When the taxi pulled into Catherine's driveway, Gil passed enough cash forward to cover the fare and a tip, and then he grabbed his overnight bag and left the car.
He opened the door with his key and stepped inside. Catherine had been in the kitchen; she heard him come in, and she stepped out into the hall, drying her hands on a dishtowel
"I didn't hear your car," she said, after kissing his cheek.
"Took a cab."
Catherine raised an eyebrow. "You really take this seriously, don't you?"
He shrugged. "Just being cautious."
"Okay," she murmured, rubbing his arms as she stepped back to study him. "You look like hell," she commented. "Warrick told me what happened."
Gil sighed and nodded. "Yeah," he whispered.
He shivered when Catherine ran her hands up to his shoulders, past his neck, and into his hair. He bowed his head, pressing his forehead into her shoulder.
"Let's get you into a relaxing bath," she murmured. "Lindsey and I'll get a meal together while you're resting."
"Thanks," he whispered.
"Go put your stuff in the bedroom," she told him. "And I'll start filling the tub."
"Gimme a kiss first."
Catherine smiled and tipped his head up so it was level with hers; then, she brushed the fingers of one hand over his cheek. When their lips touched, it was sweet and comforting. Gil closed his eyes and savoured the contact.
"Better?" she asked.
"Mmmhmmm..."
&&&&
Gil stepped out into the hall, dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt, and followed the sounds of Catherine and her daughter.
They were in the kitchen, sorting out containers of chinese take out. "My dear, you cooked," he teased, stopping at her side to kiss her shoulder. He looked down at Lindsey. "Is this your doing?"
Lindsey grinned. "We haven't had take out in forever."
"Softie," Gil accused Catherine.
"You're spending the weekend with your favourite girls," she told him, as she ruffled Lindsey's hair and tickled her neck. "We're celebrating."
"Fair enough."
"You want a beer?" she asked Gil. "Wine?"
"Beer's fine," he replied. "I'll get it. You, too?"
"Sure."
He looked at Lindsey. "And what'll you have to drink?"
"Choc'lit milk," she said quickly. She paused, and then added: "Please."
"Sure," he said, before going to the fridge.
Catherine rubbed his back as she passed him, on her way to one of the drawers to find the chopsticks; he smiled at her, and patted her posterior. She squeaked and then laughed.
He grinned at her before he took the bottles of beer and Lindsey's glass of chocolate milk to the table.
It was so easy to be a family, he thought, as he listened to the little girl's story about art class.
An hour later, when they had piled into Catherine's bed and put a movie on, he was still thinking along those lines. Lindsey was between them, fighting sleepiness, and as she drifted off, her head rolled against Gil's shoulder.
Catherine was sound asleep half an hour after Lindsey started to snore. Gil bit a chuckle back as Catherine draped her arm around Lindsey and his body. Then, he studied them; his heart seemed to tighten as he watched his family sleep.
"Take a picture," Catherine whispered groggily. "It'll last longer."
"Sleeping Beauty wakes," he said, smiling as his cheeks flushed a bit.
"Ha."
Gil reached over and brushed a stray strand of hair off of her face. "I'll go tuck Lindsey into bed," he whispered.
"Thanks," she whispered back.
He smiled again and then began to scoop Lindsey up into his arms. The little girl stirred, but didn't wake, so Gil continued down to her bedroom. He tucked her in, turned on her night light, and then closed Lindsey's door as he left.
When he returned to Catherine, he found her lighting candles and dimming the light fixtures.
"I thought you'd fall back asleep," he commented, as he turned the television off.
She smiled at him, shook her head, and then said, "Hardly. I was just taking a power nap."
Gil chuckled. "You were a heartbeat away from snoring along with your daughter."
Catherine stuck her tongue out at him. "Was not."
"Was, too."
"Was not."
"Was, too, my dear," he said, smirking at her. Catherine chuckled, and the lighthearted dispute dissipated. He waved his hand around and asked, "What's all this?"
Catherine smirked. "We still have an experiment to carry out."
Gil grinned. "Right. How could I forget?"
&&&&
After Catherine had her fun tormenting Gil, she noticed that he had that dark gleam in his eye that meant two things: firstly, she was in trouble; and, secondly, she was really going to enjoy it.
Gil picked up one of the candles that Catherine had been playing with, and he watched the flame dance around the wick. She watched the glow of the fire in his eyes, and smiled; he had that focused expression on his face that he only displayed when he was conducting a very intriguing experiment.
He teased her first with a kiss, easing her into something familiar; when she least expected it, he tipped the candle and let a small amount of wax drip down onto her skin.
She hissed and arched against him. Gil rewarded her with another kiss.
After that, Catherine's nerves were on high alert; she knew he would try to seduce her into forgetting what he was trying to do.
A few times---when the kisses were really spectacular---his ploy worked. But, even when she expected the white hot sensation upon her skin, she still reacted strongly.
Gil lowered his lips to Catherine's neck and kissed her flushed skin as he continued to tease her. She whimpered; she knew he was going to leave marks all over her neck but she didn't care. It felt too good.
He had to kiss her when he started coating her nipples in melted wax; her moans grew to be too loud. The heat was so centralised, so intense. She writhed slightly in reaction, and blinked up at him.
"What..." she panted. "What are you doing?"
He smiled. "I'm experimenting," he told her, as if it made all the sense in the world.
The heat faded as the first layers of wax cooled and hardened; occasionally, a drop of wax would roll down her breast, towards her collarbone, and she'd sigh softly and reach out and squeeze his arm.
"Gil... seriously."
He smiled and kissed the tip of her nose, before kissing her lips. "I think you will enjoy this," he whispered.
"I can't feel anything anymore except a little heat," she pointed out.
"Hold on, hold on," he replied, rolling onto his back so he could reach the bedside table. He set the candle down in its dish, and then he rolled back on his side, towards her.
"Now what?"
"You are too impatient," he commented.
She raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, so?"
"If you would just wait, you'd understand what I'm about to do," he murmured, as he stroked her cheek.
"Tease."
"Yes," he agreed. "And your point is what, Catherine?"
She tried to glare at him, but his fingers were brushing along the underside of her breast. The skin hadn't been treated as liberally with the wax, but it was still tender; the gentle brush of fingertips over the pink skin made her shiver and gasp.
"N-no point," she whispered.
"Good," he murmured, before kissing her lips.
As Catherine got swept up in the kiss, she felt her grip on her awareness of her surroundings fading. She lost herself in the gentle caresses of lips and hands.
And then, she felt a sharp pinch.
Gil had pinched one of her nipples between his thumb and index finger, crushing the wax in the process. She squealed under his mouth and felt her body arching up into his hand and body.
"Oh, god," she croaked, opening her eyes and looking up at him.
Gil smiled. "A success."
"Uh huh," she panted. She brought a hand up to his chest. "Roll onto your back," she whispered.
"We're not finished."
"We're about to be," she insisted, following him as he rolled. She straddled his hips, teasing them both with a simple rocking of her hips. Gil groaned.
Catherine smirked and pushed her hand down onto his chest to give herself enough leverage to lift up. Gil supported her, placing one hand on her hip to give her a bit more balance.
"No need to rush---"
"Oh, shut up," she hissed, as she held his erection in one hand and slowly lowered herself down onto him.
Gil groaned quietly as his fingers dug into her hip, guiding her down. Catherine took a minute when he was buried inside of her; she wanted to go slowly, but she also wanted him as quickly as possible.
He made the decision for her; he began to guide her hips in an easy back and forth movement. She smiled and took over, gradually increasing the speed of her actions. Gil began to make soft noises in the back of his throat; his eyes closed and his brow furrowed.
Catherine dug her nails into his chest as she rocked against him. She felt one of Gil's hands traveling up her body, and she thought she was prepared, but when Gil pinched the other wax-covered nipple, she hadn't been ready for the electric current that ran straight from her chest to her abdomen.
She cried out and fell forward, shuddering and twitching a little as her orgasm washed over her.
Gil's chuckle was the first thing that registered in her ears.
"Gil," she whispered.
"Mmmm..." he hummed, running his hands over her body. Catherine sighed and did the same thing, tracing over the contours of his body before she resumed moving.
She leaned down and kissed Gil as they moved together; she brushed the fingers of one hand through his hair, teasing the nape of his neck and his temple. He sighed against her lips and then slowly turned them over.
On her side, she found it more difficult to move. On a brighter side, she could wrap one of her legs around him, holding him more securely to her. Gil's arm went around her back, cradling her; their movements slowed to a crawl. Neither of them seemed concerned about a finish line.
"Love you," Catherine whispered, before nipping at his earlobe. She smiled when Gil shuddered against her body. He made a soft noise, his breath puffing against her ear. Then, he slowly rolled them over again, so she was on her back.
She shivered in anticipation. Gil looked down at her with very dark eyes; she could barely see the blue, a sign that he was in deep.
After she wrapped both of her legs around him, crossing her ankles behind his body, he started moving with more force. Catherine sighed happily and moved with him, her hands anchoring themselves upon his shoulders.
When Gil's muscles started to tremble, she smiled and leaned up to kiss his neck. She waited for a few moments to pass, and then she slowly bit into his neck. Gil started to groan, but he cut the sound off before it grew to be too loud. Then, he stilled.
She smiled and rubbed his back while laving the bite mark with her tongue. Gil sighed softly and his elbows unlocked; he rested against her, his back rising and falling quickly as his system leveled off.
A few minutes passed, and then Gil rolled off of her. He turned onto his side and smiled a little. "You okay?" he asked quietly.
"Gil, if you have to ask that, you weren't paying attention," she murmured, before reaching out and stroking the bridge of his nose.
"Did I hurt---"
"Shhh," she whispered, running that finger that was on his nose to his lips. "No, you didn't. It felt really good."
He smiled, nodded, and curled up around her. Catherine returned the embrace and kissed his shoulder.
"Sorry about the bite."
Gil chuckled. "No, you're not."
"Okay... maybe I'm not."
He continued to chuckle as he brushed his fingers through her wavy hair. "Maybe not," he conceded.
"I'm gonna check on Linds, okay?" she whispered. "Then, I'll come back."
He nodded and moved his arms. She got up, grabbed his shirt, and as she put it on, she walked to the door.
"Do you have to wear my shirt?"
"It looks good on me."
Gil groaned. "I know."
She grinned and then left the bedroom. She padded down the hall to check on her daughter; when she was satisfied that Lindsey was sleeping soundly, she crept into the kitchen for the remainder of the take out leftovers.
Gil was watching television when she came back into the room, a bottle of beer, a container of food, and two sets of chopsticks in her hands.
"Midnight snack?"
"This is our marathon weekend," she told him. "We need to eat to keep our strength."
"And the beer is for..."
"It was either that or Lindsey's chocolate milk."
Gil chuckled and opened the bottle while she dug into the cold dumplings and noodles. He took a set of chopsticks from her, and started picking at the food, too.
"This is nice," she murmured.
He smiled. "Yeah," he agreed.
"So... how much recovery time do you think you'll need?" Catherine asked, eyebrows up, and lower lip pouting out a bit.
Only one of Gil's eyebrows jumped up in response. Then, he offered her a dumpling with his chopsticks. She let him put it into her mouth, and as she chewed she smiled a little.
Gil laughed. "We'll see, okay?" he told her. "I'm an old man."
"Hardly," she purred.
"Catherine."
She giggled softly and stole the bottle of beer from his hand. He shook his head and chuckled softly. It was going to be a long weekend.
