Before today Ethan had never been inside Connor's apartment. He had certainly never expected to find himself naked, wrapped up in those freshly laundered sheets of his, watching the other man sleep. The heat radiating from Connor's body warmed his own cool skin as he propped his head up on the pillow and allowed his fingertips to trace lightly over the contours of his lover's chest. His skin was mostly unmarked and unblemished with the exception of his tattoos. Ethan found himself pondering the meaning of each of them as he studied Connor's masculine features.
There was more to Connor than met the eye, Ethan had known that the very instant the other man had come hurtling into the E.D, trying to resuscitate one of the victims from the train crash on a stretcher. Over the past year he had learned how compassionate he was with his patients, how he dedicated as much time as he could to their families and their care. Above all he'd learned the other man had grit and the lengths he would go to to do right by his people. His tribe, he called them.
Staring down at Connor right now, he couldn't believe how innocent he looked. You would never believe that he carried the weight of the world upon his shoulders. Despite the baggage he carried, he was always the first to put himself out there. In the beginning Ethan had thought he cared too much, that Connor was going to get eaten alive by the city of Chicago but the other man had proved how much grit he had. In reality he wasn't the bleeding heart that Ethan had originally suspected, he was a warrior, one that had spent a life time battling preconceived views from those who met him.
Despite the fact his father was rich, Connor was not. His apartment was close to the hospital, in a decent area with modest furnishings, there were some knickknacks from his time spent in other countries. Those had interested Ethan for a brief moment before Connor had grasped his hand and kissed him within an inch of his life. He had forgotten what it felt like to feel wanted, to be swept away in desire. It had been over six months since Vicky had left for that job in Baltimore and there had been no one in his life since. Back then he had locked so much of himself away, PTSD had almost destroyed him. He had become isolated, lonely and miserable. Vicky had known he needed help and she had supported him but the love hadn't been there. They helped each other to scratch an itch in the end, hers physical and his emotional and gone their separate ways without any of the mess.
This thing with Connor though, this was messy. Ethan wasn't even sure how it started, all he knew was that he never wanted it to end and it was that thought that scared the living hell out of him. For Ethan this was tangible, it had the potential to become something very real. However he was very much aware from the first night he had spent with Connor that he had been the only man he had ever made love to. Part of Ethan was thrilled by the disclosure, the other part of him was scared to death.
He'd been burned before, back in the Navy. What he thought had been a relationship, turned out to be a period of experimentation for another member of the medical team he was with and the other man had told he was a good lay but he was certainly not the kind of person you took home to mom. There had been a few casual affairs after that, men or women, it depended on what Ethan had been looking for at the time. He wasn't big on labels, in his mind it you liked someone, you liked them no matter what age, race or gender. He couldn't be someone's experiment again, no matter how much fun it was.
The torrential rain on the way from the hospital to Molly's had soaked through the material of their cloths as the two of them had ran through the street trying to find a reprieve from the unrelenting rain storm. They'd taken shelter in the doorway of a store for a moment, hoping that the rain would lighten so that they could continue on their journey to the bar. Connor had scarcely been a few inches away from him, his dark hair slick and wet as he ran his hand through it driving it back away from his face. He used one hand to clear the water from his rugged features as Ethan drank in the sight of his colleague, the dark clothes he wore clinging to him like a second skin.
