Paul remained glued to the radio, while Will got busy in the kitchen, making lunch... From time to time, the speaker would come back on the air... telling again about the speech Pétain would give later...

While in the kitchen making lunch, Will felt sad for Paul and for France... Sure, Germany was victorious... but nevertheless, he felt sad. Let"s pray that such a thing never happens to Germany, Will tought to himself...

But he also thought about the fact that if, indeed, France had lost a major battle, the war was not over yet. The British were still fighting... and by now, they probably had very well fortified themselves on their island...

He stopped working for a while, and started thinking about that... England! That island would not be easy to take, Will thought... It was not like if the Wehrmacht could just walk to London... The Channel was there... and the Royal Navy was the most powerful in the world... Every German ship, trying to carry troops over there, would be sank so fast... Hitler was not creazy enough to try that, Will said to himself. Yeah... England was well protected by the Channel...

Hitler would have to take care of the Royal Navy first, before trying anything else... That explained why Hitler didn"t want to see the French Navy join the Royal Navy... Will smiled at that... Yeah, he thought... the French had a few good cards on their hand... Hitler will have to refrain himself...

Will finished preparing lunch, then joined Paul into the drawing-room.

"Here, my love... that will be sustaining... you have to eat if you want to survive... so I can make love to you again..." Will said to Paul, smiling while giving him a large plate full of food...

"Thanks, Will. I guess your right... as always... I should eat a little, because I sure intend to have you making love to me in a very near future...", Paul replied, smiling...

"So... what"s new? Have you heard anything?" Will asked.

"No. Nothing. Always the same speaker... you know..."

"We"ll have to wait..."

"Yeah!"

So they slowly ate their lunch... listening to the music on the radio... Not much was said...

Later on, they heard someone at the front door. Paul looked at Will, a bit puzzled...

"Are you expecting someone?"

"No!"

Paul rose and started walking to the entrance hall, Will following right behind him. He went to the door and, through the large panes, he saw two people standing outside. He smiled. He knew them... so he opened one of the large doors:

"Bonsoir, madame et monsieur Bloomfield... comment allez-vous? Mais entrez, je vous prie..." (Good evening, Mrs & Mr Bloomfield, how are you? Please, do come in...)

"Oh, good evening, monsieur Paul... How are you?" madame Bloomfield asked.

"Very well, thank you"

Then Paul noticed Mrs & Mr Bloomfield were looking at Will, standing right behind him...

"Please, come in, and join us... Do you remember my cousin Guillaume, from Strasbourg?", Paul asked them...

"I"m not sure we"ve ever met", Mr Bloomfield replied, with a smile on his face... "And if we did... you were probably very young at the time..."

"At any rate, Guillaume, this is Mrs & Mr Bloomfield, our neighbours...", Paul said.

They shook hands and Will, thinking fast, said to them:

"Oh!... yes... I remember having seen you in the past... but that"s a long time ago... So, you"re right Mrs Bloomfield, I was very young at the time... I guess I"ve grown up since then..."

"You"re right, Guillaume... You"ve certainly grown up... look at you... What a fine young man you are now..." Mrs Bloomfield said.

"Please, Mrs & Mr Bloomfield, call me "Will"... that"s my nickname..." Will replied, smiling to them....

"Please, do join us into the drawing-room", Paul said...

As they were walking towards the drawing-room, Mrs Bloomfield kept searching her memory to remember when they could have met with Will in the past... Did she even knew that the De Brion had family in Strasbourg? She wasn"t sure... But anyway, she concluded, sometimes, I have bad memory... so...

On his side, her husband had come to the same conclusion... Ah! Old age... he thought... Bad memory...

While walking towards the drawing-room, Paul gave a look to Will, with a grin on his face... Will returned the look with a frown...

"Please... do sit down. We were just waiting to listen to the speech Maréchal Pétain will give to the Nation, later... I hope you will stay with us to hear it...", Paul said.

"Oh, yes... We"ve heard about that speech... That"s the reason why we came..." Mr Bloomfield said "... "So we can talk with your father, after the speech..."

"Well Mr Bloomfield, I"m afraid you won"t be able to talk with my father... for my family isn"t back yet...", Paul replied.

"Oh", Mrs Bloomfield said... "We thought they were back... The other night, we thought we heard your mother play the piano... And this morning, we saw your father"s car, going and coming back... so we thought..."

Will smiled at Mrs & Mr Bloomfield, and said:

"It"s me, you heard playing the piano the other night... and it"s me you saw this morning, driving my uncle"s car... I just couldn"t stay put... I had to go out... and get some fresh news..."

"Oh, you play so well..." Mrs Bloomfield replied.

"Thank you very much... I guess I"ve inherited that talent from my aunt, Paul"s mother..." Will said, giving a big smile to Paul...

Paul smiled back to Will, thinking about what a good liar Will was! He had some guts! And Will had been right about everything else: The neighbours, not being all gone; People watching everything of what was going on outside, on the street... Yeah. Will had a very good judgment, Paul thought. He was always right about all those things...

On his side, Will was crossing his fingers in the hope that Mrs & Mr Bloomfield would not start questionning him about Strasbourg, for he knew nothing about that place... and he hoped they wouldn"t question him about his new "aunt" ... Shit... He didn"t even knew what her first name was... He had to do something to change the subject...

"Cousin Paul...", Will said, grinning... "Do you think we could serve coffee to our guest?"

"Oh, but of course... Where are my good manners...", Paul answered.

Will rose:

"Keep company to our guests, Paul... I"ll go make coffee... you know... I"ve been around here so often, that I know very well where to find everything I need..." Will stated, trying not to break into a fit of giggles, saying that...

"Yes, cousin Will... You"re so right..." Paul replied, thinking that if that was possible, he would strangle Will for what he had said... and the way he had said that... Oh, you, devil! You"ll pay for that, he said to himself...

Will began walking out of the drawing-room, and Paul could see his lover was glowing... Will was too happy to leave Paul and later see how he had swam out of the mess he had created...

A few minutes later, Will was back, carrying a large tray with coffee, sugar, cups and saucers on it... As he laid the tray on the coffee table, Paul said to him:

"Oh, cousin Will... I see you did find all you needed..."

Will sat and, looking at Mrs & Mr Bloomfield, he said to them:

"Yes... but you know... it"s not easy... Poor cousin Paul... now that my uncle"s Chef is gone... He no longer even have a maid, you know! All gone!!! All of them!!! Gone!!! Ahhhhhh! I tell you... Life is so dreadful, nowadays..."

Keeping his serious face, Will turned to Paul, a twinkle in his eye...

Oh shit! Paul thought... That does it! You"re gonna pay dearly for that, mister! Nonetheless, he had to refrain himself because, otherwise, he would burst out laughing... He didn"t know Will could be such a clown... He looked at Will and, being as serious as Will had been, Paul replied:

"Oh dear cousin... you"re so right... And you can understand our situation so well... since you were all forced to evacuate Strasbourg last year... It must have been so hard..."

"Yes", Will said... "You know... it"s been so hard... I prefer not to talk about that..."

"Oh... We do understand..." Mrs Bloomfield stated... "Poor you..."

"Yes", Will answered, giving a malicious smile to Paul, without their guest noticing...

But their little game was cut short, when the speaker came back on the air to say that in five minutes, Maréchal Pétain would start to give his speech...

The mood changed inside the drawing-room, as everyone nervously waited...

"Chers auditeurs, Monsieur le Maréchal Pétain s"adresse à vous maintenant" (Dear listners, Mr the Marshal Pétain speaks to you now"):

There was a pause, then they began hearing the voice of the old Maréchal:

"... Français!" (Frenchmen!)

"À la demande de Monsieur le Président de la République, j"assume à partir d"aujourd"hui la direction du Gouvernement de la France!" (At the call of Mr the President of the Republic, from today, I shall assume control over the direction of the French Government!)

And the old Maréchal went on, saying he knew he could count on the support of the Army, on the support of the ex-servicemen he had had the privilege to command in the past, as he knew he could count on the unbounded faith the whole of France had in him...

And then, he got to the main part of his speech:

"C"est le coeur brisé que je vous dis aujourd"hui qu"il faut cesser le combat!" (It is with a broken heart that I must tell you today that we must cease fighting!)

... And the old Maréchal went on, explaining that the night before, he had contacted the opposite side, to inquire as if they had the will to explore, along with France, and with honour, ways to end the hostilities...

Hearing that, Mr Bloomfield quickly got up, went to the radio and shut it off...

"Pierre!", Mrs Bloomfield shouted... "We"re not at home, here..."

"Don"t worry, Mrs Bloomfield, we"ve heard quite enough...", Paul calmly said.

"It"s a shame" shouted Mr Bloomfield... "It"s a shame to ask that poor old Maréchal Pétain, the hero fo Verdun, to beg the enemy for mercy... Where is President Lebrun? Where is Premier Reynaud? They have disgrace themselves... They should be brought to the guillotine..."

"Pierre... Stop!", Mrs Bloomfield shouted, "Come here, and sit down... At your age, you should not get so agitated... It"s not good for your heart..."

"Would you care for a Cognac, monsieur Bloomfield... That would help your heart", Paul said.

"Yes, Paul... how thoughtful of you... bring him a Cognac, please", madame Bloomfield replied...

"I guess, we all need a Cognac, don"t we?", Paul asked...

Everyone agreed to that. So Paul went on, and served everyone a glass of very old Cognac...

"You know", Paul started to say... "Monsieur Bloomfield is right... Lebrun and Reynaud are traitors... that"s what they are! Since they fled Paris, they knew we had lost faith in them... That"s why they called on poor old Marshal Pétain... He"s the only one left we still have faith in... How old is he" Paul asked Mr Bloomfield...

"Oh... he must be over 80 now..." Mr Bloomfield answered, with tears in his eye... "... Both of you, young men, you were not born then, but in 1916, he"s the one that saved France at Verdun... Up to this day, that"s the biggest battle mankind has ever seen... It was a real slaughter... on both sides... did you know that more than 700,000 soldiers from both sides died, disappeared or were wounded there? Yes... young men, the world had never seen such a slaughter... and I hope we will never see such an horror happen again... But during that battle, they sent Pétain to Verdun, and he gave courage to our soldiers, telling them the Germans would not succeed in their attempts to break through our lines... As Pétain then said: "Ils ne passeront pas!" (They will not pass...). And they didn"t... Our soldiers stood their ground, and France was saved... Thanks to Pétain..."

Paul gave a glance over to Will, as Will nodded, as to say it was all true...

"That"s certainly the reason why they called Marshal Pétain back... to save France once more...", Paul said.

"Well Paul, it was too late when they called him this time... the Germans had already gone through our lines, you see... there"s nothing Marshal Pétain can save now, except our honour, perhaps...", monsieur Bloomfield replied...

Everyone had tears in his eye... hearing what monsieur Bloomfield had just said, and that included Will...

"Let"s face it, my friends: We are defeated!", monsieur Bloomfield stated... "Let"s pray God, so he has mercy upon us..."

At that, Will rose to his feet and, taking his glass of Cognac, he said:

"To France!"

All rose and, with one voice, they replied:

"...To France!"

"Now Pierre... I think we should leave now... Enough emotions for tonight... beside, we should leave those fine young men alone, for I"m sure they have more pleasant things to do then keeping company to us, old aged people...", madame Bloomfield said, with a grin on her face...

"Oh, yes dear... We should go now...", her husband replied.

"Monsieur et madame Bloomfield, I assure you, you do not disturb us at all", Paul stated... "I"ve known you since I was a child and please believe me when I say I"ve always been very found of both of you... You"re almost like members of our family... you know... And it"s always a pleasure having you here... Should you ever need anything, please, feel free to knock on our doors... they will always be opened for you..."

Madame and monsieur Bloomfield rose and they both looked at the two fine young men they had in front of them... Then, madame Bloomfield said:

"Merci, Paul... you know my husband and I have always been very found of you too... We do appreciate your hospitality, but you know... at our age... We are a bit tired. So we shall go now, go home and get some rest... But Paul, should you ever need our help, you know we are there for you... Of course, we don"t have your means... We are not rich people... But nevertheless, you can always count on us..."

"Thank you very much... both of you...", Paul replied.

As they all started walking to the door, madame Bloomfield stopped, then kissed both young men on their cheeks, as she said:

"God bless you... both of you... And it"s been a pleasure seeing you again, Will... We hope we"ll have the pleasure to meet you again soon..."

"God bless you too, madame et monsieur Bloomfield", Will answered. "It"s been a pleasure to see you again... and I look forward meeting you again..."

At that, madame and monsieur Bloomfield left, both young men having seen them to the door. Then Paul locked the doors, and the two guys went back into the drawing-room.

"Another Cognac?", Paul asked Will...

"Sure... Thanks... I do hope they don"t have to walk too far... you know... At this time of night...", Will said.

"Oh, no... They live right next door... The house where they live belongs to my father... they have been our tenants for... like ages... you know...", Paul answered.

"They are very nice people... Are they Jews?"

"Why do you ask", Paul asked, with a worried frown...

"Well, with a name like "Bloomfield"... you know..."

"Yes... they are..."

"Well Paul, if you"re still making plans to shield you and me from troubles, you may as well include them into your plans..."

"Why do you say that, Will?"

"From what we"ve heard tonight on the radio, things are going to change here, in France... Yes Paul, whether we like it or not, things are going to change... As the Gestapo will get in here, they will start looking for the Jews... I"m sure of that... That"s what they did in Berlin... Back in Berlin, Lutz and I, we had good friends that were Jews. They were living on our street... And one by one, they all disappeared into the night... We never saw them again, and never heard from them again..."

"Do you know where they were taken to?"

"No. We don"t. It"s too dangerous to ask such a question in Germany, nowadays... But wherever they were taken to, I just can"t explain why they haven"t written to us... you know... That"s a sign they are no longer free to do so... otherwise, I"m sure our friends would have written to us...", Will answered.

"Shit, Will... it"s awful, what you just said..."

"I know... I don"t want to be a scare-monger, you know, but I think you should be aware of what could happen here... since it happened in Germany... and it"s still going on there ..."

"Obviously, I will have to take Mrs and Mr Bloomfield into account, in my plans... for I do not intend to see them disappear like that...That won"t happen... I swear... Trust me!"

"I"ve already told you Paul: I trust you with everything..."

"... Yeah... You know what, Will? You make a pretty good liar..." Paul stated, out of nowhere...

"Huh?", Will replied...

"Yeah... We"ll make a very good pair... You"ve got along very fast, with my story... you know... you being my cousin Guillaume from Strasbourg..."

"Shit Paul, I didn"t see that one comming... I"ve never even seen Strasbourg in my life... But why Strasbourg?"

"Well, in Alsace... not only do they speak French... but they also speak a German dialect... So I thought that would explain your slight accent..."

"WOW... You"re good Paul! I"m amaze... Good thing they didn"t start asking me questions about Strasbourg or Alsace, though... I know nothing about those places..."

"Well you"ll have to learn Will... Cause from now on, you"re from there... and you shall be able to answer any questions, so our story sticks... I"ll give you books to read about Alsace and Strasbourg... And I"m sure very soon, you"ll be able to lie unblushingly about your false city of origin..."

"How wicked you are, Paul De Brion... I think you"re as wicked as Hitler and Goebbels are..."

"Worst! ... Will... Worst...to protect you, I"ll do anything... and if I have to sell my soul to the devil to do that, I will gradly do it..."

"You love me that much, Paul?"

"Much more than you can think, Will... I would gladly give my life to save yours, Will... I swear!"

"Come here, Paul De Brion... come here, and kiss me!"

Paul went to Will, and they began to kiss passionately.

After a while, Will said:

"Guess it"s time to go to bed, don"t you think?"

"Yeah. I guess it"s enough for today... What about a good bath, before we go to bed... relax a bit... What do you think?" Paul asked Will.

"That"s a good idea... let"s go..."

So they went upstairs, got undressed and then, took a very hot and relaxing bath together. Will wanted to make love to Paul... to kiss him everywhere... but he knew Paul had been through many emotions today. All Paul wanted for now, was to be hold by Will"s strong arms... to feel he was there for him... with him... Will sensed that, and respected that. He loved Paul so much. His sexual needs would have to wait...

Will was lying on his back in the bathtub, as Paul laid between his legs, his back hard press against Will"s chest... Will knew Paul could feel his boner, but having check, Paul wasn"t sporting one. Paul was resting...

Will kissed Paul on the back of his neck, very tenderly, telling him how much he was in love with him...

"You"re horny, huh?", Paul asked Will...

"I can"t denied it... as you see and feel... but not tonight. I want you to get some rest. It"s not a good time for you, you know... And I understand that... Tonight, we"re gonna take it easy. Beside, we"ve got a lot of time before us... We"ve got the whole future...", Will answered.

"I could give you a hell of a good blowjob right now", Paul replied, smiling to Will...

"I know..." Will answered, smiling "And I"m sure I would love it. But, Paul, you will give me a good blowjob when you really feel you want to, not only because you want to make me feel good... So now, what I suggest is we go to bed, and get a very good night sleep... There will be many other nights, Paul... but for tonight, let"s just go to sleep, what do you think?"

"...You"re right... as always...", Paul answered.

So they went to bed, and Paul cuddled into Will"s warm and smooth body. He felt so secured there... He could feel Will"s hardon press against his arse crack. He knew Will was horny... but not him... He loved Will so much because Will respected that. Yeah, Paul thought, he had found the love of his life!