She found him sleeping and from the door frame she could see him lying down on his tummy without a shirt and with an arm stretched out to her side of the bed, his broad back was an eye-catcher and naturally in her mind Clarice went back to the last time they made love and how she had slowly traced every line of his muscles in love with how strong John was.

Clarice tried to be as quiet as she could when she came closer to the bed, for once she wanted to surprise him and wake him up, and things were looking promising but as she reached out to stroke his long hair John was faster and suddenly she was swept off her feet and landed on the bed softly.

From under his sturdy body she laughed resigned, there was no way around it, John's senses would always win over her sneaky ways and she would never be mad about it because he did it with a boyish innocent smile, the same one he now had for her.

"Good morning." He widened his smile happy that she was back.

Free to carry out what she first intended Clarice lost her fingers in his silky hair. "It would be a better morning if I could for once catch you off guard."

He smirked, not so much in a cocky way but proud that he could sense her regardless of who or what was happening around him.

"Did you hear my footsteps?" she tried to pinpoint what gave her away this time.

He shook his head, with her it was so much more than simple hearing or smelling. "I felt you."

Clarice moved her hand across the firm lines of his face, it was still overwhelming for her to be vulnerable enough to the point where she embraced the connection that existed between them. "I'm not going to give up." She assured him. "And one of these days I'm going to surprise you."

"I know that you will." He replied assured of it, there was nothing that she couldn't do. "I already missed the exact moment you snuck out of bed." he changed his smirking attire into a more serious tone.

The cute scowl made her laugh and Clarice didn't hold back. "If you blink you'll miss me."

What a journey it had been for her, when he first met Clarice she was barely in control of her abilities and now she was so comfortable in her skin that she was even making jokes and teasing him about what she so effortlessly mastered now.

She didn't miss the way he softly scooped her small body closer to his or the amount of love that she spotted in his beautiful eyes as he leaned in for a kiss, it was a soft kiss which was the only side she ever knew of John, he could very well be the strongest man she ever encountered but in his arms, she had only found love and safety.

One kiss turned to a dozen others and there was only a small break because John wanted to take a moment to appreciate how stunning she was and how he wanted to keep her shielded from any harm or pain.

"I was working with Steven." she started making random small circles on his chest. "He's starting to have a grip of how he can trigger his powers safely."

John knew how important Clarice had become to the group and how much she was helping the mutants that came here looking for help but every now and then the jealous boyfriend kicked in and he grunted aware that she left in the middle of the night to spend time with the new guy, it certainly didn't help to know that Steven had an unveiled crush on her. "He should work on his aversion to sunlight."

She scrunched in a smile. "We're working on that as well."

"Mmhm…" he grunted again.

"He makes good coffee, you know…" She pushed solely to mess with him.

"Ok, I'm going to ask Lorna to work with him from now on." John stated with a frown.

She chuckled amused that he actually meant it. "Don't worry, I sort of got used to the weird coffee that you make."

The comment brightened up his mood instantly and he even showed how smug he was about the silly achievement. "Are you hungry? I can make you some breakfast." He asked candidly, always with his heart on his sleeve.

Lazily she trailed her fingertips along the line of his shoulders and as she started going down his spine she felt him shiver under her touch. "Breakfast can wait." She whispered with a plea in her green mystical eyes.

John rolled over so that he could lie on his back and lovingly Clarice kissed him on the lips before sitting up so that she could get rid of her top, she liked how uneven his breathing became and that she was the reason for that.

Before he found her, she was a misfit that didn't belong anywhere and now she couldn't imagine a life where they didn't belong together.