Author's note: Hey, everybody! It's spring forward tonight (March 12-13). I'm not exactly thrilled about this time change. I'd take fall back any day. Now, don't be too mad, but I made this a two-parter. There's plenty of Dasey goodness in this chapter to tide you over until I post the conclusion-conclusion. Let's just say that in this chapter, they get to snuggle.
Music suggestions: 'Every time you turn around' by Daughtry, 'Do you wanna touch me (oh yeah)' by Glee Cast, 'Shut up and kiss me' by Orianthi.
Disclaimer: LWD does not belong to me.
Perchance to Dream: The Conclusion, Part I
It was on a night deep into the month of February that a few of Casey's dreams finally came true. Unfortunately, she had to suffer through below freezing temperatures with no power to get to that point.
ooouoooooo*ooocooooo*oooaooooo
Casey laid curled up in a tight ball under her blankets, shivering and considering why her room was so cold. When she'd gone to bed at ten, the furnace had been chugging along steadily, keeping their apartment at a comfortable 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Now, four hours later, she'd groggily awoken to crisp, cold air being pulled into her lungs and a visible cloud of air forming with every exhale.
Something wasn't right, but it was already a challenge keeping warm where she was and she didn't feel particularly inclined to climb out of bed, only to get colder, without the promise of heat.
A tentative knock sounded on her door, interrupting her thoughts. At her muffled acknowledgment, Derek padded into her room and sat at the foot of her bed, visibly shaking as he pulled his own comforter tighter around his shoulders.
"Ice storm knocked out the power around one-thirty. Jess just called to tell me everyone's heading down to the common area, fireplace is going, and the admins are having generators and space heaters dropped off to as many dorms as they can on such short notice. Do you wanna head down there? It'll be warm..." Derek explained, the last sentence made to sound coaxing.
"I-I'm s-s-so c-cold." Casey stuttered out pathetically, peeking her head out from underneath her two blankets. Even then, her teeth were chattering.
"Aww...my poor Space Case." Derek murmured sympathetically, almost endearingly. Standing, he held up a finger to indicate he'd be right back, turned, and dashed out of the room.
Retreating back underneath her cocoon of bedclothes, she hid there until she heard Derek crashing back into her room. With only her eyes surfacing, her fingers curled around the edges of her blankets, she watched as Derek tossed the throw from their couch over her feet. Observing him in a detached manner, Casey stared as Derek hurriedly spread his heavy down comforter across her bed.
"What are you doing?" Casey asked around her shivering teeth and body.
"Scoot over. I'm coming in." Derek said authoritatively instead, nudging her left side through the layers covering her.
She was so cold and tired, she didn't even try to argue, instead shifting further to the right of her double bed. A rush of frigid air swept into the space she'd just vacated as Derek lifted up the multiple layers and hopped in.
"Someone had better watch his hands." Casey muttered as threateningly as she could muster around chattering teeth.
"Is there someone else in this bed that I don't know about?" Derek asked mock-seriously, quickly peering over her to the other side of the bed. "Because as keener as you make yourself out to be, you're not too bright if you still haven't figured out how far from my usual type you are." Derek finished dryly, gathering Casey in close to his chest, as much for his benefit as hers.
Burrowing her nose into the hollow of his neck, Casey sighed blissfully as she molded the rest of her body around Derek's. "Mmm...you're so warm, Derek. Better than a heating blanket and a hot water bottle combined." Casey breathed out the words on a moan, the words slipping past her lips involuntarily.
Other than his heart stuttering a few beats at her easy capitulation, Derek otherwise remained outwardly unaffected by Casey's closeness. Needless to say, though, he was struck dumb for a few seconds after her declaration before he could string together a proper comeback.
"Jeez, Case. I know you're cold-blooded by nature, but holy crap your nose is cold." Derek complained in response, at the same time tightening his arms around her and rubbing his hands back and forth against the back of her pajama shirt.
"Shut up, Derek." Casey snapped back sleepily, fisting her hands into the front of his long-sleeved sleepshirt. Quickly nodding off, one of her legs forced its way between his, rubbing against his crotch as she settled in, her leg effectively twining around his.
Sucking in a deep breath of freezing cold air, Derek squeezed his eyes shut and silently muttered a curse to the ceiling, her simple gesture leaving him semi-hard and unable to do anything about it.
It was going to be a really long night.
ooosooooo*ooeoorooo*oowooooooo
Not quite sure when she'd finally dozed off, Casey woke up again abruptly when her pillow began shifting beneath her. Acting instinctively, Casey clamped her arms around the squirming object, her leg automatically making the same movement to trap and hopefully quell the object's desire to abandon her.
It was then that she became fully aware of the fact that pillows weren't supposed to move. Keeping her eyes closed, she then focused on the strangest sensation between her parted thighs. First off, she distinctly recalled having her leg between his before drifting off. Now, it was hooked over both of his, her legs open and the rest of her body mostly on top of him. Something firm and...very male was pulsing in tandem to the throb that had awakened between her legs when her body subconsciously recognized Derek. She mentally patted herself on the back for her body's subconscious clinging. And also had to physically restrain herself from opening her legs wider and rubbing against him like a cat in heat, which would no doubt satisfy the ache in her core, but would be decidedly awkward for both parties afterward.
"Casey?" Derek pleaded in a low, husky tone that Casey had never heard before.
"Yes, Derek?" Casey queried in reply, affecting a casual tone. Despite the fact that she was literally tangled up around Derek like a terrified octopus, cradling his unmistakably obvious reaction to her body's attachment.
"Any particular reason why you're keeping me prisoner?" Derek returned in the same tone, as if they were discussing the weather.
"Where are you going? It's still cold." Casey questioned pitifully, uncaring of how desperate she sounded.
"I...don't know about you, but nature's calling." Derek replied slowly, as if choosing his words carefully.
"Oh my God, what is that?" Casey asked in an affronted tone, flicking her hips up and down his length minutely to indicate what she was referring to, as if just realizing he had an erection. She mentally preened again and sucked her lower lip between her teeth when she felt him breathe in sharply, his muscles tighten in his back, and his hips unconsciously rock forward to rub against her.
"It's morning." Derek explained after a ten second pause, in an exasperated tone, as if she were mentally disabled.
"What makes this part of the day so special?" Casey grumbled off-hand as she released him, already regretting the action as he rolled away and she immediately began to shiver. Reluctantly, she couldn't deny that he had a point about the whole bathroom thing and tugged the throw over her shoulders, climbing out of bed as well.
"How the hell am I supposed to know? I'm a guy, not a biologist! It just happens." Derek exclaimed over his shoulder as he hurriedly made his way down the hall.
Casey trailed along in his wake at a slower, contemplative pace.
"Does it go away once you urinate?" Casey questioned curiously, leaning against the wall beside the bathroom door, mostly completely serious.
Derek yanked the door open a few moments after her question, staring at her with a mixture of shock and embarrassment. "Casey!"
"What?" Casey asked guiltlessly, her expression innocent. She pulled the throw even tighter around her quivering frame and met his gaze resolutely. "Just making conversation. By the way, I'm still cold and I wanna go back to bed."
He held her gaze with an unreadable expression for a few tension-filled moments, as if assessing how to proceed.
"Don't say another word. I'm trying to urinate." Derek commanded finally, putting air quotations and a snooty tone over his regurgitated use of her word. Then he shut the door.
Pursing her lips in an effort to hide a smile, Casey slid down the wall into a crouched position and wrapped the throw around her legs as well.
After an undeterminable time, the door reopened and Derek emerged. "Hurry up, Casey, it's freezing out here!" Derek recommended as he rushed past her.
Casey watched Derek until he disappeared into her bedroom before rising from her crouched position and stretching her stiff muscles. Entering the bathroom, Casey winced as the cold tile leeched through her insulated socks and closed the door. Padding over to the toilet, she lifted the lid and ensured that Derek had flushed before he left, nodding her head with approval when she saw that he had.
He could, in fact, be taught.
She then, very reluctantly, pulled down her pajama bottoms and panties and gingerly lowered herself onto the seat.
Completing all the required functions, Casey quickly pulled all her clothes back into place, closed the lid, and flushed. Moving to stand in front of the mirror, Casey blew a wisp of hair out of her face and glared at her rumpled reflection as she washed her hands. It was beyond too cold to do much about her appearance, but there was no way she was going back into her bed in this state. Especially if Derek was waiting there for her.
Grabbing a washcloth, she dampened it and cleaned her face. Holding the cloth in front of her face with a bemused expression after she finished scrubbing, Casey then looked down at the drawstring closure of her pajamas. Making a quick instinctive decision, Casey blew a few hot breaths into the washcloth and widened her stance. Looking back down, she then pulled her bottoms and panties away from her body and eased the washcloth gently between her legs. Swiping the cloth from front to back a few times, she brought the washrag back out, rinsed it in the sink, and tossed it in the dirty hamper.
Her brain was defensively trying to scramble together a plausible explanation that didn't involve Derek's mouth or hands touching her there as she swished a cap-ful of mouthwash.
After she finished with her rudimentary primping, Casey fretfully combed her fingers through her hair one-handedly before turning on her heel and hurrying back to what she hoped was Derek's waiting embrace.
When would another opportunity like this ever arise in her lifetime?
She almost tripped over her own feet as she abruptly decelerated a few meters from her door. Clutching the throw around her shoulders nervously, she forced her chin up as she drew in a deep, cold breath and stepped over the threshold.
"Jeez, Case. I was about to send out a search party." Derek scolded incredulously as she closed the door behind her.
"Aww...concerned, were you?" Casey replied in a deadpan tone as she looked down at Derek when she neared the edge of the bed.
"Like I said, Casey. It's really cold and you're the only cuddle buddy I've got at the present. Besides, you're not so bad once you thaw out." Derek returned, teasing her at the end.
"And how would you know if I was completely thawed out?" Casey asked boldly, an eyebrow rising in question as she uncrossed her arms to situate the small blanket at the foot of the bed. Her gaze left his to straighten the blanket and missed the surprised expression flit across his face.
"I..." Derek began, only to snap his mouth shut when no other appropriate words were forthcoming.
She was a lot better at unsettling Derek using sexual undertones than she thought.
"At a loss for words?" Casey asked superciliously, crossing her arms over her chest as she waited for Derek to catch up and let her back into bed.
As if coming to a decision, his gaze flickered down to the end of the bed for a second before slowly returning to hers with a familiar expression. Well, she should say she recognized two expressions fused together in a hybrid she was certain only she'd ever witnessed. Only one of the two had ever been directed at her, hence the first recognized, well-known condescending. The other expression, however...well the other threw her, figuratively, right off her feet.
"You're right. What's the best way to find out?" Derek asked with a charming smile, challenging her sanity with a mixture of playfulness and heat swirling in his intense scrutiny of her. He folded down the edge of the covers closest to her, patting the space beside him.
She may try to deny that she felt anything at all towards Derek, but she wasn't an idiot. She knew there was a line they'd been due to cross for months, a barrier she was willing to let be broken before the next time they left this bed, and she had to tread very carefully.
"I don't know, Der. You aren't exactly known for keeping secrets. If I tell you, can I trust you to not share this information with all your friends?" Casey questioned in a reticent tone, climbing in beside him and pulling the blankets up to her chin.
Laying down, he turned on his side to face her and propped his head on his hand. Looking pensive, he stared meaningfully into her eyes until she felt like squirming uncomfortably and ducking his gaze. Finally, he spoke.
"I swear to you I won't. In fact, I don't think you should tell any other man what you're about to tell me. You haven't, have you?" Derek replied, his question hesitant as a frown creased his forehead.
"Do you want to be the only one? The first one I've shared this with?" Casey asked demurely, staring steadfastly at her fingers clenching the fabric in her hands.
"Would you be upset if I said yes?" Derek returned in a guarded tone, his voice hushed and tentative.
Casey turned her head sideways, meeting his eyes again.
"No." Casey said gently, a reassuring smile tilting the corners of her mouth upward.
"Just to be clear." Derek said, fighting back a wide grin of his own as he shifted closer to her. "I can kiss you now?"
"For starters." Casey replied brazenly, pulling her hands under the covers and clasping them against her chest. "There are other steps involved in the process, after all."
Derek's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, as if disbelieving his own lucidity. They then settled back into their usual place.
"Can we get started on the first part, then?" Derek asked mock-seriously, leaning in imperceptibly as his tongue darted out to moisten his lips.
Nodding assertively, Casey pulled her lower lip between her teeth to moisten her own.
Derek's gaze fell to her mouth, as if captivated by the sight.
"Did you brush your hair?" Derek asked in an distracted tone, his eyes not leaving her lips.
"Kind of." Casey admitted quietly, her own gaze dropping to his mouth.
"Shouldn't have bothered." Derek murmured in the same distracted tone, resting one hand next to her head as he slanted his own closer.
Reaching up, Casey sank her fingers into his hair at the base of his scalp and impatiently hauled him down to her, her lips parting in anticipation two seconds before they latched onto his. His mouth opened to her without an ounce of hesitation, pliant and eager to please the woman beneath him.
Her mouth sipped at his, releasing his lips briefly before seeking them out again, her mouth enveloping his. His mouth settled more firmly into hers, pressing her body deeper into the mattress as his upper body shifted into a position more flush with hers. A thrill of delight shot through her and her free hand snuck underneath the back of his shirt, clutching the bare skin of his back. Her fingers tensed against his scalp, her thumb pressing into the flesh below his right ear as her fingers bunched his hair in her hand, hanging on for dear life as she felt his tongue hesitantly reach out, seeking hers.
Sighing blissfully, Casey retreated a few millimeters and opened her eyes. After a couple seconds, Derek's opened as well, warming her from the inside out with his enthusiastic and heady expression, the left corner of his mouth twitching upward as they stared heatedly at each other.
Pushing Derek onto his back, Casey pulled the covers halfway over their heads, and dove back in.
oooaoooo*oowoooeoo*ooomooooo
I really didn't want to break this up, but it's already a monster! And...AND I haven't even got to all the good stuff yet! Trust me, you all, there's a lot of it. A. Lot. At least another fifteen hundred to two thousand words. I figured, I'd post this half, type up the second, and post it within the next day or two. Now there will be five chapters instead of four. Five's my favorite number, anyway, lol.