Reunion

This is a sequel to "Over"

This is slightly AU as I have chosen to ignore the fact that Hornblower was demoted back to Lieutenant upon his return to England with Retribution. Let's pretend that he's still a Commander and gets to sail her around for a while. Oh, and the boys didn't see each other in Kingston.

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Commander Horatio Hornblower left the Port Admiral's offices. HMS Retribution was officially anchored and signed into Gibraltar, paperwork completed and delivered. He was on his way back to his ship when he heard the hail "Horatio!" Turning he was delighted to see his old shipmate, Lieutenant Josiah Bracegirdle approaching him from the door of a nearby pub. "Good God, man! I was hoping that was you I spied. Have you a moment for a drink with an old friend…Sir?"

Horatio smiled at the correct address that his old shipmate had used. It wasn't all that long ago Hornblower had been calling the older man "Sir".

There really were things he should be doing, but…"I always have time for you, Joss. And, please, while we're at ease, call me Horatio as you did on the Indy."

"I'm honored to do so, Captain Hornblower. We knew it was just a matter of time before you'd have your epaulets. There was a betting pool in the wardroom about you. Did you ever get in on that?"

Horatio looked at him and smiled. "I'd have bet against myself, you know me well enough to know that."

As Horatio turned to go into the door Bracegirdle had just exited, he felt his arm held. "No, this place displeases me. I know a better one just up the way here."

The two men walked up the cobblestones several blocks to a handsome building set back from the street. It had the appearance of a private home and Horatio turned to his companion to ask if this was the correct place.

"This isn't an Inn. Several of the senior officers rent these quarters together so that they will each have a place to stay when their ships put into port here. One of them is a friend of mine who I think you'll enjoy meeting."

Hornblower started to protest. He enjoyed Joss' company and was glad to see him, but he wasn't in the mood to socialize with some Admiral he'd never met. Really, all he wanted to do was relax.

"Now, none of your protests, Horatio. I know that you hate small talk. I promise that there will be none of that. I think that you may even end up enjoying this."

Trapped, Horatio stood by as the Lieutenant rang the bell. The door was answered almost immediately by a liveried servant who bowed and bade them enter. They were relieved of their hats and escorted to a patio behind the house. It was surrounded by a lush and quite beautifully tended garden.

The servant asked them to make themselves comfortable and would return shortly with refreshments.

The two men sat in the comfortable chairs.

"So, Joss, are you still assigned to the Indy? I didn't notice her here when we arrived."

"No, I'm First Officer on the Victory now. I enjoy it, by God! A seventy-four, a ship of the line! There's nothing like it on the seas, I tell you." He looked at the young Captain. "Unless, perhaps, your own command, I dare say."

Horatio smiled in acknowledgement.

"Ah, here he is."

He heard a sound behind him and turned to see Commodore Sir Edward Pellew standing in the doorway.

Bracegirdle stood and moved to go.

"I fear that I have remembered some duties which are pressing. Horatio, you'll forgive me if I take my leave of you? I do hope that we'll have time for that drink before one of us has to leave port."

With a smile to Hornblower and a nod to Pellew, he left. Hornblower stood and faced the Commodore. The older man had neglected his coat in his own home and stood before him in shirtsleeves and waistcoat. As usual, he was wearing breeches. Horatio couldn't remember him ever in long trousers, and then chastised himself for the frivolous thought. God! This was Edward before him!

The two men took a few moments to study each other. Horatio noticed that Edward was grayer than he had been and the lines on his face seemed deeper. He was still the Commodore, though. He stood straight and strong and his face retained every bit of command and sternness at his disposal. Pellew saw that Horatio was thinner than he had been and that he had lost the softness of youth his face had once held. He had become more angular, leaner. He was more mature. There was nothing of the boy left in the man. He wore the mantle of command on his shoulders now, though. No one would ever mistake him for any other than a senior officer in his Majesty's military. It surrounded him like an aura.

It had been three years since they had last seen each other. It had been almost that long since they had any direct communication.

Three years was how long they had been together and three years was how long they had been apart. There was symmetry to it when one thought of it, as Commander Horatio Hornblower had occasion to do.

They had been lovers. They had been in love. There had been a time when Horatio had believed that he had found the love of his life. He had believed that with all his heart. He had wanted to spend his life with the Commodore…his Edward, he had called him; they had vowed that they would grow old together.

Then there had come the night when Edward had been summoned to the Admiral and made aware that they had been found out. Sodomy was a capital crime in His Majesty's Navy. Pellew had been given a choice. Either end the relationship immediately or face forced retirement. If the relationship continued, Horatio would be dishonorably discharged. Horatio had not been consulted. Edward had ended it that night. Not knowing why, Horatio had been distraught. It wasn't until several months later that the coded letter arrived. Reading between the lines had explained the situation.

There was no appeal. There had been no further communication between them since. It was too dangerous.

Of course, they had kept track of each other's progress in the Navy through the usual channels, but there had been no word, or touch between them in three years.

"Commodore of the Med Fleet. I was so proud of you when I heard."

"And you…your own ship at 24. You're making a name for yourself, just as I said you would."

"Edward, are you well? Are you happy?"

"I'm well enough. Are you?"

Horatio paused for a moment then quietly said, "Not a day goes by that I don't miss you. There hasn't been a night for three years when I haven't dreamt about you."

"Nor I you."

They moved to each other and were in each other's arms. They embraced gently, each holding something precious to them, not wanted to cause any more hurt than had already been suffered. They held onto each other, needing to reassure themselves that this was really happening, that this wasn't just another in a series of dreams they had both had for three long years. They reacquainted themselves almost as though they were blind men. Hands quietly explored beloved features that had existed only in their memories for too long. Fingers carefully caressed cheeks and eyelids and brows and throats. Hands stroked down the long length of backs and sides. All the while their eyes never left each other's face. Charting reactions and sighs, smiles and gasps of happiness. Fingers played with locks and curls of hair, small, meaningless comments were exchanged. "Your hair is longer than it was." " You've lost weight, have you been eating well?" "You still wear the chain I gave you in London." "I told you I'd never take it off." "My hair has gone gray." "It feels like silk." "You still smell of cinnamon." "And you still smell of the sea." "You look tired." "No I'm fine, really,"

Then Horatio drew Edwards's mouth to his and, still gently, pressed their lips together. Kissing mouth and cheeks and neck and jaw. Mouths rejoined, tenderly parted lips were caressed by tongues carefully exploring and tasting, smoothly gliding against each other and past teeth and into the warmth they had both missed for three years. Hands continued to carefully stroke bodies and move over limbs thought lost to each other.

Breaking slightly apart, yet still holding onto each other, they looked again into the beloved faces.

Edward spoke first.

"I had Joss wait for you. I saw in the dispatches that you've been assigned the Gibraltar run for the next few months. When I realized that you were due I kept watch."

"…Poor Joss. Does he still care for you? He seemed so pleased to see me. Is he still hurt over us? Oh God…is there still an Us?"

"He knows how it will always be between you and me…yes, between us. He's a good man, he understands how it is. He's found someone of his own now."

"Has he? How wonderful. I'm so glad for him."

There was a sound in the hallway. They stepped apart, the old habit of discretion asserting itself as the servant entered with a small-wheeled cart and placed it next to the table. Removing the cloth covering revealed a full luncheon for two, complete with wine.

"Will you be requiring anything else, Commodore?"

"No, thank you. This looks more than adequate. My compliments to Cook, if you please."

The man withdrew, closing the door behind him as the two officers sat to eat.

The next two hours were taken up with talk about their lives of the previous three years, where they had traveled, battles won and lost, prizes captured or escaped, friends both dead and alive. Their hands often touched as they spoke, faces were caressed, smiles exchanged.

Finally, inevitably. "Have you found anyone, Edward?"

"I'll admit to not being completely chaste since we parted, but there's been no one who has mattered. I wrote you, you know, every week at least. I have them locked in my cabin on Victory. I saved them for you. I've kept you abreast of my doings, you see. I thought, somehow, that by my writing it to you, you'd know even if I couldn't send them. I was being foolish I know, but I felt closer to you when I was writing them. I could imagine that I was talking to you. Have you made a new…friend?"

"I've had offers. I refused them all."

An eyebrow arched, "All?"

Laughter, "Dozens, constantly throwing themselves at me. Hundreds, in fact." More serious, "Three years ago I told you that I wanted to grow old with you. Nothing, no one has changed my mind."

Their eyes met and Edward's were moist. Horatio smiled gently at him, pressing his hand to the older man's cheek in a caress.

"Horatio, I know who wrote that letter. The one to the Admiralty. Do you remember that Midshipman on the Indy, the new one named Gordon? He was about 15, I think. He came aboard about six months before the letter was sent."

"Yes, vaguely, wasn't he that thin blonde who was always afraid to look you in the eye. The one who was sent over from Constellation?"

"That's him. After you were transferred Bowles heard him talking one night while on watch. He was telling another Mid how he'd managed to fix your wagon for you. It seems that he had developed something of a case of puppy love for you. He started keeping a close eye on you and noticed things about us that no one else did. I suspect that a lot of what he thought he knew was guess work. At any rate, one night he claims he saw us embracing in one of the passageways. Yes, I know, I thought that unlikely, also. He wrote the letter after what he perceived as your rebuff to his advances."

Horatio looked at Edward in confusion. "He never made any overtures to me that I can recall. And I certainly have no memory of refusing him. I had become aware that he had developed a…crush… on me, but I decided to ignore it and it came to nothing. That happens once in a while, you know that…what became of him? Where is he now?"

"A sad ending, I'm afraid. After you left the Indy, I suspect he was afraid that I would try to extract some sort of revenge on him. He may not have known whether or not we were actually lovers, but he must have known that I felt your loss. He deserted about two weeks after you were moved to Renown. That's when Bowles told me what he had heard. I learned that he was killed a year or so later in a pub fight."

Horatio stood and moved over to Edward, standing behind his chair and wrapping his arms around the older man's shoulders, his cheek resting on top of his head. Edward's hands held the arms around him.

"So pointless. You realize that I'd likely have been transferred anyway. We'd have been separated all the same."

"Yes, I know that, but we could have at least been able to write and see each other now and then."

A nod, then, "Can we see each other and be in contact now? Will the Admiralty believe that he was simply wrong and had his own motivations?"

"Yes. I've had a full apology, you see. Of course, they never really accepted such obvious muck raking about me! And you...gracious! One of their shining lights? Horatio, as long as we're discreet, we can continue as before. If that's your wish, as it is mine."

Edward could hear the smile in Horatio's inhalation of breath, the happy laugh.

"Correct me if I'm mistaken, sir, but I believe a Commodore can grant permission for a ship's captain to sleep ashore if he so chooses to do so."

Edward turned to look at the man he knew to be his true love. "Yes, Commander, that does happen to be one of the orders I have in my power to grant. In fact, sir, I was considering so ordering you."

Edward rose to meet Horatio in an embrace. Their mouths met and the kiss deepened. The joy of being able to hold each other overshadowed anything else they had been feeling and they simply stood together, wrapped in each other's arms and completely happy for the first time in three years.

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Later that night, after they had made love and then made love again, they lay together, gently caressing skin and hair. They had spent hours reacquainting themselves with limbs and skin and torsos, with nipples and earlobes and mouths. Noting changes, noting what had remained the same. Stroking flesh both naked and covered with down, entwining fingers and toes, and looking, always looking at each other. Watching reactions, listening to gasps and sighs and moans of pleasure that they both remembered hearing so many times before. Kissing and nuzzling each other, quietly murmuring what they meant to each other. Pausing occasionally to share a glass of port while they quietly spoke of how they had missed each other, placing the wine aside to continue with the headier intake of each other. They continued so for hours, neither wanting to be the one to fall asleep.

Finally, Horatio knew that Edward had reached the point of exhaustion, both physical and emotional. Curling his lover gently into his embrace, they slept.

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