Chapter 22

Warning: Contains adult situations. Not for kiddies.

Rated: R—It's my first time, so be gentle me.

River flew Serenity away from Boros as fast as she dared. The last thing they needed in a hasty getaway was to get flagged for speeding in close orbit. Jayne brought Angel to the bridge, and the little girl automatically reached for her mother. River took her in one arm and piloted through the swarm of satellites around the planet with the other while Jayne hovered at the back of her chair.

Mal came up a moment later, took in the status of the escape, and told River to plot a course for Whitefall. They had a new contact there—some young buck who finally took Patience down and was more for business than the old harpy had been. Duke would let them lie low for a while, and then give the crew a bit of work for his trouble.

&&&

Night looked just like day in the Black, except for one difference—the decks were empty after the crew went to bed. River, still wired from her brush with Blue Sun, stayed on the bridge for hours after Serenity powered down. Angel slept on her shoulder as she stared into the sprinkled pitch of space, her mind drawing pictures with the stars, and calculating how many water molecules it would take to reach their closest neighbors.

River stretched her awareness out from the bridge down into the decks. Serenity was quiet, except…except for Jayne. He was awake, too. And he was headed toward her.

She took a deep breath, and waited for the sound of his boots on the stairs. He hesitated outside the doors. River rotated the chair to avoid disturbing Angel so she could look at him.

"Hello."

"Uh…hi."

"You can come in," she pointed out.

"Oh, yeah." Jayne shuffled onto the deck. This had all been easier when the adrenaline was flowing, and there was imminent danger. Now that they had time to breathe, he wasn't sure how to act around her. His mind drew a blank. He had absolutely no idea what she expected of him. Of course, he still felt the need to be near her which was why he was standing there like an idiot.

"I see Simon bandaged your arm," she said.

He looked down at his shoulder where the barbwire had gotten him. "Yeah. T'weren't but a scratch."

"Scratch needed a weave."

"I survived worse." He tried a smile. "Hell, I survived you, Miss 'I-like-to-play-with-butcher's-knives.'"

She didn't return it. "Do you think I'm a monster?"

Jayne frowned. "Whatta you mean?"

"Because of what I did," she said. River looked down at Angel's sleeping face, her hair spilling forward to curtain her face. "I didn't just kill that man. I beat him. I tortured him. And then I decapitated him with a firearm."

"Honey, if you're a monster that makes me one. I'd'a done the same thing." She looked up at him, and Jayne crouched next to the chair. He brushed the hair out of her face. "Those two, they hurt you. They made you scared for too long. You did what you did to…I don't know. This psychology stuff ain't my area of expertise. All's I know is that you had to do what you did, torture an' all, so you could know they was gone an' move on with your life."

"May be dead, but I'm not sure they'll ever be gone." She tapped the side of her head.

Jayne wished he knew the words to say to make it better. It was important that she knew that it would get better. The monsters would fade over time. She would be safe, and they would fade away.

River met his eyes, and smiled a little. He hoped she heard that, and he didn't need to say anything. Her smile widened, and he was pretty sure that she had.

Jayne leaned back, and nodded to Angel. "How long's she been out?"

"Two hours and thirty-seven minutes. I should go put her down, but I couldn't let her go yet. Could have lost her today. Could have lost everything."

He stood up, and waved River to her feet. "You shut everything down for the night?"

"Yes."

"Well then, let's get the kid to bed."

She smirked at him. "You're taking your new position very seriously."

"What can I say," he shrugged with a smug twist of lips. "I'm the all-or-nothin' kind."

River shook her head. "Can you get the lights, Mr. All-or-nothing?"

"Yup." He switched the console lights off, and followed River and Angel down to the passenger dorms.

River was glad that Jayne was behind her; she didn't want him to see her pinched face. She worried her lip as she wondered what she should do. When she realized her feelings for Jayne had changed from friendship to something more considered many ways to approach the situation once Jayne finally confessed his own feelings. But now that he had, and seemed inclined to act on them, and was in fact following her to her room, River couldn't pin a single strategy down. She didn't want to send him running again.

She reached her door, and still had not come up with an idea. Would he kiss her goodnight and go on to his bunk? Should she make the first move? Did she have any moves? She was fairly sure she didn't. This was something she should have asked about long before this, obviously.Who would have believed that sanity lacked clarity of thought as much as madness?

Jayne stayed just inside the door of River's room, and watched her put Angel in bed. It was ridiculous to expect anything tonight. River was class. He couldn't expect her to get involved with someone and have sex with them in the same day. Ladies didn't do that sort of thing.

River covered Angel, making sure that Jingle Bear was within easy reach. She turned to face Jayne, her hands clasped behind her back. Thoughts whirled through her head.

"I wanted to thank you," she said. "Thank you for coming to help me today. Thank you for talking me out of going with them. They would have come to get Angel anyway, so my sacrifice would have meant nothing. Thank you for convincing me to fight."

"You would'a fought back when you heard they were taking Angel," he said to avoid the gratitude. "I only went in 'cause I was worried they'd make you scream like that Larry guy."

"Levi."

"Yeah. Sorry about him, by the way. He was your friend. Shouldn't'a died like that."

River fought off tears. "They killed him when he wouldn't let them hurt Angel. He did not deserve it."

Jayne frowned at her tears. "Did you two...? I mean, were you…?"

"No, no!" She shook her head. "Someone I cared for, but like a brother or a cousin. You're the only one I've ever felt…like…."

He watched her flush in the dim light. He smirked, and stepped closer. "Felt what? Come on, I told you mine. Still ain't heard from you."

Her cheeks pink, River met his eyes. "Like curling up in. Like pulling around me as a blanket. Safe, and warm. A bit like seeing the tiger at the zoo—you know he'll take your arm off, but it doesn't stop you from wanting to reach through the bars to run your fingers over his stripes. It's very confusing."

If he was a tiger, she was something else entirely. A fairy or an elf. Something not of the normal world. She could lead him to hell if he wasn't careful.

Funny, he thought. He used to see her as a saint, pure and untouchable. Now, touching was high on the list of things of things he planned on doing to her, with her. Gone was the Virgin Mary. In her place was the little witch he'd always suspected her to be.

"Don't worry," she whispered. "True love's kiss will break any spell a witch casts on you."

"Guess I'm doomed then," he murmured, standing before her. "Don't plan on kissin' nobody but the witch."

River giggled, "Probably best. She might turn you into a toad." She slid her arms around his neck. "Did you know that there are in fact several types of kisses?"

"Really?" He wrapped an arm around her waist, and used his other hand to knead the muscles on the small of her back. "I did not know that."

"Oh, yes. I read it on the Cortex. Thomas C. Haliburton wrote that there are no fewer than ten different kisses." She lifted to her toes, her fingers sliding into the hair at his nape.

"The kiss of welcome." River pressed her mouth to his in a quick, warm, smiling kiss, but pulled away before he could respond. "The kiss of parting," she continued, and this time met Jayne much slower. She kissed his top lip, his bottom, and rubbed his nose with hers before leaning back. River smiled at the deepening of his breaths. "The long lingering present ones….The kiss of love…" deep and wet, "of joy…" quick and hard, "and of sorrow."

Jayne held her against him with an arm under her rear so almost no weight rested on her pointed toes. His other hand rubbed up and down her side, alternately brushing the side of her breast and squeezing the round of her hip. Every time River taught him a new way to kiss, he changed the angle of his head, and backed her up a bit.

"There's the…seal of promise." She panted against his lips, and put her whole body into this kiss. She wrapped her arms tight about his neck, and pressed herself against him chest to knee. He sucked her tongue into his mouth, and ran the tip of his own over the fleshy seam under it. Jayne refused to let go of her for a long time. When finally he did, River gulped for air before concluding. "And…the…the receipt of…fulfillment."

"We ain't there yet," he growled back. Her calves hit the edge of her bed. "But we're gettin' there."

Jayne went to dive back into her kiss, but suddenly Angel made a noise in her sleep. They froze, and glanced over to the crib. They looked back at each other with the same expression of shocked embarrassment at having not remembered the crucial detail of River's daughter asleep in the same room.

"We can go across the hall," Jayne suggested.

She made a face. "Simon's old room. Don't want memories from his pillow drifting in while I'm with you."

His own face twisted at the thought. "Okay, there's my bunk—"

"Can't hear Angel from there, and I don't have a monitoring device."

Jayne gritted his teeth to keep from cursing out loud. His arms tightened, not wanting to let her go. He tried to get his breathing under control, and will away his aching hard-on. He could wait. Sure he could.

He opened his mouth to tell her they could do this later when River brightened. She tapped his arm to signal him to release her, and went to the still open door. She leaned across and opened the door to Simon's old room then came back inside. River went to one end of Angel's baby bed. She grabbed the two large back posts, and said, "Get the other end."

"Huh?"

She smiled. "Moving her into Simon's old room. Grab that end and lift."

Jayne grinned his agreement. He lifted the far end of the bed, and together they carried Angel, bed and all, into the opposite dorm. The baby felt the jostling, and half woke during the transfer. River shushed her back to sleep, and they continued the transfer. When all four feet of the bed were on the floor in Simon's old room, River motioned Jayne out, and slid the door shut leaving a gap.

"So I can hear her if she cries."

Jayne stalled outside her door. "Look, we don't have to do this tonight."

"I disagree," she argued. "Contrary to what early Darwinians believed, the majority of sexual encounters in social animals are not for the purpose of procreation as less than ten percent of sperm released actually fertilizes an egg°. In most instances, sex is used to cement a relationship." She took his hand, and led him back into her room. "I want us cemented. Don't want you getting away again."

He frowned at her, and pulled his hand away. While he wanted to sex her, he wasn't fond of her reasoning. And, for once, the reason mattered more than the act. "I told you, I ain't just here for the sex. Don't want you thinkin' you gotta—"

She put her fingers to his lips, stopping him. "Let me clarify. I want this. I want you. Have for a long time." She slipped her arms around his waist, and started pulling the back of his shirt from his pants. "Don't go."

"Uh…." He felt her fingertips brush his skin. "'If'n you're sure…."

"Quite resolved. Nigh immovable." On tip-toe, she placed a kiss over his pulse.

"Alright then." Jayne slid the door shut, and backed her to the bed.

River pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it on the floor. Her eyes toured the muscles on his chest and stomach. Her hand slipped over the long, thin scar like half an X over his heart. She shivered not in anticipation, but in shame at what she'd done to him. Jayne's hand was suddenly over hers, large and warm. River met his eyes with repentance begging forgiveness in her own.

"It's done," Jayne murmured as he bent to kiss her. River sighted into his mouth, and smoothed her hands down his torso. She ran her fingers through the rough hair, and teased his nipples. He groaned, and she giggled as she sucked on his lower lip.

Jayne backed off to pull River's peasant blouse off to join his shirt. A flick of his fingers unclasped her bra, and trailed his fingers over her shoulders and down her arms as he slid it down her arms to the floor. Jayne kissed his way down her throat and over her collarbone making figure eights on her skin with his tongue. He worked his way lower, onto her chest. His whiskered chin brushed the hypersensitive tip of her breast, and elicited a moan.

"Oh…" River gasped. He took her into his mouth and suckled making her clutch his hair, and arch into him. "Oh, oh, oh, new. Don't stop."

He licked from her breast to her jaw. "Lay on down, honey."

"That's the second time you've called me that," she panted as she sat down and scooted onto her bed. "Have I been rechristened?"

"Yep," he teased back. "You're a River of honey." He caught his breath at the thought, and had to close his eyes for a second. "Well, maybe. We haven't gotten to that part yet, either."

While River, still dressed in her little black shorts, lay propped up on her elbows to watch him, Jayne rested his foot on the end of her bed to untie his boot. That one off, he moved to the other. He pulled off his socks, and stuffed them into his shoes. He looked down at River's feet, but they were already bare.

"Where're your shoes?"

"On the bridge. I took them off hours ago."

"Should'a figured."

She smirked as he crawled onto the bed, and pressed most of his body against the wall so that he wouldn't crush her or scare her. River might be willing and ready, but it was still her first time. (Shit.) He had to take extra care, he reminded himself. Go slow.

Her eyes drifted shut a second later when Jayne kissed the side of her neck. Because while the mouth-kissing was something he had to get used to again, he was completely comfortable with a woman's neck and throat. He fancied himself a connoisseur of necks, and River was a beautiful specimen.

Jayne nuzzled behind her ear, and sucked on her pulse. He followed the tendon to the indention above her collarbone then went around to the other side, pausing only to lick the hollow of her throat, and kissed his way up to her jaw. He found a sensitive spot and won a surprised gasp when he grazed his teeth over it. Jayne teased it with the tip of his tongue, and smiled when she arched into him.

"That's new, too," River whispered brokenly, gripping his bicep.

"Thought you told me you had some practice with this sorta thing when you were younger," he murmured against her right shoulder.

"Never went half as far as this," she admitted. "Always had clothes on, and Glen was not a particularly skilled explorer, either."

He didn't have to worry about living up to any expectations, then. That was good. But it meant that he was going to have to take his time and make sure he didn't hurt her or send her running. Jayne grazed his mouth against hers; just enough to feel the brush, and then departed.

"I'm goin' a bit lower now," he warned her.

She slid her hands over his arms, and nodded on a shaking breath.

Jayne started again at her pulse point because that seemed the most traditional place to start, and because he liked the feel of her lifeblood rhythmically straining against the smooth skin of her throat. He placed sloppy open-mouthed kisses down her sternum, to the valley between her breasts. His hand drifted up her side to her left breast, and circled her nub with the pad of his thumb. At the same time, Jayne licked his way around her right until he opened his mouth wide and sucked in nearly the entire mound. He had always preferred fuller breasted women, but he was beginning to understand those who said more than a mouthful was too much. Her small size actually gave him more of her to play with.

River gasped for breath she suddenly lost when Jayne's mouth closed over her. Her hands clutched at his hair as much as its length would allow as his mouth did unspeakable things. Without conscious thought, she wrapped her legs around Jayne's waist, and bowed her spine for greater contact.

Jayne groaned around her flesh when her legs snaked around him. He was pretty sure she didn't even realize she was rubbing against him, but she made it damn hard to concentrate on anything else. He moved his right hand from her chest to her hip to hold her still. He wanted to laugh when it only made her thighs tighten around him more.

She mewled in protest when he abandoned her nipple. More aggravated whimpers escaped when Jayne refused to give her other breast the same attention. Instead he darted his tongue out for quick tastes. He punctuated his licks with gentle nips at the soft, rosy skin around her peak.

"Jayne," she whimpered. "Please…."

He gave in and fitted his mouth fully around her. He rolled the bud in his teeth, and teased the tip with is tongue. Meanwhile, the hand on her waist moved around to her stomach. He massaged the taunt muscles of her belly, and skimmed his fingers over the waistband of her black shorts.

Jayne licked his way back to her throat and, remembering, he continued on up where he took advantage of her open, panting mouth to run his tongue along the inside of her upper lip. River moaned as she slipped her own tongue out to play with his. He waited until she was thoroughly distracted before he pressed down on her tummy and slid his hand beneath the elastic waist of her shorts. River faltered, her body tensing when she felt his fingers burrow through her curls. Jayne stopped, and waited until her muscles relaxed to move forward. He looked down at River's face to gauge her reaction. Her eyes still closed, she gulped, and spread her knees a little wider for him.

She felt his fingers tunnel through the mat of hair between her thighs and between her folds. He returned to kissing her, but only part of her concentration remained with their mouths while most of her focused on his swirling fingertip as it teased her clit. He rubbed in circles, and kneaded it until she broke the kiss in an aggravated whine. Jayne chuckled against her mouth. His finger slid down farther down to run along her labia then up to her clit, and back again in tormenting circles.

River whimpered his name. She cradled his head in her hands, and kissed along his jaw as he toyed with her. It felt strange and new and so good she didn't want it ever to stop even if it was torture. She reached his ear, and, mimicking what he had done to her, she rubbed her nose against the hollow behind before taking his lobe into her mouth and sucking.

It was Jayne's turn to groan. She was a fast learner, his girl. He figured now was the time to turn things up a notch. He turned his face back to hers and emulated with his mouth what his finger did. He skimmed her lips, not giving River the contact she arched and reached for until all at once, he dove in. Jayne kissed her fully, and pushed his middle finger into River's wet channel.

Oh, god, they thought in stereo.

So tight, Jayne finished.

So warm, River thought.

Jayne leaned back to look down at her. "You…you okay?"

"Uh-huh," she gasped.

"I, uh…I didn' feel nothin' break."

She licked her lips and tried to keep her body from forcing itself against his hand. "M-most girls who engage in sports or other physical activities tear their hymen before first sexual contact. Took ballet since I was four. Martial arts at fourteen. Thus, no blood."

"Oh. Well. That's good." One less thing to worry about. "Didn' hurt ya, did I?"

River smiled at him, doing that glow thing again, and circled her arms around his neck. She rubbed her nose against his. "No, you didn't."

"Good."

He ignored her protest as he removed his finger and slid his hand out of her underwear. Jayne brought his other hand down to her hip and rolled to his knees above her. He curled his fingers over the elastic waist of both her shorts and underwear, and pulled them slowly down her long legs so that he could admire the unfolding view.

River didn't understand the look of hungry appreciation she saw growing on Jayne's face. After all, he'd seen her naked before. True, only the once when she crawled out of the box, but she couldn't imagine that she looked all that different. And besides that, Jayne had seen a lot of naked women in his time. She remembered the way the whore Helen had looked with her clothes on. Even naked, River knew she didn't compare.

He was staring and he knew it. River was the shiniest thing he'd ever seen in his life. Vera was knocked down a notch yet again. River was paler and smoother than gunmetal, and smelled like sour-apple saltwater taffy. And she was all his. All his.

"Jayne?"

He blinked out of his reverie. He shook his head, and grimaced. Jayne leaned down and kissed the hollow of her hip. He licked and nibbled his way, hopscotching up her body to her mouth. One hand wrapped around the back of her neck, fingers gripped her hair to angle her head for a deeper kiss. His other hand returned to the junction of her thighs, first giving only pressure, then slid his finger back inside.

River sighed into Jayne's mouth, and hooked her knee over his hip to give him better access. His lips moved over her neck and throat and shoulders while his finger moved in and out at a steady pace. She could feel something building, like a balloon filling with more and more air. Her breath and heartbeat competed to see which could be louder, and River knew she was making noise, but she couldn't tell whether there were words or just senseless babble.

Jayne listened to her ramble with pride. Not that rambling was anything new for River, but to have reduced the genius to one or two syllables that barely qualified as words was an accomplishment. He grinned against her jaw, and pushed a second finger inside her. She jerked at the added width stretching her.

"It's okay, honey. You're okay. Just breathe."

Her breath shuddered as she waited until the first shock of intrusion faded. She nodded, and Jayne started thrusting his fingers again. River gasped and moaned, and began to rock her hips against his hand. He murmured encouragements, told her how pretty she was, how he used to be in his bunk imagining what she'd feel like inside, so tight and wet and smooth. Her nails dug into his back and shoulders. He covered her mouth with his own to muffle the increasingly loud gasps and groans. He twisted his hand around as he rubbed them against her inner walls until he found the spot that made her whole body seize. Once, twice, and she came apart with a scream he swallowed.

He'd hoped he would have a little more restraint, take a little more time with her, but frankly, he couldn't wait any longer to be inside her. While River shuddered through aftershocks, Jayne pulled his fingers from her core, and, curious, stuck them in his mouth to see if she tasted as good as she smelled. Apple flavored taffy. Oh, yeah, he was going to have to come back for more of that. Later, though. He promised he would come back later.

River watched Jayne move through eyes half shuttered as he sucked on the fingers that were inside her a moment before. She shivered from the roots of her hair down to her toes. He grinned at her, and she tried to return it, but her facial muscles had been co-opted in the process of relearning how to breathe. She watched him sit up and tussle with his belt buckle. Her throat tightened in anticipation…and maybe a little apprehension.

Jayne shucked his pants just as fast as he could. His thumbs hooked in the waist of his underwear, and faltered. He looked down at River, last-minute anxiety pinching his forehead and mouth. "We still good here?"

She swallowed passed her nerves, and nodded. Jayne took her at her word, and pulled the elastic band out, over his cock, and down his legs.

River choked on a breath. Embarrassingly, she couldn't stop staring at it. "I don't think this will work. Mathematically speaking, a vessel cannot hold more than its total volume resulting in overflow or breakage, and I…don't…."

It wasn't so much length, although there was that. It was the girth she was worried about.

Jayne pressed a kiss to her mouth. "We'll work on it." At her skeptical arch of brow, he said, "Ain't like you're stone or metal or some such. Skin's elastic-y. See?" He bent down to take her nipple between his teeth, and pulled until River moaned. "You'll stretch."

"I," she panted, "defer to experience. But it's going to be a tight fit."

He groaned. She was going to kill him, and she didn't even realize it. Jayne shook his head, and grabbed one of her pillows. He made River sit up a little to put it behind her head so that she was as comfortable as possible before he moved between her thighs. He rubbed his head through her folds to get himself as wet as possible with her juices since he didn't have a condom to add extra lubrication.

His breath was coming fast, and River could feel the trepidation flutter off him. It buffeted her with musty wings. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and ran her tongue across his cheek. "Please, Jayne."

The muscles in his back tensed, and he thrust in. Jayne felt her stiffen in his arms. He forced his hips to stop, and bit his lip until he got enough control to look down. There were tears leaking from the corners of River's squeezed eyes.

Ta ma de, he cursed himself.

"F-fairly a-accurate epithet," River tried to tease.

Jayne leaned on to one side so to brush the hair away from her face. "Shit, honey, I'm sorry."

"T-told you it would be a tight fit."

"Yeah. You okay?"

She took a few deep breaths before she nodded. "I'm okay."

Jayne took her lips again as he pushed in further. He went as far as he could, but she was whimpering again, and not in a happy way this time. Not even in completely, Jayne wouldn't force himself any farther for fear of hurting her worse.

"Whatta ya say we just get through this last bit quick, huh?"

River blinked away new tears mixed of pain and embarrassment. Would she never be woman enough for Jayne?

Jayne saw her tears and only guessed half the cause. Shame welled up and actually managed to check his libido. "Aw, honey, we can stop now."

She sniffed. "I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry I'm not good enough."

"Who said anythin' about that? Just figured since I'm hurtin' ya, we should stop."

Jayne started to pull out, but River hugged his waist with her knees. "Don't! Don't go." Doubt and desire battled on his face. She stroked her hand over his cheek, rubbing her thumb along the ridge of his cheekbone, and traced the edge of his goatee. The fingers of her other hand threaded through his hair. "Please stay. Please finish."

Jayne tasted blood from where his teeth were sunk in his bottom lip. He gulped in a ragged breath, and ran his hand down River's thigh to her hip feeling the soft, firm swells and dips on his palm. He rolled his hips in a test thrust, and though he felt her twitch, River kept her body as relaxed as she could. He shifted his position a little to mate his mouth with hers as his lower body continued to rock. Jayne rained soft kisses on her chest, her shoulders, her throat. He traced her collar bones with his tongue, and teased the underside of River's jaw with his whiskers. Anything he could think of to give her something to focus on besides the stretching between her legs.

It never did start to feel good. But seeing the care he was taking with her gave River joy that helped to dull the pain. She felt his body's restraint and his worry for her. As his waves built, she heard his silent promise for many more times, many more opportunities to get this right. Her ears heard him say how beautiful she was, how much he wanted her, how he didn't want anyone else, just her. Only her.

"Tides coming in," she gasped.

River felt him spasm and jerk inside her, and his slick shoulders quiver as he climaxed. She buried her face next to his neck while her hands rubbed up and down his back to ease him through it. For long moments Jayne stayed immobile except for the rise and rise and fall of his lungs as he heaved in great lungfuls of air. Finally, he pulled out and collapsed next to her on the bed.

Jayne wrapped an arm around River's waist and pulled her to his chest. He put his face into her hair so he could smell her when he breathed. "It gets better," he swore. "My hand to God, it gets better."

"We'll keep practicing," she agreed.

"We'll practice a lot." Realizing that meant lots of regular, free sex, Jayne grinned. River elbowed him in the side. "Ow! Oh. Thought that a little loud huh?"

"A bit."

"Welp, better get used to it. Gonna be thinkin' a lot more stuff like that from now on. I'll try to keep the 'free' out of it, though."

"Thanks," she mocked.

Jayne kissed her crown sleepily. "So, are we cemented?"

River grinned. "Brick and mortar and brick."

He pulled her even tighter, snuggling in, and quickly drifted off. River smiled. So that part of sex mythology was true. But the high levels of endorphins, dopamine, and especially the oxytocin¹ made it hard for her to be mad at him. She nestled in further, and closed her eyes, hoping that Angel didn't wake up too early tomorrow morning.

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Notes:

"There's the kiss of welcome and of parting, the long lingering loving present one; the stolen, or the mutual one; the kiss of love, of joy, and of sorrow; the seal of promise, and the receipt of fulfillment." –Thomas C. Haliburton

° I got the concept from New Scientist magazine January 2004, and don't quote that data because I totally pulled that number out of my ass.

¹ Oxytocin is the chemical released in the brain that supports long-term attachment. It is released in response to physical touch, skin to skin, and especially during sex.

Ta ma de—fuck me blind