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Desha finished the fruit off quickly but passed on the mulled wine and leaned into his lover, laying his head on his shoulder and closing his eyes a bit. He'd heard the same comments from Mao long ago and knew they were both right.

But he was fighting an old instinct developed over centuries of healing. During the 'modern' age, he'd been a doctor, using his skills where he could. In older times, he was an herbalist. But before that, long ago, when he'd actually been the age he appeared to be, he'd been the total opposite. And he'd paid dearly for that mistake. He was still paying for it.

"I'll do my best to be smarter about it, Andy. For now... Just take me to bed..." he said softly, suddenly feeling the need to be held, to be touched, to be loved and reminded that he was living in the here and now, and not in that long ago time...

Desha gave a smile as he snuggled into Andy, hearing those soft words, knowing they came from the heart. He turned in his arms and lifted a hand to his cheek, meeting his eyes, "I love you too Andy..." he whispered softly then gave him a tender kiss.

He probably should have been trying to go to sleep but there were many different forms of resting. And right now, he was considering a different option.

He leaned in and took the kiss a little deeper, sliding one arm around him to hold him close, inviting him into a very different form of relaxation.

Desha's hands were just as eager as he helped Andy out of his own clothes, not wanting that wonderful kiss to end. After that, hands moved over skin, soft moans and shouts were heard, softly whispered words of love exchanged, hoarse shouts of pleasure followed by soft sighs and more soft touches.

In the end, they were cuddled together and Desha was almost asleep. His long hair was a total mess but he couldn't seem to care. All he cared about right now was the fact that he was in the arms of someone who truly cared about him, someone that he loved and cared for as well.

He knew about the mating mark as well, of course. As a healer, he would have to know about it when healing mates. But he'd never thought about asking someone for it. He never expected anyone to want to stay with him permanently, after all. Just for a while, maybe as long as a century but never more than that. So he didn't say anything now.

He simply rubbed his cheek against Andy's chest and let himself start to drift off to sleep.

Desha slept through the day and partly into the night, his body restoring the energies he'd used in healing. But it was more than that, he actually felt safe enough with Andy that he simply relaxed enough to sleep like that.

It seemed as if he'd been waiting centuries for Andy to come into his life. But he was still half afraid that it was a dream and he was going to wake up to find that he was sleeping her alone again.

He finally woke up to find Andy not in the bed with him and frowned as he sat up in the bed, wondering if his last thought had actually been right. Had it all been a dream?

Desha gave a soft relieved sigh when Andy came into the room and accepted the rose with a slight blush as he sat next to him, smelling the rose in an effort to hide the fact that he'd been a bit bothered waking up alone. Then he realized that he'd decided not to hide anything from Andy and admitted the truth.

"For a moment there, I thought I'd dreamed you up... That I'd woken up alone like before..." he said softly as he raised one hand to push his tangled hair out of his face.

Truthfully, he looked like a well-loved mess at the moment; his hair tangled up, his lips slightly swollen from Andy's kisses, his body bearing the vampire's love-marks. So it was probably ridiculous of him to have thought he'd just dreamed Andy being with him. But an irrational fear was an irrational fear and there was usually no reasoning with it.

Desha followed with the rose still in his hand, not bothering with a robe. But he did pause in the doorway as he watched Andy prepare the bath, "I'm sorry about that... I don't want you to think that-" he started but hesitated, not exactly certain how to say what he wanted to say.

He frowned as he considered his feelings and tried to process them into actual words that could be understood and finally had to simply say it all out loud in order to understand it himself.

"Truthfully, I'm not used to anyone staying with me for very long. My longest relationship was only a century. I guess... I guess part of me thinks this is too good to be true, that you'll eventually want to move on. I'm not really used to asking someone to stay with me. Permanently, I mean," he hoped he'd gotten it out right that time.

Desha found himself teary-eyed over Andy's words so it took him a few moments to be able to speak at all, long enough for Andy to be able to work the tangles from his very long hair then let him clean himself up before getting out of the tub. As he stood there with a robe around himself while Andy got the worst of the water from his hair and brushed it out for him, he finally knew what he wanted to ask for, the only thing he could ask for honestly.

"The only thing I can honestly ask for, Andy, is for you to simply be here. Anything else I asked for wouldn't be fair to either of us. I don't want to ask for proof that you love me, it wouldn't be fair at all. To ask for proof means that I don't think you love me. I do know that, just as I know you love me. So I can only keep my request simple and let you give as you see fit, as you wish to give," he said softly, one hand on Andy's cheek as he spoke then gave him a simple tender kiss.

Truthfully, he wasn't used to asking for anything for himself and would never really think to do so. So, even though he'd considered a Mating between them, he wouldn't ask for it. It was simply his nature.

Desha gave in to Andy's cheerful mood and went into the bedroom to get dressed. He selected a slightly more formal version of his usual outfit and slid it on then set more traditional braids into his hair. Those braids were unusual on their own, simply a few here and there in the glorious mass of his hair. But when he added in the feathers and small crystals, he truly looked like something out of a storybook.

His butter-soft leather pants were now a pair in black silk with a deep emerald shirt belted at his waist but loose at the collar and a silk vest in the same black as his pants went over it. He added leather boots that laced up to his knees and kept the lower portion of his pants contained.

Bur for one of his people, he actually looked somber when dressed like this. They usually favored bright colors and serviceable clothing. Thanks to his curse, however, he wasn't really allowed that. He'd improvised over the centuries, though, and maintained his traditional roots however he could despite the fact that there were few still alive who would recognize anything of his people anymore.

He finally stepped into the living room, his back to the room as he closed the bedroom door, "Alright, Andy, I'm dressed. What's this surprise of yours?" he asked, his back still to the room as he pulled his braid around to fall behind him instead of getting caught in the door...