"Feeling good, Pel?"

Tia's voice was everything. "Uh huh," I answered, more a breath than a word. I didn't notice that it took me almost twenty seconds to actually answer.

"And you're ready to come up?"

I was. "Uh huh," I said again, too relaxed to form other syllables.

"Good with everything we discussed?"

Of course I was. Tia knew me better than anyone on earth. Better that I knew myself, some days. I'm sure I made some indication of that.

I felt her hand on my face. "Then all you need to do is swim up for me, Pel. Just swim up."

Swim? Oh, right, I was deep, deep in the ocean, so deep that I couldn't see any light, so deep that I couldn't remember what light was, so deep that I couldn't remember... what I couldn't remember. Tia was talking, still, but I focused on reaching up towards the sunlight, on growing like a flower into the air, on stretching for the ceiling, on breaking the surface and taking a deep breath, on...

"How ya doin'?"

I smiled. My eyes were still closed. I felt Tia's hands on my belly. How was I doing? I felt serene, warm, adored, excited, sexy... "I'm good," I said.

I finally did open my eyes, and what a gorgeous sight met me. Tia was straddling me, looking down at me, all dark and athletic and powerful, her hands on my stomach, under my t-shirt and just below my ribs, long arms up to powerful shoulders up to beatific, innocent (ha!) smile. She was wearing green.

I stroked her arm lightly. She said something, I said something back, it was either small talk or it felt like small talk to me. I reached up and she nuzzled my hand like a cat. Her breath felt amazing on my skin.

God, I wanted her. I wanted to pull her shirt off and push her down on the bed and suck her nipples until she squealed. I wanted to strip her naked and pin her to the wall with kisses and then touch her until her knees gave out. I wanted to—

"Holy fuck, Pel, you're sexy when you wake up," she said with a giggle.

That took me a moment. I had to be voicing my thoughts, but it didn't feel like it. I focused a little more. "You're sexy all the time, Tia," I said, my voice still sounding a little dazed.

"She knows what I like to hear." Her fingers danced like ladybugs over the back of my hand, which was still on her face. She pulled my hand gently around and kissed my palm. "You were pretty deep down there, you doing alright?"

I nodded best as I could with fairly limp muscles and my head in pillows. "Yeah, actually, I'm feeling great." I wriggled a stretch into the mattress. "Wondering... huh. That's it, really, just wondering." I smiled. I was already smiling. I smiled bigger.

"Curious about things, Pel?"

"Mmhmm... I was... I was down and up, what... a dozen times?"

Tia just smiled. "I lost count. I just wanted to keep you bouncing around."

I felt like a half-deflated beach ball. In a good way. I didn't answer.

"Haven't done that in too long," she said.

"Mmm, yeah." I stretched again. "I owe you the same."

Tia brushed a lock of hair out of my eyes. "You'll pay me back." She got off me and stood next to the bed, offering me a hand up. I took it and sat, feeling my strength come back. "Probably real soon. You always do."

I chuckled. "There are maybe a few ideas about that swimming in my head." I looked over at the dresser, at the silver ouroboros charm sitting there in the open.

Tia turned, following my look. She lunged forward, but she had to scramble over, and I was closer. I don't think she was trying all that hard.

Just as my feet hit the floor, though, I heard, "Stop."

And I woke up, lying on my pillows, Tia holding the charm before my eyes.

She laughed. "You are feeling sleeeeeeepy..." she said, swinging the ouroboros back and forth.

I giggled. "That's not how that works."

"I know, silly."

I moved quickly to snatch it from her hand, but again I heard the word, "Stop."

And I woke up on my knees by the bedside, Tia sitting on the edge. We'd been in that position many times, but we were both wearing far more clothing than we usually were in those situations. The charm was dangling again just above my eyes.

"Someone's having fun," I said.

"Two of us are," she replied.

Of course she knew. She had to have been asking while I was under.

"What're you gonna do?" she asked, playing with the chain.

I reached up again, and sure enough, "Stop."

And then it was me on the bed, my shirt was gone (I hadn't had a bra on to begin with), and Tia was kissing my belly. The charm was on the bed, just beyond my grasp.

I squirmed a bit. "You know that's just one less thing I have to take off to get the charm to work, right?"

"If you ever get it in your hands, sure," she replied. She ran her fingertips over my ribs and I squirmed more.

I hissed a bit, trying to get a trigger out, and finally managed. "Settle, Tia! Settle!" I caught my breath as her hands fell into her lap. I lunged for the ouroboros charm.

"Stop."

And she was as topless as I was, snuggled up beside me in the bed, nibbling on my shoulder. The cold metal charm was sitting on my belly.

I didn't wait to figure anything out, just reached for the—

"Stop."

And I was lying on my belly, and my sweat pants were gone. "You wore blue for me?" Tia said, massaging my bottom.

"I wore comfortable for me," I replied, muffled by pillows.

"Don't lie," she joked, patting me lightly.

I tried to find the charm but my line of sight was limited. Turning my neck didn't yield any more information.

"Looking for this?" Tia asked, putting the ouroboros in the middle of my back. I jumped, startled.

"Kinda, yeah," I muttered.

"Well, you know where it is..."

I hesitated. "You won't... do anything if I reach for it?"

"Won't say a word," she said, and I could hear her grin.

I waited a second more before moving, and then, muffled by pillows, I heard, "Stop."

I realized, in that instant, that it wasn't my ears that were muffled by pillows. It was my mouth.

And I woke up, sitting up against the pillows, looking at my beautiful naked lover holding the ouroboros over my lap. "Figured it out yet?"

She dropped the charm, I grabbed for it and, just before my hand made contact, said, "Stop."

And I woke up to Tia's smug smirk, the charm around my neck, dangling down between my breasts. "I wouldn't reach for that, if I were you."

"What would you do, if you were me?" I asked, hooking my thumbs into the waistband of my panties.

"Exactly what you're doing now," she said, watching me slip out of my underwear before her eyes snapped to the ouroboros.

The moment I was nude I felt the weight of Tia's suggestion floating off me. Good safety, love, I thought. Wouldn't do to have both of us stuck there.

"Alright, Tia, you've kept this just out of my reach for..." I looked at the bedside clock. "About an hour?"

She nodded, ever so slightly. If I didn't know what to look for, I wouldn't have seen it. Everything about that was sexy. I had been down and up and down and up and down and up... and now Tia was under, and I wanted revenge, but more than that...

Revenge would wait. Best served cold right?

"Do you want me as much as I want you right now?"

Tia's breathing quickened. She nodded again.

I pointed to a spot just above the ouroboros. "Start kissing here."

She was quick to obey.