Chapter Text
Sara wakes up slowly. That in itself is a little strange. Sara's relationship with sleep has been a bit uneasy, since her resurrection. She's used to waking up with her heart racing, ready for whatever emergency is happening on the ship.
(She's also used to her own mind waking her up, giving her dreams that sometimes linger for hours while she's awake.)
Sara wakes up slowly, today. She feels rested, the kind of rest that usually comes from working hard the day before. Everything is just - the only word that comes to mind when she's this close to sleep is cozy. Her bed is soft and the blankets are wrapped around her just right, enough to keep her warm but not enough to overheat her.
There's an arm around her waist - Ava's arm, holding her close, and as Sara stirs a little bit her grip tightens. Her arm is bare, and as Ava pulls Sara close she bare skin against her own, the soft press of Ava's chest against Sara's back.
Sara remembers the night before.
It comes back in pieces, slowly coalescing into a coherent memory: Ava's hair falling down around her shoulders, tickling Sara's cheeks and filling her nose with the scent of her. Ava kissing Sara's chest, her hand three fingers deep inside Sara, rocking forward. Ava's thighs against her shoulders, the impossible softness of the skin right next to her vulva, the very softest part of her inner thigh. Ava's hand fisting in Sara's hair and pulling a little too hard when she came, the first time.
Sara remembers why she slept so well.
She settles back down into the sheets, letting herself linger in the space between wakefulness and sleep. Beside her, Ava begins to stir. Sara hears her wake with a soft little sigh, a sleepy half-groan that Sara has a sudden urge to memorize. It's so gentle and sweet, a side to Ava that Sara's still learning and it feels so important, that she knows the sound of her waking up. Sara can feel Ava yawn against her back, her breath hot and humid against Sara's bare skin. There's a pause, after that, and then Ava settles again, cuddling herself closer against Sara's back and pressing a few absent, drowsy kisses to the back of her shoulder.
Sara hasn't been the little spoon in - she doesn't know how long. Not since Nyssa. It's sort of nice.
"Morning," Sara whispers.
She feels Ava's smile against her skin, followed by a few kisses that are a little more intentional, the graze of teeth against her skin. "You're awake," Ava says. She sounds drowsy, her voice still a little slurred with sleep. It's too soon for Sara to like the sound of it quite this much.
Sara shifts a little, rolls in the bed so that she's facing Ava. Ava's still got an arm around her waist, and once they're face to face she tightens her grip, presses Sara close against her. Sara's still not wearing anything.
(She remembers now: the two of them foggy and worn out after Ava's third round, sweating and more than sated. Ava suggesting clothes, idly. Sara laughing and cuddling close to Ava under the covers, stretching a little to enjoy the feeling of bare skin against her own. She remembers thinking that she might fall asleep like that, and then nothing after.)
Ava's not wearing anything either. It's a first time after their first time: the first time waking up beside each other, the first time waking up to Ava's breasts pressed against her chest, Ava's bare thighs sliding against her own. Sara's pretty sure this is something she could get used to.
"You're awake," Sara replies.
Ava smiles. She looks so - Sara doesn't know the word. It's too early. But she knows that however Ava looks, it's making her feel warm and safe and like the world is a little pink and fuzzy around the edges. "Hi," Ava says. Her smile's a little messy around the edges, full of affection and normally Sara would shy away from how much she sees in Ava's expression.
This morning, wrapped in blankets and Ava, it feels like something she can handle.
Sara smiles in response, points her toes and stretches her legs. Her hips protest, asking for more stretching after the night before; she makes a mental note to deal with that properly later. Ava leans forward to kiss her forehead. "How'd you sleep?" she asks.
"Like we worked hard last night," Sara says. She relaxes from her stretch, legs coming back to their normal position and rubbing across the fronts of Ava's thighs, her topmost thigh settling in between Ava's legs.
Ava's lower lip catches between her teeth, and Sara watches as a flush of pink rises in her cheeks. She opens her mouth as if to speak, then seems to think better of it, burying whatever she was going to say against Sara's mouth. She kisses softly, like her mouth is just as tired as the rest of her. Sara responds in kind, tries not to think about all the ways that even this contact is enough to wake her up, lust stirring in her belly.
If Ava wanted to go for another round, Sara could be up for that.
Ava sinks down into the pillows as their kiss breaks, watching Sara. "I like it here," she says.
"Yeah?"
Ava shrugs. The hand at Sara's back is tracing little designs across her skin. The gesture is clearly idle, Ava's fingertips moving without any particular intent. Sara feels deeply, acutely aware of Ava's touch, the intimacy of it and the fact that she's naked and a part of her wants to flip Ava onto her back and just drown in her, all over again. "Can we stay here for a while?" Ava asks. She's blinking at Sara, eyelids heavy and smile soft and oh. Sara could dive headlong into that, too.
"Yeah," Sara says, leaning in to kiss the end of Ava's nose. "Yeah, let's stay."