"Oh shit, the cake," Skye suddenly yelps when there's one second of reasoning in her mind. They had gotten so lost in kissing and each other that they had miraculously forgotten the time.

"Oh, no. I hope it's salvageable, because I am not really in the mood for making another." Jemma reluctantly withdraws her hands from Skye's shoulders and steps away to look through the window while turning the oven off.

"And?"

"It looks fine, I think we're in the clear."

"Oh thank god."

Jemma opens the oven and out comes a perfectly round, golden cake with a soft cake crust. It smells delicious, and Skye reckons that Sarah will be over the moon tomorrow.

"This has to cool down before we can do any decorating or the icing will just melt off. But we can save that for tomorrow to do with Sarah, really."

"I have a feeling that she might like that," Skye smiles and tucks a strand of hair behind Jemma's ear.

She smiles softly while stroking her thumb across the tiny scientist's cheek, but then a shadow of sadness washes over her when she realises that she came here to help with the cake. And that part is done now. Suddenly she feels like their evening is coming to a far too sudden halt. Skye doesn't want that, and by the looks of it Jemma feels pretty much the same.

"What is it, Skye?" she whispers and leans into the touch, stepping closer to wrap her arms around Skye's waist. She presses a soft kiss to her cheek, which earns her a smile.

"I don't want to go home yet. I'm enjoying your company too much..." She whispers after a few silent seconds and stares over Jemma's shoulder into the void.

"Then stay, please. Sleep over, we can just sleep together. I mean, if you like... Maybe?"

Jemma's cheeks feel hot at her request. She doesn't want to rush any of this and she might have just crossed a line that wasn't ready to be crossed yet. She did mean just sleeping and hopes that that message came across to Skye, as much as she now can't keep the images of having actual sex with the computer genius out of her mind. It doesn't help with the blush either.

"Okay. Yeah, I'd like that." A grin breaks on Skye's face when she glances at the clock. It's not that late, but she doesn't care so much.

"Here, take these," she says to Jemma and hands her two beers before promptly picking the woman up and up the stairs, causing her to shriek.

"Skye! What are you doing? Put me down! This is so dangerous!"

"Trust me. You'll be fine. Which door is it?"

"The... the one on your right."

She sets Jemma down right in front of it, letting her do the honours of opening the door. The room is spotless, really. Nothing is out of place. The books on the nightstand are neatly stacked, no clothes are scattered around the floor. There's one blouse hanging on a hanger on the closet door and a bathing robe hangs from the back of a chair. But that's it. It's a nice room. It's bright, cosy and it immediately feels like home for some reason unknown to Skye.

"I like it," Skye suddenly declares with a solid nod and turns to Jemma, who is still standing by the side of her desk.

"You do?"

"Yeah. I'm not so sure if you'd like my room now though," Skye grins and Jemma playfully slaps her across the arm.

"I'm sure it's fine."

Skye nods again and rolls down her sleeves to then take her blouse off slowly. She hangs it over the end of the bed and turns around to Jemma, who still hasn't said much more since they came upstairs.

"What?" Skye asks breathlessly when she sees the way Jemma watches her. Her mouth half open, her eyes dark, still a blush on her cheeks.

Skye is beautiful, Jemma thinks. All soft curves and hard muscle. She can see a hint of abs through her tank top and has to pull everything she has together not to gasp when Skye ties up her hair and her arms softly flex.

"Nothing... I just am a bit overwhelmed by how beautiful you are," Jemma promptly blurts out and Skye laughs softly when she freezes up.

"Thank you. I'm glad you like what you see."

"What are you doing?" Jemma suddenly asks with a look of sheer horror on her face when Skye's hands move to unbutton her pants.

"I'm taking off my pants?"

"Yes, I can see that. But why, I thought..."

"... I thought you said sleeping. I'm getting ready to sleep. I don't know about you, but I don't really like to sleep with jeans on." Skye shoots her a lopsided grin, but Jemma's face doesn't really melt down. She just fidgets with her fingers and doesn't look Skye in the eye for more than a second at a time.

"I... I... You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just a bit nervous. This is the first time someone will sleep in my bed with me since..."

"Since Sarah's father?"

"Yes."

She moves over to where Jemma is standing and strokes her thumbs over her cheeks before sliding her hands down from her shoulders to her hands, holding them.

"Hey, look. We don't have to do this. I can go home and come back tomorrow for Sarah's party. And I'm nervous, too. Because look how great you are. You're so kind and so beautiful and you have such a crazy fun daughter. But don't worry, okay. We'll see where we end up, alright?"

"Okay."

"Okay." She smiles watery and Skye draws her into her arms, hugging her close before pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Skye?"

"Hm?"

"Can I take off your pants?" Jemma whispers against the hollow of Skye's neck, who laughs softly.

"Please do."

Skye steps out of her shoes first; something she often forgets to do before taking off her pants. Jemma carefully undoes the button and pushes down the zipper before gently pushing the piece of clothing down over her hips.

"You know, your jeans are very skinny," Jemma huffs and Skye laughs.

"Here, I'll help."

She stands on the leg and holds onto Jemma before stepping out of them entirely. Kicking them aside, Jemma pulls Skye down at the nape of her neck and into a soft kiss.

"Can I?" Skye asks and Jemma nods while she looks down at Skye's hands. They are soft and delicate, but a scar runs between two of her knuckles and a few of her cuticles are broken. Nothing about the hard edges of her hands simmer through, though, when Skye picks Jemma up at the waist and sits her down on her bed.

Unbuttoning pants the reversed way is one, but Jemma just grins while Skye tries to figure it out with a concentrated look on her face, triumph coming in the place when she does, eventually, manages to undo the buttons and Jemma chuckles softly, lifting her bum to help Skye with the last part. In one swift motion Skye then tosses away her pants and takes off her own top while standing up.

"I'm also not really keen on sleeping with a shirt on," she admits sheepishly, but Jemma hears only half of it.

"I think that's fine..."

Skye is standing in front of her in a sports bra and black boxer shorts and it's quite literally the best thing Jemma has ever seen.

"Alright, then move your ass and let's get into bed," Skye whispers and presses a kiss to her temple.

It takes Jemma a second before coming to life and standing up. With a flair of 'fuck it' she takes off her own blouse and pushes back the covers before stepping in next to Skye, who has already claimed two thirds of the bed, laying with her hands behind her head.

They don't say anything for a while, just enjoying the darkness and the heat that radiates between them. They lie close to each other, but now the nervous waves have washed over them again, neither really dares to move this any further. It was sleeping after all, right. Not cuddling and making out. Not having sex. Sleeping. And sleeping consisted of your head on your own pillow and your hands tucked into your own body.

Skye flips onto her side and tries to see Jemma in the dark. She can make out the contours of her body. The soft slope of her nose, the rise and fall of her chest, her breasts. Skye swallows hard.

"Are you asleep, Jem?" she whispers and she can see a hint of a smile forming on the tiny scientist's face before she shakes her head.

"No. I'm not. What is it?"

"I know we said sleeping, but eh... I just... I would like to cuddle a bit, maybe. If that's okay?"

A soft laugh spills from Jemma's lips before she scoots over and easily rolls into Skye's arms, their bodies flush together. It takes a second of adjusting and wiggling before they are both comfortable, but then comfortable is an understatement.

Jemma slowly maps out Skye's abdomen with her fingertips. She follows the ridges of her softly defined abs, the curve of her waist, and the little dip at her hipbone. She wants to kiss Skye there, but now is not the time.

Skye sighs contently and traces her fingers down Jemma's back. Connecting all the little freckles she feels, walking her fingers over the vertebras of her spine, and runs them over the two little dimples in her lower back.

"I meant what I said in the kitchen, Skye," Jemma whispers and arches her neck to press a kiss to Skye's jaw. "I really like you."

"I meant it, too."

"Good."

"Okay then."