Something More...(attn: Ana, private)

Ana flopped off the couch running - or so she'd hoped. Stumbling briefly to avoid clonking her knee into the coffee table, she looked over her shoulder at Joey to see him carefully digging through the shopping bags. Cradling Russ and sorting stuff wasn't easy, she knew, but perhaps his longer arms allowed him better success. Those arms did feel so good when wrapped around her, she mused as she entered her bedroom. Following the long, blank wall ("Really need to get a poster or something to break up the nothingness," she reminded herself again) she stopped in front of her dresser. Sliding open a drawer she chose a set of pajamas to take out and set it upon the corner of the dresser.

"The" set, anyway; the only set she actually owned for sleeping. She looked at the pile of attire in the back of the drawer, the nearly matching sets intended for 'those times' with Fallon, that had actually not been used yet, and closed the drawer with a second thought. "I wonder what she'd say if she knew I had a boy. Man. Boyman. Manboy. Joey. With me on Christmas Eve..." She fiddled with her sweater's sleeves for a moment but decided it would be better if she put on the cooler pajama pants first and let herself warm up the bedclothes instead of the other way around. Unbuckling her jeans, she slid out of them and tossed them onto the bed. Sliding her glasses off and setting them on the dresser's top next to the pjs she crossed her hands at her waist to grasp her sweater and t-shirt (white with a small logo on the chest that read "There's no place like Gnomeregan") and pulled it over her head. A hand thudded against the dresser corner as she pulled each out of the sleeves. Shaking her assaulted hand she reached her hands behind her to unclasp her bra.

Unfrilly functional white cotton had fallen from her arms into a strategically placed hamper when she heard the audible "hem" of Joey's clearing of his throat. Tensing slightly, she rotated in place just enough to try to look at him over her shoulder. "If you wanted to watch you could have asked," she pointed out, quirking a brow in his direction. Unable to focus on him at all, she turned more to the right to try to at least make out his shape. Feeling with her left hand she meticulously searched for her glasses and placed them back upon her nose. "Ahh, there you are," she breathed, turning more fully towards him, as she took in the toned muscles of his chest arms and belly. She gazed at his face for a moment before commenting raspily, "You still have one too many pieces of clothing on, mister." Her left hand dropped to her hip in an imperious stance as her right pointed briefly, then flipped palm up with a beckoning motion. "Off with the jeans. And only the jeans."

Joey turned around slowly at the sound of her voice. He was stunned to see her standing there before him naked but for panties, cute little white cotton ones. A half smile quirked one side of his mouth, just before he had to swallow it and clear his throat.

He was certain he had heard her right. She'd asked him to take his clothes off. Was this a test? Was she trying to see just how far she could take him then tell him no and see if he would back off? No, no, Ana wasn't one of those girls. Ana was truly guileless.

"As you wish." He let the smile form fully on his lips as he dropped the clothes in his hands to the floor. A toe to each heel removed his slippers, and quick fingers took care of the buttons on his jeans. He slid them from his legs and put them on top of the pile his clothes had become. He stood in his white ankle socks, and black boxer shorts with little green christmas trees. He'd worn them for the occasion of Christmas, not the possibility of being in Ana's bed, so they were a little bit embarrassing. He remained where he was, filling his vision with Ana's body, her full hips, narrow waist, the ripe swell of her breasts, such perfect handfuls, the darker circles of her nipples, then back down the smooth plane of her belly to the hallow made by her belly button. She had a small pouch in the stomach area, but Joey wasn't a big fan of rail thin, it was one of the reasons his boss had never attracted him. Ana was perfect and so he left the next move to her.

Quirking her other brow at his half-smile which suddenly disappeared, but then returned as he actually removed his slippers and jeans. The black boxers, highlighted gently with the nightlight on the opposite side of her bed, seemed to be jutting out just a little in front. As she peered for a moment then glanced up to his smiling face, she grinned at the little green trees and the ornament they were hiding.

She reached behind her to the pile of pajamas; seperating them she held out the shirt to Joey and observed with a request, "It's a bit cold for both of us to be standing here staring at each other. Would you mind helping me get a bit warmer before we get cozy to have you read to me, Joey?" The last was a gentle reminder of his original plan that had instigated her wish to get changed... Though she wasn't sure if that was exactly what she wanted to do at the moment.

"Alright."Joey hesitated for only a moment before he crossed the room to Ana. He took the pink cotton from her fingers and unfolded it, then gathered it in his hands to that the head opening was free of cloth. He stepped close to her, their bodies would have touched if either of them took a deep breath. He slid the top over her head, then carefully helped her put her arms in the sleeves. he hesitated only slightly as he began to pull the rest of the top down. With some trepidation, he let his knuckles slide over the outer curve of her breasts. The contact with the creamy flesh was fleeting as he pulled the top down. His knuckles stayed against her skin, until they brushed the waistband of her panties, and he wrapped his hands around her waist.

He swallowed against the need for her burning in his throat, but he could do nothing about the quickness of his breath or the pounding of his heart. "Ana, I..." But he had no words, so he stood waiting for her to continue to take the lead here.

Ana looked up at Joey as he unfolded the pink lump that comprised her pajama top, then carefully gathered it to expose the head opening. He moved close to her; she could feel heat radiating from his body as he pushed the collar over her head and glasses. She raised her arms a bit; he guided her hands through the sleeves. When he tugged the shirt into place, though, the feather-light caress against her breasts and an unexpected press of something not-that-soft against her belly made her breath catch. Looking into his Hershey-brown eyes as his hands settled around her waist, she watched with piqued curiosity as his throat worked, as his lips formed the words, "Ana, I..."

His voice stopped. "Ana, I..." what? Ana I what? What, Ana I? Was her simple request not so simple for him? Had she backed him into a corner with a request that seemed as innocuous as snow? Ana's voice started small, tremulously tinged with naivete as she asked, "I'm not making this easy for you, am I, Joey? I'm sorry, I only just realized that I'm making it hard for you. I hadn't expected to lead us into a sticky situation tonight and well..."

A sudden bulb went off in her brain as she realized the amazingly horrible double entendres she was spewing incessantly. She felt a flush of embarassement explode in her cheeks and travel down her chest as she looked up at Joey, a silly 'oh my, what have I -said!-' expression covering her face. "Before I make a bigger fool of myself would you please just shut me up by kissing me already?"

Joey gave a small sigh as she understood what was happening here. he could and would control himself, but she was making things awfully difficult. Then her words sunk in and struck him as funny, but he had the tact not to laugh, and gave her a lopsided smile.

"Gladly."

He bent his head and tilted to the right, just a little, and possessed her mouth with his own. When she opened for him, he drove his tongue inside her mouth and devoured. His hands griped her waist and lifted her, she seemed to understand and wrapped her legs around him. His hands slid around to rest on her cotton covered bottom. He continued to taste and explore her mouth as he turned and sat down on the bed. This placed her in his lap and he hoped made their kiss just a little more comfortable for her.

His right hand left her bottom and gently moved up her side to rest on her rib cage just below her arm pit. He moved his thumb out and gently moved over her nipple until it hardened. Remembering his promise to her, he moved his hand and pulled away from the kiss.

"I'm sorry Ana. Maybe I should get dressed and we should go in the other room."

Finding herself on his lap, her legs wrapped around the most attractive man she'd ever seen, let alone talked to, set parts of her awake that Ana hadn't remembered setting the alarm clock for. The hands on her bottom were gentle and yet firm as they held her to him. A hand caressed her side and then inexplicably she felt something brushing across her nipple - oh, must be a finger or thumb. Ooh! What's he doing? That tingle, that sear! His lips and tongue covering hers, devouring her completely, oh how she would want to do that, kiss and taste and be tasted by him for hours upon hours...

And then it was gone. Stopped. A throb of something stiff against her belly made her eyes widen as he spoke apologetically. "Why would you be sorry? I wanted that."

After a moment of staring deep into his eyes, her hands tousling the hair on the back of his head, she brought her right hand forward and held a single finger in front of his gaze. "The problem that I have is this." Her finger pointed to her forehead, just tipping towards it, then back forefront in his eyes, then pointed down at her chest, towards her heart. "These two parts are not ready for what -" and her finger pointed down lower between her gently heaving breasts - "these parts want. I wouldn't mind kissing you for a very long time right now but everything below the belt scares me unreasonably."

The erection their actions had caused was incredibly painful as it throbbed against her lower belly. His breath was short as he tried to pull control back out of thin air. He kissed her gently.

"Why, Ana? Did something terrible happen to you or is it that you've never been touched there?" Maybe that wild thought he'd had earlier in the evening wasn't so wild. Maybe his dear sweet Ana was a virgin. Oh he hoped it was both true and not true at the same time. He would be honored to be the man she gave that last vestige of her childhood to, but he was also scared to death to be the man she gave that last vestige of her childhood to. It was an immense responsiblity. In his short life he'd only ever deflowered one virgin and it had not been a pretty thing. He hoped not to repeat that here, as in the intervening years he had learned gentleness and control.

Then again if she had some trauma in her past, maybe he could be the one to heal her of those scars and like virginity it was both an honor and immense responsibility. To reassure himself he kissed her again, and curled his fingers in the ends of her hair.

"Of course I've been touched there, Joey, how do you think I bayyy.... Oh." The sudden realization of what he meant dawned on her. "No, I haven't been. I'm a virgin." There, she'd said it. "You'll have to excuse me, sometimes double meanings escape me, even when I'm saying them aloud. But I don't think that losing it is really so much my worry as consequences."

She rested her forehead against his chest for a moment, then leaned back up straight. "I'm not too much of a psycho-analyst but I hadn't expected to need to figure out why or what, well, so soon." She dragged her finger down his shallowly breathing chest and pressed gently against his abdomen. "I've been surprising myself a lot lately," she whispered to herself.

There it was. She was not testing him, or playing him, or scared of him, not really she was scared of the morning after. Well he couldn't cure her of that with words, that he knew. He wanted to be clear about what she meant before he said or did anything else.

"I am willing to wait until you figure things out, Ana. But first I need to know what consequences you're so worried about."

She felt good against him, like she was meant to be there. In the short time that he had known Ana he had fallen in love with her, there he'd said it. He should tell her, but now was not the right time. He did not want her to think it was a play to sleep with her. Before she could answer him, he lifted her chin and kissed her gently. "Surprises can be a good thing."

Ana furrowed her brow at him as he asked her which specific consequences she referred to. "Pregnancy, disease, an empty bed in the morning, respect, hindsight - and you already kind of broke that one when you saw mine -" she added with a wink "- but you know what I mean. I've never had a quote unquote real date and this one has been better than I could ever have imagined for my first. Or second. Or really however it should be counted. But I can only hope everything goes up from here -" her hand drifted down his abdomen from where it fiddled with his muscles there to the still-protruding hardness of his manhood - "I mean, other than this going up - and the only 'right ending' I'd envisioned for tonight was to have a soft good night kiss as you left me at my door in the snow. Though," she amended as she reached her hand back up to tap against her chin thoughtfully, "the change in mental plans was a nice one."

His breath shuddered out when she touched him. "Ana..." But she removed her hand and continued to talk. He had to think very hard to remember all that she'd said, for most of it flew out of his head when her fingers brushed his penis. He cleared his throat and closed one eye in thought.

"Well, I can assure you I'm disease free, and um we have pregnancy covered with one of the items purchased this evening. As to the rest, well I can only tell you how I feel." He cleared his throat again and looked full into her eyes.

"I am rather astonished that you've never been on a date before, and that your thoughts on how this evening should have ended were exactly in line with mine. I had every intention of taking you to the park, having a great time, giving you a late meal and your gift, then bringing you home and sending you indoors with a gentle kiss. Never did I imagine we would spend the night together. I know that the big pink elephant we're skirting around will change our relationship when we finally acknowledge his presence, but I don't think it will only make things better."

His hands moved over her waist back, and bottom as he spoke, to reassure himself as much as to reassure her.

"I don't think I could ever loose respect for you Ana. You've done a very brave thing in telling me you're a virgin, and I am honored you are even considering changing that with me. And if your bed is empty in the morning it is only because I am making you breakfast to eat in it, or nature called and I must heed her persistent nag."

He gave her a wink, and settled her a little further back on his thighs so that his member wasn't as assaulted with the warm softness of her body.

"Not many guys look at the geeky fat librarian as date material," she said with a quirk of her brow, hoping he understood she was joking about at least one of the possibly self-derogatory descriptors she uttered.

When he mentioned telling her how he felt her breath caught again - was he going to gush emotionally? - but no, he was just being honest with her about what his original plans were. "Well, thankfully, I look forward to meeting Dumbo, but I hope you don't mind too terribly if we take our introduction to him at my own pace?"

She tilted her head at his comment about her being brave. "Why is it that I'm brave telling you I'm a virgin? It's what I am. I'm a virginal librarian with a kooky accent and a handful of scars and really bad eyesight from Buffalo, New York, United States, Earth, Sol System, Milky Way... Okay maybe we don't need quite specific addresses unless we're getting invaded by aliens, but there are some things that just can't be changed. I'm sure I'll always be virginal in one way or another but you do have a point... But wait!" she exclaimed raspily, pointing a finger into his sternum.

"Who said I was considering changing that one mode of virginality with -you-? Maybe I was going to save it for my boytoy -" she giggled a little as she said it, and brought a pinky to the corner of her mouth with a familiar twist of her lips and feigned a certain Evil accent "- who is such a mahvellously Evil artist -" she cleared her throat and giggled a little before pushing him back on her bed "- but you mister are still underdressed and you have a book's virginity to take. Are you up to the task? This mission will self destruct in five seconds." Ana's head was awhirl with the sheer amount of theatrical cliches she'd packed into the last fifteen seconds.

Joey wasn't sure if she really believed she was a geeky fat librarian. Geek might apply...He gave her soft smile and a small nod at her question about the elephant. This was her show and he would respect her timing.

"It's brave because..." But he didn't get it out because she was still talking and poking him in the chest. He chuckled at her impersonation of Dr. Evil and gave a small oof when he bounced once against the mattress.

She looked so beautiful sitting up there above him, a smile on her face and a twinkle of mischief in her eyes. He felt a stab of longing that left his heart aching. "Hmm, I'm not sure I can handle it."

With his own mischievous glint, he slid his hand up her back, and in one swift movement, he pulled her to his chest, and rolled them over on the bed. He pressed the length of his body to her's with one hand still caught against the middle of her upper back. He held his chest off of her's with the other hand and looked into her eyes. Carefully he pulled his hand from beneath her and reached up to gently remove her glasses. He put them on the bed above her head, safely out of the way.

Bending his arm, he moved until nothing more than a deep breath separated them and gently pressed a kiss to each of her eyes, then one on the tip of her nose, before pressing his lips to her's. he gently explored their softness, with tongue and teeth, before pulling the bottom lip between his. He gave it a gentle nibble, let it go and ran the tip of his tongue along it's length. One more gentle peck and he reached above her head, picked up her glasses and replaced them on her face.

With a soft grunt he pushed himself up and off of the bed. "Don't just lay there, we have reading to do."

He stepped away from the bed, and pulled on his pajamas. Picking up the blanket on the end of Ana's bed, he headed to the living room, and spread the blanket across the back of the couch before settling at one end, with his leg stretch out along the back and the other bent over the side, waiting for Ana.

Ana squeaked when she found herself on her back beneath Joey. Her eyes widened; a sudden flush of heat inside her somewhere and an interesting feeling of rightness tickled at her consciousness when suddenly all went blurry. Her glasses! But Joey had taken them off her. Something dark and fuzzy came towards her; she closed her eyes and felt two gentle kisses on each, then on her nose. Wrinkling her nose and smiling, her lips were suddenly taken from her as Joey placed his against her own. She felt the heated throb of Joey's length against her belly and the nearly overwhelming blanket of his man-scent and presence all along her body as he nibbled and played with her lips.

Then he was gone. "Don't just lay there." Ana stayed still, her eyes closed under her replaced glasses, enjoying the rush and throb of blood in her lips, in her body as Joey left, when she noticed she was actually kind of cold. Twisting her torso spastically she flung her arms tantrum-like, slamming her fists in frustration against the mattress for a moment. Sighing heavily to herself, she waited another few breaths for her heart to slow before sliding off the edge to stand. Flipping her pajama bottoms she slid into them, then slid her feet into her slippers. With another sigh, she marched around her bed then out to the sofa. "Hi."

Turning as she stepped towards him, she aimed for what she hoped was the area he had available between his legs as she slowly pitched backwards... but her angle was wrong and she slid off the edge of the couch to fall between the coffee table (with a painful-sounding thud of her elbow colliding with the lower edge very audible) and ended with her head next to Joey's foot. "Ow."

He heard thumping against the matress and was about to go back into the room to investigate when it stopped. A grin curled his lips as he figured out what the noise had been. He really hadn't set out to seduce Ana, but now that it presented himself, he had every intention of doing so. Chuckling he waited for her to return to the living room.

"Hi yourself."

It took everything he had not to laugh out loud when Ana missed the couch and fell. Instinct had him up off the couch and crouching in front of her. "Are you ok? Here let me help you."

He put his hands under her elbows, careful not to touch where she'd banged one, and pulled her up enough to get her onto the couch. he quickly pushed up her sleeve and looked at the injury. It was already bruising. "I'll get you some ice."

He dashed into the kitchen and pulled open drawers and cabinets until he found a sandwich bag and a dish towel. he fill the first with ice and wrapped the second around it, before dashing back to the living room. He helped Ana put it on her elbow, "Careful now," then climbed back on the couch, gently twisted her upper body, forcing her feet to follow up onto the couch and pulled her back against him. He pulled the blanket down across them, as he kissed the top of her head. He picked up the book, but before he opened it he kissed her once more. "You'll be ok?"

"You're allowed to laugh, you know, it was funn... eyow." The look of almost-overboiling laughter on Joey's face was difficult to mistake.

She tried to stretch her arm out, turning her palm out to spy the back of her arm but it just wouldn't turn like that. It hurt like the dickens (so she remembered her mother saying a few times long ago) and the thudding return of Joey with an ice pack made her crack an almost-smile. She watched him with detached amusement as he 'mothered' her and took care of her, took care as he maneuvered her into laying against him. "I'll be fine. I'm just a clucking futz. Not that you couldn't tell what with me falling out of the Jeep. You'd think being at so many of Wren's classes would help garner me some grace, if not by practice then at least osmosis."

"Poor Ana." He gave the top of her head another kiss and smiled into her hair. "Oh I hope you don't become to graceful, you would loose something of yourself if you did."

Joey inhaled deeply of her apple scented hair and with a soft sigh opened the book to the first page.

" 'Death' the proprietor said clearly, showing the stone. It was a bright red ruby, multifaceted, set in a plain gold ring. It was a full carat-large for this quality."

His voice took on the same tone his uncle's had each night when he read a story. It was low and spoke of mystery just around the corner, and all you had to do was listen closely. He smiled as he thought about his uncle. He would need to visit him soon.

"Zane was hardly reassured. 'The why call it-' 'The Deathstone?'"

Joey read in his lilting story-tellers voice for a long time, letting himself get caught up in the story. The Zane character was in for some interesting misadventures if he kept making such crappy choices. When he got to the end of the second chapter he stopped and put the book down. Ana's body against his felt perfect, and though the small spurt of humor and the even smaller crisis had diminished his arousal, her being pressed against him for the last twenty minutes brought it back to life, not full life, since there wasn't any active stimulation, but enough that it was probably uncomfortable for her to have had it in her back for nearly half and hour.

"Ana?" Her soft 'hmm?' made him smile. "Could I show you something?"

"I'd lose the risk of losing teeth or bones!" She giggled and wiggled just a little to settle against Joey.

The low throb of Joey's body against her was unmistakable and she felt herself warming under the blanket. Warming comfortably, with an overarcing feeling of safety and plushiness, Ana let herself lull into an almost dozing state, simply enjoying the timbre of Joey's voice and the feel of his living against her.

At some point she became aware of the press of something somewhat hard against her back. It took her a few moments to understand what it was; she felt its warmth against her clothes, felt the pulse of blood in it.

Joey's voice stopped its almost hypnotizing narrative and paused before addressing her. "Hmm?" She thought she heard a bit of a smile in his voice as he asked his question. Uhm... "Okay?"

He smiled again. He had a plan in mind, it had been forming as he read, and now he was going to put Ana on a new path. She needed confidence in herself. She was a bright, whimsical woman who had absolutely no self awareness or confidence. He needed to change that just a little if she was ever going to feel comfortable enough to let him show her one of life's ultimate treasures.

"Sit up a bit." She did so, and he scooted down until his head rested on the arm of the couch, lifting her onto the upper part of his thighs and pelvis as he did so. "Alright, now turn around." She did a sort of awkward flip thing and he put his hand out to give her a little push when she wobbled on her knees.

"Good, now come here." She put her knee behind his leg, wedged against the couch cushion, and with his help crawled up his body. He helped her lay along his body, then very gently lifted her chin and pressed his lips to her's. He smiled down at her and gave a little stretch and picked up his water. He took a drink and set it back on the table then picked the book back up.

"Nice, huh?"

He picked back up at the beginning of chapter three, determined to be let Ana think he was unaware of her. He hoped she would take some initiative and kiss him or put her body more fully on his. Though he would be content if she just stayed in the more dominant position for a while.