He pulled away from her after a minute, and sniffed. "Shit, where did that come from?" sometimes his own mood swings caught him off guard. "I was okay, and then I was totally out in left field. Sorry, Shan."

"You're just over tired." She looked at him, narrowing her eyes. "What did you have for supper?"

Boone rubbed the heels of his hands across his eyes, eliminating most of the tears. "Well…nothing."

"So you're tired and hungry. If I'd known you hadn't eaten, I would have brought you a sub, but I thought you'd eat at the restaurant." Shannon stood, pulling him up with her. "Your blood sugar's probably low. Jeeze Boone, you need to remember to eat regularly, no wonder you've got mood swings, and you're too thin as it is."

"You're the one who wanted me to keep my shirt off." If he was that thin, why would she have wanted to look at him?

"You're going to bed right now. I'm going to go downstairs and fix you some toast." He opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off. "I'm capable of making toast!" she protested, assuming he was going to make a comment about her lack of kitchen skills.

"I was just going to ask if I could have peanut butter on it, and some grapes on the side." Boone whined, sounding like a five-year-old.

She shook her head and sighed, moving to the bed and pulling the covers back, "In," she commanded.

He reached down and started undoing the drawstring on his pants. "No, don't do that." Shannon reached out and stilled his hands.

"Huh?"

"Leave the pants on." Shannon explained.

"First I can't put my shirt on, now I can't take my pants off?" He threw his hands in the air in exasperation.

"I want you to get some sleep, if you take your pants off, and I know very well that you're naked under them, there's a pretty good chance that I won't be able to let that happen." She explained. "And while you're at it," she pulled his shirt off over her head, "put this on too."

Boone took it from her as she went and got her robe. Pulling on the t-shirt, he climbed into bed.

"Can I have…?" He started, falling silent as she got him his tea and his book. She glanced at the title, not surprised that it was a copy of 'Idiot's Guide to Snowboarding.' Of course he'd be reading up about a new sport he was trying.

'Thanks?' he tried.

"You're welcome." Shannon reached forward and brushed her thumb over his cheek, clearing the last of his tears. "I'll be right back. Stay." She leaned forward and kissed him. Thank god Andrew was so self-sufficient, one child was all she could handle, and Boone was certainly proving to be a handful.

Downstairs she sent Andrew to bed and popped some bread into the toaster. She fixed Boone his plate, spreading a generous amount of peanut butter on each slice of toast, and putting both red and green grapes on the side, as he'd requested.

When she re-entered the bed room his eyes were closed and the booked was fanned open on his chest. His hands were still holding the pages open. She put the plate down, as quietly as she could, on the bedside table.

He must have only just fallen asleep, as the quiet clink roused him from sleep. "Hey, sorry, must have dozed off, thanks hon." He drew a deep breath, shaking his head to clear it, putting the book on the bed beside him. She handed him his snack.

"You're welcome. I'm just happy to be able do something for you for a change." She shrugged, "Something wifely I mean, I guess." She sat on the edge of the bed; Boone scooted over a bit to make more room for her.

"You do wifely stuff." Boone replied, smiling suggestively.

"Okay, something wifely that's not sexual." Shannon clarified.

"Weeellll," He stretched the word out, kind of wincing, there really wasn't much wifely stuff that she did for him that wasn't sexual in nature.

"Whatever." She dismissed. "Are you up to eating? Because you don't have to if you're too tired, though I think you'd feel better if you did." Shannon ran her fingers through his hair.

"I'm good," he reached for a piece of toast.

She knew she should probably leave it alone, but she had to reassure herself, and make his importance to her clear. A bit saddened that it was even necessary. "I plan on having you around for a good long time, so don't do anything stupid on me, Boone." She narrowed her eyes at him watchfully, concerned and thinking about earlier.

He lowered the toast, and his head. "I'm not planning on it." He muttered quietly.

Shannon reached forward and tipped his head up, "Why do you always have to make everything so fucking difficult?"

"I'm sorry. I put you through so much. I'm so sorry, Shan." He apologized, putting the untouched piece of toast back on the plate; he didn't look like he was going to break down again, though.

"You finished carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, Atlas?" She said, showing a surprising knowledge of mythology.

"What?" Boone straightened, raising his chin up off her hand.

"This is all my fault; all of it. You wouldn't be like this if it wasn't for me, but somehow you've managed to twist it so you've got all the guilt. Can you say martyr, Boone?" She suddenly didn't feel like mincing her words. "I'm a big girl; I can take the blame when it's mine."

He looked back at her, blinking slowly, she could almost see the wheels turning in his head.

"I guess I do try and twist things. I just want to make you happy, and I figure if I let you be the bad guy, then you won't be, so I try and make everything my fault. It's complicated, and I'm tired, and I'd really like to have my toast while it's still warm, so can we do this another time?" He looked at her hopefully.

"Eat your toast, Boone." She knew they'd be having this discussion again. He tried, he really did, but the old patterns were just so ingrained that every now and then, especially when he was overtired, like tonight, he fell back into them. He refused to go back to seeing a professional on a regular basis, so she was the alternative. Shannon stood.

"Where are you going?" Boone sounded almost alarmed.

"I'm just going to sit in the chair by the fire, and have my coffee. I'll be right over here." She said, placatingly, and went to sit in the chair, turning it so he could see her better, she picked up one of the magazines that was lying on the side table and scanned it, while he ate.

Shannon allowed him to get out of bed when he was finished, to brush his teeth and go to the bathroom, then she herded him back to the bed and tucked him in, leaning down to kiss him, before turning off the bedside light. Settling back into the chair again, she heard rustling from the bed, and assumed he was just getting comfortable. She glanced up after the sound stopped, to see that the clothes he'd been wearing were now laid at the foot of the bed. He was lying on his side, facing away from her; she could see his bare shoulder, he always had hated wearing anything to bed. The only reason he'd worn pyjamas when they were growing up, was because of her random visits to his bed to seek solace in his presence after a particularly bad nightmare had awoken her.

She closed the magazine after about half an hour, stripped, and climbed in beside him, giving his shoulder a gentle push, guiding him onto his back. His head rolled limply to the other side, he was out cold and didn't even make a sound. She raised his arm and slid under it, pulling it around her shoulder. Snuggling up against him, she was asleep in minutes.

The next morning, the gentle tug of his mind brought her slowly awake. Becoming more aware, she resisted it, preferring to remain pressed up against him a little while longer. He pushed at her again, the tendrils of his consciousness digging deeper, finding pleasure centres in her brain, sharing feelings, pictures, thoughts. She responded in kind, stroking imaginary fingers over him, their shared heat spreading through them. His fingers tightened their grip on her shoulder, while hers did the same to his; otherwise their bodies remained motionless, their breathing becoming heavier and more irregular as the minutes passed. The sensations overwhelming her, Shannon jerked, involuntarily against his hip, the movement causing the leg she'd thrown over him the night before to ride up, sliding up the length of him, trapping him between his belly and her thigh. They'd been close to the edge anyway, so the physical contact of her skin against his erection was all that was needed to tip the balance. He came hard, their linked thoughts bringing her with him, they both cried out quietly.

Two of them lay there in silence for a few minutes, the incredible emotional intimacy of the almost exclusively mind driven experience taking longer to recover from than normal.

'That was different,' Shannon was the first to comment.

'Gives a whole new meaning to the words 'mind fuck' that's for sure.' Boone acknowledged, she could picture the smirk on his face, and opened her eyes, lifting her head off his shoulder to check to see if she was right. Yeah, the trademark smirk was there. He opened his eyes and looked at her.

'How did you know that would work?' she wondered.

'I didn't, it just kind of started happening and I went with it.' Boone admitted.

'Good call,' she smiled up at him.

'I feel kind of sticky, though. I really didn't expect it to go that far. It's kind of embarrassing; I couldn't tell you the last time I came all over myself.' He grimaced. 'I was probably still a teen.'

'You got me kind of sticky, too.' She commented, wryly, shifting against him. 'What did you do while I was gone? You were celibate for six years, I'm sure you must have done…something?' She asked, curiously.

'In the shower, I…god, this is embarrassing.' He repeated, sighing. 'I did it in the shower, but not often. I didn't feel the need. Maybe all the sex we had during the years we were together kind of had a carry over effect.' He breathed a laugh.

"Shower, now," he finally spoke. "I'm feeling kind of gross."

He threw the covers back off them, and slid carefully out of the bed, not really wanting to catch sight of himself. He crossed quickly to the bathroom, Shannon following closely behind.

They did it again in the shower, the more conventional way, though.