Chapter 10 sleeping it off

Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer- this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute which, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.

Thanks to BanSidhe for betaing

"What the fuck, Black?"

Now that was bliss to his ears. He opened his eyes and glanced around. It was very late at night; maybe very early in the morning. That time just before dawn.

"Welcome back. Are you okay?"

"Back? Don't fuck with me Black."

"You've been ill." He tried to slide his arms from around her very slowly.

"So you thought you could take advantage?"

"No; it was a healing strategy."

"Well, that's a new one," she grumbled.

Jake looked over her shoulder, Seth was gone; coward. And Leah hadn't hit him yet. She must be ill. She seemed pretty shaky and she hadn't moved away from him.

"Where's Seth?" he asked.

"Seth? Ugh," she said.

"That's what he said. You should stop talking."

"Why?"

"Your voice sounds all croaky. Are you thirsty, need the bathroom?"

She turned her upper body and he shuffled back a little. She frowned at him. "How long have I been out?"

Trust Leah to be so perceptive. "Two days... give or take."

"Two…? Jeez."

"Go to the bathroom, Leah."

"Sure, sure," she muttered. "No peeking."

"I've seen you before." Well he had; he probably shouldn't have reminded her though, given she was the naked one.

"This feels … different," she managed to say.

"Yeah, okay." He lay back and put his forearm across his eyes. "There you go, you're safe."

He heard her move. He peeked as she headed for the en-suite. Her back was bowed like she was 100 years old and she was hanging on to the wall. His heart clenched. She still looked pretty good though. He couldn't help having a look. He was only human.

She shut the door firmly behind her.

Jake was thinking Leah really couldn't be one hundred percent because she still hadn't ripped his head off. He was lying there looking out the window when he heard the toilet flush and then there was a thump. He was out of the bed and in the bathroom at a freakish speed. She had passed out and fallen on the floor. He scooped her up and put her back in the centre of the bed. He checked her head for lumps and decided she must not have hit anything on the way down.

He filled a water bottle at the tap and took the opportunity to have a drink and use the toilet himself before he brought the water back for her. He climbed back into the bed and hugged her to his chest. He stroked her face.

Her eyelashes fluttered. Funny he had never noticed what amazing eyelashes she had before. This close they were like feather dusters. Her eyes opened and focused slowly on him.

"I fell down," she said.

He smiled at her. "Yeah, you did. Drink?" he offered her the bottle. She sucked it down. He took it away from her. "Not too much; little sips or you will make yourself sick."

"Why am I in bed with you again?"

"You fell down," he reminded her.

She rolled her eyes at him.

"I don't think you have finished healing," he told her.

"Healing?" She snorted. "At least you are not Quil."

"That's what Seth said you would say."

"Huh?"

"He said you would prefer it was me to anyone else."

"Humph. I don't know about that," she muttered.

"Go back to sleep, Leah." Her eyes were already blinking as if she was having trouble staying awake.

He was still lying on his back and she was facing him, tucked under his arm. She snuggled her face into the meat of his shoulder and closed her eyes. "I am only doing this because I am dying," she told him.

"Sure, sure." He almost kissed her forehead before he thought about it and stopped himself.

She snorted, but her thigh lifted over his lower body. He inhaled sharply and froze. She snuggled in closer to him, making little noises as she did so. He breathed out very slowly and tried desperately hard not to move. He wasn't sure if she was entirely awake. Maybe she thought she was dreaming or something. Whatever, he didn't want to startle her.

He lay there awkwardly until sleep finally overtook him.

He opened his eyes. He was lying face down onto the mattress. The pillow was long gone. He must have been sleeping on his own arm. He wriggled his fingers to get the feeling back. He felt so warm and he was having trouble inhaling properly. He blinked and realized Leah was lying on the top of his back; she was sound asleep. He could tell from her breathing pattern. She had her cheek resting on his shoulder blade. It was as if she had to get as close to him as she could. She felt very warm now. Her breasts were squashed against his middle back. Damn that felt good. He realised something else was squashed too. He had a huge erection that was luckily trapped between his body and the mattress.

He lay there and wondered how the hell he was going to get out of this one. And how he was going to hide the boner from hell from her. At least he still had his shorts on and that was more than he could say for her. He almost groaned at the thought of Leah with no clothes on, naked and lying along his whole body. Naked. Groan.

He heard the door open. His head was facing that way and he saw Paul's head duck inside. He smiled, then caught Jake's eye.

"Damn Black," he whispered. "That looks pretty fucking comfortable. But aren't you the wrong way around?"

"I can't move," Jake whispered back, "I'm stuck."

"Excellent," muttered Paul and disappeared. Jake groaned. Please god, he doesn't get a camera. But he had. Bella was with him this time.

"Oh, that is so sweet," she breathed.

Jake rolled his eyes. "Come on, guys! I sooo need a shower," he whispered intently.

Paul gave him a look. "And some private time?" He smirked at him.

Jake glared at him.

"Jeez Jake; morning wood, combined with a beautiful naked woman in bed with you? Am I right?"

Bella had approached the bed and she felt Leah's face. "She feels warmer now. I think it worked."

"She woke up, but fell during the night."

"Yeah I heard her fall," said Paul.

"I don't know how completely awake she was." Jake speaking must have vibrated through her face. She started to make small waking up noises. "She seemed pretty out of it. She didn't hit me."

"Positively out of character for Leah," chuckled Paul as he studied Jake's predicament.

"Here," Paul suggested, "I will lift her and you slide that way." He motioned towards the bathroom.

Jake glanced at Bella nervously.

"Seriously dude? She has seen it all before," Paul seemed unconcerned.

Bella laughed and backed away. "There you go, boys," she said. "I will go start breakfast. If she can smell coffee and bacon, it might help to wake her up."

Paul straddled the bodies on the bed and lifted Leah a little. Jake shuffled out to the side and Paul lowered her to the mattress. She made a kind of grizzle noise and rubbed her face on the sheet.

"Hmm; it's like she is smelling you. She will stay happy for a while. Go have your shower."

Jake watched, but Paul seemed to be right again. She settled down pretty quickly. Even Paul stepping off the mattress didn't seem to worry her.

"Weird," he headed for the shower. He glanced at Paul. "Sure Bella can't join me?"

Paul grinned at him; they enjoyed ribbing each other privately. Their secret had remained just that; secret. No one blinked when Jake and Bells had inappropriate public displays of affection; they had always been all over each other. Except for a period in the year after she and Paul got together, when Jake wasn't quite sure how he fitted into her life anymore. But Paul, special as he was in his own weird way, had levered Jake into their life and surprisingly, their bed.

Jake thought he would never forget those weeks of utter bliss. Paul was always trying to convince him to bed Leah, but he wasn't game. Given Paul's main argument was that they could have sex for days as they were both shifters; he was not sure his reasons were that valid. His boner ached so badly he thought bedding anything right now sounded like a good idea.

"She is missing all this," he gestured at himself.

"You wish," muttered Paul.

They grinned at each other. Yeah, he did wish.

He stepped into the bathroom and ran the shower. He jacked himself off, thinking about Bella and that amazing threesome. For a first sexual experience it was a pretty hard act to top.

It had given him the sexual confidence to match the body he possessed. He now had no trouble picking up girls when they hit the clubs. And he knew exactly what to do with them. But he still hadn't imprinted. The holy grail of the wolf pack seemed beyond him.

He had been picking up women so intensively; he had become a dating machine, if you could call it 'dating'. He rarely went out with the same woman twice. He had almost filled in Paul's old shoes with the women now Paul was no longer available. At least until the recent false complaint. The casual sex kept his physical needs met, but not his emotional ones. He watched Paul and Bella together and was insanely jealous.

He was looking for something; looking for what they had. And so far, he hadn't found it.

He stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel low around his hips. He thought he might borrow some of Paul's clothes. He was sick of wearing the same cut-offs. He had had them on for days now.

He opened the bathroom door in a cloud of steam with water dripping down his bare chest. He was drying his hair with a second smaller towel as he stepped out; his chest muscles bunching as his arm moved.

"Oh," he heard.

He looked up straight into Leah's wide eyes. They stared at each other.

"Hey," he said. "How do you feel?"

"Hot."

"What?"

"My body temperature is back to normal. I didn't realize how cold I was until it came back."

"Yeah." He smiled at her, "I know." Boy, did he know; she had been pasted onto him in her sleep. He rubbed his hair again. "Bella is cooking breakfast. Did you want a shower?"

She was still lying on her stomach and she was still naked.

"Clothes?" she asked.

"You won't fit in Bella's. Here," as he threw the wet towel at her, "I'll get some of Paul's clothes for us both while you have a shower."

As he left the room, he thought he heard her breathe out in a long slow gust.

He smirked to himself. Hey if you've got it; use it he thought.

FF_2154210_ - 24/11/2010 12:10:00 PM