TITLE: Rest for the Weary

CHALLENGE SET: #3

CHALLENGE: Sleep

RATING: PG

WORD COUNT: 547

PAIRINGS: Pura/Blue Wing
SUMMARY: Pura helps Wing get some much needed recharge

Sleep, my love, and peace attend thee, all through the night. – trad lullaby.

With a tired sigh, Blue Wing threw himself down onto the recharge berth he shared with his bond-mate, his optics flickering off almost as soon as he laid his head down. He was worn out after a long day of flying and fighting. His head hurt and he was sore just about everywhere else. Tired as he was, he could barely register the presence of the femme beside him. He was glad when she wrapped her arms around him and drew him closer to her in a gentle embrace.

"Tired, my love?" she asked in a soft whisper.

"Mmm… considerably," he murmured in her audio. "Sore too."

The next thing he knew, her hands were there rubbing his back – stretching and relaxing taught cables; stroking his wings – manipulating the various magnetic fields around them to ease the strain; caressing his neck, head and face – soothing the heated metal with a cooling touch. He let out a soft moan of relief, feeling the tension in his body slowly leave him.

"Pura," he said softly. "You…"

"Sshh," she replied. "You need to rest." She pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead as her hands began to massage his neck and shoulders. "Go to sleep."

Fighting off the drowsiness she was stimulating in him, he looked at her – watching her fade in and out of his vision as his body called for sleep and his mind, in contrast, insisted he stay awake to make sure she slept too. "But you…"

"I will, when you do. Sleep Wing."

There was a hypnotic purr in her voice that was pulling him offline. She always had this effect on him, and to be honest, he was just too tired to fight back. Not that he ever would, he enjoyed the attention from her too much. So he gave in and let the blissful recharge she was sending him into claim him completely. He nestled close and nuzzled into her neck and shoulder.

Pura smiled to herself as she watched the big blue mech shut down, not ceasing the motion of her hands because she knew he liked to feel her touch as he fell asleep. Sleep had a way of revealing a side no one else got to see – a younger, more vulnerable side. She saw it in the way his features relaxed and the weariness of the day left him. She felt it in the way he held her securely to him, as if he was half afraid she would leave him.

Slowly easing, then stilling her hands, she placed another kiss on the bridge of his nose.

"Sleep well, my Wing," she murmured. "I love you."

Her optics flickered as sleep called to her too. The sound of his systems in recharge carried with it a whisper that invited her to join him in his world of slumber – as if he were reluctant to be there alone. She rested her head against his with a soft sigh, as her turquoise optics went dark, letting sleep finally welcome her into its folds.

END