Title: Full Circle
Author: Star
Fandom: Oz
Rating: G (and no one is more surprised than me)
Category: CanonChris POV
Posted to: TS, TSXF
Feedback to: TS/private
Archive status: TS/C5/SB
Notes/Comments: Okay, this is probably a tad 'sappy', but since
I'm now officially one of the 'fluffy bunnies' in the Oz fandom...

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Lost in the paradise -- the unmitigated bliss -- of Toby's 
embrace, Chris only belatedly processed the words his unlikeliest 
of soulmates had spoken.

'You've got mail.' Toby, delivering the mail. Toby, working side
by side with Vern Schillinger.

Relectantly, painfully, he pulled his lips away, heart wrenching
as Toby whimpered his displeasure. Pressed tight against the bars, 
fingers entwined, one arm still wrapped in an unbreakable grip 
around Toby's shoulders, Chris felt even that small distance yawn
like a chasm, but he had to ask... had to know.

"Toby, what did you do?" he whispered, dread coloring the normally 
silky timbre of his voice.

Glazed blue eyes narrowed as a muscular arm snaked through the bars
and blunt fingertips dug into his nape. For a moment, Chris could
see it all in Toby's eyes -- loneliness, hope, fear, indecision,
need... then finally an awful resignation, an acceptance of fate
that ate deep into the core of Toby's soul.

"I did what I had to." 

Drawing in a harsh breath, Chris closed his eyes, blocking out 
the bone-deep chill of that raw devastation, concentrating instead 
on the heat -- the unbreakable, unexplainable connection -- between
them.

A sharp tug on his close-cropped hair demanded his attention and,
with a sigh, he opened his eyes to a changed landscape, finding
nothing but unconditional love and endless desire in Toby's
lanquid gaze. 

He let Toby pull him forward -- let tongue, lips and teeth speak 
the volumes in his heart -- moaning the agony of loss and joy of 
discovery into the sweetness of his lover's mouth until the shouts 
of the hacks forced them apart.

Catching Toby's eye as he turned the corner into the hallway,
Chris winked and received a sly smile in return. Satisfied, he
settled onto his bunk. The hacks had their bars, the State had 
it's chair, but what he and Toby had would outlast them both.

(fin)