A/N: And now, the end is near… or is it?

Xxx XXX xxX

Nick stood frozen for a second. He wanted to make sure he'd heard right, that this is what Sofia wanted, that this… Oh fuck it! he finally told himself. Letting go of her wrists, he framed her face in his hands and kissed her. Hard, deep, passionate and tender and every other emotion in between, his mouth on hers was painting a whole canvas of feelings and it made them both dizzy. Not that either of them cared. Their lips sought one another time and time again, closely followed by their teeth and their tongues, in a dance of desire and need.

Sofia had been kissed before, hundreds of times. She had been kissed out of passion and out of love; she had been kissed on a whim and to fulfill a bet. She had been kissed in happy times and in sad days. She had even been stolen a kiss on a rainy day many years ago.

But she had never been kissed like this.

Nick's kisses seemed to be giving her life with every breath they took away. His hands on her face and her hair and her shoulders seemed to awaken her from a long slumber she didn't know she had been living… if what she had done until then could be called living. Her whole body felt like a fine-tuned instrument reaching its prime, and she wondered if it would be consider normal to have an orgasm just by kissing Nick Stokes.

He was having epiphanies of his own as well, and wondered, among other things, that if happiness could be measured in kisses he was right then and there the happiest man on Vegas, the US, the world… He also wondered, no, he didn't wonder, he KNEW, that this is what love felt like and that he had been dead but now he was alive, and that his previous death had nothing to do with a box buried in the desert. Just kissing her, touching her, was making him more alive than he had ever felt, and he wondered what he had done to deserve this second chance at life and he vowed to make everything humanly possible to keep it, forever if possible.

But soon limiting their kissing to their mouths alone wasn't enough, and Nick began kissing her cheeks and chin, running the tip of his tongue alongside her jaw, reaching her earlobes and nibbling on them as well, and then nibbling and suckling his way down her throat, to the place where he felt a pulse, and he latched his mouth there, sucking, rejoicing on feeling her come to life with each passing heartbeat, each one faster than the last one. His hands had skimmed down her shoulders to her breasts, and he was filling his hands with them, fulfilling his own desires as well.

Nick had always been self-conscious about his hands, knowing his palms were rough and calloused from his youth years working as ranch aid during summers. He wasn't ashamed of the fact that he had done labor work, quite the opposite actually, but one of the first girls he had been intimate with in college had complained about the rough touch and since then he had been reluctant to grab breasts open-handedly, turning the experience into something coveted and desired, but off-limits if he wanted to get to third base or more. For years, wrapping his hands around a woman's breasts, grasping the nipples between his knuckles, rubbing and kneading… those had become his fetishes, his fantasies.

Sofia, on the other hand, sorely missed the sensibility she used to have on her breasts and nipples. She remembered all too well how Erick used to blow on them as she watched them pucker and harden and that's all the stimuli she needed. After she was burned, however, the response had been almost non-existent, needing extensive amount of suckling to achieve it. So maybe Nick knew what he was doing, maybe she had recovered some sensibility in the last few years, or maybe it had been so long since she last made love that she was over stimulated, but damned… it felt great to have her breasts treated like that… and where had he learned that trick with his knuckles?

Just when she thought she'd die from the sensation alone, Nick added his mouth to the sweet torture he was regaling her with. Moving his right hand to her hips, he quickly replaced it with his tongue, twirling it around the hardened flesh, lapping it up and finally sucking on it while his left hand continued ministering her other breast and the one on her hips was tracing lazy circles around the ridges and contours of her scarred skin there. The emotions boiling inside Sofia were soon too much to be kept inside and her low moaning soon turned to something more guttural, more primal… more urgent, as she whipped her head from side to side on the pillow, her fingers digging deep on his shoulders.

"Oh God… oh fuck…oh Nick… I wanna… Nick, Nick, Nick… oh dear God…. Please, please, please I wanna… GOD NICK YESSSSS…."

Nick thought he'd just come listening to her say his name THAT way, watching her writhe and moan. Sofia was surrendering, and she was surrendering to him, and it was so fucking hot and sexy that it was making his balls ache with the need of release. But she'd asked him to make love to her, and that's what he intended to do, even if it meant torturing himself in the process… his whole body was screaming to be inside of her, to feel her contract and spasm around him, to feel loved by her…

"Please oh Nick please Nick oh Nick please, please, please…."

And please her he would. How could he not? He was hers, to do as she commanded, the rest be damned. Sofia began pulling him upward, pushing with his hips as well, in an unmistakable message: she wanted him inside of her, she wanted him now, she needed him now. And as much as Nick wanted to please her in every way, there was one thing he wasn't willing to give up, one single thing he was planning on doing just for himself, the only thing he wouldn't be able to deny himself, even if he had promised this time around it was all about her.

Holding her hands on his own and placing them at their sides, he began to kiss his way downwards, letting his tongue drift where his fingers had traced before, dipping into her belly button…

"God Nick…"

… softly biting on the gentle feminine curve of her lower belly…

"Nick, please…"

… gently kissing the curls, nudging them with his nose, blowing on them, willing them to part and show him what treasures were beneath them…

"Please, Nick…. Stop"

His head snapped up, intent questioning gaze focusing on her watery blue orbs. "Am I doing something wrong?"

Sofia felt her heart break at the genuine concern and worry she heard in his voice and saw in his eyes. How could she explain to him her reasons without having him get up from her bed and out of her life for ever? How to tell the man you love, for she was certain now that she loved him, that she wasn't… that her body wasn't… that he wouldn't…

"No" she whispered, pleading at him with her eyes to understand and not ask any more questions.

But he was not only an investigator, he was also a man intent on making his woman, for he considered Sofia his and his alone, experience toe-curling pleasure before they were finally joined. Therefore, he simply couldn't let this go.

"Is there something about oral sex you don't like?" he asked softly, his fingers gently massaging her arms.

Sofia felt like crying out in frustration. Not like oral sex? God she had loved it, she could forgo all foreplay except her lover going down on her. But that was… before. And for the first time in seven years she was regretting not having had that reconstructive surgery…

She closed her eyes in defeat, no longer able to withstand his gaze upon her.

"I… no… but I… Nick…" she took a deep breath and decided to risk it all. "I just don't want you to see what's left of me… there…"

Understanding dawned on Nick, and his heart went out to her… for her… and he swore he'd find a way to make it better.

"Did you like it when your lovers kissed your inner thighs?"

A mute nod…

"Did it feel good to have their lips on your labia, kissing it as if it were your mouth?"

A shiver….

"Did you enjoy the feel of their tongue as they tasted your juices?"

A whimper…

"Did it drive you crazy when they used to lick and suck your clit?"

A moan…

"Will you come hard when I fuck you with my tongue?"

The thrust of her hips was all the answer he needed. Placing his hands on her hips, he lowered his head and gave her an open mouthed kiss on her curls. Then another one, lower this time. And another one, closer to her entrance. He closed his eyes, and guided solely by her scent and taste, he began to lap her up.

Intoxicated. Exhilarated. That was the only way he could describe what he felt the moment he tasted her. By the second lapping he was already addicted, and by the time he began to suck in earnest, he knew he'd never get enough of her, not in this lifetime anyway.

Nick opened his eyes, not changing his pace, and not sure of what he'd find. His heart skipped a beat for a moment, and he wished for a split second that Hollows was alive and rotting in some prison so he could go and slowly kill him with his bare hands if necessary. To have marred something so beautiful…

Scars criss-crossed her outer labia. Where her inner labia ought to have been, there was just a jumble of shapeless tissue, the clit hood seared shut. The surgeon at the time had focused more on functionality, merely clearing the way around her openings, thinking that later on he'd have the chance to work on aesthetics… or pleasure points. Her clit was merely a small knob of flesh that at the moment seemed to bulge, but it was completely out of the reach of his tongue.

But not of his fingers. Without missing a single stroke of his tongue, he carefully positioned his thumb on top of it and gently began to massage it. Sofia's cry was all confirmation he needed that he was doing something right, and he kept on going until her hips were buckling against his face, her thighs were clamped around his head and his name was being said with a husky reverence that made his cock throb painfully. And he would have continued with genuine gusto, had she not yanked him up by the hair.

"No more. No more. Please..." she begged as she held on tight to him. "Too much… too fucking much… oh God I never thought I'd feel so much again… oh God Nick…"

He wrapped his arms around her, his hand gently caressing her hair, soft kisses to her forehead. He could feel her trembling body spasm and shake and he allowed her to calm down. He remembered, right after his rescue, how oversensitive his skin was, to the point where he couldn't stand the feel of his clothes against it, or the rivulets of water running down his body in the shower. It was weeks before he could stop cringing when someone at the lab came in close contact to him. So unbearable in fact, that it had been 10 months before he tried having sex again. And even then, he could only manage the slam-bang-thanks ma'am variety. So he knew how she felt.

And not for the first time, he marveled at what a seemingly perfect match they made, as fucked up as it sounded. Perhaps it was really true that it took one to know one…

Sofia's hot trail of kisses running down his neck and unto his chest brought him back to the present. A second trail, this one from her nails, was running up and down his back, and he shuddered. Her tongue flicked against his left nipple and he whimpered. Her mouth got hold of it and began to suck on it and he moaned her name out loud. Her hands grabbed his ass and squeezed hard, pulling him closer to her and he groaned and writhed. Her hands moved to the front, actively seeking his erection, but he stopped her.

"I want to…"

"Please… don't…."

"I need to…"

"If you do it… if you touch me…"

"I want to taste you… I want to make you come in my mouth…"

Nick closed his eyes, as if resisting temptation. Each word she said made him whimper, the mere thought of her doing it… it was going to be his undoing, and he knew it. Sofia wasn't the only one who had issues when it came to oral sex. And as much as he loved blow jobs, fire ants had left him a bit on the quick trigger side of things, which was not only utterly embarrassing at his age, but also deeply frustrating as, more often than not, it took him a killing-mood long time to get ready for round two, making sex something of an either-or situation in the past year.

And damned if their lovemaking was going to be cut short by his shortcomings, shameful pun intended.

"Baby girl… you're not the only with sensibility issues here... and as soon as you touch me with that mouth of yours I'm going to die and go to heaven… and probably stay there for a day or two…" he kissed her softly on her lips, silently praying for her understanding. "Besides, you asked me to make love to you… and I'm not done doing that…"

Sofia moaned into the kiss, once more lighting the fire within them, as they kissed and caressed and licked and bit and scratched and worked themselves into a frenzy of passion and desire.

"I want… you… inside of me… now… please…" she moaned and whimpered.

Nick wanted it as badly, but he kept his control for a moment longer. This had been all about her, about making her feel good, making her feel loved, making her feel wanted… desired… and that's how he wanted it to end as well.

"Tell me how you want it, Sofia" he murmured against her skin, "Tell me and I'll give it to you… anything you ask… anything for my baby girl…"

Sofia didn't answer for fear of choking up on her words. No one, not even Erick, had made her feel as loved as Nick was making her feel and she thought her heart would burst inside her chest out of sheer pleasure and happiness. But she did manage to slide underneath him, wrapping his arms around his back and her legs around his, grinding her hips against his, hoping he understood her meaning and was pleased with her choice.

Nick was not disappointed by it; quite the opposite. It just seemed the right and logical choice for this coupling, their first love making. There was plenty of time for experimenting later on and if the sex they had had on her living room earlier that day was any indication of it, their sex life would be anything but boring. That's why he was so adamant in making their love making even more memorable. Holding her by the hips, he positioned himself at the entrance, and using all the self control he had left, which wasn't much to begin with, he slowly slid inside her, all the way in, and then he stood still for a moment, relishing the feel of them together like this.

"Perfect" he sighed and her moan replicated the feeling. Letting go of her hips, he rested his forearms on the bed next to her shoulders and leaned in to kiss her once more, his chest flush against hers, their tongues sliding in and out of their mouths and soon enough their hips were mimicking the movement. Sofia's hands wove gentle patterns on his back, as she whispered and moaned his name. Soon the need for more overcame them, and she grabbed his ass, pulling him harder against her and Nick upped the speed and strength of his pumping.

And too soon, it seemed, they reached their peak of need. Sofia's nails were digging deeper on his flesh, desire fueling her voice as she moaned next to his ear. "Oh God yes Nick… God yes… don't' stop, don't' stop… oh there, there… harder please oh God yes…"

Nick was barely holding back and he didn't even attempt to think of baseball or crime scenes. He was making love to his baby girl, and he didn't want to miss a single fucking thing of it. That's why he felt, rather than heard when she whispered against his chest, in between moans and whimpers.

"God, I love you Nick…."

She shuddered, close to the brink, and both things combined sent him reeling over the edge. He started pumping away, his hands holding unto her shoulders so he could go in even deeper and he screamed her name when he finally came. He managed a couple more weak thrusts, aware she wasn't still there with him, but the feeling of his orgasm was all she needed to explode in hers.

He tried moving away, but she begged him to stay inside of her for as long as possible. And who was he to deny his baby girl anything? They rocked their hips together, as if slow dancing horizontally, and allowed themselves to delve in the afterglow, holding unto each other.

Sofia had avoided looking at him, feeling insecure. She was perfectly aware that she had blurted out her true feelings, and she was also painfully aware that he hadn't responded in kind. She felt him moving away, still holding her in his arms, but widening the distance between their bodies, and looked up in time to see the worried look on his face, the troubled expression that clouded his dark eyes. She also noticed how he was biting the inside of his mouth and the way he furrowed his forehead, as if undecided as to how to go about what came next.

And when it did, it was totally unexpected.

"I fucking hate you, Sofia Curtis…"

Xxx XXX xxX

A/N:

What did you expect? It's ME writing this! Just sex, angst and rocking cliffhangers…

Worry not, the muse know EXACTLY where this is headed this time around.

Patience, Iagos.