A/N: I don't think I've ever been so nervous to post a chapter of this story lolol. It's over 3k words of smut, idk what else to tell you, I'm not even too mad at how it turned out…although it's not something I'm going to make a habit of. And here I was thinking I'd been writing for too long to happen across any new milestones. Anyway this is all filth, I can't quite believe I wrote it, if we're friends IRL I'm gonna need you to pretend you haven't seen this. Anyway, enjoy. I know these two sure will. If it's not your sort of thing you can easily skip it and I promise there'll be something resembling plot in the next chapter.

The fire had been left burning in the hearth of the bedroom and had hardly died down during the short amount of time it took them to eat. With all of the candles in the bedroom already extinguished, it left them cast in a dim but warm orange glow that flickered about their surroundings as they stepped inside, slowly coming to a stop to hover in the middle of the room. Once they did, Theo turned to face James.

"This…" he trailed off and laughed softly, shaking his head as his fingers toyed with hers "This hardly feels real."

"It'll feel no realer for standing here staring at one another," she parroted his earlier words.

It earned her a rueful look - but it was too amused to have any bite to it.

"I only meant that we've seen so many impediments that I almost find myself waiting for another to crop up before…" he trailed off.

"If Beckett himself walks in, we're not stopping," she said flatly.

Now that did pull a laugh from him, shaking his head. She half expected an admonishment for her crassness, but instead he replied, hand falling to his side.

"If Beckett walks in, I'll run him through myself and end this whole terrible business then and there - consequences be damned."

Theo laughed then, too - one that began as surprised, and morphed into a series of giggles that were part nerves and part genuine humour at the mental image. And it was a hell of a mental image.

"We've seen a lot of trials so far, and we're not even through the worst of them yet. There'll be more impediments to come," she sighed.

"But not yet."

"But not yet," she agreed "For now, we have now."

And she knew that later, when now had passed, she'd be furious with herself if she spent it dreading things to come. God, but she was nervous. She didn't know if it was an impact of the time she'd lived in for so long, or an impact of the man who now stood before her, but she'd never been this nervous. Not even before her very first time. She felt more exposed here in a white nightgown that went down to her ankles than she ever had in any scraps of black silk and lace.

Maybe that was a sign of the times - she even found herself feeling oddly aware of her own legs when in breeches now - but the rest of the nerves? No, that was entirely down to the man. This…this attraction, this desire, this love, had gone on between them for so long that how could the reality ever match up to all of that bloody anticipation and pining? It seemed impossible. But then, if kisses and thigh-squeezes could leave her feeling so dizzy and breathless, it was looking very possible indeed.

"Now will have to do," he intoned in agreement "…For now."

"I think now is pretty nice," she said.

"You know what I meant."

He was right - she did. Their nuptials weren't the typical fairytale sort that heralded a happily ever after immediately following. It wasn't the end of their story, nothing was neatly tied up, they didn't even really have all that much time to relax. But they had now.

When he reached out he did so tentatively - and she had no idea if it was because her nerves were showing on her face or whether he felt them, too. It was understandable, really. Even if there hadn't been all of the damn anticipation building up to this very moment, a moment the both of them probably doubted would ever come on more than one occasion, constraint and control had been the name of the game for so long. Those rules no longer applying would take some getting used to. But she suspected they'd rather enjoy that adjustment period once the nerves finally dissipated. And they would dissipate, for neither of them were cowards.

His fingers threaded with hers, and neither of them spoke - for there wasn't really much left to say, was there? Eyes trailing up from their entwined fingers, over his arm, before finally meeting his gaze, Theo paused at the desire she saw burning there…held back by his usual steely self control, because he was nothing if not the perfect gentleman. Fuck it.

Using her grip on his hand to pull herself towards him, she moved up to the soles of her feet and pressed her lips to his. The first move was made, the band-aid was torn off, and now they were simply free to do. Apt phrasing aside.

At first his hands paused around her as he kissed her back - hovering inches away from her sides, barely brushing the fabric of her nightgown, but her own palms sliding up his chest seemed to give him the greenlight he'd needed. His hands fell to her hips, warm even through the linen, but they didn't stay there. One slid around to the small of her back to encourage her even impossibly closer still, while the other smoothed up over the dip of her waist, then further until his thumb skimmed the swell of the underside of her breast. She sighed softly into the kiss. If he hadn't been able to feel her nipples pressing up against his chest before, he certainly would now — but Theo's mind was occupied by other matters. Like wondering where his hands would stray next, and trying to get rid of his damned nightshirt , but her efforts to do so one-handed and distracted were futile, and she only ended up with endless handfuls of fabric bundling in her grip.

He soon took pity on her, thank god, pulling back just enough to yank it up over his head before discarding it to the floor. Her hands were immediately exploring this new expanse of skin, the muscles in his abdomen flexing under her ministrations. While he wasn't a great hulking mass of a bodybuilder (thankfully), he was in damn good shape - a soldier and a sailor through and through, with the lean, toned muscle to prove the regular exertion that came with the territory…as well as a scar or two. They weren't noticeable - or they wouldn't have been, had she not been making such a study of his bare chest - a couple, both of them scarcely an inch long, faded, and obscured by the smattering of dark hair on his chest. She pressed her lips to one, and traced her fingertips along the other. Her reward was a low, rumbling murmur as he tilted his head back slightly.

Theo continued to press slow, unhurried kisses across his chest, then her lips moved upwards, his hands resuming their exploration as she did so. When one smoothed over the curse of her backside, she took that as provocation and let her tongue delve fleetingly into the dip between his collarbones. It was that which apparently had him deciding she'd had her fun, his head lowering to capture her lips again, dark hair falling in a curtain about her face. She wasn't even aware of his fingers coming up to toy with the ties of her nightgown until he pulled at one of the satin strings and the bow tied there unravelled entirely, the neckline of the gown slackening about her shoulders.

Callused fingertips moved from the side of her jaw as he kissed her, ghosting down the side of her neck, then to her shoulder until he was pushing the nightgown down them. Theo shrugged it off at the other side, and kept her own hands preoccupied with his bare torso so she might resist the urge to cover herself up as the fabric pooled at her feet with a soft rustle. Instead, she squared her shoulders and stood firm under his gaze.

Once his eyes finished roving upwards and met her almost defiant gaze, and either that amused him or he saw the nerves that it tried to hide, for he smiled softy.

"Do you remember when I called you perfect?"

"If you take it back now, we're going to have some very strong words about timing," she breathed.

He didn't seem in much of a mood to laugh at her jokes "I only mean that the word hardly does you justice."

"Look who's talking," she murmured, nails tracing over the bare skin where his breeches sat on his hips.

He caught her hand before it could begin trailing towards the buttons just below his navel, pulling her after him as he took a few backwards steps towards the bed until the back of his legs met the covers and he sat down, encouraging her closer still until she sat astride him, her hips pressed tightly against his. Apparently his words hadn't been mere lip service, for she could already feel him, hard and straining against her through the fabric of his breeches - the only barrier between them now.

There was no need for her to crane her neck to kiss him now that they were like this, and he appeared just as eager to take advantage of that fact as she was, his tongue slipping into her mouth almost immediately. Theo's back arched almost on instinct, pushing her chest against his - which, incidentally, had the effect of grinding their hips together and they both paused, moaning low in their throats in unison. She repeated the motion - tentatively, like she was testing the waters, and when that earned her another one of those stomach-clenching moans from him, she did so again, this time deliberately.

James tangled one hand in her hair, keeping her face close to his even as her eyes fluttered shut, her hips never once ceasing their motions as he continued to kiss her.

"I'm going to-" she stopped short to breathe a moan as he ground into her just so.

"Yes?" He encouraged.

"I'm - ah - I'm going to ruin your breeches."

He gave a short chuckle that was quickly broken by a groan of his own - apparently having expected her to say something quite different.

"So ruin them," he replied, voice low and rough.

To emphasise his words (or perhaps they were instructions), he grasped at her hips and encouraged them to roll against his own once more, pressing his upwards to meet her half way. Once she resumed the motion, his hands began to roam again leaving no stretch of skin unexplored - her backside, down to her thighs, then back up again, one sliding up her sweat-slicked back while the other moved up her front to grasp at her breasts. His thumb rubbed circles around one nipple, but it was when he took the other into his mouth that her thighs began to tremble, her breath hitching in her throat. But when she was only one or two thrusts away from the edge, the hand at her back tightened its grip and he rolled them over so that they lay properly on the bed, Theo sprawled beneath him.

Before she could voice her complaint - or really string together any sort of sentence at all - his hips were replaced by his fingers. One slid inside her with ease thanks to how embarrassingly slick she'd grown so quickly, soon to be joined by another which had her throwing her head back, opening her neck and chest up to more ministrations from his lips, tongue, and even his teeth. God, she was going to die. He was going to kill her. At least she'd die happy. This time, when her thighs began to tremble he did not stop - in fact, he sped up, spreading his fingers as he pressed them into her to prepare her for what was still to come. It was that thought, combined with the firm, insistent circles his thumb rubbed over her clit, and topped off by the ragged tone of his voice as he murmured in her ear "let go, Theodora - let go for me" that finally had her hurtling over the edge. Tightening around his fingers, which never faltered as she bucked against them and cried out, her back arched and her hands grabbed at his shoulders to cling to as she rode out her orgasm.

James only withdrew his fingers when she gasped and drew away from them, too sensitive in the aftermath.

"Oh my god, James," she breathed.

Any temptation she might've felt to give into any sort of sudden self-consciousness as she regained her breath was firmly abandoned when she saw how he watched her from under hooded eyelids, eyes filled with undisguised wanting. And suddenly fresh embers of desire were already burning within her. Oh, she was in trouble indeed.

This time when she reached for the buttons of his breeches he did not stop her, only shifting from over her so he could peel the breeches off and discard them before rejoining her in the bed. He'd moved too quickly, and Theo was still too preoccupied with recovering, for her to see much - and when she reached a hand down to grasp him, he caught her wrist and gave her an utterly heart-stopping crooked smile when she opened her mouth to protest.

"I won't last - not with you beneath me thus, and not after what I've just witnessed."

Never did she ever think she'd end up in bed naked with a man who used words like "thus" during the act - nor did she think she'd ever find herself blushing under those very words. Her legs parted on instinct as he settled between them once again, his elbows at either side of her so that his weight wasn't fully upon her. Theo bit back a moan when she felt his hardness press against her. She'd had an inkling after her earlier display, writhing upon him like she was in heat - at over six feet, James was tall and it seemed that everything was indeed proportional.

"It feels very unfair to you," she huffed a laugh.

"Next time," he intoned, pressing his hips into her and earning a gasp as he slipped through her folds.

"Later," she breathed her promise.

"You'll be the death of me," he chuckled, one elbow continuing to support his weight as his other hand came up to cup her face, thumb smoothing over her cheek "Are you ready?"

Nodding, she curled her legs around his hips, encouraging him impossibly closer still and relishing in the feeling of him caging her in - his weight pressing down atop her, the hair at his chest tickling her breasts, his nose brushing hers, his bright green gaze burning into her own as he held eye contact with her the entire time. He ground against her a few more times, and she squirmed and mewled each time - and only when she was sure she would go mad if he didn't give her more soon, the thick tip of him notched at her entrance and her breath hitched in her throat as he slowly pushed in.

If she'd thought James' voice pleasing, his moans of pleasure were sure to be the end of her - if the sex itself didn't cause that first. She gasped and then she breathed a curse, brow furrowing in discomfort and he stopped immediately, lust replaced almost entirely with concern.

"Did I hurt you?" He murmured "I thought you'd…Are you…?"

"No, you- ah," she sucked in a breath and then exhaled sharply through her nose "I have - it's just…it's been a long time, and you're…you're not exactly small."

His face was a picture at that - concerned still, yes, but battling off the barest hints of a smile at her assessment. Despite it all, Theo gave a snort of laughter and batted at his shoulder, head falling back as she giggled "That's the part you heard most? Don't be such a typical man."

He smiled fully then - and he looked so damn young when he smiled like that - shaking his head as his hips remained still through what appeared to be sheer ironclad self control "I apologise. Do you- do you wish to stop? We could-"

"No," she interrupted, cupping his jaw and kissing him "Just…go slow. Be patient, yeah?"

"Always," he vowed, and then there was no more laughter for it wasn't quite so funny anymore.

Mostly because it was true. He always was so unendingly patient - with none more so than her - and her face softened. When their lips parted, he pressed his to the side of her jaw, hips inching ever so slowly forward all the while, his eyes never leaving her face for long as he waited for any further signs of discomfort. None came, even when he was fully sheathed within her and his hips ground against her own, for while she was still adjusting, he'd prepared her well (no doubt all of that bloody waiting had helped) and after a few moments of slow, tender kisses, and began to slowly buck her hips up against his.

Taking her cue, he drew back just a little and then thrust shallowly back into her - this time she did not stifle her moan, tightening even further around him and drawing out what was practically a purr from the man above her. When his next thrust had her biting at her lip and spurring him on, any tentativeness began to slowly fall away.

His hand slipped away from her face and began to trail down her body - at first, she thought, headed to where they were joined, but instead it slid up the back of her sweat-soaked thigh her leg was hooked over his arm, pushing her knee upwards until it was almost pressed into the bed.

"Mmf-fuck, James," she breathed and he sped up in response, hips slapping against hers now.

"Again," he murmured, lavishing open-mouthed kisses upon her neck "My name - again, Theodora."

"James," she gasped "James, please."

She was so close - fire burned within her from the base of the spine all the way to the tips of her toes, and it felt like somebody was holding flames beneath the soles of her feet, growing only hotter every time his pelvis ground against her right where she needed it most. Her pleading didn't fall on deaf ears, either, for he lifted his head and pressed his brow against hers, letting go of her leg to slip a hand between them and begin rubbing quick, merciless circles on her clit. The effect was immediate - crying out, her back bowed and she tightened around him, hands scrambling for purchase on his back as he fucked her through her orgasm, swallowing her moans with another deep, all-consuming kiss.

"Theodora," he groaned into her ear not a full second later, not shortening her name even now - much to her delight "I'm going to- where…?"

Unable to answer his question verbally, she pressed the back of her heel into the dip at the small of his back, encouraging his hips to press flush against hers. That was the only answer he needed, hips stuttering against hers before he pressed impossibly deep and groaned his release, grinding against her slowly as he filled her. Feeling entirely boneless, Theo melted into the covers, eyes fluttering shut as her fingers combed through his hair and she waited for him to return to reality.

When he did so, he lifted the bulk of his weight from her - obviously worried about crushing her, despite the fact that she quickly began to miss it despite the heat of the room that she was quickly beginning to notice now that she was not preoccupied. He withdrew slowly and she winced slightly, the sensation too much thanks to how sensitive she now was. Slowly rolling off of her, James didn't go far, turning onto his back right at her side. Theo summoned enough energy to lift her hand and bring it up to trail her fingertips across his jawline. He caught it and brought her knuckles to his lips, pressing a slow kiss to them.

"I think," she breathed "I know why they call it wedded bliss."

James laughed softly.

A/N: I had to have them pause to have a giggle, because I feel like the old adage of "if you can't laugh during sex, you're having sex with the wrong person" would absolutely apply to these two.

Of all of the songs to have stuck in my head while I worked on this scene, Steel Panther's "Turn Out the Lights" was perhaps the least helpful. Also James Norrington low key has BDE and nobody can tell me any different x