Thursday after dinner, Lorna and Alex's suite

[x-polarisstar.livejournal.com]

Starting with the traditional treasure hunt in a style only Alison can present, Lorna's 21st birthday ends with Alex's gift. Issues get confronted, rose petals strewn about and there is much romance in the air.



After dinner, Alex had come right back to Lorna's room to set up his birthday surprise. He had set up his homemade cake and hot chocolate in the sitting room, with a vase full of Hawaiian flowers. But Alex also had other plans for the evening, plans that he thought of with a deep breath every time he looked at the closed bedroom door. That set up he had done first before he lost the nerve and now he was just hoping he could go through with it. You have to, there's no backing out now... he told himself as he closed his eyes a moment to calm his nerves. Finally, Alex headed to the door of the suite to go find Lorna.

Lorna was wandering around the bottom floor, her impractical heels in one hand and a plastic key in the other. She was muttering to herself, “Copper. Copper, copper, copper. Kinda soft and swirly.” She paced around the sunroom, still muttering to herself. She glanced up as Alex walked in and gave him a grin. “Copper!” She pointed past him to a small curio cabinet. Hurrying across, she gave him a peck on the cheek before opening the cabinet to retrieve the last of her gifts from Alison.

Alex couldn't help the laugh that came out at the sight of his girlfriend chanting 'copper' before hurrying around like a mouse. A very cute mouse at that. As she retrieved the gift from the cabinet, he wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her neck. "Alison's doing I'm guessing?"

“Mmhmm.” She cradled the package in her arms, already able to tell by the size and weight what was in the pretty paper. “This is the last one. Already got lots of other great things. They’re in the main kitchen and there will be death and maiming if anyone touches them.” She giggled and turned so she could slide an arm around his waist. “Did you say something about dessert in the car?”

Kissing her forehead, he led her out of the sun room. "Indeed I did. How does cake and hot chocolate sound before I give you my own surprise?" He cocked his head as he raised a playful eyebrow.

“Cake, chocolate and a surprise? You’d think this was my birthday or something.” She giggled again, having been bought several drinks at the restaurant in recognition of her 21st birthday. An hour later, she was still tingling. She rose up on her toes and kissed him before letting him guide them upstairs.

He shook his head, realizing she was still giddy from the alcohol. Instead of guiding her up the stairs, he picked her up in his arms as he had done so many times before and just carried her. When they crossed into her room (the door closed politely behind him) he set her down softly on the couch, before which all the goodies were set on the coffee table. "Happy Birthday, love."

“Thank you, hon.” She set the package down and accepted a mug of hot chocolate with greedy hands. She smiled after sipping it. “Summers special.” She snuggled against him, giving the cake a surreptitious look to be sure it looked properly cake-like. She wasn’t precisely doubting Alex’s ability to make cake from a mix—which had to be the case since she did doubt that he could make it from scratch—but well, he had managed to destroy pasta so there was no telling.

Seeing her eye the cake suspiciously, Alex couldn't help but laugh as he cut a piece out. "Don't worry it's a mix and I had plenty of help. Apparently everyone knows my horrible cooking reputation and even if they came for a snack, they stopped to give me a pointer." He cut a piece from the slice with the side of a fork and held it up for her. "Care to see if I did alright?"

She laughed and wrapped her hand daintily around his and leaned forward, nibbling the cake off the end up of fork, licking the frosting off her lips. “Mmm, very good. If you’d made this is Cooking you might not have failed.” She smiled impishly at him.

"I still can't believe I failed a class my girlfriend was teaching!" His return grin was just as impish as he cut another bite from the piece, holding it out for her. "Unless you want to feed yourself darling..."

“No, this is good.” She repeated her careful nibbling at the cake but kissed him after. Instead of licking the frosting from his lips, she transferred it to his. “Aren’t you going to have any?” she asked.

"Have any when I can feed it to the love of my life?" Alex gave her a playful look of confusion as he licked the frosting from his lips. "Plus we were always good at sharing."

“That’s a lot of cake. You feed all that to me and there will be a lot more to your life’s love.” She snitched the fork from him and sliced a bite off the cake and held it up to him. “Your turn.”

"And I thought today was about spoiling you..." He taunted before being a good boyfriend and taking the offered bite. He made sure to get icing on his lips as he kissed her in return.

“Just being with you spoils me for anyone else.” She ignored the cake in favour of nipping at his lower lip, clearing the frosting away. “Thank you for dinner, love. It was beautiful.”

"Only the best for you, love..." He noticed her ignoring the cake and took a deep breath to calm the nerves that started in the pit pf his stomach. "Finished, love?"

She noticed the odd note in his voice and blinked up at him for a moment. “Yes, I think so. The cake is very good but I don’t think I should have very much.” She rested her chin on his shoulder and smiled at him expectantly, “Do I get my surprise now?”

Alex grinned, hiding his unease behind it as he stood up, taking the rest of the cake over to the small fridge, putting it away and using the excuse of having his back turned to her an excuse to take a couple deep breaths and compose himself. Finally, he turned back around and headed to the bedroom door. "Stay here a minute, I need to put on some finishing touches..."

Lorna frowned after him, wondering what he was doing. She sipped at her hot chocolate and briefly wished it was coffee to clear her head a bit. She got the sense that she was missing a piece here. With a shrug, she put the idea aside and picked open the wrapping on Alison’s last gift, smiling with silent glee at the very expensive espresso beans to go with her new espresso maker and grinder.

Picking up a lighter from where he'd set it on the dresser, Alex began to slowly light candles he'd situated. He got up and dimmed the light before looking out over his handy work. Vases of roses stood on each side of the bed, with petals strewn on the bed itself. The candles gave off just enough light to see by. Sighing, Alex sat on the bed for a moment, holding his head in his hands to calm his nerves. He took a deep breath to force down unpleasant memories, trying to think only of Lorna and how much this would mean to her...and for him. Finally, he stood up and opened the door. "I'm ready, love..."

Lorna glanced up from gloating over her present. “Hmm? I have to go to my surprise?” She uncurled herself from the couch and crossed the room. She met him at the door with a kiss then glanced inside. She was completely silent and still as she took in the candles, the roses then her hands tightened on his as her missing piece fell belated into place. Her head snapped up to look at him. “Alex, love…” she wasn’t sure how she managed to speak when her heart was racing like this. “Do you…are you sure?”

He nodded slowly. "I need to do this, Lorna...for myself and for us. I can't let Her control me in any way anymore. But I knew I was going to have to make myself do it and what better opportunity then to give myself to you for your birthday..." He wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close. "This is what you want, isn't it?" Alex swallowed nervously, suddenly not sure he'd done this the right way and he'd suddenly totally screwed it up.

Lorna continued to stare at him in stunned shock until he started to blur. She blinked rapidly and felt tears stick in her lashes. A brief irrational thought for her mascara startled her enough to move closer to him and bury her face in his shoulder. She clung to him fiercely unable to speak or even think through the muddle of emotions suddenly choking her. She just held on and hoped he knew that somehow he would know what she meant, even when she wasn’t quite certain.

Alex didn't know what expression he was expecting from her, but he sure this wasn't it. Slowly, he moved them so they could sit on the bed, Lorna cuddled up against him as he rubbed her back and kissed the top of her head, so very confused. He kept quiet, hoping that when she calmed down a bit, she could help him understand why she was crying so.

Lorna eased back and pulled one hand away to wipe her eyes before tangling her fingers in the fine chain of her necklace and gripping the heart shaped pendant. She took a deep breath and tried to figure out how to explain her reaction. “Alex, I…I don’t expect anything from you. I don’t want to rush into this and you don’t have to prove anything. I…yeah, I want this. For everything it means but… not if you’re doing it because you think you should. I want you to want this too not just be doing it for me. I’m going to be here no matter what happens.” She stopped playing with her necklace and reached for his hand. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

He licked his lips as he thought about what she had just said. Then Alex lifted the hand she wasn't holding to cup her cheek, looking deep into her eyes. Taking a deep breath, he spoke softly. "I don't want to do this to prove something. I don't want to this because I think I should. I want to not be afraid anymore. I want to make you happy. And most of all...I want to show you how much I love you and how completely yours I am..." His voice trailed off, not sure if that was the best place to end, but unable to think of anything to continue.

Seeing him think about it, really think about it, helped loosen the knot in her chest. She nodded slowly and leaned forward to kiss him. Her heart still raced and she knew that she was probably shaking as well. Suddenly she was hyper-aware of every point where he touched her, from the strong grip on her hand to the warm touch on her cheek to the long line where his thigh lay along hers. She gave a high, shaky laugh. “I’m actually just a little nervous,” she admitted, somewhat embarrassed.

After they kissed, Alex leaned his forehead up against hers, a nervous smile on his face matched with a nervous laugh. "You think you’re nervous...You know, I've never technically done this before."

She blinked at him, tilting her head to the side, nerves shifting to the side to make way for confusion. “Um, neither have I, love.” But he knew that, right?

That almost made him sigh in relief but he restrained himself. "I guess we'll just have to figure it out for ourselves..." He grinned as he kissed her again. "Wouldn't want to learn with anyone else."

“No.” She kissed him back and looked at him seriously. “Honestly, Alex, this is me being nervous. I’ve never said yes to anyone else. Never even been tempted.” She gripped his hand more tightly. “I need this to go slow for me too.”

His face matched hers the moment she turned to him with her serious expression. And the reality of what she had just said formed a knot in both his heart and his throat. She'd never...never even wanted...with anyone else...just him. He couldn't speak, he just gripped her hand and nodded, a tear slipping down one cheek.

She brushed it away. “I love you. I want this.” She smiled at him, saying it making the nervousness recede a little.

"Me too." Alex whispered softly. He licked his lips and blushed. "Are you ready?"

“I think so.” She extracted her hand from his and moved back a little. “You?”

He licked his lips and nodded. "More then ever."

They sat in silence for several seconds then Lorna started to giggle. “Okay. Okay,” she said, shaking her head. “We have to start somewhere.” She leaned forward and kissed him lightly, just the barest brush of her lips on hers. “So here’s where we began.”

He grinned. "Seems like a good start to me..." He wrapped an arm around her waist and leaned in for a proper kiss, then mumbled, "I think we're a little too clothed for this..."

“I think you’re right.” She skimmed her hand over his throat down along his collar. “This has to go for one thing.”

Wiggling his nose at her, he moved his hands up to the buttons of his dress shirt and began unbuttoning it very slowly. "Like this, darling?"

She covered his hands with her own and lowered them to his sides. “No, let me. You’re hopeless.” She moved her hands back and teased the next button from its hole, starting from the top. Leaning forward, she parted his shirt and skimmed her lips over the exposed skin.

He leaned back, bracing himself on his hands, head back and eyes closed. "You have no idea how good that feels..."

She continued to unbutton his shirt and chuckled slightly, her mouth still roaming lazily over his skin. “I know I’m enjoying it.” The last button free, she lifted her head to survey him with a self-satisfied little smirk. She brushed his shirt off his shoulders, letting it pool around his wrists. “That’s better.”

Lifting his head, Alex gave her a cocky grin. "Oh really? Well now it's your turn..." Slipping his hands free of the shirt and tossing it on the floor, he sat up and began kissing her neck as his fingers began tugging at the bottom of her blouse before slipping underneath to move his fingertips lightly over her stomach.

Tilting her head back was automatic, the shiver was instinctive. Her eyes drifted closed so she could focus on the sensations he was providing. “That isn’t actually getting my blouse off, you know,” she murmured, though it was hardly a complaint.

He grinned against her neck. "Couldn't help it, love." He quickly resumed kissing her neck as he pulled the top off, pausing only so he could pull it over her head and toss it away to join his own.

Lorna made a sound that may have been scepticism or just a reaction to his mouth on her skin and didn’t even bother to open her eyes. She ran her hands over his back and up into his hair, smiling to herself.

He groaned slightly as her hand began playing with his hair, his weak spot proving weak once again, and proved to increase his pace as he kissed down her neck to her chest as one hand fiddled behind her with the bra strap.

She went very still as he attempted to unhook her bra, the tiny part of her brain not devoted to how good this all felt curious to see if he could manage it.

A few frustrated moments later, the bra gave way with a small satisfied noise from him. He sat up to pull it from her arms and admire his beautiful girlfriend.

Lorna resisted the urge to cover herself. She wasn’t quite able to manage it and ended up lifting one hand to grip her right shoulder where her burn scars still remained. She blushed involuntarily, nerves returning.

He noticed the gesture with a cock of his head and reached up to remove the hand. He'd seen the scars before, but not to this extent and his face fell slightly as he remembered that he had done this to her. Then Alex got a determined look on his face. "Turn around love, please..."

“Alex…” She thought the better of whatever she’d been about to say and stood so she could turn her back to him. The scars were worse there, they occasionally gave her trouble when she was training despite the care that had been taken while she healed.

Alex was very glad her back was turned for he visibly winced at the sight of the scars on her back. He sat for a few stunned moments, then stood behind her, brushing the fingers that had caused the scars lightly across them, before leaning down and kissing her shoulder. "Still beautiful..."

She turned her head to look at him. “Thank god for the dim lighting anyway,” she said dryly then shook her head. “It’s okay, love. They are what they are.” She shivered and leaned back against him. It wasn’t cold precisely but standing topless tended to be chilly even when it was warm.

He wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her to him. He nuzzled the side of her head before he dropped his mouth to ear level. "I mean it...Honestly. You're so strong, inside and out...they prove that and it only makes you more beautiful in my eyes..." He made sure to stress the words strong and beautiful because he wanted to make sure out of everything he said, she heard those two words.

“Alex…” she began again then just shook her head. What did it matter if she wasn’t sure? Alex was and he loved her and that was good enough. “I am what you say I am.” She turned and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, gasping from the feeling of his chest to hers.

He had noted a hint of uncertainty when she said his name and as he held her, he asked, "Lorna, are you sure about this? All of this?" Was it the fact he didn't mind her scars (scars he'd given her)? Did she not want to do this? Alex was confused again.

She licked her lips and tried to figure out the best way to explain. “I’m sure that I want this or I wouldn’t do it. It’s just that… It’s not the scars exactly. I’m an anorexic. That means lots of things but one of them is that I don’t have a healthy body image. Flaws are magnified. I can’t see myself as beautiful. But I’m willing to let you see for me.” She smiled and kissed him. “I trust your eyes more than my own.”

"Then my eyes are telling me you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, and it's not only the beauty. The scars, the fact that you took me back even after I did that to you, show strength, as does the fact you are not as thin as you were right after I returned home. You are a beautiful person inside and out and I will gladly tell you that every moment of every day if it means someday, you will realize that yourself, flaws and all." Alex kissed her again as his hands rubbed her lower back.

She laughed into his kiss, “Who’d have thought that my issues would be the problem?” She tugged him closer to her, one hand creeping up into his hair again.

"Don't flatter yourself, mine are what took us so long to finally do this." He teased with a grin, happily holding her against him until one hand crept down to playfully squeeze her ass.

She squeaked and giggled. “Oh all right, it’s all about you.” She winked then kissed him, slowly like she had all the time in the world. Her hands casually traced patterns over his back until her fingers brushed against his pants. Without seeming to transfer any attention away from kissing him, she ran her finger along his waistline, moving away just enough to get her hand between them. She broke away from the kiss to whisper in his ear, “Still too many clothes.” She unbuttoned his pants and smirked.

He grinned and wiggled his nose as his hands traced the waist line of her pants from the back to the front, undoing them quickly. "My thoughts exactly." He said quickly before leaning in for another kiss.

She kissed him obligingly for a moment then stepped back. “Well then? Off.” She suited action to word and shed her slacks with a quick shimmy, stepping out of them and kicking them aside. She watched his face, her fingers drumming an unconscious rhythm against her hip.

His eyes and mouth both grew wider in approval, as he paused with his pants midway down his thighs. Shaking his head, he shed his pants before pulling her in for another kiss, "Have I told you how beautiful you are yet?"

“You may have mentioned it.” Lorna smiled and walked them backward until her legs hit the bed. She kissed him again and pulled away to sit back on the bed, leaning back on her elbows and smiling up at him. “Have I told you how beautiful you are?”

He looked down at himself, still wearing his boxers, and shrugged. "Eh it's not much. I'm out of shape from the lack of surfing every waking moment." Playfully, he posed for her a bit before sitting down on the bed next to her, one hand running through her hair before resting at the back of her neck. "Then what a beautiful pair we make..."

“You don’t look out of shape to me.” She sat up and ran a fingertip up his arm. “You look just gorgeous and I love you.” Anticipation had replaced nerves but she still moved carefully. Curling one leg up, she half turned so she was facing him and leaned in to kiss him. The hand that wasn’t supporting her on his shoulder crept forward to rest on his knee.

The hand not behind her neck moved to her waist as he returned her kiss. Anticipation had yet to hit him, in fact, nerves were starting to creep into his stomach, but he only increased the pressure in their kiss to rid himself of said nerves. There was no backing out now and frankly, he didn't want to. When they paused to breathe, he whispered, "Let me get these boxers off and we can go for the main event..."

She nodded and eased back, breathing hard enough that she didn’t want to attempt speech, particularly since the only things that came to mind were ridiculously clichéd. Instead she pushed herself further onto the bed, sitting with her legs crossed modestly. A rose petal stuck to her calf made her shake her head. Next time, no rose petals on the bed.

Jumping off the bed for a few moments, Alex took a deep breath before pulling down his remaining clothing, adding to the pile. This was the first time he'd been completely naked for anyone since Her and surprisingly enough, Alex felt rather good about. Smiling, he got back on the bed and also became annoyed with the flowers. "You know...this was a good idea when I thought of it. Now it's annoying." He mumbled as he brushed most of them off onto the floor.

Lorna had stopped paying attention to their surroundings as soon as Alex’s boxers had come off. Her focus was entirely on her beautiful, and that really was the only word for him, beautiful boyfriend and soon to be lover. Taking a deep breath, she extended her hands to him. “Forget the flowers.”

He gave her an odd look at the tone of her voice but one look at the expression on her face made him pause. He'd seen it before, but with different features. But there was one glaring difference that made him crawl forward instead of cower in fear. Lorna's eyes were filled with love, a drastic and crucial difference over his past experiences and Alex couldn't stop his smile.