Chapter forty-seven
Mattress Warehouse
4437 Wisconsin Avenue Northwest
Washington, DC

Spencer

He'd never actually bought a bed before. He'd had the one his parents bought him in Vegas and then he stayed in a guest room with his host family at CalTech before moving into the dorm and then the dorm at the Academy. Once he had to find his own place he'd come across his couch at a thrift store and it was comfortable and he was busy and so he never felt the need to change. He'd packed away his featherbed and wool pad and not given it a second thought until it was time to make Susanna's dorm bed more comfortable.

Now there was this. "This probably shouldn't surprise me." He said as he relaxed back into the remarkably comfortable mattress.

"What shouldn't surprise you?" Susanna asked as she moved to his side. Morgan was wandering around as well, as was poor Pendleton, just in case. She felt the edge of the bed and started making her way around it.

"That this is called a Western King." He replied. "It's longer and slightly narrower than the standard or Eastern King. We tend to grow tall and skinny out west I guess."

"I've always wanted to go out west. See the mountains, the ocean, the desert. Seattle, San Francisco, maybe Denver." She reached his side and settled down next to him. The bed really was the perfect size, long enough for him to stretch out but she wasn't too far away. "Very comfortable," she commented.

He turned toward her, just looked at her there. If this was his pillow, he thought, if this was their bed. He reached out to cup her jaw, just barely brushed it. "May I…?"

"Spencer, you have blanket permission to kiss or touch me whenever you like. Granted I reserve the right to rescind that but you don't have to ask every time."

In response he gently stroked her downy soft cheek. "You have the same permission, you know."

"Thank you." In response she ran her hand over his chest, a thoughtless caress. He had to stop her before she hit an area too ticklish or sensitive. "You know, if we weren't in public…." She murmured.

"I know."

"Reid, where did you go?" Morgan called out.

Ah, but they were in public. "Over here."

"You two look comfortable." Morgan said as he came around the corner with Pendleton not far behind. The younger agent caught sight of them and then politely looked away.

"This one," Spencer replied.

"Good. Let's get it done."

Mazza Gallerie
Friendship Heights
Washington DC

Next it had to be new sheets, and new pads, and new pillows and new everything else. Wool pads were not easy to find, so he dragged them all back to where he'd found the one for Susanna's bed. Pendleton looked decidedly uncomfortable with it all. Spencer and Morgan kind of chuckled, Spencer was out running errands with his….his fiancé, this was accurate if still shocking, and Morgan was on one level hanging out with friends, however the agent assigned to Susanna was a definite third wheel. But you had to break the new recruits in somehow.

As they headed toward the shop, another store caught Spencer's eye. This place had distinctive robin's egg blue boxes in the window and would probably make him dip into his poker fund. But it might be completely worth it.

"Really?" Pendleton asked, clearly a little surprised.

"Might as well do it right." Morgan replied.

"What are they talking about?" Susanna asked.

"Is it too early for a ring?" Spencer asked in return.

She turned bright rose again. "If you're talking about…an engagement ring, then, well, maybe. I mean, it's not like we're ready to start planning the wedding."

"Oh." Spencer actually felt a little disappointed.

"But if you're just talking about a little reminder, no stones or anything…"

"We could do that."

"Not silver though. "

Spencer remembered the ring Susanna's mother had made her leave behind. "Silver rings have a specific meaning?"

"They're usually given to remind you of a vow of purity. I'm sorry, I won't commit to remaining that ignorant or that innocent ever again. I have a life to live."

"Is that why your mother insisted you leave it behind? She thought you'd broken that vow?"

"Yes. But then in their minds I had."

In the best of ways. "We can do gold." Spencer told her as he led her into the shop.

"What about you?" Susanna asked.

"What about me?"

"You should have a ring as well; you belong to me too, don't you?"

"Good point."

They left with a plain gunmetal grey band on his finger, something that wouldn't catch attention or get in the way at work, and a little gold bow on hers. It looked exactly like he had taken a string and tied it there so no one would ever forget that she belonged.

Ponce de Leon Co-op
4514 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC

They arrived back at his apartment just in time for the bed to be delivered. While Susanna waited out of the way in the kitchen Spencer and Morgan drafted Pendleton and they managed to manhandle the beast up the stairs and into the bedroom. Once there they made quick work of the frame and then Morgan went to toss the trash and wait for the pizza, leaving Pendleton to hang out in the living room while Spencer and Susanna put the bed together.

Of course once it was together they had to try it. The door was closed, and the light was quiet. They stretched out and sighed. "Very nice," Susanna said.

Spencer rolled to look at her. She looked right at home there, he thought, with her down soft hair spread out over the pillows. He'd chosen pale colors of sheets instead of white to set off her hair, he hadn't realized that before. I'm going to have to put that film over my window, so she can lie there in the sun like a cat. It's going to be so beautiful. At that moment he realized just what was going to happen in that bed, what they would do together. He caressed her cheek and in that moment he felt the hot, dark thing roar to life inside him and it came into her eyes as well and just like that she was reaching for him and kissing him, hard.

They rolled together, not having any clue, but she felt so good in his arms, the way her curves pressed against him. He wanted to bury himself in her somehow, to wrap up inside her and somehow wrap her up inside him at the same time. He kissed her over and over, breaking off to press kisses to her cheek and her jaw, as she murmured yes over and over and held him that close. She pressed kisses where she could reach, his lips, his jaw, his neck, until he felt her smile and then she almost bit, hard, pulling a groan from his throat and sending a flare of heat right to his groin and just that quickly he went from stirring to harder than he'd been in his life. Then she rolled, pulling him down on top of her, and at that moment the world almost seemed to hold its breath. He braced himself on his elbows, gently taking her face in his hands, while she slowly rolled her hips up into his, feeling the hardness there. He watched the realization what could be, what would be, come into her eyes and for a moment he thought this is it, now she'll want nothing to do with me. And then he watched her slowly smile.

"We got pizza!" Morgan called from the other room. In that instant they sprang apart, rolling to opposite sides of the bed, frantically straightening the covers and their clothes somehow at the same time. When Morgan opened the door he found them collecting all the packages and wrappers. "Got pizza." He said quietly.

"Oh, uh, yeah…good. Good. We're…right, that's good." Spencer stammered as he turned to Susanna. "Pizza?"

"Please." She replied, pardoning herself as she slipped past Morgan at the door and a scowling Pendleton.

Spencer stopped as Morgan started chuckling. "What?" He asked.

"You'll see in the morning." Morgan replied.