Maybe some part of them actually intended to go to sleep but after slipping into the sheets, ignoring the bigger part of the bed while holding each other closely, Jason found himself wide-awake and physically prickling with anticipation. Neri's soft hands travelled over his chest, teasing and stroking the sensitive parts, she just had discovered. Jason lay on his back, caressed her neck with one hand while the other played with the seam of her shirt at her waist, once in a while slipping under the textile. Their kisses were slow and the meeting of their tongues lazy but intense none the less.

There was no distance between them anymore. The barrier had finally been broken and a new kind of electricity had taken over them. Of course, he still felt nervous thinking about touching Neri in a more intimate way in the near future but the warm, vibrant bubble surrounding them put his mind at ease. After all, he had dreamed of being with her like this for a long time.

He shifted to the side to face her. His hand ran over the curve of her butt and down at the back of her thighs to her knee, then lifted her leg to straddle him in one smooth movement. Her skin felt plain and soft, for it seemed Ocean People had less pelage than humans did. Neri sighed and he could hear her smile when he left a trail of open-mouthed kisses at her neck.

He captured her mouth again and played with strands of her hair. She nestled up to him, pulled herself even closer to him to leave no space between them. His breath was caught in his throat as she put some pressure on his arousal and she reacted with another demanding kiss. He was already addicted to the taste of her tongue and the feeling of the warm flesh against his own – and still, he would never get used to the frisson that ran in waves through his body.

Jason realised that some part of him had always expected a making-out-session to end up in sex too fast. That the urge for relief and the lack of control would have led to an unsatisfying quick end, reducing intimacy into a cheap and unfulfilling experience.

But every single touch turned out to be pleasure and excitement. It rewarded itself, and had become the aim rather than an orgasm. The need for her, the craving was there but it lingered in some corner, patiently waiting for its turn. The whole time, he had been scared off by some mistaken idea, a misconception which could have been avoided by a leap of faith.

Jason smiled during kisses and Neri broke away. She took his face into her hands and in the semi-darkness, he could see her smiling back at him.

"You're happy, yes?" she whispered and stroked his face.

"What do you think?" he replied just as quiet and rested his forehead against hers.

Her fingertips ran slowly down his neck to his chest, redrawing the lines of his muscles. "You're beautiful," she said.

He blushed. "You've seen me half-naked a lot already," he murmured.

"Yes, and now I can touch."

"You wanted to touch me?" he wondered and swallowed hard, his mouth dry. "Why didn't you? Why did you never make a move at me? You must have known how I felt – feel – about you."

"You were not ready," Neri replied and sat up on her knees with her hands still on him. "And I was neither."

Jason straightened up, using a pillow for his back, so he could sit comfortably. "You had reservations?" he wanted to know. "About us?"

"I was afraid to make wrong decision. When you were my friend, I could go back to the Planet of Oceans. Be a princess and a queen someday to my people. I could have close part of my heart with you. But not if you become my heart."

"You were afraid you'd choose me over your people?" Jason asked disbelieving and Neri nodded. He took her hands into his and shook his head. "As flattering as that is, I know you better. You would have never disregarded your obligations, not for me, not for anyone. And I guess you fell in love with me because you knew you'd never have to choose with me."

"I love you for you," she objected quickly, her forehead frowned. "Not for convenience."

Jason chuckled. "I never said that and that thought certainly never crossed my mind. What I meant," he continued a little more serious, "was that we're even in our sense of duty. We both slide easily into leader positions because we feel responsible for the people around us. The both of us, we always met at the same eye level. Your missions were my missions. I would have followed you – even if we had just stayed friends. Maybe, in one hundred years or so, they would have told stories about us, about the tragic pair who saved our world but never managed to give in to their feelings," – he caressed her hands and she laughed – "but I would have followed you nevertheless."

He reached out to her waist and pulled her on top of him, so she was now straddling him. "But I definitely prefer how it turned out."

"Yes," she replied smilingly, "me too."

"By the way," he added after a short silence, "I think, you're beautiful, too. But I'm not sure about that negligée."

Her eyes went dark. "You want me to take it off?"

Jason swallowed hard and heat flushed into his face – and elsewhere which she commented with a satisfied grin. "Not what I meant," he murmured quickly. "I wanted to say that I prefer your old dress. You look beautiful, even breath-taking in Earth clothing and dresses. But wearing those always means sharing you with the world. It means stepping out into the real world, so to say. And your old dress is part of our own private world before it turned all crazy. Kinda makes me feel being with you safe and exclusive."

Neri nodded. "Yes, I like old dress better, too. The new dresses look nice but I feel like … not real me but version for outside people. How they need to see me."

"Unfortunately Earth is a very superficial place. Clothes make people, they say."

"It is same with you and ORCA uniform. ORCA was always where my friends were."

Jason smiled. "Yeah, to me it feels like a second skin. And it is home. But I won't have a lot of opportunities to wear it in the near future."

"Yes, home is far away."

"Sorry," he said quietly and pulled her closer, "way to ruin the mood."

"I still can take off clothes," she suggested grinning and he laughed.

Suddenly, Neri straightened up and looked in direction of the door. A loud knock and some rumbling brought the definite end to their intimate moment.