Julian was in a meeting with three other associates and a junior partner when Jody tapped on the glass door. Julian looked up from his laptop, and the expression on Jody's face made his stomach lurch. Julian stood and excused himself as quickly as he could.

When he got through the conference room door, Jody grabbed his arm and hustled him down the hall to his office.

"Emmett?" Julian asked.

Jody nodded, tight-lipped.

"Fuck," Julian muttered. "He got bitten, didn't he?"

Another nod.

Julian picked up the phone and stabbed viciously at the blinking button. "Julian Lodge," he said.

The person on the other end of the phone cleared his throat. Then said, "Mr. Lodge? This is Dr. Freeman. I...uh...work-"

Julian cut him off. "What happened?"

"Dr. Thompson was handling...uh...a..."

"He got bitten," Julian said flatly.

"Um...he...yes." Freeman sounded really nervous.

"What bit him and where is he?" Julian's voice was low and dangerous.

Freeman gulped audibly. "Agkistrodon contortrix," he said. "North American Copperhead. He...uh...Mr. Lodge, it's not fatal...we..."

"Where. Is. He?" Julian said.

"Holy Cross in Silver Springs," Freeman choked out, and Julian slammed the phone down.

He turned to Jody, trying to control the rage burning up through him so he wouldn't snap at her.

"Get me a cab," he said, tacking on a "please" as an afterthought.

"A car's waiting at the curb." She pulled his coat off the coat tree behind the door and pitched it at him. "Go," she said. "Call me when you know."

With a terse nod, Julian went.

"Soup, idiot," Julian said, putting the bowl down on the coffee table.

"Uh, Julian?" Emmett looked up at him, frowning. "When do you think you'll quit calling me 'idiot'?"

"Shortly after you stop being one." Julian said, leaving the room.

Emmett sighed and picked up his spoon.

"Julian, come on," Emmett whined. It had been three days since the bite and Julian was still barely talking to him, barely looking at him. Emmett had never seen Julian so angry.

Julian stopped undressing and let the sock in his hand fall to the floor before turning a glare on Emmett. A frankly scary glare.

"Look," Emmett said. "It was a dry bite; there wasn't any envenomation. Everything's okay. I'm fine." He knew it was the wrong thing to say when Julian's eyes went hard and dark. Fuck.

"You might be fine," Julian bit out. "But I'm not." He turned to the door. "I'm sleeping in the guest room."

"No," Emmett said, getting off the bed. "Seriously, Julian. Let's fight this out if that's what it's gonna take. I already said I was sorry."

"Not sorry enough to take a couple of nearly idiot-proof safety precautions, obviously." Julian turned his head away.

"I know. I was stupid. It was a post-doc rookie mistake. It's never gonna happen again, Julian. I swear." When Julian didn't turn around, Emmett pushed his luck and stepped up behind Julian, sliding his arms gingerly around Julian's slender waist. "Never, Julian. I mean it."

Emmett sighed in relief when Julian relaxed back against him. He sighed again when Julian grabbed his wrist and pulled it up to trace the nearly-healed puncture wound halfway between Emmett's hand and elbow.

"Never," Julian said. "I never want to get a call like that again. My heart can't take it."

In answer, Emmett pushed his nose into the hair at the back of Julian's neck and breathed in. His breath caught in a wholly different way when Julian pulled his arm up farther and Emmett felt the sharp edges of teeth along the inside of his wrist.

"Fuck," he moaned.

"No," Julian said. "Bite. The good kind."

"You can..." Emmett gasped. "God, any time."

Julian hummed in answer before biting the fleshy base of Emmett's thumb, sucking just a little before pulling off. "Bed," he said, releasing Emmett's hand.

Emmett had to lean his forehead against Julian's back for a second before he could step back. Julian rarely took the lead like this, and all Emmett wanted to do was fall back onto the bed and spread his legs and bare his throat and give Julian everything.

And it looked like that was what Julian wanted, too. Julian stripped quickly, then practically ripped the tee shirt and boxers from Emmett's body. He crowded Emmett back to the bed and pushed him down on his back.

"Stay there," Julian said, then dipped his head to bite Emmett just above the knee. Emmett had to clutch the sheet under him to keep his hands out of Julian's hair.

The soft bite led to string of others just like it - to Emmett's inner thigh, his hip, the little bit of extra flesh at his waist, the front of his shoulder - each one just a little harder than the previous one. By the time Julian got to his nipples, Emmett was gasping and panting and moaning Julian's name.

Julian lifted his head and looked at Emmett. His eyes were narrowed, just dark slivers of color; his lips wet and red. "More?" he asked.

Emmett swallowed hard and nodded. A second later, Julian hitched up one of Emmett's legs and bit the tender skin where hip and thigh met hard. Emmett's cock twitched, and he couldn't stop himself from sinking his hands into Julian's thick hair and tugging.

Julian slid up his body and kissed him. Emmett had expected a bruising, biting kiss, but Julian's mouth was soft and gentle against his. Emmett sighed into Julian's mouth, softening his lips and meeting Julian's kiss with his own. When Julian reached into the bedside table, Emmett spread his legs further.

"Yeah?" Julian whispered, and Emmett answered with a kiss and soft stroking of Julian's hair and neck.

Emmett was waiting for Julian to change it up again, expecting to be pushed down and fucked hard after a cursory prep. But Julian surprised him, touching his body with something like reverence, getting him ready so slowly that Emmett thought he was going to die.

That's when something clicked for Emmett. He could have died. That's what Julian was dealing with. So many times Emmett had reassured Julian with the words, "I'm not going anywhere," and with one idiot mistake, he'd almost broken his word. No wonder Julian was mad. Emmett deserved it.

That's when Julian slid inside him, his movements just as easy and slow as his kisses had been. Emmett wanted to apologize again, wanted to tell Julian...something, but he couldn't. All he could do was move with Julian, to try and show that they were together - that he'd keep them together.

After they'd both come and Julian had finally moved his weight onto the bed, Emmett kissed him softly on the temple. "I'm so sorry, Julian," he whispered.

Julian rolled up on his side to face Emmett and nodded tightly. Emmett let out his breath. He jumped a little when Julian pressed the tips of his fingers to the places he'd bitten.

Julian continued the soft touches, but stopped when his fingers eased over the skin of Emmett's bicep, sliding to touch the soft skin underneath, a spot just above the elbow. "I was going to bite you here," Julian said. "Hard. I was going to make sure you remembered. For a while, at least."

Emmett looked Julian in the eyes. "I..." he said softly. "I won't forget."