A pang of some emotion goes through Liam. Is it hard for his boy to ask? To resist even to this small degree? His hand is squeezing his thigh and he forces himself to let go. If he were there, he’d have his hand on Daniel’s neck to keep him calm.

“Suppressants and hormones to help you with the first few weeks of reentry into society. To help you not make an impulsive decision, it’s standard procedure to supply suppressants to soldiers coming out of cryo-stasis. It’s often quite difficult for soldiers who’ve been in stasis to reintegrate, even with their loved ones. Three years have passed,” she says, and attempts a half smile, but then she’s looking down at the information before her, eager to get through the evaluation.

“Does it say who is here for me?” Daniel asks, voice uneven. “Did you see who it was? Please?”

The doctor frowns. “I don’t know. I’m sorry. They just give us the assignments in the morning. Half the time there isn’t anyone here to meet a submissive coming out of stasis. You’re lucky.”

Daniel’s brows pull together, lips twisting downwards briefly. Then he swallows the pills, washing them down with a small plastic cup filled with water.

Liam has to look away. His poor boy. How many times has he had to rely upon the doctors and take drugs when he didn’t want them? How many times has he had to trust people who didn’t care about him or view him as anything more than another task to be completed?

“He’s coming home with us tonight,” Logan says.

Robert winces. “We need to talk to Daniel first. Liam, did you know suppressants were standard procedure?”

“Of course.”

Robert nods. It’s the first time he’s seen anything like approval on the Dominant’s face.

“He’s my brother. He’s the only real family I’ve ever had. I need time to talk to him, to explain and reconnect. And he’s suppressed. They both are. Surely, the designation decision can wait a day or two?”

“I want to do more with your brother than fuck him,” Liam says.

“Do you?” Logan blinks back tears.

Which is a disaster because Robert is going to take one look at his submissive being emotional and of course he’s going to do whatever Logan wants.

Liam turns his attention back to the TV and sees Daniel disappearing behind a screen.

“Where is he going? Is he coming here?” Liam asks. The guard in the corner looks up at them from his crossword puzzle.

“He’s gotta shower and piss. They have to test his urine and wait for a few blood tests to come back before you’ll see him. Probably another hour,” he says, and goes back to doing his crossword.