So here's the next one! I borrowed some parts of season three again, but before you get your hopes up, remember that this fic is on the slow side, so don't hit me in the end! ;-) I can't say often enough how happy I am about every review I get, so pleeeease keep it up!

Chapter 14

Emily woke from an irksome tingling of her nose. She slowly opened her eyes and was greeted by a shock of blond hair. She realized with a start that her face was nestled comfortably in the crook of Naomi's neck while the blonde's arm was draped loosely around her shoulder and her right leg rested on top of hers. After carefully extricating her head, she looked at the sleeping girl beside her. Good God, she's beautiful. Emily felt a surge of tenderness rush through her at the sight of the blonde's sleeping form, so peaceful and adorably vulnerable. She hesitated before she reached out and carefully tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Emily smiled as the other girl mumbled something incomprehensible in her sleep and pulled her closer again. She feels so fucking good. I wish we could stay like this forever. Because as soon as she wakes up, she'll be up and gone.

She'd seen the battling emotions in her eyes and knew she was scared shitless. She hadn't quite figured out what Naomi was so afraid of. Was it just the fact that she was a girl? Or did she worry that she'd be disappointed in the end? Perhaps it was just some general dread of being trapped in a relationship. Or a combination of all three. She didn't dare ask her straight on because she didn't want to risk being turned down and pushed away. Naomi didn't seem to be a person who liked talking about her feelings and letting her guard down. On the contrary – as soon as she let her catch a tiny glimpse of her inner self, she pulled the shutters around herself tightly close shortly afterwards as if to make up for the accidentally disclosed secrets. Why does it always have to be so difficult?

Emily sighed and disentangled herself reluctantly from Naomi, moving very cautiously so she wouldn't wake up. She covered her with the blanket they'd obviously kicked away during the night and glanced at the clock on Naomi's desk. 6.27. She took a pen and a post-it and wrote down a short message. "Sorry for dozing off on you like that and camping out on your floor - you're not THAT boring, I was just knackered! :-)" She hesitated before she continued. "I'm glad I came to see you last night and hope you won't wish you hadn't opened your door as soon as you wake up. See you later at uni. Emily." There was so much she wanted to say, but she knew that Naomi wasn't ready for that, so she tried to keep her tone light and stick to the bare essentials. She pasted the note next to Naomi's head on the floor and had to pry her eyes away from the sleeping girl. I like you. I really, really like you.

…..

Fifteen more minutes to go. Could this course get any more boring? The professor had been droning on and on about the range of different public policy research methods for an eternity and Naomi had been hard pressed not to fall asleep in her chair. She retrieved Emily's note from her pocket for the umpteenth time and reread the short message she knew by heart by now. The first part still made her smile. But did she regret opening the door for her? Yes, she'd opened it for her in every sense, had opened it wide, wider than she'd ever expected to be possible. Her instincts told her to slam it shut again as fast as possible. It was her only chance to gain control again and to see clearly without Emily invading every single thought in her mind.

Emily. She'd woken sometime during the night and it had taken her a couple of seconds to realize that she'd snuggled against the redhead in her sleep, her arm pulling her close to herself while Emily's steady breaths were tickling her neck and evoking the most dangerous feelings inside her. She knew she should have broken away from her then, but God, was there anything more delicious than being so close to her? You're in deep shit, Naomi. So she'd stayed and relished the sweet shudders every breath of the girl in her arms caused to rush through her body until her tiredness had finally won over her raging hormones. You do remember that you don't like sleeping close to anyone, right? That you used to kick everyone away who dared invading your space at night? But fucking hell. She'd already been missing her when she hadn't yet been fully awake in the morning, her body craving for the physical contact she'd been allowed to savour only once.

At the same time she'd been relieved, though. Relieved because she wouldn't have known how to act around her after their shared intimacy. She didn't know what Emily expected of her now. They'd kissed. They'd spent the night wrapped around each other. But what now? What was she supposed to do? 'It's going to be okay. I promise.' That's what she'd said. But how did she know that? How could it ever be okay if she already touched her so deep inside that she felt utterly defenceless? Naomi shook her head, grabbed her bag and left the course room although the professor's monologue was still far from finished. She lit a cigarette even before she'd fully stepped outside into the yard and inhaled the smoke deeply into her lungs.

And there she was. Sitting on a bench, her back turned towards her and her head bowed over a book. Naomi halted mid-step. Christ. Everything inside her screamed at her to turn around and run as fast as possible. At the same time she felt irresistibly drawn towards the redhead as if they were connected by invisible strings. God, Naomi, how about NOT being a total coward just once? She threw her cigarette into the nearest ashtray, took a deep breath and slowly walked on.

"Erm…hey." Naomi croaked as she was standing right behind her. She felt a slight blush creep up her cheeks. Shit.

Emily turned around and smiled at her, her eyes shining brightly. "Hey yourself." Naomi prayed that Emily wouldn't try to touch her or pull her into a hug, she just wouldn't be up to it, not now, not here. But she needn't have worried, because Emily remained in her seated position and just shut her book.

"I don't want to disturb you." Naomi said and nodded towards the book in Emily's hands.

"You don't." Emily hurriedly replied. "It's boring as hell anyway." She brushed a strand of red hair from her face. "Whereas you aren't."

Naomi pursed her lips and couldn't supress a smile. "Really?" Naomi asked with a cocky smirk.

"Definitely." Emily confirmed, still smiling widely.

Naomi smiled and averted her eyes before she looked at the other girl again. "So you're still favouring me over a boring book. Seems to grow into a habit." she said, replaying the playful banter they'd shared a couple of days ago.

"Yeah, well, seems as if you are growing on me somehow."

Naomi remained silent and stared at her feet, hugging herself. She'd never been good at accepting compliments.

"You do realize we've only two days left to finish our paper, right?" Emily said, quickly changing topics.

"What? Oh…yeah."

"Want to meet after uni? And bring those boring books?" Emily asked with a risen brow.

Naomi looked at her again as if she was weighing the pro's and con's. Meeting her again. Alone. She's the death of me. Definitely. "Okay." she finally agreed. "I guess there's no way around this." she added with a mock frown and rolled her eyes to cover up the whirl of emotions the prospect of meeting her again caused inside her. Thrilling anticipation. And paralyzing fear. Fighting for dominance inside her mind, but the battle was far from over. God, Naomi, this is getting kind of old. How about getting a grip soonish? Jesus.

"Yeah, right, but thank God we've got to wrap this up pretty fast now, otherwise I'd be stuck with you forever." Emily retorted with a cheeky grin while her smoldering brown eyes were locked on hers.

"Yes, thank God, probably you'll bore me so much that I'll fall asleep this time."

"Oh, I'll better keep you busy then." she countered with a wink. Naomi felt herself blush deeply. Shitshitshit. She tried to erase the pictures of Emily "keeping her busy" from her mind and failed.

Emily laughed and grabbed her book. "Come on. Sociology's waiting." With that, she got up and headed for the entrance. Naomi watched her retreating back, still slightly numb.

"You coming or what?" Emily had turned around again and was waiting for her to catch up.

"Yeah." Naomi cleared her throat. "Sure." Fuck me sideways, she's the death of me.

….

"Where are we going exactly?"

"Take a left turn at the next fork. We're almost there."

Naomi indicated and did as she was told. They'd been driving for about fifteen minutes now. They had left Bristol behind and were passing fields of rye and corn whose ears were swaying in the wind. They'd left the road and the wheels were rumbling on the narrow cart track they were following towards a piece of woodlands. The car crunched to a halt as Naomi spotted a huge trunk that had been used to block the path.

"End of the line, I take it?"

"Looks like it. Come on." Emily grabbed the basket she'd brought from her room while Naomi had waited in the car, half-expecting Katie to dash through the door and start yelling at her. But thankfully Emily had returned only minutes later without her annoying twin on her heels.

Naomi carried the bag that was filled with their books and followed Emily into the wood. She breathed in the clean, fresh air and almost gasped as a clearing opened before them, with a small lake surrounded by scattered trees and knee-high grass mottled with daisies and bright yellow buttercups with occasional poppies strewn in between.

"Wow. It's lovely. A lovely place."

"Yeah. It's one of my favourites." Emily spread the rug she'd brought at the edge of the lake, flopped down on top of it and kicked off her shoes. She'd never brought anyone here before because this was the place she went to when she wanted to be alone to dwell on her thoughts. Naomi lay down beside her and Emily noted how carefully she avoided touching her and lay as far from her as possible without leaving the rug. Don't push it, Emily. You don't want her to run. "Okay…so….let's get to work." Emily retrieved her netbook from her bag, glad she'd remembered to recharge the battery.

The tension she'd felt earlier seemed to dissipate the longer they discussed the final chapters of their paper and the conclusion they wanted to point out. She was once again fascinated by Naomi's straightforwardness when it came to present her point of view. Emily couldn't help but be impressed by her convincing logic, her perfectly structured way of thinking and conclusive reasoning which was almost intimidating. At the same time, the blonde was open for counterproposals and ready to accept a compromise when their concepts drifted too far apart.

"Okay….let's proofread it one last time before we call it a day." Naomi finally suggested, turned on her stomach and propped herself up on her elbows to have a look at the display. Her arm brushed lightly against Emily's. Breathe, Emily. In and out. See? It's easy. God.

They read in silence, both well aware of their arms touching between them.

"Sounds good to me." Emily said quietly, her voice huskier than usual even to her own ears.

"Yes, I think we did it." Naomi replied without looking at her. Silence settled heavily upon them as no one dared to move. Suddenly Emily jumped up and pulled her shirt over her head without any prior warning.

"What…..what are you doing?" Naomi stared at her flabbergasted, her cheeks turning slightly red.

"I'm going for a swim. Come on. The sun won't shine forever." Emily said and started to unzip her skirt.

"What? No. I…..I didn't bring a swimming costume and…."

"Neither did I. I brought towels, though. That's a start."

"Someone might be looking!"

"Honey, your body ain't that special." Okay, that's a lie, but what the hell? She stepped out of her skirt and felt suddenly self-conscious, standing in front of her just in her bra and knickers. She needn't have worried though, because Naomi had averted her eyes and was staring at the checked pattern of the rug as if it was the most interesting piece of material she'd ever seen. After a while, she looked up again, her eyes trailing over Emily's body before they hurriedly settled on her eyes.

"Alright. But don't look, okay!" Naomi commanded with a stern voice.

"Fine." Emily shrugged her shoulders and turned around for about two seconds before she couldn't resist and sneaked a glance at the blonde. She let her gaze travel over her body while Naomi stripped to her underwear and placed her clothes neatly on the rug.

"I said 'Don't look!" she giggled as she caught Emily watching her out of the corner of her eye.

"I wasn't looking." Emily laughed, feeling caught in the act. Yeah, Emily, very inconspicuous. Jeez.

"You were looking!" Naomi persisted with a smile.

"I wasn't!" Emily lied again, laughing.

"You were perving." Naomi laughed and shoved her so that Emily stumbled and fell into the lake with a loud yelp. She laughed and brushed the wet hair from her face.

"Come in!" Emily shouted and spattered the other girl with water. Naomi hesitated a second before she held her nose and jumped right in.

"Jesus, it's freezing!" she squealed and grimaced as her feet stepped on something slippery on the ground. "Ew, what is that?"

"What?"

"On the ground. It feels slimy."

"Ah, come on, don't be such a pussy!" Emily laughed. Could she be any cuter? Emily swam towards her and shoved a wave of water into her face.

Naomi coughed and sputtered. "You bitch, just you wait!" she yelped and took up pursuit after Emily who was doing the crawl towards the opposite side of the lake. Emily squealed as Naomi caught up with her and pushed her head under water. She came up again, laughing and put her hands on top of Naomi's head to take revenge and push her down, but Naomi stood like a rock, unmovable. Naomi smirked at her and pushed her under water one more time. Emily laughed as she emerged again. "That's fucking unfair, it's too deep for me to stand!"

"Yeah…..that's a shame, really." Naomi said with a sly grin and started another attack. Emily grabbed her arms to fight her off, and they wrestled to and fro, neither of them letting go. Emily couldn't say at what point the atmosphere between them changed from foolishly playful to something else, she just looked at the blonde and something made 'click' in her head, and she could see the same change in Naomi's eyes. Suddenly they were very aware that they were only centimetres apart, their hands touching, clad only in their soaking wet underwear and both of them slightly out of breath from their playful squabble. The fight went out of them, although their hands were still touching. My goodness, she's….

Emily's mind blanked out as her gaze travelled from Naomi's lips back to her flashing ice-blue eyes which seemed to be darker than usual and were focusing on her with such an absoluteness that it took Emily's breath away. She moved as if remote-controlled, her action baring every logic thought besides the almost blinding need to gather those lips with hers. She stopped a few millimetres short of her destination, giving Naomi the chance to back away and prayed to heaven that she wouldn't. I have to feel her. Now. Emily sighed quietly as Naomi closed the gap between them and their lips collided forcefully. Gone was the probing tentativeness of their first kiss, replaced by a burning desire their pent-up emotions had caused inside them. Emily gasped into Naomi's mouth as the blonde pulled her closer against herself and kissed her deeply, almost aggressively, her tongue roaming her mouth as if to mark it as her natural territory. Emily smiled against Naomi's lips at the blonde's barely suppressed a moan when Emily raked her nails down her bare back, her other hand tightly clasped around the blonde's neck to pull her even closer to herself. Oh. My. God. I'm dreaming. I have to be. Naomi's left hand was tangled in her hair, her right gripped her hip and pressed their bodies flash against each other. Emily shivered with want as she felt the other girl pant into her mouth due to the indescribable feeling of skin against skin, their bodies separated only by the flimsy material of their soaked underwear. They broke the kiss in desperate need to breathe, but before Emily could form a single coherent thought in her mind, Naomi crashed her lips against hers again and kissed her feverishly. Her hand travelled from Emily's hip upwards until it cupped her breast through her bra. Emily nearly choked when the blonde shoved a thigh between her legs, providing her with much longed for friction while her tongue kept on dancing with hers in a frantic rhythm. It took all of Emily's strength, but she broke the kiss and grabbed Naomi's wrists to stop her and pushed her gently away without letting go of her. I can't believe I'm doing this.

"Wait." she whispered, her breath still coming in short breaths. Naomi looked at her questioningly, almost shocked, her eyes burning with desire, her breathing erratic.

"Emily…" Naomi started with a raspy voice, but Emily silenced her with a light kiss on her lips before she drew back again.

"This is killing me, I swear." Emily whispered. "But I want you to be sure. I don't want to be your spur-of-the-moment mistake." Emily's eyes were pleading with her, willing the blonde to understand. "I just couldn't stand it if you regretted it tomorrow." Emily tried to drown the voices in her head that screamed at her to take the chance and shoot all worries to hell and nearly groaned with the effort to silence her raging hormones.

Naomi looked at her as if it had just sunk in what they'd been about to do. "It's killing me too." Naomi whispered and blew a soft kiss on Emily's lips before she closed her eyes and leant her forehead against hers, trying to steady her breathing and come back down to earth again. "I'm sorry."

"I know." Emily kissed her once more and reluctantly let go of her wrists. "Come on. Our skin's getting all fishy already and the water is fucking freezing."

Naomi nodded, but before Emily could turn around and head back to the bank, she took hold of her hand and snatched her back towards herself. She kissed her tenderly this time, nibbling on Emily's lower lip, unwilling to let her go as if she was afraid her permission to kiss her would expire as soon as they stepped out of the water.

"Naomi, I….." I'm falling in love with you. She knew she shouldn't say it, but nothing could have been moretruthful at the moment. Her heart was welling over with feelings for the blonde, but she didn't dare say the words out loud, afraid of the other girl's reaction. So she let her sentence trail out without finishing it and hoped her features wouldn't give her away.

Naomi looked at her for a couple of seconds and gave her a last chaste peck on the lips. "Let's go."

Ah...done, I hope you liked it. Feel free to leave a comment!