It was a rather frosty morning for September. Nothing wrong with the weather- I was talking about the chill in the car as we drove to the airport. Terry was driving with intent, the gear stick being manhandled with such vehemence that it is a wonder it didn't come off in his hands. I sat twiddling my thumbs and counting. Jeff and Paul lounged in the back and appeared to be staring out of their respective windows. Oh whoopee do! A car full of pissed people.

Flashback. Last night.

"Whose idea was it anyway? Yours?"

"No!" I was folding up clothes and packing, while Terry paced around our room, a glass of Scotch in his hand.

"Sounds like the sort of fucking stupid idea you'd come up with..." I glared at him but didn't respond. "I mean...what is the point? It isn't as though you don't get any sex these days..."

I slammed the lid of the case. "Will you quit bellyaching and carry this downstairs for me? There is to be a retreat for the Sisters. We are at the Temple. So are the unattached Brothers. We may have sex with some of them. We may not. Get over it."

"And what about me? What about all the Number Ones? What are we supposed to fucking do all week?"

I raised my eyes. "Work. Eat. Sleep. How the fuck do I know? Are you trying to tell me you can't last a week without a shag? Come on...you've gone months without it in the past. It will do you good. Time to recharge your batteries..."

"There is nothing wrong with my batteries. And I didn't mean sex - although it perturbs me that you immediately see this as an opportunity to root any young body that happens to drift past your gaze..."

"What? I said no such thing! You are twisting my words!" I howled at his ridiculous remark.

"I was talking about how I will manage... what about the house, food, my ironing? Have you left me enough shirts?" Sometimes he is quite unbelievably the most chauvinistic man I have ever met.

"Jesus Christ! You are lucky I don't take a pair of scissors to them. I thought I was shit at ironing, as you always tell me. I thought only soldier boys could get the right crease? Suddenly you can manage to look after yourself? Terry Thorne, Boy Scout extraordinaire, cannot spend a week without his Mum looking after him? Do you know how pathetic that sounds? Just wait until I tell the girls what you said...they will howl..."

He snorted. "They won't believe you. They think I'm perfect." He smiled smarmily and I had an overwhelming urge to...why does he make me feel like that when I should be slapping him silly?

Which is why we were suddenly rolling on the floor, moaning soft and low when we heard their voices....

PAUL

First time for everything. Never written a diary before. Not sure I'm allowed. I'm not a Sister, whatever anyone says. But I am about to be deserted for a week while Jeffie boy goes over to the opposition. Bleedin' hell, mate, I have been pretty tolerant these past few weeks. I know full well what he was up to with Uma the other weekend- so nice of her to present me with a ticket for the big match at home, wasn't it? Like I didn't know they wanted me out of the way once Terry had left? OK, I know I wanted to go back to the 'Pool and see my Mam and Dad but...they'd been eying each other up for days. You could see the sparks flying whenever they were in the same room. It was a standing joke with the blokes at the house. Bet Uma doesn't know they're keeping a score card. And there is also a book on whose balls Thornie will rip off first when he gets back...Jack the Lad or Jeff.

So we get back to normal, like, and then he drops this fucking bombshell on me. "Sorry mate, I'm going to the Temple for a week. You know how it is..." Actually I don't know how it is. I'm gay. I've never slept with a woman. Shit- I don't even sleep with other blokes, for Christ's sake. I do not understand Jeff. I just love him. So I put up with it. But weeks like this give me the fucking shits, I can tell you. So...I wasn't in a very good mood that last night.

"So what's the matter with you then? You've got a face on you like you're gonna chuck a berko..." Jeff said as he threw a few items of clothing into a sports bag. I pulled it from him and rearranged his packing. He is the most untidy bugger I have ever met.

"Nothing's the matter," I snapped back, refolding tee shirts and pairing up odd socks.

"Nothing's the matter?" Jeff imitated my voice and laughed. "You're racked off because of this Temple thing...why don't you fucking say so? I can't stand it when you hover around muttering under your breath. It drives me fucking mental..." He pulled the bag from me and messed up the contents. "And I like my clothes creased. All right?"

Just then we heard them at it again. Jesus Christ...I thought men slowed down as they got near forty. He must have been like a fucking geyser when he was our age. It's like that every night, every morning and occasionally in between. And they make plenty of noise. Have they never considered a silent orgasm? Or sound proofing as part of the renovations?

"Terry....oh my God...Terry...ahhhh...ahhhh....again...ohhhhh, again... oh, oh, oh, oh, oh...YESSSSS..."

"Jesus...hnnnnngh...fuck....fuck...oh yessssss."

I caught Jeff's eye and he grinned. "Bloody hell, mate, that makes me horny...do you fancy a bit...?"

That was it. "Perhaps you'd prefer to go in and join them then? Why don't you have a go at both of them? That's what turns you on isn't it, Jeff? Give her a bang and blow him at the same time? Jesus Christ...you are too much, mate!"

"Sort yourself out, mate. What is crawling up your bum, hey? I've always been straight with you, well, for a poofta, that is...I am gay. I'm in love with you. But the Sisters still do it for me- I am a fucking Brother. I can't fucking help it! Anyway, I always did like girls as well. You know that."

"Then why don't admit you're bi?"

"'Cos I'm not. I'm not interested in women as a whole."

"No...just as a hole?"

"That was a bit off, Paul. I don't see them like that."

"So what do you see them like?"

He held his hands up. "I can't fucking explain it to you. You don't feel the same. You've gotta trust me on this one. I'm going away for a week. You went home and I didn't complain..."

"Complain...you had her knickers off before my car had left the street...and don't pretend you didn't...and I went to see my Mam and Dad...I wasn't shagging my way around until my dick was sore - as yours will be at the end of  next week..."

"Nothing may happen. Well, not much anyway...

I gave up. It is hopeless trying to reason with him. It's not that I don't understand his predicament. I've seen them all together and they are special. I know that. But it still hurts when the man you love shows that he has strong feelings for others. I don't want to think of anyone else touching him- man or woman- but that's natural. Unlike The Game. That is unnatural. No, not exactly unnatural. Just unreal. No, not exactly unreal. Surreal. Like nothing else. None of the normal rules apply.

"Aww...Paul...come on, mate. I don't want to fight with you. Not tonight. I'm gonna miss you. Let me show you just how much?" Jeff's voice dropped to that low silky burr as he came up and slipped one arm round my waist, his other hand stroking down my face in his tender way, his head on one side and that sweet grin of his forming. When he touches me I know that he loves me...I bent down to kiss him, raising my own hand to skim the stubble on his cheek as I tilted his face to mine. I felt his hand grip my arse and pull me against him, grinding against my bolt. The familiar surge of heat and desire flooded through me as he pulled back slightly and ran his hand over my groin, squeezing while he unzipped me. I groaned as I felt his large warm hand slip inside and grasp me, his thumb massaging the tip and rubbing in the droplets of pungent ooze. Then he dropped to his knees and I ran my hands through his thick hair...

UMA

"Do they ever take a rest? You can't leave them together in a room for five bloody minutes before one of them has his hands down the other's pants..." Terry dragged on his cigarette and I took it from his fingers to have a puff myself.  Lying back in his arms, I smiled at the noises of passion from the next room.

"They're in love, Terry, and they're young. Anyway...we've just been doing the same thing..."

"No, we haven't...since when have I stuck it up your bum?' He retorted, unwilling to accept that gay sex was exactly the same as hetero- and he is lying about the bum bit. He just won't admit to it.

"Oh, can it, will you, you old fart. Make me remember why I always come home to you even after the delights of the Temple...." With a grunt, Terry rolled me back and set to with gusto. Well, we had to drown them out, didn't we?

That was last night. The farewell sex hadn't really made much difference. Normal service was resumed as usual- Terry was tight-lipped and Paul was sulking. I caught Jeff's face in the mirror and raised my eyes. He slipped his tongue through his teeth and gave his eyebrows a wiggle, mouthing... "Mile high club?" I snorted and Terry glared across at me. Oh dear...

I should point out that there had been a last minute change of plans. We were supposed to be flying BA or Virgin Atlantic or something but then Lachlan emailed me and said he would take us- Dino was sending him over with an important corporate client and his team who had a meeting in London with Terry on Monday. So it was all change at the last minute and that is why we missed the pick up. I told Terry to call the Temple and he, of course decided to forget to do that- not that I realized until we got there, of course. How mature of him.

At the departure gate, I decided not to linger. While Jeff and Paul openly canoodled to the dismay of some of the other travelers, I gave Terry a tender kiss- more than he deserved in the circumstances- and then pecked Paul on the cheek, trilling gaily, "Paul...do look after Terry this week...there's his cooking, washing, ironing....and his sex life. See...you won't know I'm gone, Tez. Anything I can do, Paul can do better..." The two men exchanged pained glances as Jeff took my hand and led me away. We were still laughing and exchanging imaginary conversations between Terry and Paul as we boarded the plane.

The minute I was up top, I raced for the cockpit. Lachlan was there with the co-pilot going over some of the pre-flight checks and was a little embarrassed when I bounced onto his knee and announced my arrival with a smacking great kiss. Phil coughed a few times and Lachlan backed away with a serious face on him ( but a twinkle in his eye). He told me to settle down and belt up. He'd be back when they were cruising.

True enough, Carol was still serving us our first drinks when he slipped back and sat down with us, chatting politely to Jeff but giving me a slight nod in the direction of the rest room. I rolled my eyes in that "I can't, Jeff's here!" expression. Jeff leaned over and whispered in my ear.

"Go on, Uma...I don't want to be at the mercy of a man with a raging hard on. I want to be sure my pilot can keep his mind on the job. Know what I mean?" He nodded to Lachlan and faked a yawn, settling down for a nap. We took our chance. While Carol was busy in the galley sorting out lunch, we snook out and took a while in the toilets. OK- not very imaginative, I know, but we didn't have long and we weren't about to waste our chance.

Lachlan has obviously had some practice at this and he found the confines of the small room little problem. He positioned me on the vanity bar, arranged my left leg daintily on the toilet cistern and we were ready for take off. Up we went, smooth as silk, hardly a bump and the engines humming sweetly. At cruising we broke apart from our intense burst of lingual injection to mutter and whisper into each other's ear and mouth as we panted and moaned. He was so deep inside me that I could only wrap myself around him and hang on as he began to raise the speed. The clock was rising and the pressure gauge was on full. Danger zone. Vibration in the wings, heat scorching the body and an imminent fuel leak. Oh my God...I think we just went through the sound barrier. What was that noise? Surely not Lachlan and me?

As we dropped our speed and returned to a more safe altitude, thankful for the plentiful supply of towels and soap to clean ourselves up, we finally had that chat. He didn't seem to want to discuss the week at all; I think he was upset about it and already missing Heather. In fact I know he was. As strange as it might seem, he sat down on the closed toilet seat while I perched on the vanity and our post-coital talk was about how much he loved Heather and couldn't bear to think of her with another man, how he couldn't sleep without her etc., while I rambled on about how Terry was being such an unreasonable tosser about everything and treating me like I was Salome and would be stripping off my veils for all and sundry. I agreed Heather was being harsh to leave him and Lachlan said that Thorne was just a two-faced bastard anyway. Carol knocked on the door and broke into our reverie with a snotty "Is someone actually smoking in the restrooms?" You better believe it, Carol. And we are having a fag afterwards as well.

Many hours later, we pulled up at the Temple in a taxi and rang the bell. Lachlan was not with us. He was taking a night at a hotel and then flying back; Terry apparently needed the plane in the week. I rattled the gate and rang the bell. Jeff was rooting through that messy sports bag of his looking for his swipe card with little success when Arthur and Colin loped down to the gate and had a look at us. Once they saw who it was, Arthur couldn't get the door open fast enough, as you can imagine, and I was already mauling him through the iron grille. Love that boy. Colin gave me a nod and one of his enigmatic looks. I wriggled my nose at him and rolled my eyes- he grinned. He's not as cool as he likes to act. Picking up my case, Colin turned his eyes to Jeff who was paying off the driver. Arthur and I were locked in an embrace- he was swinging me round and I was shouting Welsh obscenities at him. Well, it had been ages.

Suddenly..."Where the fuck you think you're going?" Colin asked Jeff, blocking his way and dragging on a rollie.

"You talking to me, O'Brien?" Jeff asked with a bemused expression.

"No one else about," Colin answered. Arthur put me down and looked at his shoes, his hands in his pockets. I stared in surprise.

"What's the matter, Col?" 

"Why have you come with Mitchell? He's not invited."

"Not invited? He's a Temple Boy. Even those who live out have come back...like you for instance," I reminded him and I stood by Jeff. Surely they weren't going to stop him coming him.

"Wrong, love. He lives with his number Two and has a number One of his own. His girl might be a touch on the hairy side for me but...well, each to his own, hey?  We talked this out. Mitchell lives like the A-team. He gets enough and a shit load of visits, too. So...sorry Jeffie. No way." Colin took my hand and pulled me towards the gate; Arthur narrowed the gap. I shook his hand away.

"He's come bloody thousands of miles. He wants to see Darce....ah come on, you plonkers, let him in...Arthur...let him in ...the Sisters want him there."

"I am so sorry, Yooma. More than my life is worth. The Brothers were very specific on that one. Jeff Mitchell no longer qualifies for Temple Week privileges..." He swept me inside and locked the gate, leaving Jeff on the outside.

"Where the fuck am I supposed to go, you wankers? The fucking taxi's gone...least you can do is give me a ride..." Jeff kicked the gate in temper. I didn't blame him. I was furious.

"Mother House. Down the road. Ya can't miss it. Cort's expecting you...enjoy the week." And with that, the two men bustled me along towards the main house.

"Jeff!!! I'm going to tell the others. They will throw a wobbler at this. Just watch. I'll get you in, I promise..." I watched as Jeff, picked up his luggage and gave the gate a final blow before turning and heading off down the road. I was so mad that I wouldn't even speak to the pair of them. Great start, hey?