"A Birthday Wish Come True" {empath} ( M/F oral rom )


They returned to town, with her insisting that he drive, and she kept him
stimulated all the way back.  Despite these distractions, Mikel returned them to
the parking lot safely and quickly.  Getting back into the apartment was a
different story.

"I thought YOU took the key back.  It's your apartment; surely you'd concern
yourself with it."

"I figured you would make an EFFORT to give it back to me and *don't* call me
Shirley!" she replied.

"Yuuuhhhhh; you're right - I should have either thought to keep the key with me,
or consciously return it to you...I'm sorry.  But this doesn't get us inside - do
those windows open?"

Nadine sighed.  "No; I've got central air, remember?"

"Well, we can get the super to let us in."

"He doesn't live in the building, and isn't around on weekends."

"But you have a number to call in an emergency like this?"

"Oh, yeah...inside."

Mikel said a bad word as he sat on the floor.

"Well, maybe the phone repairman will have something," she posed as she sat
beside him.  Mikel rested his head on her shoulder, and looked up at her.  He
frowned for a second, then straightened up.  "Or maybe you've got something. 
It's a good thing you have long hair, honey - gimme one of those hairpins!"

"Oh, come ON - that's so cliche," she replied.  She did fulfil his request,
though.  "You mean to tell me you can pick locks?"

"No, this piece of metal is too thick, and I only know the basic theory behind
that, but I am gonna try something."

"What - you're MacGyver or something?" she joked.

"Almost certainly not - this probably won't work!"  He straightened the curved
strip of wire.

"It's better than sitting in the hall here until Monday, though" Nadine said,
standing up and pulling her boyfriend up after her.  He knelt in front of the
handle and fiddled with it a bit.

"What're you doing - I can't see!"

"Good - this is a State Secret; if I told you, I'd have to kill you," he joked.

"Whatever, I'll worm it out of you later."

Before long he cried out with success and pushed the door open.  "Aprez-vous,
Mademoiselle."

"Merci, mon tres, tres cher amour!"  She gave him a kiss for his efforts and
entered.  He smiled and stood with a click. She grabbed his hand and tugged him
into the apartment.

Once Mikel was sure the door was securely shut, they hugged and Nadine showed him
around her small domicile.  When they were done, Mikel remarked, "I gotta get you
a couch for Christmas, too."

"Oh, you're so full of practical gift ideas."

"Heh, you want to see just how *full* I am right now, love?" Mikel asked in a
deep voice as he stroked her back and put on his 'salacious grin'.  His audience
was prevented from saying anything by a sudden buzz.  "That'll be the Phone
Company - keep that thought for another hour and I'll make it worth your while!" 
She slipped out of his embrace and answered the intercom, allowing the real
technician up.

She glanced back to see him putting the notebook on the table before her other
computer.  "Eager to try my laptop out, hon?"

"Yes, and I'm dying to show you the ins and outs of your new computer, too!" her
beau replied, getting a throw pillow in the back of the head for his troubles.

They both made for the door when a knock was heard, the woman glancing through
the peephole.  "Could you show me some ID or a work order, please?" she called. 
There was a short pause, and she remarked "I *guess* that'll do," as she opened
the door, frowning disapprovingly at her lover.

The telephone repairman - or woman - stepped in, causing Mikel to raise his
eyebrows.  The look on Nadine's face said: 'there; that's one surprise I've given
YOU' before she turned to the technician and asked "I'd like the plug over near
the table with the computer - computerS on it."

"Oh, you want a MODEM line; we can put in a dedicated line for that and get you a
nice fast hookup.  It's not much more expensive than the second phone line,
anyway."

As his belle was mulling it over, Mikel stepped up.  "Well, I think she was
planning to save the money, uh, Joanne, but now that her primary reason for email
is HERE," he announced as he embraced Nadine from behind, "she MAY want to
'spurge' - especially considering that we can afford it."

"Yeah, go ahead with the special line," the hugged woman decided.

"Okay," Joanne replied.  "But I'll need better cable, and you'll have to install
a particular modem that we provide."

"Ohhhh, this'll take long, won't it," Mikel asked, nearly whining.

"Um, yes - I may even need to call in for some help-"

"Oh, I can help!" he blurted out.  "I'm rather adept with electronics and
computers; anything to save time - uh, well you must have other customers to see
this afternoon," he added hastily, provoking a vague smile from the woman in his
arms.

"Okay; excuse me while I go down and get the gear from the truck," the technician
replied.

"My, aren't we gallant, Mikel; are we attracted to Joanne?" Nadine asked after
the other woman had left.

"Hardly, she's too tall for one thing.  Why do men prefer short women?" he asked.

"Because they don't like to get sore necks from looking up all the time.  Yeah,
you told me."

"Well, the reason I offered to help is to get her done and out of here as fast as
possible so you and I can-"

>BZZZZZZZZT<

They laughed at the timing of the interruption, and let Joanne back into the
apartment.  "Okay, this is the cable I'll be stringing through the wall," she
said, handing Mikel a coil of heavy wire.  "This is the modem you'll have to
install - and here are the forms you'll have to sign, miss - this is a different
job than what you asked us to do originally," and she handed Nadine two pieces of
paper.

"Right, thanks."

"Well, I'd better pop downstairs to see where the phone switchbox is, could
someone show me the way?"

"Nadine, you had better; I've only been here...five hours," Mikel admitted,
checking his watch.  He picked up the box with the modem and opened it.  "Mind if
I use your tools, miss?"

"Not at all; like you say - you'll save me time, and I only need a measuring
tape."

"And maybe a flashlight," Nadine added, "the lighting isn't very good - just the
laundry area."

"Right then," Joanne grabbed the two items from her toolkit and handed it to
Mikel.  "Let's go."

When they returned, Mikel had completed his task.  Joanne got to work and before
long another plug was installed in the wall.

"You're now ready, hardware-wise," Joanne declared, ignorant of the smirks that
her customers failed to suppress.

"But we still have create an account for you."

Nadine spoke up.  "So when all this is over, I can just..."

"When we have your account ready, you're ready for anything!"

"How soon can you get the account ready?"

A pained expression accumulated on her face, "Now that's not so great - we'd
usually have an account ready for you in a matter of hours, but it's Saturday..."

"And the guy who does that isn't in on the weekends." Nadine realized.

"Sometimes," the other woman countered, "but only if he knows in advance he'll be
needed, and I thought you just wanted a regular phone line."

"Oh well, you'll have it for her on Monday then?"

"But I've got to be at school on..." Nadine began, but was cut off by her lover. 
"Remember, love - you don't HAVE to do anything anymore!  Do you *want* to keep
at the classes?"

She thought deeply for a moment, brow creased and a hand over her mouth.  "Yes,"
she finally decided. "I started it, and I'd like to finish it."

"Good for you then," and he hugged her from behind, his chin on her shoulder. 
"You can go on to classes on Monday, and I'll hang around here take care of this
for you; the phone call won't take long, will it?"

The technician looked surprised, "Oh, no - we'll have to drop off your
information; we don't give out that sort of stuff get out over the phone!"

"But you're the PHONE COMPANY," he exclaimed.

"Yes, and they know just how vulnerable their system is; why almost ANYONE could
- I don't know - maybe dress up like a repairman, and claim to work for them,
couldn't they?" his lover asked him with an evil grin.

He coloured, and gritted his teeth.  "Gee, well I *guess* that's possible...I've
never heard of it happening, but you're right - it wouldn't take much to fool the
average person..."

Joanne sensed a shift in the mood, but decided not to follow it.  "Anyway,
someone will just drop off a sealed envelope with your account name and starting
password...uh, tell you what; do you two want TWO accounts, or are you lovebirds
gonna be sharing this one?"

"Gee, is it that obvious?" Mikel asked insincerely as he pulled Nadine even
closer into his arms.  The two women just rolled their eyes.  "Well, what do you
think, hon?  Are you going to use this account in and of itself, or just use it
to piggyback to your HCC account or others you might get?  If you won't use it
for anything personal, we may as well both use it - I'll even be able to access
my old freenet account back in Nova Scotia."

"That sounds fine - I've been using my college account all this time, and that's
where people expect to find me - I'd hate to get them confused; we'll just take
the one and share, thanks."

"Okay then, good luck with your classes on Monday, and you'll get your account
info sometime that morning."

They gathered her gear together and Joanne exited quickly, noting the mood of
those two changing yet again, and thought wistfully of her schedule for the
afternoon.  'Two more calls, and then I can get back home - oh, I hope Geoff got
Mom to take the kids!'  She grinned at the force with which the door was shut
behind her. 'Huh!  I got outta there not a moment too soon for them!'

In fact the door had been closed by the weight of two people leaning against it;
Nadine, back against it and pressed by Mikel who was diligently attempting to
draw her very soul from her through her open mouth.  They kissed quietly but
passionately.  When they had exhausted themselves of air, he relinquished her
lips and tilted his head down so that their foreheads rested together and the
tips of their noses just touched.

"FINALLY, I couldn't wait for her to leave!"

"Oh, is that why you helped her out?"

"Hey, I was just making sure you weren't getting screwed...that's MY job," he
exclaimed with a wolf-like grin.

"Mmmmm, time to get back to work then, lover," Nadine ordered as she locked her
hands behind his neck and drew him back to her.  She trailed her lips up his
cheek to breathe hotly in his ear, running the tip of her tongue around the
ridges of his earlobe.  He was filled with desire and energy, and his arms snaked
around her body and bundled her up into his arms again.

She was surprised as he tilted back taking her body's weight on his abdomen,
their combined center of gravity securely over his hips and strong legs. 
"Careful," she gasped, but he stepped back, not staggering, striding slowly but
steadily toward the bedroom. They continued slowly and after what seemed to be an
age, they fell onto the bed side-by-side.

"Well, I don't want to complain, but I got the impression that you could've got
us here faster..."

"S'good practice; if I keep at it, before long I'll have the build to easily
carry you across the threshold..."

"You mean-"

Mikel took her head in his hands.  "I love you, Nadine; I want to spend the rest
of my life with you.  You are the most important thing in the world to me - your
happiness is foremost in mind.  And I've always skirted around this topic because
I couldn't talk of it properly - say what you will, growing up in a relatively
isolated culture has left a large part of me as old-fashioned: what I want to ask
of you I can only do so in person..."

She sat up cross-legged on the bed as he reached over to his suitcase and removed
a small square jewelry box.  He slid off the bed and knelt before her, taking her
hand in his.  "You know what I'm gonna ask, love, but there is a protocol that's
to be followed in these sorts of things," he jokingly admonished her, waggling a
finger in her smiling face.

"Will you marry me?" she blurted out.

"That's MY line!" he raged, grumbling as he eased up to the bed and pressed her
back into the mattress.  "Yes, I will be your husband, gladly and willingly and
for as long as you will have me, and you?"

"Yes," Nadine whispered, gazing up into his glistening eyes, and pressed her lips
to his.

Mikel's mouth opened and he sucked on her lips, coaxing her tongue to explore
him.  It was met by its counterpart, and the two muscles stroked each other and
pressed back and forth over teeth and lips.  They rolled around like a pair of
lovers, mirroring the passions of their owners.

His hands unbuttoned her blouse, and hers did similarly to him.  She pushed him
up and they stopped kissing to breathe.  He delicately removed her glasses,
assuring her that "I don't think you'll be interested in looking at anything more
than six inches from your face."  Each slipped their arms from their garments and
he encircled her, nibbling on her neck with tiny, tickling bites.  He reached
behind and, while one hand moved her adust mane clear, she felt a brief
tightening in her brassiere strap, then a release.

"Told ya I knew how to handle a bra-catch," he announced to her, smugly smiling
as he slipped the straps from her shoulders, revealing her breasts.  He bent down
to attend to her nipples, warming the air surrounding these awakening rosebuds
with his breath.  His fingers cradled her breasts gently squeezing and stroking
them.  Her heavy breath was testament to his activities' success.

As Mikel's lips encircled one nubbin, Nadine's hands ran through and grasped his
thick brown hair, guiding him to the intensity of his suckling.  Her chest
flushed, blood rushing to her breasts, causing them to swell, and her breath came
in gasps and moans.

With his mouth firmly attached to one breast, and one hand caressing the other,
his free digits wended their way down her torso, tickling this patch of skin,
pinching that, until they reached her only remaining articles of clothing.  His
hand cupped her sex, grinding the fabric of her slacks against the pubic hair. 
As his fingers began to stroke her labia through the material, she tensed and sat
up.

"No; while I can still think - let me do something." Nadine pushed him over onto
his back and stroked his bare chest. Her hands moved from his well-defined
shoulders, down past undeveloped pectorals and traced circles around the slight
bulge of his abdomen.

Mikel noticed the focus of her attentions, and spoke. "Yeah, I know, it's not
exactly the washboard abs of a 'Baywatch' beefcake..."

"Oo, hush," she replied, lightly slapping his belly. "What's important is that
it's part of you, and - most of all - it's *here*."  She concluded her comment
with a kiss on his navel.  "Now, there's other parts of you that I'd to take a
closer look at."

"Fine, fine - it's not like I can't guess what you're talking about," he replied,
grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

"Hey, careful, bub," Nadine retorted, planting her hand over his crotch and
gently squeezing.  Her lover's eyes widened with concern and he quickly blurted
"Sorry, sorry - you're beautiful, lovely, gorgeous, witty, sexy, funny, you make
people feel better just by being around..."

She snorted derision at Mikel's attempt of flattery, and grasped his belt. 
"Whatever!  I seem to notice that you're not quite so happy to see me..."

"Oh?  Ah well, you have to remember that the poor little guy has had more
exercise today than he's had in SEVEN YEARS; it's expected that he'd need a
little more time to get 'pumped' for the next event!"

She pulled the zipper of his khakis, and slid her hand under his jockeys to grasp
the topic of their conversation. "I'd have thought he'd be raring to go whenever
I was around - the available female?"

"Give him time - I'm sure he's willing...I know I am," the supine man replied,
his voice dropping to a lustful growl at the end.  And sure enough, as her hand
shifted to encircle him, she felt a twitch, and a slow warming of his manhood.

"Fine then, let me give him a little encouragement," she said as she drew his
shaft from his underwear.  "Aw, he looks so cute when he's little like that,"
Nadine exclaimed, enjoying the blush of Mikel's cheeks.  She lifted his prick
with a finger and thumb, taking a close look at the appendage in front of her
face.  She bent down and lightly touched her lips to his cockhead.  In response,
the shaft twitched again and his knob swelled.  "Oooo - he moved for me!"

"Yeahhhhhh," came a moaned reply.  Mikel's eyes were closed and his face a mask
of pleasurable concentration.  He frowned and inhaled quickly as he felt his
lover's tongue run down his prick.  She kissed her way back up to the tip, and
then slipped him into her mouth.  A hiss escaped from his lips as he she licked
the underside of his head, and her teeth grasped the ridge of his glans.  Nadine
then plunged her head down an inch or two on his cock, sucking as she drew back
and leaving a 'high-water mark' of her saliva.  Several more strokes had his
entire penis glistening and rigid.  She let it slip from her lips and said,
"there - now he's ready for action!"

With his eyes still shut, he heard the rasp of another zipper, sighed as he felt
a hand grasp him and awaited the feel of the condom.  He was surprised to feel
something rather different sliding over his cock.

"Woah, love - are we forgetting something?" he asked, as his eyes opened.

"No, and since you love quantifying everything, try this out," she replied
grinding her mound into his pubic hair as she ticked off her fingers.  "One: I'm
only a few days away from finishing my first prescription of birth-control, so
there's not *that* much chance to start.  Two: as you've said, this is Little
Willy's third time at bat, so whatever you give up is gonna be low on potency. 
And three: we've already gotten engaged just a few minutes ago.  Unless you're a
real two-timing prick," and her expression told Mikel that the pun was intended,
"I think if you did manage to knock me up, I wouldn't be too worried about
bearing the child of the man I love.  Just remember that I get the drugs at the
start this time, and get to hold and crush your hand during delivery!"

"Well," he gasped as she rode him, "I guess you're right - I've done a lot today,
and I'll almost be shooting blanks.  And as for your conditions," he replied,
pulling the woman down to kiss her quickly but warmly on the cheek.  "a) the
thought of you suffering the pain of merely a hangnail fills me with dread, and
b) I agree, it'd only be fair...but make it my right hand, love."

"Glad you consent, man - now let's get going," she sighed as she lifted herself
and slid down onto him again.  He responded by shifting his pants down to his
knees, and thrusting his hips up to meet her.

They caressed each other, and moved to meet at the apex of each stroke, starting
slowly, and building in tempo as her pleasure increased.  Mikel adjusted their
positioning so that his shaft brushed her engorged clitoris every time.  He was
rewarded with Nadine flushing with ecstasy soon after, her hands tweaking her
breasts, her voice a soft moan, her body shivering and her cunt clasping him
inside her.  She collapsed onto him, taking his head in her hands and initiated a
long, passionate kiss.  He encircled her shoulders, hugging her to him, and
kissed her back with equal verve.

They broke off, her nuzzling into the crook of his neck, he kissing his way up
her cheek to brush his lips across her temple. "Mmmmm, I have to thank you,
honey; you had the right idea with leaving off the condom - it just
feels...so...well, better unfettered."

"I miped id doo," she mumbled indistinctly into his shoulder.

"So you're saying it was also an improvement for you?" he asked, stroking her
eyebrow with his cheek.

"Ef, I mean 'yes'," came the reply as she moved her face to speak clearly.  "If I
wanted the feel of rubber inside of me, I'd grab my vibrator."  She ran a finger
along his collarbone. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Everything: coming to see me, treating me the way you have, being so kind,"

"...And making you come so often!" he finished, a familiar sly grin returning to
his face.

"Yeah, that too," she admitted, twirling some of his sparse chest hair.  "I mean
here we are; I'm in the aftermath, and you're still inside me and hard as wood."

"Heh, well since you've pointed out that I like lists, three things: A) I once
heard or read some guy say 'if it feels so good, why let it end so quickly?' so I
guess I like the feeling too much to rush things.  B) I'm not sure, but I think I
must have some sort of 'chivalry' gene - every time I help someone out or do them
a favor or even just make them feel a little happier for just a moment, that
makes me feel really good.  And I'm talking like a hit of seratonin or something
- I get a real high off of altruism."  He ran his hands over her back, enjoying
the feel of her body shrouded in her long hair. "Oh, and take it from me I've
felt better than I have...well ever, ever since I first made you laugh over the
phone."

"Ah-HA, so the real reason comes out why you said my happiness was the most
important goal in your life!"  Nadine exclaimed, raising herself up to her elbows
and smiling evilly at him.

He broke comically into tears, pressing his hands to his face, and hamming it up.
 "Yes, YES!  I confess: I've been making you feel good solely for selfish
reasons; I was only interested in myself!  I admit it, I'm addicted to charitable
behavior; I'm hooked on good deeds!"   "HELP ME," he wailed. Slowly his 'sobbing'
petered out, and peeking one eye through his fingers, asked "So, did ya buy it?"
and received a pillow for his troubles.

"No I didn't buy it, you silly man," she giggled.  "So what's the third reason?"

"Oh, well.  Anyway, C)..." His smile remained, but she noticed that Mikel seemed
somewhat more serious.  "C is that ever since I grabbed hold of you in the hall,
just a few hours and half a lifetime ago, the very feel of your body, your every
touch, makes me feel just...so...agh, what's the word!" A frown took possession
of his visage, indicating his struggle to express the feelings he now
experienced. "Oh, it's happiness, and it's pride, and it's strength, and so many
things I can't even identify them - if this is what being in love is like, don't
let it EVER stop, I say.  I...<sigh>...I just feel so perfect when I'm with you;
like something God designed is finally happening the way he wanted...every stupid
little saying about love is true - I'm feeling them all the time now; I'm so
awash with emotion I'm surprised I can even talk coherently!  I LOVE you, Nadine
Sanders, and that you've consented to marry me makes me feel just so right!"

"Mmmmm; you're right - I feel just like you do."  Nadine rested on his chest,
listening to his heartbeat, and riding his lungs as they lifted her...up...and
down...and up...and down. "I've said that my previous experiences haven't been
quite so good.  And now, you're with me, and you're so nice, and you treat me
like how I feel matters to you."

"Ah, but it does, darling," he proclaimed, lightly tapping her nose with a
finger.  "Everyone who's treated you badly or stepped on your feelings or just
basically been less than civil has been, to put it simply, ignorant.  To not
notice a lovely, funny, sexy woman, so full of the capacity to cheer others, and
to be SO wonderful; it's just a crime..."

"So you're gonna jail the asshole who cut me off in the supermarket yesterday?"

"If I have to, yes.  Remember it won't be long before I'm rather wealthy, my wild
rose, and with wealth comes influence; maybe the local police need the building
renovated, or new cars or maybe a dental plan...pretty soon, that lout is being
watched by the cops for the slightest infraction.  And since people who cut in
lines tend to be equally thoughtless - on the road, for example - it wouldn't be
long before the guy who slighted you winds up with a handful of traffic
violations."

"Mmmmm, you'd do that for me?"

"Well, actually, the cops would do that for me, and I'd arrange it for you - just
putting credit where credit is due, love" and he kissed the top of her head.

"Oh no - I've created a nit-picking *monster*" Nadine murmured, running her nose
across one of her lover's nipples. His body flinched pleasantly, reminding her of
something.  "Oh! I can't believe we've been lying here talking all this time, and
you're still in me."

"Oooohhhh, I never forgot - it's been fantastic, feeling your every move on my
dick."

"But you got me off, so fair's fair..." and she shifted her hips and clenched her
cunt muscles.

"Oh...all right," Mikel replied, locking one leg around hers, clasping her to
him, and he rolled them onto their side. He kissed her cheek and pushed himself
into her, feeling his erection regain strength from the feel of her silky
insides.

She planted her hands on his shoulders, getting her entire body moving with their
stroke for a while, enjoying the feel of his hardening member brush her clit. 
Once he was fully erect again, she let him take over, thrusting into her with all
the passion and love he mentioned during their pillow-talk.

She ran her fingers down his chest, and circled his tiny, vestigial nipples.  
'Hmmmmmm.  Who was it that started talking about the redundancy of men's nips on
the newsgroup - Jane? Heather?  Aw, who CARES!' she thought, as a wave of warm
pleasure soaked through her.

She glanced down to see Mikel teasing her tits with his moustache.  She brought
her arms up around his head and pulled it into her chest.  He replied by latch
his lips around one of her aroused nubs, rolling gently between his teeth.  She
gasped as he flicked his tongue around her sensitive flesh, and a trickle of
moisture seeped onto his prick as it slid into her with gorgeous repetition.  His
head eased back and he groaned softly with the pleasure he was surely feeling.

As he gave her other nipple the same treatment, her fingers worked into his hair
and massaged his scalp.  Another shift in his posture caused multi-coloured stars
to appear behind her eyelids as her clit was pressed back into her nether lips. 
She pulled him up to her face, and sloppily kissed him, hugging him as if she
wanted to pull his entire body into her.  She felt his hands pull her legs over
his hips, and they rolled onto her back.  His cock was lower in her vagina as her
legs encircled him, but a thumb pressed into her moist cavern attended to her
clit.

She pulled at his lower lip with her teeth and moaned, feeling his tongue caress
the inside of her upper lip and gums. Nadine giggled as his moustache tickled her
nose.  A twinkle in her man's brown eyes showed he was inwardly laughing with
her. She released his lip and her tongue pushed his back into its home, stroking
the roof of his mouth.  Mikel shivered in response and his thrumming of her
engorged clit skipped a beat, causing a jolt of ecstasy to course through her
veins.

The man above her knitted his eyebrows in concentration, beginning to pant with
lust and arousal.  He slid slightly higher on her body, and Nadine felt her nexus
of so many pleasurable nerves dragged into her pussy.  She scratched his back
with her fingernails, wordlessly encouraging him to greater and greater activity.
 His pace increased, blurring the feelings that came from between her legs. She
sighed with the feel of his hot breath on the side of her neck.

A few strokes more and she was in the throes of orgasm, her fingers digging into
the muscles over his shoulder blades, her thighs squeezing his waist, and her
inner labia clenching his swelling prick.  A high, quiet keening came from her
mouth, accompanied by a roaring sigh from her lover's.  Even in the sensory
overload of her climax, she felt his hot seed filling her cunt.

Nadine's mind cleared, and she found herself lying across the bed with this man's
recumbent body resting over her, limp. She kissed his nose and Mikel sighed,
shifting slightly.  It took little effort for her to coax him to slide off of her
and he curled up, his face smothering itself in her hair and his slick, slowly
softening organ pressed into her leg.  His arm was still draped over her chest, a
bar of warmth on her cooling skin.  After a few moments she felt him shiver, and
his eyes slowly opened.

"Ngggggg...mmmmmuuu.  Wwwwooooooowwwww," he indistinctly intoned, bringing a
smile to her lips.  "Are you as chilly as me?"

"Yeah, I'm sort of cold," she sighed, rolling to face him and stroking his arm
with her free hand.

"Is the heat working?"

"It should be..."

"And those windows aren't open, so...oh, wow - I can feel your heartbeat!"

"So, we're pressed toget-"

"No, you don't understand - I can feel it in your *fingertips*!"

She grasped his wrist and draped his hand over her mouth; he was right, she could
feel a faint but rhythmic throbbing on her lips.

"Gee, did we heat up that much?"

"I guess so; we're just so hot together even room temperature seems cold," Nadine
mused as she shifted them to the head of the bed, pushing the suitcase onto the
floor.  Mikel stopped suddenly, dozy but alert to something she didn't notice.

"You know something, beautiful?  We forgot to finish something." His arm reached
behind him.

She frowned and tried to recall the events on her bed. "Well, I came, we talked,
and then both you and I came; I don't see anything missing with that."

"Not that - that was perfect, love.  I'm talking about before that."

"Oh gee, that's a little hazy-"

"Flatterer!  Here, maybe this'll refresh your memory," and Mikel opened the small
jewellery box in his hand a held it in front of her face.

She regarded the small, hazy diamond in her vision, vaguely disappointed, until
she realized her eyes were focusing properly - the central stone was nestled in a
ring...no a *halo* of tiny diamond chips that stretched down one side of the gold
band. She sighed and took the box in her hands.

"It's a comet - you probably don't remember that I commented about Hale-Bopp
early in our relationship, how we could look up at the sky and see the same thing
at the same time despite the distance between us.  It's stuck in my mind ever
since.  Now that I look back upon it, that errant lump of ice could've been a
sign that we were meant for each other, and I wanted to remember that lucky
coincidence."

"It's...c'mere you!"  She kissed him and nestled her head under his.  Mikel
sighed, half from happiness and half from exasperation. "Nadine, darling?  We're
still not done with this."

"What?  Oh, right.  Here."  She returned the ring to him, and pulled her left arm
out from under his body.  He had the circle of gold in his fingers, and grasped
her hand in his, kissing each knuckle softly.  "So, wanna get hitched, missus?"
he asked smiling as she laughed at his affected Cockney accent. "Naah, let's try
it like this," and his voice shifted up several classes.  "Dear, dear lady. 
Would you grant me the endless pleasure of being my soulmate *officially*?  To be
there both to console me and be consoled by me?  To share in my happiness and
yours?  To love me and be forever loved in return?  Will you marry me?"

"Yes.  I love you, Mikel, and everything you asked of me I'm only too happy to
agree to; I found you, and I don't ever want to let you go."

He slipped the ring onto her finger, fighting back tears of joy at her requiting
his love.  He pulled her to him, and kissed her passionately, a salty wetness
running down his nose and crossing onto hers.

"God, you ARE a soft one, aren't you, man?"

"Well, it's rather sappily romantic, isn't it?  Getting engaged a few days before
your birthday!  But yeah, I'm a big marshmallow. <sniff>  Just imagine it - a
wedding where the GROOM is crying!  It's just I've never been so happy in my
life."

"And how did you get the size right?"

"Huh?  Oh...I didn't."

"Yeah, right!"

He smirked guiltily. "No, you're right - I can't lie to you.  Do you remember
that letter you sent me?"

"Which one?"

"The one where you traced your hand on the page?  I got a jeweller to take a
guess from that - looks like he was right!" Mikel shivered as their bodies
cooled.

"Oooo, let's get under the covers!"

Her new fiance made no protest, his heavy-lidded eyes gazing possessively over
her as she shifted their bodies and pulled the comforter over them.  "Thank you,
fiancee," he sighed.  And kissing her on the forehead, he nestled into her
shoulder and drifted off.

She looked down his back to her left hand, watching the play of light on the
symbol of their love.  She whispered into his ear, "Thank YOU, husband-to-be, for
the best birthday present I could ever get," closed her eyes and dreamed of their
happy future.