Fish & Chips (Cut & Run 3)

Zane smiled as he stood and shook hands with Bianchi. “I agree with both those sentiments. Corbin Porter, yes.”

Bianchi continued to chuckle as he pumped Zane"s hand. “Well, well, Mr. Porter, it is as Norina supposed. Perhaps we meet earlier than planned, but it was indeed a good first discussion, don"t you agree?”

“Yes, I think so, Signor Bianchi.” Zane turned partway toward Ty. “This is my husband, Del Porter.”

“Very nice to meet you, Mr. Porter and Mr. Porter,” Bianchi said as he offered his hand to Ty as he gestured with his other arm for Norina to stand. “And this is my gioia Norina.”

To all three men"s shock, the Italian beauty stood and threw her arms around Ty enthusiastically, talking rapidly in elated Italian as she hugged him. Zane caught himself before responding with anything more than a laugh, but that certainly wasn"t something he"d expected to see. He was sure Ty hadn"t been expecting it, either, and glad Ty had been able to repress the Instakill.

“Ah, they spent so much time on the computer planning this and that,” Bianchi said with a wave of his hand. “That will be why you and I sit in peace at the poker tables.”

Zane rubbed at his chin as he suppressed the reaction to frown. So Norina and Del were e-mail pals. That could be good. Or not. “I"m looking forward to it.”

“Come, Norina, you and Mr. Porter can catch up tomorrow,”

Bianchi said pleasantly. “We have that concert to see.”

Norina chattered a little more as she hugged Ty one last time before giving Zane a brilliant smile. Zane really hoped what she was saying wasn"t something Del was supposed to be understanding and answering, because it was obvious Norina expected Del to understand Italian. They all said their goodbyes just as the waiter appeared with the appetizer and salads, and Zane sat down in his chair to take a deep breath and process.

Ty remained standing, watching them go with a smile firmly in place. He waved one last time as Norina Bianchi turned and waved back at them excitedly. As soon as they were out of sight, Ty turned to Zane, smile gone and face expressionless, and he sat heavily in his chair. He looked like he desperately wanted to say something, rail against McCoy and God and Donald Duck for putting them on this cruise ship in this position. But he remained silent.

Zane couldn"t think of a single thing to say, so he started on his salad as he reviewed the conversation, committing details to memory, and watched Ty poke at his bowl of vinaigrette-covered greens. Zane could almost physically feel Ty restraining himself. He knew his partner"s temper well, having seen Ty lose it on various occasions. Ty"s mood was what one might call mercurial. Depending on the subject of his ire, it was oftentimes amusing to watch him go off. Other times, like on a mountaintop in West Virginia where he"d started lecturing men on the best way he could kill them, it could get a little iffy.

Tonight could probably be considered iffy, too, if Zane couldn"t figure out how to get Ty to let off some of that steam he could see slowly building.

Finally, Ty looked up from his salad and narrowed his eyes at Zane. “Do you speak Italian?” he asked calmly.

“No,” Zane said in apology.

Ty just nodded jerkily, as if he had already known that. “Crap,”

he muttered under his breath as he went back to his salad.

Zane understood Ty"s concern. Any little thing could break an undercover assignment, much less a big problem like not speaking a language. Maybe… maybe Corbin could be feeling a little possessive and decide he didn"t want Del going off on his own, even if it were with the lovely Norina, who, in theory, would be less of a threat to Corbin than her manly Italian husband. “She didn"t act like she expected a reply as she went on at you in Italian,” Zane reasoned. “She just seemed excited to meet you.”

“God, I hope she speaks English,” Ty murmured as he put down his fork and pinched the bridge of his nose. “If she realizes I"m not Del, she goes to her husband, and we"re royally f**ked.”

Zane decided to throw his idea out there. “I could decide I don"t want to spend even an hour without you, and you could blame it all on your jealous husband.”

Ty sighed and looked up at Zane seriously. “That won"t really move things along. And you don"t come across as the outrageously jealous type, anyway. No, you handle your end, I"ll deal with mine.”

“Corbin struck me as a very possessive man. I"ve not pushed the idea,” Zane said as he pushed his empty salad bowl aside.

Ty cocked his head, the Italian dilemma momentarily forgotten as he looked at Zane curiously.

Zane shrugged slightly to play it off. “I don"t know how you"ll react. I didn"t want to risk it in a public meeting only to face your wrath after,” he said with a half smile. If he had his choice, he"d be a lot closer to his “husband” a lot of the time. But he was struggling to find that line they were supposed to be walking on this assignment, and he didn"t want to confuse what was coming from his interpretation of Corbin and what was truly coming from his own desires.

Ty was silent for a moment, and then he gave a derogatory snort and said, “Face my wrath?”

Zane leaned forward on his elbows and spoke seriously. “You haven"t seen me jealous.”

Ty laughed and shook his head as if he thought Zane was joking.

That was what Zane expected. He was getting better at predicting how Ty would react, at least in relation to the personal side of their partnership. He didn"t join in the laugh, instead picking up his water glass and leaning back in his seat to wait.

Ty was still smiling when he stopped laughing, watching Zane in a mixture of amusement and wary confusion. After a moment when Zane still didn"t speak, Ty"s brow furrowed, and he cocked his head.

“Seriously?” he asked, forgetting the accent he"d managed to keep up until that point.

Zane glanced out the window at the now-dark sky, wishing he"d just let it drop. This wasn"t really public dinner conversation. “We"ll talk about it later. Let"s just say I"m sure I feel quite possessive of my very handsome husband.”

Ty looked at him speculatively, the silence hanging heavy between them. It was an awkwardness they had rarely experienced.

Zane waited for some sort of response. He couldn"t read Ty"s face, but he hoped Ty could recognize the honesty in his. Yes, under the right circumstances, Zane could see himself being very jealous. But he honestly wasn"t sure if he had that right, as much as he suddenly wanted it.