Title: The first Morning After
Author: Veritas-amore
Word count: 1806
A/N: This is the first fic I write for this pairing. I hope I did this ship justice. It's set the morning after the season three finale 'Human Error' after Cameron has gone to Chase' house. I hope you like it. A review would be very much appreciated.
Between the cooling sweat on their bodies, the tangle of the bed sheets and the blanketing darkness of the room pierced by the silver sliver of moonlight flitting in through the crack in the curtains, stupor began to overwhelm him. He'd been on the verge of heading to his bed when Cameron had shown up and the course of the night had forever been changed.
An agenda heralded by sleep was suddenly ripped into many tiny pieces and having Cameron between his arms and wrapped about his body was his main priority.
Three hours later and she lay asleep naked in his arms, her hair spread out on the pillow like dark vines as his fingers lightly combed through the strands, revelling in its smoothness and allowing his memory to be drowned in the reminder of similar past moments. He drank her in greedily, his eyes roving from her peaceful slumbering features to the milky skin of her shoulders that lay exposed to him. His fingers devoured her skin beneath the sheets, tracing every soft curve, each silken spot and just basking in having her next to him, warm, compliant and for once, wanting and needing him in more than just a physical way.
Chase was afraid to go to sleep. His yawns were increasing and his eyelids were growing heavy with the oblivion that was already beginning to trickle and flow around his system. The hand that was running through Cameron's hair was becoming indolent, his arm about her waist falling from her side in lethargy and his head was unconsciously leaning closer to the pillow.
He didn't want to sleep. Sleep would ruin this heavenly fantasy, sleep would make him miss every sigh and mumble she made whilst comatose, sleep would draw him away from the wonderful sensation of having her against him, her back to him, her fingers resting lightly above his at her waist and sleep would pillage him of the euphoria that she had come to him, had kissed him, told him she wanted him and shared her body with him once more, only further spurring his desire for her.
He didn't want to sleep. But sleep was a beast he couldn't quite win a battle with at the moment. And with a final, lazy kiss to Cameron's neck, Chase closed his eyes and surrendered to exhaustion.
Her side of the bed was empty when his eyes had fluttered open and he'd immediately turned to check whether she was still next to him. Disappointment saturated his veins and he felt the heavy, sinking feeling in his chest he'd come to associate with Cameron's persistent rebuffs lay heavily atop his heart.
Pulling the duvet back, Chase heavily got off the bed and pulled a fresh pair of boxers and a t-shirt on, listening to the early morning rain patter against the windows in a comforting, melancholy soundtrack to this miserable start to the day.
He felt cheated. How could Cameron be so cruel? How could she come here and blatantly lie to his face in order to just get her ego and hormones soothed? He'd never known her to be that callous. Then again, maybe it was just him she didn't mind being callous to. Out of the seven billion people alive on the planet, he was the only one whose needs and feelings she didn't cater to. Fucking brilliant. If anything, he was the idiot for catering to her sexual needs and nothing else. He was the idiot for believing her so blindly and being so eager to believe in the prospect that she might truly want him.
From his bedroom, he stumbled into the bathroom where he showered, tying to scrub away the dirty feeling of being used but failing. It was a parasitic feeling; crawling jarringly all over his skin until he felt he might suffocate from the sensation. Maybe he'd stamped some inane combination of words across his forehead reading: Use me, Cameron; I pretend not to care when I really do that gave her the impression he would jump in the sack with her whenever she wanted simply because he couldn't say no to her. A glance at the cabinet mirror after his shower assured him no such words existed atop his forehead. Priceless. She didn't need a stamped message to know he was a sucker for her; she knew he was a sucker for her.
The couch groaned in protest as he sat down and banged his head against the soft back. The disappointment and bitterness was beginning to settle in his system, another nasty dose of pain at her hand, drugging him up with resentment, pulling him towards the deeper, hostile end of his thoughts.
In an effort to keep his mind off her he bent towards the coffee table to pick up the book he'd been reading last night but a flash of pastel pink caught his eye and he spied Cameron's top at one foot of the table through the glass. Brow furrowing, Chase picked it up and ran it through his hands. Cameron had carelessly tossed it to the side when they'd been kissing on the couch but if she'd left… why would she leave her top behind?
He made a conscious effort to not draw up conclusions as he turned round to peer over the back of the couch and promptly allowed his jaw to fall slack. His shirt and Cameron's trousers were lying entangled contentedly at the foot of the couch in a similar fashion to the way their owners had been entangled in the bed hours earlier.
Chase was left with an incomplete reality; either Cameron had been in a great enough hurry to leave him that she'd have no problem in fleeing his house mostly naked or she hadn't left at all. His heart raced at the latter and he bolted off the couch to begin a frantic search for her through the house.
But two thorough rounds of checking the apartment later and there was neither hide nor hair of Cameron. Chase fell back on the couch, perplexed and feeling the disenchantment creep up on him again. Where on Earth would Cameron go without clothes in order to escape his apartment? In order to escape him? Did she truly regret what had happened with him?
The front door clicked and a moment later was gently snapped shut and Chase sat up abruptly, fear and incomprehension coursing through his veins. His feet had only just managed to take a few steps when Cameron appeared in the doorway and he was so shocked to see her that he momentarily froze and gaped.
She was wearing one of his white dress shirts –falling inappropriately to just a little above mid-thigh- underneath one of his jackets, her hair was wet with rain and in one hand she held a shopping bag and in the other, his keys. She smiled lightly at him as she shrugged out of the jacket and fluffed her hair from the rain.
"You were out of milk," she explained and threw him the keys.
His hand stretched out a moment too late and it fell to the floor before his feet but he ignored it and continued to take in Cameron with an awed expression until a small frown crossed her forehead and she asked with concern, "Chase, are you okay?"
Dignifying her question with an answer would've been stupid. He wasn't okay; he was beyond ecstatic. Cameron hadn't left him after all; she'd just gone to get milk! Laughing weakly, he stealthily crossed the room to her and before she could ask another question, before she could protest, before he began to fear this was a delusion, he wrapped his arms about her and kissed her fully on the mouth, lifting her clean off the ground in his enthusiasm.
Cameron didn't waste time in responding; her arms went around his neck eagerly as she opened her mouth under his to accept his warm tongue, a little mewl of satisfaction escaping her. Chase grinned against her lips; this was how he wanted her: willing, soft, warm, compliant, needy and lusting for him. His arms gripped her tighter, trying to maintain the very real feel to this moment, heart beating in assurance when he continued to feel her between his arms, indulging luxuriously in the taste of her kiss.
"What was that about?" Cameron laughed as she pulled back many moments, arms still about his neck, lightly playing with the hair at the back of his head, and her lips only mere centimetres away from his.
"I thought you'd left," Chase murmured, his hand rising to delicately brush a strand of her hair back before cupping her cheek, his thumb tracing every so light patterns underneath her cheekbone.
"I wouldn't do that," she replied slowly, calmly, but he detected a tinge of hurt within her voice.
"I know; I just got insecure," he said and gripped her tighter. "I don't want to lose you before I've even had you."
The sweet smile she sent him after that comment was dazzling. "I'm yours," she breathed against his lips. "All yours."
All the air rushed out of his lungs at her words and he only saw one course of action before him. He kissed her again. Deeply, tenderly, passionately. His hands stole underneath her shirt to roam across her soft skin and she moaned against his lips in satisfaction, pressing her body closer to his and allowing her own hands to respond in kind and sweep the t-shirt off his stomach, her fingers encountering a warm, smooth, hard stomach underneath.
In one smooth movement, Chase had broken the kiss to lift Cameron up and she giggled but complied by wrapping her legs about him.
"I think the bed's staring to get lonely," Chase whispered into her ear as she smiled against the tendon connecting his shoulder to his neck. "Why don't we go see if it needs some company?"
"I don't know; the couch might feel excluded if we keep going to the bed."
"I'm biased; I prefer the bed."
"And I want the couch."
Chase pulled back to scowl half heartedly at her stubbornness. "What's in it for me if I agree to the couch?"
"I'll be entirely submissive?" Cameron suggested and Chase snickered.
"I like it when you're a bitch in bed," he said and grinned at Cameron's glare.
"I'll make breakfast later," she tried again and knew she'd got him there when his smirk gave way to a thoughtful expression.
"Full English?" he said hopefully.
"No, toast and coffee," she rebuked sarcastically. "Your fridge is lacking the essentials for a Full English."
"That's easily remedied; we'll go shopping later."
"Good. Now shut up and kiss me."