Blair jerked from sleep, a dream of trying to run but having the ground reach up and grab him, still on the edge of his mind. Wildly he looked around in the dark - not his bed, somebody beside him - *Jim* was beside him. Dream dismissed, Blair woke all the way up, and with a smile remembered what had happened earlier.

It was too dark in the loft to see, but all he really needed to know was that Jim was spooned up behind him, one arm and leg thrown over him. He felt more at peace than he could ever remember, and completely at ease. Inching back into Jim as much as he could, he started to let himself go back to sleep, but suddenly realized that the dream had had a basis in fact. His jeans had worked their way down his legs to catch on his shoes, effectively trapping his feet.

No way was he going to be able to spend the night like that. Not wanting to wake Jim, and not sure how much he could take before his Sentinel abilities did it for him, Blair elected to get out of bed entirely, as quietly and gently as possible, finish undressing and get back in.

Raising the blanket to get back in, he noticed Jim still wore his jeans and boots, and decided he should at least take the latter off to make the big guy more comfortable. He knelt beside the bed, undid the laces, and carefully pulled both shoes, then, on impulse, both socks off. Elegant feet - long and strong. Blair cradled them against his chest for a second, a dropped a kiss onto the top of each.

"Blair, " Jim said sleepily, "You have *got* to be able to find better things to kiss than my feet."

"Yeah, but now I can always point out that I've done it when you get on my case about breaking the house rules."

"Why is it I can hear how that discussion is going to go before we even get there?"

"Must be that uncanny hearing of yours."

Jim snorted, then reached down to pull Blair back into the bed. "It's too early to get up. Will you stay?" The last was said in a softer tone than the rest of the conversation. Hopeful, not pushing, not certain where things stood.

Blair's heart jerked, but he kept his tone light. "On one condition."

"I'm listening."

"You gotta take your pants off, too. I mean, fair is fair. I'm naked, you get naked."

This time Jim laughed, but he reached down and started undoing his buttons.

"And I get to help." Blair bounced back up into the bed, pushed aside Jim's fingers, and began to tug on the pants. "Come on, give some assistance here. Lift your hips." Smiling, Jim did as he was told, watching Blair fussily work the fabric down. "What did you do, spray paint these things on? One leg, two legs, on the floor, I am *not* going to stumble around in the dark to put them in their right place."

Blair sat back on his heels and surveyed his handiwork, glad his eyes had adjusted enough that he could make the shapes and planes of Jim's body. It was enough to make you believe in an Almighty because someone had put a lot of care into the beauty that was Jim Ellison. He ached for some way to capture it permanently, like an artist would, but knew it was at least forever captured in his memories.

Long, broad, tapered, strong, hard, solid, - perfect in every way, right down to the curls Jim's penis nestled on.

Frowning, Blair looked again at the juncture of those long legs. "What's wrong with this picture," he muttered.

"You're not in it, Chief. Get down here." Said with a smile of invitation. Blair scurried to lie down beside him, and Jim folded the blankets over them again. "OH, this is good, Blair. Definitely an improvement." Jim tried to get even closer, inanely trying to figure out a way to get some of Blair everywhere on him. Smiling at his efforts, Blair obliged as best he could, reaching and stroking with his hands wherever he could. Already he was half hard, and looking forward to enticing Jim into taking him in his mouth again. If that had been half the mind-blowing experience for Jim as it had been for him...

Blair pulled away, and half-sat up, leaning on an elbow. Jim hadn't finished. That was what was wrong. No evidence of it on the clothes, or on Jim's body.

"Ahh, Jim, I'm sorry..."

"For what?" Jim muttered as he reached to pull Blair back down.

"I fell asleep before you could finish...."

" I noticed. Didn't anyone ever teach you bedroom etiquette?" he teased, and claimed Blair's mouth. He tickled Blair's lips with the lightest of touches with his tongue, then plunged in full length, moaning deep in his chest as Blair caught and sucked it, brushing his own over and under Jim's.

Both hands tangled in Blair's hair, Jim used his thumbs to stroke Blair's jaw and throat as they kissed, and tangled his legs with his lover, encouraging the smaller man to cover him. Blair braced his hands on either side of Jim's head, and began to move against him.

Jim tore his mouth away, "Blair," he gasped, "I can't.. " His hips began bucking wildly, "there, please, ...." He dropped his hands to Blair's hips, crushing them into his own.

Blair lifted himself slightly, looking down into the face under him. Jim's eyes were tightly closed, his head thrown back into the pillow, leaving his throat bare and inviting. Surprising himself with a tiny growl, Blair accepted that invitation, bending his head to suck hard, moving down to leave a line of bites and kisses on the flesh there.

He was rewarded with a mewl of pleasure from Jim with each bite, and more urgent thrusting. A spiral of pleasure began to tighten in him, and he moved back up to claim the hungry mouth, mimicking the motion of his hips with his tongue.

"Come on, lover, come on," he coaxed between thrusts, "I want to feel you come for me, let me feel you let go."

The movements from the bigger man became desperate, and punctuated with an "Oh, oh gawd," at each stroke up into the firmness topping him.

"No," Blair told himself, "no, no no.." he tried to count backwards, tried to think of something disgusting, but Jim's cock was sliding hard against his and the feeling made the spiral too tight and when Jim's hands began to clench and unclench against his hip, the bite of lust in the grip was too much, and the spiral broke, leaving Blair helplessly coming, spilling himself onto Jim's stomach.

Jim shuddered, and impossibly his movements gained strength. "Babe, help me," he moaned, "Help me."

Struggling to catch his breath, Blair snaked a hand down between them, and wrapped it around Jim's cock, keeping the grip loose enough for Jim to be able to thrust into it.

"S'good, good," he began to chant.

Blair held on, adding motions of his own, hoping to push Jim over the edge. Almost brutally he tightened his hand on Jim.

"Blaaaairr," Jim wailed, and came. Blair felt the liquid pour over his hand, and, sighing deeply, milked Jim dry.

"Jim we gotta talk." Blair knelt on the big bed, hands still resting on the broad chest of his partner.

"We have been, " Jim answered mildly. "All night long, when we weren't busy with *other things*. Do you know that dawn is a wonderful color for you?"

"You are not side-tracking me," Blair said firmly, ignoring the fact Jim had managed to do that several times already. "What is happening with you, Big Guy? You're touching me, kissing me, and I feel so... so involved with what you're doing to me, like I'm the only thing you feel is real in the world."

"Sounds pretty accurate to me," Jim started, but broke off at a look from Blair.

"But it's like I have to wade through a bog to get a direct response from you! Half the time I'm ready to explode, and you're not even close. Or I'm coming down, but you're hard as hell and still only just petting, like you don't even notice what condition you're in. Like now," and he gestured toward Jim's erection, wise enough to know that actually touching him would get the conversation side-tracked again.

Jim brought his hands up to cover the ones on his chest, giving what Blair said serious thought. Absently he brought his prizes up to his lips, brushing kisses over each fingertip. Wonderful, wonderful mix of tastes, textures his expression said. He started nibbling seriously on an index finger.

"JIM!" Blair snatched his hands away, but patted a flank in apology. "You just did it again. Now take a cleansing breath and *focus* - what is going on with you?"

Automatically Jim closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and tried to use words to sort out his sensations through his memories. "Focus- that's the problem. I can't seem to keep one sense in focus. I hear your love sounds, and they thrill me, but then they slide away and its your skin caressing mine, and I start to go with that, but then I notice how firelight burnishes your hair into gold, and all I can do is look at you. By then you're over the top, and I'm still trying to get to how aroused I am."

He opened his eyes, smiling at the sight of Blair in full "research mode," still sitting naked and smelling of heavy loving. "I can't really say I need to complain about it - if anything, what we do with each other is the most satisfying, fulfilling loving I've ever done. Beats sex by a mile. Is it that frustrating for you?"

"Yes, no... that's like asking me if I've quit beating my wife yet, Jim! You know I am totally out there by what we do. This is the hottest, most wonderful, aaarrghh." He threw himself down onto Jim's chest and kissed him. "It just feels, you know, out of balance somehow," he went on a breathless moment later.

Jim gathered himself together, and tried to stay on topic. "This is new to both of us, Chief. We just need time to adjust to the changes, that's all." He feathered a kiss over his lover's nose. "And in the meantime, we get to practice on getting it right."

The End