An intimate moment or two for your reading pleasure... A moment of happiness at last. Feel free to review.

As she climbed the stairs to their small hallway of bedrooms in the Préfecture, Cécelie warily felt Javert's gaze on her back, his echoing footsteps filing in place behind her. Every nerve in her body still on end, she knew she had to maintain his trust. Dog of the law that he was, his sense of justice would be her strongest defense; but it also was her potential death sentence as well. Sending a glance upwards, she imagined the stars above the roof over her head, she prayed that his heart was beginning to crack and soften, just the way hers had too.

Javert paused at her door, without so much as a glance to his own bedroom just down the short hall. For the first time, his eyes dimmed with what she could only describe as uncertainty. "I believe, Comptesse, that I must ask for your absolution."

She drew up beside him, hesitating as her hand rested on her brass doorknob. "Once more so soon?" she attempted to laugh. "I thought I should not seek your forgiveness so readily?"

"I ask you now for truly the first time," he admitted. "I have doubted you, in more ways than your innocence, Cécelie." His gaze did not flinch as emotion after emotion crossed her face. "I confess to you, until now, I have played you, manipulated you under my control. I knew the part I wanted you to play in this arrest and I stopped at nothing to fit you into just that role and to make myself the only authority you obeyed. I lusted for your body. I was enraged at your defiance. And I truly felt the evil of jealousy at your success today in attaining Tournot's confession." He cast his eyes downward with the slightest bow to his head. "I seek your absolution for these sins."

Her voice rang with as much iciness as what shone from her eyes. "And just what has changed you, dear Inspector?" she hissed.

His gaze shot upward, meeting her own. His broad shoulders drew back as sincerity filled his demeanor. "Your loyalty, your obedience," he paused, " your kiss," he explained as if it were the most obvious deduction.

"Ah," she feigned understanding, beginning to twist open the door to her room. Until the warmth of his hand enveloped her own as it rested on the cool metal, stopping her from completing the turn.

"Do I have your absolution, Cécelie?" he asked, "or is there more I must say or do." The tone of his voice taking on a sound she would have thought impossible from him. She could only describe it as pitiable.

She felt her muscles relax at his honest confession. And she laughed inwardly, thinking back to his recent honeyed words of forgiveness. Yes, absolution made better sense for him than forgiveness. A quid pro quo of sin and retribution. A bargain to mend his ways in place of mercy. In any case, she would take what was granted her. A smile crept gently across her lips. "Why don't you come inside, Javert?" she whispered.

Hours later, she laid still on her side, the coolness of the still-dark early morning air wafted through her small window. She lay with her back to him, listening to Javert breathing beside her. Unsure if he was truly asleep or not, she dared not budge an inch, in the case that he was still awake. Her thoughts bustled about her still, fighting that now instinctual need to defend herself, to run. In any case, she had nowhere else to go. Her old way of life lost to her, Cécelie wasn't too keen to let go of even the minor existence she had worked so hard to rebuild in the past three days.

She hadn't forced him to make love to her, rather it seemed almost to the contrary, so eager he was to prove his remorse and trust in her now. That is why he had stayed tonight. Not because she asked, but to demonstrate his protection and defend her innocence.

Shifting her legs, she felt the slickness between them still, a sly smile crossing her sleepy mouth. It took all his honor to admit to all the conniving he had done, she allowed him that. And as much as her beating heart wanted to submit to her emotions, to the new man that shared her bed, the chilling voice of reason poked its way back into her thoughts. She waved her hand gently in front of her face, as if to forbid it from coming closer again. Perhaps she could just be content for a few moments, a few days.

For as gentle as her movements had seem to her, she felt Javert stir. The warm breadth of his hand gently reaching for her shoulder, drawing her naked body close to his again. He rested his heavy head on her shoulder. "Can you not sleep?" he whispered.

"Do you blame me?" she replied quietly. "Only hours ago, you suspected me of betrayal and murder, and now you lie in my bed."

Javert sighed, "Still more sin to atone for." She felt a heaviness overcome his large frame. "What more would you have me do, Cécelie?"

His hand gently tried to turn her over to face him, but she resisted with all her weight. With a throaty sigh, she spoke the question that pressed against her mind, "I would have you tell me, what do you really want with this, Inspector?" She sharply inhaled as his arms turned her quickly to face him, the green of his gaze searching, even as dimly lit in the starlight as they were. "What do you want with me now?"

"This is what you wish?" he inquired in return.

She nodded as she held her breath.

Javert's face betrayed no emotion that she could read. His voice was steady if quiet, "I know very little of what I do want. I know I want justice in the face of crime, I know I want authority and obedience over insurrection. And I know I want control over chaos." His eyes shifted away. "But, perhaps with you, I've found another thing I could want above others."

Cécelie eyes cast away from his face, pondering his words in her heart and mind. She felt his breath warm on her cheek as her drew in for another kiss. For all his hard demeanor, his cruelty and his unyielding understanding of the world, perhaps being wanted above others would be the best she could hope for. It certainly would be the first time in her life for that. At that, she finally gave permission for her heart to open up once more, after years of careful protection It sent a flood of warmth to the tips of her toes. Or maybe that was his kiss, insistent on her mouth.

His hand wandered around her, bringing her into the warmth of his chest. She nestled into the soft and ticking patch of hair just below his neck. Thick, strong fingers wound their way into hers, guiding her toward his growing erection.

With a smile, she threw her leg over the top of his hip, bringing herself higher over his head, his arms wrapped tightly around her. He possessed her, guiding her down onto this cock. She hissed at the familiar friction, the moment it took for her to stretch around his girth. Gently, she rocked against him, and he with her. Their breath matching, growing in strength and need.

She lost track of her own self, feeling only the constant rhythm of their breath and his thrusts. The dim morning light just began to catch and fill the color of his eyes, gray light just beginning to illuminate the cut of his jaw and the angles of his face. She smiled. For the first time since she could remember, since she was a young woman, she smiled at the feeling of two becoming one.

He came with a guttural sigh, shuddering and stilling in her arms. And all the while, her mouth parted into that smile.

His thumb traced over her grinning lips, as he inhaled to catch his breath.

That smile was evidence at last that his penance was paid in full. His own mouth twisted into half a smile, his heart lightening, knowing that once again his own scales were balanced. Every sin atoned, every error corrected. He placed a kiss on her now sleepy mouth once more, allowing himself for once to savour her warmth and sweetness. He felt her breath deepen into sleep again, and gently releasing her, he situated himself under the sheets to do the same.