I called Uncle Mikey told him what they'd done. He gave me a suggestion ... a way out and I took it. I love you man. We've been together since we were two years old! You think for one minute I could hurt you let alone kill you? "

Their eyes met and Joey saw that same sex hungry, cocksucking man he'd always known behind the eyes in front of him.

"So who's the shooter?" Joe asked quietly.

"A government shooter Uncle Sam's been trying to get rid of ... I called him from the plane gave him an offer he couldn't refuse. He's also distantly related to Papa V ... Papa considers him the best. When I take him out, they'll know there's no touching you down here. It's the only way Joey. The family's doing all they can do in Chicago to keep you alive without starting an all out war, something neither the cops nor the LaFiamma's want."

Levon moved away from the telephone booth and back toward the pool table, the back of hair bristling at the cold laughter of his partner. As the blond came up behind Chicken, the Texan heard Joe say, "You like having the power over life and death. You always have. You wasted your first kid at age twelve and boasted about it for weeks. Got slapped on the wrists and was back on the streets to do it again. They should have thrown away the key the first time out.'

"I'm good at my job, Joe. No one's ever been able to trace a hit back to me. That's why Uncle Sam has used me for some international hits. I look like anyone. I blend into the crowd. It will be quick and painless. I'll be out of town before Papa V knows who the shooter is."

"Uncle Mikey already knows." Lundy responded a bitter edge in his voice.

"Easy, Levon, it's not what you think," Chicken said quickly grabbing Lundy by the arm.

Both LaFiamma's turned to look at the cowboy. Levon disregarded the cold look of Jerry and drank in the hot fiery blaze that he saw in Joe's eyes. Joey let his cue drop onto the table and walked to his partner. Just as he reached the blond, Joe turned to his cousin, "Good luck, Jer. you're going to need it. This town ain't like any other you've ever been in."

Jerry LaFiamma stepped around the pool table and started after his cousin.

The heavy set black man cut his way short. "If you're really here for protection you're going to need an inside track for information. That's me. Nothing goes on in this town that I don't know about. And you better let me in on what you didn't tell Joe or you won't even make it back to your car," Chicken growled.

"Word on the street, already says you're here to kill him. Every cop in the city will be looking for you shortly, including the ones in here. This is the biggest cop hangout in town."

Joey eased himself into the passenger's seat of Levon's truck. "Better take me to your place. I like a place that has two escape routes."

"How good is this guy?" Levon asked, starting the engine and putting it into gear.

"You mean Jerry ... or the guy he paid to take his place? Jer - can take the wings off a fly ... half a mile away," Joey answered remembering the remarkable skill his cousin had, and the awards he won in high school for precision shooting.

Lundy glanced into the rear view mirror startled at the look on Joe's face. "You ain't kidding, are you? He's that good?"

"He's that good! He won't even be close if the hit comes."

"What do you mean IF? He said he was going to hit you!" Lundy squawked whipping through traffic, skirting through a yellow light.

"You missed half the conversation cowboy. Jerry is not the shooter, someone else is. Someone he paid to do it after he found out who he was suppose to hit. But that's not it either. I know this man, we've been together since we were kids. No something's going on here. Something he's involved in and can't get out of and he came to me for help. Everyone else he knows that could help is in jail or dead. I'm his last hope. I just have to piece together the words he was saying ... see if I can pick up on anything."

"Are you kidding? All he talked about was fucking you and you fucking someone else!" Levon answered sarcastically, wishing he had been the one they were talking about instead of this man called Sammy.

"SAMMY! That's it!" Joey shouted practically jumping out of his seat. "The contract's not on me ... its on Jerry! He's used up his usefulness. If anyone takes him out, he wants it to be me. Damn, Lundy, what am I gonna do? I've known him since we were two years old!"

Just what kind of family was this mob family of LaFiamma's, that cousins asked cousins to kill each other?

"The thing he said ... about ... about you having a man ... is that part true?" Levon asked as he headed down the freeway exit to the road that would take them to his ranch. The heat of anticipation were making his balls sweat, he wanted so to hear the answer yes.

"Why?" Joe asked, a little startled by the question, "You interested -- if I say yes?"

Levon swallowed. Hell, yes he thought to himself. But could he say it? Could he ask his brand new transplanted partner to come to his bed?

Five miles later the answer croaked out of a parched throat. "Yeah, I'm interested."

"It depends on what you got, and what you're offering," Joey answered quickly, turning in his seat to study the Texan more closely.

"What I got? What do you mean?" Levon questioned, his knuckles gripping the steering wheel tighter.

"Open up your pants and let it out." Joey demanded a quirky smile covering his face.

"Open Up? I'm... I'm driving!" The blond gasped unprepared to be exposed on a main highway.

Joe leaned over and deftly, quickly undid the large Texas belt buckle, unzipped the jeans and reached in and pulled out a hard penis that jerked in his hand as he stroked it. "I don't like puny genitals, Lundy. But this looks good ... real good."

"God LaFiamma! I'm driving!" The Texan shrieked squirming in the driver's seat. Just the sensation of Joe's thumb stroking his cock was driving him off the wall, what was going to happen when ... oh, god it feels so good. So good.

"So drive. I'm not stopping you," Joey remarked, his fingers gently lifting the wet balls out of the jeans too. "Firm. You're hot ... and ready, aren't you? Want me to suck you off here, or wait till we get to your place?"

"Here?" Came a high-pitched squeal.

"Come now, don't tell me you've never had your cock sucked clean while driving through city traffic? What kind of sheltered life you lead down here Lundy?" Joey said ducking under his shoulder seat belt and moving down toward the offering in his partner's lap.

"WAIT!" The Texan screamed. "We're almost there. God you'll put us in the ditch."

"I won't put us in the ditch. You're driving. Just keep your eyes on the road and drive normal." With that Joey's head ducked down, his mouth opened and he gently used his teeth to pull his new partner's cock into his mouth.

Levon was embarrassed at how fast he came. His cock exploded within seconds after Joe's tongue curled around the head of his penis. Soft moans of pleasure gasped from his throat as he drove the Jimmy into his driveway, almost driving the thing up onto the front porch when Joey gently bit the tip of the head.

Lifting his head, LaFiamma looked into the blond's face and said, "Now into the house with you. It's time to get serious."

"S...serious?"

Jerry leaned against the wall next to Chicken's pay phone waiting for a long-winded man to finish his call. Chicken came by a couple of times to tell him there was a phone by the grill he could use, but Jerry shook his head no.

This last time, Chicken tapped the talker on the shoulder and said he was making his customers leave and the man looked up, saying, "Sure, sure I speak English. Sure." Then went back to explaining in Spanish about an upcoming wedding. Jerry was just about to leave when the man hung up the phone and went into the bathroom. Turning his back to the Men's Room, he quickly dialed the Chicago number and said 'Mikey.' From inside the half open door Estaban heard Jerry explain to 'Mikey' that Joe was safe and appeared to be well protected by the cops that were here. Estaban was surprised when he called Joe's Uncle Mikey 'sir.'

"Sir, Joey and I have been together since we were two years old. We look enough alike that we could be brothers. You take care of things on your end. They come looking for him, they'll find me first, and believe me ... they won't get any farther. I owe my life to Joe. To draw killers off his tail is the least I can do."

Estaban quickly moved back to the sinks, and that is where he stood his hands wet with soap when Jerry kicked open the door. The two men stared at each other. Jerry knew cops, and this man was one. "Tell Joey Uncle Mikey has sent the best to watch his back. Joey will know what you mean. The shooter that's coming is good, but not as good as me, so tell your cop friends to back off. If I get dusted ... they'll be no ends to the bounty's that come looking for him."

"Joe .. I..."

"Shhh..." Joey whispered, his hands unbuttoning the western shirt his partner had on. Hands gently pushed the shirt off tanned shoulders letting it drop to the floor. Joe's thumbs tweaked the nipples in front of him, his tongue moved slowly up Levon's neck to his chin. Slowly, agonizingly slow the tongue slipped across the open mouth barely touching the inside of the lips. Levon bucked hard against his partner's hip.

"Easy, Levon, easy. Let it come slow. Let it build up," Joey murmured stripping his partner of clothes as he also undressed himself.

Levon didn't know how long they lay on the floor. All he knew is that he'd just experienced the most incredible, most exhausting, most fulfilling sexual climax of his life. No man, or woman for that matter, had ever asked him what he wanted to experience. Joe had touched him, licked him, and caressed him from his head to his toes, each time asking what he wanted. He could still feel his partner's cock deep inside his buttocks. The feeling was exhilarating. He lay on the hardwood floor of his bedroom not wanting to move. Not wanting to ever lose contact with this stranger who had been thrown into his life.

"You doing okay?" Joey finally asked after a long silence. "Want me to stop? To disconnect?"

"Don't want you ... to ever stop. Don't want you to disconnect. Just lay here for the rest of my life ... feeling you in me." Levon rasped breathlessly.

"Want more?"

More? Sure he wanted more! Who was this guy? Why was he sent here? How could he even still be hard? "You think he'll come?"

"Jerry, you mean? If he were coming, he'd be here by now. That's why we're doing it here on the floor away from the door. No, something more than we know is going down. Something I'm gonna check on when we're done here."

Before Levon could respond, Joey grabbed his partner around the waist and pulled him to his knees. "Lean forward. Stretch your arms out along the edge of the bed like wings, and put your chin into the mattress."

Levon did as he was told. The two moved as one, one graceful movement from floor to the bed. As Lundy positioned his knees he felt a jerk and a surge of power roar through his ass. LaFiamma's cock was growing, surging, seeking.

Joey smiled as he moved. At last he'd found a lover who verbally expressed pleasure and fear, a man hungry for loving, a lover willing to try anything. Now would be the test. Now would be how Joe controlled his lovers. LaFiamma didn't know how far he could go, but he hoped all the way. If he did, he knew Lundy would be his wherever he wanted him ... the backseat of a car, the stall in a Men's Room, or even the hall closet on Reisner's main floor.

LaFiamma leaned against the Texan's back, their sweat mingling together, dripping between them. "Now Lundy-you're going to feel the full brunt of my cock ... hard, and fast, pounding full into you. I always top off a good sex experience doing this. It releases ... empties what's still inside. If you enjoy this, I'll be your lover for whatever time I have left in Houston before I return home. You ready?"

"Uh, huh," Lundy answered still dazed from the intensity of the love they just had.

Joe's fingers trailed down the tops of Lundy's arms until he reached the fingers, then his fingers intertwined his lovers. His mouth opened and he nipped at his lover's left shoulder until he tasted blood, then he pulled his cock back.

"No, Joey please, don't take it out. Don't take it away. Please Joey!"

In answer to the pleas LaFiamma pushed in hard and deep, fully extending his cock into his lover's ass. Then again he began a slow withdrawal. Again Lundy begged against it, and was rewarded with it being pushed back in. Pleasure seeped through the Italian as he teased his new lover again and again. Soon the Texan's blond head lay on the mattress soft gurgles of pleasure seeping out of a hoarse throat as Joey pumped in and out. Just as the pleasure of the tease came to an end and his full cock began to explode deep in the cavern that held it, Joey heard a noise.

Looking up, Joey saw Jerry standing naked in the doorway. Just like old times, Joey thought. Find a lover and someone else comes along to enjoy him too.

Silently Jerry moved across the hardwood floor to where his cousin knelt. No words were spoken until Jer reached Joey.

"How you going to be covering my back if you're here?" Joe whispered.

"Already neutralized the guy ... with the help of some guy named Estaban."

"I really could use a good ass Joe. Been a while, and sure do miss having you in me."

Joey eased out and allowed his cousin in. Lundy was oblivious to the change.

"Indoctrinate him for me will you. Like you did Sammy. His ass at the touch of my hand."

LaFiamma sprang to his feet not moving from his partner's side as his cousin's cock moved deep into the hot cavity. Jerry turned his head and Joe moved in relishing the mouth that sucked him dry. When the cock fell limp from Jer's mouth, Joe walked into the bathroom. After relieving him and washing up a bit he returned to the bedroom and listened to Jerry's monotone voice drone in Lundy's ear.

"You're mine Lundy. Your ass is mine. Your cock is mine. If my hand slides up the crack in your jeans, you'll turn and suggest a place to go. You know places at Reisner Lundy, I know you do. Places for a quick fuck, or a suck that will send you to the stars. You want me bad Lundy ... to have me you have to satisfy me. You will crawl around your house on your hands and knees offering me your ass if you think I don't move fast enough. You will offer it at night until I take it. Plead with me to take it, Lundy, just as you have begged for it tonight. You will beg for it at the end of each loving done in your house. Only your house Lundy will you crawl around and offer me you ass. Your ass is mine now. Your cock is mine Lundy. You are mine Lundy. Your tits are mine. Your balls are mine. Your mouth, your throat, they all belong to me. If I touch your crotch, your cock will jerk hard, your balls will grow and swell and sweat. You're mine Lundy. You belong to this Italian now, this Italian name Joseph LaFiamma. You're mine."

Then Jerry drew back, pulling Levon with him while Joey pulled down the blankets of the bed. Carefully the cousins laid the Texan in his bed covering him with sheets and blankets. "There's a guest room down the hall," Joe whispered quietly as the two cousins embraced.

"Good. I told Uncle Mikey I'd take this job for free ... just because I wanted the opportunity to lay with you again. Damn Joey you are some lover. Nobody's matched you, nobody."

Joey looked at his cousin. "Sixty-nine, right, haven't had a good swallow since you left home. Gotta train this dude to swallow me all the way down to his navel."

Lundy didn't hear their laughter or their moans of pleasure as each cousin pulled the other's cock into his mouth and fingers plunged deep into asses.

They slept soundly occasionally waking only to draw a slipped cock back into a wet mouth.

Dawn came early, too early for cousins who had to say goodbye yet another time. "Now you know where I am don't forget to visit. And Jer ... Houston is a place to get lost in if you need to." Joey stated earnestly.

"I got to work this out, Joe. I've been on the dark side too long to be a straight-laced citizen. Like you said, I been doing this since I was twelve. Killing is all I know. Just like being a cop is all you know." Jerry LaFiamma reached out and touched Joe's cheek. Joey's hand came up and covered Jerry's hand.

No words were spoken, their love gushed forth from their eyes, their smiles until Jer pulled his cousin in for a deep, moist French kiss.

Joe stepped back and watched his cousin dress. They were so much alike and yet so different.

"You got a new lover ... strange, but new. Got a feeling he's been wanting your bod' since you got off the plane. Walk careful, Joe, Uncle Mikey can't fix everything for us anymore. I'll call you in a day or two, let you know where I am."

"Promise me you'll put my name in your wallet ... I'd at least like to bury you. The family won't bring you home, but I would ... bring you here."

Joe was almost to Levon's bedroom when he heard Lundy's horse Fooler let out a crying whinny. Joe raced for his pants and his guns, whipping his shoulder holster over his bare chest, grabbing his badge as he hopped into his trousers. His hand was opening the back screen door when Fooler whinnied again.

Levon sat bolt upright in bed, someone was after his horse and he aimed to find out who. It took him a second or two to remember where he was, and then he remembered Joe. "LaFiamma! If those bastards got you ... I'll kill them!"

Quickly the Texan looked around the room. Where the hell were his clothes? Racing to the bathroom he grabbed his terrycloth room off the back of the door, slipping it on as he ran to the back door.

Joe was barely out the back door when two rough hands plastered him against the house. "What the hell?"

"Federal marshals! You live here? Name ... give us a name!" A gruff voice demanded.

"Name's LaFiamma. Joe LaFiamma. I'm Lundy's new partner. This is his ranch. He ain't going to take to kindly to you rousting his horse." Joey growled back, shaking the man's hands off him.

"HEY ... WE GOT A LaFiamma HERE! AIN'T THAT WHO WE'RE AFTER?"

Just as Levon came out the back door a half-dozen marshals appeared in Joe's face.

"Joey? What's going on?"

The men in black looked at Joe in trousers, bare feet, no shirt, and at Levon standing in just a robe. From the sweat on Joe's chest it was obvious to all that they had interrupted a hot time. Someone nodded to someone else and a murmured, 'sorry to disturb you Lundy,' was heard.

Back in Levon's bedroom, the Texan was quiet. He had this urge to get down on all fours and wave his ass in the Northerner's face but felt this wasn't the time to do it. His whole body wanted this man that stood silently before him. "I'm yours, Joe," Lundy whispered quietly.

"What could Jer have done that the Feds would be after him in such force? He kills for them."

"Maybe he killed the wrong person? Or the wrong person got in the way? It doesn't take much to piss off the Feds, LaFiamma, believe me, I know," Lundy replied knowingly.

The ring of Levon's phone startled both men. They stared at it for a second or two then Joe jumped to answer it. "LaFiamma. Jerry! Wha ...?"

Joey gulped, color drained from his face. His new lover was immediately by his side arms encircling Joe's waist to keep him from falling.

"How big is the bomb?" Came a barely audible whisper.

The Texan leaned close and heard Jerry LaFiamma explain that he'd found a bomb attached to the workings of his plane as he did a pre-flight check. He'd already locked down the system. There was no way to disarm it or get out of the plane without it going off.

"There's an elementary school at the end of the runaway," came Lundy's whispered concern.

Jerry said he knew about it and was going to take the Lear Jet straight up. As far up as he could go before it blew apart. "It's better this way, cousin," came the soft seductive voice over the phone. "Much better than receiving a bullet ridden body in a body bag. I love you, Joe."

Seconds later the explosion in his ear knocked Joey to the floor. Joey's agonizing scream of pain shook Jerry and Chicken as they watched the remote controlled plane explode into a zillion pieces.

Levon grabbed for the phone and heard two, three more bursting sounds. He clicked it off, listened for the dial tone and called Reisner to say they wouldn't be in today. Telling Beaumont he'd call in later to explain.

Joe allowed himself to be gathered up and embraced by the stranger that was now in his life. He leaned into the blond as Levon's fingers scrolled down his back. His sobbing lessened after a spell and Joe lifted his tear-streaked face to look into the concerned face of his new partner.

"We've ... been lovers ... since we were twelve," Joey croaked, softly kissing the man that held him on the neck. "God I'm going to miss him so much."

"I am yours, Joe. You lost one and found another. I will be yours always. Always." Levon whispered, wiggling out of his bathrobe he moved around on his knees and offered his ass to lover.

Joey stared at the buttocks waving in front on him. The lover of his life just went up in smoke and a new one was ahead of him. Joey goosed his partner and watched him jump, then whispered to Levon what he wanted. As Lundy crawled around to the other side of the bed, LaFiamma stared at the obedience of this red-necked Southerner who earlier in the day had been so argumentative.

Joey looked around for the lube, found it and moved behind his partner. Dropping down on his knees, Joey heard his cousin's last words to Lundy and began to repeat them as his fingers spread the willing ass. Joe half hoped that Jerry would walk into the room again as he pumped and Levon pleaded, but in the end it was just the two of them. Only trouble was, in Joe's mind the two of them was always ... Joe and Jer.

The next morning, Lundy was stiff. His whole body ached in places he didn't even know he had. "LaFiamma! Joe!" Levon called as he groaned his way out of bed noticing a bruise or two on his hips where his lover's hands had held him as he pumped in. The cowboy couldn't even begin to count the number of times, during the last twelve hours that he'd offered his ass to his partner. And damn ... if LaFiamma hadn't taken him up on it each time. Didn't the man ever wear out?

"LaFiamma! You here?" Levon called again heading for the kitchen even though no aroma of coffee filled the air. "Damn where did he go? I drove."

After calling Joe's apartment and getting no answer, Levon headed for the shower before dressing, figuring he'd stop by LaFiamma's place on the way to work.

When Joe didn't answer the door, Lundy rousted the apartment manager, and searched Joe's place thoroughly to make sure nothing had befallen the man.

Damn, Chicago, where are you?

After expecting his new lover to be sitting at his desk when he arrived at Reisner, the fear in Levon's stomach tightened when Joe wasn't there. Nor had anyone seen him this morning. Nor had he called in to Lieutenant Beaumont to say he'd be late.

Around noon, a couple of Federal agents came looking for Joe and got a face full of a very angry Texan, who backed them out of the Squad Room and down the hall. Both expressing remorse for the demise of Jerry LaFiamma, both saying the Feds didn't have anything to do with the bombing.

"If you didn't have anything to do with it? How do you know it was a bomb?" Levon growled angrily.

"It's speculation, okay. More than likely, it was more than one bomb to disintegrate the plane like it did. The only thing that's been found so far is a couple of wheels. Look Levon, we're sorry about rousting you two last night, okay? We heard that he was out there. Joe, after all, is his cousin. We figured he'd come to LaFiamma for help."

"Well he didn't!" The Texan snapped angrily.

"Levon! I think we found Joe ... you better come look!" Joe-Bill McCandless howled from the Squad Room door.

As Levon turned back to Major Crimes, a matronly Italian woman, Teresa LaFiamma, stepped off the elevator unnoticed as the two departing agents stepped around her to enter the car she disembarked from.

Lundy moved swiftly into the room, pushing in front of five other officers huddled around a television set. Just as he reached the front of the group, the TV camera panned the area and stopped on Joe LaFiamma, standing still as a post, hands behind his back, at military parade rest.

They listened as the 'man on the scene,' said, "In the distance is a man who arrived here just after dawn. He is standing at the edge of one of the runaways oblivious to jets taxiing next to him. He seems to be at parade rest ... standing watch over someone who's been lost. The morning sun is beating down on the tarmac. It's got to be close to 100 degrees out there. He has got to be melting dressed like he is ... black jeans, shirts and boots. And wearing no hat, he ... just a minute ... "

The group watched as the reporter took a handful of papers and began to read through them. Then the camera began to narrow in on Joe as the reporter read from what was handed him.

"Oh, wa-ait A minute! Our mystery man is ... Detective Sergeant Joseph LaFiamma, a Chicago cop who has just recently been transferred to Houston's Major Crime Unit. Sergeant LaFiamma is a cousin to one or more of the person or persons who was on the plane that exploded on take-off early this morning. We have no information as to why LaFiamma was transferred from Chicago to Houston. Though he was awarded the Merit of Valor while serving with the Chicago Police Department."

"Oh, no, Joey! Not again! I can't go through that again!" Joey's Aunt Teresa gasped from the back of the group that parted to let her move up next to Lundy.

The excited reporter continued, "We have learned that the plane was owned by Gerald Alexander LaFiamma, a Federal agent, and a cousin of Sergeant LaFiamma's. Our sources say the two grew up together in what is known in Chicago, as Little Italy. They were inseparable as children, and as adults it seems ... as both joined the Marines, served together and were an unbeatable team for the Marine Special Operations Division."

"Special Ops? Joey said he was a translator!" Teresa gasped caught off-guard by information she felt she should have known. Information her favorite nephew had kept from her so she wouldn't worry.

"Off camera we have ... do we have him? Yes ... someone who doesn't care to have his face or voice recognized ... we have a Marine who served on one of the details with "the twins" as Joe and Jerry were known as. Sir, what can you tell us about these men?"

A garbled voice and a shadowy figure beyond the extended microphone mumbled, "They were inseparable, like Siamese twins. If you saw one you knew the other was close by. They had a communication between them that was ... was... they'd look at each other and smile or nod and then simultaneously start doing the same thing. Which is why we started calling them The Twins. We didn't need translators when The Twins were on a mission. It was unbelievable, between the two of them ... I think they knew every language in the world".

"How long do you think LaFiamma can stand out there?" the reporter asked eagerly.

"Joey ... three, four, days, maybe longer."

"Out there? Like that? Standing unmoving not even when a jet drives by?" The reporter asked in disbelief.

"I watched him stand like that for four days and nights ... without moving a muscle ... when three of us were captured in Brazil."

"CAPTURED? He never...." Teresa LaFiamma moaned, pain raking her heart. What else had happened to her sweet Joey in that Corps that took him away for three years?

"Yes, sir ... he stood in the hot sun, wearing what he's wearing right now, singing a little song in Italian. It blew our captors away. Said he was some kind of a god and let us go at the end of the fourth day. When they motioned him forward, they all ... we all expected him to fall ... to collapse. Instead he did a little jig, watched as the captors fell at his feet, jumped over them and motioned us out of there. Once in the jungle ... out of sight of our captors, he collapsed. We carried him to our base, an ... I think he was in the hospital for a couple of days because of dehydration. After that Jerry refused to go on a mission unless Joe was a part of it."

"Did you ever find out what the song was?" Asked the reporter.

"Jerry said it was some song Joe's mother used to sing to him when he was little."

"Come!" Teresa LaFiamma said abruptly. "Which of you is Levon Lundy? We must get to him. Before this goes any further. This time there will be no one to bring him out of it. Please I must get to him."

"I'm Lundy. What do you mean not bring him out of it." The knot in the Texan's stomach tightened at her words.

Quickly, telling as much as she could in the shortest time, the LaFiamma matriarch explained, "Joey was to marry his high school sweetheart when he got home from the Marine Corps. On the way home from the rehearsal dinner, the car she was in with two of her bridesmaids were hit by a drunk driver going the wrong way on the freeway. Smashed them into a cement abutment. They were all killed. Joey stood on the overpass near the crash for three days ... in the rain ... before Jerry and my husband bodily carried him to an ambulance. He had pneumonia. He was on the edge of death for days. Jerry was the only one who was able to talk him into living. Jerry's no longer here. Come ... tell my limo driver how to get there!"

"We'll do better than that, Mrs. LaFiamma," Lieutenant Joanne Beaumont replied. "Levon, go with Mrs. LaFiamma. Joe-Bill call Patrol ... tell them we need an escort to the airport, and don't waste any time. I don't aim to lose a detective that just got here!"

In a small office in the Third Ward, Jerry LaFiamma dressed in gray baggy pants, running shoes, a gray/tan sweatshirt sat on a hard back chair staring at a small television set. "Damn, Chicken. I didn't think he'd ... I thought he'd pick up on things I said while we were playing pool."

"Been a while, I guess, since the two of you played off one another," the big black man said, feeling Joe's pain as the camera zeroed in on a close-up.

"Yeah, it's been awhile. We haven't actually seen each other ... face to face ... in about five years. Chicken! You have to get me to him! There ... or at the hospital. I can't be responsible for his death, man. I owe him my life." Jerry lamented, swallowing hard as he stared at the face on the TV screen. A face that showed no emotion yet showed horrible pain.

"I have a couple of ambulance drivers who owe me favors. I might be able to get you there. Think he'll recognize you with blue hair?" Chicken remarked, looking at Joe's cousin who had come to him to disappear.

"Ha...it was Joey who thought of the blue hair," Jerry chuckled getting up from his chair. "One day, in the jungle we were talking about going underground yet being visible. Joey is the one who suggested a crew cut ... spiked blue at the top. Mine was the circle of crosses dangling from one ear. And to prove it, he found a wig in some costume store, borrowed some of his sister's earrings and walked through a high school party. Nobody looked at his face, just his hair and his earrings. Kids asked why he wasn't there. He said he was. They didn't believe him."

"Even if you can get to him, Chicken. Tell him blue hair is safe. But if he collapses, you have got to get me into the hospital ... or he'll never wake up. And from what I could tell the short time I saw them together ... that would kill your friend Levon Lundy."

"Jameson! Keep those cameras off Mrs. LaFiamma!" Sergeant Lundy barked as he and Joey's Aunt got out of a long black limousine. Thankful there were cops around to direct traffic and keep the 'rubber-neckers' at bay.

Suddenly out of nowhere an ambulance appeared. The medic in the passenger seat leaned out the window and said directly to Joe's Aunt who was standing near the front of the limo, "Ma'am, we can take you out there if you like?"

"Who are you guys? How'd you get in here? Wait, Aunt Teresa ..." Lundy shouted as Teresa lifted her dress slightly for the step up into the cab. Before he could stop her, she was gone. All the Texan could do was watch the vehicle flanked on either side by airport security cars speed out to where Joe LaFiamma stood roasting in the afternoon sun.

Per orders of Chicken, the ambulance stopped several feet away from Joe but it parked in such a manner that the vehicle blocked a full view of Joe. Levon gawked at the tv monitor in Channel 4's van as Chicken got out of the back of the vehicle and walked to open the door for Joe's aunt.

"Chicken! What the heck is Chicken doing out there?" The blond gasped, turning back to see who was around so he could get out there too.

"You must be Chicken," Teresa remarked upon seeing the man who opened her door and helped her out. "Joe's talked about you."

Something was up and Levon knew it. Just wait until he got Chicken alone! And what's more the damn ambulance had parked in such a way that the cameras could only see the top of Joe's head. Every time the cameramen tried for better angles they were pushed back by airport security.

"Look, I have to get out there," Levon moaned to a man next to him wearing a security badge. "I'm his partner!"

"You and a hundred others," the man laughed looking over his shoulder. "You came with the lady in the limo. You're staying here till she returns."

Then someone shouted that he had a view and asked for a camera. Lundy turned to see a cameraman perched on top of a mini-van.

All crowded around the monitor and watched as Joe's Aunt Teresa walked around the front of the van and approached Joe. Levon had to give his partner credit, the man didn't back down or move as Teresa stopped in front of him. He himself was damned intimidated just riding in the same car with the woman.

"Joseph, this has gone far enough. Come!" Teresa said sharply, trying to bring Joe out of the canonic state he was in.

Oh great, Joey thought. King Kong of the LaFiamma clan. I'll take King Babbaloo in the jungle over her any day.

"Joseph, I will not have you put your family or yourself through this again. You know where this will end?" Teresa said to her unresponsive nephew.

"It will end in me dying," Joey stated simply and quietly, "Which is what should have happened in the first place."

"Joey...." The whispered word was uttered in frank despair.

"Aunt Teresa, I love you. I appreciate all you and Uncle Mikey have done for me ... but Jerry and I ... we were closer than brothers ... without him ... without him, I'm nothing. Because of my damn job ... of me doing my job ... I probably won't ever be able to go back home ... to me ... dead is better." The words were said without emotion, from a face so full of pain, Teresa had no answers.

Those huddled around monitors, and TV sets around the city watched Joe and his Aunt without being able to hear the words. But mothers understood the pained expression on Teresa LaFiamma's face when her nephew shook his head and took one step back. That expression of one last plea that had failed.

"Your aunt is right, Joey. Listen to her," Chicken said stepping out from behind the ambulance doors.

"Chicken!" Joey gasped. This was the last man he expected to see. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"A guy with blue hair ...." The black man began.

"Blue hair ....? Blue hair!" Joey mumbled, his face distorting in anger, understanding at last why Chicken was there and not his partner. Jerry wanted to disappear and Joey had suggested Chicken.

"He should have told me," Joey rasped, stepping forward. "He owed me ...." Then Joe relaxed. The tension drained out of him, his legs began to fold ... Teresa screamed as Chicken and the medics rushed in to catch him before he hit the hot black top.

It was after midnight before Lundy was able to sneak into LaFiamma's hospital room. The still body of the Northerner, under the blanket with an IV sending vitals juices into his arm, didn't stir when Levon bent down and gently kissed his cheek. No response came either from Joe when the Texan touched Joe's face or said his name.

"LaFiamma you can't die on me. Not now! Not when I just found you. Please, Joe." Lundy moaned, pulling Joe's left hand to his face, brushing his tongue across the palm. When nothing happened, no flicker of the eyelids, no change in breathing, Levon let his lover's hand drop from his hand, and it fell to the bed with a thud.

Looking around the small room, Levon spotted a Lazy-Boy chair in one corner. Taking his hat off, he rubbed a hand through his hair before heading for the chair and some sleep. No one, but no one was moving him out of this room until Joe came out of it or .... Or nothing. He didn't even want to think about the or nothing.

Early in the morning as nurses were changing shifts, Chicken and what looked like a young rock singer swaggered through the hospital lobby to the elevators.

"You know what floor?" whispered the young man with spiked blue hair.

"I know what floor. I know what room. And something you better know ... Levon Lundy is sleeping in a chair in that room. He's not to be hurt ...or- our deal is off." Chicken growled when the elevator door closed behind them.

"Don't worry big man. Your man won't be touched. Joe's only been here a couple of weeks and your friend is already in love with him. Might be the one thing that saves Joe ... if I can get him to wake up. That is the key my friend. We learned to shut ourselves down. Lay low in the jungle and don't let the guy next to you hear you breath. That's what he's doing. He knows too ... if he does it for too long - he dies."

Chicken stared at Jerry's back as they quietly walked into Joe's room. He'd heard about someone willing themselves dead ... but Joey. Chicken glanced around the room, seeing the chair Levon was curled up in he headed that way while Jerry went to Joe's bedside.

It was the whispered "Joe," that woke Levon instantly. But before he could move, a black arm moved across his chest. "Easy, Levon. It's okay."

"Huh, wha? Chicken?" Then Levon saw him. In spite of the blue hair and dangling earrings, Lundy knew instantly that the man at his partner's bedside was Joe's cousin Jerry LaFiamma.

"Hey, love, you can't do this," Jerry whispered hoarsely, running a finger along Joe's chin down his neck to his bare chest, then up again. "Got someone here who loves you. Got two someone's here in fact. Come on bro... don't do this to me."

Levon was startled to see Joey's eyes flick open. No one spoke. Finally Joey mustered, "You should have told me. You owed me that."

"I gave you plenty of clues when we were playing pool, Joe. Guess the twins have been apart too long for you to pick up on what I was saying." Jerry replied, sad that his friend had endured so much pain because of him.

Chicken silently moved to the door as the two men talked, motioning Levon up to the bed as he left. Just outside the door, the black man met Aunt Teresa who had stopped by on her way to breakfast to see if there was any change in her nephew. Chicken told her Joe was slowly coming out of it and that Lundy was at his side. He maneuvered her back to the elevators.

"I figured out that you were on the run because someone had a contract on you and you came to me for help. But when you shooed me away, I figured you had made your own plans." Pushing himself up on an elbow, Joey lamented, "God Jerry.., do you have any idea what agony I was in when that plane exploded in my ear?"

"I do now. I really didn't think you'd react like you did. I'm sorry love, I really am. This new partner of yours has been at a vigil here too. I got a feeling he'd be glad to help you get back on your feet. You two seemed to be having a pretty hot time when I peeped in the other night," Jerry replied nodding to Lundy who now stood on the opposite side of the bed.

"This is the guy that held you while you cried over my death. This is the guy you're falling in love with, and he's a guy who already loves you. Don't disappoint him by dying. I don't think he can take another death of a loved one. You want that on your conscious?"

"Will I see you again?" Joey asked falling back against his pillow.

"Now and then ... when I'm hard up for a really good fuck ... I might knock on your door. Chicken will let you know." Jerry finished, moving to get Joe a light kiss before he left.

A light kiss wasn't what Joe LaFiamma wanted, and he pulled his cousin down to his chest, grabbed Jerry's hip forcing him half onto the bed and then proceeded to give one hell of a wet French kiss.

Levon's mouth opened and closed. He was speechless yet wanton, hungry for the same type kiss.

Then Joe released his cousin who slid off the bed onto the floor. "Damn Joey!" Jerry gasped trying hard to catch his breath. "You know how hard that makes me?"

"Yeah, I know. I hope it backs all the up to your throat." Joey remarked harshly as Jerry pulled himself up and walked to the door.

"You the one who kissed my hand earlier?" Joe asked Levon seconds after his cousin was out of the room.

"Yeah. You didn't mind, did you?" Lundy answered, worried that he had alienated his lover by doing it.

"No, didn't mind at all. Liked it in fact. You suppose ... when I blow this place I can recoup at yours?" Joey replied quietly, he was gaining strength fast just thinking about the loving coming between the two of them.

"Reckon I can arrange that. You gonna survive, then?" Levon answered, his voice lighter, his face aglow.

"Yeah, reckon I can arrange that ... if you kiss my hand a few more times," Joey responded with a wide grin, lifting his hand to the blond.

"No problem, partner, how many days do you think you'll need to recoup your strength?" Levon questioned watching Joe's eyes close, his mouth open and a rise in the sheet come more pronounced as his tongue made a circle in the palm of the Chicagoan's hand.

"Three ... maybe four days," Joe moaned, adding, "quick get a towel ... overthere on the chair ... damn I'm comin', coming fast."

"Forget the towel," Levon replied pulling the sheet back he ducked down just as Joe had done to him when he was driving. Voices in the hall told Levon he had to hurry, and he used his teeth, racking Joe's cock until it spilled its contents down the cowboy's throat.

Standing, wiping the edges of his mouth with some tissue at Joe's bedside, Levon said, "Friday through Monday sound good?"

"That's Thursday night through Monday ... going to work on Tuesday, right." Joey reiterated pulling the blankets back over him just seconds before a nurse entered the room.

Leaning back against his pillows Joe watched a very overweight nurse walk into the room and momentarily stop and look at the chart in her hand. Pushing himself up on one elbow as he'd done when his cousin was in the room, LaFiamma asked, "When does breakfast get served in this place. I sure want more than what's in this bottle."

Startled, the nurse backed away and stared at him. Looked at her chart, then looked at him, then went to the door, looked at the number then looked back at him.

Joey fell back onto the pillow with a chuckle, "Looks like I'll be at your place before Thursday."

"No problem, partner. Reckon I need the extra time. Been under a bit of stress lately myself." The two started laughing, a gesture that sent the nurse scurrying out the door.

"You think you'll see him again?" Levon asked his partner when they were alone again.

"You mean, Jerry? I doubt it. Maybe some dark night when we're being hot together ... he might appear and ask to be in on the action ... but on a regular basis ... no. 'Fraid its just you and me partner."

"I like just you and me," Lundy responded with a grin. "Why don't I talk with the nurses, see if we can't get you out of this place. I'm itching for a crawl, and I ain't about to do it here."

"Why don't you hunt them up while I take a nap and recharge? Riding your ass up and down that hall sounds pretty good to me right now. And... thanks Lundy."'

"Thanks? What for?"

"For taking in a quirky partner, that walks and talks funny."

"He may walk and talk funny, but he's the best damn fucker sucker I've ever met, and I'm not letting him go. No sir, LaFiamma you're stuck with me like a bee is to honey now get some rest so we can be on our way."

Joey stared at the closing door, thinking his cousin was right. There was a lot for him here if he just opened his eyes. Levon was already his, and he was going to start enjoying that as soon as he got out of here. Fact he just might hide all the blond's clothes and have him go nude all weekend.

"What you grinning about LaFiamma?" The Texan questioned walking back into the room with a doctor.

"Thinking about something I want to do when I get home," Joey said pulling himself to a sitting position.

Doctor Frank Smith froze in his tracks. "You've been through an ordeal, young man, I suggest you lay..."

"Ordeal? You call standing on a blazing tarmac for a few hours an ordeal, Doc? It's nothing! Try standing like that for four days ... with bamboo shoots inches from your chest and your back. You fall either way ... you're dead ... and if not ... you're there until you bleed to death. Sorry to disappoint you Doc, but that was far from being an ordeal. Now ... when can I get out of here?"

Doctor Smith looked at his patient, then at Lundy who merely shrugged. "I'll sign the papers right now. Your partner can take you home in about an hour."

The two partners grinned at each other as Doctor Smith walked out of the room. Their glee was short-lived because Teresa LaFiamma marched into the room, closed the door then stood in front of it blocking the exit for both.

"You didn't tell me you were captured!" Teresa barked harshly. "That scar on your back ... is that from one of those bamboo shoots?"

"No, ma'am. It's from a bullet wound," Joey answered quietly. Of all the people he'd been interrogated by, nuns to drill sergeants, his Aunt Teresa was the worst. He found out early in life that you never ever lie to the matriarch of The Family.

"I see. And this special operations you were in... that means secret dangerous stuff as they show in the movies? Terrorists type things? Rescuing hostages? This is why you and Jerry asked Victorio to help you sharpen your shooting skills?" She quipped, her tongue sharp.

"Yes, ma'am." Was all Joey could answer. She had him cold. What could he say? "I ... I didn't want you to worry."

"Worry?" Her voice heightened as she moved forward to the foot of the bed. "You don't think I didn't worry about you? Rolling around in some unknown place, not knowing if we would ever see you again. Not getting letters from you. Getting letters back in different envelopes with notes attached, saying you were in a place where mail couldn't go. You don't think I didn't worry."

"No, Aunt Teresa, I think you worried a lot," Joey muttered sheepishly. When he and Jerry were traveling around the world with the Corps, he never really thought about the people back home. Right now, he figured they must have worried a lot.

"You will not worry, nor will I worry about Gerald. He choose his life and now that life has killed him. You will go on with your life, Joseph. You will never again put your body through this kind of ordeal. It is not healthily. Do you hear me, Joseph?" Teresa groused shaking a finger at him.

"Yes, ma'am, I will not. And I'm sure this Texas nursemaid I'm saddled with will see that I don't."

"You like Joey, Sergeant Lundy?" Teresa asked turning her full attention to the Texan.

Lundy gulped glancing first at Joe then back at her. The cowboy had the strong feeling that lying to her would be fruitless. "Yes, ma'am."

"Do you love him?" She demanded.

Swallowing, the cowboy replied, "Yes, ma'am I do."

"Do you wish to have sex with him?"

Joe and Levon's mouths dropped, glancing at each other, it was Joey who started to say, "Aunt Teresa, I ...," but he was cut off sharply by his aunt.

"I asked Levon Lundy not Joseph LaFiamma. I repeat ... do you wish to have sex with him?"

"Yes, ma'am, I do."

"Just sex ... or love making?"

Confused, Lundy looked at her for a second then replied, "I hope to make love with him for as long as he'll have me."

Turning to Joe, she said, "I see. And you wish the same?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"So he will take Jerry's place in your bed? Is this true?"

Joey gawked at his Aunt. He and Jerry were careful, until now they both figured the secret that they were lovers was a secret.

"You don't think I don't know everything about you ... sneaking off on your birthday to be alone with your cousin Jerry ... giggling in bed when you discover penis' can do more than just pee ... laying in bed investigating and enjoying each other's bodies ... ditching classes so you both could go swimming at the YMCA ... hiding in Antonio's bar almost coughing yourselves sick trying to learn to smoke. I know all about you Joey. I know all about Jerry. I know all about Antonio Junior, about Roman ... about all one hundred and fifty young LaFiamma boys. That is my job Joseph. That is why I am matriarch of this family. You think Uncle Mikey runs this family. He doesn't!"

"Oh shit," Joey mumbled, pushing his head back into the pillow.

"And ... I know when you do that too!" She said with a hint of a smile.

"Your mother asked me on her death bed to watch over you, protect you. I did all I could until Jerry talked you into joining the Marines with him. Then suddenly you were gone. I could do nothing but worry. I have never forgiven Jerry for taking you away."

That statement brought Joey back into a sitting position. "Jerry had nothing to do with me going into the Marines," Joey said watching his aunt blink, "I signed up first, then came home and told him what I'd done. He was mad as hell. Told me I was throwing my life away. I signed up because I felt like I was in a box. Everything I did, everywhere I went ... you were there, Uncle Mikey was there ... Victorio was there. I felt like I was in protective custody unable to do things for myself. The Marines helped me find out who I was. Who Joey LaFiamma was and what he could do! Jerry didn't talk me into it, Aunt Teresa. You did!"

"ME?"

"After Maria died, you told me to get my life together. To do something useful. To make a dent in the world. Half my high school friends ended up in jail, the rest went into the service. I visited every branch, talked to every recruiter, and chose the Marine Corps. You are the one who put me there, not Jerry. He didn't join until just before I was ready to go into basic training. And he convinced that same recruiter that it would be beneficial to the Corps to have us together ... and it was. For three years we were one of the best Ops team the Marines had. They weren't happy when we refused to re-enlist."

"I know you love me, Aunt Teresa. I know you've done everything you could to keep be safe ... to keep me alive ... but you have to let me go. Have to let me live my own life ... doesn't mean you can't come down to visit ..."

Quite suddenly Aunt Teresa's whole attitude changed. Her eyes moved to the blond cowboy. Her next statement caught them both by surprise.

"You will get undressed now, Levon Lundy. I wish to see you naked."

"WHAT?" Levon exclaimed, his mouth hanging open to the floor.

"Do what she says Levon?" Joey remarked intently watching his Aunt.

"LaFiamma, are you kidding? She just asked me..." Levon rasped not believing what he was hearing.

"Do - what - she - says!"

Lundy obeyed his partner's order and began to undress. Aunt Teresa moved closer, seemingly to study Texas flesh as it was uncovered. Levon unbuttoned his shirt, slipped it off and lay in on the bed. He unbuckled his belt then remembered his boots.

"That's good. Just drop the pant to the boots. No need to take them off."

A flush rapidly spread across his face as the older woman began to touch him. First a shoulder, then a hip, then her hand spread across his flat stomach. She walked behind him, a hand spreading over a butt cheek, and his back. Finally she said, "Good flesh. Strong bones. Flat stomach. You have made a good choice Joseph."

"I think so." Joey answered wondering what in the hell was going down.

"I think so too! I approve of you two being lovers." Teresa said with a smile.

"You may get dressed now Levon."

Approved? God, Joey thought, did she approve every coupling? Is that why Jerome and Angela never got married because Teresa didn't approve?

Turning she walked to the door, pausing only a moment to look at Lundy and say, "You'd best get dressed, isn't it illegal to flaunt yourself in public." Then as Jerry before her, she was gone.

Quickly pulling up his jeans, Levon groused, "What the hell was that all about?"

"Damned if I know! Never in my life saw her do that before."

"Well one thing is sure ... she doesn't mind that we're lovers, so we don't have to pretend when she's around. How about me finding out what's holding up that doctor and his orders to get you out of here? What?"

"She was comparing Jerry and you ... she has passed you to me, and moved Jerry out ... in her own mind anyway. Where she used to think of Jerry and me in bed ... she will now think of you and me in bed. Boy, I got some strange memories flickering through my brain because of the things she said. Yeah, partner, get me the hell out of here before I wrap this sheet around me and walk out."

"Wonder why no one came in while she was here?" Levon questioned, moving to the door to find that doctor.

"Because my love ... when Aunt Teresa tells someone NOT to enter a room ... they damn well better not! Now get me out of here before I start riding your ass around the bed."

"Hold that thought ... till we get home."

THE END