Scott rolled over with a heavy sigh. He just couldn't seem to sleep at all lately...

With another sigh, he shoved the sunglasses back on, and got up, throwing a shirt on. Might as well take a walk. There isn't anything else to do, except think. And thinking definitely wasn't good for him... not when she was all that was on his mind. Of course, it didn't help that their room was so very close to his.

He paused in the doorway, locked in an internal war between his conscience (don't go! no!) and temptation (why not? she's asleep)... Temptation won out.

A chill ran up his spine, and he flinched when the doorknob was infuriatingly loud when he turned it. God, he had struck an all time low. I mean... at least Jean... no. He wouldn't think of her now. His stomach clenched unpleasantly, and his heart felt as if it were in his throat.

He swallowed as he entered the room, his heart (now back in its usual spot) thudding loudly in his own ears. He moved to kneel beside Katie's bed, the curtains were thrown open, and the moonlight shone in to illuminate her sleeping form. Her covers had slipped down to drape over her cotton pajama pant clad hips, and her v-necked shirt hung low over her bosom, just enough to reveal a tempting amount of cleavage.

Scott exhaled shakily, not having realized that he had been holding his breath. The knot in his stomach eased, all thoughts of Jean dissolved. Katie...

Reaching up with one trembling hand, he brushed the tips of his fingers across her cheek, along the line of her jaw. Oh, she was so soft...

But he yanked his hand back, holding his breath again, waiting for her to wake up with a scream. After several, long tense moments with his heart pounding, he breathed out. Katie shifted lightly, but no more.

This is ridiculous... some tiny, rational part of him thought. The fear (no, more a controlled terror), the tension, the idea that he could lose it all if he was caught, only served to amplify her loveliness, to increase the temptation... and the potential reward. Damn, he thought again, hopelessly, as he reached up to touch her again.

Practically panting, he bit back a moan when trembling fingertips came in contact with soft, silken skin. Oh, so ridiculous. He was unable to ease the trembling of the other hand while one smoothly traced the outline of her face, and then toyed with a strand of hair that hung in her face.

She made a soft noise in her sleep, stoking the fire of want, need and desire that burned in the pit of his stomach.

He closed his eyes momentarily. "Why do you make me feel like this?" he whispered, moving closer as if expecting her to whisper the answer to him. But she merely continued to sleep peacefully, her tongue darting out to wet her lips in her sleep. God...

His hand dipped lower to trance the line of her neck, feeling the beat of her pulse beneath the soft skin... she trembled lightly in her sleep, and he froze again, but there was nothing more than that brief shiver. "Why can't I take my mind off you?" he whispered again, hand going to cup her chin, and thumb brushing lightly across her lips. Biting back another moan, he tried to think of what her mouth might taste like...

He could just... No. He wouldn't stoop so low as to take advantage of her unconscious state. Even... even if she was like this. He could feel her breath bathing his hand in delicious warmth.

"Katie..." he mumbled softly, temptation beginning to boil over. He'd underestimated how close he was to her. Suddenly she was so close. He brushed his thumb over her lips in a gentle caress. Then, with a rush of mixed and confused sensations, replaced it with his lips. Brushing against hers softly.

She reacted very subtly at first, mouth pressing a bit more against his own, as though she had some vague idea of what was going on... His hand moved to the back of her neck, fingers curling in her hair, holding her there. She'll be waking up soon, he thought to himself semi-rationally. But I really don't want to leave... Her mouth opened some, almost accidentally, and she made a small whimper/moan, still sounding asleep.

He couldn't help but let a small groan of pleasure slip between their joined lips, tongue sweeping along her bottom lip, just entering her parted lips ever so slightly. She made yet another noise, but not of protest, of wakefulness.

With a great deal of difficulty, Scott tore himself from her lips with one last brush, tongue sweeping out to taste her lips just once more. Then he quickly left the room. Gasping for breath, Katie sat bolt upright.

Completely awake now. Looking around her, she found no trace of her "visitor" save the taste on her lips. She thought she'd caught a glimpse of his back, but it had been impossible to tell in the dark... Taking as deep a breath as she could, trying to calm her racing heart, she leaned over. "Nicole!" she hissed. If she was awake, maybe she'd gotten a glimpse? It was obviously Shade, but mmm, she licked her lips again, she wanted to know who it was that had tasted (and kissed!) so good...!

After Katie's brief appraising thoughts of Shade, she hardly expected to get anything out of Nicole other than a groggy moan and complaints about the time. But what she got from Nicole completely shocked her.

"What is it?!" Nicole snapped, her voice tense and slightly disturbed. Her voice cut through the silence like a steak knife. Nicole's face appeared from inside the curtains of her bed, her face looked attentful and her head was cocked to the side as if listening. Nicole's wakefulness surprised her; Nicole never usually displayed this nocturnal attitude. Nicole looked as if she had been awake for hours. She was usually the first one to drop off! And even with her amount of sleep she continued to complain that she was tired.

"I was just wondering if you saw..." Katie began, but Nicole cut in.

"Shade? No. I didn't see him. But I heard him. I was getting some very aroused brainwaves from your side of the room. I've been up for hours... can't sleep, and you'd been having a VERY good dream that I enjoyed listening to mentally... I was bored. So I was used to your aroused brainwaves... but just now it was totally different. It was doubled... I knew someone else was in the room on your side. What happened?"

Katie shrugged a bit, biting at her lips. "That's the problem... I don't really know! I was dreaming, I guess; don't exactly remember about what and... I don't know, I woke up to someone kissing me..." She trailed off, hand cupped protectively over her mouth. "But he ran off when I woke up, I don't really know what was going on..." But she did. Shade had obviously paid her some sort of visit. She shivered lightly, having someone come and visit you in the middle of the night and not knowing exactly what they had done to you was a bit on the sketchy side.

Nicole's next comment would have been teasing, had the situation not posed itself as a slightly sketchy one. "Well... are you bleeding... you know...? Are you wet anywhere, are your clothes still all there? It wouldn't surprise me if he took your panties. He's probably off building a shrine of them right now." the last sentence of her comment however had an added snort and a grin for good measure.

Katie checked herself, she didn't hurt anywhere that she thought would be concerned with... well sex, and all of her clothing was left just where she put it. "No... no everything's still there." she commented, hinting at both her clothing and her innocence.

"You sure?"

"Yeah." Katie shivered again, this really was rather thrilling. He'd been a wonderful kisser (not that she really had much to compare it to), and it was rather nice to know she hadn't been groped, ravished, or otherwise taken advantage of. "Well, Nicole, apparently he doesn't just want to get into my pants." Katie commented, slightly smugly. It was also nice to know that he was more of a gentleman than Nicole gave him credit for (even if she might not have minded being ravished...).

Nicole shrugged, "Guess not." she mumbled begrudgingly. She grinned, "Someone sure has the hots for you though, don't they?" she teased, wiggling her eyebrows.

Katie smiled dreamily, "Yeah, and whoever it is, is such a good kisser. Oh, and it's not as if I'm the only one in this room who has someone that has the hots for them, miss I-got-smooched-by-a-semi-teacher."

Nicole bristled a bit. "It's not like I asked him to..." she muttered, pausing. "But I did enjoy it..."

"Enjoyed it a lot, I'd say," Katie added. "Just waiting for him to do it again... yearning for his touches, wishing desperately for his warm self in your lonely bed..." Katie fluttered her eyelashes exaggeratedly at Nicole, doing her best to imitate Nicole's girl-close-to-orgasm face.

Nicole shuddered, burying her face in one of her many pillows, and said in an offhanded squeal, "Nuh uh! Besides, I doubt Logan would fit in my 'lonely bed'" she denied. Though, Katie could tell that her comment had gotten to Nicole when she saw her eyes glaze over and her shudder, before wrapping herself tightly in her blankets. "Don't go and get all high and mighty with me just because you got a visit from someone and I didn't. Besides, I think you would have more than a slight problem with Logan being in the same room that we sleep in, with me while you try to sleep." Nicole snapped after shaking off her daze.

Katie made another exaggerated face. "Oh... eww. Yes, I think I'd prefer you went and warmed his lonely bed. That is not something I ever want to see." She twitched, feeling a bit scarred by this particular mental picture. Blech.

Nicole laughed a bit triumphantly at her friend. "So there."

"Besides... Logan may be ..." she hesitated, "Well, good looking in my opinion. But... he's old. I mean, he apparently doesn't know how old he is!"

Katie grinned, watching Nicole shudder and shake her head. She rolled her eyes. "Obviously, if you let him kiss you, you don't really mind that he's as you put, old. But as far as I can remember you were never ever into any of the guys in our schools that were our age! You were always all googly eyed at the older students." Katie laughed.

Nicole blushed and looked shy, "That's different!"

"I fail to see the difference. Save a good 17 years difference in age between Logan and those Seniors in the Wilmington high school that you used to ogle at."

Nicole sighed, looking away and shrugging. "I guess... I dunno. I guess I'm just trying to invent excuses so it doesn't seem like such a big deal. It won't happen again, I'm sure. Which I'm not sure I'm happy with that or not." she mumbled, lying down and gazing sullenly at Katie from a horizontal angle.

For a split second, Katie felt a surge of pity for the miserable Nicole, and fury at Logan. If Logan hurt Nicole, Katie was most definitely not responsible for Logan's 'accidental' critical electrocution. Because she was more than sure that Nicole would do the same for her. Grinning, she remembered her previous boyfriend (who had cheated on her) loping around the corridors, fully convinced that he was an orangutan for a month. Nicole even had him jumping on top of people and attempting to 'groom' them, and screeching while beating his chest. Yes. She most definitely would personally see to Logan falling off a cliff if this 'relationship' took a turn for the worse.

was going to say at least Jean was around his age