The plane was about to touch down any moment and Zach could practically feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins. It was almost better than coffee. Almost. He should be beat, he should feel like shit, and in all truth he did, but it didn't still the excitement of where they were going and whom he was with.

Jamaica.

Trevor.

Trevor Black, whom it was hard to believe he didn't know up until a few days ago. Trevor Black, who after years of fighting it, he fell in love with so deep and so hard and he never wanted to stop. The man was brilliant and gorgeous and more than a little fucked up, yet Zach wouldn't change a thing about him. He felt he could stare at him all day if he wanted to -- and if Trevor didn't mind. Something told him though that after about twenty minutes Trev would jump up and yell at him to stop, or perhaps pounce on him. Maybe he'd test it one morning. He tries to think back to a time before Trevor and the events of Missing Mile, but New Orleans feels like a distant memory now, a surreal jumble of images and tricks, men and women who meant nothing and faces he would never be able to recognize again. He knew for a fact that in a few years, the only person from his former life he'd probably even remotely remember was Edie. And hell, he thinks, I owes her that much.

Edie fell in love, just like Zach did. He felt a brief pang of sympathy for her. Because if this is love, and this is real, then Zach couldn't imagine what it'd be like if the other person didn't return it; couldn't imagine Trevor one day walking out the door and never coming back. Maybe, if it happened, he'd drink some more coffee and try to get to Birdland again. Or maybe he'd take a less cowardly way out. Maybe he'd hunt down Trevor and ask him to finish what he couldn't that night in the bathroom; because if this were the way it was going to be, then this time he wouldn't stop him. Either way, the thought made him feel helpless, frantic, and he clumsily reached out to grab at Trevor, only to find his hand swiftly intertwined with. Trevor wrapped his fingers around his so gently that Zach wanted to cry. Zach looked over at him; he hadn't even known the other man was awake. And Trev smiled up sleepily, a silent question in his eyes. We almost there?"

"Yeah," Zach answered aloud, and he froze for a moment. Foolishly enough, he hadn't until that moment realized how deeply connected they were. After everything they'd been through, the house, the drugs, Birdland, it took this moment for him to see that there was no Zach anymore. There was only Zach and Trevor.

And in his gut, he knew it would stay that way.

"Yeah," Zach whispered again, and kissed his lips softly.