The Memoirs

"Eh, lovers all both great and small, who dwell in Ireland. Oh, I pray you pay attention whilst I my pen command."

Singing was part of Gran's life. Had been for the first 79 years of her life, and would be, for whatever time she had left on this lovely earth. Her voice had deteriorated just slightly with the years she'd gained but that didn't stop her from singing while she worked, played, and wrote.

And write, just now, she did, on her delightful computer.

Your father seems to be doing quite well! He's enjoying the cottage quite a bit, though I suppose he's missing home. The dear, his hairs been a fly-away, and I imagine with all of it that he's got, he's plenty vain over it.

Morgan sends his love. I can hear Margee's SUV finally pulling up, the dears. I'll tell them you're well. Give Clark a kiss, darling!

Your Gran

Granny beamed at her email, scanning it over to make sure there weren't too many spelling mistakes, and then sent it on. She'd had a letter from her granddaughter from the Egyptian Museum of Natural History, a note from her great grand daughter Ellie, and a long love poem from her boyfriend in Dingle.

She was a very pleased Granny, if she said so herself.

She hadn't counted on Morgan and Lionel coming over, though she figured after their lazy weekend they'd stop in. Feeding them wasn't much of a chore, as she had scones, cakes, creams, breads and coffee coming out of her brains at all times, and she glanced up at the door, waiting for the familiar clop trop of their shoes climbing the stone and marble steps. She knew they'd be able to get in plenty easy, for Madam Pinoffry left the door open constantly, and she looked back to her e-mail as she waited.

The answering email came back to her quickly, because Lex happened to be online and checking his email that evening.

Dad? Vain about his hair? Of course he is. He's been vain about it for as long as I can remember, although there's a picture of me with caramel-sticky hands shoved right in his hair, so I suppose he can't be too careful about it. Clark and I are supposed to pack him more conditioner for the weekend. If he and Morgan haven't told you already, ask him about Easter dinner. I'll look for an email later.

Lex

Lionel was growling as he stomped the mud from his boots before starting up the staircase. "Jesus Christ, Dominic. The next time we go out in this country, I'm drilling holes in my shoes. I think my socks would be drier if the water could squish out as I walk!!"

Gran smiled, as she clicked up her email, and then laughed in delight at her great grandbaby's words. She smiled, saved the email with a squint at the screen, and heard Lionel's bitching before he'd even come up to her floor. A soft snort and Gran rose, stepping over her old cat, snoring by the tableside, and bustled into the laundering room to get out a few towels warmed with warming pans in her cupboard. Another search gave her thick socks her sons had left in the spare room, smelling fresh from the detergent she used, and she retrieved some slippers, as well.

She was blissfully, completely, alone, and it gave her a big, happy sigh to think it. Being alone in one's home whilst they lived in Cobh was a luxury indeed, but this interruption she didn't mind in the slightest.

Dominic's snort was plenty rude, but his smile covered the rudeness as he pressed up a warm kiss against his lovers cheek. "Calm down, baby. Just a bit of water, after all." Said of course, whilst he was sopping, rain running in rivulets down his temples and down his neck, but he smiled regardless and clomped up the steps with his lover in arm.

"No, I think we passed the bit of water mark twelve inches of rain ago," Lionel groused as he climbed the steps. "We passed the little bit of water mark about the time my boots were overrun by the rain simply from walking to the car from the front door of the cottage. A little bit of water is the rainstorms we usually have in Smallville. This, Dominic, is torrential."

Dominic's dimples deepened, green eyes dancing in all of his pale hair and pale skin, making them appear even brighter as he smiled at his lover. "Of course it is. How do you think Ireland is so green? Come now, Granny knows we've arrived, I can hear her moving about." Dominic stopped on the third landing with his lover and carefully knocked on the thick wooden door, waiting for her to answer.

Gran bustled to the door, making sure the towels were warm and ready as she opened the door. "The both of you are insane. Coming out here in this weather! Lets go, come now, in you go. You look positively drenched. Lord Jesus above. Take your shoes off... I've warm towels and socks waiting my loves."

"Insane, yes, that is a wonderful choice of words," Lionel greeted as he came into the house, moving to the side and allowing Dominic in behind him. "Madam, don't close the door quite yet." Once his lover was inside, Lionel sighed, took off his glasses, tucked them into his back pocket for the moment, and then like a quite large dog, shook his massive tangle of wet hair.

Gran just… grinned. Who wouldn't, after all? her eyes danced, amusement alive in her features, and rolled her eyes as her little teacup burst into laughter. "Lionel, love... here, come, come on, take a bit of a sit down and have a towel. I've warm slippers, as well. What a spot of weather we're havin', after all, and a shame as well. Come now, come come."

Dominic stepped into his grandmothers house and quickly shucked out of sopping coat and shoes, hanging them carefully on the wrack by the door, which his granny had set a towel underneath in expectance. For some reason the little afterthought his Gran had had reminded him of Ms. Bird, and Dominic was hit with a sort of odd missing as he looked down at the simple towel.

But he smiled, and accepted the first of many towels from his grandmother, working it over his hair. "Thank ya, Granny. Its like hell opened up out there."

Lionel finished shaking his hair mostly free of the rain, and sighed as he dried his glasses on the towel that Gran handed him. "Thank you, Ms. Finn." He sat his glasses back on his nose and slung the towel around his neck, drying the ends of his hair first before moving up the length of it. "Dominic, would you look in my raincoat and hand me the brush in the left breast pocket?" he asked from under the towel.

"Gran." Gran chided, flipping a towel at him even as she retrieved the brush he required. "Lionel dear, I'm afraid the Irish weather doesn't agree with all your pretty hair. And what a shame of it is, really. My Margee has the hardest time with her own curly hair." She kissed Morgan's cheek, than Lionel's, and smiled. "I see you both have finished your shopping excursion?"

"No, it doesn't agree with my hair. At all." Lionel accepted the hairbrush thankfully, and started dragging it through his wet locks, attempting to restore them to some sense of their former majesty. "Yes, we did, we got everything we needed, a few things we didn't, and a surprise I've had on hold for Dominic for some time now."

Gran just smiled. Couldn't help it, as she squeezed her little teacup's hand gently, looking up at his tired, but happy, features, and giggled quietly. "That's fabulous. I hope you had a good time in Dublin, though I did hear they're getting the rain even worse than we ourselves are." She chuckled and left them to try for a moment, just for a moment, before returning with a steaming tea kettle and tray, piled high with pastries and breads. "Come now, lets have a spot of afternoon tea in the parlor. It'll warm you up quite a bit."

"Quite worse, and it was a horrible drive from there back. And Dominic? You will never make another derogatory comment about my driving, or else I'll be forced to remind you of today." He glared deeply at his lover as he rose to his feet. "Here, Ms. Finn. Let me carry that tray for you."

"I canna help it!" A deep sulk. "The road was a mess, the water was endless! How was I to know that squirrel would jump out at me? I can't kill a squirrel, Lionel." Dominic glared back, even as he grinned triumphantly behind his back.

Gran nodded, smiled, and was about to speak when the phone rang.

"I'll get it, Gran." Dominic called to them both as they walked into the parlor, and lifted the receiver to his ear.

Gran watched her young grandson for a moment before she and the handsome man on her arm walked into the parlor. Old fashioned but clean as a pin, it was the one room no one but people outside the family came into for tea. The one time she'd caught any of her children in it, it had been a raw hide for them, no matter the age.

Lionel was her one exception.

She motioned for him to sit on the fluffy couch, smiling as she herself settled down, her frayed, old jeans squeaking softly in resistance as she settled down. "Ahhh. A comfortable thing, a good couch, is." A big smile, as she poured herself and Lionel some lovely tea. "Now, darling, would you like to tell me just what's on your mind?"

Lionel accepted the fragile teacup and sat back in the chair. "What's on my mind?" A little smile. "Nothing gets past you, does it, Ms. Finn?" He took a small drink from the cup, added a little honey to it, and then settled back again. "I'm worried about Lex. He's... quite the special young man, and I'm not sure that leaving him home alone was the best thing to do at this point."

"Lex is a darling boy, smart and naive at the same time, and he's doing quite fine." Granny assured him, even as she took a dainty sip of her own tea. "And Clark is a handsome little lad, now isn't he? Had I been fifty years younger.."

Lionel gave a little smile. "I'd had the same thought from time to time, believe me." He gave a little sigh. "No, I know they're both quite capable of taking care of themselves, however we spoke to Lex over the weekend and he had a bit of an incident happen. Nothing earth-shattering, he and Clark are both quite fine, and yet, I can't shake the feeling that I got when I was speaking to them that they're not quite all right. Lex even admitted that he missed Dominic and I and wished that we had been there to talk to, and those are words that haven't passed his lips in over a decade."

"Mmm. Morgan's told me of the rift he had with Lex." She thought for a moment, her old, wizened eyes flickering up to Lionel in the same startlingly clear green shade as her grandbaby's. "Perhaps it would be best to call him. He and Clark are coming to Ireland, are they not?"

A startled little blink. "Nothing really does get past you," he murmured softly. Then a little smile. "Yes, they are. We, ah, convinced Clark and Lex to join us here for Easter."

She smiled, keenly, at him. "I've my sources, little one, and don't you forget it." Another soft sip. "Tell me of Amerikay, Lionel. I've dreamed of visiting for most of my life... though I'm quite certain this old woman can no longer make the trip."

"Somehow, I don't think you'd let me forget it." He put the cup on the saucer, and leaned back. "America... is not at all everything it's cracked up to be, Ms. Finn. Don't get me wrong. I have lived there all my life, and have come to feel a great affection for it. And yet, there are places infinitely better, in terms of attitudes, morales, and such. And yet, land and sights wise, it's among the best places in the world."

"Indeed." A quiet, soft sigh. "When I was a young lassie, before the great immigration began to move out of these very ports, I dreamed of going to Amerikay, and becoming a fine actress and singer. I was hardly married, with only a young preacher who'd taken a fancy to me as a suitor, and so full of dreams I could hardly stay planted on the ground." A warm smile at Lionel, then. "its that dream come true that Morgan has gotten to live the life I missed out on. He loves his homeland, but his country is his true home, indeed. I don't think I could see my young teacup anywhere but right where he is. For you fit, Lionel Luthor. Like pieces of a puzzle, the very last two that gives you such a pleasure to see connected together and in tune with the rest of the puzzle."

Lionel smiled warmly at that. "He's gone through a lot of hardship to get there, and some of it at my hands," he admitted quietly. "But I've never stopped trying to make up for that, because he's shown me, by who he is, the kind of man I should have been."

"Nay, Lionel. I think tis been the other way around." Granny smiled at him, warmly. "You've a good heart beating in that chest of yours, and I'm proud and glad of it, as well. My Morgan deserves as much happiness as possible, after all the hardship he's suffered." And by her eyes, she let him know that she, indeed, did know her babies dark secret. "Its good for you to love him, as you do, Lionel."

Lionel nodded, not surprised that she'd known. "It hasn't always been a good heart, Ms. Finn. In fact, there have been times it has been downright black. But I'm not too old to change my ways, at least, I'd like to think I'm not." Wry grin. "Even if I am, there's nothing yet I've set my mind to do that I've not accomplished, and I've set my mind to this."

"And that's what people will see, little teacup." She smiled, warmly at him. "At the end of the day, there isn't much else we've got, now is there? You both were made for one another, and though there's much standing about hindering the way, you'll make it. And I'll gloat and laugh in my bitch sisters face."

"And I'll gloat with you." He paused. "Can you tell me, why is there so much resentment towards Dominic here, even in his family? I can't help but notice it, I noticed it when Gideon picked us up at the airport, and I've noticed it since then with some of the other cousins."

She sighed, quietly, at that. "Morgan hasna been home for many years. Many, many years. And some folks, stupid as they are indeed, have taken it as a right show of blunt snubbing rudeness, though there isn't a stuck up bone in my baby's body. He's a good man, but because they don't understand, they jump to mighty conclusions." At the mention of Gideon, her brow rose. "That boy will see his ears boxed if he tries it. I'm sure you know better than I, Lionel, but Morgan has jumped over many hurdles to be here today. It can't be helped about my stupid family, I'm afraid."

Lionel sighed. "I was afraid that was the case. Dominic... isn't a stuck up man at all, and I know why he hasn't come back. It... upsets me, that his family isn't understanding. It isn't because he hadn't the time or the money, he just... didn't feel as though it was the right time to come home."

"Oh, and you're not needing to tell these things to Gran." Granny nodded, as she shifted on the couch comfortably, and sipped her tea. "I know why my darling hasna been home, little teacup." She reached out and squeezed Lionel's hand. "I'm hoping in a day or two, the bad feelings towards him will be nothing but a memory. For now, they're going to stew in their own juices, I'm afraid, but that's not for you or Morgan to be worrying about. You just enjoy your vacation, and see this lovely country. As I told my husband, just this very morning. Fuck everyone else."

Lionel had to bury the snort at that, because he had absolutely no doubt of the veracity of Gran's words; in fact, he could hear her saying them clearly as a bell. "Of course I'm going to worry about it, Ms. Finn," Lionel said quietly. "I'm going to worry about anything that might further upset him while he's here. This was meant to be a stress-free vacation, a time of enjoyment for him to see his family again, to see the cottage he grew up in and know that it's going to stay in his family."

"It will be all those things, and more, my dear." Gran said easily, as she shifted and crossed her legs the other way. "You and I both will see to it, indeed." But she smiled, as she heard him laughing in the kitchen. "Did you know, Lionel, that he hasn't laughed like that in many years? Not since he was a young boy. The last time he came to see me, he was very polite, had a very polite way about him, but not once did he laugh just like that." She smiled again, broadly, as he cracked up in the kitchen. To her horror, her eyes filled, but she wasn't ashamed of her tears in the least. "Not for a very long time."

"I can believe it," He said, just as softly as he listened to Dominic laughing in the kitchen. "I don't think I heard him laugh like that in the all the years that I have known him, until a few months ago."

Her lips twitched, and she rubbed at her eyes with her napkin quietly. "Lionel dear, welcome to the family."

Lionel reached into his pocket and brought out one of his silk handkerchiefs, embroidered with his initials and handed it to her. "Thank you, Ms. Finn. That means a great deal to me, and to Dominic too, I'm sure."

She took it, and sniffled. "Bullocks to my grandbaby. Its everything that you're here. You've done the Senatori family some good, and I don't speak just of Margan. My Belinda Bell has told me all about how you helped her, and Meggie the same. Though I did have to sustain quite a lecturing yell from Graham Beagan this morning, indeed. Going on and on, about how much he was going to kill my little Morgan Dominic. Bloody bull from that man. Though," And now there was a twinkle in her eye. "I've heard of the beautiful Dr. Braxton."

"Wait... Graham Beagan?" he demanded.

"Indeed. Graham Beagan Isaac Senatori."

He snorted. Then choked. "Beagan. And I thought Dominic had it bad with Morgan."

Her lips twitched. "Beagan means Little One."

He choked again. "Little one. Graham. Pardon me." Lionel put his teacup down and just laughed. Loudly and long, deep peals of baritone laughter bubbling up from his chest and coming out.

Gran choked on her own tea and chuckled as she watched Lionel crack up. "Indeed, little one. Though it was of course given to him before he grew to his mountainous twelve feet, indeed." But she didn't say anything more as her grandson re-entered, looking amused and confused at the same time. "Oh, darling, I just told Lionel of your brothers middle name."

"Ah." Dominic snorted himself, lips twitching as he slid onto the couch beside his lover. "Now that's funny. The indignities the darling has suffered, indeed." He grinned as Lionel laughed, eyes twinkling as he watched his lover. He loved it when Lionel laughed, because it was in those flashes of laughter that he saw his Lionel on the surface, the one Dominic only usually saw when they were making love, and he just grinned.

"Of course it was," Lionel choked out as he tried to regain composure of himself, and he grinned widely at his lover. "Graham Beagan Senatori. I'm going to make quite sure the rest of the world knows that name."

Dominic grinned, himself. "He got saddled, he did. Food and little one. Horridly emasculating, I'm afraid." But he smiled at his lover, kissed his nose, and glanced to his granny from his perch on the end of her coffee table.

The only one allowed to do it, at that.

"Gran, you're going to kill my poor husband before the night is through. Did you tell him about Megan's, gran?" At her headshake, Dominic turned a smile at his lover. "Megan Dawn Telulla Senatori."

Granny's lips twitched. "I believe that only my darling teacup came out unscathed by my daughter's horrid job of naming her offspring. Morgan Dominic isn't too bad at all."

"I don't at all blame her for changing it to Gina." Another prompt peal of laughter rolled out of him. "Belinda Bell isn't really all that bad, although there is the horrid BB combination." He looked over at Dominic first, then at Gran, then back to his lover. "Remind me not to let your mother have a thing to do with choosing Aurora's middle name."

Dominic blushed, softly. "Aurora Keana, remember?"

Gran bit her lip and sat up a bit, to smile at them both. "Now that is a beautiful name. The little Briar Rose is going to be very blessed, with both a royal name, and a surname of the lands where the ground breathes and nature itself welcomes you." Her eyes filled again. "A right beautiful name."

"Yes, that's right. I had forgotten, in the uproar of everything." He settled back onto the couch and tugged his lover to sit beside him, moving him off the table with an arm around his waist. "We think it will be a beautiful name. Aurora Keana Senatori-Luthor." He let it roll off his tongue for Gran. "It'll be both our names."

She smiled, even more. "A powerful name. I believe that little Briar Rose will grow into a fine woman. When you both told me you were coming to Ireland, I wasn't sure how I'd find you, you see. But now... now I know, and I'm so proud to be related to you both. When she's born, I believe I just might make the trek over to see my darling great grand baby."

Dominic slid in beside his lover, close and snuggly, and smiled across at him before reaching for his on cup of tea. "We'd love to have you, Gran."

"We truly would." Lionel picked up his own teacup and brought it to his mouth. "When she's born, we'll send the private jet over for you. All you'll have to do is let us know when you're ready to leave. A car will meet you and take you to the airport, you'll fly on the private jet, and you'll be driven straight to Smallville from your landing in Metropolis."

"Wouldn't that be amazing? Its been five years since I've seen my daughter, and the kids. Eleanor must be just huge." She smiled, warmly. "And Shane, who I've yet to meet. I believe I will indeed, come and see her." Gran smiled, warmly. "But, I must ask, are you both to be staying for supper?"

Lionel looked over at his lover. "That's entirely up to Dominic."

Dominic looked across at his lover, and smiled. "I think so, Gran. We'd be delighted, of course... but... is everyone coming over?"

Gran very quietly caught Lionel's eye once before speaking. "Just Gideon. I've told everyone else to stay away until at least Tuesday, so expect an onslaught tomorrow."

Lionel nodded once, and slid his hand up his lover's back comfortingly. "Don't worry, Dominic. If you don't want to face Gideon, you don't have to."

Dominic's eyebrows furrowed, and he side glanced his lover. "What? What's that mean?"

Gran made herself busy, by piling a plate with scones, and effortlessly pushed one into her grandbabies mouth before rising and bustling off for more tea.

"It means just that. Gideon was bitter to you at the airport. We both saw it, I don't like it, and if you don't want to deal with the bitterness while you're here, then you don't have to." He broke half the scone off so that Dominic could chew it better, and popped the other half into his own mouth.

Dominic muttered his thanks, chewing his mouthful thoughtfully for a moment as he watched his lover chew for a second. Contemplating. "I..." chew, swallow. "Want him here of c... fuck that was good." He picked up another scone and bit into it, offering his lover a bite of it too. "I want him here of course, as I was saying. I won't see him for a while when we go home, and if he wants to hold it against me, fuck him."

Lionel bit into the second scone a bit more daintily this time, nipping Dominic's fingers in the process, and washed it down with a drink of honeyed tea. "It's entirely up to you, if you want to stay, or if you want to see him tonight. I don't think anyone would hold it against you if you decided to try and spare yourself some of the grief and hassle."

He shook his head, smiling at his lover, and reached forward to kiss him, and lick a little cream from the corner of his lips. "Mmm. Creamy Lionel." Pulled away a moment later, eyes twinkling, and took a drink of his own tea. "No, its quite alright, seriously love. I don't mind a tick. Though if I end up kicking his ass, well... don't look surprised."

Lionel returned the kiss gently, and then settled back in the sofa beside his lover. "I don't think you ever cease to surprise me, no matter what I expect from you."

"What do you mean?" Another sneaked bit of soda farl, topped with cinnamon, which he bit into and purred softly.

"Nothing bad," he hastened to reassure his lover. "It's just that when I think I have your reaction pegged, you surprise me, and react an entirely different way from anything I've expected. I never know what you're going to do until it's done, and it's one of the things I find so endearing about you."

Dominic grinned and leaned back against the sofa as well, setting a hand over his belly, the other still holding the soda farl he was crunching on. "Mmm. I like," Swallow. "Keeping you on your toes." He offered some of the bread to his lover, and rolled his head a little so his and Lionel's were touching. The room was quiet, the only sound being the boats in the harbor right across the way and the songs of sea birds wafting in through the window. The rain was still pelting, quietly but steadily, and the scent was rich, clean, clear… not the polluted scent of muggy rain in Metropolis.

"Keeping me on my toes. yes, I suppose that is one way to look at it." His hand came around his lover's waist, stroked lightly over his belly as he leaned against the arm of the couch. "Giving me my first heart attack might be another, and prematurely graying my hair might be still a third."

Dominic snorted, rudely, and reached forward to set the bread on the little plate again, before letting Lionel cuddle him in. He leaned against his lovers side, softly, and smiled into his broad chest. "Nay, not a heart attack. A stroke, love. You'll keel over one morning after finding I'd thrown all your suits away and replaced them with brightly colored slacks and polos in various shades of green, blue, and mauve." Another chuckle. "And if I gray your hair, then you'll make me lose mine."

"If you touch my suits, I'm afraid I'd have to disown you," Lionel said disapprovingly.

"I know." Snicker. "I won't, I promise."

"Good." He snuggled Dominic in closer, and rested his chin on the top of his lover's head. "I miss Lex," he admitted, very very softly.

"I know." Dominic answered again, as he took his lovers hand and linked their fingers, holding them in his own. "We'll see him in a few days... unless you want to bring him earlier than you said?" He asked, softly, looking up. "Clark's vacation starts Wednesday... perhaps we could have them both come a tad early?"

Lionel shook his head. "No, they'll come in their own time. They've already made their plans for coming the weekend, to give them enough time to get their things together. They'll be here soon enough."

"Lionel...it does you good, you and Lex both, to know you're missing one another this deeply." His lips curved gently as he looked up, listening to his Gran moving around the kitchen.

"No, it doesn't." Lionel was quiet after that, though, his fingertips stroking over the back of Dominic's hand as it rested over his stomach. "You have soft skin."

Dominic was just as quiet, as his lover touched his fingers gently, and let his lover break the silence with the most emasculating thing on the planet. And he said so, with a curved brow up at him.

Lionel shook his head. "It's not emasculating to have soft skin. At all. It's merely a sign that you're in the upper echelon of the workforce, and haven't had to sully your hands with hard work and labor. It shows you're well cared for and you're well groomed." He brought Dominic's hands to his mouth for a soft kiss to each.

"If little Beagan ever forgives me, that won't last much longer." He answered, softly, even if the words from those warm lips had pleased him immensely. "He wanted me to go into business with him." Quietly, as his fingers gently laced through Lionel's, holding tightly but gently.

Lionel just gave a soft chuckle. "He'll forgive you," he said softly. "He's working with that Fordman boy as it is, to get himself established here. He's going to need your help, sooner or later."

His brows furrowed, quietly. Working with Whitney? How was his brother working with Whitney? Graham had told him, specifically, that they would be working together.

Fuck. He just... he heaved a deep, quiet sigh, and rubbed his face gently, the hand not pressed into his lovers own firm, but gentle, grip. "I don't know, Lionel. I don't know that he will."

Lionel was silent for a moment as he brought his hands up to rub at his lover's shoulders. "I know," Lionel said firmly. "Your brother might be proud and stubborn, like another Senatori I know, but he's not stupid. He can't do this without you."

He glared upwards. "I am neither proud or stubborn, thank you. If I were, you would be living in Barbados, and I in Canada." His brow rose, daring his handsome lover to argue with him.

A loud snort. "You're both, and you bloody well know it."

"I am not!" Another glare, but he didn't know if he could argue about such a thing in his Gran's sitting room, with her right in the kitchen. He lowered his voice, instead, though it cost him a bit of proper pronunciation. "I am not any such thing!"

"Yes, you are. Need I remind you who threatened me with castration if I didn't stop fussing over him during his last bout with a cold?" Lionel raised his brow in answer to Dominic's lowered voice.

He opened his mouth to argue… and found it clicking shut again. And he glared, even more, though it was punctuated with a warm kiss on the lips. "Fine. Whatever. Speaking of stubborn heads, I can't wait to get you home."

"Why is it I suddenly find myself filled with an intense fear when I hear you say that?"

Innocent blink. "Hmm?"

"Perhaps because I don't trust you, any further than I can throw you?" Lionel smirked it smoothly as he leaned back against the couch.

Dominic grinned up at him, then, and leaned against his lover, turning on his side to slide his fingers over his belly and rest against him. "You could throw me a long distance, my love."

"Mmm, perhaps. And yet, that still doesn't answer the question of why you want me home."

"And why else would I want you home?" Dominic chided, gently, though his eyes danced gently as he gazed upward at his lover, and gently squeezed his waist.

"So that you can beat me privately for insisting that you are a proud, stubborn, and wonderful man." Another teasing grin.

Dominic blinked, twice, before letting his smile take over his face and his lips twitched, very gently. "Of course. Beat you up."

"Which, sadly, I would let you do, if it made you happy."

"Now that's a frightening thing, and don't you ever say that again." Only this time, Dominic's face was very clearly serious, and his eyebrows furrowed quietly. "I don't want you speaking such things, Lionel. Never."

He nodded softly, not quite sure why he'd upset his lover, but letting it go for now. "All right. I won't say it again. I promise."

Dominic looked up, gently, because he could see the confusion in his beloveds face, and he felt it in his own heart, as well. "I don't want you to ever consider yourself any sort of thing like my punching bag, Lionel." Quiet seriousness. "I know I wouldn't be able to mark you up to much, but still."

Lionel cocked his head to the side, a gentle slant as he looked down at his lover. "Then you'll have to stop expecting to be mine, if you don't want me to be yours," he said simply.

Oh. He looked up at that, mildly shocked, and tipped his head carefully. "Yes...I understand, beloved. I don't feel that way about you...not in any real sort of sense. I know you wouldn't hurt me."

"Just as I know that, despite your propensity for hurling antiques at me, you wouldn't hurt me either." He brushed his fingertip lightly down his lover's jaw.

Oh. heh. His eyes raised up, and he grinned. "About that... you know, I do have to pay you back for those antiques.."

"No, you don't. Because they weren't damaged beyond repair. They have long since been fixed and returned to their places of honor."

"Had I any decency whatsoever, I'd feel absolutely mortified for what I did." A light, amused, cough.

"No, you wouldn't, because at the time, I'm quite sure I deserved having large, blunt objects hurled at my skull."

"Of course you did. Nothing else was breaking through it." Dominic grinned again, though he pushed himself up to give Lionel a gentle, warm kiss on the lips again, then another, his fingertips gently scratching through his lovers beard.

Lionel gave a contented little noise in his throat as Dominic's fingers scratched through his well-groomed beard, and he returned the kisses just as softly as they were given. "Mmm. I take pride in the fact that you haven't thrown anything at me lately."

 

"I threw a sock at you." Dominic murmured, quietly, as he kissed again, the slender, yet full, lower lip. He gave it a moments attention, gently scraping his teeth across it, before kissing again, a little warmer, a little deeper. Lionel's mouth was hot, spicy with the warm honey tea, and Dominic licked across his teeth, sucking at the warm tongue gently.

"Oh, that's right, and you threw money at me, too. I'd almost forgotten that."

Dominic smiled again, and no, he wasn't at all proud of the fact. "Which you laughed at me for, for twenty minutes. Ass." Another long, gentle kiss, as his fingertips trailed his lovers throat.

"Yes, yes, you do have a rather nice one, I must admit." Lionel arched his throat into the stroking fingertips. "And I didn't laugh that much. I just... put it down my pants."

"Like a right stripper. If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought you were smuggling me to your gay club in Miami, where you were going to enlist me as your backup table dancer." A little wriggle of his hips, as his eyes twinkled. "I'd make you a bitch load of money, you know. I can dance."

"I do not own any sort of club in Miami. I do have some real estate properties there, several small businesses and subsidiaries of LuthorCorp, mostly offshore drillings, freight and such like that."

"You should invest. Enrique could be our top dancer." Dominic's eyes were even more wicked.

"Only if your mother would allow it, and that's quite the troubling path that I don't wish to go down."

Dominic grinned, even wider. "You do realize I'm joking, angel?"

"With you? I am never quite sure."

Dominic cracked up, and laughed for several moments, nearly falling over his lover and to the floor. When he was able to compose himself, sort of, he was still snickering, and rolling his eyes. "Though, its not a half bad idea, let me tell you. Screw LuthorCorp, we'd make millions."

"I already have millions, Dominic," Lionel pointed out. "Why would I exploit you, Enrique, or anyone else for far less money than I make in a single day with just my stock options and dividends?"

"Because it would be quite an adventure, and we'd have a ball?" Innocently answered as he cuddled up against Lionel, wrapping both arms around his tummy and laying his head on Lionel's shoulder. They were comfortably sprawled, slouched, and with the pinging rain, the smells of dinner just beginning to be made, and the cool state the room was in, Dominic felt himself relax. He heaved a deep, shuddering sigh, and purred quietly.

"Mmm. I already have two balls," he pointed out, in a sudden moment of crassness that he'd never admit to in front of anyone else. "Why do I need to have another?"

Dominic opened his eyes... blinked… looked up, as if he couldn't believe his poised, elegant lover, had said such a thing.

And giggled. Christ, he choked on them, burying them in his lover's side. "You're about as refined as a hippo, Lionel, thank you."

"I have my moments, yes, just as any other person does, but you must admit, most of the time, you'd never think it of me."

He grinned up at him again, and squeezed his waist. "I love it. It makes me feel, when I'm talking to you about beer and pizza and the latest dirty joke I read off the internet, less obvious of being a dork."

"You're never a dork," Lionel said firmly.

"Right. What about..." He rose up a bit, and whispered, behind the curtain of his lovers wild hair, "I want to go home, pin you up, and make you ride me until your breath is hoarse and your body is burning."

"I... don't think that's dorky at all," Lionel said, making sure the tips of his hair brushed across Dominic's cheek as he whispered. "I think that's exactly what we need to do as soon as we finish dinner, in fact."

"I love it when you do." He whispered, very softly, just for his lovers ear, as he nipped it, gently. "I love it when you do."

But because talking, or even thinking, of those things in his Granny's house horrified him, he let go a little and lay his head back on his lovers shoulder. "We fit." He said, quietly, with another squeeze.

"Yes... yes, we do fit," Lionel agreed softly, pulling Dominic back against him and letting him cuddle in softly. "We fit beautifully."

Dominic smiled, quietly, against his lovers chest, and kissed the edge of his lovers nipple gently.

Lionel let his fingers stroke gently through Dominic's hair, brushing it back and forth as he petted, dropping the occasional kiss to the top of his head as he listened to the rain and the elderly woman moving in the kitchen.

"Lionel? Can I tell you something?"

"I would certainly hope so," he said quietly.

"I... was hoping to bring up to you something I've been thinking about for a while." He murmured, very softly, as the rain pelted a little harder outside. His heart was beating, a trip in his chest, and he swallowed, tightly. "I was thinking... when LuthorCorp gets on its feet, maybe... six months, a year from now..." A swallow. "I'd like to teach."

"What would you like to teach?" Lionel asked softly.

Oh. OH! No screams! No yells! Holy crap! He didn't dare chance a look up, just training his eyes on the pot of Marigolds his granny had by the TV. "In the evening… during the free and less busy times. I'd like… to teach a business class, at the local college."

Lionel just kept his fingers stroking through Dominic's hair, keeping a tight lid on his own disappointment that Dominic wanted out of the business half of their partnership. "At the community college in Smallville, or Grandville?"

"Here." He swallowed. "Just... in the evenings, Lionel. I don't want… to stop working for you, not by any regard. I love my job. I would just... I would love to teach. I've wanted to for a long time, and now, here, it seems like the best opportunity to do such a thing."

"You want to come back to Cobh and teach?"

He shook his head, confused for a moment... before he looked up, a little nervous grin on his lips. "I meant Smallville. Sorry, love. I want... to teach in Smallville, at the community college."

"Then I see no reason why you shouldn't. I'll call Carolyn--" He paused to look at his watch. "Tomorrow, and have her start the paperwork, as much as she can, to have you board certified."

"I already am." He answered, absently, as his fingertips gently moved over his lovers face. "You aren't angry?"

"Then you're a step ahead of the game already." He moved gently into Dominic's touch. "No, I'm not angry."

Dominic stroked them through his lovers hair, gently. "I love kids. I particularly enjoy older ones....and I know so much, Lionel. I could help the young men and women pursuing a career in business, give them a step up above the competition... even take some under my wing, to join LuthorCorp, if they've the skills." He swallowed again.

"I'd suggest you try and teach under Senatori rather than Luthor, because it will be slightly less intimidating to walk into a business-oriented classroom and be faced with Mr. Luthor as a teacher."

His lips spread, though they were still nervous and were caught under his teeth. "I'd rather teach as the man I am, now."

"It's entirely up to you, Dominic. Whether or not you choose to teach, whatever name you choose to use, all of it is your choice, and I won't meddle in it."

"But... I want you to meddle." Dominic said, softly, looking up at him. "I want you to meddle. Do you think its a proper idea?"

"No, I'm not going to meddle." He met Dominic's eyes squarely. "This is something that you want to do, something that obviously means a great deal to you, and it's your decision. Whatever it is, I will support you in it."

Dominic opened his mouth to speak, then let it fall closed again as he blinked... once... twice, three times. Okay. So he hadn't been yelled at, check. He obviously hadn't fucked up, check. His lover was looking at him sincerely, even if there was something just... odd about this entire encounter, and his brows furrowed for a moment. "You're sure?"

Lionel nodded. "Yes, I'm sure."

"You're not." Dominic answered, quietly, throat tight. "Please... talk to me."

"Yes, Dominic, I am sure." He stroked his fingers gently over his husband's shoulders.

His brows furrowed, tightly. If he asked Lionel if something was wrong, his lover was gonna be pissed. If he didn't... his lover was going to be pissed.

Dominic. Never. Won.

Lionel sighed, and brought his fingers up to smooth out the furrowed brow. "Nothing is wrong," he answered, striving to make his tone light.

"I'm not stupid, Lionel." He sat up, then, carefully, evening his body up so he was facing his husband eye to eye. "Please... just tell me."

"No, you're not stupid at all." He met Dominic squarely, looked him in the eye as firmly as possible. "I am fine. I am not angry, worried, or upset."

"And I'm a two tailed sloth, found creeping about Hogwart's castle." Dominic glared, then. "Didn't we promise one another to be honest?"

"So you think I'm lying to you now?" Lionel didn't let any anger creep into his tone, because he wasn't quite angry yet.

"No." Firmly. "I know you're not lying. But I know when you aren't telling me the whole truth, Lionel, and don't insult my intelligence by pretending. I know you far too well, baby."

"I am telling you the whole truth. If this is what you want to do, then I want you to do it. Make that commitment. If you don't want to do it, then don't. But I will not, cannot and am not going to make that choice for you. It's yours to make, and whatever you choose, I will accept it and support you in it."

"That's not what I'm asking you. You're skirting about the issue." His hands planted on his knees. "There's something amiss, and I'm not dense enough not to catch it. I would very much like to accept a position, part time, of course, as a guest teacher. I've already looked into it. But I don't want you to.." What? What, Dominic? "Never mind. Christ... I'm prattling."

"No, what you're doing is worrying, and I wish that you wouldn't." Lionel didn't drop his eyes from his lover's. "You're worrying too much because I haven't thrown a temper tantrum as you've seem to become accustomed to."

"No... well, a little." Wince. "Usually I have to talk you into things. I'm a bit unfooted to find I don't have to." He stroked his lovers hand, gently.

Lionel gave a soft chuckle, and not even he could tell it was a forced one. "Perhaps I'm just getting a little soft as I go into my elder years."

Dominic still felt off kilter, deeply so, but he didn't understand why. There was something about his lovers features, something about the way he held himself. Dominic had known him too long not to be suspicious, and his brows furrowed again, searching his lovers face.

Lionel sighed, and submitted himself to the scrutiny, and put his hands on his lover's shoulders as he kept his gaze on Dominic's.

His dimple came on in one cheek... but not because he was smiling, just scrunched his face up, looking at him, considering. He still wasn't completely comfortable with it, but just then his beautiful granny came in, and he looked up.

"Supper is just about prepared, dears." She smiled, warmly. She'd walked in on them having a talk, and she'd stepped quickly out, without hearing too much. Just something about teaching. But she put on a blank face, smiling at the both of them. "Port King liver pie... its coming out delicious, as well."

Lionel took his lover's moment of distraction to lean forward and kiss the dimple that had appeared in Dominic's scrunched face, and then smiled over his shoulder at Gran. "It smells quite interesting," he said with a charming smile. "Is there anything Dominic and I can do to help you finish?"

She caught the smile, and her blank smile bloomed into a real one, as well as a roll of her big green eyes. "Not at all, dears. I've every type of liquor imaginable, and my husband will be coming home just as we finish, I should suppose, so we'll be nice and cozy-like, alone. Thank Christ. What do you feel like, Lionel?"

"I'd love a snifter of brandy, if you have it." He snuggled Dominic closer against him. "And when is Gideon arriving?"

"And what type of Irish woman would I be without a good port brandy?" She smiled and motioned them with her. "Come, come, I've set up in the dining room. And the darling Gideon should be here any moment… I rung him about an hour ago."

Darling Gideon? Lionel rolled his eyes at the slight understatement, but looked up at Dominic. "Should we go to the table, or make your grandmother serve us in here?"

"Oh, I never." She flicked a hand towel, at him before tucking it into her apron, and bustled off to the kitchen once more, shouting in Gaelic towards her little teacup as she did it. "What a man, serving indeed! Sit, sit!"

"Aye, he's but a fool, though a fool I love dearly." Dominic answered in amusement, as he led his lover to the tiny dining room, where wine, bread, and china had been set out. And as he looked at it, he gently took his lovers hand, and squeezed.

Lionel squeezed in return, and pulled Dominic over to where two places had been laid together, and with a bit of a sweeping bow, pulled one of the chairs out from under the table. "There, my little cricket. Please, be seated."

"First, soft hands. Now, this." He glared but took the seat, while his insides flopped, and he took his lovers hand in his own, tugging him into the seat beside him. "I'm going to have to get particularly drunk, to overcome this."

Lionel pushed his lover's seat in, and only then did he take the seat beside his little cricket, grinning all the while.

A roll of his eyes. "Blasphemer." The food looked delicious, and he could hear his granny chewing someone out on the phone… his grandfather, which amused him a moment later, as he squeezed his lovers hand.

And reached up and over, to kiss his lover, deeply.

Lionel leaned over, sliding his hand to the back of his lover's head and pulling him forward into the kiss, taking firm control of it as he nibbled and licked, the pad of his thumb stroking the back of Dominic's head.

Dominic tipped is head, carefully, gently letting his lover take the kiss as he returned it as much as he could, firmly, gently pressing in closer, arms around his lovers shoulders as he kissed his beautiful husband. His fingers caught Lionel's... slid them holding in close, and squeezed, tightly.

Lionel returned the gentle squeeze as he broke the kiss at the sound of squeaking and cursing coming from the hallway. "I think Gideon is here," he said softly.

A great pounding came on the door. "Aye, and would one of ye great oxes get offa your lazy bums an open th'door for a good man?"

Dominic rose quickly and let go of his lover to walk around the large table, and get the door opened for Gideon. He smiled at him, warmly, though there was a trace of holding things back in his heart that he didn't like, not one bit. He didn't think of it, though, just holding the door open for him. "Quite sorry."

"Aye, an' ye should be too, lazin' aboot with that man of yers while the rest of us are waitin' out in the cold!" Half-sharp grin. "Gran! Where be ye, darlin' woman?"

Gideon's commentary didn't set well with Lionel at all. But he let it go, for the moment, rather than cause a scene in Gran's house. Instead, he got to his feet, and went over to his lover, putting a cautiously protective hand on Dominic's shoulder. "Gideon, pleasure to see you again."

"FINE, you bloody git!" Gran yelled, though if she was yelling at her husband or at Gideon, it wasn't sure.

Dominic smiled at him, a little crookedly, and carefully opened the door further, so he could get it. The cold rain from outside was seeping into the cold house, and Dominic was certain that if hadn't had his warm lover next to him, he would have shivered. "Come in… Gran's finishing on the phone."

Gideon rolled into the house, shaking his mane of red hair, and picking up one of the towels sitting by the door as he wiped the wheels of his wheelchair off so as not to track mud through the house on them. "Aye, Father Conn's a stubborn old barstid, and he's no' comin' home til the last bann is read and the last mass prayer said."

Dominic smiled, easily, but he didn't say anything... instead, turning to the kitchen door, sitting open, and smiling at his granny. "Let me help you get the rest of the food, Gran." He stepped in, pushing up the sleeves of his sweater and picked up two bowls of vegetables.

"Don't I know it, Gideon." Gran grumbled, glowering at the telephone like it was its fault, and heaved a sigh, as she lifted a bowl herself.

Lionel slid quietly around to close the door after Gideon, and then picked up the towel from where it had fallen on the floor and folded it back over the small wooden rack by the door. "Come now, Ms. Finn, you wouldn't have married the good Father if he hadn't been just as stubborn as you, now admit it. And you've produced fine broods of stubborn children and grandchildren."

Her lips quirked. "And that is true enough, indeed. Leave the mess, Lionel, I'll clean up later on, when I'm trying to get away from all of my daughters in law. There we are…" She set the food on the table, and slipped around it to fluff napkins, smiling. There was a chair missing from the side of the table Gideon would be sharing with Gran herself, and she arranged the placemat just so.

Gideon rolled himself up to the table. "Aye, an'tha' be smellin' mighty good, Gran," Gideon said with a smile. "Morgan, yer goin' t'have tae come home mer often, if yer goin' to get my sweet darlin' gran to cook fer ye like this."

Dominic smiled, softly, as he looked up at his Grandmother, who'd finally seated herself, and did the same beside Lionel once more. "Gran, when you come to see Aurora's birth, I'll introduce you to Lionel's maid, Ms. Bird. She makes food that make other people weak in the knee." Another smile, as he squeezed her hand, gently.

Granny just smiled. "Hilde and I have met. She's superb...she gave me the recipe for tonight's pie."

"Aye, she and sweet Rosie get along like two peas inna pod," Gideon pointed out, settling in his place beside Gran. "Bugger me if I'd mess wi'the woman, because she's on ye like a flash with 'er wooden spoons."

Dominic's brows furrowed slightly as he settled himself, quietly, and set his napkin on his lap. "I hope that'd be my ma you're speakin' of. Mama is as evil as a damn cactus in the summer time, but Ms. Birds sweet. She's taken care of me more times n'I can remember, when I've been ill."

"Aye, 'm talkin' of 'em both. Sweet Rosie's a banshee, but Ms. Bird's just as fast t'get on ye, and me knuckles still smart t'prove it. Tried t'get me bread a'fre a meal, aye, and got smart rapped fer it!"

"Probably for a good reason." Was all Dominic said.

And Granny, sensing something was up, spoke up, her voice cheerful and loud. "Reminds me of the summer you both spent workin' for your grandpa. He spent more time rapping at you, smacking you both upsides the head, than sermoning. Nearly lost half the congregation, aye, hadna' it been for the amusement you two brought."

Lionel chuckled softly. "I can believe it," he said, raising his head to ruffle the little bit of hair on the head in question. "No wonder it's so hard."

Dominic smiled, though he was slightly tense, and kept right on passing the bowls around.

"Indeed." Granny chuckled, softly. "They set the dove pen to fire, brought down the crucifix to give Jesus a cleaning and ended up wiping away four hundred years of holy oil." She grinned, broadly. "Grampa Finn nearly had himself a cow, at that. I'll never forget it, him coming home, 'those boys are useless!'." Another chuckle. "Now look at you, both successful and quite handsome, to boot."

Lionel moved his chair closer to Dominic's, and pressed a soft kiss to the crown of his lover's head. "He's useful to me," he opined softly. "I don't know that I could make it without him." Tight squeeze to Dominic's waist then.

Gideon snorted. "Speak fer yersel', Gran." Gideon's fingers flicked through his beard. "Happen t'be the handsomest man i'the clan!"

Some of the tenseness slid away, and Dominic turned a smile at his lover, as he pressed a light, gentle, quick kiss to his lovers temple, softly. "Potatoes, Gran?" He asked, as he offered her the bowl of roast ones, some of the same he'd just put on his own plate.

"Indeed." She took the bowl, handing the vegetables to Gideon, and then the biscuits to Lionel. "All of my grandbabies are beautiful, thank you so much. It all came from me, didn't it?" She gave a little mock pose.

Lionel tightened the arm around his lover's waist for a moment before letting it fall, and reaching out for his hand instead as they were rid of the bowl. "Of course it all came from you, Ms. Finn. There's no one else more beautiful that it could have."

She beamed. "Compliments won't get you my graham cracker pie, Lionel." Her eyes twinkled, even as her cheeks flushed gently. "Gideon darling, why don't you go get the bottle of wine in the kitchen?" She never, ever, made adjustments for his handicapped, and glared at him, daring him to say no. "And the bottle opener."

Dominic half rose. "I can get it, Gran, if you like? And bring in the pie for later, as well?"

"Aye, Gran." Gideon tossed his napkin down angrily at Dominic's words. "I can bloody well fetch a bottle of wine, Morgan! Sit yer ass down an' stop feelin' sorry for the bloody cripple!!" He pushed away from the table and turned expertly around to face the kitchen. "Managed t'survive the las' fifteen bloody years wi'out ye, I think I can handle the next t'irty seconds!"

Dominic sat back down, with a clunk of his wallet in his back pocket, and swallowed, hard. Fuck. He'd even go so far as to say fuck a duck. He hadn't meant it in that way at all… he'd just been trying to be helpful, and he winced at the slams in the kitchen. "Damn." He muttered, quietly.

Gran just shook her head, and reached over to squeeze her babies hand. "Its alright, love. Just don't make him feel like an invalid."

Lionel took the other one. "Don't worry, Dominic. It's a trait the two of you share; you didn't want me fussing over you when your arm was still in a sling, and Gideon doesn't want you fussing over him now." Firm squeeze. "You didn't try to coddle him like this in Smallville; why is it any different here?"

"I'm not coddling any--" But he was. And now, he realized it, and his heart sank even further. "We didn't have time, I suppose." He looked up at his lover. "He was hit by a car, in Dublin. Graham, Gideon and I, we'd been out drinking and living up to our nickname," A slight flush rose up in his cheeks, though he kept speaking, "And he wasn't watching. Got hit by a car, very badly, too." He shook his head, quietly. "I suppose I remember a lot of it afterwards… and I feel badly, because I left it all behind when I started term at St. Pomfry's."

"Aye, and wasna nobody's fault but me own, and dinna ye start it again, Morgan Senatori, or I'll kick yer arse again." He rolled back into the dining room, one hand on his wheel and the other cradling the open bottle of wine. "Here ye are, Gran." He glared at Dominic across the table. "Ye are, and ye know it. I dunna feel sorry for myself, and I'll no'abide ye feelin' sorry fer me."

"I don't." Dominic said, quietly, but that was all he said, as he helped his grandmother pour herself a glass, then poured Lionel one, Gideon, and lastly he himself.

Gran's eyes shifted, from the glare Gideon had on his face, to the quiet blankness on Dominic's, and sighed. Just... she sighed, and changed the subject abruptly. "They'll be havin' the festival on Wednesday, if it doesna rain." She was accompanied with a loud crash of thunder. "And we're going to have quite a large dinner at Angelina's restaurant. I want you all looking smart, for your cousin Joseph is the lead singer tomorrow."

"Bah," Gideon grunted, and rolled away from the table again, back into the kitchen with his dirty dishes piled in his lap.

Lionel nodded. "I've heard quite a bit about this festival from Dominic. I hear it's one of the most celebrated chorale festivals in the land."

"Oh, indeed." her eyes, though, weren't their normal humorous glint. "We've the best singers here in Cork and Kerry, and they gather in Cork for the festival every year. Its going to be packed aplenty, so we're to be goin' early to find a good place. Its quite a festival, very lovely." She smiled, slightly. "Enjoy the rest of your dinner, laddies. I'm going to go have a sit down with Gideon." Her words were packed with meaning, and she nodded at the both of them as she rose, taking the rest of her supper and wine with her, and followed Gideon.

"Of course." He kept a tight grip on Dominic's fingers, in case he felt inclined to follow. "Don't. Let her talk to him," he said soothingly. "She'll know how to handle him."

Dominic had half risen again, but at his lovers grip on him, settled back down. He closed his eyes for a moment, and let his head fall on his lovers shoulder for a long, long moment.

"It's going to be all right." Lionel half-turned in his chair so that he could slide both his arms around his lover.

"I'm a right prick." He answered back, and wound his arms around Lionel for a moment. "Come on, have you finished? We can wash these dishes and be on our way. We've many things to set up at the cottage... Margee called me on the cell a bit ago, and told me that everything's been delivered, and that the baby is asleep in the bed, not to come screaming in when we arrive."

"You're not a prick at all," Lionel soothed softly. "and yes, I'm done. We'll take the car back to Margaret, leave the keys for it under the floormat, and we won't wake the baby up at all." He left his arms around Dominic for a few minutes. "It will be well."

He nodded, and rose to his feet, picking up his own plate, which he'd eaten perhaps an eighth of, and Lionel's in a similar state, stacking them quietly. "Lionel, Ive never craved a piece of slimy American pizza more in all of my thirty five years on this earth than I do in this moment." But he was smiling a little, as he said it, and took a long drink from the wine glass before starting out of the kitchen with the plates.

Lionel gave a little shake of his head as he gathered up the wine glasses, the bottle of wine, and the empty breadbasket, and followed his lover out of the dining room and into the kitchen.

Dominic could hear his granny's quiet voice in the living room and ignored it, setting the plates on the counter and going back. He returned with the rest of the dishes and napkins, working in his Granny's kitchen like he'd been there everyday for fifteen years. He loaded the little washer and dryer off the kitchen with the table cloth and napkins, setting soap in it and turning it on. The dishes were emptied and set in the sink, which he pulled dish soap and a sponge out from under it, to wash them. "You dry, Lionel. The dish clothes are in the drawer there, by your hip."

"Remind me to buy this sweet woman a dishwasher," Lionel mused softly, but obediently, as he opened the drawer and pulled out two towels, one that went over his shoulder for when the first got soggy, and one to keep in his hands, to dry with. "She needs it with the crew she has here."

"She's got one, in the basement." Dominic answered, quietly, as he scrubbed the dishes. "She refuses to use it. Says that food preparation and cleanup are parts of the meal, and she won't have a machine doing something badly what she can do well. Though she doesn't mind the washer, and hangs her clothes on the line out back." A little smile, then, as he rose his eyes up. "And we had to convince her to use the washer."

"Then I'll talk to her before I leave and convince her to use the dishwasher."

Dominic shook his head again, just carefully washing the china and setting it in the sink, for Lionel to dry as he went. "I can't wait to see the chest. I'm so glad the place in Dublin had it delivered."

Lionel carefully dried each piece, fingering the delicate shamrock design woven around the outer edges and placed it carefully, almost reverently, into the dish drainer by the sideboard. "They were glad to deliver it," Lionel nodded as he dried each piece. "I can't wait for you to see it either."

Dominic scrubbed the last tall glass clean, rinsed it thoroughly, and took the extra towel from his lovers shoulders to dry his hands and the water he'd gotten on the counter and sink, carefully drying the steel until it shone. "There we are." He rubbed his damp palms on his thighs, and folded the little towel up, setting it on the countertop. "Shall we be off?"

"Don't you want to say goodbye to your grandmother first?" Lionel asked just as quietly, drying his own hands off, and depositing both towels into the woven hamper by the door.

Crap. He swallowed, quietly, looking out the open door to the voices coming from the parlor. He almost felt a whine coming on, a 'do I HAVE to?', but he was a man. And that's what men did. He squared his shoulders, nodded, and motioned, absently. "Fetch our coats? I'll be but a moment."

"Of course I will. Tell the young lady that I'll be seeing her soon." He leaned over and kissed Dominic's cheek, and let out a little sigh. "I'll be waiting in the hallway."

"Thank you." Dominic answered, softly, and reached up for the kiss, letting him hold him for a moment before slipping down the hall. He rounded around the parlor door, carefully knocking on it, as he entered, quietly. "Gran?"

Granny looked up from Gideon, his hand still in hers, and smiled a little, warmly, at her grandson. "Hello, baby."

"Lionel and I... we're off."

Gideon looked up at Dominic. "Gi'e over, Margan." His voice was slightly gruffer than usual, and his accent was a little thicker. "Isna alla yer fault."

Dominic swallowed, quietly, and winced slightly as he stepped into the room. "Gideon... I'd never be that way with you. I dinna mean to coddle you so--tis a thing in me very nature, and I'm sorry to you."

"Aye, know t'is. Dunna blame ye fer it, really, an' ye know that I love ye better'n me own bruthers." He rolled his wheelchair just a little bit forward. "Isna yer fault it happened, isna at all. Jus' git a litt'l bitter when I thinka it."

"I know." He answered, quietly, and felt like a huge heel while saying so. "I'm sorry, though... we've been off kilter a bit, since I came home. I jus' dunna want you to be angry with me, or hate me, Gideon, for not bein' home."

He rolled forward again. "I dun' hate ye for no'bein' home, Margan." Deep sigh. "I dunna unnerstan' why ye wait s'long, when alla us know ye coulda come whene'er ye wanted, and I dunna think ye unnerstan' how it's hard fer us to see ye now, high and mighty Luthor man, and dinna be sure if yer Margan or Dom'nic."

Dominic's brows shifted, tightly. The one person, all these years, who had stuck by him no matter what, had been Gideon. The one person who had loved him, and believed in him, had been Gideon. And no matter what, Gideon had always been there. Maybe that's why the shock was hard, fierce, when Gideon had yelled at him, and why the bloom of blame had been so quick.

Dominic knew what he had to do.

He swallowed, hard, and sat down on the couch, right in front of him. "Gran? Could you leave us alone?"

Gran seemed to know what was going on… she always did, and she nodded, brow furrowed lightly, as she rose, and closed the parlor door behind her.

Lionel turned around at the closed door, coat in hand, and he snapped his jaw shut when he saw Gran coming out of the sitting room. He hung both the coats back up when he saw the serious expression on her face. "Has Gideon guilted him into telling?" he asked softly, putting the pieces together quickly.

She nodded, quietly, and sighed softly. "Lionel, my dear... there are things between Gideon and Morgan that not even I myself will ever know. In many ways, they're closer than brothers. Always have been. Its been a long time in coming." She took his arm though, gently. "Why don't you come with me? Lex has been e-mailing me. You can talk to him through that messenger."

Lionel nodded, and without a word, followed Gran towards the computer.

Dominic shifted, quietly, and tipped his head. "Gideon, you're a brother to me. You know it, and I know it. I owe you an explanation for my actions, because you, above all people, deserve it."

Gideon rolled back to the sofa, and inclined his head. " 'ere, 'ave a seat. I'll b'back wi'somethin' t'drink cause it sounds as though we're needin' it."

"Whiskey." Was all Dominic said, quietly, as he settled down on the sofa, and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Aye." Gideon rolled out into the little room and went to the drink cupboard, bringing out the bottle of stiff Irish whiskey, and, as an afterthought, two glasses. " " 'ere you go."

Dominic rose and took them from him, quietly, leading them back to the fluffy couch, where the tea and biscuits had been cleared away, and let his brows furrow, quietly, as he sat down on the couch. This was hard, much harder than telling Lindy, because Lindy was his sister. She had to love him. Gideon might as well have been a brother, but Dominic didn't know how he was going to react to this at all.

Gideon uncorked the whiskey bottle, and poured two large glasses of it. "Aye, drink it all down, like a good lad."

Dominic finally allowed himself a smirk, and shook his head. "You should be, laddy, after the afternoon we've had."

Gideon sat back in the wheelchair, and lifted his legs up onto the footrest. "Aye, there we are. Now, what is it ye've t'tell me?"

Dominic looked at him for a moment, swallowing his own whiskey, and poured himself another tall glass of it as the liquor burned a trail down to his belly. He could flower it, he could edge around the truth, but Gideon wouldn't accept that, and Dominic didn't have it in him anymore to be sad or upset over it, like he once was. He'd transcended, and things like that didn't matter so much anymore. "I was kidnapped, when I was in my early twenties, and beaten nearly dead, as well as being raped, broken, and just about every other travesty you could imagine."

Gideon paused in mid-drink, then closed his eyes, finished the rest of the glass, and then picked up the bottle. He filled the glass Dominic had in his hand and then raised the bottle to his mouth and drank straight from it. He took several deep swallows before putting the bottle down and looking at his friend. "Ye didna tell me? I'd ha' helped ye hunt 'em down like dogs."

"I didn't tell anyone, but Megan." Dominic answered, as he took a drink of his own glass. "She was the one who helped me. I never went to the police, and in later years, two of the three were killed. The last... Lionel had him killed, last year."

"Good f'im." Gideon took another deep drink from the bottle. "Are ye al'righ' now?" He held the bottle out to Morgan, then realized that his glass was still full, and pulled it back to swig from again.

He tipped his head, quietly, and looked at his friend, now. "Alright? Physically, I'm fine. I'm better than fine, I think. In my addled brain, I think its going to take a little while. I went to therapy for a while… stopped, and just recently started up again, though with Lionel by my side. He and I had a lot of problems, indeed."

"S'not wha' I meant, but'll do." He put the bottle down and sighed. "He didna ha'e it done t'ye, did he? T'toughen ye up fer him?" Gideon's brows were furrowed heavily in questioning, as he remembered some of the things he'd heard about Luthor's treatment of Dominic in the past, right up through leaving him locked in a car trunk.

He shook his head, softly. "No, Gideon. His assistant, the one before me. He saw what a promising lad I was, and the eye I'd caught from Lionel. He knew I was competition, because he'd been fucking up, left and right. So...he and his cronies took me off for a long weekend, Gideon." He stopped, took a long drink. "Lionel never knew of any of it, until the day I told him."

"Yer sure he didna do it on his boss' orders?"

Dominic smiled, softly, and shook his head. "No. Gideon...Lionel and I have been together for nearing sixteen years. Eleven of them were spent together together, love."

Gideon settled slightly then, and put the bottle down. "I'm no' surprised ye didna tell an'body, but ye shoulda. We'd have been on'm like a packa hounds onna fox."

"That's why I didn't." Dominic took the drink in a single swallow, the heat of it burning so much that he hissed. But he was scarcely done swallowing, before he offered his glass for a refill. "I didn't tell anyone because if I had... I'd never find work again, Gideon. They would have made sure of it... not just with LuthorCorp, but with everywhere I went. They did some horrible things to me, and I hope indeed that they're having a fine time, rotting in hell."

Gideon held out the bottle and filled Dominic's glass with it. "An' ye, little brother, are underestimatin' yer fam'ly. Yer assumin' that there'da bin anythin' left."

A little smile. "About that... please... don't say anything, Gideon. I've told...few people. My husband, of course. Gran, and Lindy. My stepsons know, only because of an incident that happened a few months ago, though I'm sure they don't know I know. And now… you."

"I'll no b'sayin' a werd." Gideon leaned forward and offered his hand. "M'hand on it."

He shook his head, quietly, and reached outward to clasp Gideon tightly to him. "Its why I havna been home... why the last time I was it was such a disaster. I had to get things cleared and straightened in my mind, Gideon. So please... dunna think its because I'd rather stay in Smallville of all places, than visit you and my nieces and nephews."

Gideon returned the hug firmly. "Aye, that I un'erstan'." Gave his friend a searching look. "Couldna been t'long after it happened, aye? That ye came home, I mean?"

He sat back with his drink, taking it half down, before answering. "About a year and a half. I'd just started to work with Lionel, as his personal assistant, when I came home. It was all too much. Everything with the rape, my new job, my unexpected leave, coming here to you all. My mother making me feel guilty for not having come before then, how badly they were doing… how she resented me for having money. And it all came down, on Grandfather Finn. I don't know why, really. You know how he is, always remarking how we all need the Lord. Well... I didn't need the Lord in that particular instant, because the Lord hadn't saved me from being brutalized." A quiet, thoughtful look into his lap.

"Ah, s'that's wha Father Conn and ye had a brief fallin' out aboot." Gideon leaned back. "Most of us'r wonderin' what t'was."

"Brief?" Quiet snort. "We didn't talk for ten years, Gid."

"Aye, an' tis' briefer than any o'her fallin' out the clan's had. Havena talked to anyone on th'Campbell side in twenny years'more."

His lips twitched, though it didn't reach his eyes. "The Campbell's are all fuckers anyhow." He shifted, quietly. "Graham and I've had a falling."

"Aye, sheepfuckers to be pr'cise, cause Father Conn's caught 'em at it more'n once." Then his face fell. "What've ye an' Cracker fallin' out over now?"

Dominic's lips twitched again, only yeah, this time it reached his eyes, and he snorted. "I don't wanna know." But then he sobered, quietly. "His girlfriend's having my baby."

Gideon's eyebrows shot up the length of his forehead. "Aye, an' no wonder he be pissed at ye, boyo. Didna know you swung both sides o'the fence."

Alright. That wrung a little laugh from Dominic's throat. "I don't. I'm as gay as a farkin' rainbow, ducks. Lex was able to use Meggie's egg, one of the many she donated to us, to create a baby. Toni, Graham's new darlin', offered herself to us after our surrogate mother ran off because of that blasted Sawyer woman."

Ach, that makes a wee bit more sense, though if she did the offerin' up hersel', why the bloody hell Cracker's got his nuts in a twist over it's nothin' t'me!"

"Because of Missy." Dominic heaved a quiet sigh. "And because..." Wince. "I didna tell him beforehand."

"An' tha' was a righ' stupid thing of ye. I'd be pissy at ye too, if ye didna tell me ye were goin' t'knock up m'girlfrien'." He glared.

"Twas, but Lionel and I.." He winced. "We thought we were losin our baby. We werena thinkin' quite clearly, ducks."

"Aye, I unnerstan' that." He sighed. "Cracker's a stubborn old barstid. Worse'n Father Conn on 'is best day." He raked a hand through unruly red hair. "I'll ring the bugger up an' have a yell."

Dominic shook his head, quickly, his eyes widening. "I'd rather you didn't. I want to settle it with him in a personal way. It was a rather shitty thing I did, and I'm hopin' he'll forgive me."

Gideon snorted rather rudely. "Wi'our bunch? In a pers'nal way means beatin' th'hell outta each other, an' I done heard that ye already tried that tack an didna work."

A wicked, evil little smirk. "Beat him up good, aye. He got his licks in, but I broke his arm, and managed to loosen more than a single tooth. Help's bein' my size, you know, though for being twenty feet tall, he's a fast bugger."

"Aye, I remember." Another rude snort. "Did ye try fer his trick knee?"

"Like I wouldn't." Another soft snort, but he swallowed the rest of the whiskey in his glass, and set it down on the coffee table. "I should be goin', Gideon. Lionel and I bought furniture today... Margee's at the house, waitin' for us to come. The dear waited for the delivery men for us, though I'm sure she isna worried, with little Catiny bein' asleep. That is one lovely baby, indeed."

"Aye, she is. Jus' makes me miss m'little Shayla darlin' all th'more fer it." Another gusty sigh. "Think I c'n git her t'give up that handsome young feller for a box o'cookies wi'me?"

Dominic smiled, sideways at him. "No. She's firmly planted in with said handsome young man, indeed. Quite in love with him, or some garbage like that. Though she's grown, Gideon, since you were in the states. She's becoming a young woman, indeed. Oh, did I tell you that Mama isna living with us anymore?"

Another huge, gusty sigh. "Ach, my darlin' girl isna my girl any longer." He heaved a little sigh. "And no, ye didna. Did ye kill her, Margan?"

"Dunna think I didna ponder it." Sly half smile at him. Gideon... was okay. With everything. Dominic almost couldn't believe it, but didn't draw attention to it. "She called Toni a nigger. Lionel and I threw her outta the house, and she's only shown her face once, when I was ill."

"She didna. Aye yi yi. Ye'd think she'd learned wi'insultin' Shayla's young man, an' I dunna think m'girl's talkin' to sweet Rosie yet."

"She's not, indeed." A shake of his head. "We didna so much throw her out as...she left. She's stayin in a hotel, no matter how much I ask her to let me help. Stubborn woman, she is."

"Marghan, if she doesna wan' t'play nice wi'the rest o'ye, dunna worry aboot her. She'll b'back when th'baby's born, and she'll be makin' all kinds o'nice wi'ye and cooin' over Miss Rory before she's half out o'her swaddlin'."

Dominic smiled, and it was a real one, kind of shy and quiet, but elated at the same time. "Gran told you her name, then?"

Gideon snorted rudely a third time. "Nae, y'id'it. Ye did, back'n th'States when we was workin' on th'buildin's t'gether."

"Did I?" He thought a moment. "Now that's entirely plausible. Gideon, I dunna remember not a single thing of that week. Just that Lionel got sick, and there was a blur of building, packing, moving and painting." he winced. "Its possible I was drunk for most of it, indeed."

Gideon choked off the laughing at that. "Aye, now tha t'is poss'ble, wi'the three o'us, ye never know."

Dominic smiled, but it was just a little. Gideon was a skosh too manly, even if Dominic wanted to hug him again, so he refrained. "We're alright, Gideon?"

"Aye, we are." Wry little twist of his lips. "An' why wouldn'we be? Ye've got yer past, an' I've got mine," he said, gesturing to his wheelchair. "If ye dunna think less'o me fer bein' crippled by me own stupidity, then I canna--willna--think less of ye fer somethin' that happened to ye out of yer control."

Dominic nodded, and just sat there, slumped, on the sofa, though it was a comfortable slump of the reasonably tipsy. "I wasna trying to help you, you know. Because of your chair. I just have a way of lookin' like a fool at times."

"At times?" Gideon clapped him on the shoulder. "Boyo, ye look like a fool alla the time." But his grin was wide and teasin'. "Aye, I know ye were tryin' t'help, not me specific but in gen'ral, and I shouldna blown up at ye."

He grinned right back, and rolled his eyes. "'s the hair, isnit? I canna help it, I like it this way. And I'm going bald as a newborn babe. I've got to hide it somehow." A quiet chuckle, as Dominic rolled his eyes at his friend. "Come on. Lets go find Gran and Lionel, and leave you two be."

Gideon shook his head full of hair that was still impressively thick at forty. "Aye ye are. Ye didna get th'hair from sweet Rosie, I tell ye." He rolled over and picked up the empty bottle. "P'raps ye'd better leave th'car here for Margee t'pick up tamorrer."

Dominic glared, but it was soft. "Aye. I'm a sheet to the wind, already. Poor Lionel. I promised him kisses. I don't think I'm quite ready for anything but bed." A quiet sigh, as he rose up to his feet. "Tomorrow, we'll have the cottage looking quite hospitable once more, if you'd like to come see it?"

"A'course I would." He glared. "Ye say that like I wouldna." He tucked the empty bottle into the chair beside his thigh, and cradled the empty glasses in his lap. "Dunna think Gran's goin' t'be too happy wi'me fer gettin' ye drunk."

Dominic grinned, shook his head, and stood up...plunking back down, before coming back up, straight. "I c'n hold my drink, Gideon. Lionel?" He opened the parlor door, waiting for Gideon to go out in front of him.

"Aye, a'course ye can." The last rude snort of the night as he rolled towards the kitchen, dropping the empty bottle into the recycling and the empty glasses into the lukewarm dishwater. "Gran! Brought your boyo back to ye, safe'n soun!"

And drunk. But Gran didn't say that, just smiling at her slightly tipsy grandson, and gently nudged Lionel, in front of her computer, to see him. "I think… your darling husband is a bit off now. Though there wasn't any screaming, and that's a right first. Gideon! Darling, how did you manage not to get into a throttling match?"

Lionel quickly signed off his conversation with Lex, and raised his head. "Perhaps we could use your phone, Ms. Finn? To call a cab?" But he was smiling as he crossed the room to his lover. "I think the term is, three sheets to the wind."

"T'is only one sheet, man, get hold of yerself!" Gideon yelled from the kitchen.

Dominic grinned, and nodded towards his friend. "Just one." He wound his arms around his lovers belly and snuggled in, laying his cheek against where a warmly beating heart was thumping quietly. "Mmm. Thump. I'm a bit sleepy."

"Yes, I'd say you are." Lionel brought one hand up to stroke the back of Dominic's head as it rested against his chest. "Mmm. We'll be calling a cab in a few moments, and we'll be on our way home, and then to bed, what do you think?"

"I think." He peeked over his lovers shoulder at Gran. "We drank all of your whiskey. Sorry."

"I should say." But she was smiling, as she rose and gave his hand a squeeze. "Come now, Gideon's calling a cab, it'll be here in a shake."

Lionel chuckled softly, and steered his lover to the door. "Come on, let's get you in your coat and ready to brave the weather again. Did we leave anything in Margee's car that we need to get out?"

"Granny's basket." Dominic answered, half cross eyed and yawning. "Tha blanket. Nothing else, I don't think. Where's the baby?" Questioning glance up, eyebrow crease with slightly smushed eyebrows, as he began to slide into his warm, now dry, jacket.

"The baby?" Lionel asked softly, eyebrow raised.

"Margee's baby. Oh! Its still at the house." Dominic beamed at his lover. "See? I'm no' drunk."

Lionel hid the laugh behind his scarf as he picked up Dominic's jacket and held it out. "Come on, Dominic. Margee has her baby tucked in warmly at home, and she's waiting for us. We'll pay the cab to bring her back here, and she can pick up the car."

"Ohhh." Didn't catch not a damn word. "Okay." He slid into his jacket, carefully buttoning it up, and tucked his own scarf, and hat, on. "Mmm. Bye, Granny." He waved at her like she were a mile away, not right next to him. "BYE GIDEON!"

"G'bye, ye bleedin' sot! I'm in t'other room, not t'other side o'the world!" he bellowed back, rolling out of the kitchen with a dishtowel in hand.

Didn't hear a word. Just slid his arm around his lovers waist, sighed, and stepped out of the apartment. "I love ye, Granny. We'll be back soon… soon for more pie. Mmm."

Gran was, of course, thoroughly amused, though she didn't say a word as she handed over a basket, fresh with all the left over food and thick graham and chocolate cream pie. "Take care, Lionel dear, and I'll be expectin' you both bright and early in the mornin'. Gideon will come get you about eight, so be dressed and ready, alright?" A kiss to his cheek, and then one to Dominic's, as she peaked around them and out of the window in the staircase. "The taxi's down there. Careful, you both.'

"I'll get him home safely and we'll be back in the morning, hopefully all sobered up and ready to go." He gave her a little squeeze around the waist and accepted the basket gratefully as he closed his jacket. "Come on, little cricket, let's hop down the stairs and head for home."

Gran beamed at them both and waved them off, quickly. "A good sleep! Call me when you're home!"

"We will!" With the basket crooked over his arm, Lionel steered his lover towards the stairs, and started guiding him down step by step, the creaky old elevator too slow for his taste. "Come on, Dominic. That's a good man."

"Gooood man. Gooooood man. Lionel, I told him everything. He's okay! He loves me you know." A nod, as he looked at his lover and heaved a heavy yawn.

 

-fin-

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