The Leaves of Change

'There is nothing like autumn in New York,' thought Archie Goodwin as he now lazily walked down the sidewalks of New York City.

Nero Wolfe had just closed a tough case and Archie was finishing up last minute errands for his boss when he realized that the fall season had begun. Of course, the argument they had that morning had pushed him into wanting to get out of the house.

'Fall,' Archie reflected, 'Is a time for change. Time for a man to turn his thoughts from politics towards home.'

'It was fall when,' Archie paused as he remembered that day so long ago. 'I left Ohio and headed out toward New York. Wanting to put the past behind me,' he thought as he picked up a fallen leaf and played with it between his fingers.

'It was on a fall day,' he remembered as he let the leaf go, 'That I met Wolfe and my life completely changed, forever.' He reflected all this as he turned the street corner and headed for home.

'Home,' he thought as he headed towards the brownstone. 'I never really had a home until the day I met Wolfe. The day we met felt like a coming home to me.'

'They say,' he thought to himself as he walked down the sidewalk. 'Home is where the heart is. If that's true, then my heart happily belongs to an overweight man with a heart as big as a house.' With that thought in mind, he began to pick up different types of leaves that had fallen to the ground. 'Because, if home is where the heart is, then there are going to be some changes around here.' He stood up and tossed the leaves aside and began to stride down the sidewalk with determination and headed towards the brownstone.

'Cause, if he wants to change this relationship of ours, then it's going to be on my terms as well.' He opened the door and slammed it shut. He threw his hat on the side table and strode into the office where Nero Wolfe was sitting behind his desk reading a book.

"You want to change our relationship from boss to co-worker to lovers. Well, so do I," Archie said as he grabbed the book out of Nero's hands tossed it on the floor.

"But it will be on my terms as well, instead of just yours. The first thing that is going to change is that, I," Archie demanded as he slammed his fist on the desk. "Will lead in this relationship. You may be boss in the office and be boss between you and I as co-workers. But, when it comes to our private relationship, then I am boss and you can't do anything about."

"Two," Archie growled low as he moved around the desk. "When and if you have problems in our relationship you will come to me first. No going behind my back and talking about them to someone else. You will come to me and we will discuss them."

"Three," Archie exclaimed as he held up three fingers and moved closer to the very shocked Wolfe. "No matter what happens in our relationship, remember that I love you and that I am a very jealous guy. If I even see you look at another man I will not think twice of taking the guy out. The same goes for me, too. I won't look at another woman or man again. When it comes to this relationship we see each other and ONLY EACH OTHER!" He angrily pointed out to Nero.

"And finally, four," Archie stated as he closed the gap between he and Nero. "When it comes to sex in the bedroom. You may have more experience then me but I am willing to learn more. I won't break. If I want it rough, I will tell you. If you want to play sexual games, then tell me. If I want to be on top or bottom then I will tell you. For sex in our bedroom will be equal to both of us and not one sided."

Archie paused to take a breath before he spoke again, " Do you agree to these terms?"

Nero looked up at the handsome young man standing before him, "Yes," he said as he placed his hands on Archie's hips and pulled him closer to him. "I agree to your terms. I agree to them because I love you, Archie Goodwin and I would like to make this relationship work."

"I love you, too, Nero Wolfe" Archie whispered as he leaned down and sealed their agreement with a kiss filled with love and passion.