Sara Lance woke to the sensation of soft kisses and feather-light caresses tracing the length of her spine. She drew in a deep, contented breath and the motions ceased, one hand resting lightly at the small of her back, just at the edge of the sheet.
"What're you up to?" she mumbled sleepily, voice muted by the pillows.
"You hit that wall pretty hard. I was just…checking to make sure all those contusions had healed properly," Leonard replied. "And that there was no loss of…sensitivity."
"Mmm. Pretty sure Gideon could have answered that."
"Maaaybe…but sometimes, it's better to check these things manually."
Sara propped herself up on one elbow with a sultry little smirk. She knew such boldness was new for Leonard, and although she'd made it amply clear that she didn't need - or want - him to change, this was just too much fun to resist. "Ooohhh…manually?"
His façade faltered a bit then. "I needed to see you open your eyes," he confessed.
"Hey - it's fine. I'm right here. You know why? Because you had the skills to get us all out of a collapsing building intact. Not me, not Martin, not Ray - you. I'm fine," she repeated.
Leonard made a show of eyeing her body. "Yes, you certainly are."
Sara rolled onto her side, causing his hand to trail from her back to her side, fingertips stroking delicately along her ribcage.
"You know, I came down pretty hard on this hip," she murmured speculatively, guiding his hand.
He slid the sheet away from her bare hip. "This-this hip?" he stuttered.
"Yeah, that one. Maybe you should check and make sure there's no loss of…sensitivity."
"Maybe I should."
Sara was still grinning when she finally left her quarters in search of, well, definitely not breakfast. Lunch? Mid-afternoon snack, maybe? Her thoughts were filled with rather delightful musings on a warm mouth and sensitive hands, and the feel of close-cropped hair against her skin.
"Hey, Sara - how you feeling?" Jax greeted, his voice jarring her from her thoughts as he fell into step beside her. "You took a pretty bad hit last night."
"I'm fine," Sara managed, corralling her wayward thoughts. She hoped. "Leonard took very good care of me."
Jax scrunched up his face in mock horror. "Whoa! Too much information!"
"Shut it," Sara grumbled good-naturedly, cuffing him lightly on the shoulder.
"Seriously, though. He's a good guy. And none of us woulda made it out of there last night without him."
"That's for sure," Sara agreed.
"And he…um, I mean, you and him…aw, hell…"
Sara smiled and took pity on her young friend. "He makes me very happy," she said simply.
"Good. I'm glad, really. You deserve that."
"So does he."
"Yeah, he does." Sara stopped then, laying a hand on Jax's arm. "Jax, thank you."
"For?"
"For being his friend. For accepting that he's his own man. It means a lot to him. And to me."
Jax grinned. "Hey - like I said - he's a good guy. And you both deserve a break. Now, what say we go check out that chocolate cheesecake that Ray programmed into the replicator?"
Sara bumped her shoulder against his. "Sounds like a plan."
"After all," Jax added slyly, "you've got keep up your strength."
That earned him another swat.