She walked into the office and closed the door behind her. "Hi, and he's still asleep."

Loren hesitated. "So?"

"So what?"

Loren sighed. "Results. What's going on? Is he okay? Are you okay? Talk to me."

"We won't get results back for a couple of days. We already know from the scan and his blood work that something's going on. He will have surgery, but what kind and how much they take out is to be determined."

"Sooo...how's that other thing going?"

"If you're asking if I've killed Cris yet, the answer is no. In fact, he's not here. Landry sent him back to L.A. this morning to handle packing and moving their stuff and to take care of business issues."

Loren's tone brightened. "Oh! He's not there? Mind if I drop by?"

"Sure, come on over. Wait a while though, maybe after ten. Landry might be awake then and you can say hi. Oh, and one more thing?"

"Yeah?"

"Please don't call him hunky hubby to his face, okay?"

Loren laughed. "But he is! Hey, his nickname is a lot better than all the ones I have for Cris."

"True. Bye."

When she returned to the bedroom, Landry opened his eyes and held out a hand to her. She carefully sat next to him so as not to jostle him and leaned in for a kiss. "Morning. How do you feel?"

"Like shit. Cris leave okay?"

"Yeah. He should be in the air by now."

He nodded.

She decided to add, "He came in to say good-bye before he left. You slept right through it."

She didn't miss his sad smile. "Thank you."

"For telling you, or for letting him into my bedroom?"

"Both."

Master Grouchypants acted a little grumbly, but not too bad. He moved out to the couch to watch TV and read. When Loren arrived, he enjoyed talking with her. From the way he kept her laughing, Tilly suspected Loren enjoyed talking with him, too. A little before lunch time Tilly's cell rang and she stepped into the kitchen to take it.

"Hey, I've only got a minute between planes, but I forgot to tell you how to heat up his soup."

She quickly moved into the office and pulled the door shut behind her. "Cris, I'm more than capable of reheating soup."

"I know, but he likes it a certain way. You have to heat a bowl of it for two minutes, then puree it in the food processor for him. It's easier on his stomach that way. And don't use a blender, use the food processor because-"

She fought her irritation. "Go catch your plane."

"Tilly, please, wait! It has to be heated first, but not too much, because if you try to puree it when it's cold-"

"Cris, enough. Seriously. It's okay. I can handle it."

"I'm sorry."

She reined in her irritation. "Look, I know you're worried, but focus on what he wants you to do and I'll take care of him while you're gone."

"Is he okay? Can I talk to him?"

"He's fine. He's in the living room talking with Loren. She stopped by. I'll get him for you."

"No, that's okay. I don't want to interrupt him." He didn't sound snarky when he said it either.

"It's all right, I'll go get him."

"No, I'm going to go catch my plane. Would you mind telling him I called? That I asked about him?"

She wanted to beat his deference to her out of him. "I'll tell him. Have a safe flight."

"Thanks."

When she stepped out of the office she nearly ran into Loren going to use the guest bathroom, now Cris' bathroom.

She pushed Tilly back into the office, concern on her friend's face. "You okay, girlie?"

"Yeah." She rolled her eyes at Loren's arched eyebrows. "It was Cris checking in to make sure Landry was okay."

By late that evening, Tilly had managed to heat and puree his soup for him several times, in the proper order and apparently the right way because he didn't complain and it didn't end up on her kitchen ceiling. She'd have to get an immersion blender though. She'd never needed one, and her old food processor was a bitch to clean.

Landry asked her to watch TV with him, so she sat at the end of the couch with his head in her lap.

"I like this," he admitted. "This is fun."

"Yeah. Barrel of laughs around here."

He tipped his head so he could look at her. "I mean it. I like spending time with you." He grinned. "Even if you are wearing far too many clothes for my liking."

She ruffled his hair. "Easy, tiger. No play for you, doctor's orders. You're supposed to rest."

He laced his fingers through hers and squeezed her hand. "Thank you, Tilly. You're a true blessing."

As she sat there, her other hand on his shoulder, she couldn't deny it felt nice relaxing like this with him.

One of those many things she'd missed since her life had been ripped away from her.

The doctor's office called Friday morning before lunch. No surprise, the pathology report came back positive. The doctor fit them in late that afternoon for a consult.

"I can work you into the surgical schedule as an add-on late Monday. Otherwise, it'll be two weeks because I'm going out of town to a conference. I'd rather do it before I leave, quite honestly."

Landry nodded even as his grip on Tilly's hand tightened. "Okay. Schedule it."

He sat quietly in the passenger seat and looked out the window as she drove. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"Yeah. Cris isn't scheduled to get back until Thursday. He needs to be at meetings on Tuesday."

Back to that. Having Landry all to herself, she could almost forget about Cris.

He needed Cris, despite all they'd put the man through.

Loved him.

Wanted him.

But most of all, more than anything, he needed him, even if he wouldn't admit it. "I'll call him and let him know when we get home."

Landry didn't turn away from the window. "No. That's all right. He'll feel guilty he can't be here. There's no reason to upset him."

She couldn't let that go. "Landry, I don't feel comfortable keeping that from him. It'll upset him more if he doesn't know."

His soft tone disquieted her. "Tilly, please. It's all right. I'll tell him when I think it's best. I don't want him worried."

Ah, there is a soft heart in there. Buried somewhere.

Deeply buried.

"He's already worried about you." She had enough guilt on her plate to deal with after their weekend cuckold caper. Withholding this information might put her over the edge.

"Please?" He didn't even sound like himself. His soft, resigned tone didn't bear a hint of Masterly command.

She wasn't all right with it, but she didn't want to argue with him and stress him out.

"Whatever."

By Sunday afternoon, Landry still hadn't told Cris about his surgery. Tilly couldn't stand it anymore. He laid down for a nap and she took her cell into the office and closed the door behind her.

Cris answered his cell on the first ring. "Til?"

"Yeah. Don't panic, he's fine."

Part of her hated that she recognized the knowing concern in his voice. "What's wrong? What happened?"

This was going directly against what Landry asked of her. Then again, he had agreed to follow Cardinal's Rules. And in her mind, it would be best if Cris were at least kept in the loop.

"First of all, this is me and you talking, not slave and Tilly, okay?"

"Yeah."

"Landry didn't tell you that they've put him on the surgical schedule tomorrow as an add-on.

We have to be there in the morning, and we don't know when his surgery will be."

"Tomorrow?"

She'd never heard Cris sound like that, the combination of shock and fear. "Yeah. He didn't want to worry you, said you have meetings Tuesday you have to be at-"

"Oh, fuck that shit! I'll grab the first plane I can get a seat on."

"I didn't call you to make you come home. That's not what he asked."

"Tilly, I can't sit here while he goes into surgery. I just can't. I need to be there for him."

"You'll get in trouble."

He snorted. "Won't be the first fucking time, believe me."

Those were stories she'd want to hear.

Later.

When she could emotionally handle hearing them.

"I just didn't want you finding out after the fact."

He went quiet for a moment. "Is he still mad at me?"

"No! Jesus, I wish you two fucking Doms would get your communication shit together."