The noise that she made had him weak in the knees again, and with her fingers tangled in his hair there was no part of his mind now still arguing to stop. He wanted her; he had been wanting her so badly for so long. He'd replayed their one night together so many times in his head at this point that he wasn't even sure how much of it he really remembered and how much was where he'd filled in the alcohol-indued blanks with fantasy, but now he had the real thing so close, and she was wearing so little — Christmas would have been a better time to do something like this, out on the boat alone in the sea, but she hadn't been wearing just a coat and a nightgown then, and he hadn't been drunk, and — and there was something else, too: he hadn't been so desperate, then, for some proof that they were really going to make it through to the other side of this courtship process. But this was proof, because if she could kiss him like this in the garden and if she could moan like that in the middle of the night, how could they possibly not?

He kissed lower, down as far towards the top of her breasts as he could without removing her nightgown. He still had one hand on her right breast but he moved the other, from her hip to the space between her legs.

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Zelda thought about it all the time; not just kissing, but the time on the Voyager, and the point at which things started to feel better, good, with him inside her. She tried not to - it was really much better for her if she didn't think about it, since they were very much not allowed to have sex again - but even if there was a wall when she thought about it during the day, she sometimes woke up from dreams with the sensation of Alfred's hands on her hips.

Oh. Last time he had not touched her there, at least not as deliberately, and Zelda bit off another moan by pressing her face into the top of his head.

"Alfred," she said, and for a second she thought she might actually ask him to stop; might have actually allowed her sense to take over. She was sober, she knew better, she could have lost everything the first time and she could wait. I just need a little more time. Surely, she didn't need to be cavorting with Alfred in her garden in the middle of the night?

Instead, Zelda rolled her hips forwards, experimentally, pressing the space between her legs into his hand. She tightened her grip on his hair - not painfully, just enough so that she had a fistful of his hair in her grip, like it could anchor her to this spot. "Please," she said.

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AMAZING set by MJ

He hesitated when she said his name but did not move his hand. He could feel her breath against his skin — could feel how much she wanted this, but if she said stop he would have stopped, because beneath all his desire and the heat that had risen within him he still knew this to be a terrible idea. But she didn't say stop; she said please.

Alfred moved his hand against her, his motions in the same rhythm as hers. He let go of her breast and used his free hand to roughly unbutton the front of his shirt. He didn't intend to do everything tonight but he wanted her to touch him, to have her hands against his skin. When he'd gotten a few buttons off he grabbed one of her hands and moved it there, laying it right over his heart as he continued kissing her neck, continued touching her.

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Something seemed to be building; little waves of feeling from between her legs through the rest of her body, with an anchor-point in Alfred's lips on her neck. Her fingertips pressed tightly to Alfred's chest - she could feel his heartbeat through his skin, and see the arches of his tattoos. She was right, after a few minutes - a wave of pleasure hit and it was like all of the tension went out of her, and she had just enough presence of mind to release her grip on Alfred's hair and cover her mouth with her hand to stifle the sounds of a moan.

After, Zelda kept her hand on his chest, catching her breath. She rested the wrist of her other hand against the back of Alfred's neck. She wasn't sure what to say - her instinct, weirdly, was thank you, but she knew that would have been odd and that, maybe, this was one of those things that you didn't know how to talk about until you were married.

(Married women did not let themselves be touched like this in gardens; Zelda had never actually heard about women being touched like that at all.)

"I love you," she said, still a little breathless.

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AMAZING set by MJ

It may not have been his climax but Alfred had ridden through it with her, his breath matching hers, so that he was feeling vaguely spent at the end all the same.

"I love you, too," he said between breaths. He gently took his hands away from her and pulled her coat closed — she probably wasn't cold right now but she might be in a moment, when she came down. He let out a long, contented sigh and lightly kissed her on the lips.

"I guess I should go," he said, after a moment.

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Right, that was the other reason she didn't have a script - when married people did this, neither of them had to leave. Zelda wanted to curl against him upstairs, but the best outcome if they did that was her father having a heart attack. She didn't want to be responsible for that, either.

"I'll see you soon?" she said; surely they could bring their schedules together faster, this time.

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The following 1 user Likes Zelda Darrow's post:1 user Likes Zelda Darrow's post
   J. Alfred Darrow

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AMAZING set by MJ

"Will you?" he asked, not with sarcasm but just a genuine question. Alfred had interpreted her words as a statement rather than a question of her own and thought perhaps he'd forgotten some engagement they had together. To the best of his knowledge, they hadn't been invited to any of the same things for the rest of the month, because it was outside the social season and there was nothing to be invited to, and he didn't consider March soon. That was part of what had driven him here, tonight, because the alternative was just to let her stay mad at him for at least two more weeks.

He caught up, though, and realized what she meant. "Oh — yeah. Sure you will," he said, trying to sound encouraging and optimistic about it though he was not feeling particularly optimistic himself.

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Just because she was feeling sort of loose and boneless now didn't mean they didn't still have the same problems, and now that she wasn't angry the thought of going so long without seeing him again felt even worse. She bit her lip, trying to figure it out - she didn't want to risk getting lucky with the garden twice.

"I can talk to Dionisia," Zelda said, "We're - friends again." Well, kind of. They were kind of friends again, but Zelda was not sure she had any confidence in it. "If I ask she might help us."

She was going to have to ask carefully, could not just spring it on Dio - but of everyone, surely Dionisia would understand?

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The following 1 user Likes Zelda Darrow's post:1 user Likes Zelda Darrow's post
   J. Alfred Darrow

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AMAZING set by MJ

Alfred paused; he knew Dionisia and her whole backstory with Zelda, and had a rather complicated backstory with her himself (complicated because the time lapse last February had complicated things, not complicated in the way things with Jo were complicated). He hadn't expected any help from this quarter, mostly because Dionisia was married to Ari and Ari had never shown any sign of warming to him since hexing him in a hospital supply closet. If Zelda thought it was possible, though, then maybe it was.

"Oh," he said, visibly brightening. "Alright. If you want. If she can. If you think she will," he said. He was not really sure which of those things he'd meant to say, but it didn't really matter. Zelda would understand. He was grinning again.

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

He was grinning, and even though Zelda felt as if she was creating problems for herself down the line she could not help but grin back. "I think she will," Zelda said, although she really wasn't sure how to phrase this or even ask - but surely if she explained how constrained she felt right now Dionisia would be sympathetic?

She pressed a light kiss to Alfred's mouth. "So I'll see you soon," she said, letting herself believe it this time - she had to be able to make Dionisia understand, because she had to be able to see Alfred before March.

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AMAZING set by MJ

"I'll see you soon," he echoed, unable to stop smiling as she stepped back from their latest kiss. This may have been stupid, coming here tonight, but with such a conclusion he was finding it hard to regret the decision.

"'Bye," he said, then apparated to the street.

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER