We lay like this for awhile, quiet. I could hear his heart as it slowed and steadied to its resting rhythm. I moved my leg away from him, seeking a cool spot on the sheets.

“Bring that leg back here, I’m not finished with you,” he said as he pulled me to him, squeezed me and rubbed his scruff against my head.

“Where did this come from?” I asked, tracing the crescent scar I saw earlier with my finger.
“Back in college, I was in a convenience store when it was robbed, there were a bunch of people in the store and everyone was really scared. The guy didn’t see me because I had been behind a stack of stuff that hadn’t been put out yet so when I had my opportunity, I rushed the perp and tried to wrestle the knife from his hands. He stabbed me but I was able to detain him until the cops showed up.”

“Really?” I asked skeptically. “Why would someone hold up a store with a knife? That doesn’t seem like a good plan, even a mace would seem like more of an immediate threat than a knife. Is that what really happened?”

“No, but it made me seem brave, huh?” he smiled and I could tell he was pulling my leg.
“No, but with words like perp, and took him down you might make a convincing extra on Law and Order. What really happened?” I implored.

“When I was four, I swallowed a piece of my brother’s Steve Austin action figure.”
“Steve Austin?” I asked.
“You know, the Six Million Dollar Man?” he said waiting for recognition. “He was an astronaut, had an accident, the government rebuilt him with bionic parts, any of this ringing a bell?”

“You mean the boy version of the Bionic woman?”
“That’s him, he came with a removable bionic grip arm that could be switched with this laser arm that lit up. From what I’m told, Jack, my brother, wouldn’t let me play with it so I got a hold of it and made it permanently mine, at least until it got lodged and I had to have surgery.”

“You swallowed a doll?” I queried.
“It wasn’t a doll,” he stated emphatically,” it was an action figure and a pretty tough one at that, and I only swallowed part of it.”
“Ok, so what you’re saying is you‘ll swallow as long as it’s like, you know a gruff, masculine kind of guy.” Now I was teasing him.

“Giving the unfurling of recent events, are you seriously going to challenge my masculinity?”
I laughed and he pulled me tighter to him.

“Do you want me to go”, he asked, bringing me slightly back to earth, “I mean, I’m not sure what your plans are for tomorrow and if it’s easier, I understand.”
“Do you want to go?” I asked, hoping the answer was no.
“No.” he said.
“Then stay.”
He kissed me again and settled his head into the pillow, falling asleep and moments later I joined him.
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