Author's Note: Fluff, anyone? And okay, maybe a tiiiiiny bit of angst. And a little bit more smutty stuff. Because it's their first morning waking up together, and they (g)love each other. :D
Waking up the next morning was a strange, wonderful experience.
From very early in her new life—with the exception of her stay with the CIA—Jane had had the same morning routine. First she'd wake up. Then she'd spend a few minutes worrying about her situation—who she was, then what Oscar and her old self had wanted to accomplish, then what Sandstorm had planned for Phase Two—before rolling out of bed to start a morning routine of stretches, push-ups and sit-ups, burning away her nervous energy.
That day, Jane woke up in a bed that seemed warmer and softer than she was accustomed to, breathing in a familiar, comforting, masculine scent. The warmth radiating into her from one side could only be the heat of another person, and when her mind reached for worries about her current situation, it found only a wisp of a 'what if' that faded into the distance, just as the figure of her brother had in DC.
As she carefully turned over to smile at the sleeping form of Kurt Weller, she felt absolutely no compulsion to get up and start her usual workout.
He was sprawled out on his back, the bedcovers halfway down his bare chest, his face turned towards her. Jane just lay there and gazed at him, wondering if she was about to wake up in her safehouse, the threat still real and present, her feelings for Kurt still locked inside. This seemed too good to be true.
The morning light filtering through the curtains wasn't that bright—the day must be overcast— but it was enough for Jane to make out the traces of scars and bruises on his skin. Battle wounds from previous fights, and this most recent one. How many of his scars would be the result of violent showdowns orchestrated by her family?
It was hard to believe that less than forty-eight hours earlier, she and Kurt had been in Washington, DC, grimly setting out to drive Shepherd's nuclear material-laden ambulance as far away from populated areas as possible. Knowing that if they failed to find Shepherd's beacon, it would be a one-way trip, and their efforts would have been for nothing.
If not for Patterson and Kurt, they'd be dead, and the whole of the Eastern Seaboard with them. Millions of men, women and children would have been annihilated, the local wildlife along with them. Jane had been mainly repressing that knowledge, the enormity of the situation too overwhelming to handle. Every now and then, she'd remember—and shudder.
Maybe she should do a workout after all.
But then Kurt stirred, a deep breath signifying his return to wakefulness, and her attention snapped from his injuries back to the man himself. As he smiled, his eyes still closed, her heart melted a little.
"Morning," she said softly, and nuzzled his shoulder.
He opened his eyes, the wonder and love in his expression echoing how she felt, and pulled her into his embrace. "Morning. I don't have to wake up from this dream, do I?"
She smiled. "Nope."
He gathered her even closer. "Good. Kiss me."
Jane tilted her head up and gave him a lingering, sweet, good-morning kiss. When they parted, smiling sleepily, Jane rested her head on his chest and pulled the blanket up to her neck, getting cosy. "How did you sleep?"
"Like the dead."
Jane winced. "Considering what we just went through..."
"…probably not the best turn of phrase," Kurt finished wryly. "But yeah, I slept better than I have for a long time. You?"
"Same. I woke up trying to figure out what I needed to do to head off Shepherd's next move, though. Then I realised. Having actual relaxation time…it's gonna take some getting used to. I don't think I've ever not needed to be in crisis mode, since I've been Jane. Even on days off, I've been braced for something to happen, you know?"
"If you need me to teach you how to relax…" Kurt skimmed his hand down her back suggestively.
Jane gave a soft laugh as he turned on his side, but caught the flash of pain across his face before he could hide it. "Kurt… Stop. Turn over. Take a painkiller." She punctuated her words with a quick peck on the lips.
He sighed. "We have the worst timing."
"Hey, at least this time it's pain interrupting and not Patterson," she teased, admiring the ripple of his upper back muscles as he turned to grab his medication.
Kurt snorted. "Don't even say it. I'm half convinced she's gonna stick her head 'round the door any moment and go, 'uh, sorry, guys, but there's something you should see'."
Jane grinned, but then rolled her eyes as Kurt gave every indication that he was about to dry-swallow his pills. "Wait a sec. I'm gonna grab you some water."
"I'm good," he said.
Jane slid out of bed and headed out to the kitchen. After drinking a glass of water herself, she returned to the bedroom with one for Kurt. He watched avidly as she approached the bed, as though her nakedness had spellbound him.
"You're staring," she told him, trying not to laugh as she handed over the glass.
"I make absolutely no apologies for that." Kurt grinned at her before taking his pills.
Jane got back into bed and stretched out beside him, keeping her demeanour nonchalant. "Bet you'd stare more if I was doing my usual push-ups."
Kurt almost choked on a mouthful of water. Then he set aside his glass and reclined beside her, entwining his fingers with hers. "I'm trying so hard to be a good patient right now, but you're really not making it easy."
"It hurts that bad?" Jane winced, remorseful. They'd needed each other last night, but they should have been more careful. What were another few days, after all the long months they'd spent waiting already?
"Are you talking about the leg, or…?"
Unable to resist, Jane slipped her hand beneath the covers and ran her fingers teasingly up the solid warmth of his cock.
Kurt grabbed her wrist. "As much as I want to start something now, until the painkillers kick in, I really don't know if I can finish it."
"Even if you don't have to move?" She kissed his shoulder as she waited for his response.
"Even if you end up on top again, I'll hurt myself worse, and I won't give a damn until afterwards." He scrubbed a frustrated hand over his face. "I'm sorry," he added in a lower tone, sounding so dispirited that she frowned and raised her head to look at him more closely.
"Kurt, what are you apologising for?" she asked, making sure her voice was gentle. "Last night was…so better than I ever dreamed. And trust me, I dreamed of it."
He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah?"
Jane thought back to dozens of lonely nights since they'd first met, her imagination taking her places she'd given up hope of ever reaching in reality. "Most of the time I guess 'daydream' would be more accurate.'
"I'll admit to 'fantasy'. Actually, make that plural."
Jane laughed, tilting her head back to look into his face. "How many did you have?"
He at least had the decency to look sheepish. "More than a few. In my defence, I had to look at pictures of your naked body every day at work, the entire time I've known you."
"Most of those tattoo images were really close up," Jane pointed out, amused. "There was nothing to see."
"Yeah, but then Patterson would start talking about the tattoo being on your thigh or your abs or something, and I had to try not to think about where, and what it would be like to kiss you there, and sometimes my imagination…was not very respectful of you. I'm sorry."
"If it makes you feel any better, my imagination wasn't very respectful of you, either."
Intrigue spread across his face. "Really?"
Jane nodded, but didn't volunteer any more information, knowing it would drive him crazy.
"You're not gonna elaborate on that?" He pulled her a little farther up his body so he could kiss her more easily, his lips teasing against hers.
"You haven't told me any of your disrespectful thoughts about my tattoos, either," Jane pointed out, trying not to laugh.
"What did you want to know?" The corners of his eyes crinkled adorably when he smiled, and she had to resist the urge to brush her fingers over the skin.
"I don't know. Uhhh…which one did you spend most time thinking about?"
He didn't even need time to think. "Turn over."
With the help of his guiding hands, Jane turned onto her side, with her back to Kurt. Gently, so gently, he traced the letters of his name on her back, and her eyes fell closed at the emotion that welled up within her.
"This one," Kurt said huskily, shifting so that she could feel his breath, warm against the skin of her upper back. "This tattoo kept me awake so many nights."
He left a trail of soft kisses across the tattoo, his tongue flicking out for a brief instant each time his lips made contact. Jane swallowed hard, trying to collect her thoughts.
"Why that one?" she asked.
He took a deep breath before answering, as though he needed to be sure of expressing it correctly. "I first saw this tattoo before I really even saw you. They sent a helicopter to bring me and my team back from Kentucky, the night they found you. They wouldn't tell me why it had to be our team, or why it was so urgent. I didn't know what the link was between the case and me until Mayfair had me standing in front of your hospital room, looking through the door."
He sighed, his thumb running back and forth over the tattoo in a soft caress. "You probably don't remember it. You looked…really out of it. That was all I really had time to register about you before they made you turn around to face the door, and opened the back of your gown enough that I could see…this."
Jane wanted to turn to look at him, but he kissed the tattoo again, and it felt too good for her to move right then. She sensed he had a lot more to say about this. "I don't remember that. The first night was pretty hazy."
"For that first few hours after I realised, all I could do was obsess about why I'd been the agent chosen. Why they'd put my name on your body. But then I met you. Talked to you. And within twenty-four hours you'd started hugging me, and I was just…" He laughed softly. "I think Mayfair used the term 'emotionally compromised'."
"Because you thought I was Taylor, right?" Jane tried to follow his reasoning.
"Honestly? That helped, but even before I noticed your neck scar, I felt…invested. But my point is…" He hesitated. "The more I got to know you, the closer we got…the more my name on your back made me feel…"
He rested his forehead against her tattoo and groaned. "There's no way to say this without sounding like an asshole."
"Responsible for me?" Jane guessed, turning over to face him again.
"Possessive," he admitted, meeting her eyes to let her see his shame. "Like you were…mine. And I knew it wasn't true, not really. But late at night, when I thought about you, that tattoo was usually a feature."
Jane cupped his stubbled jaw in her hand, smiling a little. "You're not a Neanderthal for having a fantasy, Kurt. It's not like you threw me over your shoulder and dragged me back to your cave the moment I looked at another guy. You even watched me date one without stepping in."
"I wanted to," he confessed. "I hated seeing you with someone else."
"Ditto. You have no idea how many times I imagined punching Nas in the face." As his eyebrows rose, she laughed. "And I didn't even have my name on your back to make me feel like you were mine. So relax."
"I am yours, Jane." His amusement faded to seriousness. "I have been for a long time. I'm done fighting it."
"And I'm yours." She kissed him lightly, a little overwhelmed by the sentiment he was showing. "So do you want me to get you a Sharpie, so you can write 'property of' above your name?"
Kurt rested his forehead against hers. "Nope. I want you to stay right here. And tell me where you were before you came over last night. What you were doing."
Jane opened her mouth, a pit of dread forming in her stomach, but then shook her head. "I don't wanna talk about…family stuff…while we're in bed like this. I don't want to ruin a perfect morning."
For a moment Kurt's eyes remained troubled, and she thought he'd push for details. But then he gave a small nod. "I get that. So what do you want to talk about?"
"I actually was thinking you could teach me something new." The idea had come into her mind as she'd pondered his current limitations, but she wasn't sure if he'd be on board with this—at least, not today.
Kurt's breath caught as she slid her hand slowly down his abs. "What did you have in mind?" he asked, his voice a little rougher than before. "Because I don't—"
She gave him a quick kiss to silence him, wrapping her fingers around his hardening cock. "Put your hand over mine and show me what you did, when you thought about us together."
He swallowed hard, tentatively laying his hand on top of hers. "What about you?"
Jane smiled. "You can make it up to me later, when we figure out how not to hurt you. I just want to make you feel good."
He gave her a quick, hard kiss, desire clear in his face. "You sure?"
She nodded and stroked upwards, his hand moving along with hers. "Like this?"
His eyes glazing a little with pleasure, he coaxed her to tighten her grip just a little. Jane pressed her thighs together, aroused by his reaction, as he showed her how to stroke him, the emphasis on the up-stroke each time.
"Did you imagine I was doing this to you? Or was it something else?" she asked softly.
He exhaled a shaky breath. "Depended on the day. On where we'd been, what we'd been doing."
"For example?" She made sure her palm was slick with his pre-cum, smiling when a tiny frustrated noise left his throat.
"Remember the first undercover case we worked?"
Jane nuzzled his neck. "How could I forget how good you looked in that tux?"
He groaned, encouraging her to speed up her movements a little. "Ditto for you in that dress. Afterwards, I imagined us dancing again…without the clothes. Just swaying together and kissing until we couldn't take it anymore, and I lifted you up, and…"
He bit back a curse as Jane moaned, caught up in his fantasy. Their lips met in an urgent kiss as she shifted her hips in frustration, wishing he could fill her.
"I loved pretending to be your wife that day," she confessed. "All those excuses to touch you, and hold your hand, and dance with you… We were just pretending, but—"
"But not really," he finished, his voice breathless from the way they were both touching him. "I just wanted to push you up against the wall and pull up that dress, and…"
"Mmm…I wanted you to, too."
"Jane… Come sit on me again."
His cock was impossibly hot and hard beneath her hand. It would feel so good to feel him within her right now—but he'd already told her he'd hurt himself in the process.
"I'm not gonna make your leg worse." She softened her refusal with another kiss. "I want you to come like this."
He groaned her name as the pace of their tandem stroking increased; fast, firm tugs that made his muscles coil tighter moment by moment. "God, I love you."
She smiled. "Show me."
A few quick movements more, and pulses of warm fluid spilled over Jane's hand and Kurt's abdomen. He gave a relieved growl as the tension ebbed out of him, his body trembling a little against hers. Jane watched him begin to come down from his high, releasing her grip on his cock to drape her arm around him.
"That was hot," she murmured, smiling up at him.
"No kidding." He took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "Let me taste you again. I don't like leaving this one-sided."
Jane hesitated. "Your leg—"
"—is down there. My mouth is up here." His smile made her insides go molten with lust. "I'm still learning what you like. A little extra practice while I'm injured won't hurt."
Remembering how amazing his talented mouth had felt the night before, Jane felt her resolve crumble. A couple of minutes later, she was halfway to heaven, her last coherent thought being that Kurt didn't need any practice—his technique was already perfect.
They slept for a little while longer after their improvised injury workarounds, and Kurt was the first to wake, the pain in his leg thankfully diminished by the medication.
He tucked the blanket more securely around Jane, gazing down at her sleeping face, which was peaceful and relaxed, despite the bruises that still adorned her skin. After taking a second to kiss her forehead, he pulled on some underwear, then stopped by the bathroom before heading into the kitchen.
Once he'd set up some coffee to brew, he frowned into the refrigerator. Normally, he kept it well-stocked, but the case had gotten so intense lately that he'd been relying on takeout more often than cooking, and the trip to the COGS bunker, followed by Washington, DC, meant that the few ingredients he still had left were a little past their best.
Damn it.
"Damn what?" Jane stepped up behind him, pressing a quick kiss between his shoulder blades before leaning against the kitchen counter.
He hadn't realised he'd spoken out loud.
Kurt closed the refrigerator and turned back to the coffee pot—at least they both drank it black, as most people in law enforcement did, so he didn't have to worry about getting in some fresh cream. "Nothing major. I just need to hit the grocery store before we can have breakfast. The case has kinda had me distracted lately."
"We could order something in?" Jane suggested.
Her hair was in disarray—more so than usual—and she'd once again taken his shirt from the floor as temporary clothing. He wished he could take a picture so he'd never forget how sexily dishevelled she looked.
Handing her a mug of steaming coffee, Kurt shook his head. "It's our first morning-after breakfast. I want to cook. And I'll need more than just breakfast supplies, so… Might as well get it over with."
He gave Jane a quick kiss on the temple on his way past her. "You relax here, drink your coffee. I'll be back before you know it."
She caught his wrist before he could move out of range, abandoning her coffee to wrap her arms around his neck. "I have a better plan."
As if his body was magnetised to hers, he drew her closer without even thinking about it. "What plan?"
Jane smiled up into his face. "You write me a list. Then I go get groceries, while you take a shower and take care of your leg, instead of making it worse. By the time you're done changing your dressing I'll probably be back, and then you can cook us some breakfast while I shower. Sound good?"
He hesitated. She had a point—limping around the grocery store wouldn't do his wound any good. "Deal. But only if you let me give you the cash for the food."
Jane took her own moment of hesitation, as if sensing this was a battle she wouldn't win. "Okay. Deal. You write the list, and I'll get dressed."
A few minutes later, she came out of the bedroom fully dressed, combing her fingers through her hair. Seeing her standing by the door, wearing the outfit she'd arrived in yesterday, brought back how she'd hesitated as she'd arrived, nervously asking for a private moment between them.
She caught him staring and blinked up at him. "What?"
"Just remembering when you walked in last night." He approached slowly, looking her over. "I love you in red."
Jane looked down at herself a little self-consciously. "I'll have to remember that."
"But I also love you in black, white, navy, grey…do you even wear any other colours?" he teased.
"Not often." She took the grocery list and a couple of twenties from his hand and scanned his handwriting. "Great. I'll head down the block now."
Kurt took the spare apartment keys from the bowl on the counter and held them out. "So you can get back in."
She held them so that the sparkly, pink sneaker keychain his sister had attached to them dangled down, looking amused. "I'm gonna guess this is your spare set, unless you have a secret fondness for Barbie you haven't told me about."
"They were Sarah's."
"Ahh." Amused, she leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. "Go take care of your leg. See you soon."
Kurt couldn't resist giving her a longer, more heated kiss before he stepped back. "Yes, you will."
After she'd left the apartment, he stood where he was for a moment, adjusting to the stillness and silence. He'd lived alone for years before Sarah and Sawyer had moved into the apartment, and after they'd moved out, too. He'd had girlfriends stay the night before, too—that was nothing new. Yet he felt Jane's absence keenly after only a few moments apart.
I loved pretending to be your wife. Remembering her words earlier, he took a deep breath. Her words had resonated with him far more than he wanted to admit. This was getting a little too intense—on his end, not hers.
Rolling his eyes at his own sentimentality, he picked up the empty pizza boxes they'd left strewn around the night before, then made for the shower.
Author's Note: I hope this doesn't feel like it's dragging out. I do want to get them to the point where they talk about Shepherd and Roman and everything, but there are so very many little, cute first-time-we-get-to-do-this moments at the very beginning of their official relationship that I want to explore, like their first breakfast and first 'I guess I should go home', etc. Anything you guys want to see them do?