#romancemonth

„You’ve got to be kidding me,“ you mumbled and stared at the bed. Of course there was one missing, since you had expected one team member to stay behind but no, Hotch just had to come join the last minute despite being on leave. Well, he technically still was but that didn’t seem to bother the man. Now they were one bed short and you and Spencer had drawn the short matches.

“If it is bothering you too much, I’m sure someone will be ready to swap,” he said but you shook your head. “No, don’t worry. I’m just pissed because everything would have been fine if Hotch hadn’t changed his mind.” He smiled at you for a moment. “I can sleep on the couch,” he offered but a look at the small thing made you shake your head again. “Unless you really want back pain tomorrow, I’d advise against it. C’mon, it’s just one night. We’ll be fine.” Secretly, you were happy you got to share the room with him. It wasn’t like the others didn’t like him but you could see that everyone got annoyed by his rambling, at least to some degree. You just found it adorable. “Or are you that appalled by me that sharing a bed is bad?” He quickly shook his head. “No, no, I just-“ he stopped, looking at your grin. “You’re teasing me again, aren’t you?” “Always,” you replied with a wink before vanishing into the bathroom.

After a quick shower, you slipped into the oversized shirt you used to sleep in and crawled onto the bed where Spencer was already positioned. It wasn’t really designed for two people but, as you kept repeating to yourself, it was just for one night. You shuffled under the cover, turning onto your side to save space and closed your eyes. “Mind if I keep reading a little?” he asked and you shrugged. “Do whatever your heart desires,” you replied with a small smile and he laughed a little. “Right. Just tell me if the light bothers you.” You only hummed and tried to find a comfortable position. After a while of slightly shuffling, you sighed and turned onto your other side, facing Spencer. “You okay?” he asked, looking down on you. You nodded quietly, tracing his face with your eyes. He was wearing his glasses, which made him look even cuter than before. “I generally have trouble sleeping. Especially if someone else is in the room. But don’t worry, I’ll find sleep sooner or later.” You studied your face and you propped your head up onto the palm of your hand. “Found something, pretty boy?”

He cleared his throat and looked down onto his book again. The lighting wasn’t great but you could have sworn he was blushing. Like always, when you used this particular nickname for Spencer. Though Morgan was using it occasionally, it was definitely a different context between you and the genius than between the two men. “I just thought... you want me to read to you?” You tilted your head. “A bed time story?” He almost looked nervous, so you quickly added, “Sounds great. Don’t know about your reading voice but that book is definitely gonna put me to sleep,” you teased without any harm behind the words.

He smiled and leaned against the headboard a little more and balanced the book against his thighs. Watching his expressions, you listened to him reading from the book. He started somewhere in the middle though you didn’t mind. And you had been right. The combination of his soothing voice and the text was enough to make you yawn. You saw a small smile on his face when you did.

Before you could think too much about it, you reached forward and took the hand by your side, intertwining your fingers. His reading stuttered a little but he picked it up quickly. Sleep seemed to pull you in quicker than it had ever done before. Before you drifted off into unconsciousness completely, you felt a soft kiss on your forehead and heard him mumble, “Good Night, Y/N.”

You woke up sprawled across Spencer’s chest, not that you minded. Your hands were still connected but due to the angle your arm started to feel numb so you carefully let go of him. That movement must’ve been enough to wake him up and you watched as he blinked against the sunlight beaming through the window. You couldn’t help but adore the way he squinted against the brightness and scrunched up his nose. “Morning, pretty boy. Hope you had a peaceful night,” you greeted him and he lifted his head a little, squinting down at you. By now you had crossed your arms on his chest, resting your chin on top of them. You smiled brightly at him.

“Pretty much. You?” he answered your question, surprisingly less talkative than usual. “Better than ever. Man, if I could, I would just take you home and have you read to me every night. That would be one way to beat my insomnia.” You weren’t lying. It was the first time in years that you actually felt kind of rested after waking up and your desire for coffee wasn’t as strong. This time, the blush on his cheeks was way more obvious. “Can I ask you a question?” he asked and you hummed and nodded.

“I talked to some of the others about it and they gave me two possible reasons but I’m not sure which one is the right one,” he said and you raised your eyebrows, unfortunately not having been gifted with the skill of moving them separately. “You have to specify what you’re talking about, I still can’t read minds, you know,” you replied and he brushed his hair back with his fingers.

“I’m talking about you. You always make me blush but I’m not sure why. I mean, you tease everyone but I have the feeling you’re acting different with me. But maybe I’m just overthinking this and you’re not actually flirting with me but just,” he huffed out some air and before he could continue his rambling, you let out a laugh and scooted upwards. Now you were above him, your elbows and forearms giving you enough support on the mattress and just enough space between you two. He blinked up at you in surprise. “What’s so funny about that?” he asked, fidgeting with the edge of the cover and you just leaned down to shortly but firmly press your lips onto his. He looked back up at you like his brain just short circuited – which you assumed wasn’t impossible – and you smiled down at him. “I have been flirting with you, if it is any consolation. Thank goodness you talked to someone about it though, I almost gave up.” That was a lie but the face he made was priceless.

You shot a glance at the clock. Both of you were up pretty early so you had some time left. “We still have plenty of time,” you said and looked back down on him when he tilted his head. To be honest, you were curious how far you could go. You were serious about this, always had been so after all that time, maybe you were moving too fast? He reached up to run his finger across the crease between your eyebrows. “What are you thinking about?” You tilted your head to press a kiss to his wrist. “I am serious with this but I don’t want to ruin it with doing something you’re not up for yet, you know? Though we would theoretically have enough time for me to show you how serious I am,” he rolled his eyes at the suggestiveness in your voice though there was a hint of pink back on his cheeks, “I’m kinda afraid to ruin the mood. Which is a first for me,” you admitted. He smiled and brushed a strand of hair behind your ear.

His hands slip under her shirt, caressing her breasts as his mouth travels down her jaw, nipping his way down to her collarbone. Increasingly aware of his intentions, Ana lets out a delighted whimper. Alistair slowly lifts her shirt out of the way to replace his wandering hands with his warm lips, lavishing her breasts with hungry kisses. She abandons herself completely to the heat of his touch as he descends further down her body until he reaches the juncture between her legs.

He slides his hands gently up her thighs to part them and dips his head down. His tongue glides over her folds in a painstakingly slow lap. He teases her clit with tender licks and light suctions, stoking a fire deep inside of her. She feels the gentle caress of his tongue on her flesh sending small jolts of pleasure through her core and shivers

“Maker, please…” she breathes, almost begging for more.

Soft sighs escape her lips as Alistair continues his sensual torture. Then he changes his rhythm. His mouth moves against her faster and faster, and she starts moaning. Loudly. Perhaps a little louder than usual because he stops in his tracks and raises his head to look at her.

“Do you think they can hear us through the tent?” he asks in a worried whisper.

Leliana’s giggles answer his question for her. “Yes, we can.”

“I don’t care,” Ana sighs, grabbing a fistful of his hair to push his head back down between her legs. “Just keep going.”

“At your service.”

His tongue resumes its dance around her clit, licking and sucking until it drives her wild. He looks up, straight into her eyes, and the lustful look he gives her is what ends her. She grasps at the covers around her, her back arching, her toes curling. Her orgasm is loud, long and intense. There is no doubt she just awakened whoever had yet to rise. And perhaps even half of Thedas.

Alistair’s head emerges from between her thighs, a deeply satisfied grin carved across his handsome face. “Judging by your reaction, I assume it was good, right?” he murmurs, pulling himself back up to kiss her.

“You were wonderful.” She pulls him into another passionate kiss. “Absolutely wonderful.”

After rescuing him from the highwaymen, introducing him to Kim, and fixing his knee, Cassidy helps escort Thomas to the upper floor of Prosperity with Carmina in tow. She walks next to him despite him saying that he doesn’t need help, she’s there just in case as they head up the stairs and he has to put weight on his injured knee. He doesn’t cry out like he had when she first found him but he’s still limping of course and flinching occasionally. It makes her worry that maybe the damage is worse than they thought but she keeps that to herself as she guides him to the room that the two of them will be sharing now.

“Sorry you two don’t get your own rooms,” Carmina says from behind them, shifting the dufflelbag she’s carrying from one shoulder to the other.

“Ah, we’re used to it. At least we get actual beds this time,” Thomas replies as Cassidy opens the door to the room. He limps inside first while she takes the duffel from Carmina, nodding in agreement with his statement.

“There’s clothes in there and mom put a first aid kit in there too, just in case,” she says gently, giving a meaningful look towards Thomas.

“Thanks,” Cassidy replies, slinging the bag over her shoulder. “He’ll probably need it.”

“I’m fine,” Thomas tells them both. Carmina just barely manages to catch herself before she laughs and gives Cassidy a good luck with that, you’re going to need it look before heading back downstairs.

Cassidy turns to enter the room, closing the door with her foot as she takes off her hat and lets her dark hair fall out of it’s ponytail. It's not a very big room just enough for two twin beds, a crate, and a dresser that she’s been using to store extra clothes along with her weapons and ammo.

“She’s a good kid,” Thomas remarks as he leans against a crate -which she still isn’t sure if it's there just to serve as a table or if there’s really some kind of supplies inside- taking some of the weight off his bad knee.

“The world would be much better off if there were more people like her in it, and her mother too,” Cassidy replies, tossing the duffel and her hat onto the closest bed and opening it. True to her word there’s a first aid kit right on top and enough clothes to fill up the rest of the bag beneath it, not that she ever doubted Carmina. The kit is even in an old white plastic box with the words First Aid printed on top of it which is pretty impressive given that most first aid kits are just random medical supplies thrown into whatever sort of container can hold them these days.

“Shirt,” she commands over her shoulder, half distracted as she sorts through the surprisingly well stocked kit. It's not pre-Collapse well stocked of course, it's not like you’re going to find real bandages and Tylenol in there, but it has enough of the post Collapse equivalents to be a pretty damn good kit. She has to remember to ask Kim where she got all this stuff and if there’s enough left to make a few more for the road.

“Cassie,” Thomas says softly but his voice is strained, the nickname that only he uses for her when they’re along cutting through her train of thought. Immediately she looks over to him and for the first time since she saw him in that garage, he looks fucking exhausted sitting on top of the crate, his body slouched as he rests an elbow on his good knee. The long horrible days he spent with the highwaymen written in the bruises and scrapes that dot his bare chest and arms.

Now worried, Cassidy goes over to him carefully slotting herself into the v of his legs. Thomas drops his head so it rests on her shoulder, his thumbs hooking through her belt loops and pulling her as close as she can get. She wants to wrap her arms around him, give him the comfort he’s seeking and that she needs too, but she can see even more bruises and scrapes across his shoulders and down his back.

“What’s wrong?” Cassidy asks gently, worry obvious in her voice as she pulls away a little so she can cup his face in her hands since that seems to be the only place she knows she won’t accidentally hurt him. It also makes him look at her and there’s something in his blue eyes that makes her chest tighten. Her mind suddenly kicks into overdrive wondering if he’s been hiding just how bad off he really is. She got a hint of it coming up the stairs sure but this wouldn’t be the first time that he’s hidden an injury for the sake of keeping up the appearance of the unbreakable Thomas Rush.

“Just-” He cuts himself off, shaking his head before he leans forward enough that he can rest his forehead against hers. “With your fall and the highwaymen and everything else out there,” Thomas swallows hard and takes a deep breath, “I really really didn’t think that you’d ever be coming for me. I wanted to hope but after everything-”

This time Cassidy cuts him off by pressing a lingering kiss to his lips. His hands move from her hips to the small of her back, keeping her close as he balls his fists into her shirt. She kisses him again, deeper this time, trying to pour all her affection and relief to finally have him back in her arms again into it before pulling away.

“Hey, I’m here with you okay?” She presses their foreheads together again, thumbs trailing over the dried blood and dirt still on his cheeks. Thomas’ eyes are downcast, filled with guilt that he has no business shouldering and if he wasn’t so injured she would shake him. The train, Barnes, none of that was his fault and if he did doubt her ability to come save him for the first time since they’ve known each, it was only because he didn’t think that she was alive enough to do it.

Because as they both know, only death is going to stop her from getting him back. Well at least she knows that, seems like one of them needs a reminder.

“It’s going to take a hell of a lot more than you shoving me off a cliff, the Twins and their highwaymen, and whatever the hell else lives up here to stop me from saving you from whatever kidnappers or hostage takers or wild animal has you in it's sights this week,” Cassidy tells him full of conviction and steel, ready to take on the world in order to keep him safe if she has to. Thomas lets out a tired little chuckle at their old joke that he’s always in trouble and she’s always saving him. It's only partially true, trouble follows them like a shadow so he’s saved her almost as many times as she’s saved him.

“I’m with you, okay? You aren't getting rid of me that easily Thomas Rush,” she tells him sternly, gently poking the middle of his chest.