*Robbie*

"Fuck," Robbie muttered under his breath. Wyl was pretty far gone, and it didn't seem like he had gone to a friendly place. "Baby, relax." He stroked his face, smoothing away tears, brushing the lashes of Wyl's staring eyes with his thumb. "It's okay. It's okay, you're all right." He kissed his cheeks and his collarbone, then slowly pulled out of Wyl. He moved back to stand up, to get a washcloth, but a sound like pain came from Wyl's throat. Robbie sank back down beside him. "It's okay, Wyl. I'm here with you, I won't leave you."

Fuck, what happened to make him go through this? He laid there with Wyl, facing his side, holding him close. Wyl's eyes were still open, unseeing, and occasional tears fell, but gradually his little tremors went away. Finally he sighed suddenly, deeply, and then closed his eyes.

"That's it, baby." Robbie kissed his shoulder, stroking Wyl's far arm with his fingertips. He forced himself to be patient. There were a million questions he wanted to ask, but he knew Wyl couldn't take all of that at once right now. What had just happened was...amazing. Robbie closed his eyes for a moment and let the memory of that sensation, being inside of Wyl and hearing him say that he loved him, wash over his body. Pleasant goose bumps erupted across his skin.

Loved him...he loved him. It had been a long time since anyone had said that to him, long before he and Garrett had split, and even longer since it had been so genuine. Wyl loved him. And Robbie loved him back. He knew that, he had realized it during their week of separation, but he hadn't been able to say it first. It took Wyl, emotional, uninhibited Wyl to open the door. Well, now the door was wide open...but he wasn't sure what was on the other side. Something was wrong with Wyl, bothering him immensely, and he needed to know what.

"You awake?" he asked after a while.

"Yes." Wyl's voice was a whisper.

"You okay?"

"I...guess so."

Robbie kissed his shoulder again. "What are you so afraid of?"

For a long moment Wyl didn't answer. Robbie just waited, as patient as he could. Finally Wyl spoke again. "I'm afraid of you."

Well, that was disconcerting. "Why? Did I hurt you?"

"No!" Wyl's voice turned anxious, wanting to appease. "You're so good, you're too good, and I'm afraid because...I know I don't deserve you. I know we can't really be together."

"Because you're a bonder?" Maybe that was what had him so wrought up. "I don't care about that, Wyl. We'll find a way to be together. I'll help pay off your bond if you'll let me."

"My bond isn't all monetary." Wyl's expression twisted and he rolled away from Robbie. Robbie sensed he was treading on dangerous ground.

"Why is that?"

"I got into the system for using drugs." Wyl's voice sped up now, as though he wanted to get it all out of his system before Robbie had a chance to push him away. "My parents owned a shipyard on Parthea, but they made some bad decisions and fell into bankruptcy. They committed suicide and the business was seized by the government. I...I didn't take it very well. Any of it. I had an inheritance, but I blew it all on drugs. Eventually the marshals found me and took me to a hospital. I was detoxed and the judge slapped a bond on me. Five years and six thousand credits."

Well, that was a hell of a revelation. Robbie could feel Wyl shivering. He didn't move his hand from his shoulder. "What kind of drugs?"

"Angel dust."

"What?" That was heavy duty. "How many times did you use it?"

"Five times." His voice was barely above a whisper.

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"Five times?" Robbie's mind was reeling. "No one should be able to survive five uses; it usually fries the brain after three no matter the dose."

"I don't know why I lasted as long as I did." Wyl's tone was resigned now. "I wasn't trying to survive, but I didn't want to go the way my parents did either. My last trip, though, it left me hypersensitive. Everything was louder, brighter, sharper than it should have been. When the marshals found me, I was screaming...at least that's what they said, I can't remember it. All I remember is the pain.

“I do have modifications, but they send me the other way. Instead of increasing my reactions, they put me back down into the normal range. That's how I heard Jane outside of your door last time. Everything is still kind of...sharp. After I recovered, the judge laid my sentence out. Six thousand credits for my hospital bill, and a year of service for each trip." He laughed without humor. "She had a poetic sense of justice."

Wyl's body was as tense as a wire, not moving under Robbie's hand. Robbie was still as well, considering. Finally he spoke. "I still don't see why we can't be together."

"What?" Wyl rolled around to face him suddenly. "I just told you I'm a criminal and a druggie and you still want us to be together?"

"Yes."

Wyl looked totally confused. "Why? You could do so much better."

Robbie had to grin at the look on Wyl's face. "I don't understand how I could do better than being with the person I love." He leaned forward and kissed Wyl's gaping mouth. "I think that would be impossible."

"But you're a marshal, you're supposed to lock up guys like me!"

"I am," Robbie agreed. "You're already paying for what you did, and from the sound of things you paid a price before you even became a bonder. You aren't on any illegal drugs now, right?" Wyl numbly nodded. "Then it isn't an issue with me. Wyl, when I told you I loved you, I didn't mean that I loved just part of you, or half of you, or just your dick or anything like that. I mean that I love you, and you'd have to do something pretty insane to make me second guess that." Robbie held Wyl's eyes with his own, making sure he understood and believed him. “This is real for me,” Robbie said. “It feels fast, but I promise it’s real.”

"I believe you, and…and it’s real for me too, but it still won't work." Wyl shook his head.

"Are you throwing obstacles at me for the fun of it?"

"No!" Robbie couldn't help himself; he had to laugh when he saw Wyl's shocked expression. Some of the tension went out of Wyl's body, and after a second he chuckled.

Robbie reached over and pulled Wyl into his arms. He was still sticky from their lovemaking, but that was the last thing Robbie cared about at that moment. All he wanted was to hold his lover, to comfort him and make him believe that they could be a reality. "Tell me why it won't work."

"Because the woman who owns my bond is a psychopath," Wyl mumbled against his chest. "She's gotten kind of obsessed with me and there's no way she'll let me go anywhere. I was lucky to get back up this time."

"She wouldn't be willing to transfer your bond, then?"

"Not a chance."

Robbie considered his options. Disappointing Wyl wasn't one of them. "What if she was ordered to transfer it?"

"You can't do that."

"I personally can't. But you're still a citizen of Parthea, and they have the ultimate control over where your bond goes. And I have a few favors I can call in. I think I could get you transferred."

"You're shitting me." Disbelief warred with longing in Wyl's voice.

"I'm not. Even if those fall through, from what I've seen of the way your boss does business, she doesn't run a clean operation. It might be time to audit her."

"How would you justify that?"

"She was paying a bribe to let that ship dock here without a license. And people expect me to be an asshole, so no one will be surprised if I order an investigation."

"You really could do that?"

"Yes." Robbie knew it wouldn't be easy, but Garrett owed him more than a few favors, and Garrett's father was a. Alliance senator. Parthea was a member of the Alliance, so there were several options from that angle. He turned his head so that he looked into Wyl's eyes. "I don't even want to let you out of my sight, much less go back to Hazard. I won't let you stay there any longer than I have to, even if it means hijacking a ship and picking you up myself."

Will looked dumbfounded. "You're serious."

"Yes."

"You're really serious."

"I am absolutely serious."

"How can you feel that way about me, when you barely know me?" There was a suggestion of wonder in his voice, and the expression on his face made him look younger, more innocent.

He was so beautiful. He was more than beautiful, he was a real person, not just a spoiled child of wealth and privilege, not a slave who had been beaten so many times he was broken. He was strong and smart and had a delicious sense of humor, and he wanted Robbie. He loved him.

That was the most amazing thing of all.

"How couldn't I?" Robbie asked quietly.

"I don't deserve you."

"You won't convince me of that by repeating it." Robbie swirled his index finger around one of Wyl's nipples. "We should clean up. Then I'll make you that dinner I promised."

"Good, I'm starving." There was lightness in Wyl's face now, a happiness that Robbie hadn't expected. He hadn't realized the kind of burden Wyl was carrying around until it was gone.

"C'mon, then. Let's rinse off."