Chapter Twenty-Five:
Precious Things

Carly flinched at the sound of the trunk of Nikolas's jag slamming. She was already seated in the bucket seat of the passenger side, one knee drawn up to her chin, and her eyes fixed on the Brownstone. It looked... empty. She knew there were people in there, that they were living lives, but there were no warm lights in windows, all the curtains were drawn... even the porch light looked cold in the twilight.

Somehow, she'd thought when she left this place, it would be under different circumstances. Occasionally, in therapy, Gail would force her (Ok, so she would say "encouraged") to picture a life beyond the her current situation. To try to imagine living in the 'real' world again. Taking care of herself. Having her own place, a job, a... well -- a life. She'd never been able to do it -- not the way Gail wanted her to. What she usually came up with were variations on previous themes... Robin dumping Jason, and Jason saving her from her tiny mother-infested apartment, her depression, her humiliating trips to GH to undergo 'treatment'... all of it.

Little unsettling, now that she thought about it. Wasn't that different from what was happening -- with a few key casting changes. Thing was, that fantasy didn't really go much further than the acquisition of what she wanted. It would end some place around... here. (Ok, not here, but for her current purposes, Carly decided to keep this analysis G-rated). Now that she was actually here -- leaving -- she had a queasy feeling that this wasn't the ending of anything. She wasn't riding off into the sunset. She was blasting off straight into the sun itself.

Carly was jarred out of her contemplations by the sound of the driver's side door opening. She let her leg slip to the ground, and turned her attention to her current reality: the Brave New World of Nikolas Cassadine. A world she was still in the process of figuring out.

Nikolas didn't actually look at her as he got in the car. In fact, he immediately occupied himself with working the mechanics of his seat belt. Carly watched him as he managed to move from the finite study of fastening the belt, to the art of putting key in ignition, without ever acknowledging her presence. Like his full attentions was necessary to perform these actions. Either he was a little slow... or something was wrong.

Yeah. This was her life; something was wrong.

"Nikolas?"

Nikolas paused with his hand on the key, ready to turn it in the ignition. He'd been waiting for this... This moment, when they were finally alone again. Free of family, watching eyes... all of it. Now that moment had come and he found himself curiously unable to look at her.

"Yeah..."

He heard her sigh, and slide down in her seat. "Never mind," she muttered. "Let's just go."

Nikolas cleared his throat. "Ok." He started to turn the key again, when Carly's hand darted out, and slid around the back of his neck. Startled, he turned his head toward her as she brought her other hand up to hold his jaw and pull him towards her. She pressed her lips to his, firmly and without additional flourished -- just touched this intimate part of herself to him. Nikolas's eyes closed automatically, and he savored the warmth of his mouth against hers. He felt her relax, lean into him, as she started kissing his bottom lip gently. He could feel that familiar rush that came with this -- her sudden gestures of affection -- and felt unable to move, to do anything but let her kiss him.

It took him a few moments to slip back into the here and now, after Carly pulled away from him -- to absorb that something was probably expected of him now. Sure enough, he opened his eyes to see Carly giving him a dangerous look, as she huddled against the door of the car.

"Ok," she demanded, leaning back against the car door. "What's going on?"

Nikolas blinked. "Going..."

"We freaked you out, didn't we?"

It took him a moment to catch up. "What?"

"No," she insisted. "Let's have it. How pathetic do you think I am, that you had to come and save me from my family?"

"I didn't save you."

"Pretty damn close, Cassadine." Carly cocked her head to one side. "You came on all Clark Gable meets King Solomon. I was a raving lunatic in there."

"That's because they're your family," he gave a resigned smile. It was a tiny -- almost infinitesimal gesture. "If you think I'm calm and collected, wait until you see me with mine."

"Right," Carly cringed. "That was round two for you, wasn't it?" Nikolas felt the tips of her fingers brush very lightly across his knuckles. His hand jolted at her touch. "Ok. What's the matter with you?"

He swallowed hard. Oh, this was good. He was handling this wonderfully. He pulled in a long breath, in an attempt to fortify himself, and looked over at her. She had her back against the side of the car, looking at him like he was some neighborhood bully threatening to ride his bike over her favorite doll. Say something, he urged himself. Just... get something out.

Nothing offered itself. He looked at her, helplessly, then reached out and took her hand in his. Carly started to pull her hand away, then relented. Nikolas watched her stare down at their intertwined hands, her brow knit in thought.

"Is it Luke?" she asked finally, without looking up. "Cause I really was going to scratch his eyes out for what he said to you."

"I know." He winced a little. "I..." what? appreciate it? He squeezed her hand slightly while searching for words.

"He shouldn't do that," she was talking too fast. "It's hitting below the belt. I really should have thrown that chair at him."

"Carly."

"Look, I'm SORRY." she looked up at him, her chin set as if she was preparing for a battle Nikolas had no intention or desire to give her. "Spencers fight dirty. its a family trait --"

"I'm ok."

Carly let out a bitter laugh. "Beg to differ."

He closed his eyes. God, he wanted to say, I'm trying. I'm really... really trying. He wanted this to be easy -- natural. And maybe, if he'd been anyone else, it would have been. But from the moment Bobbie had left them alone together, Nikolas had been feeling completely lost. A lot had happened between the moment they'd parted company at the Quartermaine Mansion and now. And... he wasn't sure what to do about it.

One thing was running through his head on a continuous loop. That moment when Bobbie had looked at him -- just LOOKED at him -- and known he was in love with Carly. It was disturbing. Saying the words out loud to his father had been one thing -- knowing that people could just read him like that... What kind of Cassadine WAS he, anyway?

The transparent kind, apparently.

When Nikolas opened his eyes, Carly was still watching him expectantly. "You were amazing in there," he said, finally.

She snorted. "I was a freak."

"No..." he shook his head. "You... Said --"

Carly turned in her seat, cutting off the rest of his sentence. "I'm sorry I told my mother about the window. I get mad, stuff like that just comes out of my mouth."

"I don't care about that."

"Well, you care about SOMETHING!" she pulled her hand free of his, and ran it quickly through her hair. "So let's just get this over with, ok? Cause it's been a long day, and in about half an hour, I'm going to be physically incapable of fighting anymore."

"Carly."

"What?" she spit the word out.

Nikolas looked over at her. "I'm not very good at letting people know..." he took a breath. "Letting them know that I..." He shook his head. "See? I can't even say it."

"Alright. You're just confusing me now."

"I'm trying to say thank-you. For..." he searched for the word. "Caring. About what Luke said."

Carly looked confused. "Why wouldn't I?"

Nikolas turned away quickly. "That's a line of thought I'd rather not explore at the moment."

The car was silent, and then Nikolas felt Carly's hand lightly graze his cheek. God, that always moved him -- something about the gentleness, the intimacy of the gesture -- when she touched him like that, he couldn't hold up any guard against her. He raised his eyes to hers, and let her look directly at him. Tried not to think too much about what she was going to see there.

"Was it that crazy with your father?"

"My father..." Nikolas couldn't think of anything further to say.

"Let me guess," Carly's expression darkened. "He thinks I seduced you, or tricked you, or manipulated you into this."

Nikolas hesitated a moment too long before responding, "I don't know what he thinks."

Carly smirked at him. "Liar."

Nikolas tried return the smile, but failed, and looked back at the dash. He didn't want to talk about that. To tell her the things his father had suggested. She'd probably shrug them off, but he wasn't capable of doing that himself. Not right now.

"You know what's going to suck about this?" Carly's voice broke the silence. "I mean, about everyone finding out about us?"

"What," Nikolas spoke deliberately. "Is going to suck?"

"Everyone's going to think that you're the sane one here," he heard her shift in her seat. "And you're not -- because this was YOUR idea. Remember? I just got talked into it. But they're going to think that I am the crazy one, and you just got dragged into one of my schemes".

"Which makes you insane and me stupid," Nikolas wasn't particularly impressed. "I think I'll take aspersions on my mental health over that any day."

"Well," Carly stretched her arms back over the seat. "They could think you did it for the sex."

His eyes darted back to her again and caught the smile on her lips. He made a face. "Or that I'm concocting some elaborate scheme against your family."

Carly gave him a wicked grin. "Or that you're under my spell."

Nikolas let out a quick, breathy laugh. "I am."

The smile disappeared from Carly's face like he'd just flipped a switch. Damn, Nikolas thought. See, that's exactly why he shouldn't be trusting himself to do simple things like TALK right now. Frightening things like that were just going to keep coming out of his mouth if he did.

"Wha..." Carly narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"It..." Nikolas licked his lips, knowing he looked unbelievably uncomfortable. "Can't be normal to want to kiss someone as much as I want to kiss you right now."

Carly stared at him, and Nikolas held his breath. She knows, he thought. She's going to see right through me, and it's going to scare the life out of her. He was about to open his mouth to try to undo the damage, when Carly gave a shrug, her eyes not moving from his.

"To hell with normal."

Nikolas let out his breath, a small sound escaping from his throat. Carly leaned forward and wet her lips in anticipation. Nikolas felt himself swoop down on her. His lips met hers with more than a trace of urgency. His hands slid into her hair, fingers caressing the back of her neck, and his palms brushing against her jaw. The kiss was soft and rough at the same time -- lips pliable and tender, but with an underlying desire for possession that wouldn't be denied. Nikolas could feel her heart beating a mile a minute in her chest -- matching his. He pulled back a little, letting his lips skim across hers, trying to pull away, then sunk into her again. He felt Carly's hand close around his wrist, and managed, finally, to pull back. He rested his forehead against hers, and kept his eyes closed. His breathing was harder than it should have been.

"Feel better?" Carly managed after a moment.

Nikolas made a gesture that lay between nodding and shaking his head. "I don't know."

Carly swallowed. Her hand slid up his arm, gripping his shoulder. "We... Should go somewhere."

"Home," his voice was rough.

"Yeah. And that is?"

He raised his head, and met her eyes with obvious effort. "Guess."

Laura had known something was going on. When she'd gotten home from work that night, with an arm full of groceries, and Lulu on an unsanctioned sugar high, she'd wanted nothing more than to get off her feet. She'd been focusing on it. Unpack groceries, feed Lulu the easiest and quickest dinner she could get away with, and then lock herself in the away from the family and soak in a bath. With a book. A trashy book.

When she'd walked into the kitchen, she caught the end of Lucky speaking in a bitter tone, and then noticed that the sentence was aborted the moment she came in. Lucky looked up at her with a distinctly guilty expression, and Elizabeth stared at her like Bambi caught in a hunter's cross-hairs.

"What?"

They'd both sprung forward, Lucky sweeping his little sister up into his arms. Elizabeth, babbling something about having too much energy and needing something to do, grabbed the bags of groceries from her. Before Laura had even had a chance to respond to the kids, they had relieved her of her daughter, her dinner duties, and were telling her to go take a nap.

She'd been too stunned to challenge it on them. Too stunned, and suddenly far too scared. Something had happened. Something bad. And if they were being this nice to her, it could only be one thing. Either Lucky had wrecked the car, or...

It was Nikolas.

Luke had told her when he got home. He had less than no details, and was clearly working hard at not indulging in a tangent. Laura had a feeling that something tangent-related was being left out of the story, but she was too tired, too shocked and too... sad... She was too sad to ask any questions. And now she stood at the window, trying to figure out just what to make of all this.

She knew she should be worried about him. She should wonder just what was going on in his head, how he'd ended up with Bobbie's daughter, what he was feeling, why he was doing this... Instead she was trying to figure out how long it had been since she'd talked to Nikolas. She tried -- she did. But he had made it clear that he wanted distance -- as much as he could manage and still live in the same city as her. She gave it, because she had never known how to give him anything else. There wasn't a day it didn't hurt, but she'd been living with that so long, it was almost a friend. No... what was upsetting her about all this wasn't the who-what-where-and-why of what Nikolas had done. It was... It was that another event had taken place in her son's life, and she'd missed it. And this time, she was around to know about it.

The door to the kitchen opened behind her, and she turned at the sound of it pushing air as it swung shut. Lucky was standing across the room, looking at her with barely concealed concern. She forced a smile.

"You're back."

"Yeah," Lucky crossed to the room, his eyes fixed on the couch, clearly trying to play this like nothing had happened. "I was just walking Elizabeth home. I thought..."

"You wanted to give your father and I space to fight."

Lucky flopped down on the couch. "It was space. I didn't have any ideas about what you were going to do with it."

"We didn't fight."

"Glad to hear it."

Laura stepped down into the living room. "Lucky."

"I haven't talked to him."

Laura bit her lip. There wasn't anyone one else she could talk to about this right now. She'd considered calling Stefan, but that had disaster written all over it. And Bobbie would fillet her. Right now, she didn't feel like she had the strength to deal with either of them. Instead she came over to the couch and sunk down beside the son that did speak to her. Against all odds.

"Are you worried?"

Lucky let out a quick laugh. "You mean should YOU be worried."

Laura turned towards Lucky, tucking one leg under her, and leaning her arm on the back of the sofa. "I mean... Is he Ok?"

Lucky looked over at her, his eyes searching her face. She never knew what he was looking for when he did that, but she submitted to the scrutiny anyway.

"I don't know."

"Did you know he and Carly were..." Laura searched for the word. "Friends?"

"Little more than friends, from all reports."

"Lucky."

Lucky groaned, and looked up at the ceiling. "I talked to him a week ago. After Jason and Robin's wedding. He was looking pretty rough, and... If someone had asked me to put money on what was going on, I'd have said he was..." Lucky paused.

"What?"

He looked over at his mother. "Nik was in love with Robin. Carly was in love with Jason. I don't know if anyone else is doing the math, but it's all adding up to me."

Laura breathed that in. Ohhh... boy. "Adding up to what?"

"That," Lucky turned his eyes away from his mother. "would be the question."

"Any opinions about the answer?"

Lucky's mouth twisted. "Answer unclear. Ask again later."

The Zephyr wasn't any less impressive than it had been the last time Carly had seen it -- towering above the other boats, giving off the impression that it was merely tolerating their presence. If a boat can look smug... this one had it wrapped up. Carly found herself grinning as they walked down the dock towards it. So maybe boat life wasn't what she'd been expecting when she signed up for this deal, but it more than worked for her. Besides -- this was a damn fine boat.

Granted, right then, any place that was 'theirs' held an appeal like no other. She didn't want to see anyone right now. With the day fading into the distance behind her, she was able to focus on the little bright spots. The good. That was where she wanted to curl up. To hell with her family, his family, the rest of the world. The boat seemed like the most perfect place on earth at the moment.

"Did I tell you how much I like the water?" Carly sighed, an edge of something resembling happiness sneaking into her voice.

"You didn't have to," Nikolas said, softly. Carly glanced over at him, inquisitively. He was walking along side of her, though there was a sizable gap between them. "It was written on your face last night. I recognized the look."

Carly felt herself flush a bit, and turned away. Sort of creepy, how he kept doing that. "That obvious?"

"I was raised on an island. I know water people."

Carly nodded. "You're one, too."

"It's been said."

Carly laughed, and let her gaze rebound back to him. Nikolas was walking with his hands in his pockets. She couldn't remember if he usually did that -- something about it felt off. But then, almost everything about Nikolas had felt 'off' since they'd left the house. Minus those few moments when he was kissing her. She was still trying to wrap her mind around it. She'd given up on the idea that he was acting weird about something she'd done -- which left... Um. Well, she'd work out what that left when she had a moment. The mere fact that someone wasn't upset at her was novel enough.

"Home, Sweet home." She spoke most to herself, as they approached the boat. Nikolas stopped, and she caught a look of amazement, or shock in his eyes, before he looked down at the boards of the dock. What the hell was going ON with him? She shook her head -- Fine. If he was going to be a freak, then she was going to give him reason to be. She tossed her bag onto the deck, then turned to him, her hand on her hip. "So. Are you going to carry me over the threshold?"

Nikolas looked up sharply. Yep -- the look on his face this time was definitely shock. "I... Uh --" she stumbled over his words. Carly wrinkled her nose.

"Too late!" She turned and grabbed the railing with both hands, and swung herself up and onto the dock with the precision and casual skill of a kid who's spent far too much time on a neighborhood jungle gym. She tossed a playful look over her shoulder at her husband. "Coming?"

"Right behind you," Nikolas pushed the words out on his breath as he watched her walk off down the deck. He really hadn't been himself the last half hour. One could argue that he hadn't actually been himself for the last week. Or, further still -- that he wasn't even sure what 'himself' was anymore. If he had the opportunity, he'd love to sit himself down and ask just what the hell was the matter with him. Amazing how easy the rest of the world seemed to be in comparison to this. Today he'd navigated the decided choppy waters of the Q mansion, Spoon Island, and the Brownstone. He'd met a child who was now his stepson. He'd had a conversation with his father that had to make it on his personal top ten for 'most painful', and then he'd had to deal with Luke Spencer. That was a full day. Why he should feel this completely intimidated around the woman he'd done all of this because of, was a little hard to comprehend. He thought he'd gotten over that around the time she'd agreed to marry him.

But. She made his palms sweat. Even now.

Nikolas took a deep breath and focused the railing, instructing himself to board the boat. Simple tasks -- it was a start. He pulled himself up onto the deck, and followed the path Carly had taken. He found her standing in the cockpit, staring out at the marina.

"Do you think anyone is going to figure out we're here?" She asked without turning around.

Nikolas stepped onto the bench behind her. "The only people who know about this are my family."

"Oh, goody," Carly hugged herself, gazing out at the water. "Turnabout's fair play, I guess."

"They won't bother us."

Carly glanced back at him. "You sound pretty sure of that."

He dropped down onto the floor to stand behind her. "It would be a dramatic move with little or no benefit besides more friction. My father doesn't make mistakes like that."

"You know," Carly furrowed her brow, "Our families are radically different."

Nikolas nodded, his eyes fixed on her neck. He wanted to reach out -- slide his arm around her waist, pull her back to lean against him. Simple gesture. Somehow... his arms wouldn't move. Instead he turned, and pulled the his keys out of his pocket. "I should show you where you can put your bag," he spoke while he moved to the hatch.

"Yeah," Carly spun around to follow him the few steps to the cabin door. "I never really got the full tour last night."

"Well," Nikolas's exhaled, focusing on unlocking the padlocks that held the door shut. "You distracted me."

"Yeah?" She rested her hand on the door jamb, standing dangerously close to him. "When you get distracted, you really go all the way."

"Cassadines don't do things any other way." The lock popped, and Nikolas twisted it open.

"And yet." She drummed her nails lightly on the roof, while he tried to work the key out of padlock -- a task that was proving more difficult than it should have been. "Here I am, still only having seen half the boat."

"That can be fixed," he spoke quietly, trying to ignore how dry his mouth felt. Carly moved to the side only slightly -- the bench at the side of the cockpit didn't allow for a lot of maneuvering room -- giving Nikolas room to pull the hatch up. He slid the sliding security door up, then glanced over at her before pulling the primary door open. "After you."

Carly smirked at him, and took a step forward, standing so that her body was brushing up ever-so-lightly against his. His breath caught. 'God, Nikolas,' he thought, 'Just KISS her.'

He turned his attention back to the door and kept it there.

"Nikolas?" Carly spoke carefully, her voice light. "Did you get hit on the head somewhere between here and the Quartermaines, and are just avoiding telling me about it?"

Nikolas's eyes jerked back to her. She was teasing... but in a manner of speaking, she wasn't that far off. He gave a weak smile.

"I'm not usually this --"

"Weird?"

"Tentative."

"I've noticed."

Nikolas looked down at the keys he was still holding in his hand. "I thought..." He took a breath. "I thought you might still be... Upset. About --"

"I'm a master at avoidance."

He nodded, still looking at the keys with fascination. Nope. No avoidance here. "I don't want to --"

"Give me a complex? Too late."

Nikolas looked up at her. "No. No, I..." What? He WHAT? "I want you to be comfortable here."

Carly looked at him oddly. And that included him standing at ten paces at all times HOW, exactly?

"So far, so good." The tinge of irony in her voice was hard to miss.

Nikolas cleared his throat and gestured to the door to the hatch. "I can show you where to put your bag."

Carly raised her eyebrows. "Sure. That's a start."

She reached over and picked up her bag off the bench where she'd dumped it. Apparently Nikolas hadn't decided to suddenly become more fathomable in the hour they'd been apart on parent-duty. God, he should come with a manual. Or maybe years of being with Jason had dulled her abilities to read men who didn't think in right angles. With Jason, everything was straightforward -- black and white. Nikolas was as easy to figure out as a butterfly ballot.

His hand lightly touched the small of her back as she passed him -- probably an automatic gesture on his part. Always the gentleman, she smiled wryly to herself. Even when he's clearly having some sort of meltdown.

She came to the end of the steps, and found herself in the Galley. It was lit dimly, with overhead pot lights, that Nikolas must have turned on from a switch at the top of the steps. Two counters ran on either side of her. There was a small sink, and a tiny fridge fit under the left counter. Cabinets ran along the right side, dark stained mahogany, like the rest of the interior, which she could see beyond the end of the counters. She walked to the edge of the tiled floor, and tossed her bag onto a large table that started where the Galley ended. It was dark, with a high polish, and had benches running along the right side and head of the table. There was enough space on the other side to pull some other sort of seating -- what, she wasn't certain. These things tended to work a little like Optimus Prime -- fold out here, push in there, and viola. But she hadn't seen enough of them to know the tricks.

"Nice," she observed, as she heard Nikolas step down into the Galley. "Very slick." She spun around and faced him, placing her hands on both counters and effectively blocking the only path to the rest of the cabin. "I'm not letting you out of here until we figure this out."

Nikolas felt his heart pick up speed. This was unreal. No woman had ever -- ever -- made him feel this completely defenseless. Most had the decency not to comment on his periodic bouts of... Well. Insanity. Though he was pretty certain none of them had ever come in contact with so many of them as quickly as Carly had.

"Figure what out?" he asked, weakly.

"The freaky hands-off thing," Carly stared him down. "If you're trying to be gallant, it's not working."

"I'm... not."

"Then you're nervous -- and it's cute as hell, but completely unnecessary."

Nikolas felt trapped. What was he supposed to say? I'm trying to keep myself in check; I don't know how or if you want me to touch you; if I start to touch you, I don't think I'll be able to stop. And if I let myself go, I'm going to make a mistake. I'll say something, do something you won't want me to, and I'll mess this up. I can't mess this up.

"Or it could be me. You could just not WANT to touch me -- is that it?" Carly's words interrupted Nikolas's thoughts. He blinked, and looked up at her.

"You know that's not true." He could tell by the look on her face that she was fairly confident of the hold she had on him.

"Ok," Carly tossed her hair to one side. "So if we've established that it's not me -- and it's not my family... and it's not YOUR family --"

Nikolas exhaled. Fresh hell. "Carly."

"It's Robin, isn't it?"

"What?" Nikolas started. "No!"

Carly's knees nearly buckled with relief at the shock in his voice. She really couldn't take the Robin thing, not after the day she'd had. Thank God she was holding herself up on with the counter.

"You sure about that?" she prodded, keeping her voice steadier than she felt. "Cause I've counted about twenty times you've looked like you wanted to touch me, and held back. And that has to be about something."

"I..." Nikolas glanced around the galley, desperate for something -- anything -- that could get him out of this conversation. "It's not--"

"Nikolas."

He stifled a groan. He felt completely ineffectual. Pathetic. He was screwing this up, damned if he did, damned if he didn't. That feeling abated a little when he saw the look on her face. He swallowed hard. "Yes?"

"If I didn't like you touching me, that would make all of this a much worse decision than it probably is."

He laughed slightly, something he hadn't thought he was capable of. "I know."

"You don't have to ask permission."

"I'm..." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "That's going to take some getting used to."

Carly's expression clouded, as she finally figured out where this was coming from. It WAS about Robin -- whether he was going to admit it or not. Nikolas was used to being with a woman who didn't encourage his touch. Who didn't really want it. She'd seen them together when they were dating -- from distances. Nikolas the new boyfriend... She'd always been wary of how much Robin seemed to keep him at arms length. She sure as hell wasn't that way with Jason. Carly set her jaw determinedly. Ok. If Robin still had some of sort of residual hold on Nikolas -- if she'd instilled bad habits in him -- Carly was just going to have to obliterate them. She released her grip on the counters, and moved to where Nikolas was standing.

Nikolas turned to face her as she approached him, his hands gripping the counter behind him. "Carly..."

Going into full blown seductress-mode, Carly fixed her eyes on his. She lay her hands on the counter opposite him, with a casual touch that directly contrasted the tension Nikolas was exuding. She smiled at him, then sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, lightly.

"What do you want to do to me, Nikolas?" She asked the question like it was casual conversation. Nikolas froze, mouth open slightly, completely without words. Carly didn't let up. "Censors off," she insisted. "I'm your wife. I'm your lover. Tell me what you want to do to me."

Nikolas shook himself, and looked at her incredulously "Right now?"

"RIGHT now."

"See," Nikolas tried to laugh and didn't quite carry it off. "You keep this up, we aren't going to get out of the galley."

Carly shrugged. "I'll take that risk."

Nikolas directed his gaze at the tiled floor, feeling himself flush hot under her stare. This would be so much easier if he could just lift his head and say "Look. I'm in love with you. Which, I know, is not what you agreed to. Not this soon, and not this way." They'd never SAID the words, but there had been an agreement -- a knowledge -- that they weren't marrying because of what they already had, but because of what they could have. What Nikolas had been determined to make them have. He wasn't supposed to fall this fast, or this hard. It felt like a betrayal -- like he was breaking the rules.

"I...Don't..." he let out his breath. "Know how to do that. I don't -- I just --"

He was cut off by the sensation of Carly's body pressing up against him. Her hands caging him against the counter. She looked looked directly into his eyes, and he was silenced by the pure heat of her stare. Her mouth pressed against his, and Nikolas's mind went blank. Her kiss was deep, penetrating, sensual. It took only seconds for Nikolas's desire for her to beat out his rampant neuroses, and take control. He let his eyes close and surrendered to the feelings her kiss stirred in him.

"Don't know how to do what?" she pulled back quickly, leaving Nikolas dizzy.

He shook his head, hard. "Carly..."

She kissed him again, her hands covering his. This time he responded immediately, meeting her, then taking control of the kiss. His hands moved from under hers, to cup her face, hold her close to him. He tipped her head back, and kissed her with all he had... exactly what he'd been trying so hard not to let himself do. It was too hard to resist, too hard to turn away from. All he wanted was her -- entirely, completely, and the idea of waiting, of trying to be cautious, was being burned out of him. He was barely aware of what he was doing as he moved with her to the other counter, pressing her hard against it, the edge digging into her back. Carly broke off the kiss, gasping for breath and speaking against his lips.

"I think you're getting the hang of it."

Nikolas grunted, not bothering to come up with an answer -- not really capable of it. He pulled her to him again, and kissed her deeply. His arms closed around her waist holding her flush against him. He lifted her up, onto the counter, and shuddered at the touch of her finger tips brushing against his neck. He pulled back, trying to get the slightest trace of a grip on himself. She was looking at him through half closed eyes, her breathing heavy.

"I'm..." he shook his head. "God, Carly." His hand slipped into her hair, and cradled the back of her head. He pulled her lips back to his, kissing her slowly, carefully. Trying desperately to savor every way his mouth could move against hers. It was meticulous, Carly thought through a haze of lust. He was trying to push ever conceivable button she had, just through kissing. Like that was enough for him. Her hands slid under his arms, and she moved closer to him, hugging her thighs around his waist and bringing their bodies together.

"You like kissing." she murmured to him, as his lips left hers just for an instant. He sunk back into her, gently pulling her bottom lip between his, before releasing her mouth and answering in a dazed voice.

"Yes..." he breathed, moving to trail his lips down her cheek.

Carly was feeling feverish with triumph. She wasn't about to let up. "What else do you like?" she let the words brush against Nikolas's ear. Quiet, close words.

Nikolas nuzzled her neck. "Your hair."

Carly let out a hiccup, a tiny gasp. She'd been expecting an answer that ran a little more along the lines of the risque. Something about the way he said that -- the simplicity of it -- pressed buttons she hadn't realized she had. "Mmm hmm..." she shivered as his lips found a particularly sensitive spot on her neck.

His fingers threaded through hers. "Your... hands..."

She could feel every ion against her skin. "Yeah?"

His lips found her jaw line. He placed a wet kiss under her chin. "I like... Your skin."

Carly's breathing was growing more ragged. She sighed, shifting her weight on the counter. Her free hand let go of the lip of the counter, and sunk into the hair at the nape of his neck. "Skin..." Oh, GOD, he was getting to her.

"It's soft," he whispered against her ear, his lips grazing her lobe. "It smells good."

Carly let out a moan. Her heart was thundering through her, the blood in her veins felt like it was verging on the boiling point. She tightened her hand in his hair, and pulled him away from her neck, back to her lips.

"Are you getting it?" she gasped, before pressing her lips hard against his. She pulled back and held his face in her hands, her eyes boring into his. "I'm yours."

Nikolas struggled with his breath. "Mine..." The words didn't seem to hold any meaning to him. Carly pulled him into another kiss.

"Yours," she murmured to him. "Body and soul."