Dammit. Lee agreed with him. Some small fiber of Tarin’s being had been hoping that she’d disagree and say that sleep actually was useless. Kissing and everything else usually involved with lots of kissing were way more important. Tarin knew that wasn’t the case though, they were departing for something serious in the morning. Something that neither of them had ever thought they’d be doing. So he just nodded and turned his head, smiling at Lee. Tarin wanted to reach out and put his arm around her, but that was almost as bad as kissing. Too much contact of any kind would keep Lee up. At least they’d gotten a hotel room with two beds. That would make things easier. Lee wanted to spread the kisses out, she really did want to sleep tonight. That settled things, Tarin smiled and nodded, “Spread out kisses it is.” He said.

Lee was thinking hard about whether or not she wanted the rest of Tarin’s gelato. Then she suggested that they simply share and Tarin grinned. “I have such great taste.” He congratulated himself as he took another bite, holding his cup out so that it was within reach of Lee and her spoon when she decided she wanted some.

It was hard to imagine, sitting there with the sun setting over the ocean that only a few weeks before, Tarin had nearly died on a table in the infirmary at the mansion. It was weird, because it almost felt like it hadn’t ever happened. It had to have happened though, Tarin thought with a slightly frown out over the water, things were different. The spirits didn’t bother him nearly as much, unless he was specifically calling to him. The nightmares hadn’t been nearly as bad either. Tarin knew that had something to do with Lee, they were never as bad when she was there, but still. And then there was what had happened to put him in the coma in the first place.

Tarin looked over at Lee and felt just the slightest bit guilty that he hadn’t mentioned what he’d been thinking to her. The fact was, Tarin had managed to remove his consciousness completely from his body. What if he could do it again? Yes, the thoughts had been crossing his mind, and no he hadn’t mentioned it to Lee. Now definitely wasn’t the time though. No matter how nice the night had turned out, there was still that slight undercurrent of tension from what they were about to walk into. Not when everything had turned out so well on this day, not when Tarin was sure that there wasn’t anywhere he’d rather be in the world. Funny how that happened when he went places with Lee.

The sun was sinking lower and lower and the beach was getting darker and darker. It was a beach, so there weren’t many lights to keep it up. As close as she was, Lee was turning into a silhouette as they sat. Tarin took another bite of his quickly dwindling gelato and sighed happily, then turned to look at Lee in the dim light and smiled, “You know, I was kind of just sitting here and thinking about how I couldn’t think of anywhere I’d rather be.” Tarin paused a moment and turned his head to watch as the sun sunk all the way under the horizon. “It’s not the beach though…not even the gelato.”

Tarin finished off his gelato and set the empty cup in the sand between himself and Lee, leaning back on his hands in the sand as he turned back to Lee, “When I’m with you, Lee, I feel good and normal, and all those things I never thought I’d feel.” Tairn paused, he’d said all these things before, “We do things together that I thought were absolutely impossible. I want to try it again, I think we can do it again in Colombia. I just have a great feeling about it. Can you trust me…and not worry quite as much?” Tarin knew he was asking a lot, since Lee loved to worry almost as much as she loved that one thing he did when…Tarin shook his head, banishing the thoughts of that nature that kept trying to surface and waiting to see how Lee would react to his reasoning.

After she suggested that they just share the remaining gelato, Lee smiled at Tarin's grin as she held her dish a little closer to him. His words, though, Lee wasn't sure whether Tarin was talking about the dessert or something else.

It was a great evening, though. Just sitting there eating bites of gelato out of each other's bowls as they sat in the sand watching the sun sink into the water. Lee wasn't sure if this was enough to make up for the whole of the trip to come, but it certainly was enough to make up for most of the worry she had been through so far in the past week.

And then Tarin started talking as they both finished off their dishes of gelato, and Lee set hers to the side. The side away from Tarin. He, instead, decided that the spot of sand between them was a good place for his now empty dish. So as Tarin was speaking, Lee moved his dish over to where hers was now sitting, then turned to look at him in the near darkness of the beach.

He was talking in that way of his, that soft, quiet tone that let Lee know he was really thinking about what he was saying, trying to pick out the words so everything came out properly, the way he wanted it to.

A lot of it, Tarin had said before, and Lee smiled as she heard him talking. The way he said she was able to make him feel normal, good, actually having someone to spend your life with which at one point in time they had both thought was an impossible dream.

But then Tarin went on to talk about Columbia, how he thought that they could do the impossible there, too, like they had with so many other things in their lives together so far. Lee's smile faded a fair bit. Faded, but didn't quite disappear completely.

"I am trying not to worry," Lee replied in a whisper once Tarin had finished speaking. Now how did she say what she wanted to get across to Tarin? Taking a deep breath, Lee shifted in the sand so she was sitting facing her husband. It was dark, but she could still make out his face for the most part as he leaned back on his hands.

"I know it's important, and I know how important it is to you," Lee started slowly. Then she took another breath, her forehead creased, before she continued. "It's just, you keep telling me to be careful, to get away if there's danger, yet here we are, knowingly walking into a very dangerous situation, with zero preparation for it. I know we might do something great, but I'm terrified something might go wrong, Tarin."

Lee didn’t take his words too badly considering they related directly to the thing that had apparently driven her to her intense bad mood this whole day. Lee’s words made sense too, and Tarin couldn’t help but notice that she’d moved closer after getting rid of the gelato cups. He was trying really hard to keep away so that he wasn’t amping Lee up any more than was absolutely necessary, she needed her sleep, but the way that they were talking made Tarin want to wrap his arm around her.

Lee pointed out that she was trying not to worry and Tarin nodded his head slowly, “We’ve talked about this before, though. Until today I didn’t even know that you had misgivings about going.” He said, giving Lee a level look as he turned his head towards her. “It’s probably something we should have discussed, at length.”

Lee went on and Tarin nodded again, her words made perfect sense. Of course those were the risks of walking into something like they were doing, and Tarin did always tell Lee to get away if things went south. The last thing he wanted was her involved in the dangerous situations that were sometimes inherent risks of being around him. It didn’t keep them from happening though, as much as he wanted. Tarin reached out the close distance between them and tried to smooth the wrinkles from Lee’s forehead, “You’re going to get wrinkles before your time if you’re not careful.” He said, then leaned back again.

“I know that there’s a risk Lee.” He said, pausing and thinking carefully, trying hard not to drag down the tone of the night anymore. The sun had completely sunk now and it was dark, but Tarin’s eyes had adjusted with the dimming light, he could still see Lee. “But, you’ve pointed it out more times than I like to admit, there’s always going to be risks for us Lee.”

Tarin sighed as he struggled to put his thoughts into words and shook his head, wincing slightly. There really wasn’t a good way to explain his reasoning other than to just come out and say it. “Lee, this whole coma thing…the merges…the spirits. Between all those things something could happen at any time…something bad.” He paused, swallowed, then started again, “I know it sounds dramatic and silly, but I’d rather actually do something before anything like that happens, than waste away in that shop, acting like a scam half the time.” He paused and reached out again, cupping the side of Lee’s face as he looked at her, “I love you, more than anything in the world Lee, and I think you get it, but I can’t do this thing without knowing you’re okay with it all. Can you trust me? I’ve just got a feeling this is something big.”

Tarin hadn't known that she had had misgivings about their trip to Columbia until that day, for good reason; she hadn't wanted him to know. Despite how worried about it she was, she knew that he needed to do this, wanted to do this, but if he knew, he might have decided not to go just because of her.

"Yeah, maybe we should have," was all Lee allowed, her voice soft, as she glanced out over the dark water.

Yes, she was still worrying, something Tarin must have known, because his hands reached out to her, his thumbs rubbing on her forehead. Trying to smooth out the wrinkles just like every time he saw them there. And his touch did help, most of the wrinkles that had been marring her forehead disappeared, though the one single crease between her eyebrows remained.

Would it really be any surprise if she of all people got wrinkles before her time, with everything they had to deal with?

But then Tarin started speaking, started trying to explain. It almost seemed like he was having troubles trying to find the words to explain exactly what it was he was feeling about this, trouble finding the words to make her understand. And as he spoke Lee did realize something; this was even more important to Tarin than she had already thought it was.

Looking over at her husband as he raised his sand speckled hand and cupped it over her cheek,, Lee wished that there was still more light so she could see him better, so she could see the look in his eyes.

"Do you think I'd be here if I didn't trust you?" Lee asked, leaning into Tarin's hand on her cheek slightly. It felt strange with the bits of sand that had clung to his hand, but she didn't want to loose this little bit of contact with him.

As she sat there looking at Tarin, him still touching her cheek, Lee realized something; when had Tarin ever asked her to do something that had turned out well? From as early on as when they had first started dating, and that had gone well. Still being together was an impossibility that had come to pass. Maybe, just maybe, Columbia would be the same way.

Lee took a deep breath as she continued to look at her husband, than opened her mouth to speak again. "I think I'm going to stay too worried to say I'm all in for this," she admitted softly. "But I do trust you, hon."

She was starting to give. Just a little, but it was still there. Lee allowed that maybe they should have talked before walking into something like this, and Tarin nodded. She was listening, and that was good, it made everything else he had said, that much easier to say.
The worry lines on her forehead were smoothing out and as she listened, Lee really seemed to get what he was trying to get across. She didn’t even mind when he reached over and smoothed them, though she didn’t seem to care about the wrinkles she was developing. She asked if he thought she’d be there if she didn’t trust him and Tarin had to shrug his shoulders.

“That part isn’t about the trust...though, I wouldn’t put it past you to come along to try and make sure everything was going to be okay, even if you didn’t think it was a good idea.” Tarin chuckled a little bitterly as the realization set in, “That’s it, isn’t it? That’s what you’re doing.” Tarin sighed, then rubbed his hands together to get the sand off them before running one through his hair. It did feel weird now that it was shorter. He leaned back again and thought for a few minutes, then shrugged again, “It’s fine, I don’t mind. I’d rather have you there and trying to be all overprotective than not have you there with me at all. I think this is going to be good for both of us.

Lee didn’t seem to mind the extra energy from the contact as he put his hand on her face, in fact, she leaned into his hand. Tarin could feel the rough texture of the sand against her face and he felt bad for getting the grains on her. Lee didn’t seem to mind, though, so he remained where he was with his hand on her face for a few more moments before removing it, wiping away the sand that stuck to her cheek. “See,” he said with a slight grin, “I told you that the sand got everywhere.

At least Lee was willing to admit now that she was worried about the whole situation, it was an improvement over earlier when she’d simply been inclined to snap at him about every little thing. He smiled at the last thing she said and nodded his head, glad that at least some of his words had made sense.

“Good.” Tarin said, “Then let’s move on and enjoy the rest of the night. The sunset was pretty spectacular. Are you ready to head back to the hotel or do you want to stay out here for a while longer?”

That's when Tarin seemed to have realized something about why she had come with him. He thought it was so she could make sure that things didn't go badly on a trip she thought was a bad idea in the first place.

Lee's head hung slightly as Tarin was running his hand through his hair. "A bit," Lee reluctantly admitted in a whisper. That was the reason she hadn't chickened out before they had boarded the plane to Miami and stayed home, at least. That didn't mean Lee liked admitting that fact to Tarin.

At least Tarin seemed somewhat ok with that fact. Ok with it because at least it meant she was going to be there with him, even if it wasn't for a reason he would like.

"For both of us?" Lee couldn't help but question as Tarin finished speaking, lifting her gaze up to him once more. How was he so sure that this was going to be such a good thing for both of them? She knew that, as long as things went alright, that this would be a great thing for Tarin, he was going to get to use his powers in a way that was actually good and helpful. But for her, too? How? If she really wanted to, she could always help build homes or whatever back in New York with Habitat for Humanity or something like that and feel much safer doing it.

She wasn't going to argue that, though, she merely questioned it. Probably a good thing because a moment later Tarin was brushing the sand he'd gotten on her cheek off. Yeah, arguing with Tarin about Columbia would probably ruin this, ruin the slight playfulness she saw in his grin.

"You did," Lee said slowly, narrowing her eyes at Tarin slightly as he finished brushing the sand off her cheek. "So if you knew that the sand got everywhere, why did you insist on sitting in it?"

And that seemed to be the end of the talk about Columbia as Tarin mentioned the sunset once more. Lee was alright with that, there would be plenty of time time actually talk about what they were going to be doing when they were on the plane heading there in the morning. Tarin was giving her a choice for what they were going to do now, though. Sighing slightly, Lee glanced out over the water once more as she scooted slightly closer to Tarin and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I'd love to stay out here longer," she started, speaking slowly. "But the plane does leave early in the morning, and we're both probably going to want to wash this sand off before bed."

Lee was frowning slightly in thought as she turned her head to look up at Tarin. "I'm sure the airport will be busy enough that I'll be fine once we get there whether I sleep or not. I don't want you to be a zombie tomorrow, though, so we probably should start heading back, shouldn't we?"

Well, at least she’d admit it. Tarin shook his head a little, but couldn’t mange to be too perturbed at Lee for what she’d done. Coming along simply to protect him was nothing compared to everything else she was keeping from him. It was concerning to Tarin that after all this time and marriage that Lee was holding back from him, especially considering the scale of what it had been this time. Also, she seemed completely unconvinced that this trip could be beneficial for her too.

“Lee, haven’t we talked before about how we’ve never been anywhere or done anything because of who and what we are? This is an opportunity to go to the jungle and help and entire village full of people. Your powers are perfectly suited to help out in this situation.”

Lee asked why he’d insisted on sitting in the sand if he was so sure it was going to get everywhere and Tarin simply shrugged his shoulders, “Because that’s what you do when you’re on a beach.” Actually, Tarin could think of a couple other things that you did when you were alone on a beach at night, but it would have probably been a little lewd to bring them up. But if Lee thought, sitting in the sand got you full of the stuff…Tarin shook his head and chuckled softly to himself. That would be an experiment for another time. Sleep. Sleep was good. Sleep was necessary.

Lee scooted closer and dropped her head on his shoulder and Tarin slipped an arm around her waist. If she was comfortable with the contact and energy, then he was too. Lee mentioned staying longer on the beach and Tarin let his head drop down onto Lee’s. It seemed like sleep was getting further and further down on the priority list. Tarin didn’t mind.

Lee commented that they were probably going to want to wash the sand off before they went to sleep and Tarin grinned in the darkness, he just couldn’t help himself. “I can think of a couple ways we could streamline that whole washing off process.” He said with a chuckle as he tightened the arm he’d slipped around Lee’s waist. “You know, so it doesn’t take as much time.”

Lee pointed out that since the plane left so early they should probably get going and Tarin lifted his head and shrugged his shoulders, so it was him that Lee was worried about as far as the sleeping was concerned, “I was planning on sleeping on the plane. It’s less time that I’ll be able to worry about the fact that we’re thousands of feet up in the air in a metal toilet paper tube with wings. So if you want to hang out here, don’t let me stop you. I was worried about you staying up for days at a time. Especially with as much as we’re going to be working while we’re there.”

Tarin was quiet for a few moments, his arm slipping from around Lee so his hand could rub in slow circles over her back, as she thought over what he’d said, “So, what do you think?” he asked, putting the ball in Lee’s court again.

Tarin did have a point, they had talked before about how they had never really been able to go and do anything like they were about to. And that did feel good. But Tarin seemed to forget that she wasn't always strong. "It depends how much energy I have," Lee reminded him quietly. Especially with what they were going down there to do, she wasn't about to take energy from him just so she could possibly be more useful with the rebuilding project. And really, how many people would a village have? How likely would they be to want to be around her enough that she'd be able to siphon a decent amount of energy?

But then Tarin went on to start suggesting a way to save time while getting rid of the sand after they got back to the hotel, and Lee shook her head though she had a smile on her face as she did it. "I thought you wanted me to try and sleep tonight, too?" Lee asked, glancing up at her husband with that same smile on her face. "Cause somehow, I don't think what you're planning will help with that."

And he was planning on sleeping on the plane. Well, that did make sense, he had tried to sleep on the plane every other time they had flown so far, and if how he acted when he wasn't sleeping, that was probably a very good thing. "You do realize that flying is much safer than all those cab rides you keep trying to make me take are, right?" Lee asked.

Wasn't this great? She was worried about Tarin getting enough sleep that night, at the same time he was worrying about her being up for days in Columbia, so wanting to make sure she got sleep that night.

She would like to stay out there on the beach longer, but... "Maybe since we're both worried about each other sleeping tonight, we should start heading back," Lee suggested. "We can watch TV, or talk, or something, but maybe being in the room will help me wind down faster."

Lee pointed out that her strength depended completely on how much energy she had and Tarin shrugged and grinned, “You know I’m more than willing to donate to the cause any time I can.” He said with a suave grin as he tried to lighten Lee’s mood a little bit. This Lee, serious worried Lee, was kind of hard to convince, though. It was disconcerting at times. This wasn’t one of them though. Despite the way that the day had started , he found himself in a great mood as they sat in the dark on the beach in Miami. Being out of town had that kind of effect on a person, though. The novelty of the whole situation, and the pleasant turn the night had taken was rubbing off, so Tarin just shrugged his shoulders, “We’ll figure something out…and if nothing else you can use those awesome painting skills you showed off in the shop. Schools need nice, painted walls. If Slate thinks they’re all going to be white…he’s nuts.”

She liked his comment about rinsing the sand off. Lee never smiled at him like that when she didn’t like a suggestive comment. Her words contradicted the smile, though and Tarin had to think for a moment before proceeding. “Well…no…it probably wouldn’t help with sleeping. Would it?” he said, a slight frown curving his features for a moment before it brightened into a grin. “It sure would be fun though.” He said, heat creeping into the look he leveled at Lee, “Besides, this is the sort of thing you want to do with a partner….got to be thorough, and there’s all those hard to reach places.” Yup, that line of conversation needed to stop, the mental images were getting far too intense for their goal of getting a good night’s sleep.

Lee changed the subject back to the plane and Tarin shrugged his shoulders. It was a phobia, phobias didn’t have to be rational, or based in logic. “Yeah…but the cabs aren’t thousands of feet in the air.” He said, raising an eyebrow, “I plan on being semi-unconscious for most of the flight whether I’m up all night tonight or not. I brought Dramamine…it’s practically guaranteed to knock a person out.”

Lee was back on the sleeping thing, apparently they were both worried about the other. Hadn’t Tarin just said that he didn’t care if he slept because of his plans to avoid his phobia the next morning? There was the problem of Lee though. Tarin had seen her when she’d been up for days upon days. It was never pretty, and the mental strain she was already under didn’t help things. Tarin hesitated, then nodded his head. “If you’re sure, love. We can always take a trip down here sometime…then we’ll spend the whole night out here on the beach.”

Tarin stood and wiped the sand from his hands as from his clothing as well as he could in the dark and without water. Crouching, he tied the laces of his shoes together and draped them over his shoulder like Lee had, then extended his hand to help her up. “TV in the room it is…in our separate beds.” Tarin allowed himself a little sigh at that one, they were walking into a war zone after all. Sharing a bed with his wife the night before that would have been nice.

Tarin was more than willing to offer her some of his energy. She knew that, and that was part of the problem; what if he ended up giving her too much, and then they ran into problems dealing with the real reason they were going down there for, the spirits.

Tarin did come up with a good alternative for if she didn't end up having the strength to be able to really help much with the actual building, and she smiled. "I'm not sure we're going to have all that much choice in colours, hon," she pointed out. "It's not like we're going to just be able to run out to the store if we don't like what Slate picked out."

Because of the darkness, Lee couldn't really see the change in Tarin's eyes as he looked at her, but she could hear the slight change in his voice as he spoke, that very slight change in his tone, his voice growing ever so slightly huskier. "Got to be thorough, do we?" Lee asked, her smile growing slightly. It did sound like fun, after all.

And Tarin really was planning on sleeping during the flight the next day. To be honest, Lee preferred the idea of him drugging himself like that than if he were to ask her to make sure he would sleep during the flight. Well, there were ways she would have been alright with, but most of those would generally involve Tarin passing out before they got to the airport.

He seemed hesitant about the idea of going back to the hotel right then, but Tarin agreed. Lee really couldn't blame him, it was gorgeous out there on the beach even if the sun had already completely set. And then he suggested that they could come down to Miami another time in the future, just so that they could actually spend the night sitting out there on the beach like they currently were.

As Tarin held his hand out to help her up, Lee realized even more so that he was not happy about the idea of going back to the hotel right at that point. Or, apparently, about the idea of the room having two beds. "I booked the room a week ago," Lee said quietly, almost a little defensively, as she brushed the sand off her own clothing and picked up her shoes. "I thought the two beds would be a good idea, just in case."

It didn't really take all that long to get back to the hotel, even with pausing to put their shoes back on once they reached the boardwalk. Or at least it didn't take all that long since they were already used to walking just about everywhere back home anyway.

In through the lobby they went, up the elevator, and into their hotel room. As the door was swinging back closed, Lee slipped her shoes off once more as she glanced around the small room. Which, despite it's size, seemed to have a rather large space between the two beds. Did she really want to try and sleep, in a hotel room, that far away from Tarin?

No, Tarin had done well finding the nearly empty restaurant on a rather quiet street. She'd been winding down for quite a while already. "So," Lee asked, looking over at Tarin. "Back on the beach, were you telling me I had to sleep in my own bed, or do you think there's room to share?"

Lee made a point when she pointed out that they may not have too much choice as far as colors were concerned. Tarin frowned slightly at this, “You’re right, but I hope that he didn’t just get ‘institution white’ I just don’t think that kids should feel like they’re in a jail instead of a school.” That was the truth, sterile white walls were boring and offensive to the eyes. Bright, warm and cool colors that were soothing and exciting were definitely the way to go in a school building.

They’d moved quickly past the painting of buildings and Colombia , though and Tarin didn’t miss the tone of Lee’s voice when she questioned his methods for getting rid of any residual sand. If Lee really did want to sleep that night, she was doing a really good job of hiding it with the way she was almost encouraging Tarin. He tried to shake it off, but failed miserably at the mental onslaught of images and memories that were suddenly cropping up like crazy in his mind.

Lee seemed to accept his methods for coping with his fear of flying and Tarin nodded his head slowly as they rose and started to make their way back to the room. Tarin’s words weren’t lost on Lee and he faltered slightly at the defensive tone in her voice. “I wasn’t necessarily complaining, Lee.” He said soothingly, “I was just saying…It was good forward thinking on your part.”

They were used to walking from living in New York , so the trek back to the hotel was easy, even enjoyable in the warm, Florida night air. Even if Tarin was irritated by the fact that he now had sand in his shoes. It wasn’t long before they were making their way through the hotel, going up the elevator, and Tarin was fiddling with the key card to let them into their room.

It was a nice little room, if a little simple, but it suited their purposes for a short layover admirably. It did look like those beds were kind of far apart though. They were doubles though, and that was more than enough space for one person. In fact, before they’d moved to the apartment, he and Lee had made the double-sized bed in the shop work just fine. Then again, they’d never really tried to sleep in it together. At this point, Tarin was still under the impression that they wouldn’t be sharing here, either, so it was a moot point. Then, Lee spoke, and Tarin couldn’t help but laugh out loud, “You know, I was just thinking about how the bed in the shop was the same size as these. We never really tried to sleep in that one though.” He said, reclaiming Lee’s hand, “I’m sure there’s plenty of room, as long as you’re not worried about being close.”

Tarin was ready to go, and slipped his shoes off, groaning at the sand that fell out on the floor, then realizing they still had one thing to do before sleep could even be a consideration. “I’m going to have to rinse this sand off though. It’s bad when it gets in your clothes…sleeping with it is another thing entirely.” He said, kissing Lee quickly before dropping her hand and pulling his shirt over his head, “So I’m going to take a quick shower.” He grinned over his shoulder as he went into the bathroom, “You can join me if you want, or you can wait and take a turn after.” One final chance for the night to get even more interesting, Tarin just hoped Lee knew that if she joined him, showering would quickly become the last thing on his mind.

He wasn't necessarily complaining about the fact that there were two beds, but he wasn't necessarily not complaining, either. Chances are, Tarin would be complaining about it if he didn't think that that would upset her. Since that very first time they had slept together, unintentionally in a motel room in Maine, and they had realized it would work and would be alright, Tarin hadn't been very happy any time she had actually slept but hadn't been in bed with him.

The bed. It was rather small looking, but Tarin was right, it did seem to be about the same size as the bed back when Tarin was living in the back of the shop. They'd done a number of things in that bed, from watching TV to other, more physically active activities, but they'd never slept in that bed. At least not both at the same time.

"I think I can manage being close," Lee told Tarin, giving his hand a squeeze as she looked up at him. She did prefer to curl up with Tarin whenever she could when they slept. It wasn't always possible, sometimes she just had too much energy that simply being in the same bed made it difficult to try and fall asleep, but whenever she could handle it, she curled up, her head on his shoulder. Another one of those impossible things that somehow they were able to have.

It was only then, it seemed, that Tarin remembered the idea of a shower before bed. Though Tarin never took showers before going to bed, so maybe it wasn't such a surprise that he had forgotten about it.

So, with the kiss from Tarin, Lee nodded her head and watched as her husband walked into the bathroom. With a sigh, Lee sat down in the one chair in the room, she didn't want to sit on the bed since she still had sand in her clothing, and then glanced at the clock on the nightstand as she heard Tarin turning the water on. It was still early enough that she would have been able to get to sleep at a decent time. On a normal night. Since they needed to be up so early in the morning to be able to get back to the airport, it wasn't looking so realistic any more.

Lee's eyes turned back to the half open bathroom door. Tarin had invited her to join him, after all. He had to be in the shower at this point, too, so she'd be able to sneak in.

Pushing herself out of the chair, Lee walked over to the bathroom and quietly pushed the door the rest of the way open. Sure enough, Tarin was in the shower, and about all Lee could see was steam starting to come out into the rest of the room. Grinning, Lee stripped out of her sand covered clothing and quietly tossed it into the corner before stepping forward.

Grabbing the shower curtain in one hand, Lee pulled it just far enough to the side so she could slip in, then pulled it closed once more as she looked over at her husband. Her very wet husband....

"I hope you don't mind," Lee said, a playful grin on her face as she took a half step toward Tarin and the stream of the shower. "That sand was getting really itchy..."

Showers were one of those things that Tarin didn’t know how people had ever lived without. He’d read in history books about how people had gone for months at a time without showering, how in the old days people had even thought showering was bad for you. Tarin shuddered even though he was under the hot water by this point, hot water was great, not showering for a month was gross. This shower was great…well mostly great.

The only problem with this particular shower was the fact that Tarin was in it alone. He’d invited Lee, at least partially sure that she would join him, but he’d gotten all the way into the bathroom to find himself alone. He’d even taken his shirt off as a tease. That had induced a slight pout of consternation before he’d given in and climbed under the water. No matter, they were going to get to cuddle, who needed a bigger bed.

Going ahead and washing his hair, since that would allow for more sleep in the morning, Tarin was just running his hands through his short hair (which still felt odd under his hands), when the curtain jingled, then moved to the side. Tarin jumped, but it was only Lee, who was climbing into the shower with him.. Score.

Lee said something about him minding her joining him, but he only heard about three of the words. His wife had just climbed into the shower with him, completely sans clothing. Yup. Lee was hot. It wasn’t that he’d forgotten or anything like that, but he was still acutely aware of the fact every time he looked at her, especially like this. And look he did. Twice.

Lee took a half step towards him and Tarin nearly passed out as the half step brought her into the steady stream of water from the shower head. Yeah…he really hoped she’d realized what she was walking into. Out Tarin’s arms to wrap around her waist and pull Lee even closer as her initial words finally permeated his foggy brain.

“Nope…don’t mind at all. Gotta get rid of all that sand…” he said distractedly, then took another look at his wife and her wet hair and added, “God I love showers…”

As she was stepping into the shower, Lee saw Tarin jump slightly. Had he really been that sure that she wasn't going to join him that he was that surprised to see her?

It didn't take Tarin long to recover, though, definitely didn't take long Lee realized as she saw him looking her over. Twice. Was the shower really that hot, or was she blushing?

Yeah, definitely didn't take long for Tarin to recover since as she took that half step toward him in the shower, Lee felt his arms wrap around her waist, pulling her even closer to him.

"You love showers, do you?" Lee asked. Yeah, it definitely had to be hot in the shower there, she was most certainly feeling that heat on her cheeks. She was so close to Tarin, though, with his arms wrapped tight around her, holding her to him. It was so difficult to resist tim in general, it really always had been. Things had gone slowly between them, at least in comparison to every other 'relationship' Tarin had had before her, but that didn't mean that Lee found it easy to resist him.

Without even thinking about it, Lee's arms raised up, wrapping around Tarin's neck as she pulled herself up to be able to reach his lips for a kiss.

Hooray for drug-induced slumber on the airplane! Lee’s cheeks were rosy, either from the heat of the shower or Tarin’s close scrutiny of her form. It didn’t matter, the pink in her cheeks made him smile as he lifted his hands and ran them through Lee’s now-wet hair at the same time that she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Tarin guessed that meant she was really over the hair cut.

Tarin kissed Lee back and sighed contentedly as she pressed against him and he nodded his head when she repeated his comment about loving showers. “Yup.” He said, voice soft, but just loud enough to be heard over the sound of the water. “Especially in hotels…pretty much unlimited hot water.”

His hands were still in Lee’s hair and Tarin ran them through the dark locks, untangling any snags as he went and kissing Lee in a leisurely and thorough manner. Lee being there in the shower with him indicated that sleeping wasn’t necessarily a priority, and that left them with time. “You know,” he said after a few moments, “I still love making you blush. Even if I’m surprised that you’re still susceptible.”

Tarin sighed and tilted his head back so the water ran over his face for a moment, then looked down at Lee, a teasing smile playing at the corners of his mouth, “Now darlin’…” he said, “Before we get to doin’ too much of this kissing and petting…” he said, punctuating the statement with a kiss and a pet, then he got slightly more serious, “I need you to promise you’re going to be okay the next couple of days, can you do that? Cause if there’s any part of you that’s not sure about that, I’ll stop groping you and let you get rid of the sand.” Tarin paused and looked Lee over again, then chuckled, dropping his forhead to rest it against Lee’s before kissing her and speaking again, “Think quickly love, because if I stay this close to you with all this water and your rosy cheeks, I’m going to quickly stop being responsible for my actions.”