This is my one chance, to take back, no regrets.

[Seraphim Donnelly-Rousseau]

"Very true," Sera agreed, giving a sage-like nod of her head. She couldn't help but grin at the comment about a forthcoming article, rolling her eyes playfully at the blonde beside her, giving her arm a slightly rough tug. "You and your articles. Can we ever do anything and have you not write about it? But, you're correct. We should probably focus on some other portion of your breasts, lest Ophelia sue is for copyright infringement or something. I heard they're going to try to lay down tracks for a CD, and she wants to put that on it? As like, a bonus track, or something. Tatum is kind of pissed," she explained, with a light laugh, as she squeezed Leigh's hand right back.

"It's no wonder you forgot, my brother is mostly a useless twit. But he has his moments, with the technology. He saved my laptop the other night, so I could write that geography essay, which was mandatory, thus I thanked him," Sera added, quickly following Leigh into the house, thrilled to be out of the cold at long last. She stepped carefully out of her own sneakers, nudging them aside and out of the way with her foot, turning her head a bit to watch Leigh locking the door up behind them. "Scared someone might walk in, are you? Seeing you doing less than savory things?"

[Leigh O'Conner]

"Well, being that my mother's paranoid about door-locking and if she comes home to find the door unlocked, the first thing she'll do is burst into my room, most likely wielding a large pointy knife in order to murder whoever has broken in, I figure we'll forgo that," Leigh giggled. "And, yes, I have to write articles about everything. That's how I get better. Not all of us are graced with your psychotic levels of intelligence, you know." The blonde stuck out her tongue again, and then grinned. She stepped forward took Sera's face gently in her hands, and kissed Sera firmly on the lips. "Woo! We're in the house! Ha! I can kiss you whenever I want now! C'mon, slowpoke!" She promptly turned, and fled up the stairs and into her bedroom where she flopped dramatically backwards onto her duvet.

[Seraphim Donnelly-Rousseau]

"Your mother is paranoid about everything when it comes to her children, just for the record!" Sera called after her, once she had gotten her wits about her from the sudden kissing and grabbing she had just received. It still gave her that entire tingly feeling all over, and she found herself unable to complain one bit about it. Amazing didn't even begin to cover it, really. All thoughts of arguing about intelligence, or anything else, were gone from the brunette's head, as she began her way up the familiar stairs toward the second floor of the house. She knew Leigh's room off by heart, turning and standing in the doorway as she reached it, leaning onto the frame and cocking an eyebrow at the blonde as she lay sprawled across the bed.

"Very mature."

[Leigh O'Conner]

"Yeah, you're just jealous I've got the feather-down duvet of wonderful warmth and toastiness," Leigh answered. "And also jealous 'cos you're a slowpoke!" She looked up a little to see Sera framed by the doorway and she blushed a little. "And can you blame my mother for her overprotectiveness? Where on earth would you be without me? I'm well aware that none of your other minions ever got so highly trained. Crown jewel of henchpeople! Don't forget it! Now get over here before the comfiness runs out." Leigh patted the satin-soft duvet cover pointedly and curled onto her side so as to watch her girlfriend more comfortably.

[Seraphim Donnelly-Rousseau]

"Yeah, real diamond in the rough, you are," Sera replied casually, smirking over at the blonde as she looked up at her, and then proceeded to pat the bed beside her, before curling onto her side. Taking her cue, the brunette made her way over toward Leigh, shedding her jacket and sweater onto a nearby pile of laundry, before flopping down beside the other girl, just as unceremoniously as she had been chiding her about only moments earlier. "I do love this duvet, it's ridiculously comfortable, you're right.."

Turning onto her own side, to face her girlfriend, she smiled slowly, just a little nervously.

[Leigh O'Conner]

"C'mon, Ser," Leigh said softly, and tossed her own jacket onto the pile of laundry (which, really, she needed to see to, and soon. She just kept getting sidetracked). She curled closer to the brunette girl, sitting up, and tucked Sera's hair behind her ear. "It's just me." She leaned forward slightly, and pressed her lips once more against Sera's, softly, slowly. Pulling away, it was almost as though her lips didn't want to leave Seraphim's. "We can do this however you want, hon: rabid shirtless makeouts," she teased, "or we can have a whole boundary session that I promise I'll probably forget, sorry. Or we can just go by feel. Or we can do nothing and you can regale me with further tales of whatever madness you have planned for us next. Ooh, or I can make us mochas." As she talked, she gently ran her fingertips up and down the side of Sera's cheek and neck, and down to her shoulder back up to her chin and down again in idle manner that just allowed her the touch of physical contact. "I'm just happy that we're good," she admitted.

[Seraphim Donnelly-Rousseau]

Leigh made an incredibly good point, which Sera did consider, between the few moments of their kissing, and the few moments of silence that passed between them as they slowly pulled away from each other. It was just Leigh, of course, yet then again, it also wasn't the same, not the way it had been even just hours ago. There were all of these new things to explore, to experiment with, and it was a bit overwhelming for her logical mind to be faced with a situation where she had no choice but to wing it and do what felt right, or rather, goodp. She listened to Leigh listing off their options, and she gave that nervous smile again, feeling a bit like she'd rather just disappear until she made up her mind properly, with lots of calculation and research into each potential result. But there wasn't any time for that now.

She tilted her head slightly, closing her eyes against the fingers running gently over her neck and cheek, making her shiver a bit with the feather light touches as they reached over shoulders, and passed over a particularly sensitive part of her neck, near her ear. "Me too," she managed finally, keeping her eyes closed as she spoke, letting out a rather breathless little sigh. "Y-You know, this whole.. go by feeling thing? I'm l-liking it, so far. Though I think rabid shirtless make out should also be an option. Mochas will be a nice ending to the whole ordeal, don't you think? Mochas go for the end."

With that, she leaned in slightly, head ducking down slightly as she pressed her lips against Leigh's jaw, very lightly rushing her teeth over the flesh there, as she moved up a bit closer to her ear. "Whatever you want.."

[Leigh O'Conner]

Leigh shivered with a sudden flush of goosebumps at the brush of Sera's teeth and she giggled, feeling as though she'd just drank three or nine espresso's in quick succession -- the warm flush over her skin, the way everything felt so much more keenly, and a strange jump in her stomach that was somewhere between nerves and fear and something bordering on absolute bliss.

"I think," she whispered into Sera's ear, and nibbled the bottom of the lobe, "that we'll start with what feels nice. We won't get carried away and we'll keep talking, 'kay? And we'll end with mochas and Mom'll keep you here for dinner and we'll stay up half the night discussing future plans that are both related and unrelated and we'll cuddle like we've been dating a year already, 'cos it's negative eighty thousand degrees outside and the duvet can only be more wonderful if both of us are under it." She kissed the spot directly behind Sera's ear, and realized that at sometime, the hand that she wasn't using to prop herself up had ended up on Sera's hip.

"Any objections?" And Leigh kissed her again.

[Seraphim Donnelly-Rousseau]

It was hard to keep from groaning at the feeling of Leigh nibbling at the earlobe, sending those delightful jolts of electricity through every vein, making her tremble worse than ever, though she simply pressed herself closer, willing it away. She closed her eyes tightly, and kept up her own ministrations; teeth, lips, and tongue each moving along the blonde's flesh, heading up to her ear, as if to return the treatment she was giving to Seraphim and stopping just short, sucking amorously at some of the skin just below her jawline. She wasn't sure if leaving a mark would be a good idea, but maybe there wouldn't be anything anyway. Maybe.

The brunette's stomach felt knotted up and tense, as Leigh spoke to her, breathing each word against her ear, much warmer and sexier than was probably required. "I like the sound of all of those ideas, actually. Not a single objection from me," she whispered back, eyes still closed tightly. She felt the hand resting onto her hip, and she shook her head quickly. "I don't care, really.."

Shifting to meet her girlfriend in the kiss, distracting them both from their other areas of fascination, Seraphim met the older girl with her lips already parted, far beyond the hesitation with that at least; she lightly pressed her tongue against Leigh's currently closed mouth, as if demanding entry. For Sera never requested, it would always be a demand, a challenge.

[Leigh O'Conner]

And as it had always been, and as it would always be (excluding moments involving notebooks and raspberries, and all the places that Leigh's complacency made a feisty turn, which she was relatively sure Seraphim enjoyed and found more amusing than anything else), where Sera demanded, Leigh succumbed -- not losing, never losing, because this was, in every way imaginable, a win-win situation.

She parted her own lips, tongue darting tentatively out and then withdrew it again, tilting her head so the kiss deepened more naturally, comfortably. This was another new step, and the soft nervousness that accompanied made her feel warm again, but her neck was still tingling from Sera's ministrations, and it felt like every nerve in her body down to her toes was alight with the wonderful feeling. Momentarily allowing Sera to maintain the dominance, she leaned back onto her enormous bed, pulling Sera on top of her. It also allowed the freedom of her propping arm, and she hooked both hands around Sera - one at her waist and the other around he neck, a movement that kept them gently pinned together.

[Seraphim Donnelly-Rousseau]

Seraphim was operating simply by feel, and by instinct, completely inexperienced and more than just a little bit nervous with the whole thing. It felt good, very good, and the urge to stop was not at all present, even if her stomach felt strange and her fingers felt tingly. She was content with the deepening of their kiss, tilting her own head in the opposite direction of the blonde beneath her, eyes still closed and tongue moving slowly, very cautiously brushing over Leigh's lower lip for a moment, before venturing a bit further, more hesitant. She was also quite pleased with the submission, and the dominance she was allowed to exercise, gladly moving her way on top of Leigh, straddling the taller girl's hips as her girlfriend's arms and hands moved around her, holding onto her and pulling her in closer, keeping scarcely even a bit of space between their bodies.

Lifting her own hands, she allowed them to rest onto Leigh's shoulders, pushing her a little further back against the mattress beneath them, as she kept up the kiss. It didn't have any of her usual reckless abandon, more so leaning toward her over caution and calculation, but it was making her feel almost dizzy with the heady feeling of excitement and thrills traveling down her spine.

[Leigh O'Conner]

Leigh shivered again at the feel of Sera's tongue on her lips...on her own tongue. She kissed back, driving off the bed a little to add more pressure to their connected lips, gently drawing Sera's lower lip into her mouth, suckling lightly on it and releasing it again.

Sera was straddling her, and the hand that was pinned on Sera's waist slid down the jean-clad thigh to her knee and back up again, fingertips gently teasing the skin just above her jeans and under her shirt. Her other hand, still on the back of Sera's neck toyed with the brief curls at the nape of her neck before she drove her fingers into the silky mass, tilting Sera's head farther.

After a few moments lost in merely feeling and touching wherein thought never even really seemed to flit by, she pulled back and opened her eyes to see her again. "I know this is gonna sound really cliche," Leigh said softly, "and you're gonna tease me and stuff, which is really okay, especially since I don't see me sayin' this a whole lot, so don't get used to it..." She leaned up and kissed Sera again, and promptly forgot to continue speaking for a moment. When she finally remembered her intent to speak before she did so, "but you're really beautiful."

[Seraphim Donnelly-Rousseau]

She could feel the small grin playing at the corner of her lips, as she leaned in to briefly kiss Leigh once again, grinning into it and squeezing her shoulders slightly under the grasp of her trembling hands. "You're really beautiful yourself, you know? I've always thought so," she murmured against the other girl's lips, before lowering her head, tilting it once again to duck back along Leigh's jaw, and back toward the area she'd been teasing and working at just a few moments earlier. "I always thought it was a shame that the hench woman was more beautiful than the evil dictator, but here we are, what can we do? And given that you're so beautiful, I'm also fairly glad that you're so mine," the brunette continued, between biting and licking at the blonde, having shifting down a bit more, closer along her neck, placing hurried kisses against the pulse there. It was unpracticed, nervous, and unlike her, but she did her best.

The hands that she had been keeping planted onto Leigh's shoulders shifted, as Seraphim propped herself up some to create a little space between their entangled bodies. She continued straddling, showing no signs of moving any time soon, but her hands moved down, slow and steady, over the other girl's collarbone, and hesitating for a moment, before slipping down to brush over her breasts through the fabric of her shirt, before slipping further down to her stomach, and unceremoniously pushing up said shirt, cold fingers dancing over the now exposed bit of flesh. "You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, cliche and all."

[Leigh O'Conner]

Leigh smiled and blushed a little at the complimentary words. "If I had to be owned by anybody, Sera, I've never been happier that it was you, who, by the way, are so much more gorgeous than me, but I figure this will just be one place we're gonna disagree forever. Like the raspberries. And I'll have you know I finally decided to give up my raspberry lip gloss forever. Despite the fact that it was the only one I had that tasted any good. I figure I can pick up peppermints instead." Her body automatically adjusted to the pressure of Sera's movement and her heart was still beating at an insane pace at the kisses her neck was receiving (and she hoped that Sera didn't notice that), but she wished that the brunette would just bring her lips back over again. Not that she minded looking up to see Sera stradling her waist looking down on her like that, with a kind of gaze that simultaneously read with want and ownership. It was flattering and caused a strange fluttery feeling in her stomach that wasn't at all unpleasant.

"I'm glad we could get all this crazy sentimentality out of the way, else we might get all distracted on missions, boss," she grinned, and tried to suppress a small gasp when the fingers lightly trailed down her torso and over her breast, and she squirmed a little as the shirt was pulled up, revealing a strip of skin and the bottom edge of her naval. "I thought I was supposed to be receiving orders about undressing, ma'am, didn't realize you'd do all the work for me." Leigh giggled a little, "Not that I'm complaining..."

[Seraphim Donnelly-Rousseau]

"Good, because that stuff was terrible.. even the smell of it was kind of gross. If you had been wearing that today, I probably wouldn't be kissing you right now," Seraphim whispered against her neck, giggling just a little, as she placed another light kiss against her. "I much prefer peppermints. It makes me think of the peppermint hot chocolate that the cafe has in the winter, and of the time that we got stuck there in that storm? I almost kissed you then, I chickened out. I thought about it, for almost an hour, and then I just thought.. w-well, I dunno, I didn't know," she explained, trailing off a bit, as she mouth trailed up as well, over her jaw, working up to her mouth again. She kissed the blonde lightly onto the corner of her lips, just for a moment, before kissing her full on again, extending her tongue once more, finding that she had enjoyed it last time, and wouldn't mind trying it again.

After a moment of silence in the kiss, Sera pulled back just barely. "If I had my way with commands, I'd tell you to take it all off.. but I am a bit impatient by nature," she whispered, before lowering her mouth again. Her hands were content to tease, fingertips and nails dragging over the slightly exposed naval, stroking the skin firmly one moment, and barely tickling it the next, as they inched up further under the part of the shirt that wasn't shoved up yet.