Sam shivered a little as Rebecca's fingertips glided behind her ear, closing her eyes and leaning into it with a soft smile. It was nice to... have an off switch. A way to stop thinking for a while, even if, at least this time, her racing thoughts were productive. Her contemplative pen-twirling stopped, and she took a long, slow breath and let it out again. "Oh, Remy."

She felt Rebecca's hand shift to support her cheek with her palm, and just enjoyed soaking up the moment of calm. Being single in all this mess was... okay. She was getting on well enough before Rebecca had taken that heart-skipping leap — maybe with just the teensiest bit of encouragement. This, right now, was nice, though. Not just feeling "safe", but doing it somewhere that wasn't an underground cave, falling asleep in a less-than-half-refurbished utility room, by herself. She'd had friends, but nobody close enough that they shared a private retreat from the world outside. There were times she had to make excuses to delay working on a complicated circuit because she'd stayed up far too late reading until she was exhausted enough to fall asleep quickly in the cold dark by herself. She really wanted things with Rebecca to last, but even if they didn't, she gave her credit for getting her out of that... "safe" dungeon and up into the sun and moon light. And, ah, shit. She opened her eyes and looked into Rebecca's.

"Hey. Uhm, I... regret something I said earlier. About how if you shot Fucky McFuckface we might be done. I'm sorry, I was scared, and it was the fear talking. I don't want you to think we're on thin ice or something... or to hesitate when we're in danger."

Rebecca blinked a couple of times and inclined her head thoughtfully. "I understand. I was really scared too. And, like I said... I'm glad you snapped me out of it. Anything you had to do, or say... I definitely prefer over the alternative."

Sam sighed away some tension she didn't realize she was holding in. "Okay. I'm grateful today's over. It was certainly productive, but..."

"... you wouldn't call it 'good'? Me neither." Rebecca's tone carried as much palpable warmth as her hand against Sam's face.

"Mmm. Dishes tomorrow, bed and snuggles now?"

Rebecca glanced down at Rufus. "I better let him out for another quick pee before we settle for the night. Warm a spot for me?"

"Okay. Be careful, please?"

Rebecca lifted another hand to cradle Sam's face with both palms, and leaned to touch her forehead against Sam's. "I will. We've got guards, some technowiz babe rigged up some pretty Christmas lights everywhere as illumination, Rufus will be with me, and I'll take my radio and sidearm."

Sam chuckled. "Sidearm, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah." Rebecca shifted forward just a quarter of an inch — much less distance than that first night those few months ago — and touched her lips to Sam's for three, four, maybe five seconds but who's counting...

Sam unwittingly found herself trying to lean forward and follow Rebecca away when she withdrew and pouted with a longing moue. "Hurry back," she whispered softly.

"Okay." Rebecca snapped her fingers softly towards Rufus, and her voice rose to a normal volume. "Come on boy, let's get you outside and back as quickly as we can." She disappeared into the bedroom briefly to pull a pair of sweatpants over her flannel pajamas, and as promised, retrieved her compact pistol, handheld flashlight, and radio handset from her armor when she returned.

Sam watched silently while Rebecca wrapped herself in a plum-colored, knee length puffy coat and slouchy knit beanie from the hooks near the door, and clicked Rufus' leash onto his collar, only sighing and setting her notebook aside once the door closed.

And to think Rebecca wondered if she was enough for Sam. Silly goose, Sam was utterly and hopelessly hooked on her. She rose and moved to the fireplace, shoving a new chunk of hardwood in, checking the battery on the carbon monoxide detector nearby, and slipping on a pair of oven mitts. It took her three trips to take the six bricks arrayed on top of the fireplace to the bedroom and tuck them into the blankets — she averaged two trips most nights, but her legs were in far better shape than her arms tonight. She briefly wished they'd had enough stamina to bring up the bags of books from the Humvee, they'd have been interesting to poke through while she waited, but... oh well. She busied herself gathering their laundry from the day, then moving her SMG and radio to the bedroom, connecting the latter to the battery pack they used to top off the radios or other devices overnight.

She paused by the mirror they'd mounted in the bedroom and held a lantern up to get a better look at her mouth — the bruise wasn't looking too bad, and she hadn't even felt it when Rebecca kissed her a bit ago. Good, the last thing she needed was another scar to match the thin little hairline stripe of lighter skin that crossed her upper lip from when she fell off a swing as a kid. Surely Rebecca noticed it by now and never mentioned it, so Sam didn't feel too self conscious, but still didn't want to get a fresh one in the age of finite cosmetics.

The lock turned when she was reaching under the covers to move the bricks around, and she smiled at the rustling of Rebecca's familiar movements and Rufus' toenails occasionally clicking on the few stretches of exposed concrete subfloor between the rugs liberally distributed around the apartment. Sam returned to the front room to greet them, and helpfully took Rebecca's coat while she warmed herself at the fire.

Rebecca noticed Sam watching her while she put the jacket away for her. "What?"

Sam smiled enigmatically as she threaded past the stool holding Rebecca's armor and slid her arms around her waist when she arrived. "Just admiring the view. I appreciate you."

"Mmm. I appreciate the irony of stealing some of YOUR body heat for once."

Sam gasped and squirmed as Rebecca bent to bury her cold nose in the small of her neck, but didn't pull away. The mild discomfort paled compared to the emotional appeal of providing bodily comfort to the person she was in love with. In fact, she felt her pulse quicken, and on a less exhausted night she might have physically suggested a quick roll in the hay. Maybe that was some of the thrill people got from vampire romances? For now though... "Just you wait, I'm going to get you back with interest. But... can it be bedtime now? Please? I'm exhausted."

"Mmm." Rebecca lifted her head and stifled a yawn. "You don't have to ask twice..."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "I just did, that was the second time!"

"Oh, bah! You and your math..." Rebecca released her, and they started towards the bedroom, turning off lamps as they went with a quick pause in the bathroom to brush their teeth by lantern-light.

Despite the gentle sparring, they huddled close to each other as they burrowed deep under the blankets and Rufus curled up at the foot of the bed. When Rebecca stirred with a whimper in the darkest hours of the night, Sam felt for her in the dark and slid an arm under her to cradle Rebecca's head on her shoulder, shushing gently and stroking her hair well past the time when her embracing arm fell asleep. When she carefully threaded it back out and lowered Rebecca's head to a pillow, Sam could just make out her soothed expression and slightly parted lips, and resettled close enough to enjoy the sound of her soft breathing as she closed her own eyes. It was a fitting antidote to those memories of lonely nights in her underground workshop. In the morning, Rebecca wouldn't recall details from the dream, but she did remember being lulled back to sleep by Sam's gentle touch.