"Mmmm…" Karen mumbled hazily, feeling pleasure squeeze itself out of her body. "That felt so good."

Chris had come over very sleepy, as he felt his excitement taper off in waves. He'd never felt anything as good as that before. His excitement certainly had no way of going when she made light circles around his navel.

She leant over him, raking her fingertips through his slightly sweat-dampened bangs. "I think it's fair to say I had you." She smiled playfully, enjoying the interesting blends of blue in his eyes. They looked even more colourful during times of pleasure.
She moved her fingers from his bangs down to his flat stomach. She grazed the soft flesh along his crab ladder, down to one of his hips.

He closed his eyes and softly gasped at the touch. "Y-you really shouldn't tease me like that."

"Oh, and why's that?" She tilted her head in mild amusement.

"'Cause it'll only make me do more naughty things," he slid on top of Karen and straddled her, "and you don't want that, do you?"

She shrugged, placing her hands on Chris's spread thighs. "I might want it if you do."

He laughed a little. "You're like a rabbit."

"And you're not?"

They both heard his mobile go off, and he would've switched it off if it weren't for the fact that Clara was calling him.

"What's wrong, love? Can't you sleep?" He assumed once he answered. He didn't have a quick fix over the line for her to sleep if that were the case.

"I-I've had a nightmare."

He sharply sat up as Karen sat up behind him, wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed him at his shoulder blade. "You want me to come back?" He knew it wasn't good when Clara had nightmares, as she usually kept herself awake all night.

"Not if it's too much of a problem."

"It isn't, sweetheart. It's never a problem if you're unable to sleep. I'll be over as soon as I can, ok?" He disconnected the call and looked to her helplessly. "I have to go to her."

"Is she ok?" She frowned a little. "She sounded frightened on the line."

"She has real trouble sleeping," Chris admitted faintly, "and once she wakes up she won't go back to sleep. What she has is terrible, Karen. It stops her from working properly."

"We'd make a right pair then." She quipped.

"I don't know what more to suggest." There was a hint of despair in his voice, which Karen tried to alleviate by caressing the sides of his waist with her fingertips. "If she won't go to a mental home, I'm really lost as to how to help her."

"The bonding you've done with her," she started, "does that help?"

He shrugged. "Seems to." He noted loosely.

"To be fair, the second coat won't take us that long to do." She pointed out. "If I take you back tonight, you can stay with her up till tomorrow night, when we can get on with that."

He nodded. "That could work. I'll have to make sure she sleeps quite well tomorrow night in that case!"

Clara remained shivering in bed when she heard the flat's front door open and then close. She kept herself within the warm bedclothes as footsteps steadily approached outside her door.

"Clara?" A familiarly paternal voice came out quite soothingly. "You still awake, love?"

The door opened and Chris's slender form stood in the doorway.
She could make out his bright blue eyes from the dimness, finding that they shone like cat's eyes.
She wanted to jump straight out of bed and run into his arms as she felt that frightened. "I can't sleep."

"It's ok," he sat on the bed and allowed her to throw her arms around him, "it's ok. I'm here now and I'm not going to leave you here any more tonight." He stroked her down her back, in an attempt to relax her.

Clara pulled herself away from him so that she could look straight into his eyes. "I-I wanna sleep with you."

Chris had never been faced with such a predicament. It wasn't as though it was a catch twenty-two, but did he feel right about sharing his bed with an eighteen-year old girl? And that was regardless of the fact that she was his daughter. He didn't want to leave her in such a frightened state.

"I wanna come to bed with you and sleep with you." She clarified innocently. She felt safer with him than she did on her own, and he might actually help her relax if they were huddled up together – in the more familial sense of the term.

"Sure." He suddenly stated. "You can stay with me till you feel well enough to sleep on your own."
It would've felt more normal to him if she were around eight or nine and had problems sleeping then, but he had to take into account that she wasn't very well.

"I feel so bad about all this."

"No," he pressed her smaller body into his, "don't feel bad. This isn't your fault. We'll only do this till you feel better."

Clara stood in the doorway to the young male's room, still wearing her silky nightdress. "You sure you don't mind?"

"Come here." He gestured for her to come in and he took her hands with his as he sat down on the bed. "I won't let anything happen to you and I promise you I will not do anything to hurt you."

"I know you wouldn't."

Chris stripped down to his boxers and pulled the blankets away so that they could both slip in underneath. He felt unbelievably perverse at the entire situation – a young, very pretty yet frightened girl was practically lying in the same bed as him. She was within touching distance of him, but it wasn't as though he would do anything intimate to her.

"Can I hug you?"

He pulled her up against him, their bodies pressing together. He stroked her down her back as he felt her shiver. "Close your eyes now."

She shakily closed her eyes and settled more comfortably against him. She felt his nose bury itself in her dark hair and his lips plant themselves on her forehead. She liked it when he kissed her there – it made her feel warm and relaxed.

He closed his eyes also, feeling her arms wrap around his waist. He gave a relaxed sigh at the embrace, placing a hand on her back and pressing her into him to ensure they stayed close together.

He then thought for a few seconds. If he and Karen were done painting the room the next night, then he could always take Clara out for an hour or so as he'd promised to do.
Sorted!

Saturday afternoon.
Chris left Clara to rest, allowing her to sleep deeply in amongst the warm bedclothes.
He got dressed and drove to Karen's place, where she answered the door.
"Heard you needed a decorator." He winked suggestively, tilting his hips to one side.

She eyed him up and down, enjoying the sight on her doorstep. She hoped he'd end up peeling his t-shirt off again before he tempted her too much and she ripped it off him herself!
Instead of doing that, she pulled him inside her house by taking hold of his wrist and driving him up against the hall's wall. "You must be very careful about tempting me like that, Mr Mead." She warned huskily, placing her hands on his hips.

"Oh, must I?" His blue eyes shimmered teasingly in the sunlight that had flooded the wall.

She leant further forward, sliding her tongue along his lower lip. Such an irresistibly sweet taste hit her tongue after she'd done that and she wanted more. "You know, what you did last night was…very nice."

He shrugged innocently. "A lot of things happened last night…" He gave a small gasp when her hands slid around his hips and moved to either side of his rear, pulling him further into her. Their hips ground together hard. "Mmm." He tried to stop the flush that was starting to make its way to his cheeks.

"Stripping like that in front of me…" Karen caressed the front of his neck with an index finger, taking considerable pleasure in seeing his response to her groping. "I knew you were hot, but I didn't realise you were that hot."

Chris didn't quite catch her double entendre, simply taking her remark to mean that he shouldn't have exposed himself like that in her own house. "I-I'm s-so sorry…"

"Oh, no, don't apologise. I actually liked it." She smiled naughtily, loving the feel of his soft flesh under her touch. "It's something I wouldn't have minded seeing again."

"How is the little one anyway?" He went to where they left her sleeping before, finding her in the same position.

"She's good." She explained. "She slept straight through last night and hasn't woken up since."

"See," he smirked, taking off his jacket, "that's 'cause she's happy after being fed properly." He playfully tickled her at her tummy, prompting a half-awake giggle from her.

Within a few hours, they'd finished painting her room and took a few minutes out to rest and go over any bits they may have missed.

"I don't know about you," he looked to her softly, "but I think we've done a perfect job with the way this has turned out – naughtiness aside."

Karen smiled to herself, inwardly disappointed that the opportunity didn't arise for Chris to take his t-shirt off like before. "You're not thinking about going yet, are you?" She didn't want to have to take him back just yet – not after they both worked so hard together in decorating the room.

"You wanna do it?"

"Not exactly," she went to exit through the room's door, "I was thinking maybe you wanted to stay for a bit with me."

They both sat together in her lounge, both drinking big cups of tea.

"You didn't have to do this." He weakly protested, although knowing full well that he had a monster weakness for tea – which she already knew about.

"I wanted to." She softly admitted, before casting her gaze to his incredibly flat stomach area. "Are you up to anything tonight?"

He peered into his almost-empty cup, feeling a glowing sensation in his tummy. He found that was the nicest feeling ever. He shifted about on the sofa. "Why do you ask?"

"Just to say thank you for working so hard with me on this."

He drew in a small sigh. "I didn't ask for you to make a fuss of me, you know…"

"But I'm not," she sat closer to him, "when was the last time we ever spent a weekend night together?"

Chris thought back to the previous night, where they both had passionate sex in her bed. She was like a cougar, surprising him at her agility when she leant over him and did such naughty things with him that it would've been enough for any other person at her age to squirm at.

"Not counting last night." She added with a smirk.

"It isn't 'cause I don't wanna spend any time with you, Karen, don't think that," he said after some time, "but I did tell myself to take Clara out for one night. She hasn't had it easy as she hasn't been well, and she's going to think I'm neglecting her if I don't treat her as I promised her I would."

"So what about me then?" Karen wanted to know, watching him put his empty cup on the table in front of them and get his jacket back on. "We're meant to be going out together."

"I know," his bright blue eyes glistened beautifully in the powdery duskiness, "but Clara's more important to me, she's my daughter…we're family. What I have with you doesn't compare to that."

She followed him to the front door as he went to see himself out. "So you don't love me?"

He tilted his head in confusion. "I never said I didn't love you. All I'm asking for is one night during a weekend, that I can spend with my own daughter and try to have some form of normality with her. Is that asking too much from you?"

She drew in a small sigh. "I guess not. I'm sorry…I should remember that things between you and Clara haven't been perfectly straightforward."

"I'm guessing that to normal families, what I'm going through is pretty odd…"

"But you're trying hard to make it work, Chris." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "I've never known anyone devote themselves to a relationship the way you have."

"It's not that I don't think you're important," Chris admitted softly, "it's more the case that you're not priority right now. Clara is."

Karen nodded slowly. "I understand, really, I do. You'd better go to her before it gets too late and everywhere starts to close up for the night."