Author's note: thank you so much for the feedback, it means a lot :) I know I said updates will be slower for this story, and on the whole they will, but I had a little time to write, so here's chapter three... Hope everyone likes it!
Chapter Three: Connection
Quinn lay in bed beside her sleeping fiancée, enjoying the pleasantly detached feeling in her muscles. After several hours of incredible love-making, Santana had collapsed in a sweaty, exhausted heap, curled her body against Quinn's side and fallen asleep almost instantly. Quinn, on the other hand, felt wide awake - every cell in her body buzzed with unbridled energy, and it was all she could do to lie still and avoid disturbing Santana. She held her left hand up to the shaft of moonlight trickling through a gap in the curtains and smiled as the diamond in her ring sparkled. She wiggled her fingers so the ring caught the light from different angles, before closing her eyes and willing herself to go to sleep.
It was no use. The illuminated numbers on the clock on her nightstand read 4.23 and Quinn mentally calculated how long Santana had been asleep, trying to decide if she dared wake the brunette. Santana's bare shoulder did look incredibly enticing in the moonlight, like coffee with extra cream. Quinn couldn't resist planting a tiny kiss on the soft, warm skin to check if it tasted as good as it looked - it definitely did, she decided with a satisfied smile, but it only served to make her want more. Santana remained deeply asleep, and Quinn wriggled onto her side so she could study her fiancée more easily. Santana seemed younger when she slept, and more innocent somehow. Quinn couldn't help but grin when she thought about how not-innocent the ex-cheerleader was. Truly, she had done some things to her with her tongue that evening that Quinn hadn't even considered possible. Just the memory of it made her shiver with delight, and the desire to wake Santana grew exponentially stronger.
With a featherlight touch, Quinn traced the outline of Santana's full lower lip with just the tip of her index finger. Santana sighed in her sleep but didn't stir. Quinn pouted and lay back against the pillow, willing herself to leave Santana alone to rest. She huffed out a frustrated breath and wriggled to try to get comfortable. The sheet was tangled around her legs and she kicked them free. In doing so, the sheet slipped down, revealing the swell of Santana's amazing breasts and Quinn couldn't stop herself from trailing her fingers over the newly exposed skin, delighting when she felt the brunette subconsciously arch into the touch. With the pad of her thumb, she stroked experimentally across Santana's nipple and Santana made a noise that was almost a whimper. Feeling bolder, Quinn covered Santana's breast with the palm of her hand and squeezed gently. Then she slid her hand over Santana's chest towards her shoulder, brushing away strands of impossibly silky hair to expose her neck. She nuzzled against the smooth, sensitive skin, suckling gently against Santana's pulse point as she returned her hand to her fiancée's breast.
"Q..." Santana's voice was a mixture of desire and exasperation as she awoke and wriggled under Quinn's ministrations. "I was sleeping."
"But this is so much more fun," Quinn murmured throatily into Santana's ear with a low chuckle.
"Mmm," Santana gasped appreciatively as Quinn's tongue flickered over her earlobe. "What time is it?" she asked sleepily.
"Four-thirty," Quinn said, trying (and failing) to sound apologetic. Santana laughed.
"You're incorrigible!" she announced, shaking her head. "You couldn't have waited another couple of hours? If I don't get my beauty sleep, I'm going to get wrinkles, and then I'll be repulsive and you won't be so quick to pounce on me in the middle of the night."
Quinn kissed the tip of Santana's nose sweetly.
"I'll love you even when you're old and grey and wrinkled," she promised earnestly and Santana laughed again. Quinn beamed at her. "So, anyway, now that we're both awake we may as well do something productive."
She trailed her hand down from Santana's breast, over her stomach, pausing briefly to circle her navel and loving the sharp intake of breath the simple touch elicited, before continuing downwards.
"You have a funny definition of productive!" Santana gasped, closing her eyes to savor the sensations Quinn was evoking within her.
Upon reaching her destination, Quinn stroked and fondled the sensitive bundle of nerves at Santana's center, teasing her with light, slow strokes until Santana begged for more. Happy to oblige, Quinn increased the speed and pressure of her touch, and the brunette was soon writhing and moaning under her ministrations.
Quinn closed her eyes and lost herself in the moment, unable to imagine anything ever being as beautiful or wonderful as making love with Santana. Velvety softness and impossibly burning heat overwhelmed her as she urged her fiancée towards the edge of bliss.
When Santana finally came undone beneath her, panting hard, her skin flushed and heated, Quinn couldn't help but be a little pleased with herself. She continued to trace gentle circles against Santana's sensitive inner thigh, until Santana had recovered enough to open her eyes and look at her.
"You're pretty good at that," mused Santana, taking in Quinn's self-assured grin.
"I am," Quinn agreed confidently and Santana laughed out loud. "So, am I forgiven for waking you up?" she wanted to know.
"I suppose so," Santana replied with mock-reluctance. "But since I'm wide awake now, I should probably make the most of it," she added with a smirk.
"Oh really?" Quinn asked, raising an eyebrow curiously. "And how do you plan on doing that?"
Santana captured her lips in a deep, intimate kiss that left Quinn breathless and more than a little turned on. With deliberate slowness, Santana moved to straddle Quinn, lowering herself down so that their bodies were pressed together in the most delicious way, sending shivers along Quinn's spine. Quinn couldn't resist bucking her hips suggestively and Santana groaned.
"God, Q, the things you do to me," she murmured as she kissed her way along Quinn's collar bone. "I love you so much."
Quinn melted at Santana's words. "I love you too, baby," she whispered as Santana continued to kiss her way down her body until she reached the apex of her thighs. That was her last coherent sentence before Santana's talented tongue reduced her to breathy moans and gasps, and cries of "more, please," and "yes, right there!" And as Santana added slender, stroking fingers into the mix, finding Quinn's most sensitive places with an expert touch, she started to come apart with a curse she almost never said out loud. "Oh holy fuck! Don't stop!"
Santana chuckled as she continued to stroke and guide Quinn through her release, and although Quinn's eyes were closed as she savored her orgasm, she knew that Santana would be wearing a self-satisfied smirk, knowing that she had been able to reduce Quinn to cursing and begging.
When their passion was finally sated, Quinn curled into Santana's embrace and closed her eyes contentedly as Santana stroked her hair, raking her nails gently over Quinn's scalp in the way she knew she loved.
"Are you tired now, baby?" Santana asked, stifling a yawn. Quinn shook her head in answer and Santana chuckled. "You're impossible," she chided gently. "You want me to sing to you?"
"Yes, please," Quinn said happily, burrowing even closer into Santana's arms. "But don't stop what you're doing."
"Your wish is my command," Santana confirmed, letting silky blonde strands fall through her fingers as she continued to play with Quinn's hair. Then she started to sing softly. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away."
Quinn raised her head to gaze curiously at her fiancée. "What made you choose that song?" she asked, reaching out to caress Santana's cheek with the back of her hand. "It's so sad."
"No it isn't." Santana's brow furrowed in confusion. Quinn nodded.
"It's about lost love," she explained. "Don't you know the second verse?" Santana shook her head. Quinn sighed. "It goes like this. The other night dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamt I held you in my arms. When I awoke dear, I was mistaken, and so I hung my head and cried."
"I like the first verse a lot better," Santana said quietly.
"Me too," Quinn agreed. "My Grandpa used to sing it to me when I was a little girl... the first verse, that is. He used to call me his sunshine." She smiled at the memory. "I think you would've liked him. He was pretty cool and he taught me a lot, like how to climb a tree, and how to do fractions. He used to give me books to read and then we'd talk about them - he would always show me a perspective I hadn't considered. I didn't see him that often though, I don't think he liked my dad very much."
"I like him just for that," Santana said softly. "Tell me more about him?"
"There's not much to tell," Quinn admitted. "He died when I was nine. He was just so smart, you know? He didn't talk much but he had this way about him so when he did say something everybody listened. I guess you'd call it charisma."
"Sounds a lot like someone else I know," Santana said with a chuckle, as she walked her fingers soothingly up and down Quinn's spine.
"I don't know about that," Quinn replied shyly. "But I do know I got my love of books from him." Despite all of her protestations that she wasn't tired, she suddenly found herself stifling a yawn. She twisted her head to check the time and groaned. "It's almost six. I have to get up in an hour. I can't believe that we stayed up practically all night."
"Like I had any say in the matter, " Santana grumbled teasingly, and Quinn hit her playfully.
"I didn't hear too much complaining," she reminded her, laughing lightly. "God, I'm going to fall asleep in class."
"So, blow it off and stay in bed with me?" Santana suggested hopefully.
"No." Quinn was forceful. "I'm not missing class and neither are you. You miss too many classes as it is." She stretched wearily, arching her back off the mattress and raising her arms above her head. "I can't remember the last time I stayed up all night and went to school the next day," she confessed with a groan.
"Do you remember cheerleading nationals, freshman year?" Santana asked, smiling fondly at the memory. "That was the first time I stayed up all night with you."
"Oklahoma, right?" Quinn frowned as her sleep-deprived brain tried to recall the experience. "I seem to recall Coach Sylvester yelling at us through her megaphone at three a.m. because you and Brittany wouldn't stop talking and go to sleep... And she made the hotel turn off the hot water to our rooms so we'd all have to take cold showers because she was afraid we'd be sluggish at the competition."
"Hey, you weren't exactly innocent either when it came to the talking," Santana reminded her. "Britt crashed about five in the end but you and I snuck up to the roof to watch the sun rise." She fingered a strand of Quinn's hair, twisting it around her finger absently. "That was the first time I truly realized how beautiful you were. When the sunlight hit you, you just... glowed, and I remember thinking that you looked like a goddess. And of course that scared the crap out of me because up until that point Britt had been the only girl I was attracted to, and I'd been doing a pretty good job of fooling myself into thinking that I was straight." She huffed out a derisive breath. "After that morning, it was harder to fool myself... I kind of hated you for it."
"So that's why you were such a bitch to me," whispered Quinn thoughtfully and Santana shrugged.
"Partly," she confirmed. "But partly it was because you were so self-righteous, and you thought you were better than everyone else, partly it was because you were better than everyone else, and partly it was just 'cos I was a heinous bitch." Both girls laughed, and Quinn snuggled closer to her fiancée.
"Well, I forgive you," she said softly. "You've more than made it up to me since." She sighed sadly. "I can't believe you were attracted to me that far back and I never even knew it... We wasted so much time being repressed."
"Do you remember the first time you knew you were attracted to me?" Santana asked curiously. Quinn lifted her head to gaze into Santana's eyes. It was still dark outside but the city was beginning to awaken and shafts of artificial light trickled through the curtains. Quinn chewed her lower lip as Santana's question stirred a fresh flood of memories, and taking a deep breath she began to tell her story.