Time

Chapter Two: Their First Time

Ever since Nick had gone through to the future anomaly and everything had been revealed, Nick and Claudia's relationship had taken an odd turn. Despite having been together for only two months, it was as if they had been together for a year. Only, they were still yet to ... do the deed.
It wasn't like they didn't want to. The anomalies tended to get in the way a lot. As soon as they started to get a bit heated, their phones went off. If it wasn't that, Lester would keep them working on different shifts so when one was off, the other was on.
On Friday night, the first in a month they both had off, they met up at the coffee shop they had met in for their first date.
"Hey, you okay?" Nick asked as they sat down.
"Just tired. I've got to fill in what feels like mountains of paperwork for my transfer to the ARC project. Most of it I don't even think is necessary."
"Well at least it's almost over," Nick replied, covering her hand with his. They kissed softly and Nick could taste the coffee on her lips. He would have moved closer and deepened the kiss if they weren't in public and there wasn't a table between them.
When they pulled away, Claudia had a gentle blush on her cheeks and Nick realised he had been staring at her quite a bit. He had been counting her freckles.
"You keep doing that," Claudia told him. "You keep staring at me."
"Sixty two," Nick blurted out instead of an actual answer.
"What?"
"You have sixty two freckles on your face," Nick explained. "They're cute."
"Cute, huh?" Claudia asked teasingly, raising her eyebrows.
At the end of the date, just like every time, Nick walked her to her front door. Unlike every time, instead of a short and sweet kiss, it was deep and long and ended in Nick pushing her against the door and Claudia wrapping her arms tightly around him.
Sharing a heated look, Claudia opened her door and they both fell into the room in a heated mess. Rushing up to her bedroom, they left a trail of clothes in their wake and a slammed door behind them.

The next morning, Nick woke up with Claudia cradled against his chest. His face was buried in her auburn hair and his arms were holding her in place. Freckles covered her pale body and Nick thought he had never seen anyone look so beautiful.
She stirred and Nick found himself staring into the deepest brown eyes he had ever seen. Kissing her softly, Nick whispered,
"Good morning."
"Good morning."
They spent the entire morning in bed, cuddled close together. When the finally got hungry enough to leave, Nick slipped on a pair of underwear and Claudia just put on one of his shirts.
"This is nice," he mumbled into her hair. They were laid on her sofa, watching some show neither were really paying attention to.
"Yeah, pity we can't do this all the time."
Nick kissed the top of her head affectionately and found himself falling in love with her. He had suspected it for a while, never certain he was completely over Helen but now he knew he was.