House Rules
The House Rules
By Sammy Girl
AU - CDC
Disclaimer: Not mine, never were, never will be.
Note: Betaed by Firefox. This is the first story in a new multi fandom slash AU. This story features Buck/Ezra from the Magnificent 7 and Gil/Nick from CSI, JD from Mag 7 alone with a few others. The slash here is implied, but this is just the beginning, there is more, there will be more.
There is more about the AU and more fic here. The Casa Del Corazon
<><><><><><><>
Buck slipped out of bed and, with a backwards glance at his bed partner for the last two nights quietly crossed the room and slid the glass door back. The sun had only just risen, the sky still had that slightly pink tinge, the shadows still long and while the sun had taken the edge of the cool desert night, it wasn’t too hot yet to be uncomfortable. Buck’s room was the best the Casa Del Corazon had to offer, set in the gable end of the main house, it was wide and high with a veranda offering views on three sides. To one side the vines stretched out in neat rows, until they gave way to the desert and the far mountains. On the other side the swimming pool and garden, protected from the desert sun and prying eyes by the buildings that wrapped around it. Here the shadows were deep, only the soft underwater lights, which gave the pool an ethereal glow, illuminated the darkness. Beyond the pool, a tongue of sunlight snuck its way past the pool house to light up the garage block.
He frowned, there was a car parked there and it shouldn’t be. Guest cars were parked under cover, in the garage or in the shaded car ports behind it, staff cars were parked in the ‘barn’ which was actually an old aircraft hangar close to the gate house. There had once been a dirt airstrip on the property, long since washed way and overgrown, but the old wooden hangar remained, things didn’t rot very fast in the desert. So who had parked their very nice, midnight blue German convertible outside the garages at this time of the day?
He was about to head back inside, his client had a plane to catch and needed to leave in less than an hour. He had packed his bags for him the night before, arranged for his car to be brought to the front door last night. Khan never ate before he flew, so there had been no need to order an early breakfast, all that was needed now was to wake him. As he turned he heard a door open, looking back he discovered who it was that had been visiting so mysteriously. Lady Heather strolled out from the pool house private doorway and headed across the garden to her car. Lady Heather was the only woman who had the right to enter Casa Del Corazon. She looked as stunning as ever, skin tight black jeans, designer boots, backless, black halter top, hair perfect. As if she had some sixth sense, she stopped, turned, looked up, saw him and waved.
Shaking his head in wonder, Buck waved back, his naked state all too visible to her, but he didn’t care and he knew damned well that she didn’t. With that, she headed to her car and drove away as Buck headed back inside.
Once he’d seen his client off, he’d have to quiz Ezra about her visit. Visits from Lady Heather were rare, and always heralded something interesting. Ezra was the club’s financial director, nothing happened that he didn’t know about, and since he was Buck’s partner, Buck was able to pry even the most confidential information out of him, torture - always - yielded results, usually a tickling was all that was needed but if necessary, he’d get him all hot and hard and then not let him come. Buck was a master when it came to keeping his bed partner on the edge, but not taking them over it, he could do it for hours if needs be, Ezra had never lasted more than twenty minutes before giving in. With a sly grin, Buck hoped Lady Heather’s visit was very, very secret, because torturing Ezra was so much fun!
<><><><><><><>
Two Days Earlier
Lady Heather looked around, scanning the partygoers, everything was going well, it promised to be a vintage event.
Her best student, a dominatrix called Shari, had finally found a submissive who was perfect for her and they were going to put on a display later, it promised to be quite a show. Suddenly she stopped and stared, there was someone at her party that didn’t belong and that didn’t happen, that never happened. Crossing the room, smoothly and without attracting the attention of any of the guests, she zeroed in on the young man in the corner. He was cute, she had to admit that, with dark, if not black, hair, falling in long bangs and an open, innocent face. He looked scarily young, no more than a boy. Clearly looks were deceiving, innocent boys didn’t, couldn’t, gatecrash her parties.
“Hello?”
The boy looked around, and smiled. “Hi,” he greeted brightly.
“And you are?” she asked softly.
“Having a great time.”
Some of Heather’s softness left her voice. “What is your name?”
“Lewis Young.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t think so, please come with me.”
Lewis frowned. “I have an invitation, do you want to see it?”
“No, I want to talk to you.”
“I don’t want to miss the show.”
“Nothing is going to happen without me, and you will be with me, so, please come with me now, or I will be forced to have you ejected.”
The boy gave a slight sigh and, with a look of resignation, turned to follow her to her private office.
“So,” Heather began, once they were both seated. “What is your name?”
“Lew…” Heather lifted an eyebrow. “Okay, it’s JD, JD Dunne.”
“Well it’s very nice to meet you Mr Dunne. Now, what are you doing here and how did you get an invitation?”
JD sat back. “I came because I was curious and I got an invitation by hacking into your computer.”
“We have very good security protocols on our computer system,” Heather pointed out.
“I’m very good, your program has an administrator’s back door, they all do, I found it, it did take a while, but once I did, the rest was easy.”
Heather regarded the boy before her, he was no ordinary gatecrasher, that much was clear.
“Can you close this door, safely?” she asked.
JD shrugged. “Oh sure.”
“Good, while I enjoy my party, you can be doing that, but first we are going to talk.” By the time she had heard his story, Heather knew what to do with one JD Dunne.
One Day Earlier.
After a journey into the desert night that was an education in itself, JD found himself following Lady Heather up a wide, but somewhat anonymous staircase. At the top the door was opened by a good looking young man with a winning smile, who greeted them in a broad Texas accent and then hugged Lady Heather and kissed her on both cheeks.
He introduced himself as Nick and showed JD into a large, open plan apartment. The high ceilings, high windows and marble floor were somehow not in keeping with the homely, comfortable, well used furnishings with a vaguely western feel to them. There were books everywhere, in book cases, on tables, in stacks on the floor, yet despite this air of academia, there was also a huge plasma screen TV and under it every kind of media player and games console JD had ever heard of.
To be honest, JD didn’t know precisely why he was wherever he was, but he’d opened up to Lady Heather, as he had to no-one else, ever. She just had to look at him and he had told her the truth. Not only that, he also trusted her, implicitly. He’d come to Las Vegas to live and explore life and… well he was seeing life, that was for sure so, there he stood, in some sort of club, in the middle of the desert, not knowing what was about to happen, excited, apprehensive but not scared. Yes, he decided, he definitely felt alive.
Behind them an oriental style screen slid back and a middle aged, solidly built man, with tight cropped greying hair emerged. He stepped up to Lady Heather and kissed her gently on the cheek.
“Delightful to see you, as ever, you’ll stay the night?” he asked.
“Of course, Nicky and I need to catch up,” she told him with a wink.
The man rolled his eyes. “Which means you’re going to talk about me!”
“Of course, you’re our project, you have this place, we have you,” Lady Heather told him with a smile. “Now while Nicky fixes me something to eat, you are going to have a chat to young JD here.”
She turned to JD. “JD, this is Gil Grissom, he owns the club and you two need to talk.”
Grissom extended his hand. “Welcome to the Casa Del Corazon, come with me.”
<><><><><><><>
The office JD was shown into was small, cluttered and didn’t seem to be about running an exclusive gentleman’s club. As far as JD could see, most of the books were about world cultures.
“What did Lady Heather tell you?” Grissom asked.
“That this is a gentleman’s club, strictly men only and that I should talk to you.”
Grissom sat back. “She told me a lot more than that about you.”
JD blushed, he really had been very candid with Lady Heather and now it seemed that she had told this man all his most intimate confessions.
“The thing that makes this club different it the very personal service we can offer our members.” Grissom left the statement hanging.
“Meaning?” JD asked, picking up his cue.
“That there are members of staff who will do everything they can to make their assigned client’s stay enjoyable, memorable and relaxing, they are all good looking guys and they are all gay or bisexual and they are all very open minded.”
JD let this sink in, then he grinned. “Can I work for you?” he asked excitedly.
“Yes and no. I am considering offering you a job, but not as staff.”
It didn’t take JD more than a second to work out the coded talk. “So staff are the guys who sleep with clients?”
“Yes.”
“I can do that, honest, I’m good.”
Grissom smiled. “I don’t doubt it and looking like that you’d be very popular, but there is more to it that just being a good lay. You need a lot of other skills, erotic massage, valeting, fine dining, riding….”
“I can ride!” JD announced happily.
For the first time Grissom looked surprised. “Really?”
“Oh sure, there was a stables near where we lived, rich kids went there, well I guess the ones that had their own horse were rich, some of them just paid by the hour you know?” He didn’t wait for a response, just carrying on with his enthusiastic narrative. “I like horses so I asked my Mom if I could go riding too, but she couldn’t afford it, so I went over there and asked if I could work for a ride, and I did, every weekend until I was fourteen.”
“What happened then?”
“Oh Jan, the lady that owned it, she asked if I wanted to work the whole summer for money, which I did, for like the next three summers.”
“That is interesting, but you’re still too young.”
“I’m nineteen.”
“Too young.”
JD’s eyes narrowed, but Grissom gave no sign of relenting. “If you want it, there is a job for you here, you learn on the job and if, in two or three years time, I think you’re ready, we may put you on staff. In the meantime, we need someone to generally help out, mostly in the kitchens, the stables and possibly some IT work?”
JD grinned. “I can do that, I mean I never worked in a big kitchen, but I can learn, I can learn anything!”
“Not only that, you passed the vetting procedure.”
“I did, when, how?”
“We have our ways. I’ll have Ezra come over and show you to your room and sort out the formalities, you’re on a six month probationary period, impress me.” With that Grissom stood up and offered his hand. “Welcome to the CDC.”
<><><><><><><>
JD took a deep breath and tried to calm the whole army of butterflies that had taken up residence in his stomach, he glanced at his watch, five thirty in the morning, not that he’d had any sleep. Ezra, or Mr Standish as he’d introduced himself, had taken him to another office, this one was modern, un-cluttered and fitted with some very impressive computer hardware. There didn’t really seem much to do, since the club already knew his social security number and almost everything else about him. All he had to do was provide his bank details so he could be paid, and though he suspected they knew that already, too.
“You’ll have a medical sometime this week,” Ezra explained as he led JD along a long corridor, finally coming to a door at the end. “This is your room, it’s somewhat plain, but it is serviceable, if your probationary period is successful you’ll be free to decorate and personalise it however you want - within reason.”
“So Megadeath posters, purple paint and a quadraphonic Blaupunkt would be overdoing it, then?”
Ezra remained entirely unfazed. “A quadraphonic Blaupunkt is a superior piece of equipment and therefore something you will find in more than one room here, I assure you, likewise purple décor may not be as rare as you might imagine. The Megadeath posters can usually be found in the cellar rooms.”
JD’s musing on precisely what that response might mean, was interrupted by his surprise at seeing his rucksack, which contained all his worldly possessions, sitting on the floor just inside the door.
“Do you have an alarm clock?”
JD wasn’t really listening. “Huh?”
“An alarm clock, do you possess such a thing?”
“Oh yeah, on my cellphone.”
“Excellent. Nicholas will meet you at seven a.m. in the kitchen, and then show you the stables. Do you remember where the kitchen is?”
JD nodded. “End of the corridor, bottom of the stairs, turn left.”
“Correct. Well good night, I’m sure I’ll see you in the morning.”
<><><><><><><>
A door opened behind him, making him jump. Strip lights started to come on, illuminating the kitchen, in all it’s stainless steel splendour. As he watched, a man approached him. He was tall, good looking, with unruly dark hair, needed a shave and appeared to be wearing black silk pyjama bottoms which looked expensive and a rather shapeless, and a slightly threadbare tee-shirt, which looked anything but.
“Oh!” the man exclaimed, as he suddenly caught sight of JD and moved rapidly behind the counter.
“Hi,” JD responded, hating how lame that sounded.
“Oh man, I thought for a sec you were Mac.” The stranger, whoever he was, visibly relaxed.
“Sorry, just me.”
“Oh don’t be sorry, I’d be in big trouble if it was Mac.”
JD couldn’t help it, his curiosity got the better of him. “Who’s Mac and why would it be bad?”
The stranger laughed. “Mac Taylor is our head chef, you don’t mess with Mac’s kitchen and on top of that I didn’t bother with shoes - strictly against the rules that is!” The man extended his hand. “I’m Buck by the way, Buck Wilmington.”
“JD Dunne, I’m new,” JD explained, accepting the handshake.
“Really, didn’t know the Prof had taken on someone new.”
Now JD was really confused. “Who’s the Prof?”
“Gil, Professor Grissom, the guy who owns this place? El Jefe. You must have met him?”
Nodding, JD relaxed again, he’d met Grissom, although he hadn’t mentioned being a professor.
“Is he really a professor?”
Buck walked over to a fridge and began pulling things out. “Oh sure, of Anthropology and we, all of us here, are part of his grand experiment.” He put some bread in what JD assumed was a toaster and opened a carton of apple juice. “You had breakfast?”
“What? Oh no.”
“You want some?”
“I’m okay.”
Buck looked over his shoulder at him. “Today is your first day at work?”
“Um, yes.”
“Well then you need to eat. We have just about any kind of juice you can name, white bread, wholemeal, croissants, rye, English muffins. There are cereals too,” Buck turned to face him. “Basically anything you want, you can have.”
JD looked up at this man, he just couldn’t help it, he liked him, though he had no idea why.
“Toast and juice, is fine.”
“What kind of juice, what kind of toast?”
“Whatever you’re having is fine.”
“Sure?”
JD nodded.
In no time he had a huge glass of apple juice and two rounds of toast with butter dripping off them, in front of him.
“There’ll be a proper breakfast starting at seven, George does a great breakfast.” Buck must have seen JD quizzical look. “He’s the other chef, nice kid, bit neurotic, British.”
“Oh. Um.” JD took a bite of his toast. “What do you do?”
Buck laughed. “Me, I’m the money boy, well one of them.”
“The money? That means you… with the customers…”
“I do,” Buck confirmed.
“Wow,” JD gasped almost in awe.
‘Wow’ was clearly not the reaction Buck had been expecting, so JD told him about his interview.
“Ez take good care of you last night I hope?”
“Is Ez Mr Standish?”
Buck nodded “Ezra,” he added for clarification, then he frowned. “He made you call him ‘Mr’?” JD nodded. “Typical, you wait ‘till I see him. Everyone here is on a first name basis.”
Buck stood up, put more bread in the toaster and turned around, leaning on the counter as he waited for it to cook.
JD ate some more toast. “So how come you’re up so early?” He heard someone ask and was then slightly shocked to find it was him.
“Oh, had a client, a member, I was entertaining a member last night, he had to leave early, flight to catch.”
JD tried to stifle a laugh.
“What is so funny?”
“You were entertaining a ‘member’!”
“Like no one’s thought of that before!” Buck countered with a wink. “Like I was saying, I was with Mr Khan last night, one of my regulars, comes here for a long weekend about once a month and for a week, each and every May. Nice guy, likes to ride - horses that is, likes to sit by the pool and look at cute, naked guys, likes to drink alcohol, eat pork and bacon and all the other things a good Muslim ain’t meant to eat and he likes nice, straight forward, vanilla sex. Good tipper too.”
“How much did you get?”
Some of the smile left Buck’s face. “That’s not something you ever ask, someone might tell you, but you don’t ask; kind off one of the un-written rules.”
“Like the no shoes thing?”
“No that one’s written down. Didn’t they give you the hand book?”
“Yeah, and I even read it, twice, but there’s a lot in there.”
“Don’t worry, no one’s gonna leave you on your own for the first few days. Dress code, for everyone is; no public nudity other than by the pool and in the sauna, no bare chests or feet in any inside public space other than the gym and sauna, smart casual or better in the lounge and dining room after seven PM. Pretty simple really.”
“So what are the unwritten rules?” JD asked, not wanting to put his foot in it again.
Buck began to butter the new batch of toast and after putting it down headed over to the coffee machine.
“You want coffee, tea, anything like that?” he asked as he went.
“No I’d like…”
Buck turned. “Like what?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Spit it out kid, like I said, this place has just about anything you could ask for.”
“No it’s alright, really.”
“Come on, relax, people round here eat all sorts of weird shit. George, I told you about him?” JD nodded. “Right, well him and Ianto and Mitchell they all eat this black stuff, Mar something, they put it on their toast, I swear they are addicted to it. Jack, that’s our Jack, not the Colonel, he likes burgers, nothing weird there, but he likes them made of ostrich. What is that all about? I mean, why eat some huge fucking bird when you can have a perfectly good cow? And do not even get me started on Josiah and the sausage with marmalade thing. Then there’s the coffee twins, Gibbs and Vin, who both drink coffee so strong I swear they have to use a tungsten spoon to stir it, ‘cause anything else would just melt and…” he paused for dramatic effect. “and that damn skinny, Texan - he dunks Twinkies in it!” He visibly shuddered. “And as for Jayne and the prairie oysters in chilli, let’s not even go there - so whatever you want, trust me, no one will bat an eye!”
“Can I have a glass of milk?”
Buck stood there and stared. “Milk?”
“Yeah?”
“Is that it? I thought for sure you were gonna ask me for the blood of a virgin at the very least! Which would have been tricky, virgins being in short supply around here, but I’m sure Mac has a source, he seems to be able to get everything else. Right, so milk, full fat, half fat, skinny, goat, sheep, soya, coconut?”
“Coconut?”
“Oh sure, like I say, this place has everything! Oh we have the really evil kind of milk, you know the one that is more like thin cream? Oh - and flavours too, chocolate, strawberry, banana, coffee. I don’t know what else, but there are others.”
“Can I have just regular milk?”
“No problem, coming right up.”
Once Buck was sitting down with his coffee and JD has his milk, he tried again. “So these unwritten rules?”
“Way too many to go into now, you’ll get use to them, ‘do not mess in Mac’s kitchen or the herb garden’ is a good one to remember.” He made direct eye contact. “I’m not kidding, he’s an ex Marine and he will kill you. Of course rule number one, especially since you’re gonna work with him today, is ‘Nick is out of bounds’.” All humour left his face. “Nick belongs to Gil, and I do mean ‘belongs’. Nick is not staff - I mean he does take care of the horses - but he isn’t money, you understand?” JD nodded. “You don’t kiss him, you don’t slap his ass, no matter how cute it looks in them Wranglers, hands off. For a man who owns what amounts to a brothel, Gil has some very Victorian ideas about what he considers his and his alone. Now this is not always an easy rule to follow, ‘cause when the cat’s away that Texas mouse likes to flirt, but do not be tempted. If Grissom ever caught someone in bed with Nick, they would never leave this place, ever.”
JD frowned. “Oh come on.”
“I’m sure of it, and between them Gibbs, Chris and the Colonel could ‘disappear’ someone and hide a body so no one would ever even miss them. Oh and never, ever call him Nicky, only Gil can call him that, he might not kill you for it, but you might find you don’t have a job soon after.”
“You’re serious?”
“Deadly.”
From the low, soft tone of his voice and the look in his eyes, JD didn’t doubt him, ‘good to know’ he told himself.
“Lady Heather called him Nicky,” JD remembered.
“You know Heather?”
JD sort of shrugged. “I wouldn’t say ‘know’ exactly, but she brought me here.”
A look almost approaching respect passed over Buck’s face. “Did she? Well Heather has special privileges around her, one being she’s the only woman allowed on the property and another is calling the boss’ boy Nicky.”
“You’re the only person I’ve heard call her Heather and not Lady Heather,” JD pointed out.
“Well I go some privileges of my own,” Buck told him with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle.
“Do I call Ezra, Ez?”
Buck laughed, “I can, don’t know about you. You can try, but just remember, he does control your wages.”
JD took this to mean that Buck and Ezra had a personal relationship, Grissom had told him that most of the men who entertained customers ‘professionally’ were in relationships with other members of staff.
“It’s something I approve off, it centres them,” he’d said with a smile.
“Can I ask you something else?” JD asked.
“You can ask, can’t guarantee the answer.”
“What did you mean about this place being Mr Grissom’s experiment?”
Buck sat back a little, cradling his mug of coffee. “Ah, well, like I told you, he’s a professor of anthropology, one of the best, a leader in his field, as I understand it. The trouble is there isn’t much left to study, all the lost tribes having been found and all that. Then he inherited this place, it used to be called Chateau Toulan, and was owned by Patrice Toulan, also an anthropologist, French, but lived here in the states, very rich, old family. I get the feeling Patrice was the younger son, not meant to inherit, but some how he ended up with the family fortune and he built his own vineyard, right here in the desert.”
“Why here, I mean, wouldn’t it have been easier in California?”
“I guess, but as I understand it there used to be lots of vineyards in the valley, way back in the boom years, maybe it was a challenge, his own grand experiment? Anyway, they met, Gil and Patrice, way back, in north Africa someplace, Morocco I think, and became great friends.”
“Like just friends or were they lovers?”
“No just friends I think, not sure the Prof knew then, about himself I mean, that’s part of the experiment. He was kind of a late developer you might say, at least that’s what I think. I’ve met his kind before, a fair few of them come here. Real smart guys who are so consumed by their studies and their work and their curiosity that they don’t even seem to think about sex. Can’t say as I can begin to work out how that is, but seems to happen. Maybe us dumb ones only have sex to think about.”
JD didn’t think Buck was dumb in anyway and clearly thought about a good deal more than sex, and he knew exactly what it was like, it sounded like he and Professor Grissom had a lot in common. Maybe that was why Lady Heather brought him here? JD was smart. Really, really, smart. He’d had the good or possibly bad, fortune to attend a kindergarten class in a school which was close to Princeton. It had a special unit for gifted children, some families moved hundreds of miles so their child could attend the unit, JD and his mother lived just down the street. He was so smart that he’d been ‘hot house’ educated all his life. It was a Godsend to his single mother, who worked as a housekeeper on the university campus. Even in the summer recess JD was often to be found in the university being the guinea pig for some new test or educational aid. He’d graduated high school at 14, and gone straight to Princeton on a full scholarship, studying computer science. JD hated college, he was so much younger than all his peers and so much smarter. Mostly the other students just ignored him, some were openly hostile and none were his friends, but by then his mother was ill and he didn’t want to cause her any more worry, so he did his best. The only advantage he could see to being so smart, was that he didn’t need to do much studying out of class, which gave him time to take care of her. Then he turned 17 and three things happened. He graduated, his mother lost her battle with cancer and JD discovered he was gay. Almost immediately he gave up the chance to study for his Doctorate, not to mention turning down several very lucrative job offers, and began to explore this whole new world of sex that had suddenly opened up in front of him. Yes, he fully understood where Professor Grissom was coming from, he was just glad it hadn’t taken him as long to discover it.
“Oh I think I can understand it,” he told Buck.
“Really? Weird. So, like I was saying, they were friends for years and when Patrice died he left this place and a shit load of cash and stock to Gil. This was right about the time he had finally acknowledged that was gay and like a good little anthropologist he starts trying to understand why.” Buck paused. “No I don’t mean that, he’s not studying why people are born gay, or bi or whatever, it’s more how it all works, what role alternate sexuality plays in our society stuff like that. Then he met Nick, more like he rescued him from the streets and fell in love - to put it mildly!”
“But if he had all that money, why did he need to open a brothel?” JD asked.
“Gentleman’s club,” Buck corrected with a wink.
“Okay, why did he need to open a ‘Gentleman’s Club’?”
“He didn’t, but he and Nick were in Vegas, at one of Heather’s parties and got chatting to this professional escort who told him there was a gap in the market for an all male bordello, strictly gay sex, no women. He decided to see if he could make it work and more importantly can you really be a happy whore, that’s part of the academic exercise. Can you have sex for money and not be damaged by it, can it actually be a positive thing?” He turned and beamed, spreading his arms wide. “So, like I say, here we all are, one big experiment!”
“Bet the guy who had the idea is kicking himself,” JD commented.
“He didn’t have the money or the inclination for it, so he didn’t mind,” Buck assured him confidently.
“Did he tell you he was the guy at the party? That this place is actual his idea?”
JD almost fell off his stool as he spun around to see who had spoken. “Mr Standish!” he all but squeaked in surprise.
Ezra, looking positively eatable in sand coloured slacks and designer polo shirt walked past him and around the counter to Buck were the two kissed, briefly and affectionately.
“What the hell are you doing up this early?” Buck asked, glancing at the clock on the wall. “Or haven’t you been you to bed?”
“I remembered that you would be seeing Mr Khan off early, so I came to join you for breakfast, but I seem to be too late.”
“I guess that means you love me.”
“I think it must, I can’t think of anyone else I would get up for in the middle of the night for.” Ezra settled on the stool next to Buck.
JD had to marvel at the change that came over Buck, he was positively glowing with happiness.
“You want some coffee?” Buck asked Ezra.
“That would be most welcome.”
While Buck got his partner a cup - not a mug - of coffee, Ezra turned to JD.
“Are you ready for your first day young man?”
“Probably not,” JD admitted.
Ezra smiled. “Never mind, you’ll survive, every one does. Did he tell you about Nick?” he asked, suddenly looking concerned.
“Yes, no touching, kissing, fondling or ogling the boss’ boy.”
“Correct, don’t forget it, I’d hate to think of the paper work involved in ‘disappearing’ someone.”
“You guys really are deadly serious about this aren’t you?” JD looked from Ezra to Buck and back.
“Yes!” they answered in union.
Buck was about to handed over the coffee, in it’s bone china cup and saucer, but at the last minute, pulled it back. “What’s the idea of making the kid call you Mr Standish?”
Ezra huffed. “Standards must be maintained.”
“You don’t need to give yourself fancy airs and graces to maintain standards, and you damn well know it!” Buck turned to JD. “You call him Ezra, like I told you and if he tries that again I’ll tell you what the P in Ezra P Standish really stands for and it ain’t Patrick, like he tells folk!”
“That Sir, is blackmail!” Ezra complained.
“Too right and don’t even try to complain, talk about the pot calling the kettle black!” Buck put the cup and saucer down in front of him. “Now shut up and drink your coffee while its hot, which it won’t be for long in that sissy cup.”
JD had to laugh, it was just so great to see how much they clearly loved each other, even when they were bickering like an old married couple.
“Yes dear,” he turned back to JD, “Did he tell you how *he* ended up here?” Ezra said with a wide grin. “He’s one of the Supremes…”
“The Supremes?”
“Ezra…” Buck warned, to no effect.
“Oh yes.”
“What, or rather why, The Supremes?”
“Well,” Ezra said, brows rising, “as I am sure even a youngster like you is aware, there were originally three Supremes. And….”
“What is going on!”
All three of them turned to face the newcomer. JD reckoned he was a little older than himself, short cropped brown hair, rimless glasses, and - yup there was no way to say it, or even think it, politely - big ears. He was dressed in chef’s whites and had a British accent, so JD had to conclude that this was George.
“You can’t be in here,” he spluttered, his voice raising an octave.
“Oh, chill out George,” Buck admonished good naturedly.
‘I was right, it is George!’ JD congratulated himself.
“Chill out!? Do you know what Mac will do to when he finds out!?”
“Mac is in San Francisco, how is he gonna find out? Unless you tell him.”
“I don’t need to tell him, he’ll just know,” George, told him confidently.
“How?” Ezra asked.
“I don’t know!” The clearly exasperated George exclaimed. “He just will, he always does. Just go, I don’t know why you’re in here anyway, there’s food, a toaster and a coffee machine in the staff break room, and it’s just next door.”
“The coffee is much better in here,” Ezra told him.
“It’s the same! Same machine, same beans, same water, same filters, same everything,” George protested.
“But Ianto’s tweaked this machine. You know he makes the best coffee, even Mac says so.”
“And there’s no bread next door,” Buck pointed out.
“I put three loaves in there after dinner yesterday,” George insisted.
“Yeah but Vin had an all day double header that finished around ten last night, he was hungry,” Buck explained.
George threw up his hands in exasperation. “I swear we need a separate food budget just for him! Well, him and Jayne,” he qualified.
“Nah,” Buck laughed. “You can put Jayne’s down as pet food.”
“That… that is not nice,” George admonished, trying to be all serious and correct.
“True though.”
“Nonetheless you need to get out. Oh. My. God!”
“What now?” Buck asked.
“You don’t even have shoes on! Do you know how many heath regulations you are breaking, get out! Get out now! All of you!” George ordered and obediently all three of them rose to their feet. “Who are you?” he suddenly asked looking at JD.
“He’s the new kid.” Buck put his arm over JD’s shoulders.
“Oh, well. How do you do, nice to meet you, I’m George, assistant chef.” They shook hands.
“JD Dunne.”
“So are you staff or management?”
“Oh I’m, err…” JD looked at Buck.
“Management,” Buck confirmed firmly.
“He will be helping out generally, mostly in the stable and here, if you need him,” Ezra explained.
George smiled. “Well we can always use another pair of hands, so long as they follow the rules.” He glared at Buck’s feet.
“Oh for God’s sake, I’m going, I’m going. What’s for breakfast?”
“Bacon, poached duck eggs and goose fried bread, now go.”
As they entered the comfortable looking staff break room, JD looked back at the kitchen. “Did he say goose fried bread?”
“I know, I know, but it works, trust me.”
“Buck?” JD asked quietly as they sat down.
“Yeah?”
“Are you a happy whore?”
Buck though his head back and laughed, his arm over Ezra’s shoulder as they sat together. “Oh you bet kid, you bet!”
The End
By Sammy Girl
AU - CDC
Disclaimer: Not mine, never were, never will be.
Note: Betaed by Firefox. This is the first story in a new multi fandom slash AU. This story features Buck/Ezra from the Magnificent 7 and Gil/Nick from CSI, JD from Mag 7 alone with a few others. The slash here is implied, but this is just the beginning, there is more, there will be more.
There is more about the AU and more fic here. The Casa Del Corazon
<><><><><><><>
Buck slipped out of bed and, with a backwards glance at his bed partner for the last two nights quietly crossed the room and slid the glass door back. The sun had only just risen, the sky still had that slightly pink tinge, the shadows still long and while the sun had taken the edge of the cool desert night, it wasn’t too hot yet to be uncomfortable. Buck’s room was the best the Casa Del Corazon had to offer, set in the gable end of the main house, it was wide and high with a veranda offering views on three sides. To one side the vines stretched out in neat rows, until they gave way to the desert and the far mountains. On the other side the swimming pool and garden, protected from the desert sun and prying eyes by the buildings that wrapped around it. Here the shadows were deep, only the soft underwater lights, which gave the pool an ethereal glow, illuminated the darkness. Beyond the pool, a tongue of sunlight snuck its way past the pool house to light up the garage block.
He frowned, there was a car parked there and it shouldn’t be. Guest cars were parked under cover, in the garage or in the shaded car ports behind it, staff cars were parked in the ‘barn’ which was actually an old aircraft hangar close to the gate house. There had once been a dirt airstrip on the property, long since washed way and overgrown, but the old wooden hangar remained, things didn’t rot very fast in the desert. So who had parked their very nice, midnight blue German convertible outside the garages at this time of the day?
He was about to head back inside, his client had a plane to catch and needed to leave in less than an hour. He had packed his bags for him the night before, arranged for his car to be brought to the front door last night. Khan never ate before he flew, so there had been no need to order an early breakfast, all that was needed now was to wake him. As he turned he heard a door open, looking back he discovered who it was that had been visiting so mysteriously. Lady Heather strolled out from the pool house private doorway and headed across the garden to her car. Lady Heather was the only woman who had the right to enter Casa Del Corazon. She looked as stunning as ever, skin tight black jeans, designer boots, backless, black halter top, hair perfect. As if she had some sixth sense, she stopped, turned, looked up, saw him and waved.
Shaking his head in wonder, Buck waved back, his naked state all too visible to her, but he didn’t care and he knew damned well that she didn’t. With that, she headed to her car and drove away as Buck headed back inside.
Once he’d seen his client off, he’d have to quiz Ezra about her visit. Visits from Lady Heather were rare, and always heralded something interesting. Ezra was the club’s financial director, nothing happened that he didn’t know about, and since he was Buck’s partner, Buck was able to pry even the most confidential information out of him, torture - always - yielded results, usually a tickling was all that was needed but if necessary, he’d get him all hot and hard and then not let him come. Buck was a master when it came to keeping his bed partner on the edge, but not taking them over it, he could do it for hours if needs be, Ezra had never lasted more than twenty minutes before giving in. With a sly grin, Buck hoped Lady Heather’s visit was very, very secret, because torturing Ezra was so much fun!
<><><><><><><>
Two Days Earlier
Lady Heather looked around, scanning the partygoers, everything was going well, it promised to be a vintage event.
Her best student, a dominatrix called Shari, had finally found a submissive who was perfect for her and they were going to put on a display later, it promised to be quite a show. Suddenly she stopped and stared, there was someone at her party that didn’t belong and that didn’t happen, that never happened. Crossing the room, smoothly and without attracting the attention of any of the guests, she zeroed in on the young man in the corner. He was cute, she had to admit that, with dark, if not black, hair, falling in long bangs and an open, innocent face. He looked scarily young, no more than a boy. Clearly looks were deceiving, innocent boys didn’t, couldn’t, gatecrash her parties.
“Hello?”
The boy looked around, and smiled. “Hi,” he greeted brightly.
“And you are?” she asked softly.
“Having a great time.”
Some of Heather’s softness left her voice. “What is your name?”
“Lewis Young.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t think so, please come with me.”
Lewis frowned. “I have an invitation, do you want to see it?”
“No, I want to talk to you.”
“I don’t want to miss the show.”
“Nothing is going to happen without me, and you will be with me, so, please come with me now, or I will be forced to have you ejected.”
The boy gave a slight sigh and, with a look of resignation, turned to follow her to her private office.
“So,” Heather began, once they were both seated. “What is your name?”
“Lew…” Heather lifted an eyebrow. “Okay, it’s JD, JD Dunne.”
“Well it’s very nice to meet you Mr Dunne. Now, what are you doing here and how did you get an invitation?”
JD sat back. “I came because I was curious and I got an invitation by hacking into your computer.”
“We have very good security protocols on our computer system,” Heather pointed out.
“I’m very good, your program has an administrator’s back door, they all do, I found it, it did take a while, but once I did, the rest was easy.”
Heather regarded the boy before her, he was no ordinary gatecrasher, that much was clear.
“Can you close this door, safely?” she asked.
JD shrugged. “Oh sure.”
“Good, while I enjoy my party, you can be doing that, but first we are going to talk.” By the time she had heard his story, Heather knew what to do with one JD Dunne.
One Day Earlier.
After a journey into the desert night that was an education in itself, JD found himself following Lady Heather up a wide, but somewhat anonymous staircase. At the top the door was opened by a good looking young man with a winning smile, who greeted them in a broad Texas accent and then hugged Lady Heather and kissed her on both cheeks.
He introduced himself as Nick and showed JD into a large, open plan apartment. The high ceilings, high windows and marble floor were somehow not in keeping with the homely, comfortable, well used furnishings with a vaguely western feel to them. There were books everywhere, in book cases, on tables, in stacks on the floor, yet despite this air of academia, there was also a huge plasma screen TV and under it every kind of media player and games console JD had ever heard of.
To be honest, JD didn’t know precisely why he was wherever he was, but he’d opened up to Lady Heather, as he had to no-one else, ever. She just had to look at him and he had told her the truth. Not only that, he also trusted her, implicitly. He’d come to Las Vegas to live and explore life and… well he was seeing life, that was for sure so, there he stood, in some sort of club, in the middle of the desert, not knowing what was about to happen, excited, apprehensive but not scared. Yes, he decided, he definitely felt alive.
Behind them an oriental style screen slid back and a middle aged, solidly built man, with tight cropped greying hair emerged. He stepped up to Lady Heather and kissed her gently on the cheek.
“Delightful to see you, as ever, you’ll stay the night?” he asked.
“Of course, Nicky and I need to catch up,” she told him with a wink.
The man rolled his eyes. “Which means you’re going to talk about me!”
“Of course, you’re our project, you have this place, we have you,” Lady Heather told him with a smile. “Now while Nicky fixes me something to eat, you are going to have a chat to young JD here.”
She turned to JD. “JD, this is Gil Grissom, he owns the club and you two need to talk.”
Grissom extended his hand. “Welcome to the Casa Del Corazon, come with me.”
<><><><><><><>
The office JD was shown into was small, cluttered and didn’t seem to be about running an exclusive gentleman’s club. As far as JD could see, most of the books were about world cultures.
“What did Lady Heather tell you?” Grissom asked.
“That this is a gentleman’s club, strictly men only and that I should talk to you.”
Grissom sat back. “She told me a lot more than that about you.”
JD blushed, he really had been very candid with Lady Heather and now it seemed that she had told this man all his most intimate confessions.
“The thing that makes this club different it the very personal service we can offer our members.” Grissom left the statement hanging.
“Meaning?” JD asked, picking up his cue.
“That there are members of staff who will do everything they can to make their assigned client’s stay enjoyable, memorable and relaxing, they are all good looking guys and they are all gay or bisexual and they are all very open minded.”
JD let this sink in, then he grinned. “Can I work for you?” he asked excitedly.
“Yes and no. I am considering offering you a job, but not as staff.”
It didn’t take JD more than a second to work out the coded talk. “So staff are the guys who sleep with clients?”
“Yes.”
“I can do that, honest, I’m good.”
Grissom smiled. “I don’t doubt it and looking like that you’d be very popular, but there is more to it that just being a good lay. You need a lot of other skills, erotic massage, valeting, fine dining, riding….”
“I can ride!” JD announced happily.
For the first time Grissom looked surprised. “Really?”
“Oh sure, there was a stables near where we lived, rich kids went there, well I guess the ones that had their own horse were rich, some of them just paid by the hour you know?” He didn’t wait for a response, just carrying on with his enthusiastic narrative. “I like horses so I asked my Mom if I could go riding too, but she couldn’t afford it, so I went over there and asked if I could work for a ride, and I did, every weekend until I was fourteen.”
“What happened then?”
“Oh Jan, the lady that owned it, she asked if I wanted to work the whole summer for money, which I did, for like the next three summers.”
“That is interesting, but you’re still too young.”
“I’m nineteen.”
“Too young.”
JD’s eyes narrowed, but Grissom gave no sign of relenting. “If you want it, there is a job for you here, you learn on the job and if, in two or three years time, I think you’re ready, we may put you on staff. In the meantime, we need someone to generally help out, mostly in the kitchens, the stables and possibly some IT work?”
JD grinned. “I can do that, I mean I never worked in a big kitchen, but I can learn, I can learn anything!”
“Not only that, you passed the vetting procedure.”
“I did, when, how?”
“We have our ways. I’ll have Ezra come over and show you to your room and sort out the formalities, you’re on a six month probationary period, impress me.” With that Grissom stood up and offered his hand. “Welcome to the CDC.”
<><><><><><><>
JD took a deep breath and tried to calm the whole army of butterflies that had taken up residence in his stomach, he glanced at his watch, five thirty in the morning, not that he’d had any sleep. Ezra, or Mr Standish as he’d introduced himself, had taken him to another office, this one was modern, un-cluttered and fitted with some very impressive computer hardware. There didn’t really seem much to do, since the club already knew his social security number and almost everything else about him. All he had to do was provide his bank details so he could be paid, and though he suspected they knew that already, too.
“You’ll have a medical sometime this week,” Ezra explained as he led JD along a long corridor, finally coming to a door at the end. “This is your room, it’s somewhat plain, but it is serviceable, if your probationary period is successful you’ll be free to decorate and personalise it however you want - within reason.”
“So Megadeath posters, purple paint and a quadraphonic Blaupunkt would be overdoing it, then?”
Ezra remained entirely unfazed. “A quadraphonic Blaupunkt is a superior piece of equipment and therefore something you will find in more than one room here, I assure you, likewise purple décor may not be as rare as you might imagine. The Megadeath posters can usually be found in the cellar rooms.”
JD’s musing on precisely what that response might mean, was interrupted by his surprise at seeing his rucksack, which contained all his worldly possessions, sitting on the floor just inside the door.
“Do you have an alarm clock?”
JD wasn’t really listening. “Huh?”
“An alarm clock, do you possess such a thing?”
“Oh yeah, on my cellphone.”
“Excellent. Nicholas will meet you at seven a.m. in the kitchen, and then show you the stables. Do you remember where the kitchen is?”
JD nodded. “End of the corridor, bottom of the stairs, turn left.”
“Correct. Well good night, I’m sure I’ll see you in the morning.”
<><><><><><><>
A door opened behind him, making him jump. Strip lights started to come on, illuminating the kitchen, in all it’s stainless steel splendour. As he watched, a man approached him. He was tall, good looking, with unruly dark hair, needed a shave and appeared to be wearing black silk pyjama bottoms which looked expensive and a rather shapeless, and a slightly threadbare tee-shirt, which looked anything but.
“Oh!” the man exclaimed, as he suddenly caught sight of JD and moved rapidly behind the counter.
“Hi,” JD responded, hating how lame that sounded.
“Oh man, I thought for a sec you were Mac.” The stranger, whoever he was, visibly relaxed.
“Sorry, just me.”
“Oh don’t be sorry, I’d be in big trouble if it was Mac.”
JD couldn’t help it, his curiosity got the better of him. “Who’s Mac and why would it be bad?”
The stranger laughed. “Mac Taylor is our head chef, you don’t mess with Mac’s kitchen and on top of that I didn’t bother with shoes - strictly against the rules that is!” The man extended his hand. “I’m Buck by the way, Buck Wilmington.”
“JD Dunne, I’m new,” JD explained, accepting the handshake.
“Really, didn’t know the Prof had taken on someone new.”
Now JD was really confused. “Who’s the Prof?”
“Gil, Professor Grissom, the guy who owns this place? El Jefe. You must have met him?”
Nodding, JD relaxed again, he’d met Grissom, although he hadn’t mentioned being a professor.
“Is he really a professor?”
Buck walked over to a fridge and began pulling things out. “Oh sure, of Anthropology and we, all of us here, are part of his grand experiment.” He put some bread in what JD assumed was a toaster and opened a carton of apple juice. “You had breakfast?”
“What? Oh no.”
“You want some?”
“I’m okay.”
Buck looked over his shoulder at him. “Today is your first day at work?”
“Um, yes.”
“Well then you need to eat. We have just about any kind of juice you can name, white bread, wholemeal, croissants, rye, English muffins. There are cereals too,” Buck turned to face him. “Basically anything you want, you can have.”
JD looked up at this man, he just couldn’t help it, he liked him, though he had no idea why.
“Toast and juice, is fine.”
“What kind of juice, what kind of toast?”
“Whatever you’re having is fine.”
“Sure?”
JD nodded.
In no time he had a huge glass of apple juice and two rounds of toast with butter dripping off them, in front of him.
“There’ll be a proper breakfast starting at seven, George does a great breakfast.” Buck must have seen JD quizzical look. “He’s the other chef, nice kid, bit neurotic, British.”
“Oh. Um.” JD took a bite of his toast. “What do you do?”
Buck laughed. “Me, I’m the money boy, well one of them.”
“The money? That means you… with the customers…”
“I do,” Buck confirmed.
“Wow,” JD gasped almost in awe.
‘Wow’ was clearly not the reaction Buck had been expecting, so JD told him about his interview.
“Ez take good care of you last night I hope?”
“Is Ez Mr Standish?”
Buck nodded “Ezra,” he added for clarification, then he frowned. “He made you call him ‘Mr’?” JD nodded. “Typical, you wait ‘till I see him. Everyone here is on a first name basis.”
Buck stood up, put more bread in the toaster and turned around, leaning on the counter as he waited for it to cook.
JD ate some more toast. “So how come you’re up so early?” He heard someone ask and was then slightly shocked to find it was him.
“Oh, had a client, a member, I was entertaining a member last night, he had to leave early, flight to catch.”
JD tried to stifle a laugh.
“What is so funny?”
“You were entertaining a ‘member’!”
“Like no one’s thought of that before!” Buck countered with a wink. “Like I was saying, I was with Mr Khan last night, one of my regulars, comes here for a long weekend about once a month and for a week, each and every May. Nice guy, likes to ride - horses that is, likes to sit by the pool and look at cute, naked guys, likes to drink alcohol, eat pork and bacon and all the other things a good Muslim ain’t meant to eat and he likes nice, straight forward, vanilla sex. Good tipper too.”
“How much did you get?”
Some of the smile left Buck’s face. “That’s not something you ever ask, someone might tell you, but you don’t ask; kind off one of the un-written rules.”
“Like the no shoes thing?”
“No that one’s written down. Didn’t they give you the hand book?”
“Yeah, and I even read it, twice, but there’s a lot in there.”
“Don’t worry, no one’s gonna leave you on your own for the first few days. Dress code, for everyone is; no public nudity other than by the pool and in the sauna, no bare chests or feet in any inside public space other than the gym and sauna, smart casual or better in the lounge and dining room after seven PM. Pretty simple really.”
“So what are the unwritten rules?” JD asked, not wanting to put his foot in it again.
Buck began to butter the new batch of toast and after putting it down headed over to the coffee machine.
“You want coffee, tea, anything like that?” he asked as he went.
“No I’d like…”
Buck turned. “Like what?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Spit it out kid, like I said, this place has just about anything you could ask for.”
“No it’s alright, really.”
“Come on, relax, people round here eat all sorts of weird shit. George, I told you about him?” JD nodded. “Right, well him and Ianto and Mitchell they all eat this black stuff, Mar something, they put it on their toast, I swear they are addicted to it. Jack, that’s our Jack, not the Colonel, he likes burgers, nothing weird there, but he likes them made of ostrich. What is that all about? I mean, why eat some huge fucking bird when you can have a perfectly good cow? And do not even get me started on Josiah and the sausage with marmalade thing. Then there’s the coffee twins, Gibbs and Vin, who both drink coffee so strong I swear they have to use a tungsten spoon to stir it, ‘cause anything else would just melt and…” he paused for dramatic effect. “and that damn skinny, Texan - he dunks Twinkies in it!” He visibly shuddered. “And as for Jayne and the prairie oysters in chilli, let’s not even go there - so whatever you want, trust me, no one will bat an eye!”
“Can I have a glass of milk?”
Buck stood there and stared. “Milk?”
“Yeah?”
“Is that it? I thought for sure you were gonna ask me for the blood of a virgin at the very least! Which would have been tricky, virgins being in short supply around here, but I’m sure Mac has a source, he seems to be able to get everything else. Right, so milk, full fat, half fat, skinny, goat, sheep, soya, coconut?”
“Coconut?”
“Oh sure, like I say, this place has everything! Oh we have the really evil kind of milk, you know the one that is more like thin cream? Oh - and flavours too, chocolate, strawberry, banana, coffee. I don’t know what else, but there are others.”
“Can I have just regular milk?”
“No problem, coming right up.”
Once Buck was sitting down with his coffee and JD has his milk, he tried again. “So these unwritten rules?”
“Way too many to go into now, you’ll get use to them, ‘do not mess in Mac’s kitchen or the herb garden’ is a good one to remember.” He made direct eye contact. “I’m not kidding, he’s an ex Marine and he will kill you. Of course rule number one, especially since you’re gonna work with him today, is ‘Nick is out of bounds’.” All humour left his face. “Nick belongs to Gil, and I do mean ‘belongs’. Nick is not staff - I mean he does take care of the horses - but he isn’t money, you understand?” JD nodded. “You don’t kiss him, you don’t slap his ass, no matter how cute it looks in them Wranglers, hands off. For a man who owns what amounts to a brothel, Gil has some very Victorian ideas about what he considers his and his alone. Now this is not always an easy rule to follow, ‘cause when the cat’s away that Texas mouse likes to flirt, but do not be tempted. If Grissom ever caught someone in bed with Nick, they would never leave this place, ever.”
JD frowned. “Oh come on.”
“I’m sure of it, and between them Gibbs, Chris and the Colonel could ‘disappear’ someone and hide a body so no one would ever even miss them. Oh and never, ever call him Nicky, only Gil can call him that, he might not kill you for it, but you might find you don’t have a job soon after.”
“You’re serious?”
“Deadly.”
From the low, soft tone of his voice and the look in his eyes, JD didn’t doubt him, ‘good to know’ he told himself.
“Lady Heather called him Nicky,” JD remembered.
“You know Heather?”
JD sort of shrugged. “I wouldn’t say ‘know’ exactly, but she brought me here.”
A look almost approaching respect passed over Buck’s face. “Did she? Well Heather has special privileges around her, one being she’s the only woman allowed on the property and another is calling the boss’ boy Nicky.”
“You’re the only person I’ve heard call her Heather and not Lady Heather,” JD pointed out.
“Well I go some privileges of my own,” Buck told him with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle.
“Do I call Ezra, Ez?”
Buck laughed, “I can, don’t know about you. You can try, but just remember, he does control your wages.”
JD took this to mean that Buck and Ezra had a personal relationship, Grissom had told him that most of the men who entertained customers ‘professionally’ were in relationships with other members of staff.
“It’s something I approve off, it centres them,” he’d said with a smile.
“Can I ask you something else?” JD asked.
“You can ask, can’t guarantee the answer.”
“What did you mean about this place being Mr Grissom’s experiment?”
Buck sat back a little, cradling his mug of coffee. “Ah, well, like I told you, he’s a professor of anthropology, one of the best, a leader in his field, as I understand it. The trouble is there isn’t much left to study, all the lost tribes having been found and all that. Then he inherited this place, it used to be called Chateau Toulan, and was owned by Patrice Toulan, also an anthropologist, French, but lived here in the states, very rich, old family. I get the feeling Patrice was the younger son, not meant to inherit, but some how he ended up with the family fortune and he built his own vineyard, right here in the desert.”
“Why here, I mean, wouldn’t it have been easier in California?”
“I guess, but as I understand it there used to be lots of vineyards in the valley, way back in the boom years, maybe it was a challenge, his own grand experiment? Anyway, they met, Gil and Patrice, way back, in north Africa someplace, Morocco I think, and became great friends.”
“Like just friends or were they lovers?”
“No just friends I think, not sure the Prof knew then, about himself I mean, that’s part of the experiment. He was kind of a late developer you might say, at least that’s what I think. I’ve met his kind before, a fair few of them come here. Real smart guys who are so consumed by their studies and their work and their curiosity that they don’t even seem to think about sex. Can’t say as I can begin to work out how that is, but seems to happen. Maybe us dumb ones only have sex to think about.”
JD didn’t think Buck was dumb in anyway and clearly thought about a good deal more than sex, and he knew exactly what it was like, it sounded like he and Professor Grissom had a lot in common. Maybe that was why Lady Heather brought him here? JD was smart. Really, really, smart. He’d had the good or possibly bad, fortune to attend a kindergarten class in a school which was close to Princeton. It had a special unit for gifted children, some families moved hundreds of miles so their child could attend the unit, JD and his mother lived just down the street. He was so smart that he’d been ‘hot house’ educated all his life. It was a Godsend to his single mother, who worked as a housekeeper on the university campus. Even in the summer recess JD was often to be found in the university being the guinea pig for some new test or educational aid. He’d graduated high school at 14, and gone straight to Princeton on a full scholarship, studying computer science. JD hated college, he was so much younger than all his peers and so much smarter. Mostly the other students just ignored him, some were openly hostile and none were his friends, but by then his mother was ill and he didn’t want to cause her any more worry, so he did his best. The only advantage he could see to being so smart, was that he didn’t need to do much studying out of class, which gave him time to take care of her. Then he turned 17 and three things happened. He graduated, his mother lost her battle with cancer and JD discovered he was gay. Almost immediately he gave up the chance to study for his Doctorate, not to mention turning down several very lucrative job offers, and began to explore this whole new world of sex that had suddenly opened up in front of him. Yes, he fully understood where Professor Grissom was coming from, he was just glad it hadn’t taken him as long to discover it.
“Oh I think I can understand it,” he told Buck.
“Really? Weird. So, like I was saying, they were friends for years and when Patrice died he left this place and a shit load of cash and stock to Gil. This was right about the time he had finally acknowledged that was gay and like a good little anthropologist he starts trying to understand why.” Buck paused. “No I don’t mean that, he’s not studying why people are born gay, or bi or whatever, it’s more how it all works, what role alternate sexuality plays in our society stuff like that. Then he met Nick, more like he rescued him from the streets and fell in love - to put it mildly!”
“But if he had all that money, why did he need to open a brothel?” JD asked.
“Gentleman’s club,” Buck corrected with a wink.
“Okay, why did he need to open a ‘Gentleman’s Club’?”
“He didn’t, but he and Nick were in Vegas, at one of Heather’s parties and got chatting to this professional escort who told him there was a gap in the market for an all male bordello, strictly gay sex, no women. He decided to see if he could make it work and more importantly can you really be a happy whore, that’s part of the academic exercise. Can you have sex for money and not be damaged by it, can it actually be a positive thing?” He turned and beamed, spreading his arms wide. “So, like I say, here we all are, one big experiment!”
“Bet the guy who had the idea is kicking himself,” JD commented.
“He didn’t have the money or the inclination for it, so he didn’t mind,” Buck assured him confidently.
“Did he tell you he was the guy at the party? That this place is actual his idea?”
JD almost fell off his stool as he spun around to see who had spoken. “Mr Standish!” he all but squeaked in surprise.
Ezra, looking positively eatable in sand coloured slacks and designer polo shirt walked past him and around the counter to Buck were the two kissed, briefly and affectionately.
“What the hell are you doing up this early?” Buck asked, glancing at the clock on the wall. “Or haven’t you been you to bed?”
“I remembered that you would be seeing Mr Khan off early, so I came to join you for breakfast, but I seem to be too late.”
“I guess that means you love me.”
“I think it must, I can’t think of anyone else I would get up for in the middle of the night for.” Ezra settled on the stool next to Buck.
JD had to marvel at the change that came over Buck, he was positively glowing with happiness.
“You want some coffee?” Buck asked Ezra.
“That would be most welcome.”
While Buck got his partner a cup - not a mug - of coffee, Ezra turned to JD.
“Are you ready for your first day young man?”
“Probably not,” JD admitted.
Ezra smiled. “Never mind, you’ll survive, every one does. Did he tell you about Nick?” he asked, suddenly looking concerned.
“Yes, no touching, kissing, fondling or ogling the boss’ boy.”
“Correct, don’t forget it, I’d hate to think of the paper work involved in ‘disappearing’ someone.”
“You guys really are deadly serious about this aren’t you?” JD looked from Ezra to Buck and back.
“Yes!” they answered in union.
Buck was about to handed over the coffee, in it’s bone china cup and saucer, but at the last minute, pulled it back. “What’s the idea of making the kid call you Mr Standish?”
Ezra huffed. “Standards must be maintained.”
“You don’t need to give yourself fancy airs and graces to maintain standards, and you damn well know it!” Buck turned to JD. “You call him Ezra, like I told you and if he tries that again I’ll tell you what the P in Ezra P Standish really stands for and it ain’t Patrick, like he tells folk!”
“That Sir, is blackmail!” Ezra complained.
“Too right and don’t even try to complain, talk about the pot calling the kettle black!” Buck put the cup and saucer down in front of him. “Now shut up and drink your coffee while its hot, which it won’t be for long in that sissy cup.”
JD had to laugh, it was just so great to see how much they clearly loved each other, even when they were bickering like an old married couple.
“Yes dear,” he turned back to JD, “Did he tell you how *he* ended up here?” Ezra said with a wide grin. “He’s one of the Supremes…”
“The Supremes?”
“Ezra…” Buck warned, to no effect.
“Oh yes.”
“What, or rather why, The Supremes?”
“Well,” Ezra said, brows rising, “as I am sure even a youngster like you is aware, there were originally three Supremes. And….”
“What is going on!”
All three of them turned to face the newcomer. JD reckoned he was a little older than himself, short cropped brown hair, rimless glasses, and - yup there was no way to say it, or even think it, politely - big ears. He was dressed in chef’s whites and had a British accent, so JD had to conclude that this was George.
“You can’t be in here,” he spluttered, his voice raising an octave.
“Oh, chill out George,” Buck admonished good naturedly.
‘I was right, it is George!’ JD congratulated himself.
“Chill out!? Do you know what Mac will do to when he finds out!?”
“Mac is in San Francisco, how is he gonna find out? Unless you tell him.”
“I don’t need to tell him, he’ll just know,” George, told him confidently.
“How?” Ezra asked.
“I don’t know!” The clearly exasperated George exclaimed. “He just will, he always does. Just go, I don’t know why you’re in here anyway, there’s food, a toaster and a coffee machine in the staff break room, and it’s just next door.”
“The coffee is much better in here,” Ezra told him.
“It’s the same! Same machine, same beans, same water, same filters, same everything,” George protested.
“But Ianto’s tweaked this machine. You know he makes the best coffee, even Mac says so.”
“And there’s no bread next door,” Buck pointed out.
“I put three loaves in there after dinner yesterday,” George insisted.
“Yeah but Vin had an all day double header that finished around ten last night, he was hungry,” Buck explained.
George threw up his hands in exasperation. “I swear we need a separate food budget just for him! Well, him and Jayne,” he qualified.
“Nah,” Buck laughed. “You can put Jayne’s down as pet food.”
“That… that is not nice,” George admonished, trying to be all serious and correct.
“True though.”
“Nonetheless you need to get out. Oh. My. God!”
“What now?” Buck asked.
“You don’t even have shoes on! Do you know how many heath regulations you are breaking, get out! Get out now! All of you!” George ordered and obediently all three of them rose to their feet. “Who are you?” he suddenly asked looking at JD.
“He’s the new kid.” Buck put his arm over JD’s shoulders.
“Oh, well. How do you do, nice to meet you, I’m George, assistant chef.” They shook hands.
“JD Dunne.”
“So are you staff or management?”
“Oh I’m, err…” JD looked at Buck.
“Management,” Buck confirmed firmly.
“He will be helping out generally, mostly in the stable and here, if you need him,” Ezra explained.
George smiled. “Well we can always use another pair of hands, so long as they follow the rules.” He glared at Buck’s feet.
“Oh for God’s sake, I’m going, I’m going. What’s for breakfast?”
“Bacon, poached duck eggs and goose fried bread, now go.”
As they entered the comfortable looking staff break room, JD looked back at the kitchen. “Did he say goose fried bread?”
“I know, I know, but it works, trust me.”
“Buck?” JD asked quietly as they sat down.
“Yeah?”
“Are you a happy whore?”
Buck though his head back and laughed, his arm over Ezra’s shoulder as they sat together. “Oh you bet kid, you bet!”
The End