Tight Quarters (Out of Uniform 6)

It was more than a little humbling, Del putting enough trust in him to let him meet the people he’d worked so hard to protect, trusting that he wouldn’t go after the story there. He found a parking spot a few blocks away and was juggling his gift of wine when he heard a familiar voice.

“Spencer! Might be nice if you answered your phone. I’ve been tracking you the last block and half.” Del jogged up. He was in civilian clothes—nice jeans and a thick colorful sweater Flor and Spencer had talked him into while shopping a few weeks back. The narrow stripes of color made his auburn hair gleam and blue eyes sparkle, and Spencer couldn’t resist sweeping him up in a hug.

Del grinned as he transferred the six pack to his other hand so that they could hold hands the rest of the walk to the historic redbrick building with lovely covered balconies that overlooked the canal. The door was opened by a blond giant of a guy cradling the fluffiest white cat Spencer had ever seen.

“Bacon! You made it!” The guy, who Spencer knew from pictures was probably Dustin, ushered them up to the second level of their condo. He accepted the wine and beer with a broad grin. “Awesome. One of these will go with what Wes is grilling, I’m sure. He’ll tell us whether it’s wine night or beer.”

“Beer. Always beer.” A laughing slim man emerged from a kitchen at the rear of the unit. “You guys can owe me your eternal gratitude that this one isn’t cooking. I’ve got him graduated to boiling water and assembling salad, but we won’t speak of the time he tried roasting a chicken.”

“Hey. It wasn’t that bad,” Dustin protested. “And LeeLoo enjoyed it just fine.”

Wes shook a spatula at him. “Of course she did. You can do no wrong by her.” To Spencer and Del, he said, “I’ve been hoodwinked, y’all. ‘Let’s just visit the adoption event,’ he said. ‘Let’s just play with kittens then go get some food,’ he said. And now look at him. Totally wrapped around that feline’s paw.”

“Maybe you need a cat, Spencer,” Del teased. “You travel just as much as Wes and Dustin. You could make it work.”

Spencer wanted all the domestic fluff that this couple seemed to have, but maybe minus the pet, so he made a noncommittal noise. If Del truly wanted a pet at some point, though, then a pet they would have. But first they needed to occupy the same zip code. And that brought him back to his plan, the one he was dying to discuss with Del. Alone.

“Who needs a drink?” Dustin set the cat down and fetched a bottle opener for the beer. After they each had a drink and were settled on the large leather sectional, he turned to Spencer. “I caught your segment on that podcast Bacon sent me last week. Really nice discussion of China’s rush to find aliens. That must have been a fun story to research.”

“It was.” Spencer liked that Bacon was sharing his work, and he shot him a private smile. Right now, a lot of his work was behind the scenes, helping Tanisha with the military book and the stacks of research and interviews they both had to sort through. She really was an amazing young writer, and Spencer couldn’t wait for her reviews to start rolling in.

“And he’s got a release date for the memoir he edited.” Del’s obvious pride made Spencer warmer than the beer. “You guys should come to the DC reading.”

Spencer loved Del making plans for the two of them, inviting his friends along, but what he really wanted was what these guys had—a shared place together, shared future, shared life. And that was coming. He knew exactly the direction he wanted his life to take, and his hand trembled on his beer bottle with how very much he wanted Del to agree. Fun as this was, Spencer couldn’t wait to get Del alone afterward, and really talk.

* * *

Del loved hanging out with his friends, but he couldn’t wait to get Spencer back to the hotel. Wes and Dustin’s happiness was contagious, and something about how right they were together made him even more aware of what a good thing he and Spencer had going too. He wanted to be like that a few years from now—all free and easy with inside jokes and a shared history.

Wes and Dustin were lucky enough to get to work together, but Del didn’t mind the separations from Spencer as much as he had at first. They had a good rhythm going now of saving up time off to spend together, and Spencer doing all his traveling while Del was deployed so that they could spend more time together. And he liked that Spencer had his own life, his own projects keeping him busy. Made it easier to focus in the field.