Charity's just on the verge of waking up when the bed shifts and an almighty groan assaults her ears. Without opening her eyes, she reaches for Vanessa, hand landing on her hip by instinct. She squeezes.
"'S'up?"
Vanessa lets out another weird noise, her breath catching in her throat. "I'm...in agony."
"What?" Charity's eyes fly open and she pushes herself up on an elbow. "Is it your stitches? Can't be. They've healed fine." She throws back the duvet to inspect Vanessa's body, shoving her pyjama top up and gently running her fingers over her scar.
"No, it's not that." Vanessa tries to sit up and winces, falling back down against the pillows. "It's, well, everything else."
Charity frowns. "Why would you be-" And then it hits her. "Oh, I see. This is because you were running around thinking you were David Beckham yesterday, isn't it?" She arches an eyebrow. "And here was me thinking you weren't interested in young fellas' balls anymore."
Glaring, Vanessa pushes herself up on her elbows again, biting her lip when a moan threatens to escape." She shakes her head. "God, how did I get so unfit?"
"Oh, I don't know about that." Charity muses, running her fingertips over the exposed skin on Vanessa's belly. "I'd say you're still pretty fit, babe."
That, at least, earns her a smile. "Thank you." Vanessa wrinkles her nose. "Can you tell that to my calf muscles, please?"
"I'll do you one better." Charity lifts her eyebrows. "Take your top off."
Vanessa flops back down again. "Oh, Charity, that's sweet, but I honestly don't think I could manage it right n-"
Charity rolls her eyes and swings her legs out of bed. "I'm not talking about that." She tuts as she gets to her feet. "And you say my mind's always in the gutter?"
Vanessa frowns at her as she rounds the bottom of the bed, but Charity notes she's undoing her top. "Then what are you talking about?"
Pausing in the doorway, Charity sighs. "I'm gonna give you a nice massage, aren't I?"
"Really?" Vanessa's face does that thing it always does when Charity is even vaguely sweet. "Awww, you're the best fiancée ever."
"True." Charity nods, thoughtfully. "I am pretty wonderful." She winks. "I'll be back in a tick. And you'd better be topless and face down when I get back."
She smiles at Vanessa's laugh, and heads along to the bathroom, rummaging in the cabinets until she locates a tub of Wintergreen that she'd had to buy for Noah the last time he got hurt at the footie. She grabs it and returns to their bedroom, finding Vanessa in exactly the state she instructed. She kneels on the bed and moves to straddle Vanessa's thighs, lowering her weight down slowly and eliciting only a soft groan. She opens the tub, the distinctive smell hitting her nostrils immediately.
Vanessa turns her head to the side. "I thought we'd be using one of the nice massage oils." She sniffs, her nose wrinkling.
Charity leans forward, her lips brushing Vanessa's ear. "Thought you were incapacitated?" she murmurs.
"Well, I am." She shifts a little beneath Charity. "I thought a massage might, you know, loosen me up a bit. But there's zero chance of anything sexy happening if your fingers are covered in that stuff, I'll tell you that much for free."
"Oh." Charity hadn't really considered that. She tilts her head to the side. "S'pose there's some places you definitely don't want that getting into." She screws the top back onto the tub and tosses it aside. "Oh well, you'll just have to make do with my hands to get you all warm and tingly instead."
Leaning over to the bedside cabinet, Charity grabs one of the bottles of massage oil and pours a generous glug into her hands, rubbing them together to warm the oil up. Vanessa hums with pleasure when Charity's hands move to her shoulders, rubbing and kneading at the tight muscles. "S'nice," Vanessa murmurs.
Charity works on her shoulders for a while, before shifting lower and using long, firm strokes on Vanessa's back. Unable to resist the expanse of clear, glistening skin, she leans down and presses a kiss at the base of her neck, feeling the resulting shiver run through her hands.
"Is that nice too?" she asks, rubbing her nose along Vanessa's hairline.
"Mmhmmm." Vanessa reaches behind her, encouraging Charity's hand to slide around her side and underneath, to cup her breast. She gasps. "Really, really nice."
Charity stretches out with her body half on top of Vanessa's back, keeping her hand where it is and bringing her other one up to match it. Vanessa arches into her.
"Oi. You better not have been faking this, madam." Charity smiles into Vanessa's hair. "We've already had one old codger with a made-up injury this week."
"Old codger?" Vanessa's gasp is indignant this time. "I'm younger than you, you cheeky cow!"
"Barely." Charity's hand, slippery from the massage oil, easily slides down Vanessa's abdomen. "Anyway, babe, one little question before we go any further." She leans in and bites Vanessa's earlobe. "You didn't pick up a groin strain yesterday, did you?"
Vanessa laughs and shakes her head, making a move to turn over. Charity shifts her weight to let her and quickly brings their lips together. She's just getting back to where she was when a very loud knock on the door makes them both jump, Vanessa's teeth closing on Charity's lip, causing her to yelp in pain.
"Sorry!" Vanessa whispers, brushing her thumb tenderly over the area.
"Charity?" Chas' voice comes through the door. "You've not seen that tub of Wintergreen that was in the bathroom, have you? Paddy can't move after that daft game of footie yesterday."
"Wow." Charity rolls her eyes at Vanessa. "I never thought I'd see the day you'd be complaining about a bloke being stiff in the morning, eh?"
Vanessa gives her a look of reproach, slapping her hip before turning to yell through the door. "It's in here, Chas. We'll bring it along in a little while, yeah?" She presses her lips together, obviously trying to keep her smile out of her voice. "Charity's just rubbing it into my sore bits."
There's a soft chuckle on the other side of the door. "Take your time, love. He's not going anywhere." Her voices grows quieter as she heads down the hallway. "He'll be glad to know he's not the only one suffering this morning, though."
Charity snorts, but a gentle hand on the back of her head urges her down into a kiss while another grasps her own hand and brings it back between their bodies.
