A Kiss Never Lies

Writers: Dana, Eimi
Date Posted: 22nd November 2005

Characters: Gaiya, Ar'lis
Description: Gaiya remembers a memorable moment with Ar'lis
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 9, day 2 of Turn 3

He came up behind her, his hand sliding beneath the hem of her blouse so his fingers could trace along her smooth skin. "So, darling..." Ar'lis murmured in her ear, his lips lightly nipping at her earlobe, "are you finally gonna tell me how old you are tonight?"

She leaned back against him, her hands reaching back to trace lightly along his pant legs. "You were able to find out when my birthday was but not how _old_ I would be?" she teased.

"Women like to keep their ages a secret, I've noticed." His mouth moved down her neck to the bend in her neck and shoulder, his teeth teasing the sensitive skin there.

"Then why are you even bothering to ask?" Shards but his fingers were starting to get annoyingly good at touching her just the way she liked it.

"Because I'm hoping that if I...ask nicely enough...you'll tell me." His hand cupped the small of her back as he guided her over to the sofa. "And I'm being very nice right now, aren't I?" he murmured into her hair as he eased her back onto the cushions, keeping his touch tender.

"You've been nice all evening," she smiled, tilting her head towards what remained of her surprise dinner. Of course, it hadn't _really_ been a surprise. He had been less than subtle. But it was the thought that counted and she would never tell him that she knew. "If I didn't tell you before, what makes you think I'll tell you now?"

He shifted, bringing her into his lap, keeping one hand on her hip to steady her while the other ran up her arm. Slowly, he began to unlace the ties to her shirt, and then gently pushed the cloth to the side, bending his head towards the soft flesh there. "Why _won't_ you tell me, hmm?" he asked against her skin. Then he lifted his head and grinned boyishly at her. "Why keep it a secret?"

She brought both hands to his chest and pushed him gently back into the cushions. "Do you really need to know?" she asked her lips traced along his jaw.

"Well...no." Shards, that felt good. "But I'd _like_ to know how old you are." He caressed her cheek. "I'll even tell you how old I am."

She grinned and began working her way along his collar bone. "You are...
32 turns... 4 months... and 17 days..."

"Damn, sweetheart! Keeping your tabs on me, hmm?"

She shrugged. "I was just good at mathmatics." At least where Ar'lis was concern. It was one advantage to having been so obsessed with him for all those turns.

"Mmm-hmm..." He set his hands on her hips as he lightly kissed at her lips. "Please tell me?"

"I have an idea... Why don't you _guess_?"

Ar'lis studied her as he settled himself more comfortably back against the pillows. Guessing games...great. One wrong double-digit number and he could offend her all the way to /between/. Women could get so sharding prickly over their ages. But it seemed like this would be the only way...
"Fine." He tilted his head slightly to the side, taking in her soft features, her eyes... She was young - at least a decade younger than him!
"Well...you're definitely out of your teens," he grinned.

"Do you think so?" she asked with one raised eyebrow.

Her look made him pause. And he reconsidered. Then he frowned. "Yeah."
Then an impish light flickered in his eyes. "Teens aren't this filled out in their bodies, you know," he murmured, sliding his hands around to briefly cup her breasts.

She held his hands as a mischivious grin spread across her lips and a deep feeling of warmth began to rise within her. "I was," she drawled, leaning close enough that her breath tickled his lips. "Of course, I didn't expect that you would have noticed that."

"What? That you're filled out quite nicely for a young woman in her twenties?" He lightly nipped at her upper lip. "Believe me, Gaiya love, I've noticed."

"Nice try sweetheart," she laughed. "Admit it, you didn't even know I was _alive_ when I was a teenager!"

"And you knew that _I_ was?" Of course, the bronzerider had no idea that she'd had a crush on him way back when... "You're very much alive right now, love. Alive and so sharding sexy in that blouse of yours." He fingered her neckline. "But I think the blouse will have to go soon..."

She leaned back and regarded him a moment. "I remember when you broke your leg seven turns ago. You had to use those crutches every day for a long time. You never did get very good with them. It looked like they would cut into your arms a bit."

He blinked. What on _Pern_... "You...remember that?"

"I remember the day you lost big at dragonpoker," she giggled as she traced her fingers along his jaw, "and you had to wear that lovely pink dress all day."

"You...how _old_ were you then, darling?" Much too young to see a man in a rather tight, form-fitting pink dress, that was for sure! Not that weyrbrats of all ages hadn't seen worse than that, but still. Shards. Had she been keeping tabs on him during all of her sharding adolescent Turns? He gazed up at her. Things were making a lot more sense now...

His question made her blush. She knew she was admitting something bit to him. How could Ar'lis have know that he had been the object of her childhood fantasy since she was old enough to understand the attraction a man could hold for a woman. "Sixteen," she said softly, not quite meeting his eye.

"Sixteen, hmm?" The back of his finger brushed against her pinked cheek. "And how old are you now? Twenty? Twenty-one? Twenty-two?"

She leaned into his fingers. "Twenty-two."

"Mmmm...." Yes, things were making a lot more sense now. His voice was tender when he asked, "And you'd watched me all those Turns without ever saying _anything_? I'm really not that intimidating, am I, darling?"

"You didn't even know I existed," she said with a smile. She shook her head. "How could I say something?"

"Well, Gaiya love, that's how you become known. You _talk_ to people." His smile turned into a grin. "I could've brought you out of your shell long before this."

"My shell has served me well," she said as she played with the ties to his shirt absently. "Do you think I was _lonely_ behind that shell?"

"Lonely? No."

She smiled and shrugged. "I guess you always seemed... unattainable."

"Oh, sweetheart," he smiled, a little amused, trailing his fingers through her soft hair, "I'm quite 'attainable'." He lifted his head to kiss her lightly. "As you well know, hmm?" he teased gently with a slight wink.

Shaking her head she said, "You don't seem nearly so attainable to a fourteen-turn-old."

"But I do to a twenty-two-Turn-old?"

"Sometimes," she grinned. "Especially when they are already on your lap."

"And in my bed?" His hand slipped under her hem, caressing soothing lines up her spine. "There is one particular twenty-two-Turn-old that I love to have in my lap and in my bed very much," he whispered against her lips, gently kissing them.

"Why, how old are all the others, then," she asked teasingly. She knew that just because she had remained faithful to him that it didn't mean he would have been faithful to her. It was too much to expect of him, she had the feeling.

He took her face in his hands, searching her eyes. His expression was soft as he trailed his thumb over her cheek. With her here, it was hard to think of the others. And Ar'lis had no idea how much of what he felt was showing in his eyes.

There was something in his eyes that was different from before, something _deeper_. She felt lacked and vulnerable under the intensity hidden behind those eyes. A slight flush filled her cheeks. "What are you thinking, Ar'lis?"

Instead of replying to her with words, he brought her lips to his, and replied to her question with a kiss.

Every shred of doubt she had about her feelings for Ar'lis fell like petals from her thoughts as she melted into him and that kiss. Without words he was telling her all he could have said at that moment, and more. So much more. Because words could cover and hide truth, but a kiss could never lie.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~

Gaiya remembered that kiss know as she paced across her room. So much had happened since that moment. They had both made mistakes, intentionally as well as unintentionally. She was still so confused. If she cared about Ar'lis so much, why would she have done what she did with L'cian? Why would she have _enjoyed_ it so sharding much.

But really, did that matter now? Ar'lis was hurting and confused. She wanted to go to him, to comfort him. After all, did she do anything really all that bad that he could not forgive her for? He had other lovers, she was sure of it. Why couldn't she have a lover _and_ a fling from time to time too? She shook her head, trying to clear out the confusing details. That didn't matter now. L'cian didn't matter and how she felt about him didn't matter. All that did was Ar'lis.

She still shuddered, though, when she saw the look in his eye that night on the beach in her mind's eye. He had been so angry. So very angry and hurt. U'val said Ar'lis didn't rape anyone intentionally. Then why had she feared him? But her mind kept returning to that moment on her birthday, to that kiss that said so much. It was the one moment that she could cling to and _know_ that, no matter how briefly, they had both been deeply, overwhelmingly in love with only each other.

Her eyes closed and she traced her fingers across her lips, remembering the feeling of his mouth on hers. But it was not melding of their flesh that she remembered. It was the feelings they both expressed to each other in that kiss. Taking a deep breath she knew it was time to decide. Gaiya had to find her way through the confusion that clouded her mind. She used that moment to guide her, like a beacon through the fog, and following it faithfully, it lead her straight to his door.

Last updated on the November 22nd 2005

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A Kiss Never Lies