Arlo Ch. 02

"Hey! Are you alright?" he called out. The man looked a little off, just staring at a bar. The man turned his head a bit to look at Jake, before seeming to sigh.

"Sorry, officer," he said, his voice almost covered by the rain. He turned and began walking down the sidewalk with his bare feet. Something clicked in Jake's head and he pushed the cruiser forward, catching up with the man.

"Doc?" Jake called out. The man stopped and looked up, finally facing Jake. It was in fact Arlo. Jake swore and double parked the cruiser. He hopped out into the rain and jogged to meet the man on the sidewalk. "What the hell you doin' out here, Doc?" Jake asked, quieter now that they were closer and he didn't have to yell over the rain.

"Jake?" Arlo looked as confused as he did, and a bit worried.

"Yeah, it's me. What the-. Come on lets get out of the rain." Jake pushed Arlo towards the cruiser, and opened the passenger door for him. Arlo sat down, while Jake moved to the drivers side. He started the car, and drove off. "What the hell are you doing out there? It's freezing and pouring out there," Jake said, concerned.

"I couldn't sleep, I wanted to go for a walk," Arlo said, sounding distracted. Jake hesitated.

"You know, we haven't really known each other for long... but if you need to talk...... uh... I just mean that... well you were standing outside a bar... I just want you to know that I'm here... uh... for you," Jake stammered, looking awkward under Arlo's gaze.

"Thanks, Jake," Arlo said.

"No problem, Doc...." Jake said, and hesitated again. "So you just decided to go for a walk without any shoes on?" Jake asked. Arlo looked down at his feet, as if he just realized he wasn't wearing shoes.

"Uh... yeah." It was a bold faced lie. Jake didn't know what Arlo was hiding, but now wasn't the time for questioning him.

"Well, I'll take you home," Jake said.

"No," Arlo said, a little too quickly. Jake eyed him. "I mean... just drop me off at a hotel or something. I don't feel like being at home tonight," Arlo said.

"A hotel? Don't you live alone? Why don't you want to be at home?" Jake asked.

"Uh... I just need a change of scenery for a night or two. Motel 6 is fine," Arlo said. Jake frowned and stared at him.

"Nah, Doc. I can't just drop you off at a hotel. You can stay at my place. I get off now, actually," Jake said, looking at the clock.

"Really, Jake. You don't have to do that." Arlo shook his head.

"I'm not just going to drop you off at some scummy place, Doc. If you don't want to go home that's fine, but you're not staying there," Jake said, as they passed a motel 6. Arlo seemed to sigh.

"Okay... thank you," he said. Jake pulled into the police station.

"I just have to check the cruiser back in, go ahead and sit in the truck," Jake said, and handed him the keys to the old beaten up truck. Arlo took them and waited with the heater on. Jake came in a few minutes later, out of uniform.

"I have to say, you do look pretty hot in the uniform." Arlo smiled a little bit.

"Why thank you. That doctors coat makes you look pretty official, too." Jake winked. Arlo laughed, and they joked as they drove to Jake's home. "I hope you like dogs," Jake said, as they climbed out of the truck and began walking up to his house.

"I love them," Arlo smiled. As soon as Jake opened the door, a large black and white dog pounced on Arlo. He giggled as the dog peppered his face with kisses, before running off back into the house. Behind the door, waiting patiently for Jake was an older dog. The dog squinted lazily, wagging his tail slowly. Jake bent and kissed the dog, patting him on the head.

"Good boy, Bounder," He said.

"That one is Bounder?" Arlo rolled his eyes, as the other dog ran in circles around the house, slipping and sliding on the hardwood floors.

"Yeah... the black one is Rocket," Jake laughed. The dog, at the mention of his name, took off down a hallway. Somewhere in the distance, there was a loud crash as the poor pup ran into something. "She does that a lot," Jake said.

"This is nice," Arlo said. The house was spacious and clean, it smelled like bacon and dogs. Arlo found himself liking the smell. It smelled homey.

"Thanks... here, let me see if I can find you something." Jake walked down the hall. Arlo followed him, looking around the house as he went. Jake walked into a small walk in closet and looked around for a second before pulling out some clothes. He handed Arlo the stack of clothing, a pair of sweats, a long sleeve T shirt, some socks, and a pair of boxers.

"Thank you," Arlo said and smiled. They stood there awkwardly before Jake blushed.

"I'll, uh... let you change." He disappeared, closing the door to the room. Arlo laughed and began changing out of his wet clothes.

After he was in the warm, but much too large, clothing he ventured out to find jake. He found him in the living room, sipping some coffee.

"Hey, want a cup?" he asked.

"I'm not a big coffee fan," Arlo declined. Jake laughed.

"Uh... this is a bit embarrassing, but it's not coffee. I'm a hot chocolate kind of guy, myself," he smiled. Arlo laughed.

"Then I'll gladly accept," Arlo smiled. They sat there and chatted about nothing over their steaming cups of hot chocolate, until Arlo yawned and stretched. "I'd love to stay up with you, longer. But I have to be at work at six tomorrow," Arlo said.

"Oh, right. It's my day off I forgot you still have to work," Jake laughed. "I can give you a ride in the morning," he said.

"Thanks. So, I'll just crash on the couch?" Arlo asked, after not seeing a guest bedroom.

"Well, yeah you could. I mean... if you wanted to. My bedroom is always open," he blushed.

"Oh..." Arlo couldn't deny that it did sound appealing. "I'd love to, Jake. But like I said, I have work tomorrow and-"

"I meant just as a place to sleep. We don't have to do anything else." Jake blushed harder. Arlo smiled.

"Okay," he nodded. Jake led him back to his room, and stripped off his shirt before crawling into bed. Arlo decided to keep his on, but crawled in next to Jake. Without any hesitation, the big cop wrapped his arms around Arlo, and pulled him close to his chest. Arlo snuggled in, and wrapped his own arms around Jake. It was something that he and Donovan never did anymore. They didn't fall asleep right away, they sat there and held each other. Jake didn't know what was going on with Arlo, and Arlo didn't know that Jake knew there was something wrong. But both of them put that aside and just enjoyed the company of another human being.