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Author's Chapter Notes:
Warnings: Sex, yelling, love, emotional pain and physical pain, warm fuzzy moments, and the realistic decline into a tragic circumstance.
Getting off the plane in Bonn was the absolute best thing that had happened to Dorian Red Gloria in six weeks. The mission had been atrocious, those damned fucking Americans had been just as utterly bloody miserably disorganized as they always were, and so it had expanded from a three week mission to a five week mission to a *six* week one.

He had never been so glad to have his feet hit the soil of Europe in his *life*. "Finally!"

"Mission completed, and successfully," Khushrenada sighed from behind him, quickly followed by Z and A.

"Oh, m'lord!" James's voice cried as the little accountant came bounding across the tarmac.

"James, darling, *tell* me you have a car for me," Dorian demanded, moving forward and pulling off his sunglasses. There seemed to be quite a crew waiting for the lot of them, including a few he vaguely recognized.

"He's home again," Khushrenada's Chinese man said. "And there's a *BLOND* with him. *TWO* blonds, but at least we know one of them. Hmph."

"That bastard!" Khushrenada's blond snarled. "That fucking..."

"We've got a car for you, m'lord -- and plane tickets to England! It'll be so good to have you home again, m'lo~ord!"

"I won't be going to England, Jamesie," Dorian told him gently, as Major Khushrenada tried desperately to explain to the very ANGRY men bearing down upon him. "I'm sorry. You'll have to take care of things for me, I can't right now..."

"B-but m'lord!!!!!" James began to wail, only to be nearly picked up by the diminutive Bonham.

"M'lord. When will you be returning to England?" He seemed to know the why of Dorian wanting to be in Germany, even if he didn't know the particulars. The particulars weren't his business.

"Whenever it's over, Bonham, one way or another. I don't know when. I have to go, find out what's going on, how... how the treatment's going," he said numbly over the wails of James and the shouting still nearby.

"He called us once to see if you'd come back yet," Bonham told him as Jones carried the little crying man off. "I'll get a car and we'll all go back to London. You'll take the one we've already got, m'lord."

"Thank you, so much..." The sunglasses were shoved back on to hide the terrified and almost tearful look taking over his face. "I'll call you, Bonham, as soon as I've got certain details, as soon as I know anything."

"Right, m'lord. You be off now. We'll wring these NATO blokes for payment." Bonham tossed his lord the keys. "'s your Lamborghini."

"Thank you," Dorian said, and then he was off, and glad to leave the squalling (and the fight!) behind him.

The trip to Schloss Eberbach seemed to take forever, despite the phenomenal speed at which he travelled the back roads he knew to get there. Nothing could have gotten him to Klaus quickly enough -- not plane or train or anything, for nothing could get him there instantaneously. When he pulled up in the front drive, he damned near forgot to turn his lovely little red car off, he was in such a rush to get to the front door.

It was locked -- of course -- and so he banged frantically upon the knocker, demanding an answer. "Damn you, damn you, come on!"

"Lord Gloria...?" It was the butler, cracking open the door slowly as if not sure that he wanted to let the madman in or not.

"Yes, yes! Tell me he's here," Dorian demanded. "Tell me!"

"He... yes, the Master is in," the poor man startled, taking a step back so that Dorian could enter. "He's in the parlour."

"Thank you," Dorian got out even as he moved quickly past, tossing his keys to the butler. "There's a bit of luggage in the boot, please get someone to grab it for me," he said, heading down the hallway. "Klaus!" he called, almost running. "Klaus!"

He paused in the parlour doorway, looking inside. "Klaus?"

The bed was still there, just as it had been when they'd stayed there a few months before. There were a bit more books now, more of Klaus's personal effects -- proof that he was staying downstairs again -- and the man himself was dozing in an armchair at his desk. At Dorian's shout he startled awake, both eyes opening at once, book sliding from his hands a little, forgotten between sleeping and waking up again. "Was?"

"Oh, my darling," Dorian whispered, perfectly appalled to find tears rising up even as he flung himself forward, dropping to his knees before Klaus and looking up at him. Every inch of beautiful black hair was gone, cut close to the scalp, and that alone was almost enough to make him weep. When added to the obvious weight loss and Klaus's pallor, however... "Oh, my darling, I was so lost without you, I wanted to call or to come home and they wouldn't let me even write so much as a note..."

"You came home..." It didn't matter at all that Dorian hadn't been able to contact him, or that it had been so damned long -- he was back! The German started to stand, hands on Dorian's shoulders to pull him up. "You're back!"

"Of course I am, darling," Dorian whispered, wrapping his arms tightly about Klaus as he, too, stood. "Of course I am. I couldn't bear another moment without you, I was ready to kill that... that... fork-browed *freak* of a Major they left me with, and if Z and A hadn't held me back, I believe I would have, and rushed straight home to you! It was unbearable without you, I never want to go anywhere again that you aren't..."

Klaus clutched him tightly close, almost as if fearing to ever let go of Dorian. "You're back. I... almost didn't think you'd come back." Roughly spoken words as he breathed in the familiar and often dreamt of smell of Dorian's hair. What reasons did Dorian to have to want to come back to him? "'ve missed you."

"So much. So much. Tell me everything, darling, every word, every thought, every moment I've been gone, tell me about it," Dorian pleaded.

"'s not been much going on," Klaus murmured against his hair, still holding on. "I'm getting chemo and radiation therapy."

"And I haven't been here for you," came the whisper. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I knew, almost four weeks ago, that you were sick, and I... I *humiliated* myself by crying in front of the Alphabet, and that nasty man wouldn't even let me call you. It was utterly unbearable, Klaus!"

The German could only manage a twitch of a sympathetic smile. "You're here now. 's enough."

"When do you go again?" Dorian asked, the sound muffled. "Shouldn't you be laying down, darling? And your hair..." He drew back, reached up, touched the bristling hair atop his head. "Somehow, it still feels just wonderful, sweetheart."

"I go tomorrow. I'm not going to break if I'm not sleeping all the time. And..." Dorian could see a rueful smile. "There's a coil of it in the drawer. Doctors made me save it."

"Whatever for?" Dorian asked, leaning up to kiss him lightly. "I love it terribly, though, so I'm glad. You're so beautiful, darling. I've missed you so awfully. I'll come with you tomorrow, all right?"

Slightly chapped lips moved against his with eagerness, turning a light kiss into something far deeper. He'd missed kissing Dorian, having Dorian there at *all*, so a good 'welcome back' kiss was in order for them both. Only after he'd re-explored and recharted Dorian's mouth and lips with his own did he pull back. "Yes, you're coming with me."

"Marvelous, darling," Dorian whispered. "I'd go anywhere with you, anywhere at all, and perhaps when there are days you feel up to something, we'll reconvene our little attic ventures, and you'll be well again soon, I believe it, I know it, it must be so... Oh, my darling Klaus..."

"Calm down, Dorian," Klaus breathed in his ear. "Let's go into another room? I think I've already slept enough to last me another few days. I'm really capable of doing anything."

"I don't want you to wear yourself out, darling," Dorian began, though whatever Klaus had on his mind, he was certainly willing to do!

"Wear myself out," Klaus grumbled, shaking his head for a moment before he grasped Dorian's forearms in his hands. "Dorian. I'm being realistic in what I can do; I'm awake today, and I'm going to do something. Your choice."

A slow smile spread across the blond's generous mouth, eyes narrowing slightly in sweet thought. "Then let's go upstairs, darling, or lock the door, and I'll please you like there's no tomorrow."

It was a suggestion that obviously delighted Klaus, but... "Out of the house, if possible? I haven't been anywhere but here and the hospital since I left the villa."

"The garden, then," Dorian said, "or the kitchen can pack up a quick picnic and we'll drive for a while. Would you like that?"

"Yes." He was decisive about that, even as he checked a clock -- still very early afternoon. Plenty of time for things to be done before the next treatment wiped him of energy.

"Have a seat, then, sweetheart," Dorian told him with quite a bit of cheer. "I'll tell the kitchen staff and be back in *no* time!"

With a sigh, Klaus acquiesced and sat down, picking up his book and setting it on the desk. The adrenaline of knowing Dorian was back was still racing through him, and he was glad he'd napped away most of the morning.

It seemed such a short time before his lover returned, lugging a basket that was fit to burst, it looked. "They've loaded us down, darling. Baguettes, ham, smoked gouda, an *ungodly* amount of sliced beef, ham and turkey, mustard, even *mayonnaise*, two fruit juices, milk in a thermos, all sorts of things -- chocolate *cake*, even. You'd think there were more than six of us instead of just two!"

"They're trying to get me to eat more," Klaus shrugged. "'m not really hungry, but I'll try. Do you want me to get a blanket so we can lay it out?"

Dorian shook his head, though, curls tumbling everywhere in wild profusion. "Your butler's bringing one, darling," he said. "You only have to come with me...." A devilish wink prompted a sudden bad imitation. "Come viz me to ze Kazbah..."

It prompted a soft chuckle from the German, and a rueful look. "What have I done to deserve this?"

"Only been the most wonderful daring wild German ever to cross my path," Dorian teased as he gently prodded Klaus into the hallway. "Beautiful, intriguing, maddening, and utterly and completely irresistible to boot!"

"Let me carry the basket Dorian," Klaus prodded offering a hand even as he stepped into the hallway.

"I've got it," Dorian said cheerfully, nearly running into the butler. "Oh, hullo. I see you've found a blanket..."

Klaus took the blanket with a slight nod to the man, glad to at least be allowed carry that. "We can take the Benz."

"Well, the Lamborghini's still just outside the doorway..." Dorian teased.

"And the car you drove up to the villa is still in the back of the house," Klaus reminded him, giving the idea of the Lamborghini a very obvious 'no' with his eyes.

The thief only smiled at him though, and by the time they walked out the front door, the Benz was there and the Lamborghini was gone. "All right and tight, just as you like, darling."

"I've spent a lot of time tuning this car lately." There really wasn't much else for him to do! "It's in perfect condition. Better than new."

"You DO love your car, darling, but that's all right," Dorian declared, opening the back door and depositing the basket inside before climbing into the driver's seat. Klaus, in the meantime, buckled his own seatbelt on the other side. "So long as you love me more," he whispered, kissing Klaus's cheek, grateful that the butler had shut the door so that he could do so.

"I do." It was both an assurance and a hard to admit thing for Klaus, but he had to face more and more often that he needed the thief who'd dogged him for so many years. "I missed you badly. I've never missed someone like that in my life."

"Well, you won't have to miss me again," Dorian told him quietly as he kissed Klaus tenderly again. "I won't be leaving you 'til you're well."

Another quick kiss, and Klaus pulled back to settle into the passenger side of the Benz. "Dorian, what if I don't live?"

"You will." It was said with fierce belief as the car was started, those incredibly blue eyes turning on him. "You will, darling. I believe it, and I know it's true. If anyone can beat this, you can."

"I've already been told I have a forty percent chance," Klaus murmured easily, strangely nonchalant about it, "of surviving. I'll never return to the field again."

"You'll live," Dorian said again softly as they began to drive, heading out to the road. "Belief is half the battle, you know..."

"I'd like to live. I've never been happier in my life." He swallowed, throat aching painfully for a moment as scenery began to pass. "I haven't given up."

"Good," he was told softly. "We won't give up, darling... and if you grow too tired to fight, then I'll fight for you, only never leave me. I couldn't bear it if you did, after so much..."

"Promise me now to never pull any of that romantic 'pining to death' shit because of me."

The hard swallow Dorian gave was almost audible. "Darling, if I promised, that'd be a lie, now wouldn't it?"

"I don't understand why you would," Klaus sighed, rubbing the side of his face with one hand. "You're lived without me for most of your life."

"You've also been the focus of it for over a third, darling," came the slow response. "Even more than art, you know. When you get right down to it, I love you more than anything else on Earth..."

"I wish I had've realized sooner." Truthful words, half sighed from Klaus. "But at least I realized at all."

Dorian only smiled, though. "Yes. Yes. I've never been so happy..."

"'f you see somewhere good, just stop," Klaus murmured, leaning an arm against the door, hand in his chin.

"At any rate, darling, you're going to get well," Dorian declared. "There's no other option for it, no other way to go. It'll be all right, you know..."

"Do I look worried, Dorian?"

"Not really, no," Dorian admitted, pulling the car to the side of the road and stopping beneath a huge oak tree. "But then, you never do, darling."

"Then I'm a damn good actor," Klaus sighed as he opened the door of the car. Dorian's presence was something to lift his mood again, desperately needed in the face of nothing but bad news and bad days.

"Lay out the blanket, sweetheart, I've got the basket. It'll only take a moment," the tall blond told him, slipping out to open the back door of the car.

Long legs carried him beneath the tree, and Klaus laid it out with an efficient snap. How very domestic to be doing that, yet... yet it was a compromise between his leanings towards dignity and Dorian's towards frivolity. And it was the first time in weeks he'd been out of the Schloss for a reason other than treatment.

When Dorian came back, Klaus was already seated on the blanket, leaning back on his hands, legs stretched out in front of him.

"Well," Dorian declared, settling down beside him and beginning to unpack the basket, "now's time for the ultimate question -- beef, ham or turkey? Oh, and there are pickles!"

No, the ultimate question for Klaus was if he wanted anything at all. "Beef, I guess." /They packed *far* too much.../ His staff wanted him to eat, though, so it was no surprise.

"Here, darling," Dorian murmured, handing him a sandwich layered with mustard, beef, smoked gouda and pickle before shifting to pour some cold milk. "This is JUST the thing!"

From the look on Klaus's face, complete trepidation as he picked up part of it, he might as well have been contemplating eating a gun. "Don't pour two glasses of that, Dorian -- or you'll have to drink them both yourself."

"Yes, darling," Dorian said easily. "Would you rather have juice? We've got apple and grape, I think..."

"Either," Klaus murmured, pushing down the beginnings of nausea as he took a bite, chewing slowly. Tasted good, but... "'s a nice day out."

"I'm so tired," Dorian said with a sigh, leaning back on an elbow after making a sandwich for himself and pouring juice for Klaus. "Seeing you makes up for all of that, though. It makes every day into a beautiful day, did you know that?"

Shaking his head, Klaus set the sandwich aside and just leaned back, on elbows now to be even with Dorian. "Tell me about the mission -- I thought it was supposed to have been shorter. How badly did Khushrenada foul it up?"

"It was those ridiculous Americans, darling. They're so paranoid, even if it *is* justifiable," Dorian sighed. "I thought I'd NEVER get to go in! They kept everything separate for six awful *weeks*! Six *weeks*! And Khushrenada told me you were ill at the beginning of the third. I was all to pieces, but A and Z were terribly sweet to me about it..."

"I told Agent A at the start of the last mission to keep an eye on you," Klaus murmured in a sigh of breath, letting his eyes drift over the grass. "I forgot how restless I get without work to do."

A slow smile stole over Dorian's face as he laid down his sandwich on a napkin. "Want me to take your mind off of it?" he whispered, leaning over to offer Klaus his mouth.

It was a public setting, and yet... yet, it wasn't. Who would recognize him now to be Major Eberbach? No trademark suit, hair or gun... "Yes." And Dorian still wanted him, even though there wasn't much left of Iron Klaus at the moment.

"My darling man," Dorian whispered, lightly pushing him down so that he was on his back and coming over him. "I love you madly, for always..." Fingers were parting the buttons on his shirt, allowing that maddening mouth access to his flesh, and oh, Dorian plied it so well!

It wasn't until the kiss was starting to taper off, that sweet search between heated mouths, that Klaus protested Dorian's hands. "No, Dorian, we will not... in public..."

"Public, darling?" Dorian teased, sending a hand lightly to stroke down Klaus's pale side, concern flitting over his face at the bruises there -- flesh that had once been iron was weakened by so many drugs, and his lover seemed to be bruising rather too easily for Dorian's own comfort. "There's no one here but you, me and the Benz, sweetheart..."

"You've turned me into a decadent fag," Klaus sighed, even as he slid a hand to try to remove Dorian's shirt. "No one better come by... 's a public road, you know."

"If someone comes by, I'll run them off," Dorian promised on the breath of a whisper, nudging Klaus's shirt the rest of the way off and working his way down to one of those lovely, perked nipples that seemed so deliciously close and so *perfect* to fit in his mouth.

"You..." A tight gasp struggled out of his throat, arching up against Dorian's mouth. "No, 's too risky..."

The voice that answered him was slightly teasing, but it didn't stop Dorian's tender assault for so much as a second. "Would you rather go home and do this, darling?" he purred, tongue lapping out and teasing at pebbled flesh before his lips closed around Klaus's left nipple to suckle with a little moan. "Hmmmmmm...."

The suckle got him more of an outcry than anything else had, and Klaus twisted out of his grasp with a surprising speed, away from his skilled mouth. It didn't make sense for a moment, until he saw the raw-looking patch of skin just above it, strange coloring differences. Klaus wanted to explain but for a moment, embarrassment overrode that urge.

A little gasp of shame came from Dorian, blue eyes welling with guilt. "Oh, Klaus... I'm so sorry, I should be more careful! Oh, darling..."

"Don't apologize," Klaus murmured, still not settling into place again. He'd be on edge for a little while longer, at least! "I get radiation on that side."

"I should have thought," Dorian said softly, leaning up to kiss him. "Darling... is it all right if we do this? I mean, it won't upset some doctor somewhere, will it?"

"Do I care if it upsets some doctor somewhere?"

Fact was, he hadn't asked, and the information hadn't been offered to him -- what were the chances of him, Iron Klaus, Major Eberbach, the man who'd come to the hospital at least three times a week, alone and sharp-tongued, making love with someone?

"Probably not, darling," Dorian admitted, "but I never, ever want to do anything to harm you..."

"I doubt it would." He'd ask the next time, to his chagrin -- and if he was told he couldn't, well, too bad. He still would.

Dorian's smile didn't falter, though. "In the meantime, darling... What can I do to please you?"

He settled nearer, at last, if only for a moment. "We'll do... this at home, all right?"

"That sounds just marvelous, darling," Dorian agreed. "D'you think you can eat a bit more of your sandwich? Perhaps a cookie... the cooks included a few, though I know you dislike sweets..."

"I was going to eat more and then you didn't give me a chance," Klaus scowled, reaching for his shirt first, to slide it back on properly.

"Sorry, darling," he was told with some cheer as Dorian slid to the side. "I'm afraid you drive *me* to distraction, so..."

"It's been a while since you've attacked me in the middle of trying to do something." And from Klaus's tone, as he buttoned half his shirt, it seemed like he'd missed it. He *had*, too, in ways that Dorian couldn't imagine...

"Ahh, I'll try to do it more often, then, darling. Shouldn't be a problem, as I'm going nowhere you aren't until you're all better," he was informed.

"Your men must miss you -- you haven't been around them in months," Klaus told him as he took a bite in a way that looked forcedly casual.

"Jamesie bawled at the airport, but everyone else seemed to understand that I want to be with you," came the murmured reply. "Bonham is taking care of things. I'll need to get in touch with him, let him know what's going on with me, that sort of thing, but other than that, everything's under control. They miss me, I'm sure, but I think they all understand."

"As long as things are under control, then that's good," Klaus murmured, gesturing to Dorian's plate that he should eat, too. "You look like you could use a nap, Dorian. Did you sleep on the plane?"

"I couldn't," the Briton admitted, sitting cross-legged and picking up his sandwich. "I was all nerves the whole way, utterly mad to get back to you."

"If something bad had happened to me, A would have found out and told you. You didn't have to worry." Strange, how he said that as if nothing bad *had* happened to him -- but it had! Or was he trying to pretend... who knew what. It was obvious to everyone that his health was failing him.

"I know, darling," Dorian soothed. "Not being with you is terrible, though. I've spent ten years not being with you, and now that I *can* be..." The smile he gave Klaus was brilliant. "Now that I can be, I want to be, as much as I can."

"You will," he promised, and it was a promise that he could keep -- for as long as possible, Dorian would be at his side. Klaus had a lingering sense it wouldn't be so very long. Three more bites he managed, before setting it down to sip slowly at the juice.

For a while, silence passed between them, Dorian finishing off his sandwich and his milk, eating a cookie slowly as he looked at Klaus. The other man almost seemed to be napping, and for the first and only time, he considered the possibility that Klaus might not survive, no matter how strong he was, no matter how much Dorian wanted him to do so. It was a terrible, macabre thought, and he abandoned it quickly, smiling at his sleepy lover. "Darling? Would you like to go back now?"

Words that stirred Klaus to motion again, even if it was a lazy one -- he finished the rest of his juice, and grabbed a cookie, sitting up. "Let's drive around for a while."

"That sounds like a marvelous idea," Dorian told him, leaning over to tenderly steal a kiss, worried. /My poor darling.../ "I'll just pack everything up."

"Good." To actually see Klaus eating anything sweet was strange. He'd always sworn up and down that sweets gave people 'fat tummy virus' and he didn't want anything to do with that. Now, though... he knew that any extra weight would be good. And for a cookie, it wasn't so bad. Simple, and it didn't make his stomach toss.

"Hmmmm, you taste like vanilla," Dorian told him, stealing one more kiss before packing up everything *but* the cookies and the juice that he'd given Klaus. Whatever Klaus would eat, Dorian certainly wasn't going to hide from him!

Klaus sat up slowly, languidly, and buttoned another button of his shirt before picking up the juice and the cookies -- it was obvious Dorian had left it to tempt him with. Soon, very soon, Dorian would settle in league with the butler, and they would conspire together to leave food in odd places for him, like he was an eccentric pet that forgot to eat. He moved off the blanket and then started to fold it up.

"Here, darling, let me, I can get it," Dorian told him, shifting forward.

"God fucking *dammit*, I'm not going to exhaust myself folding a fucking blanket!" Klaus snapped, movements sharpening as he folded it perfectly and with military precision.

"Sorry," Dorian murmured sheepishly. "Let's go, then, hmm?"

"Yes." The good mood was still there, but Klaus's temper was fraying fast, as could be seen from the way he slammed open the back door of the Benz, put the blanket there, and in a thought, put the juice and cookies away, too. Eating in a car was never a good idea.

"Well, darling," Dorian asked, sliding behind the wheel, "where would you like to go?"

"Anywhere." Klaus murmured, trying to not be angry. Not at Dorian; the man had always tried to coddle him when he could, but there had to be a way to explain that Dorian was passing the acceptable degree!

"All right." Quietly, the car was started and they headed out, turning at random down this road or that, quiet together as they rode along. Finally, Dorian couldn't help himself -- he had to say SOMETHING! "So, what time's your appointment tomorrow, Klaus?"

"Nine a.m." It wasn't said as much as it was sighed. "Just chemo."

"In Bonn?" Dorian asked. "I'll drive if you like, so long as you can tell me how to get there..."

For a moment, Dorian feared protest, but it didn't come. "I've had to drive myself these past weeks -- 's hard to do on the way back. I'd appreciate that."

"I'm glad to be of service, darling," Klaus was told softly. "Truly. I... I just want to stay with you and help you get well."

Klaus sighed quietly, leaning back against the head-rest. "I know. But... stop the 'help getting well' bit, all right? I just want you around. Just be here for me, and it's enough."

The voice that responded was so quiet, and so perfectly Dorian, the Dorian that only he ever seemed to be allowed to see. "Yes. Yes. I will be."

"Thank you." And the Klaus he saw was the only one Dorian had ever *wanted* to see -- a strange mix between kind and fiery. Klaus even let himself go as far as putting his hand on Dorian's knee, patting gently.

It earned him a smile, sweet, tender, as the car headed back in the direction they'd come. "Let's go home, darling. I want to lay down with you. I... I want to hold you, if you don't mind, and perhaps sleep for a bit, close to you..."

"All right." Klaus stroked his leg a little in response to that, managing a little smile for the earl. "But I'll warn you now that's all I'll do tomorrow."

"Darling, I was up all night last night and I spent six hours crammed into a military plane with the Alphabet and Monster-Brows as he bemoaned his fate when China-boy and The Blond caught him getting off of it with *me* in sight. I could sleep all of tonight *and* most of tomorrow, so long as you're beside me," Dorian chuckled.

"'s good then." Klaus nodded, resting his head back against the head-rest again. "He didn't try anything on you, did he?"

"He made me cry, darling," Dorian admitted with some shame. "Even if he would've liked to, I think A would've ripped his head off, and I *know* I would've just bawled again because it wasn't you..."

"When and *if* I ever run into him, I'm going to make at least a few minutes of his life miserable," Klaus promised. "Arrogant fucker, thinking he can do my job."

That drew a laugh out of the man driving the car, Dorian humming a bit to himself as they drove along. "Oh, darling, if YOU'D been there, I'd have been done in two weeks, definitely NOT six! And even if it *had* been six, I wouldn't have *minded* it..."

"Three weeks, because you would have found a way to cost me a week. Probably prying you out of a jail, but we still would have accomplished the mission," Klaus smirked in a small twitch of his lips.

At that, Dorian *laughed* outright! "Well, darling, it's true, isn't it? Hmmm, but so much more fun it would have been!"

"Fun... huh," Klaus scoffed, smiling still. "Another odd mission to put down in the books."

"EVERYTHING is fun with you, darling. I've yet to find myself anything but entertained when you're around, one way or another," Dorian said as they turned into the driveway of Schloss Eberbach.

"One way or another?" Klaus held still, until they were parked, and then looked directly at Dorian. "How's that?"

Dorian smiled at him. "Once, I was always entertained wondering when you might shoot me. Now, I get to wonder when you'll kiss me next. Life is always exciting with you!"

"I've never shot you," Klaus reminded him, leaning over to kiss Dorian firmly, "and I've kissed you often."

"Mmmmhmmmmm," Dorian agreed, opening his mouth slightly to allow Klaus to kiss him again. "But you always leave me wondering, Klaus. You're magnificent."

"You don't kiss -- you tackle," Klaus accused lightly, eating for a moment at Dorian's mouth before he pulled back. "Inside. My *real* bed, upstairs."

For a moment, a strange yearning ache opened Dorian up and a tremor snuck through him. "Really?" he whispered, looking at Klaus for a moment. "Upstairs?"

"Ja; why not?" Klaus looked quizzical for a moment, not understanding why Dorian was reacting that way.

"I figured after you caught me in it, you'd never let me in there again, even now," he replied lightly, smiling.

"After... ahhh..." He realized, and looked a little sheepish as he got out of the car, standing slowly and stretching languidly. "Well. I got over that."

"I know, darling, but still," Dorian said with a little laugh, rising and folding his arms atop the car momentarily. "Shall we go in, then?"

"We can leave the things here and the butler will get them," Klaus told him, already starting towards the Schloss.

Wordlessly, Dorian agreed by the simple action of following along behind him. They went in through a back door, surprising a maid who looked as if she was going to pass clean out at the sight of them, and walked up a set of back stairs with which Dorian was at least partially familiar. After all, he'd broken into the Schloss a time or four just to peer at the painting of Tyrian...!

Klaus seemed to be taking the stairs well -- if unsurely, as could be seen from the white-knuckled grip he kept on the hand-rail the entire flight, up on, and then to the third floor, pace slowing minutely. The urge to offer help was passed, but Dorian remained close behind him 'til they reached the landing and then lightly put an arm around Klaus's waist to steady him.

"Come on, darling," he whispered. "It's only a bit farther."

"I can make it," Klaus murmured, though he didn't resist the help. Beneath his hand, Dorian could feel *too* much. Klaus had lost weight rapidly in four weeks, and was hiding it well with his clothes.

When they reached the floor itself, Klaus automatically turned down the hallway towards his room, and Dorian let loose of him just a little.

"Mmm, darling, I can't wait to nap with you," he sighed.

"That's the dangerously lustful thief I've missed," Klaus teased, pressing open his bedroom door and walking in with familiarity. Everything looked pretty normal for his room, sheets, everything dusted, thought it looked unusually barren.

"Hmmmm, your bed is the most marvelous place for sleeping," Dorian sighed as they moved into the room, shutting the door behind them. "I can only imagine that it's marvelous for everything else as well!"

"We'll have to test it as soon as possible, then," Klaus murmured, toeing off his shoes as he started to take off his shirt at he same time.

"Now might be nice," Dorian agreed, reaching forward to brush Klaus's fingers away from the buttons and undo them himself. "Hmm, there's something magically wonderful about undressing you, darling..."

"'s just because you like to see me naked. There's something 'magical' about undressing you, too..." A flit of a smile, as Klaus started to unbutton Dorian's shirt.

"I confess," Dorian whispered, kissing his nose. "I DO like seeing you naked. 'Course, I like seeing you pretty much any way I can get you, but there's something special about seeing you that way..."

A quiet bit of laughter, and he was kissed again, Klaus's hands -- steady, sure of what he wanted to do -- pushing Dorian's shirt off of him. "Me in you, today, or the other way around?"

"Any way's good, darling, as long as it's us," Dorian said, delighting in the sound of Klaus's laughter, something he surely would have said didn't exist even a year ago. "So long as it's you and me and you're touching me..."

"Yes." He wanted it, desperately, just then -- wanted to do things while he felt pretty good, before any doctor could say it was a bad idea. "We can nap after this, then..." His hands were on Dorian's sides as he bent to kiss the earl's neck, gentle nips.

It gained him a sigh and an arm about his neck, Dorian's head dropping back to give him access even as those nimble thieving fingers did away with the button and zipper of Klaus's pants, pushing them lightly off of his hips along with his underwear. "Darling," he whispered. "My dearest, truest darling..."

"Yes... I want you, Dorian. Don't care how. Missed you. 's been too long..." He pressed closer for a moment, shuddering against Dorian's neck before he slid down to do the same against the thief's collar-bone.

The soft kisses and caresses of Klaus's lips were sending the most exquisite tingles shivering down Dorian's spine, to the very tips of his fingertips. There was nothing more ecstatically wonderful than the feeling of Klaus against him, naked as he now mostly was, pants pooled at his ankles. Impatiently, he tugged the fastenings of his own loose, kicking them off and moving more deeply into his lover's grasp. "Oh, God, yes!"

Klaus stepped out of his own, and stepped backwards towards the bed. "'s good to feel you again... missed touching you." Intermittent mumbles against warm skin as he kissed and nipped.

A breathless little sound of laughter cascaded loose as Dorian fell into the bed, reaching for Klaus. "Oh, darling, yes, so much more than anyone could imagine!!"

Oh, but Klaus didn't have to imagine -- he *knew* what it was like to not feel Dorian's warmth against him, and to *want* it there... An errant hand half tugged down the sheets, and that was enough for him to bother with, stroking his hands along Dorian's torso as they climbed in, touching every place he could.

Sounds of encouragement came tenderly as Dorian moaned into Klaus's kisses, his own hands caressing steadily to draw loose sighs of pleasure. He could feel every inch of his skin glowing with the pleasure of being in Klaus's arms, of being in Klaus's bed, of coming home. There was nothing more wonderful than being where he was, legs tangled together, arms around one another... "Oh, darling," he whispered. "Please, yes..."

"Please what? Tell me what, Dorian..." Rich baritone in low whispers coaxing him to respond as Klaus savored the press and give of Dorian's body against his own. Ah, to hold again! "'s good to feel you again..."

"Please, darling, anything," Dorian told him, kissing him again. "Anything, anything, I'd do anything for you to keep touching me like this, anything to never let go of you again..."

"Shhh..." Klaus caught Dorian's wrists and then his lips, stilling him. "Calm down some.... we've got all night." And if he went too fast, he'd start coughing, and that would exhaust him too quickly.

That brought from the slim blond a quiet sigh and a steady slowing of motion. "All right, darling. You're right. It just seems like whatever I get of you can never be enough of you. I'll always want you, and always want more..."

"Slow this time," Klaus murmured, taking a light kiss. "All right?"

"All right," Dorian breathed, closing his eyes slowly and just enjoying the touch of Klaus against him, the warmth of the line of his body pressing so close. "Slow..."

"Yes..." A quiet urging, as Klaus shifted against him to press kisses against his neck again. Fast, frenzied pleasure was good, but he wanted to enjoy a long delayed reunion.

Dorian's arms slid around his shoulders, the British man wrapping a leg slowly around Klaus's as he sighed, the ball of his foot lightly rubbing at a calf. "Mmmmmm," he purred, a hand shifting carefully to find a nipple, soothingly stroking over it this time, careful not to bruise. "Oh, that feels perfect..."

"Yes, 't does," Klaus agreed, shifting minutely to rub his hands down along the line of Dorian's spine, stroking tenderly for a moment before he pulled their groins into contact. It earned him a shuddering little sound from his lover, and the feel of hands lightly rubbing over his scalp, tugging him close.

"Oh, God, darling." A slow tremor danced down Dorian, felt in Klaus's palms, his fingertips. The leg wrapped around his tightened, the man's other leg pressing against the mattress to push them up, push them closer. "Oh, God..."

This would be what they did, then, Klaus decided, getting a knee between Dorian's thigh so he could have equal leverage with his lover, twining their legs closer together to strengthen the contact of groin to groin. That almost rough rub had been so long missed, the feel of Dorian's pleasured tremors.

They rocked against one another slowly, moans sounding between kisses, fingers twining together. The steady push of erection to erection, hip to hip, brought slow sighs, steady ripples of pleasure to both of them. Dorian whispered sweetly in Klaus's ear, love words, nonsense sounds that he loved to hear. Tender, it was, and delicious, coming together slowly and with the most exquisite of pleasures.

He'd missed, too, the sensation of coming against his lover's body, while Dorian came, too -- it was a feeling so far removed from his own hand's touch against him, the rub of silken soft skin. What should have been a slow movement had inevitably sped up, but it had been leisurely for them both compared to how they'd begun. "Ah, Dorian... My thief..." softly huffed breaths as Klaus tried to catch his, kissing at Dorian's lips.

The sound of those words were wonderful, singing straight to Dorian's veins, and he whimpered sweetly, trembling with the wonder of it. A hand snuck down between them, gathering both erections and stroking them as they kissed, the blond man beginning to shake with impending orgasm, panting beneath the lips that so exquisitely stole his own breath. "Hunnnhhh!!"

A thick splash of semen against his stomach was all the permission Klaus needed to bite lightly against Dorian's bottom lip, stifling his own howl of pleasured completion brought on by Dorian's touch.

Moments later, they lay together, Dorian's fingers trailing slowly up and down Klaus's spine. He was unable to stop the yawn that he gave, shivering slightly. "Mmmm, darling... My sweetheart..."

"I was worried for a while... that you wouldn't come back in time... for us to do this again," Klaus murmured in a quiet tone, kissing lightly at Dorian's lips, cheeks, face, wherever he could manage to reach. It would take him twice as long to get his breath back, as it took Dorian, but the feelings had all been worth it... "'re all I have."

"Darling..." Dorian's voice was sad and tired. "Darling, I'd cross the world 'round to get back to you, no matter when or where..."

He wanted to snap at Dorian that he *hadn't* been there when he'd needed the assurances, at the beginning of this horrible mess, and that the earl was only arriving when he was starting to actually adjust to this non-life... But he bit his tongue, and just kissed Dorian again. Now was not a time to be bitter. "Go to sleep."

"'m sorry, darling," Dorian murmured, burrowing his head against Klaus's shoulder as they moved so that Klaus was laying on his back, Dorian curled against his side. "It's been an impossible few days, and I'm drifting off..."

"Sleep well," he wished softly. He himself was still awake and would be for at least a few more moments. A chance to savor and re-memorize what Dorian felt like against him.

"I love you, Klaus," Dorian whispered sleepily, already almost gone.

"I know..." And then, Klaus waited until he was sure that Dorian was gone into sleep. "Love you...."

~~~~~

"Well, darling," Dorian said, pulling into the hospital parking garage, "looks like we made it." He chanced upon a space right on the first floor level and parked the car.

"Thank you for driving," Klaus murmured, opening the door smoothly, looking as if he were about to get out... but then the tall German stalled, turning back into the car to kiss Dorian softly.

"You're welcome," Dorian whispered, smiling at him. "Let's go in, shall we?"

A nod, and they got out of the car, Klaus leading the way. Hh was familiar with the hospital -- almost too familiar for comfort's sake. He kept his pace even, though, so he wouldn't lose Dorian's presence at his side as he led the thief towards the cancer-ward. "There's a little waiting room, if you want to wait in there instead..."

"If I can go with you, I'd just as soon do that," Dorian told him, lightly brushing his hand against Klaus's as they walked. "May I?"

The brush wasn't denied him, and despite the man's military pace and straight ahead gaze, he could see a softening of sharp green eyes. "Yes."

"Marvelous," Dorian sighed, smiling. "I know it can't be any fun doing it all alone. I wouldn't want to abandon you just to stay in some nasty waiting room, you know."

"Thank you." A sigh spilled from Klaus as they passed through the waiting room, and into a tiny hallway beyond. One hand passed idly back over his shorn hair, the same gesture he'd always made to move his hair out of his face -- now it was simply habit unwilling to die. He turned a sharp corner and paused, taking in the room for a moment.

Same chair as always, same nurse.

"Hello, there, Mr. Eberbach," she greeted before giving a start of surprise. "Why, you have someone with you today!! How nice!" It made her feel a bit light-hearted, in fact. She'd often felt quite bad for the man who came and went alone, and so it was wonderful to see him with company. "If you'll lay down on the gurney here, I'll fetch a chair for your friend."

"Thank you," Dorian said with all of his typical charm. "I appreciate it!" Dorian had always been fabulous about charming complete strangers, though -- one of the many perks of his personality.

Klaus followed the woman's instructions and then some; he laid down and began to roll his sleeve up, revealing quite clearly discolorations right along his veins where the chemicals went in. "Dorian, I'm... truly glad you came, and came back."

"I know, darling," Dorian said quietly, smiling at him, though it was difficult at the sight of those bruises. "I could never leave for very long, and I'm so glad to be back, as well."

"Here you go!" The nurse was back, now, chair in hand, but at least it wasn't those awful plastic things that most hospitals had. "Would you like some juice, Mr. Eberbach? Before we start?"

"No, but thank you," he declined, turning his head to look at her. "I've had enough juice at breakfast."

"My goodness," she said, smiling. "You must be feeling pretty good today!"

The intimation that he didn't usually have anything before coming didn't pass by Dorian. "There were eggs and toast, too," he said with a wink.

"You'll regret that," Klaus warned him seriously, "if I throw it up later."

"If you throw it up, darling, at least someone else will be driving you home," he was informed, and the nurse seemed quite pleased.

"Today might not be as bad as usual," she encouraged, smiling at them both as she began setting up the IV. "Maybe it'll be easier."

"Is it the same dose as usual?" Klaus asked, looking over to the IV preparations.

"A little less, today," the nurse said with another smile. "So maybe you'll get lucky and not be as ill!"

Dorian nodded. "With any luck at all," he agreed.

"Why a little less?" Klaus asked, tone curious and not quite as sharp as usual. Was it because he was getting better, or because they thought his body couldn't take much more of the chemicals?

"The last couple of times have been pretty rough on you," the nurse told him, "so we're going to lower the dosage this time and next time and see how that works out."

The second one, then. "I thought it was supposed to be rough."

"It is," he was informed agreeably, "but sometimes, we try and let it up a bit so you can have some breathing space. Then, we'll go back to the regular regimen, all right?"

"All right." He didn't seem to be all right with the idea, though -- but whether that was due to his pathological mistrust of doctors or just plain Klaus-ness, Dorian couldn't tell.

"So there's no need to worry," Dorian almost-asked, looking at the woman.

"No need to worry," she told him with a little smile. The truth of the matter was simply that they *couldn't* give him much more or they'd kill him. That was the art of chemotherapy -- killing the disease before it or the medicine could kill the patient. Sometimes, it worked.

Sometimes, it failed.

Klaus's body, still reasonably weakened by the problems with his chest, couldn't take much more of the chemicals. They needed to cycle out of his body for a week or so, before everything could start over again.

The German man, though, just sighed as the nurse rubbed betadine over a spot above one of his abused veins. This was the fun part, he supposed...

A quick, hard prick and the needle was in; Klaus's veins had always been a medic's dream. They never ducked, rolled, weaved or exploded, they were easy to find and they always took abuse well. "There we go," the woman said with a smile. "Just like that!"

It was always uncomfortable, a strange cool tingle at the point of entry, a little burning... and a lot of waiting. Klaus was not a patient man when in hospital, never had been. Gaze drifted to Dorian for a moment, and then the ceiling, the fingers of his free hand, drumming a little atop the paper of the gurney.

"Boring, isn't it?" Dorian said as the nurse walked away, reaching to lightly touch Klaus's fingers. "You'd think they'd have something out for you to read, wouldn't you?"

"At least a newspaper," Klaus sighed, his nervous hand stilling with Dorian's touch. He let his eyes close, too, for a moment, trying to not feel the IV's slow leak into him, chilling his arm slowly. "Radiation isn't much better."

"I can imagine," the Briton murmured, folding his fingers lightly around Klaus's. "I'll be with you, darling, whenever they'll let me be." /I love you,/ he thought, watching his lover quietly. It was heartbreaking to see him this way; the possibility that he might lose Klaus seemed somehow terribly real, the most horrible thing in the world... "Every step of the way."

"Every step..." Klaus echoed with a strange twist of his lips, squeezing Dorian's hand. "Sometimes, 's too dangerous to follow me every place, even though you want to."

"It's never stopped me before," Dorian told him lightly. "You know I'm an idiot where personal danger of any sort is concerned, especially if I'm following you."

"I've always worried that you'll follow me someplace you shouldn't. I don't want to have to worry about that this time, Dorian." Klaus tone wasn't even trying for light -- it was stern, trying to convince.

That glorious golden head only shook back and forth, his words earning him a tight smile. "You're going to get well," he almost whispered. "You're going to get well, darling, and it will be all right..."

"Yesterday was a good day, Dorian -- even with the blood I spent all morning coughing up. On a good day..." He couldn't even begin to tell the man how a bad day went.

"I won't let you go," Dorian murmured. "We'll hold on, all right? We'll hold on..." Though things seemed to be much grimmer than he'd ever dreamed they'd become. If Klaus died...

If Klaus died...

"I'm not going to just give up, Dorian," Klaus told him, sounding for a moment, like the Major, like Iron Klaus. Like the man who'd thwarted Soviet plans worldwide, who could fire a Magnum one-handed, sleep like a log while captive on a Soviet submarine... sounded like him, as long as Dorian didn't look at him.

"Never, darling," Dorian agreed as the nurse came back to check on them.

"Everything's going just fine," she announced solemnly. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Klaus told her stoically, refusing to do anything more than swallow whatever it was that had been rising in his throat. He hadn't let go of Dorian's hand.

"You don't need a pan?" she questioned gently.

"No, I'm fine right now." A little sterner now, and Dorian could feel Klaus's fingers shake minutely, either in frustration at something, or anger.

"All right," the woman said, nodding. "I'll be back again in a few moments." That having been said, she moved to the next bed to speak with the patient there.

"Poor darling," Dorian murmured. "I know you hate it. It seems to be going quickly, though," he said, eyeing the bag. "Soon, we'll be on our way home again."

Klaus was looking a little paler now, a little more restless as he shifted again, holding Dorian's hand tighter. "I bet you wish you were out robbing places instead of here..."

"No," Dorian told him, clasping Klaus's palm. "Actually, there's nowhere in the world I'd rather be. What on earth could I steal that would be equal to you?"

"I dunno." Klaus shrugged minutely, tiredly. "I'd rather be out stealing with you than here."

At that, Dorian's eyes flooded with warmth, a sudden tingling in his sinuses held at bay. "Darling, truer words have never been spoke," he chuckled. "I'd love for you and I to be out doing just that." Anything would be better than being here, amongst the ill, better than Klaus being one of them....

"You know... Chief always called my smokes cancer sticks. Never thought, though..." He coughed once, a dragging painful noise, before swallowing and holding his breath for a moment to suppress it.

"Darling, I can get you one of their plastic pails if you like," Dorian said gently. "To spit up in, if you need to. Or a cloth or something..."

Another stifled cough, and Klaus's pride finally gave in. "Yes, thanks..."

Extricating his fingers gently, the thief rose, hurrying to the nurse's station and quietly requesting the items he needed. The pail was pink, rectangular and plastic, and the cloth was white and cool with water. By the time he got back to Klaus's gurney, the other man needed it.

Another choking noise, and Klaus finally let the blood rise out of his chest properly, thick clotted globs of it that might as well have been parts of his lung itself. He had to twist a little, sitting up some on the gurney to make it cleanly into the pail, but that only brought him closer to Dorian.

"There, there," Dorian whispered, aching and turning pale himself as he gently rubbed Klaus's back. "There, there, darling, shhh, it's all right..." Oh, but it *wasn't*! It wasn't good at all!

When the coughing stopped, Klaus took the cloth from Dorian's hands and wiped his own mouth, looking thoroughly drained. The cloth was returned to Dorian with a press of shaking fingers, blood tinted.

"I'll rinse this out, darling, and be right back," Dorian said, but the nurse was coming back, and she reached her hands out for the thing.

"I'll take care of this," she murmured, looking at Klaus sadly. It sent chills of fear down Dorian's spine, but he nodded, thankful.

Once she was gone, he whispered to Klaus again. "There, there. Lay back and rest some, if you can..."

"I want this fucking IV to be done with and to go home," he growled shakily, even as he did lay back, free hand finding Dorian's again.

"Just a bit longer, darling," Dorian told him, "and then we can go. We'll go home and to bed..."

"I'd like that." Klaus' words were sighed, eyes closed tightly again. So strange, to see his snaps of anger drain off so quickly.

"Just a little longer..."

It WAS just a little longer, only about ten minutes more, when the nurse came back and gently disengaged the IV. "There we go," she said. "Lay here as long as you need. We're all done, and you can go when you feel up to it."

A mumble not of thanks but tired assent, and Klaus stayed very still for long moments before he started to sit up carefully. "Let's go home."

"Here, darling," Dorian told him, standing to help him. "If you like, I'll help you to the front lobby and then go fetch the car..." Klaus seemed so pale and so ill! /My poor darling.../

"No, I can walk fine," Klaus told him once he was standing mostly straight, even if he was using Dorian's arm for support.

"All right." As much as Dorian didn't want to agree to it, he did, helping Klaus along slowly as they left. They had to pause in the lobby after all, Klaus turning pale as they went, but then they continued on until Dorian had him settled in the Benz, seatbelt on, seat leaning back slightly. "There, darling," he whispered. "I'll get you home soon."

"'ll just nap," Klaus murmured quietly, eyes already closing. "'m glad 'm not driving..."

"All right," Dorian said quietly, shutting the door to hurry around to the other side. "I'm going to turn the air on, all right? It'll make you feel a bit better."

"All right..." The handsome face looked drawn for a moment, and then Klaus seemed to relax again. "'m not letting you out of my sight..."

The car started, Dorian buckling himself in before driving to the gate to pay for their parking. A glance to the side revealed that Klaus was asleep already, and for that, he was grateful. It had been hard to see his Major that way; hard to see him ill. /My poor darling,/ he thought, shaking slightly as he headed the car back for Schloss Eberbach. /My poor darling.../

~~~~~

Radiotherapy the next day had been better, and it had been worse. Better because it was painless, and the side-effects it had took time to set in; worse because Klaus was alone again, in a hospital gown in that huge machine, while Dorian was on the other side with the technician, only able to watch, and then told to go wait in the waiting room.

The German man was feeling better than he had after chemo the day before, though, even after half an hour under that machine. Klaus didn't sleep on the ride home, and seemed pretty steady when they entered the house.

Going to bed right away again was not an option for Klaus; he was sick and tired, yes, but tired and sick of living in that room. He insisted that they at least go into the library -- and there found the butler setting out food and straightening very obviously a stack of videos atop the television set, which hadn't been moved since Dorian had bought it.

"I think he's trying to mime things now," Klaus sighed when the man was gone, sinking down into the sofa.

Dorian gave a chuckle, settling down beside him. "Tell you what... why not take his suggestion? We can sit and watch movies a while and you can lean on me," he said with a smile. "He even left the vanilla cookies that you like."

"I don't like cookies," Klaus grumbled, shifting nearer to Dorian. "Fine; we'll do that. 's not like we can do anything else right now..."

"Mmmm," Dorian murmured in agreement. "We'll watch the cybernetic thing again, since we didn't finish it, and I had no idea what was going on by the time we stopped. Does that sound all right?"

"Yes." He stayed still as Dorian got up, rifled through the tapes, and set up the VCR again. Klaus could remember clearly the way they'd set it up, the good mood he'd been in. Still healthy, despite the cancer having been found...

Once that was done and the tape was in, Dorian returned to the couch. The remote control was in his hand, wire pushed to the side of the television, and the plate of cookies and sandwiches was in the other. "There we go, darling," he said with a smile as he sat down beside Klaus, folding a leg up under him. "All settled in."

Not quite -- they were settled in when Klaus was close as he wanted to be, an arm around Dorian's shoulder. "Now we are." A light kiss brushed Dorian's cheek before Klaus rested his head back against the edge of the sofa. "You can start the movie."

A click of a button began the tape, and for a while they sat in companionable silence. Dorian ate one of the sandwiches as they watched, and Klaus ate a cookie, which pleased the British thief immensely. He decided that it was going to be a good day, and leaned his head against Klaus's shoulder even as the sound of a knock came upon the front door. "Expecting company, darling?" Dorian asked, knowing that Klaus was not.

"'s probably just some salesman," Klaus murmured, reaching for another cookie. He would *try* to eat it, at least. Maybe it was the constant gunfire in the movie that brought his appetite back a little. What was that the Doctor had told him, about eating in comfortable settings? "The butler will get it."

The sound of a voice in the foyer sounded firmly, crisp accent overwhelmingly German though the words weren't clear. "I don't know, darling. Sounds military-ish if you ask me..."

It took a moment for Klaus to roll that through his mind -- and by the time he did, startling to sitting upright from his slouch against Dorian, the parlor door opened.

"Darling, you dropped your cookie," Dorian murmured, alarmed as well and leaning over to pick it up.

"Klaus." The stern German intonations caught Dorian's attention from the compromising position of him leaning over Klaus's lap to get the cookie.

"Tell me that isn't who I think it is," Dorian whispered almost to himself, suddenly self-conscious.

"Good afternoon, Father," Klaus greeted, answering Dorian's question as he stood shakily in the man's presence, despite Dorian's closeness.

A hand alighted on the side of his face for a moment, lifting his chin a little higher as the man, an aged image of Klaus when he was well, surveyed him. "You've cut your hair. You look unwell."

"Yes. I tried to call you but you were unavailable," Klaus told him slowly. "I have lung cancer."

His father's gaze turned rather sharply upon Dorian, taking him in with a look that quickly discarded him. "I see. And you have known this for how long?"

"Ah..." He looked over his shoulder to Dorian for a moment, as if looking at the thief would remind him. "Four months or so."

"And four months was not enough time in which to tell me this?" The question was sharp, pointedly so.

"The doctors thought they had gotten it all," Dorian said, standing, his voice equally as barbed. "He went on a mission and didn't know that they hadn't until six weeks ago."

Klaus looked respectfully at his father, careful to keep his expression neutral enough, "And at that point, I began to try to contact you. But you are here now, and you know."

"Yes," the elder Eberbach said sternly. "And now there is this person here, and this person is not a woman."

/Not last I checked, anyway,/ Dorian thought, trying to keep from snapping it at the old man. Klaus was calm, though Dorian could tell that standing was tiring him. "No. Father, Lord Dorian Red Gloria, a contract employee of NATO. Lord Gloria, Commander Eberbach."

"Commander," Dorian greeted, though it was difficult. The man obviously didn't like him and obviously wasn't a fit father! He'd not even touched Klaus beyond that sharp-eyed survey or given any commiseration on his illness! It was all so awkward feeling compared to what he was accustomed.

All Dorian got was a sharp, cold nod, and then Klaus cut in before the old man could say more. "'ve had radiation treatment today. We will talk more when I've rested."

For a moment, it seemed that his father would say something else, his expression darkening visibly, but he seemed to change his mind. "I'll be in the usual room. I assume dinner remains at eight?"

"We eat when Klaus feels that he can," Dorian answered coolly.

"It's still served then, yes, Father," Klaus said, a compromise between both -- because yes, it *was* still served then, but he seldom ate it. Snacking was easier and simply more plausible for him. As soon as he'd told the man that, he took a step backwards to the sofa again, to sit down once more -- before he crumpled.

Automatically, Dorian's hands moved to help him, shifting Klaus down easily as he sat so that he would not fall. "Would you like another cookie?" he asked quietly, stopping the videotape to rewind it slightly as Commander Eberbach watched them in what appeared to be shock.

"No thanks. 'm not hungry right now," Klaus mumbled, bringing a hand up to cover his eyes. Just his father's presence in a room was enough to give him a headache, and the urge to smoke was overwhelming.

"You're standing in front of the television," Dorian noted, looking up at Klaus's father. "Perhaps you'd like to go rest. I'm sure you've had a long drive."

The man's eyes narrowed for a moment, in that 'something suspicious is going on' way that Klaus often used, before he turned to leave. "I will see you at dinner, Klaus Heinz."

"Would you like to lay down, darling?" Dorian asked him softly once his father was gone, fingers reaching up to lightly brush at his face. "You're paler than you were a moment ago..."

"I wonder why...?" he muttered rhetorically, shifting nearer to Dorian. "No, I'm fine here."

A hand came up, lightly pressing Klaus's head down to his shoulder. "We'll watch a bit more carnage," Dorian whispered to him, starting the tape again. "Maybe that would make you feel a bit better..."

"Maybe," Klaus chuckled a little rawly, choking back a cough for a moment before he suppressed it. "No matter what, you're not leaving."

"Darling, they'll have to pry my fingers off of you a hundred years from now," Dorian laughed softly, moving to kiss his forehead. "I'm going nowhere without you. Really."

"'s good," Klaus murmured tiredly, letting his head loll a little against Dorian's shoulder. He wasn't tired enough to sleep, though he did want to rest. The position ruined any chance of having a clear view of the screen, but he could hear the familiar noise of gunfire. "After this, we'll go to sleep. 'r I will..."

That gained him another of those kisses. "All right, sweetheart. Until then, why not rest your eyes?"

He got a slurred noise of assent and Klaus shifted minutely before finally giving in to the idea of 'resting his eyes'.... and eventually slipping into a deep doze, soothed by the familiar noise of gunfire.

~~~~~

Commander Eberbach had arrived at the dinner table to find no one. Dinner was waiting, plates were set for three, but he was the only one to arrive.

Such an occurrence was unacceptable.

Anger firmly in hand, he strode from the dining room with a sharp word to the butler indicating that dinner should be kept heated for him to search for his son and his... companion. The blond was CLEARLY unsuitable, and he had his suspicions about the man -- suspicions more than a little tinged with equal hunches concerning his son. The entire matter was disreputable, no matter whether Klaus was ill or otherwise.

Klaus had always been the sort of son who, despite his best attempts to appear upright, failed at it. His duties with NATO were often his most redeeming qualities, and those made him a vicious man at most times, a butcher often, even if he did it in the name of what was right.

At least they still weren't lounging in the library. Still, when he finally found them, he honestly believed that lounging in the library would have been preferable.

"KLAUS HEINZ VON DEM EBERBACH!!!!"

Dorian, only half-awake after spending nearly two hours watching Klaus sleep, nearly startled clean off the bed in the parlour, and he was sure that the old man's yell had probably scared Klaus half to death. "Good God, man!"

Klaus, in fact, looked as if he were a cat that had been awakened from a deep sleep by a dog chewing on its leg -- he did startle, shooting to his feet immediately, snapped to full attention. Only after he'd reacted, heart pounding, lungs gasping in air, did he consciously thank his common sense for making him put on pajamas before getting into bed.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING IN THIS HOUSE!" His father's voice was still at full bellow, despite the fact that Klaus was more than a little green around the gills.

In a rush, Dorian shifted himself out of the bed, grabbing a pan that was just beside it and holding it out just in time.

When he was finished being humiliatingly sick while his father was still standing there, still demanding an answer with his mere presence, Klaus shifted to sit on the edge of the bed, head throbbing. "I'm trying to recover, Father," he uttered in a sharply unhappy drawl, trying for his old arrogance of tone. "I know what you're thinking, sir. Don't bother."

"You unmitigatedly WRETCHED child!" The old man's voice shook with sheer anger; his very body seemed to be shaking with it, he was so furious. "And YOU, you... Faggot!" he spat out. "Get out of this house!"

"The hell you say," Dorian answered promptly, reaching for the damp cloth kept close by in a bowl for Klaus.

Klaus knotted his hands in the bedding while Dorian first wiped his forehead, then the edges of his lips. He wanted to snap at Dorian to not smoother him, not *now*, but it gave him a little more time to formulate a reaction to his father. "Lord Gloria isn't leaving, father. Your involvement in my life has been minimal; let me die in peace."

The word *die* sounded loud in the room, all motion stopping on Dorian's part as he paled and moved back slightly, waiting for whatever reaction would come next.

"You will not die," Commander Eberbach finally said slowly. "You... are my son. You are strong. You will not die, even if you have become some sort of pervert..."

"The hospital won't tell me that directly but I know -- you father, should trust a soldier's instincts on what death is," Klaus said in a more polished tone than before. He wouldn't start an argument over Dorian -- better to have his father gloss over that than dwell on it.

There was a glint in Klaus's eyes that his father had seen before in the field -- a man struck with shrapnel or otherwise hurt fatally, dying a slow and humiliating death when they didn't want to die. There was a point of damage crossed where even a strong will couldn't save them, though...

"You're not dying," Dorian whispered. "I won't *let* you *die*..."

"It's not as if either of us has a choice in the matter, Dorian," Klaus reminded his lover.

For a moment, his father stood there, stiff and silent, and finally he said quietly, "Supper is being kept hot, Klaus."

"Thank you," Klaus sighed. "'ll be in to eat in a bit."

Wordlessly, the old man turned and walked out... and if his shoulders slumped just a bit, then neither of the other men really noticed.

"Darling," Dorian said softly, shakily. "Oh, darling..."

"I love you, Dorian," Klaus murmured softly, settling back to lay down again for a few moments.

"With all my heart," the British thief whispered, looking at him helplessly. "I love you with all of my heart. I'll always love you that way, darling..."

Klaus sighed, and gave him a small smile, tight and forced, as he opened his arms to have the other man slip into them. "Promise me you won't do anything stupid."

"Define stupid," Dorian managed to say softly, face pressed to Klaus's throat tightly. "'Cause I don't know if I can do without you, darling. Really, I don't think I can..."

"Stupid would be killing yourself in any of the number of romantic ways you're prone to, Dorian, or at all," Klaus murmured. "'s real life, not Shakespeare."

That gained him a slightly shaky laugh accompanied by wetness felt against his throat. "Darling, I don't know if I can promise you that...."

"Promise me," Klaus demanded sternly, while he wove a hand softly, stroking beautiful blond hair. "'ve got a lot of people who love you. A lot of friends. 's stupid to throw it away."

"I promise," Dorian whispered wetly, beginning to shake. "Oh, God, Klaus, I don't want to promise!"

"Just don't do that, Dorian. I don't want to die knowing you're going to stop living. 'd be very sad knowing that..."

"I'd do anything to make you happy," was the hiccoughed answer. "Anything. I would. I will. I p-promise. I promise..."

"Shhh..." That hand carded through his thick hair slowly, meticulously, and Klaus pressed a kiss against it. "Let's enjoy what we've got."

"I love you, darling," Dorian whispered, hand knotted slightly in Klaus's pajama top. "It seems as if I've loved you forever. No one else has ever managed to make me... make such a fool of myself just for a chance alone..."

"'s all right. 've acted foolish because of you." Idiotic, even, though he was loathe to admit it. "You're someone... special, Dorian. World needs people like you."

That gained him a laugh that sounded so desperate and sad that it didn't seem possible it was laughter at all. "Darling, if it wasn't for people like you, there'd be no world for people like *me* to enjoy."

"People like me would kill off all of humanity if there weren't people like you." It was circular, and senseless, Klaus knew, but it was something to say.

Another of those laughs came then and Dorian seemed to brighten, at least a bit. "Darling, if you asked me, I'd tell you the world revolved around you. Sounds like you'd say the same," he teased sadly, hugging Klaus tightly. "I don't want you to die," came the whisper a moment later. "I can't bear it if you die..."

"Stop talking that way," Klaus murmured, almost an order. "Would you be doing this if I'd been killed on a mission?"

"If you'd been killed on a mission, darling, I'd have probably already slit my wrists or I'd have been right beside you. You wouldn't have made me promise not to do anything 'stupid', then," Dorian sighed. "I don't know. I don't know. If... darling, if it happens...."

"You will not die on me," Klaus murmured, the hand in Dorian's hair clutching for a moment. "You will not."

"I promise," Dorian whispered, shuddering. "I promise..."

"Thank you." Klaus kissed his lover's temple, nuzzling there for a moment. "Want to try dinner?"

"Might as well, darling. Do you think you can eat anything?" Dorian asked him quietly. "Do you think your father can resist yelling? I think he scared ten years off my life a bit ago..."

"We'll see." In answer to both if he could eat anything, or if his father would not yell. He sat up a little, still holding Dorian tightly.

"Here, darling," Dorian murmured, shifting. /I won't think about him dying. He won't. For now... for now, it can wait until tomorrow, or until the doctor says it's definite.../ "Let me help you?"

"Thanks," Klaus murmured, using Dorian's support once they were both standing. He moved a little away, but only to pull a sweater on over the pajama shirt he already wore. It looked awkward, but it was warm and Dorian wasn't one to care.

"I'm sure the cooks have probably made something marvelous for dinner, darling. Maybe even some of that nice chicken pie they do. It's light, and you like that," Dorian prattled, trying to smile at him as he wiped beneath his eyes where they remained slightly damp. "I like it, for that matter."

Klaus turned a little nearer to Dorian, head tilted down to brush dry lips against Dorian's. Tender, as he tried to convey to Dorian things he simply didn't have the capacity to say -- just how grateful he was for the blond man, his support and love... But he couldn't think of a way to say it properly. "'s good."

"Come on," Dorian said, understanding. "Let's go face that old curmudgeon of a father of yours."

They walked down the hall together, Klaus's footfalls on the tile a poor shadow of the days that the halls would echo with tromping march-steps. Leaning on Dorian carefully, subtly, Klaus was wasting extra effort to not seem to Dorian that he needed more support. He didn't move away from Dorian as they entered the dining room, though the table set for three. Klaus let Dorian help him to his chair, and only then let go of the other man. "Hello, Father."

"Klaus Heinz," the older man greeted gruffly, scowling in Dorian's direction. "We seem to be having some kind of chicken *pie* for supper!"

"We like the chicken pie," Dorian said, shrugging and settling into his chair. "It doesn't make Klaus ill, usually."

"'f I'd known you were coming, I would have told the staff to make something different," Klaus said politely to his father, reaching to take a sip of juice from the glass at his setting.

For a moment, the elder Eberbach's mouth compressed and then he coughed slightly, shaking his head. "It's fine," he said shortly.

/And it'd bloody well better be,/ Dorian thought, sighing slightly.

"All right." Klaus picked his fork up, eyed the food a little warily, and then started to eat slowly. "'t reminds me, Z dropped some papers off, I think. They're on my desk. Your statement, I think -- need to sign off on it."

"I'll sign them," Dorian nodded. "I'll call Bonham to come and take them back. He's in Bonn for a bit at the flat and needs to drop by with some documents from Jamesie..."

"Your men haven't seen you in a while," Klaus murmured, nodding. "Have him drop by, then."

That gained him another nod from Dorian. "Of course, darling. After all, Jamesie's still in London, so we're all safe. I'm not sure if he'd *bawl* because you're ill or try to assist in shuffling off your mortal coil, so to speak...."

"Whichever would be cheaper." A half chuckled comment as he chewed a few more bites -- not doing too badly, despite his father's silent presence in the room.

The man's silence ended a moment later. "Klaus, tell me what you have been doing to the house in my absence."

"Doing to the house, sir?" He looked up, completely calm, over at his father.

"Yes. Changes and the like," his father replied a bit stiffly. The bantering conversation between his son and that... FAIRY really wasn't anything to which he could continue to listen!

"The staff moved a bed down into the parlor after I fell on the stairs and tore my chest some. Essentially, my bedroom has been moved to the parlour. Aside from that, no major changes."

"I see." That attempt at conversation killed, his father sat back and steadily began to eat the chicken pie as Dorian smiled at Klaus and ate his own, watching to see what Klaus could manage.

Klaus ate roughly half of it, which was an accomplishment for him in one sitting, and then turned back to his father. "Father, I've been wondering about a painting in the family collection..."

"Which one's that?" his father asked, settling back in his chair.

"The Pumpkin... ah, The Man in Purple." A moment to see his father's reaction -- God, the old man knew Klaus hated it to death, had tried to sell it behind his back once...

"You will NOT sell it!" his father told him sternly. "I know you tried to before, and I know you don't like it, but it's a part of our *national* *heritage*!"

/What I want to know,/ Dorian thought, watching them with interest, /is about the companion piece to it that's gathering dust upstairs.../

"I'm not going to sell it! There's another painting that Dorian and I found in on of the attic rooms -- of Luminous Benidict."

At that name, his father went strangely still, looking down the table at him and then *looking* at Dorian, truly *looking* at him. "I'll be damned," he whispered, and that strange expression was something Klaus wasn't sure he'd ever seen before -- shock and a strange sense of what was almost understanding.

It was an eerie understanding of something that Klaus didn't even try to comprehend. Two lovers and enemies destined to meet again and again? "Benidict later became the Earl of Gloria... and the title has passed down through the Gloria family," Klaus pressed a little quietly.

"I... see," his father said slowly. "Perhaps we can discuss this further in the library. I would like some cognac," Commander Eberbach noted. It was the sort of discussion which would prompt a need of something containing liquor.

Klaus nodded, and looked over to Dorian, even as he picked up his juice glass to take with him.

He was going to find a way to get The Man in Purple for Dorian. Somehow.

Dorian smiled at him, standing with him to slide his chair and Klaus's beneath the table. "Having read the diary," he murmured just loud enough for the other man to hear, "I can see why he'd need a drink..."

The elder Eberbach moved past them, then, leading the way into the hall and down to the library. Once there, Klaus's father poured himself a fairly generous drink, glancing at the two of them as he seated himself, scowling. "Luminous Benidict," he said finally, "killed Tyrian Persimmon. Killed him, went home, fathered children, and eventually came back to Schloss Eberbach."

"Came back...?" Klaus questioned, leaning against one of the sturdy book-cases. "Why?"

"To die."

The words seemed to ring strangely in the library, gaining a little shift of uncertainty from Dorian before Klaus's father spoke again. "I told you, years ago, that we had found a body in the attic. It was almost certainly that of Luminous Benedict, in a locked room with a... a *bed*, and a portrait, among other things."

Dorian could see his lover processing that fact, slowly, steadily, in silence for a moment -- before he drained the glass of juice and set it on one of the book shelves. "Makes sense."

"Yes," Dorian agreed pointedly. "It does."

Klaus's father gave a little sound of disgust. "He was a queer, and Tyrian was certainly not a man of upstanding moral character, either." He shook his head. "Things just don't change."

Just one more back-handed comment Klaus didn't want to hear or put up with... His jaw clenched a little as he looked at his father. "When I die, I want Dorian to have The Man in Purple."

The appalled expression on his father's face said it all. "CERTAINLY not! That thing is a national treasure! Certainly you can't think I'd..."

"No..." Dorian whispered, hands coming up to cover his face. "You can't die! I'd rather have you than the portrait!"

"I'm aware," Klaus murmured quietly, folding his arms loosely over his chest. "I'm aware, Dorian. I know. But I'm being realistic -- and Father, better to give it than have it stolen."

THAT certainly seemed to startle his father. "Who would *DARE*?" he bellowed.

Klaus tensed a little more in the face of that bellow, but only replied, "Someone who would appreciate it for more than just a piece of history."

"Darling, it's all right, really, I..."

"I am going to bed, Klaus Heinz. I will leave in the morning. I will not stay here and watch you make a faggot of yourself, dying or not!" his father yelled.

Fury spread over the old man's face, and Klaus watched with a barely reigned in temper. He wanted to snap, wanted to say something... "Then this will probably be the last time I see you. Thank... thank you for raising me."

The sharp sound of the library door shutting was the only response he was given.

"I'm so sorry, darling. I'm so sorry," Dorian whispered, biting his lip.

"It's always been this way. I shouldn't have expected things to change any." Klaus, too, was turning around and away from Dorian pretty quickly, a way to hide the expression on his face until he could pull it together. /God *dammit*./ "Lets go to bed, Dorian."

"All right, darling. Tomorrow, if you're feeling all right, maybe we could go upstairs and... and dust a bit, in Benidict's room?' he asked a bit shakily, standing to help Klaus up and to pull him closer. "It will be all right, darling," Dorian whispered. "I love you..."

"I know." Klaus was biting the insides of his cheeks though, biting back the emotions that wanted to rise up. So, the old man really couldn't stand him. Even dying, he couldn't manage to dredge up pity, or... well, fine.

"Maybe tomorrow will look better, darling," came the quiet murmur, Dorian moving around him as Klaus refused to turn. He took Klaus in his arms, pulling that dark head down to his shoulder. "It will be all right, sweetheart. It will..."

Fingers at the back of his head, touching the slightly thinned short-shorn locks, were a comfort, as Klaus kept his head bowed, arms coming tight around Dorian. He wanted to cry, was so very close to it as he almost hid in his lover's embrace. "I'm such an idiot..."

"No, darling. You're not an idiot," Dorian whispered, kissing his ear gently and holding him close. "You just want your father to love you. I understand..."

A soft hitch of breath left Klaus, and Dorian could feel the man tensing to suppress tears. "He never has... I don't know why I expected... even understanding from the damned... bastard..."

One hand warmly rubbed at his back, Dorian wanting to cry *for* him. "Shh, darling. Maybe he just doesn't know how to show it. He's had two very terrible shocks in one day, sweetheart. Maybe he'll stay tomorrow. Maybe things will be different. Shhh, it's all right. You can, if you need to, you know." He didn't say the word -- cry.

"Can't." An aching admission -- or, perhaps, a denial -- as another breath hitched in his throat. He'd said such a thing to Dorian before, though, hadn't he? Yes. It was just the combination of events... A second hitch sounded, then a shuddery noise, and Klaus let it go.

"There, there," Dorian whispered, holding him close as he wept. "There, there. It will be all right. Tomorrow will be better. I'm so sorry, darling. I'm so sorry. Shhh, it's all right..."

It was both good and horrible for Klaus, to finally let go of those particular angers and sadnesses. Tears were humiliating, but Dorian could be trusted in times of humiliation -- the thief loved him, and that was all the assurance he needed. He stayed in the safety of the man's arms for what felt like forever, before he finally pulled back, drying his face.

"Let's go to bed, darling," Dorian told him tenderly. "Come to bed, and I'll hold you close..."

Letting out a shaky breath of air, Klaus let Dorian lead him back to the parlour they were living out of -- yes, he'd probably go to sleep right away, but it would be in the warm comfort of Dorian's understanding.

~~~~~

Morning dawned bright and quiet, sunlight splashing into the parlour where Dorian and Klaus lay tangled and close in bed together. Klaus had wakened for a short period, but he was dozing again, and that left Dorian with the quiet pleasure of watching his lover sleep. Even ill, Klaus was exquisite, full lips parted slightly, though chapped, dark lashes brushing his cheeks. /My beautiful darling,/ Dorian thought sadly. /How will I ever get by without you?/

There was no answer that came to mind for that, though -- and no answer that would. It would have to be a struggle of day by day, by day... Klaus didn't know what he was asking of Dorian, to expect the blond man to trudge onward. He couldn't know.... Klaus had been the focus of Dorian's life for the better part of the last ten years. Every moment not spent stealing had been spent with Klaus, on his missions, following him about, dreaming of him, wishing for him, and now that he had him...

Now that he had him, some unbelievably and impossibly cruel God that Dorian didn't even believe in was going to take him *away*....

Black lashes fluttered and Dorian pasted a smile onto his face, whispering, "Good morning again, darling."

"Morn'," Klaus mumbled, lashes falling again for a moment as he shifted closer to Dorian, dragging in a coughing breath. Drowsy was a comfortable place to be, barely able to remember the incident of the night before.

"You're beautiful when you sleep, darling," he was informed, kisses brushing over his forehead. "My exquisite lover. My love..." Arms folded around Klaus, held him close, fingers stroking up and down his back as a thigh slid between his own lightly.

A soft huff of breath made itself known against the side of his neck, and Klaus arched against Dorian's body. Strange, that he still wanted the other man's touch so much -- but perhaps it was a sort of desperation over lost time with the man. He'd barely been home for long at all... and even weeks, months, years, with Dorian wouldn't be enough for Klaus. "Mm. Want you." It was a day of rest between the schedule of radiation treatments and chemotherapy, and Klaus wanted desperately to make the best of energy that failed him when he least expected it to.

With a slow motion, Dorian came over him, mouth tender as he stole Klaus's lips, tongue invading the warm cavern of his mouth with a wash of breath and touch. "Yes," the blond man whispered. "Yes, darling. You can have me. You can have anything you want..." Hands traced down the length of Klaus's torso, one pausing at a hip as the other raised to lightly cup his face as Dorian kissed him.

A slow, sensuous melding of mouth against mouth, Klaus trying to tug off his pajamas while not loosing contact with Dorian's familiar form. "I want to be in you, and have... you do the same... I've missed the feel of your body..." All of it, every part he could conceivably touch, he'd missed!

"Yes, darling," Dorian whispered, dragging his mouth away to send tingling kisses down the line of Klaus's jaw to throbbing pulse, teasing at his throat. The feel of those sucking kisses caressed from pulse to hollow and back out the delicate winging of a collarbone, teasing and light as nimble fingers stroked lightly at hip and arm. "Mmmm," came the nearly-purred sound of enjoyment as Dorian nuzzled at a shoulder, down to the underside of Klaus's arm, and from there to the width of his chest.

There were places where the radiation was given that he knew to avoid, marked easily by discoloration. Soft, pleased noises left Klaus, giving himself up fully to having Dorian touch him like that, while his own hands tried to divest Dorian of his clothing.

Soft laughter rang out, tangled curls spilling everywhere as Klaus pushed at the satin pajama top. "Darling...." Dorian whispered, working his way down Klaus's belly, now, with nips that teased and promised pleasure, tongue stroking firmly against his lover's belly. He could feel the German's body tensing beneath him slightly and he smiled, mapping out that area of flat stomach slowly, deliciously, enjoying every touch. "I love you."

"It took me... ah, too long to realize... that," he gritted out, finally unbuttoning it completely, sliding his hands beneath it to stroke over the even smoother silk of Dorian's skin. As he did so, his slim blond lover managed to tug his pajama bottoms off of his hips and down, smiling slightly at what was revealed. "Ohh, Christ," Klaus swore softly, arching as the band cleared that needy flesh. "Dorian..."

"Ahhh, there we are, darling," Dorian whispered, a hand closing firmly about the blood-filled length and squeezing with consideration. "Mmmmmm, you look urgent, don't you?" he whispered with a smile, head laying on Klaus's belly.

"Need you," Klaus breathed softly, nearly lower than a whisper as he choked back a cough. "Don't stop."

The feel of warm lips enveloping the head of his cock, sucking him bottomlessly into the back of Dorian's throat, was enough to make him arch up off of the bed. His pajama pants tangled around his thighs, but Dorian was skillful at pulling them off, slowly and steadily, and before he knew it, he was nearly naked. His beautiful blond thief was swallowing him deeply, fingers sliding back to tease at the tiny hole between his nether cheeks with delicate touch, prying only gently. "Mmmmm!"

If he was going to be a fag in his father's eyes, he might as well *really* be one with Dorian and do something enjoyable at the same time, he thought more than a little bitterly, before letting that thought drown in the next wash of pleasure. "Yes..."

A saliva-slick finger invaded him, teasing at him as Dorian sucked leisurely at the heady length of him, enjoying the taste of him. When he finally pulled away, it was only to smile seductively up at his lover, lips reddened from use, finger lightly plying its wiles deep in Klaus, teasing at the spongy touch of prostate. "Well, darling?" he teased, leaning to kiss Klaus's belly. "Hmmm?"

Every brush there brought a tightening of the muscles on Klaus's stomach, a ripple of pleasure making him arch and move towards the press of sensation. "I want you. Once... wasn't enough..."

"No," Dorian agreed, the sound full of adoration and lust as he reached for the table by the bedside and the lubricant hidden within its drawer. "Once with you could never be enough, darling."

"I always wondered... why people wanted to do this..." And now he was learning -- *had* learned, but it was certainly proving too late to make up for a repressed life, wasn't it? The German laid there quietly, eyes tracking Dorian's every move. It was early morning and he was laying among half-removed clothing, tangled sheets, waiting for his lover to fuck him...

It was heaven.

"Mmm, sweetheart," Dorian whispered, leaning to kiss him, fingers now generously lubed as they snuck between his thighs again, a fingertip teasing lightly at the tight wrinkle of flesh hidden there. "People want to do this because it feels so *good*... *I* want to do this because I want for you to feel good, and I want to feel good with you..."

"And it does feel good," Klaus agreed breathily, spreading his legs a little more for the blond man. "With you... everything feels good."

That gained him another drugging kiss as Dorian plied tenderly at tight flesh, forearm brushing against Klaus's erection even as he plunged his fingers deep, filling his lover with slick preparation. "Mmmmmm," Dorian murmured, pulling back to slide between Klaus's legs. "Ready, darling?"

"Ready." Wanting, willing, waiting to be filled and taken by his lover... Shifting, Klaus hooked a leg, still well muscled but much leaner than it had ever been, around Dorian's waist, drawing him in. "Very ready."

Penetration came slow and easy, accompanied by the feel of Dorian's mouth on his chest, teasing at nipples. A hand furled around the stiffness jutting up from his groin and stroked as the thief seated himself fully, shuddering. "You feel... *so*...." Dorian sighed, leaning up to kiss Klaus. "Mmmmmmm..."

It was starting to set in that he'd never get accustomed to the sensation of being filled like that, of Dorian plowing carefully into his body and the heated sparks it sent through him. He was glad that a kiss stifled the soft groan that wrung itself loose of him. "My beautiful darling..." The words caressed his ear as Dorian pulled out of him slightly and pushed back in again, a motion made of hip and thigh and fingers splayed across Klaus's belly. Each motion seemed to stoke at those sparks, driving them flying through his very blood, and there was no way his lover couldn't know what it was doing to him.

"Yours." Ragged agreement as Klaus pushed them together more with a flex of his hips, straining for those sharp sparks of pleasure. How could Dorian not see the flush of pale skin, the tremor of muscle around and beneath him?

"Do you want more, darling?" Dorian breathed, fingers feathering over Klaus's cheek even as his other palm held him up slightly so that their bellies rubbed together against Klaus's cock but his weight wasn't on the other man. "Do you want it harder?" It was a sweet tease, but a tease nonetheless.

"More," Klaus agreed to both, shifting again to press himself deeper against Dorian. So, so damned good...

The next thrust was slightly rough as Dorian shifted, bringing his knees up beneath Klaus to support himself and tugging his lover's legs to wrap them around his hips. "All right, darling," he husked, pulling Klaus to him, hands on his flanks to pull him closer in time to the beat of his thrusts as they shifted, became faster, deeper, further....

Just how Klaus wanted him. Just how Klaus wanted Dorian for always -- in him, on him, just touching, joined and moving as one well oiled machine together, a roll of hips and bodies together. "Dorian, lover, mine, yes, yes..."

It became obvious very quickly that it wouldn't last much longer, the pace growing frantic, pleasure growing sharp. Dorian could feel liquid intensity building in the heavy weight of his balls as he thrust deep into Klaus, and he panted, shuddering, reaching a hand to stroke along Klaus's shaft. "I'm... going... to...!" he breathed, moaning.

Always, Dorian had felt a need to warn Klaus -- as if he might protest or some other idiocy. Like he could do more than form a grunted moan with his lips, clutching Dorian tighter still as the rub of prostate and its pulses of pleasure, with the hand on his cock, drove him cleanly over the peak, and Dorian after him.

Moments later, sweaty and limp, the nudge of mouth to mouth sang between them. "I've seen heaven," Dorian declared, limp atop him, just barely keeping his weight off of Klaus. He didn't want to move -- it felt too good just then, even hot and sticky. "My dearest darling..."

"Mmm." Drifting in the warm haze that came after a long-needed release in his lover's arms, Klaus could only smile a little, nodding. "Mmm, ja."

"In a moment," Dorian promised, "I'll go fetch breakfast. Would you like that, darling? Mmmm, fruit and crepes or something light, all right? It'll be good, and I'll feed it to you here..."

"'st long as I don't have to leave bed yet," Klaus murmured with a smile. Mornings were always best for him -- when he was strongest and felt the most energetic. Despite the painful thickness in his lungs -- with breakfast he'd have to take his medications and the inhaler would probably help. Even though sometimes it didn't help.

That earned him another kiss, slow and most thorough. "Mmmm, no, you don't have to get up at all if you don't like. We'll just stay here all day," Dorian purred. "I'll read to you. How would you like that?"

Stretching a little, the German man let that idea roll through his head. "Ja. Get the butler to bring newspapers, too." He hated to be behind in the news, even if he knew that knowing it wouldn't do him a whit of good.

"Mmmhmmmmm," Dorian said, kissing him one more time before moving to slide out of the bed and slip into a robe. "I'll be back shortly, darling. With coffee and everything!"

NescafÇ and everything sounded distinctly pleasing to Klaus, and he nodded, shifting again amidst sticky sheets. /Need to wash./ Even ill, he was still fastidious. "I'll take a quick shower. 'n we can change the sheets."

"That sounds like a BEAUTIFUL idea," Dorian told him, kissing him again as he sat up. "Your mouth is irresistible this morning, darling."

"Doesn't feel irresistible." It felt dry and a little raw -- but kissing Dorian had helped that actually, and he gladly gave in to another shared kiss. "Go on -- go."

With that last kiss, Dorian was gone, flitting out to the kitchens after throwing on his sapphire silk robe. He knew he smelled of sex and he really didn't care, but neither did the kitchen staff, it seemed. Indeed, most of Eberbach's servant population was entirely glad for the Earl of Gloria's presence, for a variety of reasons. The most prominent ground for that satisfaction was that the Earl of Gloria made Major Eberbach happy. Some were joyful that the Master of Eberbach had finally learned how to *be* happy, even though it was so late in his life and he was so ill. Others were simply grateful because it made their lives easier.

"Could we have crepes and strawberries for breakfast? Oh, and whipped cream, too?" Dorian requested, smiling brilliantly at the head cook, who promptly smiled back at him and went to work. In short order, he had a tray filled with breakfast and coffee to boot, and was on his way back down the hall, bare feet and all.

At the same time, Klaus was emerging from the bathroom across from the parlour, patting dry his short hair. Part of him hated to do that, to take such care, but he'd realized that buffing only made the slow falling out worse. Not that it showed much of a difference with his hair so short. /Thankfully./ He'd changed into a different pair of pajamas, and managed a weary smile for Dorian as he saw the large tray of food that Dorian had.

"Breakfast is served," Dorian drawled in that delicious British accent that sent tingles down Klaus's spine.

Klaus let Dorian enter the parlour first, him following and closing the door behind him. "House is quiet -- I think my father's left already."

"Maybe he's just not up yet," Dorian suggested, putting down the tray and turning to fold his arms lightly around Klaus.

Klaus took that suggestion with a disbelief-filled noise and a shake of his head, even as he leaned into Dorian. "Nein. That would be very unlikely."

"Darling..." A knock on the door interrupted those words and so Dorian called instead, "Come in," not letting go of Klaus in the least.

It didn't matter, in the end, because it was the butler, an envelope in hand. "Sir, your father left this for you this morning..."

Pulling back a little, to take the small envelope in his hand, he nodded thanks to the man. When the butler had left, pulled away completely to sit on the edge of the bed, not even pausing. It was opened immediately.

"What does it say, darling?" Dorian asked him softly, watching Klaus's expression carefully.

It was an expression that seemed to be unsure of where it was heading next -- sadness, elation? "He says you can have both pictures. And that bed."

That seemed to startle Dorian, bringing him to sit beside Klaus. "Does he say anything else, darling?"

The hand that passed him the little note, written in sharp script on card-stock, was unsteady. "Something he's never said before." Bittersweet, to finally see that emotion expressed, even if it was only on a sheet of paper.

The words, their spiky little inscription scrawled delicately there, made Dorian smile. "See, darling?" he whispered, wrapping an arm around Klaus. "I knew this morning would look better..." He hugged Klaus closely.

"In a way." Klaus let his eyes close, let the warmth of Dorian's half-embrace enfold him. Yes, it was better. Dorian would have the pictures when... and he wouldn't... not without knowing that his father didn't hate him. It still couldn't change years of a stiff, unhappy existence coming to such a quick end, but it definitely helped.

Lips brushed his temple tenderly. "Come on. We'll eat breakfast and then I'll kiss you from head to toe in celebration. How's that sound?"

"Sounds... like a plan for today." Klaus managed to smile just a little. And it did sound like a good plan.

"Good," Dorian said. "Now, open your mouth.... I'm going to feed you *strawberries*!"

~~~~~

The waiting room was filled with people and Dorian was as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. He had a feeling he knew what they were going to say -- both of them did -- but he didn't want to hear it. Already, four weeks of waiting had passed, four weeks of half-treatments and pitying looks from the nurses. "How much longer do you suppose it will take?" he asked Klaus softly.

"Before they get to me? Five more minutes perhaps." Klaus looked downright *ill* that morning. And tired. He could barely keep his straight-backed posture, the thick sweater he wore not quite thick enough for his comfort.

"I hope it's soon. I don't want you out when you feel this bad..." Dorian said softly. "THEY should come to YOU when you feel so bad..."

"I hate being in the Schloss so much," Klaus murmured, tapping his fingers on the arm of the chair. "I'm tired of being sedentary."

Dorian understood *that*. "Tell you what. Tomorrow, we'll take a picnic somewhere, all right? If you feel like it. We'll go out," he tempted, trying to smile for his lover.

"I'd enjoy going out somewhere." It was only getting colder, though, so if they picnicked, it would have to be someplace shielded from the wind. "Anywhere. Those same walls, every day, are driving me up a... well, a wall."

"Mr. Eberbach...?" It wasn't the nurse they dealt with often now, but another -- just to lead them down to the room.

"Well," Dorian muttered as she told them to have a seat and left them behind. /This doesn't bode well, no, it does *not*.../ "I wonder..."

"You wonder what, Dorian?" Klaus asked quietly, not liking it one bit at all, expression clearly saying that.

"Oh, just what they're going to say," was the answer, as lightly spoken as the Briton could manage.

"I don't see an IV drip." That summed up fairly clearly what was going to be said -- at least, to Klaus it did. A terrible feeling of being scared began to sink in, after so long of dealing with it calmly. /I really am going to die a coward's death./

Fingers reached out and lightly closed around Klaus's. "I'll be right here for you, darling," he whispered. "*Right* here."

"Mm." A miserable-sounding quiet musing, and Klaus remained quiet until the door opened again.

"Good morning, Major Eberbach," the doctor greeted solemnly. "I see you have someone with you. That's good. How are you this morning, Mr....?"

"Dorian Red Gloria. Earl of Gloria," Dorian answered promptly. "I'm doing well, I suppose." /Considering that Klaus is dying..../

"What's this about?" Klaus asked flatly, trying to not glare at the doctor.

Seating himself, the older man steepled his hands lightly, only glancing down at the chart laid out on his desk. "Major Eberbach, you've been having chemotherapy and radiation treatments for some time now. We had hoped that it would lessen the amount of cancer in your body since we had already cut a good deal of it out." He paused, looking at both of them. "Unfortunately, at the rate we're going, the chemotherapy will kill you long before it kills the cancer cells. I'm very sorry, Major. The treatment isn't working."

"Oh..." Dorian whispered, looking at Klaus.

He'd been expecting it.

Somehow, that didn't make it any easier. Truly, he would never return to duty again, serve his country and NATO, command anything, or spend much longer with Dorian. "Ah." Bottle-green eyes slid shut for a moment and Klaus was silent as he jerked together falling pieces of himself, his mask of solid calm. "What now, then?"

Taking a deep breath, the doctor said softly, "Now we talk about pain management and Hospice care..."

"No. There will be no nurses caring for me, no strangers..." Doing *anything*. "If it is going to get that bad, I will shoot myself."

"NO!" Dorian cried, unaware that he'd even done so as he brought a hand up to cover his mouth in horror. "*I'LL* take care of you!"

"Dorian..." Klaus's tone was quiet as he murmured that, glancing over to the man. There was a point where it was quality of life over quantity...

"Please!" came the whisper, Dorian's skin white, his eyes gleaming from them. "*Please*."

There would be no discouraging that, not when Dorian looked so set in something. "Tell... tell me about pain management," Klaus said to the doctor, a little shakily, but he said it.

With a nod, the doctor began speaking. "First of all..."

~~~~~

"I'm sorry I reacted so badly," Dorian apologized later as they were on their way home. "I couldn't bear it if you killed yourself. I couldn't. I'm so sorry, darling!"

For most of the ride home, Klaus had been intensely silent, sunk deep into his own thoughts. "I should have died in a mission, not this way."

/If you had died on a mission, I'd have followed after you.../ "Maybe," was all Dorian said softly.

"I'm sorry, Dorian, that everything is turning out this way..." That Dorian loved him, that it was all just a waste in the end.

Dorian's voice was soft when he answered. "I don't regret anything to do with you, Klaus. I never could. I want to be by you every moment that we have..."

"Dorian, people like me aren't supposed to die this way." He'd always been prepared, uncaringly, to die in a mission. It would have been fast, probably painless, and with dignity.

"I know, darling," Dorian replied sadly. "I know. But... I.... I don't want you to die. And I don't know how to deal with that yet. I'll try. Soon. All right? It's just so impossible..."

"I'm tired. I don't want anyone -- *you* -- to remember me like this." He couldn't look at the blond man as he said that -- had to glance out a window for fear of the earl seeing the shaky emotions his voice wasn't betraying half as much as his eyes were.

"I love you so much," Dorian told him softly. "I just want to keep you with me as long as I can. No matter what, my memories of you will always be the most wonderful part of my life, Klaus. Always..."

It didn't matter for Klaus what he did... because either way, it was ending. He'd be dead soon, just... nothing. If a heaven and hell *did* exist, it didn't take much thought for him to figure out where he was going. And if it didn't... then there was nothing. /I can at least make him happy. I'm not going to get better, so for Dorian.../ "Tomorrow..." Tomorrow he could either dive for the nothingness, or try for something else. "Tomorrow let's go on that picnic."

"All right, darling," Dorian said shakily. "We can do whatever you want. Anything, really. Do you want to stay at the Schloss? Would you rather come to North Downs with me, maybe? Anything..."

Klaus shook his head firmly. "Nein. I said a long time ago, when I first joined NATO that I wouldn't die anywhere other than Germany. I... couldn't do otherwise."

"Then we'll stay right here," Dorian said, agreeing. "We won't go anywhere. Just here..."

Here. The bed, in which he spent more and more time, tired, sleepy, too fatigued sometimes to do much more than have Dorian read to him. On the bad days... "We'll watch the news when we get back." They'd sit on the sofa, still touch... and maybe he could find a way to lift Dorian's mood.

"That sounds fine, darling. I'll send the butler out to fetch your medicines and we can have some of those vanilla cookies you like so much...."

"Sure." The edges of his mouth twitched up just minutely. He really *didn't* like those cookies so much, but he could *stomach* them, so he might as well eat them. "I... I'm sorry it's turned out like this, Dorian. If I'd known everything was going to go this way, I would have... so much sooner..."

"Darling, the years loving you have been wonderful. This..." Dorian shook his head. "You and I, that's just the climax of the whole thing. Nothing could ever be as wonderful as this. No regretting anything. All right?"

"I regret that I treated you so badly, for so long." There, the one thing that worried at Klaus's mind, finally said. He wished that *he* had known for longer that he loved the other man. Then, perhaps knowing that he'd be gone from Dorian so soon wouldn't hurt as badly.

"I don't," the Briton returned with a little laugh. "Mmmm, darling. It was the most marvelous chase. It only made finally winning you, finally getting to love you, a more precious and wonderful thing. Truly. If you had realized too soon, I might not have been prepared to love you as much as I do now. I wasn't very mature, in the beginning..."

Klaus's mouth twitched up again, a little less sad than before. "You're still not mature, Dorian," he teased a little, shifting in the seat and letting one hand drift to settle on Dorian's knee. "If you were grim all the time..."

"THEN you'd know I was mature, hm?" Dorian teased in return.

The hand on his knee squeezed gently. "Yeah. And I'd be disappointed."

"I'm glad you feel that way, darling," Dorian said softly. "I love you madly, you know."

"Madly?" One dark eye-brow rose in question at him, hoping Dorian meant that in the very British way he often did -- to emphasize something.

"With every breath in me," Dorian clarified.

Relaxing a little, Klaus nodded -- good to know that Dorian wasn't planning on losing his mind anytime soon. That amused him just a little, but he didn't laugh, only looked up to the approaching gates of the Schloss. "I'm much the same."

"I know, darling. I know," Dorian said softly.

Quiet fell as they drove through the gates, rolling up the drive. When the car was parked, Klaus leaned over, a little tiredly, and brushed a kiss against Dorian's mouth. "Danke."

"I love you so much," Dorian whispered, caressing his cheek. "So much."

The stroke of fingers was felt, light over his skin, across high, sharp cheekbones. "If you believe at all in second chances, Dorian... maybe we'll get a third."

"I believe that no love this strong could ever come to an end," Dorian murmured quietly, turning his face to kiss those fingers. "Ever."

/Strong.../ Klaus let his fingers linger against Dorian's lips, touching warm, damp skin. "Let's go in."

That suggestion was taken to heart, Dorian shifting to get out of the car and coming around to Klaus's side to open the door for him. "I'll send your butler to fill your scripts, darling. We'll do something else entirely for a while this afternoon."

"Anything at all," Klaus sighed, moving to stand up and use Dorian for support.

"I had the maids dust upstairs," Dorian murmured. "We could always go and visit Benidict. They even removed the old mattress and replaced it. Fresh sheets and everything...."

"If you'll help me up the stairs, then I will," Klaus murmured. That room was at the very top, and afforded a lovely view... "Tomorrow... we'll go out on the roof. It's a sight to see the lands from there." /Or, today.../

Dorian smiled at him as they headed towards the back door. "Darling, I'll carry you up, if need be," he said softly. /He's not so heavy that it would be difficult me. Not now.../

"Carry me up? No," Klaus scowled at him, sliding an arm around his lover's waist. The power wasn't behind the scowl anymore, though -- it was a reflex, a flicker of old expression. "No one is carrying me anywhere."

"Of course not, darling. Want to stop in the kitchen and tell them to bring up lunch?" Dorian asked, standing now at the bottom of the back set of stairs and looking at Klaus with a smile.

"Mm, Yes." A little extra walking that would probably leave him tired when they finally got there.

"You can wait here," Dorian offered. "I'll tell them and come right back..."

"All right." He settled on the steps once Dorian let him loose, more than willing to rest and wait. It gave him a chance to look around, taking in the familiar halls that he'd lived in for most his life.

In so many ways, those halls had never truly been home. Where he lived, yes, but not *home*. He wasn't sure he'd ever felt as though any place in particular was home -- his office with the AAlphabets, perhaps, had been more so than anything else. Now, though...

Now...

Dorian...

"They'll be bringing things up shortly, darling," came the blond man's voice as he strolled into sight. "Everything will be ready for us."

Home was wherever Dorian was, it seemed. The halls gained a new lustre when Dorian was standing in them with him... or sitting, as the case was. "Good."

"Come on, darling," Dorian said quietly, holding out a hand and helping Klaus up. "Benidict is waiting for us."

It was surprising how much of a pull there was on the offered hand, as Klaus tried, discreetly as he could manage, to haul himself up using Dorian for counterbalance. "All right. I... I'm a little tired..."

That gained him a smile, and a kiss to go with it. "Okay," Dorian told him, lightly kissing him again. "We'll go slow." Klaus wouldn't let the thief carry him, Dorian knew, but that didn't mean that he couldn't offer his support.

The German man slid an arm around Dorian's waist, grasp light. It was a tragedy that a hand and arm that had been able to support the recoil of a Magnum with so little effort, was now reduced to clutching for support. But Klaus was still intent on keeping appearances to a point. "If we go too slow, the staff will pass us on the steps up." Not the most appropriate joke, but then most of Klaus's jokes weren't.

"Then that just means we can eat when we get to the top," was the equally teasing answer as they began to go up, slowly but surely, pausing at the landing. "That won't be too bad. We can eat and lay in bed... I'll feed you grapes. Or cookies..."

"Tomorrow, Dorian, we're going to do that on the roof. I haven't been up there in too long," Klaus reiterated, even as he nodded to Dorian's suggestion. /I'm agreeing to lying in bed. As a plan for the day... fell so far, so fast.../

"That sounds perfect," Dorian agreed, stopping at the next landing momentarily to tug Klaus to him and steal a kiss from him, forestalling the need for rest and the possible objections that might have come with it had he made the suggestion of necessity. "Hmmmmm. Perfect...."

It gave a rest for Klaus's aching muscles, however brief at first -- because even as tired as he was, Klaus mustered up the strength for another, deeper kiss.

"I'll never get tired of kissing you," Dorian whispered. "Or touching you or loving you or of having you feel the same about me... Never."

And there wouldn't even be a chance to test that statement to its fullest limits. "No... you won't," Klaus observed, voice a tinge bitter.

"Darling," Dorian whispered, holding him close for a moment. "My love..." His promise hung heavily on him as he cradled the back of Klaus's head in a palm, face pressed lightly to that of his lover. He didn't know how he would bear to be alone. He just didn't... couldn't... "I love you."

"I know." Now. Now, and since he'd first been told he was sick, dying slowly. Dying even when he wasn't willing to face it... "Upstairs, Dorian. Please." /Before emotion stops me from moving where pain can't./

"Come on," came the quiet agreement, Dorian lightly shifting beside him, hand on Klaus's elbow, arm around his waist. "We'll go."

The next landing was reached just a bit quicker, the sharp bite of a life that felt particularly unfulfilling until its last gasps giving Klaus enough energy to reach it, and then finally, the level beyond, the top level, without as much trouble as it could have given him. "Has the room been dusted out?"

"Yes," Dorian replied, even though he'd already told Klaus so. "The bed's been changed, the mattress taken away. They... didn't change it after they found Benidict there, so I thought it would be a good idea to suggest that they do so. They haven't replaced the curtains, but..."

/We're too close to those two, anyway; we can't be sleeping where the body was.../ "That's fine," Klaus murmured, walking down the hall with Dorian.

"Here," Dorian said, and pushed open the door.

The servants *had* made it up before them, but Dorian had been preparing somewhat for bringing Klaus upstairs, anyway, so part of the work had already been done. A table had been set up for them, blindingly white cloth covering it. Plates were already set out, candles lit all over the room, and everything was perfectly in place. "Surprise, darling," the tall blond whispered.

"You...!" It got him a surprised laugh, turning a little to better look at Dorian. "You've been plotting this!"

"Yes," Dorian admitted. "I wanted to bring you up and..." And make love with him, kiss him all over, celebrate being *alive*.... He gave Klaus a little smile and a wink. "Get naked with you," he confessed.

"You pervert." Less accusation and more praise than Klaus would have wanted to admit to, even as he leaned close to take a kiss. "We'll start on that once the servants have come and gone." /You're perfect, Dorian... always do things like this perfectly, or near to it.../

"Mmmmhmmmmmmmm," Dorian nearly hummed in agreement, parting from him only slightly as the door opened and food was brought in, quietly and efficiently placed so that they could eat it, and then the servants were gone again, door shutting quietly behind them. "Now, then..."

"I suppose lunch or whatever this is first," Klaus murmured, pulling back some before heading towards the table. He made it without Dorian's support, but with a near stumble as one knee tried to give up on him.

Dorian didn't try to catch him, didn't offer help. It wasn't that he didn't want to -- it was more that Klaus wouldn't want him to, so instead he lightly pulled out a chair and let Klaus seat himself before moving across the way. "The cook made everything you like best," he said easily, seating himself. "I admit that I had them working before we even left!" Of course, then, he'd not realized what terrible news they would be given...

Everything Klaus liked best was a medium-well done steak, fried potatoes and Nescafe. He noted that he'd probably feel stomach sick after eating, but, hell... what reason did he have *not* to? "Eroica; always prepared."

"I try," Dorian answered demurely, smiling at him. "I hope you enjoy it, darling."

"You'd better eat, too, if you're going to make me," Klaus told him with a nod of his head towards the Englishman's plate.

With a smile, Dorian lifted his fork and speared a fried potato. "I'm going to make you," he replied. "And then..." That sentence slid off into nothing more than a slightly sly expression.

"I'm afraid you must elaborate for the uncreative mind," Klaus told him, chewing on a fried potato.

"And then," Eroica nearly purred, "both of us are going to get naked and I'm going to let you have your wicked way with me."

"I am?" Klaus asked, looking a little surprised for a moment -- but the glint in his tired eyes gave that shock away as having been a tease.

It gained him a laugh, a reach of Dorian's hand and a caress of fingers. "You are," he was assured even as the thief stole one of his fried potatoes to tease him in return.

A brief glare, and then Klaus shifted the plate protectively closer, smiling at Dorian all the while. "Don't take food from a hungry wolf."

"Will it get me punished later?" Dorian purred.

"Maybe." In truth, Klaus wasn't so sure -- wasn't so sure that the food he was eating just then wouldn't make him sick, wasn't so sure that his energy, waxing and waning, that his aching body would even let him play more than once in a day. Mornings were always best for play, and he was so tired... But then, neither did he want to waste a moment he had with Dorian.

His lover understood, though, and they ate together for a while in companionable quiet until Klaus no longer seemed to want anything on his plate. "Want to lay down for a bit?" Dorian invited quietly. "Talk, maybe? Nap?"

"Ja." All of the above, and it was always a strange sort of heaven to lay there with Dorian, sex or not. Klaus stood slowly, pushing his chair back before he rose. "Ja."

A hand took his, Dorian rising with him, and they walked together to the bed. It was high, requiring the use of a small stool that Dorian kicked out from underneath it to get into at all, even for such tall men as they both were. It made it easier for Klaus, though, and soon Dorian was beside him, the feather tick soft beneath them both as they lay there in the center of it. The room was deliciously warm despite the slow approach of fall, and it was still lit with sunlight working through the ragged draperies and the flicker of the candles on the table. "There."

"Nice." Klaus shifted slightly, then laid there, taking in the feeling of softness and comfort. Dorian, nicely close to him; an easing of the pain in his chest; the urge to cough that came from too much movement.

"Benidict looks very happy in that picture," Dorian murmured, nuzzling against Klaus carefully. "As if everything is right with the world."

"Right now, it is." Klaus's strong voice was a whisper, not weakened, just... as if the calmness of the room was not to be disturbed. "The only real regret I have is that I didn't let it get so until it was too late."

"It isn't too late," the quiet reply came, a hand feathering lightly over his face. "Between us, nothing is ever too late. There are no regrets to be had, because I love you, and you love me, and...." Dorian was trying so hard not to fall to pieces! "And that's all that matters."

The slight smile that rose to Klaus's mouth was knowing, though, as he shifted a hand against Dorian's side, half-knotting into the silken fabric Dorian wore. "Maybe we'll get a third chance... I can't tell."

"I love you, Klaus," Dorian whispered, leaning forward to press his lips tenderly to that curve of mouth, nuzzling at the other man momentarily before kissing him again.

/I know.../ Through and through, he knew it, could admit to it. He'd been happy when a mission was completed, when he made his family proud -- which was so very seldom, that -- but it was empty. It was a hollow happiness, and he'd never understood what was wrong. What was missing from *him* that he couldn't get enough joy out of those things. Now it made sense... "I love you, too, Dorian. If you weren't here..."

"I am," came the low murmur, accompanied by a brush of Dorian's nose against his cheek. "I'll always be with you."

"But if you weren't..." He couldn't even comprehend it -- his mind couldn't stretch to those lengths of possibility. Dorian and he were together, as happy as they could given the situation. "Forget that promise, Dorian."

"K-Klaus!?" That gained a widening of those gorgeous eyes, an expression that almost hurt. "The... one that I gave you? The one about..."

"If you weren't here, Dorian..." /Say it, Klaus. Coward./ "This would be the worst suffering of my life. I wouldn't have... made it as long as I have."

The awful glittering well of tears became obvious as Dorian closed his eyes and they seeped out from beneath thick lashes, his arms pulling Klaus tightly to him. "I love you," he whispered hoarsely. "I would never want to go anywhere you couldn't follow." /I don't want you to go somewhere that *I* can't. I would follow you anywhere, my Klaus.../

In that moment, Klaus desperately wished he had the strength of mind left to hang on for weeks... years on end. Perhaps, if the treatments had started with Dorian there, if the news had been given to him with Dorian there, then he'd still have the strength left. But they were almost happy then; it was enough, more than Klaus ever expected to have. He hugged Dorian closer, just as was done to him in turn, uttering, "Mine."

"I don't ever want to let you go!" Dorian mumbled, face buried against Klaus's throat. "I don't ever want to lose you. I can't. I can't be without you. I can't live that way. I can't. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry!!"

"Dorian..." A softly breathed word, as Klaus threaded one hand slowly through Dorian's hair. "Shhh, shh... I've thought about it. When you were on that mission... the only reason I didn't just die was because you were coming back."

"I love you," came the whisper, barely heard, lips still pressed to his throat. "I love you, darling. I do. So much..."

"We're both tired. Why don't we just sleep for a while?" Klaus asked. The bed was comfortable enough to manage that while clothed, and it certainly wasn't the first time Klaus had slept fully dressed.

A sigh drifted from the blond man, his arms still holding Klaus tightly. "That sounds like a very good idea," he murmured. It DID sound like an excellent idea, he was so *tired* and he knew that Klaus must be even more so...

In the moments it took to say that and focus his eyes on Klaus's face, the German was already sleeping.

~~~~~

It was nearly eventide when Dorian woke again, face pressed hotly against Klaus, and the candles were flickering nubs. For a while, that didn't register, and then he realized that they had been completely careless in leaving them lit. /Well.../ Well, hell.

Carefully, he shifted, moving his head to the pillow and looking at Klaus. Dark lashes shadowed pale cheeks, as beautiful as ever, only the mop of black hair missing, and that broke Dorian's heart. Klaus had always been so exquisite, and so *proud* of all that hair, refusing to cut it.... /Ah, but he's still exquisite, and he's still with me, so that's all right.../

It had grown some since when Dorian had first seen it, leaving Klaus's head black, with small feathers of that raven-wing hair resting close to his scalp. If given a *real* choice, he would never have cut it off, but... There hadn't been a real choice. Better to lose it all at once, instead of losing it in humiliating chunks. At least the shortness had hidden the patches of bareness that appeared and still lingered in odd spots. Klaus had said something about having kept a coil of it, hadn't he? Dorian would have to remember to ask if he had...

The German man was still sleeping soundly, so it was up to Dorian to decide if he wanted to break what could have been a threateningly heavy slumber. "Darling?" he whispered softly, nudging Klaus. "Darling, it's almost sunset...."

"Nnh?" Green eyes that were more grey than ever before -- sickly so -- opened slowly; before he could even focus on Dorian's face, he started to sit up a little.

"Hey..." Dorian pulled him back down, close against him. "You wanted to go up to the roof. It's almost sunset. I thought you might want to do that tonight..."

"Yeah." He shifted again, up just a little. "Let's go now, then? Grab a blanket."

Wordlessly, Dorian rose, pulling the quilt from the top of the bed and folding it over an arm. The candles, he blew out once Klaus was up and headed towards the door, the setting sunlight beaming in through a hole low in the velvet draperies. "Is it the stairway at the end of the hall?" Dorian asked him quietly.

"Ja," Klaus smiled, lingering in the doorway. He was looking very forward to getting a look around the grounds, a good look. He'd always liked to go up there before, and had done so a few times while Dorian had been gone; but never before *with* Dorian.

"Come on." An arm lightly wrapped around his waist as they headed for the end of the hall, supporting him as much as anything else. "It ought to be beautiful today..."

"It's always beautiful." It was Germany -- and to Klaus, how could it be anything but beautiful? It was his ancestral *home*, a piece of land that was his even if it had never felt home-like to him.

"I can imagine," Dorian said gently, opening the door to the stairs and heading up them, still supporting Klaus. He seemed so light, just then...

The steps were stone, and at the top of their short dark path was another door, equally easy to unlock. Then they were outside, standing on a large railed in area meant to be used for watching the surrounding countryside.

"Oh, *darling*," came the murmur. "It's GORGEOUS..."

"Ja," Klaus all but purred, pulling away to walk as best he could towards a corner on the railed off section, leaning out a little to better see the expanse of gardens and the trees and small roads beyond. The town was in the opposite direction, but it was such a high point up, and the view was so unobstructed on that side that it was his favorite. "Sit here?"

"Right here," Dorian agreed, sitting and spreading out the blanket over his lap, beckoning Klaus to settle between his knees.

Klaus settled there comfortably, leaning back a little against Dorian. Before, he would have protested -- but it was cozy, warm, and let them both see the grounds while making that comfortable contact.

"Your land is beautiful," Dorian told him quietly, watching as the setting sun gilded the entirety of it with the last of its gleaming rays. "I'm glad we came up here."

"I'm going to miss it," he murmured softly, not daring to close his eyes and perhaps miss a second of that gilded setting sun. "And you..."

/Not as much as I'll miss you,/ Dorian thought sadly, burying his face against the back of Klaus's neck. "Yes," he agreed, hugging Klaus close to him. "I know, darling. Life without you won't be life at all."

"If I could do anything to make you happy, still, Dorian..." He would have; it ached, to know that the bright-hearted thief was in such pain because of him.

"Darling..." Dorian murmured. "I could never be happier than I am to have you close to me."

/And when I'm not close to you anymore...?/ "I don't want to die and leave you here."

"I don't want you to die, either," came the solemn admission. "I love you, darling. I do. And... what's happening is inevitable. I hate it, you hate it, but...."

"If I hadn't smoked..." He wouldn't be there, dying like that. Neither would he have been sane, since smoking had kept his nerves calm for many many years, a habit started early in life. When he'd realized it was killing him... fear had been a better deterrent to smoking than he'd thought. Fear and distractions.

"It doesn't matter, darling," Dorian murmured, holding him close. "'If only' has never done anything more than make someone miserable."

"I know, but it's so tempting..." To wonder what things would have been like if he and Dorian hadn't had *that* to deal with... Could it have lasted through missions and their lives' demands? "I love you, Dorian."

That was enough to rip Dorian apart, his arms coming tightly about Klaus, face burying against the top of his head. "I know," he managed to answer shakily. "I know. I love you, too, darling. With everything in me, I love you."

"It's a good feeling," Klaus whispered, gaze focused on the setting sun. "I never felt that before you."

"I'm glad," Dorian told him quietly, holding him close. "I'm so glad you could. I... You're wonderful. You're the most wonderful person in the world to me..."

"Shhh." Simple, firm as he leaned back a little more into Dorian's embrace. "I think I understand now." He wasn't one to need Dorian's feelings reassured to him over and over -- just the fact that Dorian was there with him said everything he needed.

"I love you," Dorian told him once more before allowing silence to blanket the rooftop, both of them watching as the sun went down slowly.

When it had faded to a faint glow of red, Klaus turned in Dorian's arms to take a kiss. "Thank you for waking me up to see that."

"You're most welcome," was the murmured response, Dorian kissing him again, lips soft, tender. "Hmmm, how are you feeling?"

"Tired," Klaus admitted a bit slowly. "Hurting, some. But... I don't think that's any reason to not enjoy a nice evening like this."

"Would you like to go downstairs again in a bit? Back to the rose bed?" Dorian invited quietly, kissing the shell of his ear lightly. /My Klaus. My most darling wonderful Major.../

"When I'm tired enough," Klaus murmured, pushing Dorian to lay back onto the flat roof. "Not yet. Not nearly yet."

"For as long as you want," Dorian agreed quietly, a slight smile tilting up those full lips, making it into his eyes. "Or until it's too cold to stay anymore."

"I don't like being uncomfortable that much." He bristled a little at the implication that he'd stay there long after it was too cold to be up there but couldn't bristle fully. He could only say it wryly and smile just a little. He didn't want to leave the roof and it's beautiful view of Germany. Free Germany.

"Mmmhmmmm," Dorian told him teasingly, kissing that lovely mouth again sweetly. "The stars will be out shortly," he said. "It'll be beautiful, as cool as the weather's gotten."

"I've never made love to someone with the stars for light," Klaus murmured, shifting up onto his knees, still kissing at Dorian's mouth. "Let me."

"Yes..." It was the only answer, the inevitable answer as Dorian gave in to him, willing to give him anything that he wanted. "Yes..."

"Move the blanket first," Klaus instructed softly, moving back so he wasn't pinning it anymore. That way there would be only soft cloth touching skin, not the rough roof.

Wordlessly, Dorian obeyed. The blanket was stretched out there, close to the railing so that Klaus could still see whatever he wanted, and then the thief was back in his arms, kissing him, wrapping himself around him to keep him warm. "I love you," he whispered between those sweet, biting nips of kisses. "I love you with all of my heart..."

A heart that was breaking minute by minute, the time not passing nearly slow enough.

"Mmm, yes." Klaus's breath was a replete sigh, caught between the urges of just kissing Dorian, and wanting to do more. "Help me... undress you."

That request was one that Dorian found easy enough to fulfill, fingers coming up to work at the buttons of silk shirt slowly, pulling them open to reveal skin to the night air. It made his nipples perk, tiny bits of deliciously hardened flesh exposed to starlight and to Klaus before he ever got his pants unbuttoned, but somehow it felt so good! It was especially so thanks to the warmth radiating from Klaus, and the way that his hand made its way up Dorian's side, drawing a little sound of pleasure from him. "Ohhhh..."

He was sure that he'd never get enough of touching Dorian's skin; but slipping his hand up Dorian's lean side, and then over to cup a hard nub wasn't enough. He wanted to be skin to skin with his lover while he still had the strength to do, and the cold could be damned! "Help me, too," he whispered, even as he aided Dorian in sliding off tight pants.

"Here," Dorian murmured, fingers already working his clothing off with quick touch. "Here, darling. I've got it..." The sound of that liquid voice was slightly hoarse, trembling with passion, and his hands moved quickly so that they were soon one against the other and bare beneath the sky. "Oh, Klaus..."

Klaus pulled the edge of the blanket over them then, glad that its size was enough to easily cover their narrow widths three times over. All the extra warmth he needed, other than to feel the heat of Dorian's touch. His frame settled atop Dorian's for a moment, pressed knee to knee, hip to hip while Klaus took one long, searching kiss. "I love you." Did his voice break heavily then? No, it must have been his imagination...

"I know," Dorian whispered back to him, pelvis lazily shifting beneath him to bring burgeoning erections into contact, the man's hands stroking down his thighs as legs parted, wrapping around those of the German man slowly. "I know, lover. Forever," he agreed, lightly stroking the short, dark hair atop Klaus's head before kissing him tenderly again.

When Klaus pulled back from the kiss, some sort of choked breath left him -- but whether emotion or the cancer caused it was anyone's guess. He shifted onto his knees, mostly sitting as Dorian's legs clasped around his narrow waist. It was one long chance to look down at Dorian's pale, beautiful body, the spill of golden hair beneath a decadently sprawled body. "You always lay like you're... a feast just for me."

"Darling," Dorian purred, a hand slowly caressing up his own belly to brush palm against nipple. "I am..."

Calculated to arouse, like so many things Dorian had always done. Twisting his hair just a little, the way he dressed, the way he *moved*, all meant to catch eyes; flaunted to catch Klaus's eyes. Now this was a show just for him, one of so many he'd had. Twisting their bodies a little closer, he slid his cock so that it nestled against Dorian's entrance. "You're beautiful touching yourself."

He could see the sheerly visible affect it had on his blond lover, the man moaning with abandon and arching his back, lips parted, cock jumping slightly with a sudden rush of blood to pulse against his belly. "Yes... Oh, God, *Klaus*, I love you!" he managed to get out, biting his lower lip.

"Do you want me to?" Klaus asked roughly, pressing a little as he tried to think of a way to prepare the way first.

"Oh, *yes*," Dorian told him dreamily, a hand drifting down to touch his own hard flesh before reaching to caress over Klaus's. "If you'll look in my pocket..." he murmured, indicating the pants so lately abandoned.

The blanket was shuffled aside, pants located with little movement made, the pocket searched... how Dorian secreted away such things, even though the tube was tiny, while wearing clothes so tight was beyond Klaus's ken. "You devil," he mused, moving back to press warmly atop Dorian for a moment.

"Your devil," Dorian agreed in a purr, stealing his mouth to kiss him deeply, hands roaming over warm flesh. "Entirely yours, Klaus... always..."

When Dorian's graceful thief's fingers slid over his buttocks -- woefully thinner than they'd ever been -- Klaus pressed closer to actually entering Dorian, chuckling roughly. "Ah, ah... let me prepare you first."

"Hurry," the man urged, rocking against him. He was already terribly excited -- anything he did with Klaus guaranteed that -- and it was all he could do to wait, to not demand that the other man take him, and damn the lube! He wasn't stupid, though, or too terribly inclined to masochism, so he waited, teasing at Klaus all the while.

The temptation drew breaths from Klaus that were more labored than usual -- more excited or more strained one or the other -- and fingers fast feeling the chill slicked themselves with the lubricant, two pressing in as one at the point where Klaus's body pressed against Dorian's.

"Ahhh!!" The reward of that cry accompanied by the shift of Dorian's hips was surely enough to make him forget the rising coolness of the air, especially when that glorious head full of curls tossed against the blanket. "Klaus!! *Please*!!" He wasn't going to stop, though -- not until he'd pushed the lubricant within Dorian's tight clench, not until he was sure he wouldn't leave Dorian hurting too badly come morning. The sounds of Dorian's cries rose into the night air, almost echoing in the serene stillness. "Please....!" The hoarse sound of it was delicious, and when his fingers brushed against the nub of Dorian's prostate, he *knew* it. "AHHH!!"

Knew it even though his fingers didn't seem to really feel too much of anything -- just the pressing heat, and then the quiver around them. They were pulled out, and the rest of the small tube was squeezed onto his erection, slicked quickly over the foreskin and shaft. Then he was pressed against Dorian, seeking entry. "My thief."

"Yes..." The word came on the breath of a whimper, arms reaching to pull him close, words whispered in his ear. "I'll always be yours..."

As Dorian pulled him close, a little farther out of the night's whimsical wind, Klaus finally pressed in enough to gain entry, caught in the heat of Dorian's body and his arms. "Mine."

It brought a little sound from Dorian, a sweet whine of pain-pleasure accompanied by the snug clench of the other man's body wrapping tightly around the stiff flesh of his erection. "Yours," Dorian whispered heatedly in his ear, shivering and holding him close. "Oh... OH.... I'm yours, always yours, oh, God, *PLEASE*, Klaus!!" His hips rocked up, taking in more of the German man with that motion, though not all of him by far. "*Please*!!"

"Uhhm..." Hard to concentrate at all, between the clasp of Dorian's arms and his body, the British man screaming his name and exclamations to the deaf ears of an empty night. "Ah, Dorian... Oh... loosen... Your... ah, arms..." His chest was hurting suddenly, an oddly familiar pain, but he didn't want to let Dorian know that -- didn't want to lose the desperate pleasure of the moment.

Those arms *did* loosen then, to stroke his skin, teasing at him, touching him, hands lightly grasping his rear to pull him closer. "I love you," Dorian moaned, shaking his head slightly back and forth. "I love you so much!" /Don't die on me. Don't go away from me. I can't bear it!!/

It was a mantra that had once been humiliating to his pride to hear, and now it was something that he could die happily hearing, over and over again, Dorian's voice strung into such tight, rapt pleasure. "Yes..." His hips pressed fully into Dorian's, and then rocked back gently.

The pure pleasure of it was nearly unbearable, Dorian shivering with each easy thrust and withdrawal. Nothing had ever felt so good, so hot, so utterly *perfect*, and his voice cracked with emotion as he whispered, "My Klaus. My darling Klaus, my love, oh, *GOD*, yes, yes, yes..."

The heat and shiver of it was such a contrast to the chilling wind that breathed against their bodies, the blanket barely touching them, slipped away in the motions of Dorian's thrashings and Klaus's steadily building thrusts. No air could be spared for words; Klaus could only kiss back, driving his body like the tank he'd treated it as. Onward despite it all, gathering the pleasure drawn from the moment, and each deep stab of his hips brought a corresponding sound of pleasure from Dorian at his impalement. It seemed to go on for the longest time, that lovemaking, and when Dorian finally cried out and came, it was all between them, body clamping down hard on Klaus, arms wrapped lightly around the other man's neck to keep them close.

A final twisting snap of Klaus's hips came at the same moment that Dorian's near-scream echoed in the gardens that surrounded Schloss Eberbach. Heated seed spilled into the thief's tight body, and once Klaus had shaken off the rigor of orgasm, he slumped atop Dorian, gasping in his breath.

"My Klaus," Dorian cooed between pants, unable to think anything else even as he petted his lover slowly, hands trailing down his back, touching every inch of him that the blond Briton could reach. "My darling. My lover. My Klaus. Oh..."

Each breath ached to pull in, and for a moment he struggled frantically against whatever was wrong -- but when he realized better what it was, moving out of post-orgasmic haze, his breathing calmed dramatically, though the aching pain didn't go away. "Ach, Dorian..." /I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry.../

"I know," Dorian whispered, tears rising. He couldn't help himself. "I know. I know. I love you. I know..."

"Shhh..." His breath hitched for a moment, as he shifted, freed of Dorian's tight clasp and moving up to take a kiss from shaking lips. It was hard and painful to cry with just one lung taking in air; but it didn't stop Klaus, bitter tears that a life which was just starting to pick up was ending. He refused to die like some long-suffering animal, though. "You're wonderful to me."

Thumbs lightly caressed away the tears on that beautiful, thinning face, Dorian smiling at him blearily through his own. "I know," he tried to tease, though it probably fell flat thanks to his own trembling voice. "I know. I've never been so happy...."

"N-never." For a moment more he remained fully atop Dorian. Then he slipped a little to one side, moving one shaking hand to snag the half of the blanket they weren't laying atop and pull it over them. "A little while more up here, Dorian... I want to see the stars..."

"As long as you want," Dorian promised, curling against his side, one hand lightly on Klaus's chest, the other pressed between them. "I want to see them with you."

"Thank you." The hand on Klaus's chest could feel the wrongness within. The bare rise and fall, the slow, steady breathing interrupted by a pained hitch every so often.... but grey-green eyes were open, blinking away the tears almost lazily as he stroked a hand down Dorian's back. "Today hasn't been so bad."

/No... someone just told us you were going to *die*.../ Dorian thought, momentarily turning his face against Klaus's shoulder before he could bring himself to agree. "Could have been worse," he said finally. "Could have been raining."

"Could have hailed. Could... could have been that we didn't even get this far. 'm grateful you're here." Klaus's voice was soft, so strained compared to the bellow that could have awakened every soul in the town beyond the Schloss; it was worsened further by the emotions struck through it. "I could lay here forever."

"At least 'til it gets too cold to lay here anymore," Dorian said by way of agreement, hand lightly pressed over Klaus's heart. "It's beautiful here. I'm glad you wanted to come. I'm glad we made it up here..."

"I'm glad you didn't leave that day."

With a little laugh, Dorian felt his face flushing deeply. "Me, too," he whispered. "I nearly *died* of embarrassment once... I realized that... well. I was really rather overcome, you know. I hadn't ever before, at least not while I was here, while we were recuperating. Not in your bed, not even in the shower, only..."

"That one time." That seemed to be said with some trouble, but Klaus pressed onward. "And I'm glad you followed me to the gardens. In the rain."

"Yes. Darling? I think it's time to go inside now, where it's sure to be warm..." Dorian told him a bit worriedly.

"No, I want... to see Germany," he uttered stubbornly, turning his gaze to look out past the rail to the distant lights of the town and further, a faint glow on the edge of the horizon, Bonn. "'m glad you've loved me."

"With all my heart," Dorian whispered, mouth trembling violently, tears rising. "I've loved you with everything in me, for so long, Klaus. For so very long..."

"I felt 't... just didn't know.. what 't was, or how..." To say it. It had been said a hundred times that night already, or so it felt, but... one more, one last time. "Love you."

"Klaus?" In that whisper was the sound of Dorian shattering as he held the other man close, tears helplessly splashing onto Klaus's shoulder. "Klaus? Klaus, no...."

A sleepy, exhausted mumble of noise -- perhaps in German, perhaps not -- and the German man curled against Dorian a little; done with all the instinct of someone already in a deep sleep. Breathes were still drawn slow and only a little even, eyes closed lightly to the sight of the German countryside.

"Klaus...." The echo of it came back from the chimney, Dorian holding him tightly. "KLAUS! NO!!!"

~~~~~

"I'm afraid Herr Eberbach has slipped into a coma," the doctor standing in the parlor told a pale, shaking Dorian seriously. "I'm sorry, Lord Gloria."

"I understand," Dorian whispered, just barely keeping tears from slipping loose. For a moment, he'd been afraid that Klaus had died there on the rooftop. He had been alone for a while, sobbing heartbrokenly before he'd realized that the other man was still breathing. He'd dressed both of them hurriedly, blanket wrapped around Klaus, and hurried down the stairs to the first floor, calling for help as he went.

"Is there any possibility that he'll come out of it?" That was Klaus's father; the old man had come just as soon as Dorian had contacted him with the news. He didn't seem to show concern at all, other than a tight, miserable tension around watery old eyes.

"The chances are slim," the doctor told the man quietly. "Even if he weren't desperately ill, the prospect would be unlikely. Considering his illness..."

"Oh, God," Dorian whispered, unable to help himself.

"Lord Gloria." Stern, almost chiding tones went on, "Calm yourself. Klaus would not desire such reactions of anyone."

He was almost grateful for the older man's words. They gave him the impetus required to pull himself together as the doctor said quietly, "It's best to just leave things as they are. We can set up an IV to provide him with fluids and give him pain medication, but beyond that..." Beyond that, there just wasn't any point. It was only a matter of waiting for him to die.

Klaus's father shifted, hands clasped behind his back as he considered the man's words for a moment, and then his own dignity. "Klaus's will is very recent, but he made no mention of a funeral in it. Did he tell you anything Lord Gloria?"

"No," Dorian admitted quietly, tearfully. "He would have wanted to be buried here, I'm sure of it. He... he never loved anywhere as much as he loved here, or anything as much as what he did. The Alphabet... someone will have to tell his Alphabet..."

"I will call his office." It had been a given in his mind that Klaus would be buried in Germany -- beside his mother, unless there were... other arrangements to be made. It was social courtesy alone that made him say, "Do you have any protests to him being buried beside his mother in the family plot?" Funeral arrangements weren't something of which he should have been thinking. He was such an old man, he knew, but he'd outlived his family's heir, his *son*, who'd always served the country admirably...

Startled, tearful aquamarine eyes rose to look at the older man, Dorian biting down hard on his lower lip, breath catching. "No, sir," he whispered as the doctor moved to look over Klaus once again. "I have n-no objections. He..." He swallowed hard. "That's what he would want."

The stern old man seemed so much older as he nodded. "He'll be buried with full military honors." Other than telling Dorian that, he wanted to ask if he should let the blond crawl up into the attic so he could repeat his ancestor's fate.

"Well," the doctor said calmly from several feet away, "we'll be sending a nurse out shortly, if you like. Someone to care for him and do the necessities..." Just the sound of it made Dorian cringe. 'Necessities'. No one should have to take care of 'necessities' for Klaus, no one but him.... and he didn't even know where to begin....

"Thank you." Crisp words addressed to the doctor by Klaus's father, who was returning his attention to his son's body. Stiffly asleep on his back, arms resting atop the bedding, straight at his sides; looking as if he were a knight ready to be carried off to the pyre. It was Klaus's body, without the spark of his soul to animate it.

It was the most horrible thing he could have ever imagined.

"I'm sorry," the doctor told them both gently. "My sincere condolences."

"There could have been worse ways," the old man murmured, giving the doctor a polite nod. "Thank you, herr docktor. Have a good day."

Worse ways... Dorian couldn't think of any! "Yes," he said quietly, subdued. "Thank you." Now, he supposed, would be the time to call Bonham... James. To call Z and the other Alphabets... They should hear it from someone they knew. They should hear it in person, but there was no way he would leave Klaus for very long at all. He would be there 'til the end. "There are some phone calls that need to be made," he murmured, rising. "I'll show you to the door, Doctor..." Then, he would make them...

When he returned, Klaus's father was on the telephone talking with Klaus's chief already. He was notifying NATO of the situation, and to be prepared to bury one of their best in the most proper of manners.

There was no use in being angry or upset about it; he was only sorry for A and the others, who would be heartbroken to get the news from the chief...

...Unless he called them once Klaus's father was off the phone...

That seemed to be the thing to do, considering the way most of them felt about Klaus and the way they had all felt about the chief, in the long run, so he simply waited. It wasn't a long wait, and when he was done, Klaus's father simply handed the phone to Dorian, still on line to the Bonn office.

"Lord Gloria -- the Chief called me in here to say you... had something to say. Is... is the major all right?"

"A..." Dorian said quietly, grateful to the old man. "No. No, I'm sorry. He's not. He's comatose, currently. They... don't think he'll ever come out of it. I'm sorry..."

"Oh...!" The phone was set down, atop the nearest desk probably, with a clatter, and then Dorian could hear A leave the office for a few moments.

When the phone was picked up again, the sounds of crying were clear in the background. "L... Lord Gloria, we're all very sorry to hear t-t-that..."

"I know, A," Dorian managed to whisper, aware of the eyes of Klaus's father on him even as he teared up helplessly. "I know. I'm so sorry. I'll let you know wh-whenever something new comes up... All of you..."

"Thank you Lord Gloria... we... we'll be waiting to hear... hear more from you." But unless some miracle happened, they all knew what more was. And divine intervention just wasn't spared for the bodies of loyal soldiers.

"Yes. Yes," Dorian murmured. "Good...bye..."

The sound of phone touching cradle was loud in his ear, nearly dropped there by A's surely unsteady hands.

"I don't think he ever knew his men cared."

"Perhaps," Dorian replied quietly. "I think he did. They respected him. They loved him very much. He was... is..." His voice trailed into silence.

"A great loss." To NATO, to the Eberbach family, and to Dorian; the stern old man looked over to his son again, watery eyes seeming to unfocus. "He wouldn't have wanted to die this way; he was always ready to die for NATO, for others..."

"It was devastating for him to believe you were disappointed in him," Dorian said quietly. "Horribly so. He respected you very much."

"I wanted the best possible life for my son; he understood that."

Dorian's next words were soft, well thought out. "He didn't believe that you loved him."

"He should have known."

"He didn't." The words weren't accusatory, only quietly spoken. "Thank you for raising him. Thank you for telling him that you *did* love him when last you were here. He... is a remarkable, wonderful person. No one could be as magnificent as Klaus is..."

The urge to correct Lord Gloria with 'was' hung heavy in the air. But he didn't say it; only looked from his son to Dorian's pain-drawn face. "Will you carry on your family's lineage, Lord Gloria?"

"I have sisters," Dorian demured, watching Klaus solemnly. "Cousins. There's no danger to the line, and..." And no need for it, was there? After all, he was an art thief, homosexual, and they'd known for years that there would be no issue from him. His mother had known when she'd left his father, and he'd only been a child, then....

"Perhaps it is best this way, then. Old ghosts can rest," the old man uttered.

"What do you mean?" Dorian asked, brow knitting.

"Eberbach lineage has been direct since Tyrian himself," Klaus's father said, moving to sit in a chair not too far from the bed -- but not the nearest chair, which he assumed Dorian would take. "As I assume the Gloria line has been."

"Yes," Dorian admitted, shaking his head. The old man couldn't possibly believe... Well! It was just ridiculous! Wasn't it? "Are you suggesting that this is... is something..." Oh, he didn't know what!

"The parallels are close. I do not really know what I am suggesting." Only that it was too close to a historic replay for his comfort.

Well. Klaus would be the end of Tyrian's line, and he would be the end of his own in all ways that counted. How bleak that seemed, and how melodramatic, somehow! Klaus would chide him for it, but the thought was there nonetheless, there and aching. /Oh, Klaus,/ he thought, reaching for the other man's hand to hold. /My love.../

Limp, slightly chilled fingers were all that he grasped, though -- not filled with their strange strength that had been there even when Klaus had been sick. Had he known, when he'd asked Dorian to take him to the roof, what would happen? He couldn't imagine that it was so. He couldn't, because if he did, there was such a sense of sheer *morbidity* about it, wasn't there? Horrifically so, really. Had he known that making love to Dorian would be the last thing he ever did?

Unable to help himself, Dorian laid his head down next to Klaus's, tears welling up as he sighed deeply. /I love you,/ he thought, not caring that Klaus's father was in the room. /I love you. I love you.../

There was no answer, and he hardly realized when Klaus's father left the room to let him be alone.

~~~~~

The cathedral had been beautiful.

That was really all that Dorian could think. The prayer itself, the Latin, it had only caressed past his ears, just as the soft sniffles and sobs of the congregation had done. None of them had actually fallen upon him, his eyes caught up instead in the multitudes of flowers surrounding the casket, filling the church. They had come from everywhere; from the Alphabet, from his own men, even from Mischa...

They had come from *him*, hundreds of red and white roses, spilling their scent through the air, caressing the ebony wood of that terrible, terrible box, wood the color of Klaus's hair. /No. No. No./

Klaus would have been horrified and secretly delighted with the proceedings as they unfolded. During those confusing hours where the reality of his injury and cancer, and his want of Dorian had set in, he'd said that his funeral would have had only a handful of people -- perhaps his father, agents A and Z, perhaps a few more of the Alphabets, Dorian and his chief, there to make sure he was dead.

All twenty six agents were there, and the chief; Klaus's family, extended in all directions; scattered in amongst acquaintances Dorian had seen the faces of Mischa, and Polar Bear, a few other Soviets blending into the filled cathedral.

The eulogies were delivered first by Klaus's father in halting, pained words of regret for the strain of the final few days, and the assurance that Klaus was where he belonged to be for his unique loyalty to Germany and NATO. Z had spoken in a tear-roughened voice of how Klaus had terrorized his men to do their best -- partly for the enjoyment of watching them scatter, partly for keeping them on their toes. So few had ever died over the years, the weak weeded out in transfers or built up to strength.

Dorian knew that they expected him to say something -- all of them. He couldn't, though. He couldn't think, couldn't form words, couldn't even have functioned if Bonham and James had not been at either elbow, moving him forward, keeping him going. He wanted to *die*, to run forward and bury himself with Klaus in that coffin and to let them bury him. He wanted to die...

So he didn't speak.

Mild-spoken A did speak, though, in his expected stead -- telling of Klaus's great friendship with a contracted employee, a friendship that lasted past when Klaus could no longer serve in his duties any longer. It was short, but it showed another facet to Klaus, and A expressed his appreciation towards Dorian for caring for a man who watched over so many but had been so unwilling to let others help him.

All Dorian could do was sit and quietly cry, and he *hated* himself for it. He *hated* sitting amongst so many people, *hated* being so wretchedly distraught, *hated* that Klaus was *gone*... /I can't go through this anymore. I can't.../

Still, he had to remain there, and was allowed to travel with the family when the service ended and Klaus's body was taken to the cemetery.

It wasn't a rambling, flower-filled thing -- stern headstones jutted from the grass, stone slabs placed over the places of burial for flowers to be laid. Klaus's plot was right beside his mother's, both places already adorned with simple flowers.

The services in the cemetery were blessedly short, the priest quietly speaking the last of the rites that would be performed for Klaus, rites of which Dorian knew little and cared less save that they were condemning Klaus to the deep, dark ground. Such a terrible moment, that, when it came time for them to step forward, to toss a handful of dirt on the lowering coffin.

His handful was joined by the red rose that James had so lovingly pinned to his lapel earlier in the morning, the pin pricking his fingers so that droplets joined it as it fell. /Goodbye, Klaus... my Klaus. Oh, God.../ Both fell atop that lovely dark wood, the top of which had been covered with the West German flag until moments before Klaus's coffin was lowered into the ground.

"Eroica -- my sincerest regrets on your loss," a familiar, Russian accent-thick voice said from behind him, once he'd backed away from the grave.

The face he turned to Mischa was one ravaged with pain, a thousand years older than it should have been. "Thank you," he managed to say simply, looking at the other man solemnly, tears welling in blue eyes gone dark, anguished.

Dark sunglasses were removed for a moment so Mischa could meet Dorian's gaze for at least a short time, a hand offered to him. "It has been a pleasure to have you as an adversary; we will all miss Major Eberbach."

/Not as much as I will./ "I only regret that you've seen the last of me," was the quietly spoken reply, the hand met with firm shake even as others moved by the open grave and towards Dorian.

Klaus's father was given by Klaus's working acquaintances only the briefest of condolences; the deeper ones were passed between themselves and offered to Dorian. G hugged the Earl, sobbing, while A shook Dorian's hand firmly, eyes that had often managed to keep the Major from a fit of temper filled with heartsick sadness. "Lord Gloria, I... I'm sorry."

"Me, too," Dorian whispered, tears welling up and spilling over as his hand came up to touch his sinuses, an attempt to pull himself together. "Oh, God..." He *had* to be strong. Klaus would want him to be....

Wouldn't he?

"He told us to... to watch out for you if something happened to him," A told Dorian softly. "If there's anything I can do for you, Lord Gloria..." Anything short of bringing Klaus back from the dead.

"Of course." Of course he would. That was so Klaus, wasn't it? "Thank you," he said humbly, accepting the offer of a tissue from James and lightly rubbing it across his eyes to rid them of growing tears.

A wasn't about to let an awkward moment stretch in the air, so he nodded on to Dorian, tried for a smile before he left, unable to watch as dirt was added over the coffin.

"My lord...? Can we go home now?" James asked softly from his side, offering another tissue.

"In a moment," Dorian told him, lightly touching the smaller man's shoulder for comfort even as he took the second tissue, watching as they begin to fill in the hole. He wished someone could fill in the hole in *him* that way!

Klaus's father approached, other members of the Eberbach family still lingers in the cemetery. "Lord Gloria -- what do you wish me to do with the things Klaus wanted you to have?"

"I don't know," Dorian said softly, shaking his head as he considered the matter momentarily. "I... would like to have them delivered to my home, in England. James can take care of the details," he decided. "I will return them to the Eberbach family upon... the event of my death. Thank you, sir."

The old man eyed the little accountant warily for a moment, and then said, "Then hopefully we will not see those paintings in Schloss Eberbach for years to come. I'm grateful for what you did for my son. Thank you."

Helplessly, Dorian shook his head, tears finally, inevitably, welling up and spilling over, unstoppable, and even though it was stupidly impossible, he reached for the old man and hugged him. "I'm sorry," he whispered, shaking. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I couldn't save him. I would have d-done anything to *save* him..."

The pat he felt against his back was stiff and awkward, the kind the old man would have given a strange female doing the same thing against him. "You did a great deal more than he would let anyone else do. Thank you."

Pulling back, Dorian tried to smile for the old man, truly. God, how he'd hated him when Klaus had been so hurt and so afraid of him, and now...

Now, he just seemed like a sad, broken old man, one who'd probably been that way for so long that he didn't know how to be anything else. "You're welcome," he managed to say, braving a curve of lip that wasn't quite a smile -- just the best that he could do.

"Perhaps I will see you again," he said, by way of a departing pleasantly. he put his hat back on, giving Klaus's grave a final glance and then adjusting the flowers before that open pit as well as the ones on his wife's headstone. Yes, a sad broken old man who'd didn't have either member of his family any more -- only distant relatives.

"M'lord," Bonham said quietly.

"Just a moment," Dorian whispered, watching them fill the hole in farther. "In just a moment..."

"My lord, we should go *home* now," James said softly, tugging at his coat.

"I don't want to go," Dorian admitted sadly. "How can I leave him there like that?"

"He... Lord Gloria, Uncle NATO wouldn't want you just *staying* here," James half-whined, trying to cajole the earl into leaving.

Helplessly, Dorian took a deep breath. "No. He wouldn't, would he?" he said finally, quietly. "Take care of the things that he gave me, Jamesie. I want them home before I get there, all right? I want the bed to replace mine. It's beautiful, really..." he murmured sadly.

"When will you get home?" James asked softly, still clinging to Dorian's jacket. "Soon? I can get them there *fast*."

"Soon," Dorian promised. "Get me a ticket. Take care of it all, please...." /I can't. I can't.../ Could he ever? He didn't know, couldn't *think*...

"Oh, I will, Lord Gloria!" And the little accountant was willing to pay any price at all to get Dorian out of Germany and into England again, back home with them after being gone for so LONG.

Bonham's voice was quiet when he spoke. "M'lord?" Once he had the man's attention, he continued. "Will you be... all right?"

"No," Dorian said with a shrug, still watching as the last of the dirt was shovled in atop that glossy black coffin. "I really don't think I will."

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