The next morning.
Karen awoke, finding the sun's rays spilt in through the windows and flooded the bed that her and Chris were sleeping in together.
She felt so warm and revitalized, and she was sure that the lovemaking helped her more than she thought.
And she never felt surer about continuing her relationship with him.

She peered over to the other side of her bed, noticing that the young male was still asleep. He was on his side facing her, with his arm around her waist.

The sunlight had bathed his fair skin in an alluring shimmer, defining the perfect contours of his broad chest when he breathed in deeply and back out again.

She smiled softly at how peaceful he was, and she gently raked her fingertips through his dark bangs, watching them catch the sun's sparkle. Everything about him was just…perfect. She couldn't put it any other way.

Chris stirred under the blankets, and his eyelids softly fluttered open to reveal his bright blue eyes. "Morning." He settled more closely against her, seemingly still comfortable with what they both did the previous night.

"Morning." Karen gently cupped his face, caressing the dewy flesh. He looked so tempting in the morning light and it was making her want to do naughty things with him again.

"How do you feel?"

She nodded softly. "So much better."

"I hope you're not putting it down to what we did last night." He leant up on his arm, leaning more over her and pressing his lips to hers. He was sure a wave of excitement shot down his spine at the contact. He knew then that what they had was no one-night stand. He did really and truly love her.

"Well, no," she placed a hand on his arm, "but it was nice."

He flipped over onto his back, trying to ignore the thoughts in his head at getting up. He didn't want to get up. If he had a choice at either staying in bed or having to go to work, he'd rather go for the former.

"I hope it was nice for you…" She teasingly traced the outside of his navel with an index finger, prompting him to gasp softly. "I'll take that as a yes." She remembered that being a sensitive area from their lovemaking.

"I don't wanna get up." Chris sleepily protested, his expression becoming sulky yet in a cute way. "I wanna stay in bed with you."

"Mmm…and do what exactly?" Karen wanted to know as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his body.

"Oh. Well, that'd be telling, wouldn't it?" He gave her a soft kiss on the lips, before softly pulling away.
He'd completely forgotten about Clara, suddenly worrying that she mightn't have been able to look after herself with him gone for one night. Although she was at an age where it shouldn't be considered a problem.

She noticed he came over a little preoccupied, and she softly squeezed him at a shoulder to get him to snap to. "Not falling asleep, are you?"

He managed to snap to that time. "Me? No. I'm wide awake."

She laughed a little. "You didn't seem like it a few seconds ago."

He thought of something else. Should he even admit to Karen what had been going on?
He still wanted to stick to his promise of keeping his and Clara's relationship together private. It wasn't as though he didn't trust her, but she still might've construed their relationship as sexual, when in actual fact it was familial. "I guess we should get up now."

She was thankful that at that time, there was no one about. Harry would've already made his way to school and Jess was more likely than not in bed. "If you're worried about any of the kids seeing you, you shouldn't have to. There'll be no one about by the time we decide to go."

"Maybe I'm a little tired." He fibbed, darting his gaze away the moment he said it.
He hated fibbing – mainly due to the fact that he was so bad at it and gave off subtle signals to the person he was fibbing to that he wasn't telling the truth.

"Well, I hope you're not going to blame that on the sex we had last night." She teased.

After work.
Chris went straight back to his place, finding Clara in her room and lying on her front on her bed. He stood in the spare room's doorway, immediately knowing that she wasn't entirely happy with him.

And who could blame the girl? She'd been waiting and possibly been worrying herself sick as to where he'd gotten. And he'd made no mention of where he was going in the first place.

He quietly sat next to her on her bed, placing a hand on her back and rubbing her there softly. He knew that however annoyed she was at him, he still wanted them both to maintain a good relationship together as they had.

"You've decided to come back then." Her voice came out muffled from her lying position.

He drew in a small sigh. "I'm sorry. I should've told you I wasn't going to be back, but it was all unplanned."

"Like me."

He frowned slightly at her answer. He knew she must've felt unbelievably hard done by, by the fact he didn't come home as he usually would, and he could only put her answer down as simply one of bitterness. "There was absolutely no way I could've told you I wasn't coming back."

Clara sat up, looking to him in a confused way. "Why, where exactly did you go?"

"Does it matter? I'm back now."

"You had gone and seen…her." Her sentence came out shocked and faint. "You said you didn't like her."

"I never said I didn't like her, I said I didn't like her in that way."

"So why do it with her?" She cried out. "If you're not being honest with your feelings for her, then maybe you're not being honest with your feelings for me." She got up off the bed.

"Now that isn't true." Chris got up off the bed also. "I just…I don't know. Her feelings were all over the place, and I'm guessing mine still were after what she did that other night. But it's all sorted now, and we know we both feel quite deeply for each other."

"You can't switch your feelings on and off like a switch." She protested.

He placed his hands on his hips. "Well, I didn't know what to feel for you when wefirst encountered each other." He noticed her shocked expression. "I thought you were making it all up."

Clara felt his answer hit her and almost blow her back. She'd never expected him to think such thoughts and how he could think those things shocked her all the more. "So in a way you were judging me the whole time I was staying with you?"

"Up to a point." He cast his gaze to the floor. "But I know you're not making it up and that you never were."

She shook her head dimly. "The fact still remains that you didn't trust me." She lifted her bag up off the floor and onto the bed. "That means that I can't trust you anymore."

"Clara, don't say that." He came closer to her. "I've had so many problems with girls your age. How could I not think you may have wanted to…you know…try other stuff with me?"

She quirked an odd smile. "Don't flatter yourself."

"And I can't let you go," he went over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder, "not now. Not when I've tried so hard to get you to stay in the first place."

"I know that you love me." Clara peered into his soft blue eyes. "But it's fair to say that you didn't want me."

"Not to start with, not when I was at the age I was." Chris admitted. "Just 'cause you weren't planned, doesn't mean to say I don't love you now."

She got her stuff together, sharply zipping her bag up.

"Clara, please don't go." He continued, squeezing her softly at her shoulder. "I don't want you going back out onto the streets."

She noticed his eyes had softened intensely, almost to the point of liquefying. There was so much perceptible feeling going on within them, and she knew that he was right.

"I know you might not think much of my relationship with Karen, but it isn't for what you think. I do love her." He added. "I don't want anyone else to know about it, but I want you to accept it."

She nodded slowly. "Ok."

He felt a wave of relief crash over him. "Ok, good." He drew in a small yet reassured sigh. "Please don't ever threaten to leave again. You live here now."