AN: This is a mature chapter and is not on SB for those following the story there.

Breathe 0.5

As the motel clock ticked over to 11, I finally succumbed to Lisa's increasingly pointed throat clearings and put my book down. She snorted as I turned off the light on the end table.

"You know, for a minute there, I honestly thought that you were going to stay up all night."

"It's a good book," I said, my defense weak even to my own ears. I knew she'd see through it, even without her power back up and running.

"Taylor, even the hamster is going to sleep. You can rest. It's okay."

"I know. Look, I'm under the covers and everything!"

Mr. Spinster actually was sleeping too. And he was nice and healthy and strong. I didn't fully understand why his spark was starting to plateau much faster than Lisa's. She said it was probably because she was bigger, or smarter. I said she was being bitchy and overly envious of a hamster. We'd both laughed. It hadn't changed that I didn't really understand my power.

It worked, that was the important thing. And both of them were almost independent of me again. That was the more important thing. Not that I really minded having Lisa staying near me for long periods…but still…

Except neither were fully weaned off of the excess essence. My pet should be okay for the next few hours, and I had set an alarm just to be safe. But Lisa I was…less sure about. I was fairly sure that she'd be okay through the night. At least for the 3 hours I was letting myself sleep. But…what if she wasn't? What if…

"…Hey, Tay? You still awake?" a soft whisper cut through the silence of the darkened room.

Apparently I wasn't the only one worrying. "Yeah."

"Were you planning to stay up all night and watch us both?"

"Not all night," I murmured. Okay, probably all night. My well was full enough that I could make do with just fifteen minutes of sleep. Probably. Even if it wasn't, there were people who had that weird sleep schedule thing where they only slept in like fifteen minute cat naps and then a single two hour nap. I could switch to that schedule if I needed to.

She shifted beside me, muttering something that even my enhanced hearing couldn't pick up. Then she sat up straight, shaking her head. "Okay, this is stupid. You need to rest, and I need to stop freaking out."

"I'm open to ideas here, Lise," I sighed. "Mr. Spinster will be fine for a few hours, his fire is bright and strong. Your's is too, but I don't want to fall asleep and miss it starting to dim again while we're both…"

"Yeah. Okay, screw it, easy option." She leaned forward just enough to pull her shirt over her head and then threw it to the side.

I sucked in a breath, my eyes widening and my jaw dropping open as I squeaked.

"Your turn, honey."

"Bwa-?"

"I can go put on a cami if you really want, but I figure the more skin contact we both have, the better. We established earlier that you can and do juice me up while you're distracted; so if we're cuddling while sleeping, then it follows that if I get low you should boost me back to normal levels without consciously thinking about it. This should be enough to calm both our nerves. Right?"

The golden light illuminating the room did nothing to hide the rosy glow on her cheeks or the way that said blush spread all of the way down to the tops of her breasts. Her very, very perky breasts. With nipples that were as hard as diamonds and could probably have poked one of my eyes out. She had freckles along the tops of her breasts too. Oh god, she was even more beautiful than I had imagined…

"Tay. I'm, um, feeling a bit exposed here, sweetie."

My shirt didn't survive my rush to remove it. Poor shirt. Rest in peace. Your sacrifice won't be in vane.

Lisa giggled, rolling her eyes and playfully swatting my shoulder. "You know, this doesn't have to be about titillation, Tay."

"Your tits are literally staring me in the face, Lise." I tore my gaze away from her chest and managed to meet her amused stare. "This is another of those 'testing if she's aware of the signals I'm putting out' things isn't it? Like the things I completely missed before we started dating?"

"I mean, I am actually scared of falling asleep and not waking up again, so I wasn't actually lying about it being a good idea. But is there no ulterior motive? Well…I am a villain, it's basically expected of me to have ulterior motives after all." Her smirk was one for the books.

I found myself smiling, my mood, surprising, improving. Who would have thought that seeing my girlfriend nearly naked was all it would take to lift my spirits? We should really do this more often. "Thought you were reforming."

"Details." She waved her hand in the air. It did wonderful things to her chest. I tried not to stare. I tried hard. I didn't succeed, not one little bit.

Biting my lip and forcing myself to breathe evenly, I laid back down, extending my arm out. "You are so bad."

"Naaah," she crowed. Still smirking, Lisa dropped down, snuggling up against me, her breasts squashed against my side, her chin resting on the top of my chest, her breath warming my neck. Tingles raced all through at the contact. I could get used to this. "I'm just naughty. And you love me for it."

I wrapped my arm around her, pulling her even more snuggly against me, twisting my head just enough that I could kiss the top of hers as she leaned against me. "I…do, Lisa. I wouldn't be here if I didn't." I tried to infuse as much of my feelings into it as I could, even if my actual speech didn't really live up to the moment. I should be better at this. Mom would have been so disappointed that my words had failed me when I really them most.

Lisa was quiet, the only movement was her warm breath on my bare skin. When she spoke again, the teasing lilt was gone and her voice was heavy with emotion. "I…think I love you too, Taylor."

"You're just saying that because I resurrected you," I said, trying to laugh it off, trying to give her an out. The fact that a not-insignificant part of me actually believed that didn't matter. Nope, not one bit. Not at all. My breath caught, I wasn't about to cry. Nope.

Lisa lifted her head. One hand snaked out from coiling around my stomach to cup my cheek and turn my head towards her, forcing me to meet her gaze, her eyes focused, her lips narrowed. "Taylor, I was going to run away to live in a cottage in the woods with you before the proverbial fecal matter hit the rotary impeller. I don't do cottages in the woods, I'm a city girl. If I wasn't then I would have fucking lived in a goddamn cottage after running away from my parents, instead of slumming it with the homeless folk. Cottages are easy, cottages are simple. But that didn't matter. You wanted to go and be alone for a little while, and that was perfectly fine. So I was going to follow you, and we were going to live together, and we were going to be happy. You with your woods, me with my internet. So don't you dare think - for a single moment - that I'm just saying 'I love you' because you pulled Jesus and raised me like Lazarus. I love you because…fuck, I don't actually know. I can't put it into words. I just…I just do. But it's not because I owe you my life…my second life. Okay?"

I had to blink away the dust in my eyes as I fought back the sniffles. Instead I pulled her over and on top of me, leveraging my enhanced strength to bring her level with me. Her hands clasped behind my neck as her lips met mine. She tasted sweet. She tasted salty. Her tongue was strong and dancing constantly, almost fighting against mine. Her nipples were still rock hard, scraping against the tops of my breasts as she moved over me, constantly adjusting to get a better position to kiss me deeper, to kiss me harder. If only she was just a little taller, or me a little shorter… we'd line up even better then…

Lisa groaned into my mouth. At some point my eyes had drifted closed. I wasn't sure when. It didn't matter. What mattered was the girl I was in love with, who was currently writhing around on top of me.

My eyes flew back open as Lisa ground herself against my leg, the wetness I could feel against me made clear exactly what part of her was rubbing against me. Any notion of it being unintentional flew out the window as her own leg was thrust against my own sex, bringing a deep moan from me in response, my fingers tightening on her shoulders. Lisa only continued her movements for two or three rocking thrusts before she leaned up, gasping her air, slowing to a halt, looking down at me. Her vulpine smirk was gone, replaced by the quiet grin that just barely tugged at her lips, the one she reserved for private matters, the one that I was sure only I got to see.

"Last chance to stop me, Taylor. Say the word and I'll lay back down, we can cuddle, we can spoon, we can sleep."

I lifted my eyebrows, running my hands down her arms and drawing a delighted shiver from her. "Seriously? You think I'm going to go for that, after you got me all hot and bothered?"

"I think you've been thrown on a roller coaster of emotion over the past few days. Neither of us are at 100%, neither of us are probably in our right mind. The right call is to stop and wait."

"Lisa," I murmured. I still couldn't find the right words. Screw words. "I don't care about what's right. I love you, we're both alive, I want to be with you. And I am very sensitive right now."

She chuckled, her breasts bouncing with the movement. "Good. Because at the moment I can't cheat like I was intending to. I had originally planned to make damn sure that your first time was epic and mind-blowing. Power-assisted sex was going to ruin you for anyone else." She shifted her leg, dragging a groan from me as I struggled to keep focusing on her face and her words. "It is nice to know that even though I can't cheat from my end, your power is cheating from your end. So power-assisted sex is still going to be ruinous."

"I swear to god, Lisa, if you keep fucking teasing me I'm going to flip you over and make you scream before I let you rest," I ground out between clenched teeth.

"Promises, promises."

She lifted her hips and, with a movement that she had to have practiced, divested herself of her panties in a single flick of her hand. I didn't bother to try to emulate her, I just ripped my own off, letting them join my shirt in the clothing graveyard.

"You know, when you're not enhanced that would hurt like hell."

"When I'm not enhanced I wouldn't be able to do that," I stated. Deciding that enough was enough, I sat up just enough to grab her, twisting until she was below me and I was the one hanging over her.

Lisa's eyelids lowered and she angled her head to nip at my ear. "Tay, I know I am alive. I want to feel alive right now," she whispered. Her teeth sent more shivers through my spine, shivers that quickly turned to shuddering whimpers as her hands came up and started to kneed at my breasts. Her fingers alternated between lightly brushing my peaks, her thumbs hitting my nipples just so, and squeezing them hard enough that I could feel it in my enhanced state.

"Oh sweet Jesus," I hissed, as Lisa slipped lower, her mouth closing on my breast, tongue flicking out.

She hummed something. It probably wasn't even words. It didn't much matter. Her lips vibrated and I was sensitive. Gasping, one of my arms gave out and my whole body shook, a wave of pleasure pulsing through me. Lisa's hand on my other breast didn't stop moving either, rolling it around through her grip.

Her free hand had drifted down south, cupping my pussy, her thumb locked onto my clit with laser-like precision. My breathing was short and ragged as she played me like a fiddle. I ground my teeth, trying not to lose my grip on reality just yet, as I slowly came apart in her hands.

Managing to shift myself so that one hand was able to snake down to her, I began my own counter-attack. Lisa squealed and I flicked my finger against her hood. Just a small sliver of an application of my power and I was able to move my hand faster than any mere vibrator could manage. Not fast enough to hurt her - I was careful - but fast enough to draw a hefty chunk of her attention away from me.

"Holy fuck!" Lisa moaned. Her head fell back against the bed and within seconds she was panting, the hand that was still attached to my tit was squeezing me like a life-line. It just drove me on, harder, faster. I dipped just slightly lower, letting a single finger tease at her entrance even as the rest of my hand continued to focus on her clit. I slowed my pace just enough to let her steady her breathing.

Then I sped up again. She wasn't going to get away that easily.

Lisa gasped, her back arching, and her legs spasming. She twisted and clamped her mouth down on my arm, her scream muffled, yet was still singing my small victory.

As Lisa's shaking calmed, I slowly stopped vibrating my hand, lifting my fingers away and bringing them up level with my face. Her eyes were lidded as I grinned at her. "I guess I can cheat. Just a little." I licked at my fingers, letting my eyelids close and a groan escape from me. "You taste wonderful, Lisa."

"Good to know, Ms. Sensitive," Lisa said, her voice husky. It should have clued me into her counterattack. I was still taken by surprise and she thrust two fingers inside of me, her thumb flicking across my clit.

I had to bite down on my tongue to keep from screaming at that movement. It didn't help when her teeth closed on my nipple. Between Lisa's ministrations on my upper and lower halves, I didn't stand a chance. Maybe if I had been less susceptible at the moment I could have lasted longer, but I doubted it. She was likely always going to be able to get me off quickly. Not that that was a bad thing. I certainly wasn't going to complain. Not when I was left collapsed on the bed, lying next to my girlfriend, both of us gasping for air, and thoroughly pleased with ourselves.

"Yeah, I, was, right," Lisa huffed, between breaths. "Power, assisted, sex - fucking great."

"You don't have anything to compare it to!" I protested. I draped an arm around her and pulled her against me.

Lisa laughed. "Tay, I lived with Alec. All that jerk talked about besides his games was his pervert father and his hedonism. Just because I'm not personally experienced, doesn't mean I'm not aware of the finer points of the craft."

I snorted. "Uh huh. Whatever you say."

"Yup. Whatever I say."

"Because you're smart."

"Because I'm smart."

The hamster wheel squeaked.

Both of our heads turned as one to look at Mr. Spinster's cage.

"Taylor, let me up. I'm getting a damn towel to throw over that cage before we keep going."

"That's fair."

We both looked back at each other again, wide grins mirrored. This was…perfect.