Walk Through The Memories: Chapter 2

Claire stood up and grabbed the dress from where it had fallen onto the floor.  She walked into the bedroom hoping that Peter's mysterious plans were worth their interrupted make-out session.  Her skin was still buzzing from the touch of his fingers and she would have been a perfectly happy girl if things had continued where they'd been leading.  Plus, surprises set her on edge.  As a little girl, she'd liked them, but after finding out that she could regenerate and thinking that Peter was her uncle for four heart-breaking years, she couldn't stand being caught off guard.  What did "befitting our relationship" even mean?  She seriously hoped they weren't going to spend the night saving the world or something.        

She stepped into the dress Peter had gotten for her and zipped up the back.  It fit perfectly.  What sort of shoes, Claire wondered, does one wear to a celebration befitting one's relationship?  She didn't want to wear high heels if they were going to be tramping all over, but she felt too short in flats.      

She finally decided on a pair of red slingbacks with a low heel.  Peter could warn her if they were doing something where she needed more practical shoes.  She went to the bathroom to curl her hair and put her makeup on, carefully applying red lipgloss that would more than likely get smeared as soon as Peter returned.        

"Are you ready, Claire?" Peter called from the living room.  Claire took one last glance in the mirror and walked out of the bathroom.  

"Yeah," she said when she reached Peter.  "Do I need to grab an umbrella?"      

"No need," he replied.  "It'll be nice outside."  

He grabbed her hand, but instead of walking with her to the door, he closed his eyes and suddenly Claire found herself outside on the roof of a building she'd never been to.  The air was warm and breezy instead of raining and miserable and Peter was stroking her hand.        

"But it's raining."    

"It wasn't yesterday," Peter replied.  She realized he must have teleported them back in time.  "I hope you don't mind not having dinner on our actual anniversary."      

"It doesn't matter.  It still counts."    

Claire looked to the other end of the rooftop where a table was set up with glasses, dishes, and a white tablecloth.  It seemed so out of place here, like a dream.      

She let go of Peter's hand and walked over to the edge, letting her hand run across the beautiful granite carvings as she gazed upon the New York skyline.  She felt him behind her even before he put a hand on the small of her back.  

"It's beautiful.  Where are we?"      

"It's the Deveaux building."  

Claire looked incredulously at him.  Maybe neither of them knew exactly what anniversaries were supposed to be like and it wasn't just her.      

"You took me to the rooftop of your ex-girlfriend's building?"  

She stepped away from Peter and went to go sit down at the table.  He probably thought she was mad, but she wasn't.  She couldn’t be mad about Peter’s past when it had led him to her.  Instead, she was stuck between disbelief and wanting to laugh.  Claire primly set the cloth napkin on her lap and waited for Peter to sit down.      

He looked frustrated and frowned as if he was in the process of choosing his words carefully.  Claire waited.  Maybe she shouldn't have walked away. 

"You know that it's nothing.  She doesn't have anything to do why I brought you here."      

"I know," Claire smiled.  "I think we're both a bit on edge lately.  We need to figure out how to fix that."  

He nodded in agreement.      

"I brought you here because it's an important place for me and an important place for us.  I need you to know that.  It doesn't have anything to do with Simone."  

"I know," she repeated. 

"I worked for Charles here and it was a big part of my life.  I also had meetings with Claude up here and he shoved me off the building once." Claire gasped and Peter chuckled.  "It was after I'd met you, so don't worry.  Your face was what I thought of as I fell and it saved my life.  It was up here that Charles told me that all that matters is love.  I like to come up here to think sometimes and it was up here that I realized how I felt about you.  I just wanted to show you, I guess."    

"Thank you.  It means a lot to me."    

Claire reached across the table for Peter's hand.  "I love you."    

She wanted to get up and kiss him, but instead she asked what they were eating.  Peter disappeared for a few moments and then returned with a bowl of bolognese pasta and rosé wine.    

"One day," he said as he poured their glasses, "I'm going to get you to realize that red tastes better with pasta."    

"You just think rosé is too girly," she laughed.      

"Maybe."    

They ate in silence, but Claire found herself continually grinning in Peter's direction as she ate her pasta and drank her wine.  Sometimes he would catch her and grin back, raising his eyebrows suggestively.  She just loved looking at him sometimes, especially now that she was free to look at him whenever she wanted.  He was so attractive and sweet and, as much as it annoyed him, she really loved his hair when it was long enough to fall in his eyes.  She was glad he’d grown it back out.    

He was wearing the same blue button-down top that she had started to undo earlier and a khaki trenchcoat that she hadn't seen him wear in years.    

"I thought you lost that coat."    

Peter looked down and touched the coat as if he'd completely forgotten he was wearing it.    

"I did.  This is a new one I found that just looks similar."    

"It's nice.  So what's next?"  Claire slipped her foot out of its shoe and stretched her leg underneath the table until she tapped Peter's foot.  His eyes shot to hers and he gave her a crooked smile.  Glad that the table was small enough for her short legs to comfortably reach across the way, she rubbed Peter's ankle through his sock and moved her way up the cuff of his pant leg.      

"Is it time for my present yet?" she asked sweetly.    

"You're going to be the death of me.  We still have dessert to eat and I have more things to show you.  Stop trying to seduce me."    

"What kind of dessert?"    

"Tiramisu." 

"My favorite," Claire replied with a grin.    

Peter vanished and then returned with two dishes of tiramisu.      

"I suppose I can hold off on the seduction until later," she said with feigned reluctance before grabbing a spoon and digging into her tiramisu.  Peter could wait while her favorite dessert claimed all of her attention.  She moaned at the first bite and licked the spoon clean with her tongue before getting more.  It was delicious.  She let the next bite soak its flavors into her tongue before swallowing.  The espresso, chocolate and cream surrounded her and before she knew it, Claire only had one bit left.  She picked it up with the spoon and licked it off slowly, determined to make her dessert last.  After she finished the last of it, she set her spoon down.    

Claire might have forgotten about Peter while she was eating, but he definitely hadn't forgotten about her.  He was looking right at her when she looked up and it didn't seem like he had moved after setting the desserts down.  He certainly hadn't touched his.    

"You didn't eat anything."    

Peter started as if he'd just woken from a trance.      

"I guess not," he said looking down with a startled expression at his uneaten dessert.  "I thought you said you were going to hold off on the seduction until later."    

Claire reached her spoon across the table and grabbed some of Peter's tiramisu.    

"What are you talking about?"    

She put the spoon in her mouth and licked it clean.    

"That!" Peter exclaimed as he pointed to her mouth.    

"I'm just eating dessert."    

"You don't just eat dessert, Claire.  You make love to your dessert."    

Claire laughed.  "Don't be ridiculous!"    

"You do."    

"Do not."  To prove her point, Claire took another spoonful of Peter's tiramisu and shoved it in her mouth with a challenging look in her eyes.      

Peter got out of his chair and walked to her side of the table, setting one hand on the table and the other on the back of her so that he towered over her.  She grinned around the spoon.  He grabbed the metal and pulled it out of her mouth, only allowing Claire a momentary swipe of the tongue.    

"Hey!  I wasn't done with that."  

"Too bad," Peter said before holding the spoon up to his mouth and letting his tongue reach out to get the remaining tiramisu on the spoon that had just been in her mouth.  She watched the path of his tongue and decided that she could see exactly he'd gotten so worked up watching her eat.        

He set the spoon down on the table after he'd finished and leaned down to kiss her.  He tasted like espresso and chocolate and she tilted her head and opened her mouth so that he could taste more of him.    

"Mmm," she sighed as they parted, "Who knew this combination would taste so good."      

"You taste pretty good, yourself," Peter said before stealing another kiss.    

Claire broke away and reached across the table to Peter's desert.  She dipped her finger into the creamy mascarpone and smeared it across his lips and cheek.  Standing up and suddenly thankful she wore heels so that she could reach him easily, Claire started to kiss and lick her way across the seam of Peter's mouth.  He only allowed her to get halfway before he started kissing her in full, spreading the cream across her face as well.    

She smiled against his lips when he brushed his index finger across her cheek, cleaning away the sugary dessert clinging to her face.  He broke away to stick the finger in his mouth and lick it clean before returning to her check with butterfly-soft kisses and quick swipes of his tongue to get the excess.    

"That tickles," she giggled.

"Sorry." 

 He didn't stop kissing her, though, until both of their faces were free of dessert.

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A/N: Comments are love!

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