Title: The Long Shadow

Authors: dancesabove and jewell

Rating: For this chapter, M—This chapter, though romantic and devoid of profanity, is more sexually explicit than the others.

Disclaimer: The creative rights to the characters and plotlines in Foyle's War belong to Anthony Horowitz, but no infringement is intended and we in no way profit from the story we've written.

Feedback: Welcome

Chapter 10

Even when Christopher had gently kissed Caroline's hands or merely brushed past her as they stood beside his hospital bed, she had been in a whirl of sensation, so she often had marvelled that, if they could truly be alone, he might make her feel something even stronger.

Now the power of these sensations amazed her; she felt her body somehow weaken and become strong at the same time. It was a confusing and flustering feeling, but ultimately, as he slowly engulfed her mouth and moved his head to one side to increase the lovely warm pressure, she felt a focus of the mixed-together feelings, and the sharpness of the focus was pleasure. She took a deep breath as he released her for a few seconds, and she hugged him, her cheek on his shoulder. He didn't flinch—it was no longer painful for him when she embraced him carefully.

His mouth gently trailed from her neck to her shoulders to the creamy skin just above her breasts and she tilted back her head, weaving her fingers through his dark hair. His look of awe as he unbuttoned her shirtfront made tears come to her eyes. Christopher slid a warm palm tenderly beneath the hem of her chemise and felt the softness of one perfect breast, making her tremble. His fingering of her nipple made her moan quietly, but when he bent to take the other into his mouth her response to the sensation was very nearly a release unto itself.

Silently, every emotion expressed in his face, he guided Caroline to his bed as she had so often guided him to the narrow one he occupied in hospital. His eyes never left hers as he lowered her onto it and leant slowly over her, massaging her lips with his and exploring her mouth with his eager tongue. He struggled to make himself slow down.

She helped him off with the teal flannel coat and the bright tie he had dreaded wearing, undoing his shirt with distracted difficulty as he covered her ears and neck with kisses. Both tried not to be undignified in their haste to remove clothing, but soon found themselves laughing at how quickly and awkwardly they assisted each other in tugging away trousers, skirt, and the rest. Their laughter was as sweet as their intensity, he thought.

This feels so right…

At last they lay naked, excepting his shoulder bandage, in each other's arms. Caroline's loving caresses and sweet whispers soothed him and made him wild for her all at once. She reached down to stroke his hardness and he clenched his eyes shut, drawing his breath sharply through his teeth. Then she guided him so that the head of his arousal could touch the welcoming heat and moisture between her legs.

"Slowly if you can, my Christopher," she told him, "so that you may feel it."

Christopher's eyes rolled back in his head as he followed her directive and slipped into her as if gradually entering a crystalline pool of water. From all he had heard and imagined this was a pleasurable thing, but he was not prepared for how transporting it truly was. They gasped together as he completely claimed her and filled her. To have his whole length snugly grasped by her velvety depth was… the word that came to his mind was paradise. He groaned raggedly as he instinctively pulled outward and then moved back into the warm shelter of her passage.

Dear God in Heaven…

Caroline couldn't form the words, but she was equally surprised. She may have done this before in a sense, but never had it brought her anything like this height of feeling. To this euphoric sensation, she was as virginal as he. She began to weep softly at the intensity of it.

Alarmed, Christopher brushed her wet cheek with one thumb. "Caroline, oh, love… am I hurting you?"

She gave him a fleeting smile and breathed, "Quite… quite the opposite…" then undulated sensuously beneath him, making him growl again, much to her own stimulation.

He lowered his head and felt with his lips the satiny skin of her graceful throat. It was all beyond comparing with anything he had ever felt in a fantasy; her tender kisses, the feel of her hips moving upward to meet his thrusts, the warm wonder of her body writhing under his, and the beautiful sounds of ecstasy she made... all this created the most rapturous experience he'd ever had. If I do die on the battlefield, he thought to himself, at least I shall have known this.

Caroline opened her eyes for a moment, trying to avoid being so carried away that her Christopher might not feel emotionally connected with her. "My darling," she whispered as she stroked his hair, adoring the captivated look in his eyes, "it's— it's... I can't even describe how wonderful you're making me feel." He slowly closed and opened his eyes, feeling his heart seem to shift sideward in his chest even through its thundering. Then he moved more deeply within her and she emitted another spine-tingling cry of pleasure. Christopher took her lips again, driven mad with passion for her, and she tried in her throes not to clutch his left arm or shoulder. He was almost beyond feeling any pain if she had done, so strong was the thrumming, building pleasure in other parts of his body.

The young man's mind wanted to slow down, to keep this beautiful woman moaning his name and embracing him tightly as he brought her to such rapture, feeling crazed with the pleasure of all of it himself… but he had lost control of his physical response at this point and there could be no thinking himself away from the precipice.

Not a man to carry French letters with him routinely, his plan to protect them from pregnancy had been to pull out of her at the crucial moment… but it was not to be. With a combination of alarm and profound relief he came to his release deep within her pulsing sheath, as both of them cried out loudly with the force of it.

Presently Caroline opened her eyes dazedly to Christopher's, and then widened them comically as she drew an overwhelmed sigh, her hand palm up across her forehead in sated exhaustion. He had worried for an instant; felt vulnerable; but her expression, a mixture of stunned and contented, told him at once that he should not think he had been in any way lacking.

Showing a dimple and mischievously darting her glance sideways, she sighed once again. "Well that was acceptable, I suppose. But I do think you'll need to try again quite soon and see if you can do better."

He grinned at her with modest pride, but his cheeks coloured. Her heart jumped; all she could do was hug him.

TBC…