Chapter Text
A New Journey
By PattRose
Summary: Milt and Russ have to go out of town to get a statement from a witness and Milt might just drive Russ insane. But maybe not in the way we think.
Warnings: Mild language
Genre: Pre-slash
Rating: Teen
AN: I'm still not too sure of my footing in this fandom, but hopefully you will like this one.
Russ was drinking his coffee and enjoying reading the sports page when his doorbell rang. He walked over and opened the door and groaned, outwardly. Milt Chamberlain was standing there waiting to be invited in.
"What do you want?" Russ growled.
"The Commander sent me with a message. We're going to Chicago as of this morning. We'll be driving, so you need to pack a bag for at least four days."
"You're kidding me?" Russ stepped aside and let Milt in.
"Nope, we have to be on the road by ten this morning. GPS will guide us the rest of the way, but I already have the motel reserved and it shouldn't take too long. We have to get a statement from a witness that moved to Chicago and she won't come back here unless there is a trial. So, the Commander decided we would go to her."
"Oh isn't that perfect? Couldn't she have sent someone else?" Russ was still growling.
"Look at it this way, haven't you ever wanted to have dinner and drinks in Chicago? Now we have a chance to do just that," Milt said, smiling the entire time.
Russ wanted to smack that smile right off of his face, but instead he headed into his bedroom and started packing a suitcase. Milt followed him in which shocked Russ.
"What do you think you're doing in my bedroom?"
Russ smiled at him again. "I'm going to help you pack."
"Go and have a cup of coffee. I'm going to pack myself. I'll be right out."
Milt didn't say anything, just turned and walked out of the room as quickly as he had come in.
I probably hurt his feelings. Damn-it, I'm sick of worrying about hurting his feelings.
Milt called out from the kitchen, "Do you mind if I help myself to some cream for the coffee?"
He sounds okay. "Sure, it's in the fridge."
"Thanks, Russ. We've got about two hours before we have to leave, would you like me to come back when it's time to leave?"
Russ sighed and walked into the kitchen. "No, we'll leave a little early. Nothing beats getting somewhere on time or a little ahead of time. I hate being late for things. Where are we staying?"
"It's a place downtown, near where the witness lives. It's called Ohio House Motel and I found it interesting that it's in Chicago and called Ohio House Motel. So that's where I decided to book the two nights."
"You booked a motel because it's called Ohio House Motel? Don't you find this odd, even to you?" Russ couldn't believe he had to travel with this man.
"They only gave me so much to work with and I'm doing the best I can," Milt answered, sounding butt hurt.
"I'll hurry up and finish packing. Drink your coffee and I'm sure the motel is just fine." Russ walked back into his bedroom and found himself almost laughing. Milton Chamberlain was a character-that was for sure.
When Russ came walking out with his suitcase in hand, Milt was drinking his coffee and reading the sports page.
"Don't get that sports page wet. I want to read it in the SUV. I'm ready whenever you are."
Milt stood up and said, "It might be a good idea to turn off the heater and the coffee pot."
Russ glared at him. "If I turn the heat down my plant might die."
Milt looked at the dead plant and asked, "That plant?"
"Oh shit, I forgot to water it for the last couple of days. I guess I can turn the heater off while we're gone after all. Someone gave me that plant and I hate them."
"I gave it to you when you had the flu last month," Milt reminded him.
"Oh…Sorry about that. Ready?"
They walked out the door with Russ carrying his suitcase and Milt talking non-stop. Russ already knew it was going to be a very long trip.
"Oh shit, I forgot the fucking newspaper."
"I have it, Russ. I've got you covered."
Russ glared at him again, making Milt smile even bigger. It was almost like Milt enjoyed pissing Russ off.
The trip started pretty uneventful until they got to a gas station.
"Really? You need gas already? We've only been on the road for a half hour, Milt."
"Do you want to walk to Chicago, or would you like me to stop for gas?"
"I'm just going to read my newspaper, you do your thing." Russ folded the newspaper for easier reading and totally ignored Milt.
Milt didn't like being ignored, but also knew that they had a short but weird trip ahead of them.
"How far is this motel, Milt?"
"It's about three and a half hours from here. So, we'll make it easily for dinner."
"I think you think about food a lot, Milt."
"That's because I'm always hungry," Milt answered.
"Have you had a doctor check you out about that?" Russ asked.
"You're telling me that after no breakfast and no lunch you won't be ready for an early dinner?"
Russ looked over at Milt and actually smiled. "Well, when you put it like that, I guess I could eat. But you know, we could stop on the way and have lunch or breakfast."
"Are you hungry, Russ?"
"I wasn't until you told me you were hungry. Hey, there's a Village Inn, let's stop and have some pancakes." Russ was ready to eat now.
Milt pulled into the parking lot and they both got out of the SUV. "I don't really care for pancakes that much."
"You know Milt, they have all sorts of things at this restaurant."
"That's true. I could have eggs, hash browns and bacon, couldn't I?"
Russ was just about ready to make Milt sit in the car and wait for him. "You can have whatever you want. I'm having pancakes."
"Thank God, you're not a diabetic," Milt mentioned.
Russ rolled his eyes and said, "Don't even start with the Insulin shit."
"I was making a joke, Russ."
"In that case, keep the jokes away from me. You're not funny."
They walked in and sat down and they each ordered breakfast. Russ got buttermilk pancakes with a side of bacon and Milt thought that sounded good suddenly and got the same thing.
He is fucking weird. Russ thought to himself.
They ate breakfast with Milt doing all of the talking and then paid the check. Milt said they were on an expense account so he was paying with his credit card and would give it to the Commander when they got back.
As Milt drove down the road, Russ just quietly read his paper.
"I haven't read the news yet today, why don't you read it out loud and that way we both can hear it?"
Russ just looked at him like he was insane. "I don't want to read the paper out loud."
"Oh that's fine. Some people aren't comfortable reading out loud. I understand."
Russ was getting pissed off. "You don't understand shit. Fine, you want me to read the paper, I'll read the paper."
Russ began reading the front page and some of the articles were fairly interesting. He continued reading the rest of the paper and then the sports page, which he tried to make exciting now and then, making Milt laugh. No one could say that Russ didn't have a sense of humor.
Before they knew it, they were at the motel and Russ said, "Let me go in and get the rooms."
"Room, we have to share."
"What the fuck? What do you mean we have to share? I haven't shared a room since I was a kid and I don't want to start now."
"They have two full sized beds, it's not like we have to share the bed," Milt said.
"Why do we have to share?"
"We only have so much to spend on this trip and it's for a single room."
Finally, Russ decided to let Milt off the hook. "That's fine as long as we don't have to share a bed."
"Russ, did you notice all the cars? This must be a good place, everyone seems to be staying here."
"It does look busy, maybe a conference or something."
Milt got out of the SUV and they both grabbed their luggage and headed in to the lobby.
Milt checked them in because he used his credit card for it. Once that was done they walked up the stairs and to the right and found their room number. Milt opened up the door and stepped in and frowned. There was a king sized bed.
"What happened to the two beds, Milt?" Russ wasn't a happy camper at that moment.
"I'll go down and see. Just take a load off and watch tv or something," Milt suggested.
As soon as he left, Russ started pacing. I knew this was too good to be true. Fuck…
When the door opened, Russ knew it was bad news. Milt said, "You were right. There is a conference and three conventions. Every room in this area is booked. We have to deal with this one. I'm sorry, I thought they understood me, but evidently they don't speak English."
Russ smiled at him when he saw how frustrated Milt was. "It's okay, you can sleep in the SUV, how does that sound?"
"You know, I could. I could ask for an extra blanket and sleep in the back with the back seat pushed down," Milt was really trying to make this work.
"We'll be okay, Milt. Don't worry. When do we talk to our witness?"
"I'm going to call her now and see if she can see us today. If that's the case, we might be able to leave in the morning."
"Somehow, the way things have been going it's not going to be that easy," Russ teased.
"Why aren't you mad? You usually are."
"We can't do anything about it. So, we'll make the best of it. Just stay on your side of the bed."
Milt smiled this time and said, "I could sleep in this chair over here."
"Don't be ridiculous. We'll do just fine. Now, why don't you call our witness?"
Milt dialed the number on his cell phone and talked t0 her husband. They talked a while and Milt hung up. "She works nights, so she won't home until tomorrow morning. He said she'd probably like to get a few hours' sleep before she talks to us. So, I made the appointment for 1:00 tomorrow."
"Okay, so what do we do now?" Russ asked.
Milt didn't have a clue. "Would you like to walk around and see some of the city? Then while we're doing that maybe we'll find a place for dinner."
That's a good idea, we'll walk around the city. I just hope we don't get lost," Russ joked and smiled at Milt.
Milt didn't know what was going on. Why is Russ being so nice to me? Why isn't he biting my head off?
*
When they finished their walk and stopping for dinner they arrived back at the motel, safe and sound. They took turns taking a shower and both men wore sleep pants to bed.
Russ had a tee shirt on, but Milt was bare chested and for some reason that bothered Russ. Why does he have to look so fucking good with no shirt on? And why do I care?
Milt put the television on and they watched the early news and before long Russ was sound asleep. It was only 10:00 and he was out like a light. Milt went down to the bottom of Russ's side of the bed and pulled the sheet and blanket up and started to cover Russ up. Russ opened his eyes at that moment and held on to Milt's hand and pulled him in for a soft and sexy kiss. Milt didn't object, so Russ figured it must be fine.
Before long, they were kissing very passionately and both men were humping the other one as they kissed. Suddenly, Milt pulled away and said, "Not like this."
"Like how, might I ask?" Russ asked.
"I don't want something in a seedy motel. I want something more memorable than that."
Russ turned on his side with his back facing Milt and said, "Goodnight, Milt."
"Goodnight, Russ. Sleep well."
*
At two o'clock, Milt was still awake and sighing quite loudly.
Russ rolled over pulled Milt into his arms and said, "My house, when we get home. Now, get to sleep." Then he kissed him firmly to let him know he meant business.
Milton smiled and rolled on his side staring at Russ's backside and fell asleep quite easily.
TBC