AN: Hi everyone! First off, thanks for all the kind reviews! Secondly, there is a lemon halfway through this chapter, so if you don't want to read it, I suggest you skip that section.
Raven felt stupid. Here she was standing with Terra outside her foster parent's house arguing about whether or not she was prepared to actually visit with Terra's family. If she wasn't ready she would have told Terra that when she was invited last week. But for whatever reason, Terra believed that they had to go over every possible thing that could go wrong. They had been at it for ten minutes already and the wine Raven brought as a hostess gift was starting to get heavy.
"Are you sure you can handle this many people at once? It's usually a crowd of 9, and Linda said that Michael and Gabe's brought their partners, so that makes at least 12 including you."
"I can handle that many people." Raven reassured her yet again.
"I just don't want you to get too stressed."
"This conversation is stressing me out more than your family possibly could."
"Okay, okay," Terra conceded at last, "Let's go in."
Terra took all of one step towards the door before turning back to Raven, "Your face!"
"What about my face?" Raven shifted the weight of her grocery bag.
"It's grey and your chakra thing!"
"Only because I cast the glamor charm in front of you." Raven explained, "Promise, there won't be any grey skin, purple hair, or chakra stone."
"Oh, alright." Terra glanced back at the house with no small amount of uncertainty.
"Can we go in now?"
"I'm just going to ask this one more time before we do:" Terra paused for emphasis, "Are you sure you want to do this?"
Raven sighed for the umpteenth time and decided to take the initiative. Despite Terra's protests, Raven walked briskly up the porch steps and rang the doorbell. Terra scuttled after her and landed on the porch just as Linda answered the door.
"Melanie! You're just in time, I need some help in the kitchen." Linda greeted breathlessly, noticing Raven only after she had half-dragged Terra past the threshold, "Hello, you're Lucy, yes?"
"Linda!" Terra admonished.
"What?"
"This is Rachel. Lucy is Michael's fiancé." Terra frowned, "Remember?"
"Right, right! I'm so sorry Rachel, please come on in." Linda ushered them both inside the house.
Casting an apologetic look Raven's way, Terra followed Linda into the kitchen and Raven followed them in turn. Linda immediately put Terra to work chopping vegetables for the salad as she went back to dicing strawberries.
"Is there anything I can help with?" Raven offered.
Terra answered for Linda, "No, you can't. I want them to like you and they can't do that if they're dying of food poisoning."
"Not very handy in the kitchen Rachel?" Linda asked with a brief smile, "Melanie wasn't much of a cook when she showed up at our door either."
"I'm sure even then she was much better than me." Raven said agreeably.
Linda pointed at the bag in Raven's arms, "Would you like to set that down?"
"It's actually for you." Raven handed the bag over to her, "Thanks for having me."
"How sweet!" Linda examined the three different bottles Raven had brought. "Hardly anyone brings anything to dinner besides another mouth to feed."
Terra glanced up from her chopped cucumbers, "Speaking of, where is everyone?"
"Outside." Linda gestured towards the back door, "Apparently it takes almost the entire family to set a table."
Two people came through the door just then, an older gentleman that Raven recognized as Jim, and a shorter, much younger man she didn't recognize at all.
"Table's all set Lin." Jim said, dropping a kiss to the top of Terra's head as he passed by her on his way to Linda, "What can we take out first?"
"Who are you?" The man who entered with Jim asked Raven, only to be beaned in the face with a piece of cucumber.
"That's Rachel, my girlfriend." Terra introduced while pointing her knife at him, "And you will be nice to her, Gabe."
"Sheesh, can't ask a simple question around here." Gabe shoved his hands into his pockets and nodded towards Raven, "Nice to meet you."
"Same." Raven nodded back.
Jim walked around the island and put out his hand to shake, "Nice to see you again, Rachel."
"Likewise. Thank you for having me." Raven noted his mild surprise when her grip was just as strong as his.
"Alright," Linda pulled their attention back to the food, "Everyone grab a dish and let's go eat."
Terra introduced the rest of her siblings to Raven. Michael was the oldest. Gabe the second oldest, Sam was his boyfriend and significantly taller than Gabe. Next came her two sisters, Emma who had graduated high school this year, and Lily the year before that. Then there were Oscar and Frank, who still lived at home with Jim and Linda; they were twins. Raven was just thankful they didn't speak Spanish at the speed of light.
The dinner went smoothly. The food was delicious and for the most part the family was too busy recapping the past week and sharing inside jokes to pay too much attention to Raven. Though of course, anytime Jim or Linda asked the most innocent of questions regarding Raven's background, Terra nearly jumped to defend her right to not say anything at all. It was starting to feel as if Terra didn't trust Raven to say much of anything.
Raven was thankful when the dessert portion of dinner was over. It meant that she and Terra would be leaving soon. Maybe, if they were lucky, she and Terra could steal away some hours alone before Raven was called back to the tower.
"Will you be okay if I go help Linda with dishes? It's my turn this week." Terra asked, "After that I promise we can leave."
"I'm in no hurry." Raven lied, taking a sip of what was left of her lemonade.
Terra glanced around her. Linda and Jim had already gone inside and all of Terra's siblings had started playing a game of tag football a few yards away with Gabe's boyfriend acting as the referee. Once Terra confirmed that everyone else was distracted, she stole a kiss from Raven.
"Melanie and Rachel sitting in a tree!" Frank's shout put an end to that and soon the rest of Terra's siblings were chanting with him: "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
Raven didn't even have the time to blink before Terra was tearing after Frank, chasing him around the yard until she inevitably caught him and tackled him to the ground. Both Terra and Frank were laughing when Linda called Terra to come wash dishes.
"I'll be right in!" Terra called back, turning to give Frank a warning look. On her way into the house she tossed a wink Raven's way.
Raven watched Terra's siblings play; glancing occasionally into the house where she could see brief glimpses of Terra moving around the kitchen. After watching her family and seeing how Terra interacted with them, Raven had a greater understanding of why Terra initially didn't want her memories to interfere with her current life. It was happy here, if a little loud.
She was glad Terra invited her to dinner.
When Terra reemerged from the house she asked, "Ready to go?"
Raven intertwined her fingers with Terra's, "Why don't we stay for a while?"
Terra blinked. "Wait, really?"
"I want to see how this game ends." Raven said casually, tugging on Terra's hand.
At first Terra was confused, since she knew for a fact that Raven wasn't a fan of any kind of sport, but she grinned when the realization hit her. She squeezed Raven's hand and sat down next to her.
"Best girlfriend ever." Terra kissed Raven's cheek.
It was very late when she knocked on her door. She never dropped in this late, at least not without any notice, but tonight the edges of her restraint smoldered. Somehow she couldn't keep still, she couldn't wait until their scheduled date the next night. She felt ready now.
The door opened before she could knock again. A blurry-eyed Terra peered out at her before her eyes flew open.
"Rae? What are you doing here? Is everything okay?" Terra stepped out into the hall, her hands already touching Raven's face in concern.
The last of her restraint turned to ash.
Raven pressed forward until Terra was engulfed in her arms. Terra eventually eased into the embrace, her fingers tangling in purple hair. Raven took this as a sign to move them towards the interior of the apartment and to close the door behind them with a definitive thud.
Terra pulled away just enough to look Raven in the eye, "Rae, why are you here?"
"Take your clothes off." Raven breathed, "And I'll show you."
Raven saw the flash of understanding in Terra's eyes just before Terra practically slammed Raven against the door, pressing her mouth against every bare surface she could find on Raven's body. It fanned the slow smolder in Raven's body into a flame. Raven feverishly helped her out of the loose night shirt she had been wearing. Terra bit into Raven's neck as she helped Raven shimmy out of her jeans. Both half-dressed, they stumbled together across the apartment, collapsing onto the bed a shivering, excited mess.
Terra kissed the length of Raven's torso as she slid her shirt off of her. Raven hooked her thumbs into the waistband of Terra's shorts and pulled them down. She had to swallow a groan as Terra's cool hands toyed with her breasts. Now they were both without clothes. Without guidance, Raven grazed her nails across Terra's hips and across the curve of her ass, and then grabbed her hips and roughly pulled her body flush against hers.
They tangled and rolled until Raven was on top, one hand on Terra's chest, the other one tracing patterns into her thigh. She could sense Terra's arousal, the anticipation in her breathing, the heat on her skin, the spike of passion in her aura as her hips bucked forward, trying to bring Raven's hand closer to its goal, but instead her hand jumped to the other thigh, tracing patterns there.
"Tease." Terra whined and smiled at the same time.
Her voice was encouraging and husky; Raven found it incredibly sexy. And yet, her fingers twitched.
Raven sat straight up, disconnecting completely from Terra. She was flushed, both from Terra's affections and guilt. She had been so sure this time.
"Rae?" Terra sat up too, "What's wrong?"
Swallowing her guilt, Raven ignored Terra's question and searched for her discarded shirt. Snatching it up and throwing it on, Raven got off the bed in search of her pants and underwear.
"Sorry, I should go." Raven muttered as a poor way of appeasing Terra's concern.
"Rae. No." Terra was following her, dogging her steps as she tried to get dressed again.
"Sorry I woke you up." Raven told her as she grabbed her jeans.
"Raven. Stop. Please." Terra begged.
The use of her full name stopped her. Terra never called her Raven, only Rae; just like Raven never called her Melanie, only Terra. Raven turned around to face her, the stricken look on Terra's face made the guilt rise like bile in Raven's throat.
"Are, are you not attracted to me?" Terra asked at last.
Raven's eyebrows knitted together. "What could possibly make you think that?"
"Because!" Terra threw her hands up helplessly, "I'm your first girlfriend and all we've done up until now has been kissing, which isn't all that different no matter who you're kissing on the gender spectrum."
"So I have to be a gold-star lesbian in order to be attracted to you?" Raven took offense. "That's open-minded."
Terra groaned in frustration, "That's not what I meant! It's just that every time we get close to having sex you back-off. Hell, you don't just back-off you run away! What am I supposed to think?"
"Obviously you should think that you're undesirable. That's why I show up in the middle of the night and tell you to take your clothes off." Raven rebuffed with a scoff. The twitching in her fingers increased the longer they discussed the subject.
"Then what is it that makes you run away?" Terra crossed her arms, "Am I pressuring you or something?"
Raven sighed and tried to hide the trembling in her fingers by running them through her hair, "No, you haven't been pressuring me. It's not about you."
Terra pressed again, "Then what is it?"
"I'm a virgin and I get nervous, okay?!"
Raven's shout was accompanied by the futon and the coffee table being overturned by her powers. Terra jumped visibly at the sound and eyed the disrupted furniture warily. Raven gulped and felt herself flush even more; this is what she was trying to avoid.
Raven breathed out shakily, "Sorry."
"Don't worry about it." Terra said, shaking off her wariness, she approached Raven, despite the magic that still danced around the outline of Raven's hands.
Raven's eyes closed when she felt Terra's cool fingertips on her cheek. "You should probably stand back."
"Maybe if I thought you'd actually hurt me, I would." Terra's lips brushed against the chakra gem on her forehead. "But I don't think that. I think that if I'm calm, you'll be calm."
Raven didn't say anything, instead she let Terra prove her theory right. Terra's hands moved so that her fingers ran along the cords at the back of Raven's neck. The massage paired with Terra's mouth ghosting over hers as she muttered Raven's mantra worked wonders. The magic dissipated, but not before it righted Terra's furniture.
"Calm?" Terra asked in a murmur.
"Yes." Raven opened her eyes, "How did you know that would work?"
"Same way you knew how to calm me down after that nightmare." Terra replied with a soft smile. "So, you're a virgin?"
Raven sighed, her hands circling Terra's bare waist, "Yes."
"And you didn't tell me sooner because?" Terra prompted.
"Because I didn't want to be the blushing virgin in comparison to my tactile, experienced girlfriend." Raven's eyes shifted away from Terra's face, "But I am and I have no idea what I'm doing."
Terra's eyes glittered playfully for a moment before she turned her head to kiss Raven just beneath her ear, "So let me take the lead."
"I couldn't ask you to…" Raven let out one of smallest gasps as Terra's hand moved under her shirt and reached for her breast; rolling the nipple between her thumb and forefinger.
"You're not asking." Terra murmured against the shell of her ear as her other hand grabbed Raven's ass. "I'm telling you: Let me take the lead."
Raven leaned towards her and met Terra in a hard, harsh, hot kiss. They broke apart long enough to get Raven's shirt over her head before crashing into the other again. This time they didn't bother going towards the bed, opting for the closer futon which was conveniently laid out flat by Raven's powers.
"I knew your powers liked me." Terra teased as she pressed Raven into the flattened mattress.
Raven smirked at her as her leg curled around Terra's left hip, "Whatever, blondie."
Terra smiled at the nick-name, the one Raven used when she was being affectionately dismissive; something only Raven could pull off. Terra kissed her, her hand inching down her torso, lightly grazing Raven's skin as it went. Terra could have drowned happily in the voiceless cry that Raven gave when Terra slipped past the band of her panties and inserted a single finger inside of her.
Raven's nails bit into Terra's skin, clinging to her as Terra pumped her finger as slowly as possible, being sure to apply pressure on just the right spot every time she moved in and out.
Raven breathed heavily against Terra's neck, "More."
Terra obliged, stilling her one finger while her thumb pressed against her clit. Raven bucked her hips and the word 'more' fell from her lips again. Terra rubbed tight circles against Raven's clit while continuing to finger Raven slowly, so slowly that Raven was practically growling at her to go harder.
Terra would have obliged that request as well, but she wanted to go slowly, steadily, to build Raven up so much that when release finally came, it would be the best orgasm of her life. That, and Terra's hand was starting to cramp a little and this was the best tempo she could muster at the moment. It had been a while since she had done this.
When Terra moved her other hand so she could work one hand on Raven's clit and the other on her g-spot, Raven shifted so they were laying side by side. Before Terra could question the position change she felt Raven's fingers slip between her legs and pinch Terra's clit.
Terra's back arched, "Not fair."
Raven chuckled darkly next to her, but said nothing as she continued to toy with Terra's clit. Raven wrapped one arm around Terra's waist and moved her head so she could drag one of Terra's nipples between her teeth. Terra moaned and relinquished her focus on Raven's pleasure while Raven simultaneously fingered her and left several love bites along Terra's chest.
Her body ached for climax, but Terra decided that Raven should cum first tonight. She grabbed Raven's wrists and twisted her body so she was once again on top. She pinned Raven's wrists above her head and kissed Raven's nose.
"No touching." She commanded in a whisper.
Raven rolled her eyes, but she consented, keeping her hands above her head once Terra released them. Terra kissed the length of Raven's body, pausing to leave a hickey on Raven's hip while she slipped off Raven's panties. Raven let out that voiceless cry again when Terra's tongue swirled around her clit.
It was only seconds after Terra started going down on her that Raven broke the no touching rule and gripped Terra's hair to bring her that much closer. Terra didn't mind though, she pulled her arms under Raven's thighs to get better leverage and that made Raven buck her hips hard and fast against Terra's mouth. Raven's gasps for breath were fringed with moans and based on how Raven's heels were digging into her back, Terra could tell she was close.
As her whole body tightened and then suddenly shuddered, Raven gasped and dug her nails into Terra's scalp. Terra eased her down, softening the movements of her tongue and nipping the skin of her inner thigh. Raven's fingers turned gentle against Terra's scalp, coaxing Terra to come out from between her legs. Which Terra did, but at her own pace, taking the time touch and kiss any part of Raven she might have missed before.
Raven wrapped her arms around Terra and kissed her, which Terra thought was sweet, until Raven flipped them over so Terra was beneath her. Raven's fingers tangled with Terra's and lifted their hands above Terra's head. Terra narrowed her eyes at her.
"No touching." Raven smirked at her.
"Evil." Terra sighed in resignation as Raven's fingers raked down her body.
Raven chuckled, "You are sleeping with a half-demon."
"Who eats sheet metal and souls three times a day?" Terra joked, breaking the no touching rule to play with Raven's hair.
"Yes, and very, very attractive blondes." Raven punctuated each word with a kiss along the line of Terra's body.
Terra shivered at the insinuation and moaned moments later when Raven made good on it. Over and over again.
They got almost a full hour of actual sleep by the time Terra's alarm sounded. Groaning, she twisted and leaned over Raven to turn it off. Once silenced, Terra moved back to her original position where Raven's warm, pliant body pressed against hers again. Absently, she stroked the smooth skin that covered Raven's ribcage contemplating how much longer she could lay there.
"Don't you have to get ready?" Raven asked, her fingers interlacing with the ones that Terra had against her ribs.
"No." Terra yawned tilting her head to kiss the crown of Raven's, "The alarm goes off again in fifteen minutes, and that's when I have to get ready."
"Work is bad. We should ban work." Raven tucked her face in the space between Terra's shoulder and throat.
Terra chuckled in agreement, "Wanna write a note excusing me from work today?"
"You could always call-in sick." Raven mentioned as an option.
Terra scoffed, "Right, I'll call-in sick and you'll be called into action two seconds later."
Raven shifted against her, "Not if I call-in sick too."
"Superheroes can do that?"
Raven leaned her head back to catch Terra's glance, "Well, they wouldn't believe that I was sick, but if I told them that you were sick and you needed someone to take care of you, sure. That could work."
"That could work." Terra repeated to herself softly, thinking of all the things they could or could not do with a day entirely to themselves. The possibilities were practically endless.
Raven brushed her nose against Terra's, moving just close enough to Terra to remind her just how naked they both were. Raven's eyes shone with a shy kind of eagerness. She had been thinking of all the possibilities too.
Terra smiled at her and reached over her for just long enough to turn off the snooze alarm. Once that was done, Terra rolled them so Raven was comfortably below her. Raven wrapped her arms around Terra's shoulders, bringing her down for a kiss.
"You feel a little warm to me, Terra." Raven murmured, "You should probably stay home."
Terra smirked, "As long as you stay with me."
Raven kissed her once more in response, more powerfully this time so that Terra almost lost her breath. In the quick tussle they had in the sheets before they made their respective phone calls, Terra couldn't stop thinking: a whole day with Rae, an entire day with Rae.