Brian's POV I open the door to let her in, but it isn't Jennifer. It's Justin, alive and standing in front of me, wet but alive.
There are no words to explain the relief that floods through me, and I can tell by looking in his eyes he feels the same. I see that he is relieved to be here, and just as relieved to be seeing me as I am at seeing him. We just stand there and stare at each other reveling in the sight of one another for what seems like an eternity, until finally without a word spoken he is across the threshold and in my arms. Later I couldn't tell you if I pulled him to me, or if he leaped into my arms, but as long as he is there I'm not going to question how it happened. My lips find his and the taste that is undeniably Justin is only watered down slightly from the rain drops still dripping down his face and into our mouths. I'd like to take this moment slowly but the hunger for him takes over and there is no slowing down. I try to get him out of his clothes quickly but they are so wet they are sticking to him, so I just lay him out on the floor with his shirt bunched up around his chest and his trousers pulled halfway down his thighs. Standing back I quickly remove my pants and then join him down on the floor. I fold him in half, drap myself over him, and kiss him harshly while struggling around the wet and bunched up clothes. I slather my fingers in my saliva and work a them into his ass. I keep trying to tell myself to slow down but the approving grunts and moans coming from the man beneath me just spur me on faster. After just a few moments of preparation I slowly push the head of my cock into his opening and wait for a sign he is ready for more. With a moan Justin counterthrusts towards me and I end up buried to the hilt inside him. We take just a few minutes to look at each other but I capture his lips with my own again and begin moving inside him. Time keeps slowing down, then speeds up again, and my thrusts match it. All too soon I feel that warm flooding sensation all throughout my body as Justin and I orgasm together. Justin's POV The last few weeks have been hell; the only thing that kept me going was the thought of being back here with Brian. I had originally envisioned some dramatic scene with flowery words and soft slow kisses; but this was much better. Feeling Brian enter me once again was exactly what I needed to remember that I am alive; I made it. After our breathing has finally calmed down Brian helps me to my feet and leads me to his bedroom. More slowly this time he helps get me out of my wet clothing as I help free him from his. We climb into his bed and I lay my head on his chest. "Welcome home," he says as he kisses the top of my head and we both drift off to sleep. Waking up this morning was the most wonderful thing I think I have ever experienced, just knowing that I was finally safe and finally back with Brian, a delicious peace settled into the core of my soul. "Morning," comes from a groggy Brian. I can't help but smile that three words have been spoken between us since I knocked on the door last night, and he has spoken all three of them, until now. "Good morning. I love you. I missed you so much and I'm so glad to be back." "I love you too, missed you absolutely, and I'm really glad you're home too." He says with the tiniest grin. "We need to talk though." "I know Brian." "How about we eat some food and you tell me where you've been the last three weeks." So we get up and head into the kitchen to make some breakfast. We settle down at the table to eat and I start to tell my story. "I couldn't take it anymore Brian. I couldn't keep fighting, risking my life, risking my life with you all for a cause I never believed in to begin with. The battle a few weeks ago at Gettysburg was horrible. There were so many dead and wounded that the air was filled with a nauseating stench. I was regretting going back after I was injured from the moment I walked out this door, so after watching half my unit die in front of me, I walked away." "You defected. I'm so glad you did, having you out of danger is such a relief, but how did you get here?" "I walked. I had to hide out during the day because there are still troops from both sides scattered all around the Pennsylvania and Maryland country sides. If I had been discovered, well you know what would have happened." "If you had been it probably would have been better if Union troops found you. A prisoner of war is treated better than a defector is by his own troops." "I know. I usually dug a shallow ditch to lie in and covered myself with leaves or twigs as much as I could when I slept during the day. I spent the nights scavenging for anything to eat and trying to find my way here. I got turned around a few times but eventually the names of the towns started looking familiar, then the landscape, until finally the woods that border your yard; and home." "So, now what?" "I was hoping you would let me hide out here until it's safe for me to return home." Brian's POV He's got his chin down but looks up at me through his lashes with those beautiful blue eyes and I have to chuckle at the very thought I might turn him down. "Let you? You have to stay here. You have to stay just to make up to me all the torment you've put me through while you've been gone." I lean in and kiss him softly but keep it short because I know there is a lot more we need to discuss. "What about your mother?" "What about her?" "We have to tell her you're here." "No!" "Justin…" "No Brian. She sent me off to that war, I know she regrets it now, but I am afraid of what she will do or what she will think once she finds out I've defected. She'll be ashamed of me. If she's ashamed of me she'll be too proud to let me take over the farm and she'll lose it." I get up from the table and pace around the room. I can't even look at him at the moment. I'm not sure what I'm feeling; it's a mix of anger, disappointment, and apprehension. Justin's POV I'm confused watching Brian pace around the room; he looks a bit like a mountain lion ready to pounce. I'm not sure exactly why he is so upset. I know that he and my mother have grown a little closer while I've been gone, but surely he must understand why she cannot know I am here; why no one can know. "Brian please you have to understand the situation. Tell me you understand!" "I don't Justin, I can't tell you that. What I do know, what I do understand is the torture of not knowing. Trying to go on day after day afraid you are dead, but even more afraid that I'd never know either way. Missing in action! You were labeled missing in action, did you know that?!? Do you have any idea what it is like not to know if the person you love is safe?!? No you don't. I know that you were the one in danger, but at least you knew we were relatively safe. It was bad enough before Gettysburg when there was a chance that you could be injured again or killed, but then to have you simply missing like you disappeared? You can't ask me to understand how it would be better for Jennifer or for you to keep her in the dark; to keep her thinking you might be dead. I won't do it. If you don't find a way to tell her, I will have to. I'm sorry." And with that he left the room and I could only stare after his retreating form. I noticed as he walked away that he finally started to wipe away the tears I don't think he knew were streaking down his face while he was talking. I give him a few minutes to calm down and myself a few minutes to think. I guess he's right. I never really put myself in his shoes or my mothers; I was too focused on my own plight. The entire time I've been away I was always relieved to know that Brian was here and he was safe, I just never gave the opposite side much thought. Walking down the hall I prepare myself for the possibility that Brian is still upset with me, I'm hoping he got it all out in that one outburst. "You're right Brian." He just looks up at me as if waiting for me to promise not to hurt him again. "You are. We can't tell my mother that I'm here, or that I've defected, but I was thinking of something else that might work. I'd need your help, but maybe we can fabricate some letters, the first telling a story that she would believe." "What story is anyone going to believe?" "I don't know Brian. How about in the confusion of our unit's retreat I got separated from them, had to lay low until I could find and join up with another unit. That should work." "Yeah that just might work." He looks at me and smiles slightly and I know that I am forgiven for making him worry. Since we seem to have found our way back to the bedroom we might as well take advantage of it.