Fandom:	Houston Knights
Series:	Other Authors
Rating:	NC-17
Pairing:	Joe/Levon
Archive:	Starwinder's
Title:	Appraisal
Author:	Etch
Standard Disclaimer: Houston Knights belongs to Jay Bernstein and Michael Butler and Columbia Pictures. No copyright infringement is intended. This is fan fiction, written out of love for the shows. I am making no money off this. I have no money so please don't sue me. Any original characters that may appear in these stories are the property of the author.

Appraisal
By Etch

Dressed in black jeans and a sleeveless black tee shirt, Joey LaFiamma stretched his lithe body full-length on Lundy's couch. Reaching down with his toes, he pushed them into the arm of the comfortable worn sofa. Eyes staring up at the ceiling, Joey listened to the crackle of the fire behind him. It was great to just relax. Nowhere to go, nowhere to be... just be.

A rattle of pots and pans drifted down from the kitchen. Collecting himself, Joey brought his six foot frame to a standing position and stretched his arms upward. Noiselessly padding in stocking he headed toward the sound of the pans. Cutting through the dining room, a large red word 'APPRAISAL' jumped off a green and white envelope at him.

Curiosity forced him to reach down and pick up the nine by twelve envelope. Surprise, fear, and helplessness washed through him as he read the address at the top of the form. Slipping the papers back into the envelope. Joey strode quickly into the kitchen, startling his partner, Levon Lundy, who had not heard him approaching.

"Why'd you have an appraisal done on Mother Minnie's property? You can't possibly be thinking of selling it... can you?" Joey barked loudly, trying hard to control the tremor in his voice. "It's your home, man! You grew up there! I-- I thought we were going to retire there?"

Halting the scrubbing of a pan he'd burned stew in the night before, Lundy turned to Joe with a questioning look on his face. "Retire in Mayberry? You?"

It was something we've talked about, Joe, but I never really figured you were serious.

"Lundy, it's your home! Hell, it's my homel It's the one place outside of Houston... it's--" LaFiamma faltered. Should he lay it on the line? Should he confess?

"One of these days this job is going to get you or me, or both of us. Or cripple one of us. It's-- I don't want you to sell it, Levonl" Joey pleaded. "I don't think Minnie left it to you for you to sell it! Yeah, I could retire there... if you're there. You could do the ranching you always talk about doing when times get tough here. Me... I'd buy that rundown cafe and turn it into a little coffee shop. I'm a damn good cook, whether you believe it or not."

"I know you're a good cook, partner, but I'm up here. I don't want Mother Minnie's place left unattended, vandalized. I can't go down there every weekend to check it out," Lundy lamented, inwardly smiling, glad his partner had finally admitted how he felt about the place.

"Get tenants... rentersl The lady at the bank, what's her name... Mrs. Monsma. She said she'd help you. There's got to be couples just like you and Caroline. Couples starting out that can't afford a house. The house is paid for, Lundy! You could start your own retirement fund. Rent it for less, if they agree to keep up the grounds. My sister and her husband got a really good place like that in Boston. Had a hundred dollars knocked off the rent for keeping up the yard, flowers, bushes. What the landlord was paying a yard service to take care of the lawn, he took off the rent. I don't want you to sell Mother Minnie's place, Levon," Joey repeated, a horrible thought charging through him. "You haven't already signed the papers, have you? Usually the appraisal comes just before the buyer comes. Lee-von?"

Joey's voice crackled with the emotion surging through him. The loss of Mother Minnie had hit them both hard. He'd been surprised at his own grief when Levon's grandmother died. He hadn't known her that long, but Minnie's good-naturedness, her open arms, and her love had welcomed the Italian into the Lundy family and had made him feel as though he'd always been a part of it.

"I haven't signed any papers, Joe. I had no idea what real estate values were down there, so I wanted the appraisal done before I made a decision."

"Good, now you know. Call Mrs. Monsma, tell her what you want, and see if she'll run an ad and collect the rent..."

"Wait a minute! Whose house is this, anyway?" Levon interrupted, surprised at how vehement his partner was on this subject.

"It's Mother Minnie's house. Okay, so she left it to you, but she hoped we'd eventually end up there. I told her...." Seeing the look on his partner's face, Joey immediately clammed up, bringing his hand up to his mouth to still the outpouring babble.

"You made a promise you couldn't keep, didn't you? The doctor pulled you into the room an' pushed me out, the day she died. What'd you promise her, LaFiamma?" Lundy groused, remembering his grandmother's attempt to talk to him that day, and his abruptness about doing it later. Only later never came.

"Doesn't matter now, does it?" Joey said quietly, finding his voice, astonished it was so calm when his insides were churning.

"Yeah, it matters. Of course it matters!" Levon growled, stepping nose to nose to the northerner. "What'd you promise her, Joseph?" Levon repeated sharper than he intended.

"I-.- I told her I'd do what I could... to keep you from selling it. Your dad was born in that house. Did you know that? You almost were too, but your mom found a ride to the hospital, just in time. Minnie had a lot of offers for that property these last few years, but she turned them all down because she wanted you to have the house. You, Levon Elmer Lundy," Joey said evenly, tapping a finger on the blondes chest. "Not some stranger who might tear it down. She wanted family to have it, Levon. You and me."

"Why didn't she tell me this?" Lundy growled angrily, trying in vain to back away from his partner.

"She tried. She tried several times, but you were so caught up in her dying you couldn't hear what she was trying to say. She asked me to take care of you, too. She said no woman'd ever find a place in your heart. Said Caroline's ghost would always be with you. And after what happened between you and Jamie, I figured she was right," Joey replied, moving back, letting his friend have his space.

"Mother Minnie was right on that score. And I can see Jamie's point of view too. She has a life of her own and just got tired of waiting. I could sooner make a life-long commitment to you than I could to her." Levon didn't understand the shy smile that crossed his partner's lips, or the eyes that were suddenly ablaze with fire.

"I won't sell the house, Joe. I guess I just needed someone who cared for it as much as I did to remind me why I really wanted to keep it."

"Annnd... anytime you want to follow through with the other thought you had," Joey remarked tenderly, running a thumb across the Texan's lower lip, "just let me know. Meanwhile, I'll check on your fire... in the living room."

Blinking at the back of the ex-Chicagoan, Lundy's throat went dry. Turning back to the sink, the Texan thrust his torso hard against the cupboards.

Did I really say what I think I said? And he wants it? I've never-- Has he?

Reaching for the plastic bottle of white vinegar on the counter, Levon slowly poured some into the bottom of the pan he'd been working on. "If nothing else works, this will, right, Mother Minnie?" he murmured quietly to himself.

Taking his apron off, a dishtowel wrapped around his waist, Levon ambled slowly towards the living room trying to figure out how he was going to approach his partner on what had just passed between them.

Hearing his partner coming, Joe feigned sleep.

"Jo..." Levon began as he walked briskly into the room. Upon seeing the peaceful recline of his fellow detective, the blonde walked to the fireplace. Opening the screen, the he stirred the fire before adding a couple more logs.

God, Joe, you're really beautiful. It's no wonder women fall all over themselves wanting to meet you. I've been jealous of the way some of them go after you. Guess I've wanted you for longer than I care to admit. Maybe that's why I could never make a commitment to Jamie. I felt I already belonged to you.

Taking the fireplace broom, Levon began to sweep the wood flakes, chips, and ashes back under the grate.

"Oh, shhhiiiitttt! the Texan bellowed as several of the short broom bristles caught fire. Stamping the flame and sparks out with his boots, the cowboy heard his partner jerk awake behind him.

"Huh! Wwwhatt?" Joey barked, bolting upright on the couch. "What's going on?" he asked, looking around the room. "Maybe you better have this place appraised before you burn it down," he growled, faking a yawn, eyes slowly moving from curly blonde hair to boot tips.

Lundy felt the flush of embarrassment spread over his face and ears. He wasn't sure he was blushing because of his carelessness or because of the way Joe was looking at him. "We could retire right here, you know," Levon finally offered after a long silence.

"You trying to squeak out of our deal, cowboy?" Joey replied standing, stretching to the ceiling as he'd done before, moving his torso in an exaggerated movement, "It's good, you know.., to have a few days with nothing to do."

"You really serious about retiring to Lombard? Or you just pulling my leg?" Lundy asked, carefully replacing the screen in front of what had become a roaring fire.

"I'm serious. You serious about making a life-long commitment to me?" Joey asked boldly, nodding his head up and down, then looking to the side, then back to Lundy, wondering if he indeed said those words.

"I've never... Have you?" Lundy asked, surprised he could still feel the pink blush of heat on his ears.

"A time or two," LaFiamma answered truthfully, hoping his partner would not reject him for being honest.

"Can we do it here?" Lundy asked, his hand making a circle in the air.

"Anywhere you want, cow-boooy," Joey cooed tenderly, stepping closer to the Texan, pulling him into a tight hug and tipping his chin up.

A thick Italian tongue probed between Texas teeth into a willing open mouth. Levon wilted against his lover under the intensity of the kiss. Joey carefully folded them to the floor without relinquishing possession of the mouth. His tongue probed deep along the back of his lover's mouth, traced ridges on the roof of the mouth, then teeth firmly grasped the blonde's tongue.

Lundy's torso bucked violently against the northerner's body. His brain swam in liquid pools of golden water, his penis hard and ready behind his belt buckle. His limbs flopped like fish out of water as his body jerked in pleasure. Somewhere a pin-point of logic told him his partner had done this more than once or twice, but that point passed into oblivion as his cock exploded, reeking his jeans and shirt with semen.

A broad grin on his face, Joey relinquished his lover's mouth, but continued to plant gentle kisses on Levon's face, neck, and ears. Carefully unzipping his partner's jeans, Joey released the throbbing, jerking erection. Moving between his lover's legs, Joe lowered his head. Opening his mouth, the Italian swallowed the swollen organ using his throat muscles to drink It dry.

"J000000ooooooooIlt" The name started as a scream and mellowed to a whisper as the Texan melted into the rug, pleasure and passion seeping from every pore.

Joey's face glowed with love, fire, and passion. Searching his pockets for a condom, he found one and quickly undressed, tossing his clothes onto the couch. Turning to his lover, Joe freed the blonde of pants, boots, socks, and shirt. Deftly unwrapping and slipping the rubber on his hardened cock, Joey slowly, carefully, turned Levon onto his stomach.

Again the ex-Chicagoan began to tantalize his lover by gently nipping the white flesh of the buttocks, a tongue tracing rib patterns up the back bone. Humped over the cowboy, Joey's hands spread the cheeks under him, positioned his penis at the anal opening, and thrust it in.

Responding to the moans of his lover under him, Joe moved upward, jabbing fully into the cavity. Northern fingers grasped Texan palms, moving them above blonde hair. Joey's mouth found a ripple of Texas shoulder flesh, nipping, sucking, biting at it as he pumped hard into the man he'd fallen in love with two years earlier.

"Oh, god, Lundy... I've wanted you for so long... so long," Joey confessed into Levon's ear. "I want you. I want you forever.... AHAHAHAHAHAH...." Joey moaned, as he exploded deep inside his lover. He held himself tight against his partner's buttocks, not wanting to let go. Not wanting to end a dream that had played over and over again in his mind for months.

"Joe?" Levon asked, after what seemed like hours of silence.

Yeah," muttered a mouth close to his neck.

"You gonna let me breath, or do I get suffocated along with this pleasure?'

"All part of the service," Joey said quietly, letting go of the blonde's hands, using his own hands to push himself upwards. "I don't want to pull out, Levon. It feels so good in there."

"Doesn't mean we can't do it again," Levon replied, twisting quickly, throwing his partner off balance.

"Some howdy-do that is. Got your loving, then throw me out, huh?" Joey remarked falling backwards, his head barely missing a table leg, a strand of hair catching on a sliver of wood.

"You okay?" Lundy asked, concern in his voice, seeing how close it was.

"Im not sure... night take hours of kissing to find out," LaFiamma said, half-smiling, freeing a piece of his hair caught on the side of the leg.

"I liked that... you being inside of me," Levon ventured, the warm afterglow of pleasure still fresh in him. "Might need a dustpan and broom, though... I think my brains exploded around here somewhere."

"More than your brains exploded, cowboy... much more," Joey laughed, reaching up pulling the blond down. "How about starting again, huh?"

Without waiting for an answer, LaFiamma rolled onto the cowboy's stomach, letting his limp penis fall close to Levon's navel, the Italian's mouth attacked blond chest hair and the nipples hidden under it.

"You've done this more than once or twice, I think," Levon gasped, fireworks racing through his blood, his mind, his flesh.

"I plead the Fifth," Joey replied, lifting his head for a moment to look into glazed brown Texas eyes. "Think you can handle this kind of a relationship, along with our partnership?"

"I'm a Tex...annn, remember. We can handle anything. I... th-ink.... Brown eyes dosed as long Italian fingers grabbed fistfuls of blond hair, their bodies melting together into the rug.

*************************************************

Levon woke first. Red hot embers glowed brightly from the fireplace. Lundy stared a embers, which seemed to dance back at him. He lay there unmoving. Could he handle this kind of a relationship? He wanted it, no question about that. But what if one of them got hurt like Joe said?

How could they explain their concern for each other? How would he ever explain this to Joanne.... once his partner, now his boss.

"You okay, Levon?" Joey asked softly, breaking through the blonde's thoughts. "I didn't push too far the first time out, did I?"

"I was just wondering how we'd explain this to Joanne."

"We don't explain anything to anyone, cowboy! Not if we want to keep our jobs. Its going to be tough. And we need to make the decision right now," Joey said, sitting up. "We can either be lovers and handle our working relationship as usual, or... just stay partners and forget this ever happened."

"You can forget this ever happened!?" Lundy barked, sitting up, eyes blazing.

"No, Levon, I can't forget what happened here. I've wanted this for months, but if it's not what you want... If having me as a lover is more than you can handle-- If what passed between us is something you can't stand, then I'll just have to love you from afar. I want to be your lover, Lundy. I want to be a part of your whole life. I want to wake up with you... next to you. But if it's not what you want... well, I'll just cherish what went down here for the rest of my life."

"Did I say I didn't want it? No, as usual you spout off at the mouth before anyone has a chance to talk," Levon groused, a sly smile twitching the edges of his mouth. "You want me to stoke up the fire, or should we head for the bedroom?"

"The warmth of the fire Is good. More room, freer here," LaFiamma answered, slipping a hand into long curly blond hair, pulling the head close, kissing the eager lips lightly. "Put more logs on the fire, cowboy, there's going to be a hot time at the of' ranch house tonight."

The End