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It wasn't a dream, didn't feel like one, but it was far better. Their connection was something he

could never doubt, never forget, though the reminder was welcome. He cried out when he came

again, Tor inside him, around him, and he could feel Tor's reply in his blood.

They lay there for almost as long as they had loved, not saying anything at all. Almost all that

they'd needed to say had been expressed. Almost.

"Don't want to have to drag you out of the house, Jake," Tor whispered. "Be nice to use our bed again."

"We use our bed," Jake protested, halfheartedly. He knew what Tor meant.

"Not like we should." Tor rolled onto his side and looked at him. "He's fifteen. He's not stupid, and he's not going to be in therapy for years if he hears us on occasion." He held up a hand as Jake

opened his mouth. "I'm not saying we get wild--I'll happily take you to the barn to tie you up, cowboy. But we can actually have sex in our own house and not damage him. Question is, can we do it

and not damage you?"

Jake stared at him for a long moment.

"Come on, Jake," Tor said, rolling his eyes. "You're twisted up. I'm asking you to… untwist a little.

That's all. He won't break."

Unspoken, was that Tor just might, that he'd come close to losing his temper over something pretty

easy to fix.

"It always comes back to talking, doesn't it?" Jake said ruefully, thinking back on how they'd mended their relationship in the first place.

"Sadly, yes," Tor deadpanned. "So what do you say? Be that ornery slut I first shacked up with, yeah?"

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Jake grinned. "I'll try."

"Try my nerves," Tor said under his breath, but he was smiling.

It took another hour for them to make their way home, slightly stickier and with a few more grass

stains in interesting places. Jake figured it was worth it.

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July was, as usual, busy on the ranch. Hay came up for another cutting and Jake hired on day labor

to deal with it; Jacob was a help, but he was only one more body, and for a week they needed a lot

more than that.

The weather held, though, the rain not coming at all until the hay was in the barn. More than a few

bales went in trade for a couple of things they needed, and then damn near the whole ranch fell

asleep for two days, everyone recovering with sore muscles, exhausted bodies, and one or two

cases of sunburn.

Somewhere in there, in the mix of driving and cutting and binding and hauling, Tor had decided it

would be of some use to have Jacob able to drive. He figured it would be a good thing, if only so

there was one truck that just went to the barns and back, with no chance at all of someone making a

misguided attempt to go to town or on errands somewhere else. So Jake got to watch, shaking his

head, as Tor and Jacob took an hour and went on a little forward-only tour of the ranch. He wasn't

exactly sure why Tor didn't teach him to put the truck in reverse, but by the end of the day Jacob

was able to manage a pretty tight turn and was damn near bursting with pride and the thrill of driv-

ing.

Learning to ride wasn't quite so easy, but after a shaky first week--and sore thighs that Jacob made

every attempt to deny--Jacob seemed to find his seat. Jake, Tor and a couple of the others made

sure to find time to help with lessons, and Jacob spent almost all his time, outside of chores and

sleep, on one horse or another. Jake just shook his head again and made sure Jacob took care of the

animals in between the fun part. What time wasn't spent in the saddle was spent with brushes or a

shovel and rake.

Jake was almost surprised when he looked at the calendar and realized it was only a few days be-

fore school started. July had gone fast, lost in work and helping Jacob settle into life on the ranch.

The start of August had gone just as quickly with getting the cattle ready for auction, and suddenly

it was time for more shopping. He'd forgotten how fast teenagers grew, and Jacob was well and

truly in a growth spurt.

It only took a few hours, really, but it was the strangest Saturday afternoon Jake could recall having

in a long time. There were school supplies to get, and he kind of liked that part. There was just

something nice about packages of pens and pencils and stacks of paper and binders. They were

clean and new and Jake wistfully remembered when learning had been fun; he'd been a lot younger

back then than Jacob was now, that was for sure.

Jacob didn't seem to care much about the school supplies, more interested in making sure the new

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backpack had a pocket for his CD player and dragging Jake over to the electronics to drool over

MP3 players.

Jake wasn't exactly sure what an MP3 was, but he figured it had to be something pretty fucking ad-

vanced if it needed a tiny player that cost that much. He did, however, make note of the players Ja-

cob really liked; Christmas was coming, after all.

Clothes shopping was faster than he'd expected, considering Jacob was a teenage boy. He just did-

n't appear to be a particularly fashion-conscious teenager, for which Jake was glad. Jeans, shirts, a

new coat for good, and two pairs of sneakers. Another few pairs of sweatpants, shorts for gym, and

they were done.

Now all he had to do was survive the actual first day of school.

He only called to check on the time the bus went by once, and he only double-checked with Jacob

about the bus versus a drive in for the first day twice. He thought he was doing pretty well until Tor

called him pathetic and rolled his eyes. After that, he shut up and tried to let it go, but he figured he was kind of unsuccessful when both Jacob and Tor made a show of setting his alarm clock for him

the night before school started.

Like he was going to sleep anyway.

"What's with you?" Tor asked as they went to bed that night. "It's only school, he's been doing fine.

It's not like it's your first day--it's his, and he's pretty relaxed about it."

Jake shrugged and got into bed. "Don't know. Just… want everything to go well, I guess."

"That isn't up to you," Tor said gently. "You're going to give yourself ulcers if you keep this up.

And then where will I be? A lame partner with stomach issues, a teenager, and a ranch. Drive me

into an early grave."

Jake gave him a sour look, ignoring the way Tor was grinning at him. "All about you, all the time,"

he bitched.

"Yup. Come here, let me take your mind off it for a bit."

Jake eyed him and then decided it was a pretty good offer. Maybe he'd get some sleep after all.

Plus, with Tor going off to the auction in a few days he should kind of stock up on orgasms to get

him through the dry patch.

He really was pathetic.

Of course, all the things he'd worried about--Jacob missing the bus, being late, not finding the of-

fice or his homeroom, eating lunch alone--were fine. Jacob came home from school with a smile, a

pile of homework, the dates for tryouts for the soccer and football teams, and two phone numbers.

One was for a guy named Leroy, the other for a girl named Lillian who was in his homeroom and

math class.

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"She's really smart," Jacob told them as he emptied out his book bag. "She wants to be a doctor.

And Leroy was on the soccer team last year; we kicked the ball around for a bit and he doesn't

think I'll have any trouble making the team. Can I go to the barn now, or do I have to do my home-

work first?" The last was called from the fridge where he was gathering what looked to be a full

meal.

"Homework first," Tor said, heading back out the kitchen door. "Then horses. And supper is in three hours, so don't eat all that."

Jake smiled as Jacob nodded and put back an apple. He still had bread, cheese, mayo, pickles,

chicken, and lettuce out. "So, it was okay?"

"Yeah, it was fine. I don't think I'm behind in anything, but the Spanish book is different from the one at my old school. The math, too, actually, but it looks like the same level." He grinned at Jake.

"Are you gonna stand there and watch me do my homework?"

"I think that's my cue to leave," Jake said, rolling his eyes. "If you need help with math, ask Tor.

He minored in it at college. History, too, for that matter."

"He minored in both math and history?"

Jake shook his head. "No, sorry. He majored in American history. No idea why." He grabbed his hat and grinned. "Me, I can help with… finding Tor."

Jacob laughed and took his food to the table. "I'll be fine; it's the first day. Not much to do."

"Good enough. Got horses waiting on you." Jake waited long enough to really take in the picture of Jacob at the kitchen table with books spread out in front of him, and then went back to work. It was

odd, and not something he'd ever thought would be part of his life, but it felt right.

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Jake sat on the porch in the dying light of the day and felt sorry for himself. He hated that Tor had

gone to the auction and he wasn't there, too. He hated that they were apart again, even if it was only

for four days, and he hated that he was being all girly and depressed about it.

It was too soon after they'd been apart, and it didn't matter that it was necessary. They'd said they

weren't going to be apart, and he couldn't quite bring himself around to be reasonable. He knew this

was different, that it was the way things had to be and didn't strictly fall under what they'd prom-

ised each other, but still. He didn't like it, and alone on his porch he could be as self-indulgent and miserable as he wanted.

That lasted for all of about five minutes before he had to go back in the house; he was making him-

self growly and irritable. Even more than Tor being gone, Jake disliked being uneasy in his skin,

and there wasn't much more uneasy than acting like a kid less mature than Jacob. If Jacob could

pull himself together and deal with life, Jake could.

He went into the living room, nodding at Jacob on his way to the desk in the far corner. "Anything good on?" he asked, angling his chin at the TV.

"Nope." Jacob sprawled a little more on the couch. "We got any popcorn?"

"Think so." Jake sat at the desk and opened the middle drawer. He figured he might as well balance the checkbook if he was going to be in a foul mood anyway. He'd start with his personal account,

move on to the house account, and if he was really feeling pissy, he'd take a stab at the ranch

books.

Tor was going to string him up when he got home. Jake grinned and hunted through the drawer for

the calculator. Given the mood he was in, it was a good thing Jacob's money was run through the

trust fund. Lord knew what kind of mess he'd make with that account.

"Want some?" Jacob asked, not moving an inch.

Jake looked up from where he'd lined up the checkbooks. "Huh?"

"Popcorn. Want some?"

"Oh. Yeah, okay. Thanks."

"I was hoping you'd make it."

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Jake snorted. "Smartass."

Laughing, Jacob rolled off the couch. "What're you doing?" he asked, padding over to the desk.

"Going to balance my checkbook and go over the accounts." God, that sounded dull.

Jacob backed away, still grinning. "Right. I think I'll stick with the crappy TV. I'll put butter on the popcorn, though, just so your night's not a total waste."

"Gee, thanks," Jake muttered, sharpening a pencil. He was going to have to make sure Elias spent less time with Jacob; his sense of humor was rubbing off on the kid.

An hour later, Jake was going over the latest bank statement on the ranch account for the fifth time

and fighting down panic. His own checking account had been easy; he'd even managed to find the

missing twenty-six cents that he'd held over from the last month. The joint account had been even

easier, balancing out in a way that he should have sensed was a warning for things to come.

Two thousand, four hundred and forty-two dollars.

Over.

The bank didn't just hand out large amounts of money, he was pretty sure, but he couldn’t find any

missing deposits and the debits looked all right. He'd gone through receipts and done the math for

four months back, but the statement didn't change at all. It still insisted they had more money in the

bank than they did in the check register.

He didn't really notice Jacob go to bed, though he did vaguely recall telling him good night. Full

dark had long settled over the house and the one lamp he had on, there on the desk, was pooling

light right on the mountain of paper he'd created. His stomach was knotting up tight. Almost

twenty-five hundred dollars. He wondered if he'd feel as sick if they were short that much, and de-

cided he would.

When the phone rang he jumped in his chair, dropping the bank statement. He bent to pick it up,

one hand snatching up the phone receiver before it could ring again. "Hello?" he said, almost barking the word. His heart was thudding and his stomach had kind of given a guilty lurch to the left.

"Jake? Wake you up?" Tor sounded amused.

"No. No, I was…" Jake sighed and tossed the statement onto the desk. "We have a problem."

There was a short pause and then Tor's voice lost all its amusement. "What? Jacob? You hurt?"

"No, we're fine. Nothing like that." Jake rubbed a hand over his forehead and stared at the desk, a mess of paper and pencil shavings. "I was doing the books, just balancing the checkbooks."