Summary:

It happens in an instant.

Over Ilya’s shoulder, Shane sees the doctor and Wiebe give each other a look, and in a sudden bout of impatient anxiety, Shane ends up saying the words that come to ruin everything.

“Don’t touch me.”

The effect is instantaneous. Ilya’s hands fly to his sides, and Shane gets a front row seat as Ilya’s heart breaks before his very eyes. Eyes dimming and lips trembling in slow, painful technicolor.

It causes Shane’s heart to break, too, and he vows, immediately, never to see such a look cross his husband’s face again.

OR Shane embarks on a mission to heal his husband’s heart, one PDA at a time.