Thanks once again to Nancy and Carol for their beta awesomeness!
PART TWENTY-TWO
*~Jay~*
Ellie was a genuine sleeping beauty. Her hair had been loosened from the tight Nebula style, and it now fell around her face in loose curls. Her mouth hung open slightly as her face was pressed against my chest. In the still of the room, I could hear her gentle breaths, and feel the surge of warmth against my skin with each exhalation.
I drank in her essence, just lying in bed beside her. It was rare that I was able to just lie in bed and relax, so I was going to make the most of this.
An hour passed peacefully as I shared the bed with Ellie.
Truth be told, I could use the extra rest. I hadn’t really had much sleep last night. We had been… busy with other things. I think we had both felt a little anxious about our first time together. And no matter my previous experience, it was still different when it came to Ellie. Everything was different when it came to Ellie. Of course, our little anxieties were completely unfounded, just like I had expected. Last night had been perfect in every way imaginable.
Another hour began to crawl by. Okay, not everyone was a morning person like me, but she didn’t really *need* this much sleep, did she?
Despite my impatience, I didn’t want to wake her. She had had a tough day yesterday, and she probably did need the rest. I traced my finger around the frame of her face, keeping my touch feather-light. She looked so relaxed right now. There was no way I could disturb her.
The clock continued to crawl.
I jiggled my leg impatiently. There was only so much inactivity I could take, and I yearned to get up and do something. Yet I didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere. I was kind of hoping that we could wake up together. Thinking back to my previous ‘morning after’s, it would be nice to have one that didn’t include running to check the security camera to see if there were any breaks in the case, or crawling out the window so her dad wouldn’t know I had been there.
But I *couldn’t* stay here any more. My body was crying for some kind of activity. Was there some other kind of alternative?
Then, it came to me.
Making breakfast would be perfect. And while I didn’t think caffeine actually affected Ellie, she always seemed to enjoy coffee at all times of the day. And maybe the smell of cooking would bring her out of her sleep without jarring her. Making my decision, I tried to gently roll Ellie over so I could get out of bed.
It didn’t work. Once again, I pushed against her.
Nothing.
I sighed in exasperation. In any other circumstance, this would be pretty embarrassing. As it was, I found it mildly entertaining.
Ellie had mentioned before that she had a dense molecular structure, but I hadn’t noticed any extra weight. But I supposed that Ellie would be considerably heavier as a dead weight. And maybe she had been helping me out in the past, and not telling me. Putting in some extra effort, I finally shoved her over and managed to crawl out of bed.
She slept on, of course. Only pausing to throw on some shorts and a t-shirt, I made my way to the kitchen.
* * *
*~Ellie~*
I woke to the heartwarming sound of banging cupboards and muttered swear words. It sounded like Jay was having some problems in the kitchen. The space beside me was empty, but I could still smell Jay’s scent on them, and feel a bit of the warmth left over.
I rolled over and checked my alarm clock. The time was 9:07. Poor Jay. He always said he never slept in much past seven or so. He must’ve been awake for a while.
As for me, I had happily slept all this time. And, sure, some of that was probably from the mudslide yesterday, but most of my fatigue had come from what happened later in the night. It was unbelievable the experience we had shared. That sense of unity was unlike anything I had ever felt before. And maybe my inexperience had shown a little the first time, but it had been a pretty busy night, and I think I was well on my way to becoming a pro.
Another bang and another curse word came from the kitchen. I stifled a giggle. I should probably go help him out with whatever he was trying to do. I pulled myself up, and realized that I wasn’t wearing a stitch of clothing.
No, scratch that. I was wearing one sock.
Weird.
An image flashed in my head of me going into that kitchen wrapped in my bed sheet. Or maybe with just the sock. That would certainly get Jay’s mind off his frustration. But I didn’t quite have the courage to do that. Yet. Instead, I quickly pulled on some pajamas as I left the room.
I fought sudden nerves as I padded to the kitchen. I wasn’t really sure how things would be between us now. It would be foolish to assume that nothing would change, but at the same time, the core of our relationship shouldn’t be any different, right? Would we act any differently?
Any doubts I had were forgotten as soon as I rounded the corner.
Jay was in the kitchen, looking seriously flustered. His hair was mussed, both from sleep and from running his hands through it in frustration. He slammed the door of the oven shut as I came into the room.
“Someone looks harassed,” I grinned, although my mouth soon distorted into a yawn. I was still a little groggy.
“What is wrong with your kitchen?” he demanded.
“Nothing’s wrong with it,” I replied haughtily.
“Nothing works!” he exclaimed. “The stove is completely nonfunctional, the toaster only toasts one side, and then it doesn’t even pop up after that, I can’t find a kettle for the life of me, and I don’t know how us mere mortals are supposed to heat things up because you don’t even own a microwave.”
“The stove does work,” I told him, although I wasn’t ready to comment on the state of the rest of my appliances. “Well, sort of. The back left burner is good, and the front right one will go up to about the medium setting before shutting off completely. And the oven works too but you usually have to push the buttons really hard to make it go.”
“Well, I guess this dinosaur just gave up under all that complication,” Jay replied. “Because right now it’s not doing anything. The time’s not even on it.”
I walked over to investigate. He hadn’t been lying. “Oh, right!” I remembered. “I unplugged it last week when I pulled it out to clean behind it.”
“And of course you haven’t used it since,” Jay finished, rolling his eye a little.
“Well, why would I?” I asked. “Here, I’ll lift it up and move it while you get in behind to plug it in again, okay?” I crouched down and grabbed hold of the stove, smothering a yawn.
“This thing is ancient,” Jay complained as he reached around behind to get at the plug.
“One of the reasons why rent’s pretty cheap here,” I replied. “It doesn’t make much difference to me, and I definitely make use of the cut in my expenses.”
“Okay, I’ve got it,” Jay told me, moving out of the way.
I placed the stove back in its spot, and stood up, stretching. I caught Jay’s eyes following my movement, and I flushed slightly. His look brought back a lot of memories from last night.
“Good morning,” I greeted shyly.
“Morning,” he replied.
We shared a sweet kiss together, which ended in a tender embrace. More of a familiar comfort than anything like last night. Obviously, there was no awkwardness between us for me to be worried about. We had only gotten closer. I took in his familiar smell, once again thankful for the heightened senses I had that allowed me to experience things more fully.
But I didn’t need heightened senses to detect one change from last night.
“You put a shirt on,” I complained.
“Habit, I guess,” he shrugged.
“Is it because of…?” I traced my hand across his shoulders, remembering the fine network of lines I had discovered there last night. They wouldn’t have been noticeable to anyone else in the dark, but I had seen them, although I didn’t comment on them at the time.
Jay stiffened a little at my touch, although he softened quickly. “You saw those, did you?” he asked.
I nodded.
“They’re not very noticeable. To the average person, that is,” he amended. “But I usually wear a shirt just as a precaution. Scars are pretty solid markers for identity.”
“How did you get them?” I asked softly.
“Car accident,” he said shortly. “I was turned around in my seat, and the windshield shattered.”
“Is that the real story or the fake one?” I probed.
“It’s both,” he told me. “But in the fake story, I don’t tell people about the high speed chase that occurred just beforehand.”
“That might give the game away,” I conceded jokingly. But I sobered quickly, not yet willing to drop the topic. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, Jay,” I said gently.
“It’s not the worst experience I’ve lived through,” he shrugged. “I came out on top that time.”
“From what I saw last night, that’s how you like it,” I said wickedly.
Jay’s mouth fell open, and I had to fight to keep the shock out of my face. Had I really just said that?
“What on earth has happened to you, Ellie Kent?” Jay asked with a grin, recovered from my comment.
“I’ve been corrupted,” I replied happily. “Some smooth talking martial arts sculptor guy has taken away my last bit of innocence.” I moved in to kiss him, but he pushed me back.
“I was going to make you breakfast,” he told me. But I suspected his heart wasn’t really into it anymore.
“Are you hungry?” I asked him.
“No, not really.”
“I can live without food, Jay,” I told him. “But do you know what I can’t live without?”
“What?”
“You.”
* * *
Aunt Lucy found me hunched over in the lab pouring over test results.
“Ellie, you have to stop obsessing about this,” she told me gently. “You’re not going to help the situation any.”
“The situation is solved, actually,” I replied absently, still concentrating.
“It is? Ellie, that’s fantastic!”
I turned around to face her obvious excitement.
“It is, isn’t it?” I spoke. A happy grin stretched across my face.
“And you didn’t even tell me,” she chided, drawing up a stool.
“We only figured it out a couple days ago,” I defended.
“So that means you were able to…” she trailed off suggestively.
“What?” I asked blankly.
“Uh, never mind,” she said, backing off. “Obviously it wasn’t a problem.”
“No, seriously, what is it, Aunt Lucy?”
“Well, you know we had talked about it once before… It being your first time and all and whether or not it would be possible for you two to be…”
“Oh. That.”
“Yeah. That.”
“It wasn’t a problem at all,” I replied with a shrug. “Truth be told, I wasn’t even thinking of it at the time.”
“So I guess my theory was right, then,” she said confidently. “Jay was inside your aura, and so while you retained your outward invulnerability, you were still sensitive to anything within your field.”
“Yeah, that does sound right,” I agreed. “And I’m glad to hear it. The only other option would have been an intentional exposure to Kryptonite.”
“And I’m so glad we don’t have to go that route. Could you imagine me having to explain that to your dad?”
“I don’t want to,” I replied, wincing at the idea. I loved my dad and all, but there were some things he didn’t have to know.
“So when you called in yesterday and asked for another day off to recover from that mud slide…” Aunt Lucy winked secretively at me.
“Well, I did need some rest,” I mumbled embarrassedly.
“Uh-huh. I bet.”
“Aunt Lucy!” I protested, my face flaming.
“Sorry. I really am happy for you, Ellie,” she spoke, reaching over to hug me tightly.
“Thanks,” I replied grudgingly.
“So what are you doing still looking at all this?” she asked.
“Well, we know that the problem has been solved,” I told her. “But I’m not completely satisfied with the data I have. I don’t know if there was something specific that triggered the change, or when it occurred. And for that matter, what even caused it in the first place.”
“Ellie, it’s solved now, whatever the problem. Why worry about it any longer?”
“Because what if there’s someone in the future who has the same problem? It would be nice to have a solution for them.”
“I don’t think there would be one flat solution for this,” Aunt Lucy said softly. “It would vary from case to case.”
“But why was it me that it happened to?” I demanded. “Why not Dad or Jon?”
“Well, I suppose you could speculate about genetics or gender or any number of things,” Aunt Lucy told me. “But personally, I think it has to do with the situation.”
“How so?”
“Well, take your parents, for example. They knew each other for nearly two years before they started dating. That had given them lots of opportunity to grow close to each other before they attempted anything like what you and Jay were having trouble with.”
“Mom always said that things never really got that serious until she knew about Dad’s identity,” I remembered.
“Right. So they had already been close to each other, and built up that bond before things got too physically involved.”
“Well, Jon and Kaylie didn’t wait that long,” I protested. “They’ve only known each other for just over a year.”
“Well, I can’t speak for them,” Aunt Lucy shrugged. “But you can speak for yourself. When you first started encountering those problems with physical contact all those months ago, did you think you were maybe pushing things beyond what you were ready for?”
I paused for a moment, considering. “Maybe,” I confessed. “So you think that’s it? Just a matter of no sex until you know the person well enough?”
“Well, I think that’s certainly part of it,” Aunt Lucy told me. “But there’s also your unique situation to consider.”
“Which is?”
“Well, there’s your personality, for one. Jon can be as methodical as Clark, but you’re quite impulsive at times. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, Ellie,” she rushed to assure. “But it’s just something to consider. You’re more likely to push for something even if you’re not ready.”
“Yeah, I suppose.”
Jon did have a tendency to be a stick in the mud.
“And also there’s the whole concept of the secret identity to take into consideration,” Aunt Lucy continued. “Clark and Jon had to make a conscious choice to trust Lois and Kaylie. You never had that choice.”
“Jay knew about me before we even met,” I completed. “You know, I’m kind of glad it worked out so I didn’t have to deal with the big confession. That whole business seems to come with way too much angst. Of course,” I continued after a pause, “it’s not like Jay and I didn’t have any problems.”
“That’s for sure,” Aunt Lucy agreed.
Then Uncle Brad came into the lab, hardly looking up from his clipboard. “Ellie, can I get that data from the field tests from you? I need them to update the reports.”
“Brad, Ellie’s got something to tell you,” Aunt Lucy intercepted.
“What’s that?” Uncle Brad finally looked up at us.
“Well, let’s just say you won’t have to worry about me using up time to work on the power control thing. Jay and I finally managed to work through it.” Talking with Aunt Lucy was one thing, but announcing that I was no longer a virgin to Uncle Brad required a little more tact.
“Hey, that’s great, Ellie,” he congratulated me. “Do you know what specifically-”
“She’s not worrying about that right now,” Aunt Lucy interjected. “She’s just going to concentrate on spending time with her boyfriend.”
“Right,” Uncle Brad agreed under the pressure of Aunt Lucy’s intense stare. “That, uh… Sounds like a good idea.”
“You guys and your data,” Aunt Lucy admonished. “For one thing, one person isn’t enough to draw any conclusive evidence. And for another, what’s so wrong about just living life every now and then and not worrying about lab results?”
“I couldn’t agree more,” came a voice from the main entrance.
“Jay!” I exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
“I had a break between classes and decided to pay you a visit,” he replied happily. “Got time for coffee?”
“Well, I was supposed to go over some research with-”
“Go,” Uncle Brad told me. “We can go over it later.”
“Thanks Uncle Brad.” I gave him a quick hug.
“Just so you know, there’s an empty office on the third floor,” Aunt Lucy whispered in my ear. “Room 307. In case you don’t want to go all the way home.”
“Uh, thanks, Aunt Lucy,” I replied, cheeks burning.
I didn’t know which was more embarrassing. The fact that she was recommending spots for us, or the fact that she even knew about them in the first place. But I wasn’t about to dwell on that now. I was going to go spend some more quality time with my boyfriend.
