Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OC Ray. M.A.O.S is not mine, but thanks for not suing me for playing with the characters! I'm making no money from this, I do it for fun!

Chapter 7

It was one kiss, but it was all Ray was able to think about as they joined the rest of the team for a small dinner prepared by May and Skye. Every now and then she would raise her finger tips to her lips and smile to herself, thinking about the way his lips had felt against hers.

While she had 'fallen' to Earth to live among the humans, she had loved them all for what and who they were, but never had she been in love with one of them. She never dared let herself get that close to anyone, it was almost an unwritten rule for the Fallen and the Watchers that lived among these people.

Now, although it had been just a few days, she would have given up her immortality if she it meant she was able to live here among these people… with him. She glanced across the table at Coulson and found him staring at her. He didn't look away when their eyes met, he just gave her a smile and she blushed. He knew she was thinking about him, about their kiss. He could read her just as easily as she could read him some times.

"You're awful quiet tonight," Skye said, nudging Ray slightly. "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah," Ray replied softly, finally tasking her eyes off from Coulson. "I'm just a little tired I think. I'm almost completely healed and I think it took a lot out of me. This whole day took a lot out of me."

"Me too," Coulson said, still looking at Ray. "I think it should be an early night for all of us. It's been a long day." He finally looked at the rest of the team sitting around the table. "While today went better than anyone could have hoped for, I still think there are going to be things coming up that may not go as well, especially if Thanos gets an idea of where Ray is."

"I'm beat," Jemma agreed, still picking at her salad, not really eating much. "Besides, I want to get some rest for the pole training tomorrow!" She perked up slightly when she mentioned the work out that Ray had promised for the following day.

"I'm sure Ward could use some rest after the ass whooping he was given earlier," May said, snickering at the memory.

"I wasn't planning on going toe to toe with a spider monkey," Ward looked at Ray and smiled giving her a small wink.

"The things you can do with a tie," Coulson said his eyes back on Ray. Something in the tone of his voice made her think that he wasn't referring to the way she had trapped Ward earlier. Ray silently wished she could just touch some part of him to know what he was really thinking. Earlier after they had shared the kiss his thoughts had been so loud that she hadn't needed the contact to hear them. Since then he had toned down his thoughts and she wouldn't be able to hear them now without touch.

"We're going to be back at HQ tomorrow," he was again addressing the entire team. "I think you've all earned some time off. I can't promise how long, but I think that at least a few days would be just what everyone needs to unwind, sleep in a real bed and have some fun."

"Excellent!" Fitz said, smiling at Jemma and Skye. "You two promised to take me to a club and teach me how to dance."

"So we did," Skye replied, rolling her eyes at Jemma as soon as Fitz looked away from them.

_/_

They all chipped in to help clean up after the meal before retreating to their bunks. Ray didn't have a bunk so she once again found herself in the common area, looking at the white leather couch. The blanket that Phil had brought her the night before was folded neatly at one end with the white pillow on top of it, she was just about to reach for them when she felt hands around her waist.

"I don't think that is going to be necessary." Coulson was standing behind her, hands resting lightly on her.

"The last thing I want to do is put you in an awkward position with your team. I think they may already suspect…" she stopped speaking when she felt his hand move up her side from her waist to her hair. He pushed the large black and blue curls aside and gently placed a kiss on her neck. All thought left her, she could no longer form coherent thoughts so she just stood there, letting him kiss her.

"They can suspect, or I can just tell them that I have feelings for you," He said in between the soft kisses he was trailing up and down the side of her neck.

Ray shivered at the feeling of his lips and breath against her skin, she had been trying desperately to keep her wits about her, but hearing him tell her that he had feelings for her made her come undone. Her knees began to shake, but she attempted to steady herself, wanting to know for sure. "How do you know that you have feelings for me? We just met a few days ago remember?" She leaned back against him, not wanting him to stop touching her, but needing to understand how he could be so sure of something that was so new.

"When I first saw you," he paused kissing her again and wrapping his arm around her waist, holding her more securely now. "I felt like everything was going to be okay. It was the first time in a very long time that I had that sense of security about anything. I knew it was because of you. I felt…whole." He went back to kissing her neck softly.

Ray closed her eyes, knowing that he was telling her the truth, it was evident that he'd been struggling before she came here, she knew that he'd lost much and she also knew that having lost what he had was what was giving him the confidence to be here with her now, kissing her. He would not let her go without giving it his best shot. He now felt that life was too short, and she agreed with him. She would have given her own life for him.

Turning to face him, she allowed him to kiss her again, the way they had kissed in the privacy of his room. This time he did not hold back, he instantly claimed her lips and picked up where they had left off. She allowed him to kiss her deeply as she wrapped her arms around him tightly, truth be told she thought she may lose her balance with the way he was kissing her, it made her dizzy. The taste of him, was just as intoxicating as she imagined it would be as she ran her own tongue along his, making their kiss that much more intimate.

Ray was the first one to break the kiss, pulling back from him breathless, her lips already a little sore, she had never kissed anyone the way she had just kissed him.

Coulson smiled at her, continuing to hold her tightly in his arms. "I want you to stay with me."

She just nodded, and allowed him to take her hand and lead her to his room. Once inside, he closed the door behind them and just stood there for a minute, looking at her. She blushed a little again, not sure what to do now. It was not the first time she had been intimate with someone, but it was the first time it meant something to her other than a booty call. Not to mention that her last booty call had been years ago, too many to count. She didn't want to rush things between them; she wanted things to be right.

Biting her bottom lip she looked away from him, letting her eyes explore the room as if she had never seen it before. She pulled at the bottom of the skirt she wore; great she thought to herself, now I'm fidgeting.

"Why are you nervous?" He asked, approaching her and circling her waist with his hands again.

"Not nervous," she corrected, looking away from him briefly. "I just don't want to screw this up."

He chuckled softly before kissing her again, not as deeply this time. "There is no way you could mess this up." He pulled back and looked at her, his face serious now. "You've done this before right?"

"Of course," Ray said a small giggle escaping her. "I've just never had anyone in my life I really cared about. I mostly kept my distance from people, and was there to help if I was needed. I have never… actually cared about someone like this before. It makes this whole thing more complicated."

"Are you telling me that you … love me?" his voice sounded hopeful.

"I think I might," Ray replied, smiling up at him. "I just want to do things right, not rush anything. It's been a long time since I've…" she stopped not able to finish the sentence.

"Do you feel like I'm rushing you?" He sounded so concerned now and she brought her hands up to rest on his shoulders as she looked at him again.

"No," she replied, giving him a quick kiss to let him know that she was telling him the truth. "I just wanted you to know how I feel in case I do need to put the brakes on at some point. I don't want you to think that I'm messing with you or anything; I want to spend the night with you, every night if possible." She blushed again, waiting for him to push her away.

He pulled her closer, taking her by surprise. "I'm happy to just kiss you, and having you curled up next to me in bed is more than I could have ever hoped for. So if that's all that it will ever be between us, I can live with that. I don't even deserve someone as beautiful and gifted as you in my life at all. I'll take whatever I can get."

"That is not all it will ever be, and there is so much in this life that you deserve, I just hope that I can give you everything you need or want." she smiled at him, allowing him to kiss her again, moving from her lips to her neck and up to her ear and she shivered again involuntarily.

Ray allowed him to move her to the bed and before she realized what she was doing, she had undone more than half the buttons on his shirt wanting to touch him. He paused, giving her a sad smile as she traced the lines of his scar with her finger tip before leaning forward and placing a soft kiss at the center of the jagged scar. He inhaled sharply and she pulled away, thinking she may have hurt him.

'I'm sorry," she began. "Did I hurt you?"

"No," he said softly. "I was just concerned about showing you this part of me."

"Why?" She reached out and touched the silver line again and smiled at him. "You've seen me at my absolute worst, this does not bother me at all… why does it bother you?"

He pulled her into a hug, and she purposely laid her head against his bare chest and continued to touch the scars that bothered him so much. "They are a constant reminder that I'm damaged." He said softly, stroking her hair down her back.

"Not damaged," she said, smiling up at him. "Just different, kind of like me." She took a step back, "Make yourself comfortable so we can snuggle." Ray winked at him and watched as he grabbed his pajama bottoms and made his way to the bathroom. She knew that he was giving her the space that she had requested, just as she knew that their kisses had a physical effect on him, so she allowed him the privacy to change. She transformed her tank top and skirt into a short black spaghetti strap night gown.

When he emerged from the bathroom, he was wearing just the pajama bottoms without the tee shirt he had been wearing the night before and Ray silently wished she hadn't said anything about taking things slow. His muscular torso was well defined along with his arms and she wondered to herself what sort of work out he was doing to keep himself so damn cut."Not bad for an old man, huh?" He had caught her staring at him.

"You're… not old," she stammered tripping over her own words as she tried to get them out.

He crossed the room to where she was sitting on the end of his bed and leaned over to kiss her again, clearly appreciating her appreciating his body. The force of the kiss pushed her back onto the mattress and he helped her move up the bed until her head was lying against one of his pillows before he lay almost fully on top of her, deepening the kiss even further. "Why do I feel so comfortable with you?" he asked when they both had to take a breath.

"The same reason I feel so comfortable with you. Maybe this is supposed to happen this way?" Ray asked, touching his face with her finger tips. "Everything happens for a reason, so maybe I was meant to go through what I endured so I could find you or you could find me."

"I'm sorry you had to go through all of that," he said, kissing her in between his words. "But I am so glad that you're here."

He rolled over, taking her with him and allowing her to snuggle against his side, much the way they had done the precious night when she had come to his room and let herself into his bed. "This isn't going to be easy," he said kissing her forehead as she looked up at him.

"What's not going to be easy?" She asked with a mischievous smile. "Being with me?"

"Being with you, looking the way that you do, your voice like a song, your skin like the softest silk I've ever touched and trying to control myself!" He chuckled at his own weakness and pulled her closer to his side.

"I can promise you that I'm worth the wait." She wrapped her arms around him again and kissed his bare chest, feeling him run his fingers through her hair.

"Of that I have no doubt Ray," he sighed, closing his eyes and hoping sleep would come.

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A/N: I had to stop this chapter here... to take a break and not have them getting down to business so quickly! Please, that little box to the right of your screen is just begging to be filled up with words... to continue this little romance or not to continue... hmmmmm... let me know what you think! You have all been so great so far, thanks for the love and support! I do this for you all so tell me what you want to see!

J~