Leena had been away for a while, Claudia knew that much. Where she'd been, she had no idea. She just did it every few months - disappearing for a few days to a week. Artie said not to question it, that it was just what she did. And so Claudia was reluctant to admit, as she shivered on the couch with two blankets on top of her, that she missed the woman.
Artie had moved back to the Warehouse, his stitches from his appendectomy healing well and he had grumbled at the lack of food in the house.
Claudia had offered to go grocery shopping, and had managed to make it to the car door when her head suddenly became fuzzy and she had looked down to see her hands, arms and legs quaking uncontrollably.
She'd hid it well when she came back in, and slunk off to her room to try and rid herself of the weird sickening feeling. She couldn't decide whether this was something to do with the Boiling Point energy drinks or whether she was coming down with something because of the Godfrid's spoon fiasco as a whole. Either way, she wasn't going to let anybody know she was hurting, or that she'd thrown up… nope. She didn't want anybody to fuss, especially with Artie also recuperating. Any stress and he'd probably rip open his wound.
Nevertheless, when Leena's key sounded through the door, Claudia bit her lip in thanks to whatever goddess was out there. "I'm home," Leena's cheerful voice chirped through the hallway until it reached the living room.
"Hey," Claudia croaked, willing her arms to stop quivering. It felt like she'd taken a Costco sized bag of espresso. And right now she really really needed those 38 snuggies.
Leena entered the room and frowned instantly. "Claud? You okay?" She asked, dropping her luggage on the floor and approaching almost timidly. She knelt down and pulled back the blankets, revealing a very shivery, very red looking Claudia Donovan. "Claudia…?"
"I uhh… ran into Godfrid's spoon. Lovely looking," she grit her teeth. "Tried to kill me, but at least it was nice and old right?" She chattered away, hoping that keeping conversation would help her stop shaking.
Leena frowned slightly, and then realization dawned. "After effects?" Claudia nodded. "Is it your muscles?"
"It's something." Claudia grumbled. "I uhh… Myka and HG and I—"
"HG?" Leena squawked and paled. "Is she here?" she looked around, wide eyed.
"No, no… she scrammed." Claudia shrugged. "Damn woman's like Mrs. Frederic." she frowned. "But she saved my life," she added with a hard look.
"What happened?" Leena scooted up the couch, lifting Claudia's legs and sitting underneath them. She held on to Claudia's shins as the woman shakily recounted the mission. She frowned as she felt the tremors in Claudia's legs.
"I went to bed, I was fine, tired but fine… and then I couldn't stop shaking." she muttered, her hand disappearing back under the covers. Leena noted the woman's appearance, her eyes wide and slightly unfocused, darting around the room. Her aura was blurred, as if whatever was making Claudia sick was causing her whole essence to buzz. "Make it stop," Claudia grit her teeth, looking down at Leena's hand and gripping it tightly. "Please, make it stop."
"Shh, it's okay," Leena hushed, not wanting to freak Claudia out. She tugged on the hand in hers and pulled Claudia over until the redhead was huddled in her arms, each breath making her quake even harder. Grabbing her laptop from inside her bag, she placed it over her lap, over Claud, and took out her Farnsworth.
"Hey, Myka?" Leena rubbed at Claudia's arms, as if trying to "warm them up." Claudia would have said they didn't need warming up but it felt nice and she felt like she was relaxing so she kept schtum. And anyway, she would have disturbed the call. Deciding not to resist the bit of comfort she obviously needed, the apprentice closed her eyes, her head comfortable on Leena's chest.
Leena continued rubbing at her arms as she spoke. "Yeah, I'm back… we've got a situation - Claudia's not feeling too well. Can you check to see if Godfrid's spoon has any lasting after effects? Or is it just the taurine in the drink?"
Myka frowned and scrunched up her face, pressing it close to the screen. "When we tagged it last night we didn't see anything. I'll double check though…I can email you if I find any texts?"
"Perfect." Leena smiled. "Speak to you later." She looked down where Claudia was nestled and couldn't help but drag her fingers up to Claudia's hair, threading through the locks quietly. Claudia was still shaking, though it had lessened slightly and she looked up, a grin on her lips.
"Thank you. Feels good."
Leena bit her lip and looked up at the ceiling, as if trying to find something to distract herself. "No problem, Claud." She murmured, looking back down finally and smiling.
As much as she wanted to say she expected it, the feeling of Claudia's lips suddenly on her mouth was one of the most shocking feelings she'd ever experienced. She pulled away and shook her head, "Claudia, no… I can't…"
"Please," Claudia shook as she braced herself up on forearms, straddling the woman's waist. "Make it go away," she husked, stealing another kiss from the innkeeper's lips.
"Claudia…" Leena whined and tried again, pulling away. She squawked in protest when her laptop was pulled from her lap and placed on the floor. "Claudia, it's an after effect, a feeling left behind from the artifact. It's probably some kind of battle lust. It isn't real."
"It is," Claudia growled, reaching up as quivering hands pinned Leena's down on the couch ignoring the squeak of protest. She made another assault on Leena's lips, smiling in gratification when after a few moments of tension, Leena finally surrendered and kissed her back, arms reaching up to pull her down and keep her close.
Who was Leena to make that assumption? That it wasn't real? Every year, Leena was given a small amount of annual leave to see the world, travel, meditate… work out lingering feelings for one Claudia Donovan. She groaned and clutched the woman closer.
She firmly believed that this was all a dream, and that the young woman she'd been hopelessly, shamefully in love with wasn't nudging her thigh in between hers and thrusting with a determined force.
And while Claudia's body was still vibrating, almost like an excited guinea pig, she seemed to retain some sort of power. Maybe from the spoon… or maybe just adrenaline. Leena decided to let her heart go. As Claudia nibbled and sucked at her neck, she realized she was too far gone to care… too far gone to wonder if it was unprofessional or a bad idea. Her hands fumbled between their bodies to find the front of Claudia's pants, and she tugged at the belt until it came loose, sliding her hand inside. Working her fingers passed Claudia's briefs, she smiled fleetingly at the sensation of trimmed hair against her fingertips. Pushing further down, she found her waiting goal and felt an answering thrust in between her legs as Claudia reacted with both her bucking hips and her hand.
"Oh god…" the redhead panted, pushing up with her hands and undulating hips forward to not only thrust against Leena again, but to try and get the teasing fingers inside her. Her head pounded and ached, but this had to be done. She was burning up again, sweat trickling down the back of her neck. Her face felt like it was on fire and if she was honest, she wasn't sure if it was the fact that she was sick, or whether it was the embarrassed sexual flush that Leena caused across her chest and neck. Giving Leena access, she shifted up and slowly pushed her hand up Leena's skirt. Her hand stroked against soft inner thighs and when the back of her hand touched silk…or satin, or some equally soft fabric, she felt her head spin. Pushing the crotch aside, she smiled dangerously at the wet skin she felt, hot and ready.
"Mmmpf, Claudia…" Leena grunted, gently easing one finger inside her new lover, and then a second. She pulled Claudia down with her free hand for a kiss and pressed her occupied hand flat against the redhead until the heel of her palm pressed tightly against her clit.
"Oh god," Claudia muttered under her breath. "Oh my god…" When she felt the fingers moving inside her and giving her ultimate pleasure, she decided to match it, and soon enough the two women were bucking against each other hurriedly. Grabbing hold of Leena's blouse, she pulled until large breasts were revealed and took a second to look down at them before pressing her face to the tanned skin. "Did you go on vacation?" Claudia mouthed against Leena's left breast, noting the tan lines on her lower shoulder.
"I went on a research trip," Leena groaned, "just… shush."
Claudia grinned, her lips pressing against the soft skin of Leena's nipple before sucking heartily. The innkeeper groaned and arched her back, knowing this was the most inappropriate of places to have sex but somehow finding herself unable to stop. Claudia soon lost her smile, a grimace left in its wake as she felt the other woman begin to thrust faster, pressing with her heel harder. The tremors in Claudia's body moved down to her thighs and she found it hard to hold herself up. Despite sweating furiously, convulsing like she were about to die and her breathing so thready, Claudia felt like this was the way forward. The only sounds heard were the occasional squeak from the couch and the loud panting from both women. Claudia sped up suddenly, both giving and receiving until her mouth gaped open and her eyes shut tightly. "Leena… Leena," she sobbed out, feeling as if every muscle in her body was about to snap. "Leena, please…Oh god…"
Leena's fingers pumped as hard and as fast as they could, her free arm gripping Claudia's back tightly, a hand clenching at the auburn hair in a fist. "Do it," she breathed. "I've got you."
That did it. Claudia lasted five more seconds as she gripped Leena's breast tightly in her hand and bit down on her shoulder when a wave of immense relief and pleasure overtook her body. She'd never felt anything like it… it was otherworldly, and that was saying something in her line of work. She collapsed, gasping harshly to force air back into her lungs, ignoring the clouded vision and the imaginary stars that twinkled above Leena's head. With determination she lay heavily on top of the innkeeper and found the strength to keep Leena pleasured, her hand still tented under Leena's skirt. A lazy, almost drugged smile crossed her face when her fingers were forced to stop her merciless thrusting, Leena's muscles spasming and clenching around her digits. She could feel the woman's thighs quiver and waited for the tremors of orgasm to ease until she pulled out and straightened Leena's underwear back to its rightful place.
Leena's eyes were wide with fear as the fog cleared and she looked down to see Claudia mewling happily, intending to bask in the afterglow.
"I uhh," Leena broke the silence. "I need to… need to get dinner started and unpack…." She awkwardly pushed the redhead off of her and watched as Claudia flopped down on the couch, face first. And didn't move.
"Claudia?" She frowned and bent down, instinctively brushing Claudia's hair away from her face with damp fingers. "Claud?" Still no movement. "Oh my god, Claudia?" Leena became slightly frantic and tapped incessantly at Claudia's head.
The young apprentice groaned slightly and opened her eyes before rolling onto her back. "Did I die? Because it felt like I died." she blinked blearily at the innkeeper with a goofy smile. "You did it."
"Wh…what did I do?" Leena asked, sitting on the floor with a heavy, dumbfounded thump.
Claudia gave a crooked smile when she noticed her pants undone, and reached down the side of the couch to take Leena's hand in hers, dragging it to her face. She pressed clammy fingers to her forehead and smiled. Moving her hand down, she pressed Leena's fingers to the skin on her thighs. "You stopped the shaking. And," she smirked, "I think that's the best damn artifact mission I've ever been on." she said and watched indulgently as the innkeeper blushed and looked down at her chest. Her bare chest. Hastily buttoning up her blouse, Leena rearranged her bra and sighed.
"Claud… I'm sorry, I… that can't happen again." She said, keeping her eyes down.
"Bullcrap." Came the answer.
Leena's eyes widened and she looked up, shocked to see Claudia now tossing one of the blankets away from the couch and standing. She rebuttoned her fly and shrugged adamantly.
"That's bullcrap, Leena." Claudia sighed. "You liked it. I liked it… we're doing it again."
"We are?" Leena blinked.
"Yeah…" Claudia smiled leaning forward to press a quick kiss to Leena's lips. Leena was still blinking rapidly to try and keep up with the turn of the events. "Let me go for a nap, recharge a little and come to my room at say… 9.30 later on. After dinner." She said and with that, Claudia stood up and jokily tossed the blanket over Leena's head before disappearing up the stairs, walking freely, calmly…. Healthily.
It took a few moments for Leena to take the blanket off her face and she stared at the empty staircase with her mouth hanging open, her heart thundering in her chest.
She could not only hear it in her temple, but feel the throb of her pulse too as her brain tried to catch up. Soon enough, a huge smile blossomed across her face and she stood up, straightening her skirt and tugging it down before moving out to the kitchen to finally get dinner started. She moved gracefully, with a skip in her step, and though her humming was proof of her sudden chirpy mood, she'd forgotten about the CCTV in the living room, its red light flashing to show its recording status. Sure, she'd probably have to deal with the repercussions of schtupping the Warehouse apprentice, but right now she was unknowing, and naïve and she'd enjoy it while she could.