As it happens, I get completely done with the case Saturday evening just as dinner time is rolling around. And when I walk in the door, Henry is just pulling a pan of lasagna out of the oven and the girls are just getting done setting the table. It all looks too perfect to be true.

When he sets the hot dish down, I make my way over to kiss him slightly on the lips. As I'm backing away and undoing my tie, Ella wraps her arms around my body. As she starts to apologize, I just pull her to me again and kiss the top of her head. Then Maya joins in and I laugh because I know she feels left out.

No sooner do they pull away, that Henry's ushering me to our room to change into something more comfortable. I even try to get him in bed for a minute, but he doesn't budge. He just tells me to change and leaves the room.

Another dreamland is what I'm met with when I come out. The table's all set. There's a big salad and a plate of garlic bread and the pan of Italian goodness. My friends and boyfriend are all waiting and laughing amongst themselves. Everything seems so easy. Everything seems so natural. I feel like, out of everything I've ever done in my life, this is where I'm supposed to be at this exact moment. It feels like the hypothetical perfect version of my life.

Smiling to myself, I sit down and join in my makeshift family.

We laugh and talk and the girls tell stories. They try to find the ones that embarrass me the most, but it's useless. I'm too comfortable around Henry to be embarrassed.

"Oh, I remember one," Ella volunteers after we've finished dinner and are just sitting around the table. "It was right after Blain got out of police academy and he was so overprotective of everyone." Maya's laugh encourages Ella to look at her and say, "You remember that?" Maya nods and El continues, "He kept making a huge deal out of everything."

"I didn't make a huge deal out of everything," I try to say, but I'm smiling because I know it's true.

In my defense, the academy is supposed to teach you how to deal with the worst kinds of situations.

As she begins again, I scoot my chair closer to Henry's and throw my arm around his shoulder. He responds by leaning into me and putting his hand on my knee.

"So he had just gotten back two weeks before and Blain was getting into his college and work schedule and I was-"

"Into college?" Henry looks up at me confused, "I thought you were finished with school when you moved in here?"

I shake my head, "We lived somewhere else before here. It was this little studio."

"Tiny," Ella emphasizes.

I chuckle as a shoot her a playful warning look, "It was only supposed to be my place, but someone basically moved herself in once she graduated high school. It was all I could afford at the time and someone wasn't helping with bills."

"You could have afforded more if you used your trust like Uncle Topher wanted you to," Maya reminds me.

My warning look to her isn't so playful, "I didn't have to use it. I was fine." Before she starts to talk again, I continue, "Anyway. It was this rundown little apartment that housed me and Ella until we moved here. I was pretty sure we had other roommates of the rodent species, but it was my first real place and I loved it."

Henry leans over and kisses my cheek. When he backs away the look on his face can only be described as proud. It makes my stomach jump, but I try not to show it.

"So right," El takes back over, "we live in this smelly apartment that's the size of a shoebox and the only other room than the main room was this tiny bathroom. It's my first date, like ever, and my date is waiting for me by the front door and Blain's just sitting on the couch."

"A couch that folded out to be the bed you shared with him," Maya adds.

Ella laughs loudly, "Also true."

We all start to chuckle again as the girls overelaborate the not-so-significant tale.

"So after a while of just creepily staring-"

"I wasn't being creepy," I interrupt with a chuckle.

"Not what he said," she smirks and continues. "After the creepy stare," she scrunches her nose at me, "he barges into the tiny bathroom that can hardly fit one person much less both of us. And he tells me that he's going to call me in an hour and that if I want out I have to say that code word."

"What's the code word?" Henry ventures.

Maya laughs as Ella's smile increases, "Potato chips."

My boyfriend hitches a brow and looks at me, "Potato chips?"

"I couldn't think of anything at the time and it just came to me," I admit.

"Were you hungry?" His smile is so cute.

Then we're all laughing again. It's so natural to be here. I want this to continue forever.

"So he calls an hour in, on the dot," Ella's story goes on. "And I was having a great time. So naturally forgot all about the word and when he asked what we were eating, I say chips and salsa. And he goes," she squares her shoulders and puffs out her chest imitating a much deeper voice than my own, "potato chips?"

I have to chuckle as the three of them lose it. They're all laughing so hard that Ella snorts and Maya's brushing tears from her eyes. When he can, Henry looks up at me with a smile so bright that it could power New York City.

"You're amazing," he barely whispers it, but the adoration in his eyes says more than his words.

And when I pull him to me to kiss him deeply, I don't even care that two of my best friends are laughing and cheering us on.

We stay up talking for most of the night. Stories are told and laughs are inescapable. And the only half awkward moment is when Ella asks Maya why she's not leaving tonight. It only last a few seconds until Maya tell hers that she's working on something here for a little while before she goes back to LA. Ella doesn't even question it; just shrugs and carries on.

As Henry and I lie down to sleep, he pulls me close. Instead of trying to take advantage of the closeness, I kiss his lips chastely and snuggle in. Even though our time between the sheets is great, Henry's more than that to me.

-----

Sunday we wake up and lounge around for a few hours. It turns out to be easy to bribe the girls to leave. Henry just tells them we want the house and they leave with giggle resounding behind them. Then we paint. I can't describe the feeling of having Henry in my space.

When he's in my bed it's one thing. There have been a few people in my bed. I'm not ashamed of that. Most of them left before morning came around. But this place is different. My studio is a place that no one comes except me; and now him. This is our place.

We don't stay up there the whole day. We come down just before dinner time and shower (together) before deciding on a movie night. I love movie nights and I'm glad he does too.

I set up the sofas as he calls for pizza. He doesn't feel like cooking; I don't feel like letting him cook. And about half an hour into the film there's a knock on the door.

"That was fast," he comments as he stands from the nest of blankets we made. "They said it would be like an hour. And why didn't they hit the buzzer?"

As he gets up I pull him back by the arm to kiss him and say, "Put on some pants at least. I don't want the pizza guy to be ogling your goodies."

"I'll be fine in my boxers," he whispers against my lips. Kissing my deeply one last time, he says, "I'm coming right back to this bed no matter how the pizza guy looks at me."

He quickly moves out of my reach before I can pull him back. He chuckles as he makes his way to the door, looking back once to wink at me.

I just turn back to the movie still playing on the television with a smirk on my face. He's right; he'll come back to this bed no matter what. Even if he could be attracted to other people, I trust him.

When I hear the door open there's a few seconds where nothing is said. It's so strange that I look over to see Henry standing there awkwardly and a rather buff dude standing in front of him with no pizza. The thing that makes me jump up is the way the guy's eyes travel down my boyfriend's body.

It takes less than a second for me to be standing between the two. Even if Henry is taller than me, the only way I can cut off this guy's stare is to physically block it.

"Can I help you?" I ask the guy.

It's the first words that have been said since the door was opened. I feel out of place. And not because I'm in my boxer shielding my boyfriend from a dude that I've never seen in my life, but rather the way the guy is still looking around me to try and see the sexy blonde behind me.

As when he says, "Henry," it's like an intimate sigh that makes me want to punch him in his mouth.

"Someone tell me what's going on," I look up at my roommate purposefully, "before I start throwing punches."

"Blain, this is Danny," Henry fills in with his face the color of a stop sign, "my friend that I told you about from California." He pauses a second and then says, "I'm going to grab some pants." And I guess he looks down, because he adds, "For both of us."

I don't move when he leaves. I don't like the look of this guy and I don't want to take my eyes off him. There's something off.

When he comes back a minute or so later wearing basketball shorts and a tee shirt, he hands me a pair of pajama bottoms and looks at Danny, "What are you doing here?"

"You stopped answering my calls and you disappeared. I just wanted to see you," he may look big and brawny, but his words are tender.

I don't like it.

"How'd you get this address?" Once my pants are on, I butt in mainly because I don't like him talking to Henry.

He looks at me like I just appeared, "Um." He shakes his head and looks back up at my man, "I saw you in the magazines and then I looked you up."

"I'm not listed," Henry sounds confused.

The guy shakes his head again, "It's not important."

"Whoa," I hold my hand up and maneuver my way into his line of sight, "it's actually really important. This address is protected. How did you find him?"

He finally looks at me with squinted eyes, "I know who you are, but I don't like you. I'm here for Henry and it's none of your business."

Henry's arms are around me and he's pulling me into the apartment before I can punch this dude in the face. But I do yell back, "This is my house! This is my Henry! Anything to do with him or this address is my business. Not only because I love him, but because he's my boyfriend and you're a ass hat. If you step a single foot in here, I'll arrest you myself for trespassing until more cops can get here. Don't even try me, you meathead sized douche."

Holding me to his chest, Henry says, "Maybe you should leave."

"I'm not leaving until you talk to me," he replies without even batting an eye. Danny points at me, "This is your boyfriend?"

"Yes, Danny," it sounds like he's annoyed. "Now go."

"I'll only go if you promise to see me soon. I want to talk to you."

"I'm not going to do anything that makes Blain uncomfortable."

"This is bullshit," the dude seems to puff up even bigger.

If I wasn't so pissed, it may be a little scary.

"You tell me that you can't like me," Danny gestures his whole arm toward me, "but you're in love with this guy."

"I didn't say that."

It makes my heart drop a little, but I'm really trying to stay calm. I'm not fighting against him, but I'm not leaning into him either. I'm more than capable of getting out of his hold if I want to; I just don't want to hurt him. Rather, I'm just standing there letting him hold me against his chest. It's not a bad position, if I'm honest.

"He just did," he points at me again.

That's when I lose it, "Stop pointing at me and talking about me as if I'm not here. Were you raised by animals? You're obviously not welcome here. Leave."

He takes a step toward me, but in one maneuver Henry's standing in front of me. He's looking down at the guy with a primal look on his face.

When he speaks, it's so direct that it turns me on a little, "I wasn't holding him back for his sake. Danny, Blain's a homicide detective. He not only knows how to take care of himself, but he has the authority to ruin your life. Leave now and maybe we can talk in a couple days."

Danny's eyes are dark as he looks between us, "I'm not leaving without your number."

"I'm not doing-"

"Go ahead, babe." I interrupt from behind him with a hand on his shoulder, "I trust you." And just because I can, I straighten up a little to kiss him lightly on his lips, "But please, get this thing out of our house before I call backup."

Without another word, I turn my back and walk to the couch.

"Our house?" I hear Danny question, but I don't turn to look at them.

Henry's voice is low and dangerous when he says, "Don't."

It only takes a few minutes for them to exchange numbers and then Henry is ushering the huge man out the door again.

When the door is closed, Henry looks over at me from his standing point, "Did you say that you loved-"

Before he can finish his statement, there's a knock on the door behind him.

He huffs and shouts, "Just leave, Danny."

To which there is a reply of, "Uh, pizza guy."

I have to hide my face in a pillow to stifle the laugh that has to escape.

He handles the pizza transaction quickly and comes back in, setting the pizza down on the counter. He doesn't bring any over when he comes. He just puts it down and walks straight to me.

When he sitting on the pullout bed in front of me, he looks into my eyes, "Did you say that you love me?" I try to look away from him, but he pulls my chin back. "Did you tell Danny that you love me?"

I nod.

"Do you mean it?" His voice is small now, like he doesn't want to speak too loud or it'll scare me.

"I don't..."

He deflates a little.

"I don't know what it feels like to love someone," I elaborate.

He chuckles, "I think this is the closest I've come to it."

"Me too," I agree.

And when I kiss him I know it's right. I don't know if I love him. I don't know how it feels to romantically love someone. But this, this is the first time that I'm willing to find out. This is the first time that I want to know that feeling with someone and I'm glad it's Henry.

~A/N~

I didn't edit this. I just wanted to get it up for you guys! If there are mistakes let me know and I'll fix it.

New character! (kinda)

Danny is on the side. And even though I am a lesbian, I can still appreciate a fine hunk of man.

Oh and Happy Sunday!! (It's still Sunday for EVERYONE this time!!!)