*******Present Day********

"So did you do anything fun and exciting while I was gone? Fight a bad guy or save the world?" Gretchen asked playfully soon after I'd walked through the door and plopped onto her leather sofa. I put a smile on my face and tried to sound a little less moody and jaded--try to see things from her perspective.

"Same thing, more or less. Bag, tag, and let them out into the wild." I sighed for a moment, gathering enthusiasm from deep inside my gut and changed the subject.

"So... how about you?" I asked playfully as I crooked a finger myself so she would stop doing whatever she was doing in the kitchen and sit on the couch. She smiled, turned the heat on the stove down, and walked over to me. She sat daintily and I bit back my laughter. This was the same Gretchen I'd loved since I was 18, but she was a different model. This Gretchen was domestically groomed and sophisticated. Richard must have made her one hell of a Stepford wife. I hid the disgust on my face as she started.

"Well, I dealt with a new account, some big corporate office took out a loan for some kind of project, which I don't really understand. They've got billions of dollars, but they choose to borrow 2.5 million because they've got 'a private project' planned? What kind of shady under dealings is that?" Gretchen breathed in deeply, because saying all that took all the breath she had. I didn't bother to ask who it was that had borrowed the money. I knew I couldn't trust my father not to peddle in my life. He wanted to monitor me, and what better way than go through my girlfriend.

"Something wrong?" Gretchen asked, breaking my thoughts. She had a concerned look on her face and I smiled and took her hand.

"I'm sorry. That is weird, but it's probably better to just not investigate it further, I mean you're a loan officer not a detective." I put on my best poker face as I spoke. She nodded her head in agreement. We sat there in silence for a few moments, until I realized I was still holding her hand. It's kind of amazing how something so little as holding someone's hand in a quiet moment can really start you off. Tingles ran through my fingers and up my arm, spreading a kind of warmth all over me. I turned to look at her sitting a foot away from me, and her eyes didn't meet mine. She was looking at the tv with no indication that she was really watching the program. Her breathing was a bit irregular and I clenched my fingers a little.

"Are you really watching that?" I said huskily. It was some episode of Family Matters, and I happened to know Gretchen got freaked out by Urkle. Gretchen shook her head, and licked her lips, which shot a spark through my nerves to the same place it always did for me. I looked at her through lust hazed eyes; her hair was pulled up professionally, and she looked like anyone from a corporate office world. Her skirt was hiked up just a little bit and the black panty hose she had on ran down her legs to heels that I hadn't even noticed till now. Stilettos. I looked up and saw her looking at me amused.

"You look really good right now." I managed to say haughtily before I leaned my body towards hers. She met me in the middle, and as tongues clashed, clothes began to shed off our bodies one layer at a time. She tugged my white tank top off and threw it towards the tv, which covered the screen. I laughed a little into her mouth and then stopped doing anything once her hands were on my exposed breasts.

"She didn't wear a bra." Gretchen whispered to herself, as if I wasn't sitting right there next to her. I just continued pulling her skirt down. When I had her out of her stockings and we were both free of the fabrics that were once between us, I leaned over her and pulled my hair out of it's pony tail. She reached her hand up towards my hair and ran it through her fingers, a look of fascination in her eyes. I realized that making love this time was different. It wasn't just a dirty secret or a one night rendezvous, it was between two people who were together after five years of unnecessary separation. She was looking at me in a way I'd never been looked at before.

"I love you." I said simply, in a kind of amazement, and I realized saying those words felt righter they ever had before with anyone else. She leaned up and kissed me hard, and I reciprocated. I slid my hand down our bodies pressed together and found what I was looking for. She gulped in air as I entered her quickly, and before she could object or try to turn the control over to herself I worked on making her come before me. I wanted her to feel the importance the had in my life. I would put her before me no matter what it was. She rested her hands on my upper arms as I thrust my fingers into her and her head was back against the arm of the couch. There was a loan moan coming from her lips as I really worked against the spot that I really needed to thank Gräfenberg for later. I smiled and began to ride out her orgasm with her. She jerked against me as all the pent up emotions were spent on my fingers. She breathed out, and looked up at me with a fierceness in her eyes that excited the hell out of me. She laid me on my back, and ran her hands down the front of my body.

"Well Miss Claire Bennet, who'd have ever guessed you were a top after all?" She laughed somewhat cruelly before she started running a tongue up my abdominal muscles. I was glad she'd noticed. I had been exercising for a whole year to get those abs. Quickly though, a tongue shook me out of my distracting thoughts. It was a bit of a power play on her part, but I really didn't mind at the moment. Her tongue swept over my clit, and I nearly died. A few fingers and she had me sliding closer to the edge. She got up and ran a tongue over my nipples while continuing her ministrations. This was going to take a little longer for me--with all the stresses of the day, I had a lot more that needed unwinding. She wasn't in practice as much as I was, and I actually enjoyed the fact that she took her time. With most other girls it had been wham bam, but she was getting back on the bike, and her unsteadiness and hesitation was endearing. Eventually she coaxed me into orgasm and I let the waves wash over me as colors flashed behind my eyelids.

"Well count the couch as one of the surfaces we've had sex." I said jokingly after we both caught up with the moment. Gretchen laughed, all the tenseness dissipated from her voice.

"Oh there will be more?" She replied, with humor in her eyes that I rarely saw even 5 years ago.

"So..." She continued, "Can you tell me about what you did when we were apart?" I tapped my finger against her nose and smiled.

"Yeah. Where do you want me to start?"

"Your first girlfriend after me."