A/N: This story is a conscience cleanse for a story I have drafted. I knew I had to publish something like this before I published the other. Again, this is rated M for a reason. It is quite explicit (while still sweet, this ain't no Swarkles) and NSFW (although I ironically wrote most of that part at work). I hope you enjoy.


It took them a long time for them both to get to this point, but they finally both feel like they are dating the person that they are meant to. Ted had given up all hope of ever finding a girl, getting married, and having kids, even after he had met her. She never thought she would find someone who could come close to Max, but Ted did. She had won the lottery twice.

Even though they met at the end of May, their relationship didn't develop right away. They both needed time to get to know each other outside of a relationship. He went to Chicago for a short time, but they kept in touch. She was part of his reason to move back, and while Marshall and Lily staying in New York helped, the job wasn't what he expected or wanted. Plus, he realized he loved New York too much to be away from it. He became a New Yorker in his time there, so he returned.

Needless to say, neither of them expected a relationship to form. She had actually been hanging out with the gang while he was gone, much to his surprise. Even when they talked, she never mentioned it. She needed some friends, and despite being much younger than the rest of the gang, meeting Lily was just the things she needed in her life. So when he arrived back in New York, he was shocked to find that the girl he had become fast friends with had temporarily taken his spot in the group. He realized that it was destiny this time. She was a missing puzzle piece of sorts in the gang.

One December day during an ice storm, when she decided it would be best if they both stayed overnight at Marshall and Lily's, she broke down and told him about Max. He knew she had her heart broken at one point, since they commiserated many times, but now that she spoke about him and about what really happened, he realized how much of a tragedy his story was not. He felt like a spoiled rich kid who was given everything and still complained.

He didn't know how to respond to her, so he did what he knew how. He leaned in and kissed her. It was very chaste at first, because he didn't know if she would return his feelings, but he had certainly but surely started to fall in love with her over the past six months.

To his surprise, she returned the kiss, pleading for more in a way she hadn't in over eight years. She didn't recognize it until now, but she had been falling in love with him too.

As she breathily tore apart the kiss, she uttered the last words Ted wanted to hear.

"We need to talk about this." The remainder of the sentence, however, made his heart light up with joy. "I like you. A whole lot," she mumbles. "And I want to try this, I am just going to need some time to take things slow."

He could do that. He could take things slow. She was everything he could ever want. He could wait an eternity for her.

And now it is February, and he could still care less about moving their relationship forward. He is proud to call her his girlfriend. He'd even told her he loved her and she'd said it back, outside of the theater on their way to see the sold out Wedding Bride III. But even so, she isn't quite ready for that next step.

All six of them gathered at his house for a new version of their older tradition of watching the Super Bowl. They decided that his place was so roomy, so they could make more use of his newly remodeled den and kitchen. It was quite a depressing game to watch, yes Barney had bet on the Broncos, but thankfully only with Robin in the form of chores and sexual favors, since she didn't want him gambling real money. But just like always, they all enjoyed spending the time together, and she fit right in with them.

Quite a bit of the shut out game was spent telling her stories of their Super Bowl parties of the past. She loved most of them, especially the one where they had to wait until Monday to watch it. Still, she had a hard time believing that Barney gave his phone number away on national TV. Their night, however, came to an early end. They knew with the snow storm coming that things would have to end early so that they didn't get snowed in upstate.

Barney and Robin headed out first, probably so Robin could cash in on one of her bets, followed shortly thereafter by Marshall, Lily, and Marvin.

She was just about to leave herself when Ted begged her to stay.

"Don't go," he pleads.

"But I have to get back," she answered. "It's going to snow tomorrow."

"So get snowed in here," he implied.

"Ted," she chastised. As much as she really wanted to stay, she knew she should leave.

"Come on," he begged in a whining manner similar to Barney. "You already took the day off and so did I. Why not stay here with me? We can make cocoa and snuggle by the fireplace," he teased.

"Why do I find it so hard to say no to you?" she said, a smirk covering her face.

"So you'll stay?" he questioned, his eyes lit up at the thought. He didn't want to spend the night there alone.

"Yes. I'll stay," she giggled, because it felt only natural. He just had that effect on her.

They stayed up late talking, and told her he was just going to go up to the bedroom and grab his pillow so she could stay there.

"Why would you do that?" she questioned curiously.

"I thought it might make you uncomfortable if we slept in the same bed," he responded with a shrug.

"Don't be silly Ted," she brushed off. "We can sleep in the same bed."

"Are you sure?" he questioned, because he wasn't sure that she or their relationship was ready for that.

"Yeah. I think that we're ready for it," she answered calmly. "Besides, it's just a night and it's just sleeping."

So they snuggled into bed for the night.


He had been contemplating all of these thoughts for a few minutes now. He doesn't want to wake her up, because feeling her body against his is a heavenly feeling. But he knows that it was a long road to get to this point, and he'll love her forever.

She starts to stir awake to the feeling of Ted's warm body snuggled up against her, and a bright light streaming in the room. It isn't sunlight, but the light that is reflected off of the freshly fallen snow. It is beautiful and the snow is still falling.

It is such a peaceful sight, and all she can think of is how wonderful it all feels. Even though this was the first time she spent the night, it feels like home.

"Morning beautiful," he murmurs as soon as he feels her stir against him.

"Morning," she mumbles.

"How did you sleep?"

"Amazingly, you?"

"Really well," he grins. "Everything's better with you."

"Awww," she coos, grinning like an idiot and pulling him in for a kiss. "Ted?"

"Hmmm?"

"I love you," she declares.

"I love you," he answers dreamily.

She snuggles closer to him and pulls him into a deep kiss. She takes her hands and runs them over his chest. He's still wearing his t-shirt, but she can feel his chest through the cloth. He enjoys the movement of her fingers teasing him. Slowly, her hands creep lower, and slide underneath his waistband.

"What are you doing?" he mumbles between kisses. He feels almost like a girl whose boyfriend is trying to steal his way home.

She doesn't answer, but instead slides both of her hands up under his shirt, retracing the trail her fingertips took only minutes earlier. He tilts his head back in pleasure, letting her touch run over him.

She reaches back down, pulling at the waist of his T-shirt, lifting it up towards his head, before backing away to do the same with her own shirt.

"Woah," he mumbles when he realizes that she's wearing nothing underneath her small camisole. Her beauty is astounding to him. Everything about her body is more perfect than he'd imagined.

He can feel himself start to grow. No other woman has had quite an effect on him like she has, not even Robin. Just seeing her topless makes him feel like he's sixteen all over again. Except this time, the girl actually is going to love him, and she's not after him for sex and money. The problem is, he can't even be sure where this is going yet. After all, it's only ten a.m.

She sees his eyes on her, and for the first time in years, she doesn't feel naked. Not like she did with Louis. She feels rather comfortable in his presence, and in an even better way than she did with Max. She reaches out to grab his hand, letting him know that he's allowed to touch, that she wants his hands to wander.

It's been a long time since she's trusted anyone like this. Sure, she did have an intimate relationship with Louis, but it wasn't what it could have been. She really never trusted him, even though he was one of the nicest guys in the planet.

Her hands trail again to the waistband of his plaid pajama pants, untying the drawstring, and allowing her fingers to hook in the waistband of his pants and boxers, before she slowly slides both layers down his hips.

She admires him from afar at first, not afraid to touch, but not quite ready to, because she knows once she does, that their relationship will progress to another level entirely. She knows she's ready for it, but it's such a pivotal moment for them, and she doesn't want anything to go wrong.

"Is this okay?" he cautiously asks as he reaches to her hip line to hook his fingers in her waistband. She briefly nods, allowing him to, and pretty soon afterwards, they are lying next to each other, naked in his bed. All he can say is it's the last place he thought he would be this morning.

She presses her body up against his, and it feels like home. Her body fits perfectly with his, like she is the missing piece to the puzzle of him.

He runs his hands over her back and her skin. It feels like velvet to him, and he knows that he could touch it forever. He takes his time, exploring every inch of her skin, running his fingers everywhere at first, then slowly focusing on the more sensitive areas.

Now that he's touching her, she is instantly regretting not doing this sooner. He grazes his hand over her knee, running it slowly up her thigh. He moves slowly, savoring the moment, and to her, it's torture. It's been a long time since she's been anywhere with anyone.

He's touching her, and it feels like heaven, and she doesn't want him to feel left out. She tentatively reaches her arm down between his legs. She drags her fingertips around the skin to the sides of his erection, before slowly moving her way upwards from his balls, to his shaft. She's quite surprised over the way he's moaning. Her light touch seems to drive him so crazy. He can't even keep his hips in one spot. His only instinct is to buck against her fingers. He likes what she doing, but he needs more, and a whole lot more than she's currently giving.

She continues to run her fingertips all over his erection, and he continues to go crazy. He decides soon that if she's not going to increase the game, if she's going to play hard to get, he's just going to have to up the game himself.

Up until this point, he'd just been playing with her lips, but now he's pulled his fingers away. She starts to whimper, but he doesn't stop. She watches intently as he sucks two of his fingers into his mouth, savoring this very new, but intoxicating taste. Once they are glistening wet, he maneuvers his hand back under the sheet and directly back between her legs. She shouts in pleasure as he pushes his two fingers directly into her, and she quickly grabs his cock in response.

They continue for a time that neither of them can measure, both of them bucking together, the movements of their hands caused by the other's pleasure.

Suddenly, he pulls his hand out, and she instinctively pulls her hand away. She's afraid that she's done something wrong, until he leans over to kiss her. But he pulls away quickly, drawing kisses to her ear.

"I can't stand this anymore. I just need to know what is going to happen next. We can continue, but..."

She pulls him back into a kiss.

"If you mean, can we continue further..." she drawls. He nods his head in response. "My answer is yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

He reaches over to his bed side drawer to get a condom. That's when it hits her that this is finally happening. They are taking the next step, and she's okay with it. She's more than okay with it. She loves how sexy he is when he rolls the condom on. It's something that she never found even remotely interesting before. But it makes her want to know more about him. She wants to explore more about him.

She positions herself on her back, and opens her legs, ready to let him in. He instinctively climbs over top of her. But first, he just kisses her. He wants her to know that she's special and he wants this to be romantic. They kiss passionately, before he reaches down to guide himself into her.

He slowly pushes himself inside, and it's one of those feelings that makes her eyes roll back in her head. It's been a while, and she can feel it. Her muscles are pulled tightly around him, but they both know it's a good tight.

It's been a while for him too, although he suspects not as long as her. He starts off very still, almost barely moving. He brushes the hair out of her eyes, while she eyes him in awe. She's the one that slowly picks up the pace, by gently grinding her hips up and down. He moans at the new sensation. He hadn't done the slow thing in a very long time. She is teasing him, making it sensual, he thinks. A part of him wants to grab her, hold her down, and make her scream, but he could never do that, not without her permission anyway. He loves her too damn much. She doesn't seem like that kind of girl, and he hasn't even really been that kind of guy. So he starts to move with her, starts to match her pace.

He awkwardly bends down to kiss her. He realizes that the position must make him look like a scared cat, but he can't resist. Her lips look so luscious. He wants to keep kissing her, but he can't. He can't reach to kiss her and keep the pace, and at this point, he'd rather keep the pace and look into her eyes. So he moves his arm to brush up and down the side of her body, feeling her curves.

The way he looks at her just pierces her soul. She can't tell exactly what he's thinking, but she can see the hunger for her that he has in his eyes. It almost scares her, because in all the time she's been an adult, she's only had that look from one other person before. The look of wanting to know her soul has only ever come from Max. But she doesn't want to focus on Max right now. She wants to focus on Ted. She wants to focus on how amazing this feels, being truly loved again, being the center of someone's universe so much, being together with him.

They both keep up the slow and steady pace, meeting each other halfway as they drag their fingers along each other's bodies, touching everywhere they can reach in a hungry fashion.

Suddenly, he pushes himself up off of her, in an attempt to reach both of his hands to her breasts. But he can see her now, he can see all of her beautiful, sexy body, and it takes his breath away. Her arms reach up for him, missing the body contact, missing his warmth. He watches the way the sunlight drags over her supple curves, and he traces the shadows, leaving her mewing and begging for more.

To his surprise, it's her that continues to up the ante. The longer they are together, the more confident she seems to become with him. Even though she seems like a sweet and tame girl on the outside, he can sense there is a side to her sexuality she is more than comfortable with. She bucks her hips against his, something that involves moving her entire body, in an effort to make him match her pace. He understands the hint instantly, and he grabs her hips, quickly thrusting, out-matching the pace she wanted.

The sounds of her cries and moans increase his pleasure tremendously. He moves and moves, and the pressure continues to build for both of them.

He's close. He knows he's close, but he wants her there first. He wants to get to that point with her. He wants to do everything together for the rest of their lives.

She's so close. She can sense he is too, and she hopes that it can happen at the same time. She knows how unlikely that is, since it's never happened to her before, but there is a first for everything. She looks him in the eyes, she can see with a twinkle that there is a connection, something bringing them together.

He takes his hands off her hips all while keeping the strong pace, and drags them slowly up her sides, sending chills to her spine and sending all her remaining blood south. He watches her eyes spark, as he draws a spiral on her breasts, getting closer and closer to the two tiny pink mounds in the center. She shivers in anticipation, knowing exactly where he is going with his hands, and she knows. She knows that it will throw her over the edge.

He rubs the flesh of his thumb over her nipples, and all of her thoughts disappear. She feels the intense pleasure wash over her, and she lets go of her body, lets go of all control.

He's been looking in her eyes intently, and the second he sees her lids snap shut, he feels the wave of pleasure wash over him. He's gone, gone to the world, it's just the two of them together here. The feeling of her muscles pulling tight and spasming around him make him twice as sensitive, and in turn, make his release twice as great.

When they finally come down from the high, he collapses forward, his lips drawn to her neck. He keeps some weight on his arms in an attempt not to crush her, but she pushes his arms out, and lets him fall fully on her. She, in turn, pulls both her hands up to his head and starts massaging his scalp, running his hair through her fingers.

The first thought that occurs to him that while that wasn't the single greatest sexual experience of his life, it was the best sex he's ever had with any partner.

As she tenderly touches him, she realizes how perfect this morning was. There is something different about Ted. Something even more than she could have ever realized.

He pushes himself up to kiss her gently on the lips.

"I love you," he declares, looking her right in the eyes. He knows he can never say it enough to her.

"I love you too," she smiles sweetly back at him.

He pulls out of her, and falls to her side, pulling her into his arms.

"I could lie like this forever," he mumbles into her neck, still basking in the afterglow.

"I could too," she replies sweetly, stroking his arm. "Thanks for convincing me to get snowed in with you."

"Of course. I'd get snowed in with you for the rest of my life."