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25 - Awakenings

He stirred, the whites of his eyes glowing softly in the minimal light. "Hey."

"Hey," I whispered back. "Sorry I fell asleep on you last night."

"That's okay," he murmured, reaching for me and wrapping me in his arms again, kissing the top of my head. "You must have been completely worn out."

"Mmm," I pressed a kiss to the base of his neck. "I was...but I'm not now."

"No?" I continued placing light kisses along his neck and jaw, waiting for him to click. "Oh! No? Well, I'm...I'm not worn out either." His hands began tracing whorls down my back and hips as if in confirmation, sending tingles shooting throughout my body.

"Well, whatever are we going to do with all this energy then?" I wondered out loud.

Don't worry, we did think of something that used up rather a lot of energy. Twice.

When I woke the third time light was flooding the room and I could hear birds chirruping happily outside. Rubbing my eyes, I looked to my clock, horrified when I saw the time. "Maledizione!" It was eight forty; Eleanor would be here at nine. (Bloody hell!)

Leaping out of bed, I raced for the bathroom and took what I am pretty sure is the quickest shower of my life, returning to the bedroom to find Ben sitting up rubbing his eyes sleepily. "You have to get up and dressed!" I told him as I ripped drawers open to choose clothes to put on. "She'll be here in ten minutes."

"Who?"

Dammit man, that sexy sleepy voice is not allowed this morning! "Eleanor!"

I could see him thinking for a minute as I put my underclothes on, then he shook his head in confusion. "Who's Eleanor?"

I pulled my t-shirt down over my torso, thrust my legs into my jeans and stepped towards him, taking his face in my hands and kissing his mouth. "No time to explain now, sweetie, I'll tell you everything tonight; just please get dressed."

He did, while I brushed and braided my hair then went looking for the sheet music I had put aside for today. Suddenly I realised I couldn't see my guitar anywhere and started to panic - had I left it at the pub last night? Or had Rick taken it with the other equipment?

"Ben? Did I have my guitar with me when we came home last night?" I almost walked right into him as he emerged from the bathroom looking just as delicious in his black trousers and white shirt as he had in the full tux. Oh, all right, not as delicious, but pretty darn close.

"It's still in the car, love. I couldn't carry both of you, I'm afraid, so I went with the more delectable option." His cheeky grin was almost my undoing but I had to concentrate - Eleanor would be here any minute. "I'll go and get it."

I thrust his jacket and tie in his hands once he'd brought my guitar, kissed him quickly and firmly and said, "Now get that gorgeously adorable but instantly recognisable face out of here, Cumbers."

"All right beautiful. I'll see you tonight." His farewell kiss conjured visions in my head of our nocturnal activities. Oh God! How am I supposed to concentrate on work with those images behind my eyelids? From the chuckles as he left I assumed he knew what effect he'd had on me and I groaned. Have I time for another quick shower - a really, really cold one?

---

"Well, I think we've got everything sorted." Eleanor and I had been working for hours but had covered a lot of ground. She'd okayed the guys coming with me as my band, approved my ideas for songs - although that wasn't strictly necessary, as someone new to this I was happy she was happy - and we had chosen, arranged and rehearsed a song to sing together, deciding it would be at the end of my set just before the break.