Alston"s smirk faded, and he nodded, recognizing that Ty wasn"t messing around.

The sound of metal grating on metal had accompanied his words, and Ty glanced over to see the silver band finally being pulled off his aching finger. The sight of the sliced ring and the impression it left on his skin was more painful than he"d anticipated.

“Thank you,” he muttered to the tech. The man nodded and handed him the wedding band. Ty palmed it and slid it into his pocket, glad McCoy didn"t demand he give it back.

The interview went on for another hour or so, the questions mundane and steering far clear of anything that could have been embarrassing or damaging. Ty"s attention was only half there, though.

The other half was on Zane and the ring burning a hole through Ty"s pocket.

ZANE forced himself to pay attention to the congested holiday traffic.

He was behind schedule, but at this point all he could do was drive. He drummed his thumb on the steering wheel and glanced in the rearview mirror.

He looked like himself again. His trimmed brown hair lay naturally without gel, and the earring was gone, though Zane had caught himself looking for the ruby stone a few times during the past week. Not his style, though. He wore his own tailored gray suit, a crisp white dress shirt, and a red and silver silk tie. All nice, but not pricey like Corbin Porter"s extravagant wardrobe. Under the suit, the tattoo was now fading. Zane had considered having it actually inked, but then he"d thought about what Ty would say and abandoned the idea. It wasn"t really his style either.

Zane had removed the last vestige of his fake persona four days after they returned from the cruise—this afternoon, actually. He was so accustomed to wearing a wedding ring that he simply hadn"t thought about removing the silver one provided for the case until he"d been washing spaghetti sauce off his fingers after lunch and noticed the ring was the wrong color.

He had stood there at the sink looking at the ring for several minutes, the water running, memories of the cruise cascading through his mind. But it wasn"t the casework and danger Zane remembered. It was the quiet time he and Ty had spent sitting together, relaxing. The heady, sultry sexual tension thrumming between them that they both not only allowed but fed. The laughter and the dancing and the banter and just being together.

With all that on his mind, it had felt odd—wrong, somehow—to remove the ring that connected him to Ty.

After drying his hands, he took the ring to the bedroom and the wooden keepsake box on his dresser. He opened the top with a soft snap of the magnetic clasp and saw his gold wedding ring inside, with all its dings and scratches. Zane slowly set the nearly pristine silver ring next to it before sliding his fingertips over the gold ring.

When he thought about Becky, it was more difficult to call her face to mind, and when he did, it was dim and fuzzy around the edges, faded with time. It had been more than six years since his wife had died, and though he still missed her, it didn"t hurt like it used to.

Zane had closed the box, leaving both rings inside.

Then he"d looked at the small ribbon-wrapped box next to it and huffed slightly. He"d bought the compass rose pendant for Ty on a whim, and he still wanted to give it to him. He just wasn"t sure… why.

Zane"s chest got tight when he thought about Ty"s declaration of love, and compared to that? The pendant seemed pedestrian. Plus they"d missed Christmas while stuck in that damn holding cell, and now just handing the necklace to Ty felt silly.

Zane had left it behind as well when he grabbed his suit jacket and walked out of the apartment.

So a little over three hours later he was here, navigating through traffic into a small parking lot. Zane squeezed the truck into a space meant for a smaller vehicle, wishing that he could have ridden the Valkyrie despite the cold but dry weather that would have nearly frozen him on the ride through town. Not only was the motorcycle more maneuverable, but it was much easier to park between cars that hogged a space and a third of stingy parking at full restaurants in Baltimore.

He hadn"t ridden it because it was hard to keep a suit and tie tidy while doing so.

The popular privately owned steakhouse that was located in two old renovated row houses near Fell"s Point was always jammed; New Year"s Eve made it even worse. He was glad he"d thought to call and get reservations as soon as they"d gotten home.

He got in the door fifteen minutes late—not the best of ideas for a dinner reservation on a regular night, much less a holiday, but he was sure Ty would have been on time. It was one of Ty"s favorite restaurants. After all the fish on the cruise ship, Zane figured a high-grade piece of beef would endear him to his carnivorous partner.

In a couple minutes one of the hostesses led him toward the back of the narrow restaurant; along the side wall ran a whole line of booths for two to four, and as he expected, Ty was facing the restaurant proper. Zane had given up the fight over who would sit with their back to a full room some time ago. Ty always proffered the argument that more people wanted to kill him, and he was right.

Ty sat diligently tearing a piece of paper into thin shreds, his knee bouncing under the table as he tried to keep himself occupied while he waited. He glanced up when he saw the hostess leading Zane toward him, and he straightened slightly, gathering the pieces of paper and crumpling them into a ball in his fist.

“Hey,” Zane greeted, handing the hostess his heavy, waist-length wool coat, unbuttoning his suit jacket, and sliding into the booth across from him.

Sitting in the booth straight and tall, well-fitted suit actually pressed and his stylishly narrow tie straight, the bleached-blond hair shaved almost completely off in what was practically a scalp trim, Ty looked more like a Jarhead than Zane had ever seen him. Damn the man, he even made a shaved head look good. And he looked much more like himself. Zane was pretty sure Ty had gone somewhere and rolled around in the mud for several hours once they had gotten home from the cruise ship. That would have made him feel better.

Now Ty seemed nervous, which wasn"t like him. While apart the past few days, back to their normal routine of sometimes together, sometimes apart—as wrong as it felt—Zane had worried Ty"s confession of love and his conspicuous lack of response would make things awkward between them the first time they got back together. So Zane drew a settling breath as he sat on the bench and offered Ty a smile.

“I"m sorry I"m late,” Zane started.

Ty nodded and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table.

“You all right?” he asked with a frown.

“Yeah,” Zane said, trying not to wince. “I didn"t think I"d be this late or I would have called.”

“It"s okay,” Ty told him easily as his eyes traveled carefully over Zane, as if checking him for injuries or any undue wear and tear. Ty didn"t trust Zane"s motorcycle any further than he could throw it, and he knew Zane usually rode it. With that look, Zane felt a lot warmer, inside and out, than from just walking into a heated building from the cold weather outside. He tried to catch Ty"s eyes. It was a little weird, this new dynamic to their partnership. Maybe he should call it an actual relationship now. Yeah. Weird. But Zane really liked it, and he smiled slowly.

“What?” Ty asked him suspiciously as he met Zane"s eyes and saw the smile forming. He groaned. “What have you done now?”

Zane shook his head, just looking at his lover across the table. “I didn"t do anything,” he protested, amused by Ty"s reaction. Now Ty knew how he felt every day when he woke up or came to work to see Ty smirking.

Ty narrowed his eyes and pointed a warning finger at Zane, obviously not believing that he wasn"t up to something. Zane instantly noticed what was missing from Ty"s hand, and he found himself oddly disconcerted to see the ring gone. The finger was still noticeably swollen, and Zane could guess what had happened. “They had to cut it off, huh?”

“Cut what off?” Ty asked, shoulders squaring as he sat back, almost offended.

Zane had to laugh. “Your ring.”

Ty looked down at his hand. “Oh.” He nodded. “Yeah, no way was it coming off without taking my finger with it.”

“You sound disappointed.”

Ty shrugged, and Zane could tell he was uncomfortable. “I miss it,” he admitted, making Zane"s stomach flip-flop. “It gave me something to do with my hands,” Ty continued, holding his hand up and moving his thumb as if he were playing with a ring on his finger.

Zane snorted. Yeah, that sounded more like Ty than being emotionally attached to a piece of jewelry. Now he was kind of glad he"d left the necklace at home.

They glanced up as a server arrived with bread and the drinks Ty had already ordered.

Once the server was gone with their appetizer and entrée orders, Ty picked up his glass, which was full of soda instead of beer or champagne, and raised it to Zane with a smirk. “Here"s to being us again.”

Zane chuckled and lifted his goblet of iced tea to clink it against Ty"s. “Hear, hear,” he said. “Bon voyage, Corbin and Del Porter.”

“I can"t say it was fun,” Ty muttered wryly as he set his glass down. He glanced up at Zane almost carefully. “Did you hear what ended up coming out of the interrogations?”

Zane knew that Corbin and Del Porter were now in New York under long-term investigation by the FBI for Corbin"s extended criminal activities. He hadn"t heard anything more about them, though.

“No. Anything interesting?”

Ty shrugged uncomfortably, as if he wasn"t sure the news was interesting or not. “Well, Del admitted he"d been hired by Armen to weasel his way into Corbin"s life, seduce him and spy on him, and send out information. But in the end, he actually fell for him. He said he was told about Armen"s plan to take over during the cruise, and he claims he deliberately orchestrated having himself and Corbin caught before the ship sailed to save Corbin"s life.” He looked up at Zane as he said the last, watching his reaction.

Zane blinked in surprise, raising both brows. “That"s pretty impressive. Del didn"t seem to have much of a backbone, and that would certainly take one.”

“I think he fooled a lot of people. Us included,” Ty said softly.

“He had to have known he risked losing Corbin either way. He sacrificed himself.” Ty paused, letting that sink in. What he left unspoken was clear. Del had sacrificed his freedom and his heart just to keep the man he loved safe.

Zane couldn"t escape the meaning in Ty"s words. “Takes a special person to do that,” he said quietly.

Ty nodded and looked away. The knowledge put Del and Corbin in a different light than Zane had originally perceived. It reminded him that he shouldn"t make assumptions, especially when it came to matters of the heart.

“I did finish and submit my report,” Zane finally said. “Took a while to figure out what to include and what to… edit.”

“I hope you didn"t edit out the copious amounts of sex,” Ty said drily. He lifted his glass to his lips as he spoke, trying to hide his smirk.

“Because I took detailed notes.”

Zane chuckled as he picked up his water glass. “Wouldn"t that give McCoy a thrill,” he said deadpan.

Ty was smiling when he set his glass down, his eyes on Zane with that same intensity Zane had been noticing more and more often. The kind that usually came right before clothing started being ripped off. It made Zane shiver even though he flushed with warmth. He tried to hold back the grin, propping one elbow on the table as he rubbed his fingers over his chin in a bid to hide some of the giddiness that threatened.

Ty looked up at Zane critically. “You"re too pleased with yourself,” he observed, still suspicious. “I don"t like it. Stop it.”

Zane blinked. He didn"t think he was projecting anything. But it was getting more difficult to hide things from Ty, even if he wanted to.

As for now… dammit. Zane cleared his throat. Leave it to Ty to ferret out something before he was ready to share it.

Ty reached across the table and took his hand suddenly, squeezing it gently. Instead of letting go immediately like he usually did, though, he held on, not seeming to care who saw them in the crowded restaurant. He slid his hand up to Zane"s wrist and gave it another squeeze before he let go and reached for his glass again. “It"s okay,” he assured Zane as he lifted the glass to his lips. “You"re kind of cute when you"re scheming.”

Zane"s stomach flipped, and he wet his bottom lip, nerves fluttering. It wasn"t the gesture, or even the venue. It was the trust. “I, ah, made a New Year"s resolution,” he said, embarrassed that it came out a little shaky.

“Oh yeah?” Ty asked in amusement. “My last one was not to shoot anyone for a year,” he told Zane ruefully as he looked down at his glass and swirled the ice around. “I"m not very good at them,” he observed with a faint frown. He looked back up at Zane. “What did you resolve?”

Zane huffed out a little laugh at Ty"s self-deprecating comment, but it didn"t dispel the nerves. He was annoyed with himself for a moment and drummed his fingers on the tablecloth. “I resolved to take better care of myself.”

Ty"s eyebrows climbed slowly. “Good. Less work for me,” he said, winking at Zane to ease the truth in the words.

It helped Zane relax a little, knowing Ty was in a good enough mood to tease. He reminded himself that Ty had really taken a hell of a plunge with announcing that “I love you” with no warning; surely a smaller admission like this wasn"t that difficult. He swallowed hard.

“That"s why I was late,” he said before adding in a little bit of a rush,