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The young man on the floor opened his eyes to a gray ceiling far above him. Tile was beneath his back, cold and unfeeling. Desmond sat up as the screen removed itself from over his eyes and looked down at Lex, panting.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." Lex sat up, looking around. Desmond looked out the wide windows, then down at Lex. He jumped down from the Animus and pulled him up, all but carrying him to a doorway. The door slid open. Desmond hustled Lex into the room quickly and then the bathroom. Jerking the door to his closet open, he passed Lex a pair of his pants and a belt.

Quickly, Lex changed clothes, the denim scratching hard on his legs, hanging in piles around his feet until he pulled them tight around his legs and stuffed them into his boots, pulling the belt as tight as he was able and buckling it off. Pulling up the sleeves of his tunic, he waited until Desmond let him out once again.

"Okay, Lucy comes in first in the mornings. Vidic comes in later to wake me. You'll have the best chance of sneaking out when she's just coming in. Got it? Just wait here." He pointed to the corner. "She's usually focused on the Animus by the time I wake up, so we should be able to pull this off."

Lex nodded and settled in to wait.

He wasn't certain how long he'd waited, but he held himself perfectly still, eyeing the door. A shiver ran up his spine as the doors slid open and the blonde woman he remembered from a year--no, how long had it been? a few minutes?--ago returned, holding something in her hand. Lex didn't stop to find out what; he bolted through the door quick as his feet were able to carry him.

The young man surged down the way he'd come, boots pounding the pavement. The hard stuff felt strange beneath his feet, unnaturally so, almost. The noise of the city disoriented him. He staggered in the crush of so many people, startled at the lightness of their skin, the strangeness of their tongue. Weaving his way through them, he stopped, fetched up against a wall far from the building as he was able to get, panting heavily.

He knew this language. He knew he knew it. English. It was English. He swallowed. The people were Caucasian--mostly. Immigrants or descendants of immigrants. He was in New York City, New York, in the United States. He was back home. He was back home and terrified. Back home and hating it.

Lex sighed and began to walk down the street once again.

"Oh my God!" He stopped. "I can't believe it! Look at this!" His mind raced back, thinking, trying to remember who these people were. Of course, the ones he'd spoken to Jameel about! Them. Again. Walking around him. A circle of three. Smaller looking than he remembered, but that was a year ago. No, not a year ago...but still surprising. "You hid out in a tanning booth, pretty boy? Thought we forgot about what we owe you?" Circling him, shoving. He let them.

"C'mon, f*****t!"

"Thought you could hide from us forever?"

"What's wrong? Gonna cry, p***y?"

His fist lashed out, caught the last speaker in the throat. The one behind him was down in one turn, thrown back onto the ground by a kick. A half turn, his foot in the third man's chest, knocking him a** over head. The Sparrow looked at the one on his knees, clutching his bruised throat. He spat down onto his head and walked back toward his apartment.

Picking the lock was a matter of a few jiggles of the belt's buckle. Opening the door, he frowned as he immediately felt something wasn't right. Something about the place was different from how he'd left it when he'd gone out that day. Then he saw it in front of him. A note taped to the wall. An address was listed on it.



The place was packed, filled with young adults seeking quick one-night-stands and middle-aged adults seeking something a little more substantial with their drinks.

He blended well among the crowds in the bar, not too young and not so old, seated at one of the back tables to himself. He had ordered a rather strong drink and was patiently waiting for it. He could be patient. He had been waiting a long time, so what was a few minutes more?

A server came and deposited his drink with a hasty apology, looking the man over. The man receiving the drink nodded and took the glass, holding it loosely in a tan hand. Black hair hung down to the nape of his neck, a little falling in his blue eyes in a just so way that the server couldn't help but lick his lips at. There was nothing remarkable about the man in blue jeans, black combat boots, and a black wolf print T-shirt, but he was pretty good looking. Scribbling a note quickly, the server slipped it to him as he walked by.

Lifting the note between two fingers, his eyes skimmed over it. He took a sip of his drink, letting the burn of the alcohol wash away the memories that wanted to rise up from the edges of his mind. The note was casual allowed to drift to the floor with a flick of the man's wrist, trampled by passing feet.



Lex scanned the signs of the shops above his head until he found the one on the note. Pocketing the slip of paper, he was glad he'd changed into some of the few clothes he'd brought with him. Desmond's clothing was far too big. His own jeans, beaten up, spare Vans, and loose band tee made much less of an impression in the crowd he stepped into in the bar than would have pants half-falling down his a**.

Still, they were a far cry from his robes.

He ran a hand through his hair, let out the breath he'd been holding, and walked toward the table that had been designated on the note beneath the address.

He stopped as he came to the table, looking at the back of the head of the tall man seated there. Black hair, tan skin. He frowned, a strange feeling niggling at his guts. Licking his lips, he curled his fingers into loose fists.

"You're the one who left that note in my place, aren't you?"

The man lifted the glass from where he'd been holding it loosely and took a long swig of his drink. The glass was set back down. A grin spread across the man's lips.

"Hello, little bird."

Lex's mouth fell open. Whatever he had been prepared to say was long gone from his mind, much less his tongue, at those three words. The old Arabic was clear in the room full of English gibberish. A croaking noise left his throat. The world might as well have gone cockeyed of its own volition.

The tall man stood, slapping a few bills down and pinning them beneath the glass. He turned to the young man and looked down at him, his thumbs looked into his pockets. English flowed from his mouth now, just the barest hint of an accent audible. "You made it back in one piece, I see. That's good."

Arms, strong, familiar arms, caught him as he all but collapsed on the floor, hoisting him back to his feet. "Not here, Lex. I'll explain somewhere more private. Don't want eavesdroppers here. They'd think me crazy."

"Where then?"

One of the arms stayed around his shoulder, leading him through the press of bodies and out onto the sidewalk. Lex stopped and looked at him again. The familiar "come here" motion was made. He followed to the car, a modified sports car with red racing stripes. The door popped open on the passenger side. Opening it, Lex took a seat as the beast he'd entered roared to life.

The young man gripped at the black leather armrest with one hand as he listened to the clicking of the blinker until they pulled into traffic and it shut off.

"I won't be offended if you deem me crazy after this. My story is rather far-fetched. On one of my missions, I was chased all the way into the borderlands. I found a temple half-buried in the earth. Apparently, something else was inside besides ruins. A Piece of Eden. An old stone ankh gave me immunity to age when I touched it."

"So, you can't age? How old are you now then?"

"To be accurate..." Jameel looked over at him as they stopped at a traffic light. "I'm almost eight-hundred-forty-years-old."

"Okay." Lex took a long breath, struggling to wrap his mind around this new information. "You...have a sports car."

"I've made a few changes since my stay here in the New World."

Lex nodded. Most of the ride was in silence, but for the thrumming of the engine sending vibrations through his knees and into his arms from where his hands gripped them. The Sparrow gulped and closed his eyes.

"Are you angry with Desmond?"

"For keeping us apart for over eight centuries? I would very much like to eviserate him, yes, but I think at least I've found a reason for his attitude those last few days. He hasn't found anyone to love yet. That's why. If he had, he wouldn't have given us that attitude."

The younger Assassin lifted his eyes as a building grew larger in front of them. He realized then that for the past several minutes they'd been driving down not a road but one very long driveway. The mansion--he assumed it was some sort of mansion--was built very much like an old fortress--crenelations and battlements, a tower on one back corner. Did Jameel still practice Leaps of Faith?

As if he'd caught the other male's stunned expression, he said by way of explanation: "My home away from home. Quite a quiet place, really. People think I'm a stunt-man for movies, so I can get away with it." He unbuckled himself and stepped out of the car, leaning back in to quip, "I am one, in fact. Call it my day job."

Lex climbed out of the car and leaned his head up to look up at the tower.

"Do you still use hay?"

"No, an inflatable mattress."

"Dessy'll be so angry with you over replacing his lover."

"Desmond can take a spork to the eye." Jameel shut the door to the separate garage structure he'd parked in with a click of a button on his key, flipping the key shut much like a switchblade, and pocketed the key, heading into hte house. "I'll show you inside."

Lex looked at the man as they entered the house. Jameel gestured around the large space they'd entered. "Have a look around." Nodding, Lex did so within the immediate area. He gazed into the room to the left. A large kitchen with many windows. To the right, a low sofa with an even lower table before it and a large plasma screen on one wall. The rest of the wall was decorated with stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. In fact, that's what the place had most of. Neatly placed, artful stuff.

Swords hung in display fashion on the walls he could see from where he stood at the bottom of a staircase, interspersed with various paintings and tapestries and the like. Vases full of scrolls flanked the room he stood in, one beside each entrance to the other rooms. Lex noticed then that instead of straight across, the lintels of the doorways were curved arches, making it feel roomier than the already large house did.

"What all's in here?"

"Plenty of secrets. But such is the life of an Assassin. Everything is a secret." Jameel moved to stand before him, looking into his eyes. Lex returned his gaze.

"I missed you, Jam. For..." He shrugged and looked at the clock on the wall. "For...two or three hours." For all of several heart-wrenching hours, he had missed him, and felt more or less a fool for it, confusion on top of hurt on top of further confusion.

"I've missed you for centuries, Lex."

The pair moved together, Jameel lifting Lex up into his arms as Lex looped his own around his neck, their lips pressing home. The Master Assassin climbed the stairs easily and elbowed open a door, kicking it shut as they fell onto the king sized bed within.

Lex smiled against Jameel's lips, closing his eyes and slipping his tongue into his mouth as he tugged at the Assassin's jeans, arms now around his waist, pulling him close. He deepened the kiss briefly, tasting his mouth before pulling away and slithering out of his shirt and shoes, leaving them in a pile on the floor.

"It felt like an eternity." Jameel removed his shirt, slipping off the majority of his clothing with it until he was down to his solid white boxers. Lex blinked at the color before he noticed further scars on Jameel's body, a prominent one on his belly nearly at eye level with him. After giving Lex another kiss, Jameel shed his final piece of clothing and pulled at Lex's pants with his teeth.

The Sparrow slid out of the rest of his clothes in one fluid motion. His lips kissed the new scars, then the old. This was all he was allowed before Jameel pinned him to the bed and began to work over his skin ravenously with his mouth, kissing, nibbling, nipping, and sucking every inch he could lay his lips, tongue, teeth on. These last left their impressions lightly on his skin as he was bitten from one end of his chest to the other.

Lex finally managed to prop himself up from under Jameel's assault, matching him move for move, gripping at his shoulders. He nipped at his ear, slipping his hands up and down his back and sides, licking and sucking at the lobe.

A short yell escaped him, back arching as Jameel entered him roughly.

"s**t! You could've warned me."

"I'm sorry. I've been deprived for years." A sour look was his answer. He held up an empty wrapper between his fingers before flicking it aside to join their clothes on the floor. "And I said deprived, not stupid." The Sparrow opened his mouth to ask just when he'd put the thing on, but found silence far more pleasurable. Little noises of pleasure fled his mouth as he worked into a rhythm with Jameel. He leaned up, rocking his hips as he pecked and sucked at his chest. "More."

"As you wish." Jameel shifted his pace, working hard and fast, only to drift back and press to him soft and slow and then pick up the pace once again. He reached down and teased along Lex's length with one hand, grabbing his hair with the other and twisting it hard in his grip. He bent his head, gnawing and sucking a line from his chin to his tip.

Lex hissed as Jameel moved lower, jerking his head back by the hair, gasping, "Ease up. Ow!" The tilt grew words. "s**t, are your ears full of c** or something? Ease up, God damn it, Jameel!" He grabbed the Owl's face between his hands and forced him to look up at his face. "I'm not going anywhere." He curled himself down as much as he could, biting his lover's lip as he kissed him. "So stop trying to take my head off." He smirked. "Either one." He bit his lips again, then moved to his neck and shoulders.

"Forgive me. Please," Jameel sighed, rolling to lie under the other man, stroking his legs. "I'm still tense."

"Just relax then." Lex ran his hands over his chest and sides, his belly and hips, massaging down his thighs. "Relax." He let his mouth join in the work his hands were doing, the rest of his body joining in with a slow, hard ride. He moaned his Owl's name as Jameel chewed on his ear. His tongue pressed to the crook of his neck, lapping up the sweat there before he pressed a kiss behind his ear.

His muscles began to quiver and twitch as he was rolled beneath the taller Assassin for a final time, a low whine leaving him as he had his release. He smiled, nipping at Jameel's cheek before pressing a kiss to the spot.

Jameel spent himself and looked down at Lex, as if to confirm he was real. Sighing, he drew back and dropped beside him, cuddling againt his side, his head pillowed on his lover's chest.

Lex smiled, pressing his face into the dark hair and draping his arm around his back. He hugged Jameel's head to his chest, stroking his back and face. He could have sworn the Master Assassin purred at the contact. A satisfied smile was printed on his face.


"I love you."

"As I love you." The Red Owl looked up at him from where he'd settled his head, an arm encircling his middle protectively. He kissed his chest over his heart before resting his head once more. "Now that we're not separated by time, we can stay together without worries."

"Yeah." Except... Jameel squeezed Lex tight to his chest as Lex shifted down and pressed his head under his chin.

The only thing I have to truly worry about is Lex growing old.

Jameel'll stay the same.

Lex told me not to think about the then. Think about the now. He dimissed the troubling thoughts.

Tomorrow. Worry tomorrow. Tonight's for us.

Lex shut his eyes, mumbling, "Jameel..."

"Hm?" Whatever was to come after his name was lost. Jameel looked at the little sleeper for a time before placing a gentle kiss on his lips. "Sleep well, Lex." He settling in to sleep as well, his face pressed to his Sparrow's dark hair.

Is an eternity of waiting not enough payment for another eternity of years? I want this to last for eternity. Just Lex and I.