A/N: This is the companion fic to "A Home You Never Knew How to Have". Again, I will put notes at the beginning of the chapter to let you know what exactly it will contain.

This chapter only has some vague-ish mentions of their first time that are hardly explicit. It is set during the time skipped in chapter two of the main story and is the morning after they first had sex. Griffin's PoV (like most of these will be but there will be some from Valtor's PoV as well.)

The shy ray of sunshine that caressed her face still blinded her when she opened her eyes right amidst the stream of light coming from the blinds they'd forgotten to close in their fascination with each other.

Griffin had to blink away the confusion of waking up so behind on the sunrise when she was usually one to beat it. Especially in winter when the days were shorter and the darkness of the night refused to release the sky for a few extra hours that were normally more than enough for her to be up and running by the time the sun showed up. She couldn't even remember when was the last time she'd overslept.

That was no surprise, however, considering the warmth at her side was already feeling far more familiar than she'd expect it to after so many mornings in the cold of her loneliness. She hadn't woken up to another person's presence in about three years, eight months and fourteen days. Not that she was trying to count them but the negative experiences usually refused to leave your being and haunted you for ages like you'd made them ghosts when you'd dared move on past them. And that was exactly the part that had her teeth grinding when she hadn't moved on and was still chewing on the same bitterness. She hadn't found anyone to warm up her heart as well as her bed and had only settled for a few one-night stands here and there–all of them with women since she couldn't handle another rejection from a man even though they stung all the same as she was good for no one–when she'd needed to feel on her skin touch that hadn't been her own.

She hadn't even dared hope she could ever find someone to fill her soul as well. She still didn't. It felt like asking for too much when all her pleas had ever done had been make her weak as they went ignored and broke down more of her faith in the universe. She'd stopped hoping and tried appreciating what she had. And currently, that was a beautiful man lying next to her.

All she needed to do was turn her head and she was met with Valtor's peaceful expression that had her heart stop while he slept calmly on. His arm wasn't around her middle anymore like it'd been before they'd drifted off but there was no doubt in her mind whether he wanted her right where she was. She trusted him to want her there just as much as he trusted her to let her near. And that was a lot considering he could barely find the inclination to share anything about his past with her even when she'd talked about hers for hours, though her provided information had been selected as well and she might have overwhelmed him with stories about the twins and random trivia about her interests while leaving many questions about other aspects of her background. All he'd given had been that he'd grown up in the foster system before working his ass off to pay his college tuition and make his way to a better standard of life. That and his grateful kisses.

It hadn't been just relief thanks to the support she'd shown him in his emotional turmoil. He'd held her face in his hands as if it fit in them like they'd been meant for each other and his lips had moved against hers in a way that had been passionate yet still involved as every second of their kisses she'd believed he'd been so wrapped up in her being and not in the heat of a body pressed against his. He'd touched eagerly but slowly enough for his fingers to explore her responsiveness and for her senses to tell him how to fill them with himself. He'd made her shake. He'd made her scream his name. And he'd made her unable to even when she'd wanted, her panting nowhere near soft when she'd trusted her need to breathe him in wouldn't push him away.

He was still asleep next to her, facing her, and she couldn't tell whether she hadn't felt him move all night because she'd been far more absorbed in sleep than the light sleeper she usually was or because he hadn't moved at all. All the certainty she had currently was going into her unwavering desire to run her fingers over his cheek, his mouth, his eyelids–maybe even through his long blond hair that was shining like gold in the sun–and she had to fist her hands in the sheets to keep from waking him on accident.

She'd already woken him up a couple of times on the weekends when she'd found out half past nine, half past ten and even eleven o'clock were all earlier than he got up even though he'd tried to pretend she hadn't just killed his dreams, whether for her sake or for his own remaining unclear. And despite the fact that his enthusiasm over their conversations–and the meetings they'd arranged–had rang in his laughter and the countless times they'd both speak simultaneously in their impatience to share their thoughts, he needed his sleep when even she had carried on far later in the morning than she usually did. She could use some time to cook breakfast and stop grinning like a hormonal teenager that had just scored her first ten. Valtor was much more than that in her eyes.

It was hard to pry herself from the sheets that had been the domain of their connection all evening and into the night. Especially when she had to stuff herself back into her rusty red dress now that her muscles had soaked up his caresses to have any stiffness peeled away from them and her soul was reaching out to him to touch him like he'd done with every inch of her being. It was his fingerprints she was afraid of scrubbing off her skin when they would never leave her memory.

She could take Valtor's shirt for the time being–or just stay naked for that matter–but she didn't want to risk claiming something he wouldn't give her or wasn't ready to–and she was sure someone would have the perfect view from the windows–especially when she was already on her way to intrude in his kitchen. Though, that she was hopeful he'd forgive once he felt all the warmth she'd prepared the food with. If she could pick what to make.

His food had always been rich in proteins–well, save for those pizzas they'd shared–and rich in flavors and his refrigerator seemed to follow the same principle once she actually opened it as it would be the best guide in her situation. She wouldn't risk going to a store–especially when she didn't know where to find one around his apartment building–and take the chance to make him think she'd left if he were to wake up while she was gone. And besides, he knew what he liked best.

It took a bit of–as quiet as possible–rummaging through his cupboards to find a pan for the omelets she'd decided on that had her stumble upon not only some fresh mushrooms but also fresh spinach that would both go well with her plan for breakfast. Or was it brunch at that point?

The food was on the stove under her watchful eye when the memories of his–frankly, disturbing enough to compete with Zarathustra's–coffee habits flooded through the sizzling of the oil and the smell of fried eggs. He'd had coffee with his lunch or even in the late afternoon almost every time so it was a logical deduction to make him some now. At least it was still a somewhat normal hour for coffee.

She'd seen a packet of coffee beans in one of the cupboards she'd gone through but, luckily, she found already ground coffee that was ready for brewing. There was more than enough for two cups of strong coffee as it wasn't her favorite drink but she would gladly join him in that, too–provided she could hunt down some sugar to tame the taste of hers with–on their special morning. It was special at least to her when the chasm laying beyond the edge of her memory had swallowed the last time she'd slept out of her bed and into the arms of another. And not just the arms either as his eyes had shined like stars with reverence and his mouth had held her name like it'd been sacred knowledge. Or it'd just been so long since she'd last received affection that she'd forgotten how to guard her mind from the delusions that tended to attack it at moments of vulnerability when her walls were down to let some potential happiness in.

Now multitasking could be called a specialty of hers as she'd found out how much more efficient she was when she'd mastered it but this time the omelets suffered from her overconfidence in herself. And she almost managed to let the coffee spill all over the stove, too. It was just her thoughts of Valtor and their evening that weren't affected when she had devoted all her focus to them but, in the end, she had breakfast and coffee on the table with just a tint of burnt eggs tainting the smell coming from the kitchen.

She'd assumed that would be alluring enough to draw Valtor out of his sleep but it didn't happen, which posed a problem. She wasn't sure how to wake him without startling him and she settled on letting him do it on his own. She could spend a bit more time just appreciating the sight and the feel of his sleepy softness next to her as she lay back down, still in her dress.

The movement of the mattress had him stir but instead of waking, he just snaked an arm around her and drew her to him once again, nearly startling a squeak out of her that she quickly forced to morph into a gasp. It was a miracle how the fabric of her dress under his skin didn't nudge him to wakefulness but if anything, it was a sign his rest wasn't to be interrupted yet and she was far too comfortable in his embrace for even the beginning of a protest to form in her head. Even when her shoulder started tingling from the awkward angle under which she was pressing it into the bed.

The longer she felt the weight of his arm on top of her, the stronger the temptation to feel his skin as well became, their touching–almost tangled–legs not counting, and she gave in. She ran her fingers over his arm firmly enough to make sure she wouldn't tickle him awake. And to indulge the craving to feel him that refused to be satisfied with less.

It refused to be satisfied with that either and she found herself drawing illogical patterns over his relaxed yet shapely muscles. She knew he had a home fitness–though, she hadn't seen it since the tour of the apartment hadn't been her priority when he'd carried her straight to the bedroom and running her hands and lips over his chiseled body had been all she'd cared about–where he turned his frustrations with life into strength and now was a perfectly good time to appreciate that some more than she'd managed to do when he'd been between her legs and she'd been grasping at the sheets as he'd been driving her towards orgasm.

His chest moved in response to her caresses pressing itself into them but it took him a couple more minutes to finally join her when her fingers were stroking over his cheek and he caught her hand so suddenly she could have screamed if her lungs could draw in air as he kissed her palm.

"Good morning," Valtor murmured, his voice just barely carrying the ghost of sleep in it that got lost in the hum he gave as he placed another kiss on her skin. And then another. One more and her brain would shut down much like her closing eyes with no words capable of escaping it and all that was left was the fluttering of her heart when his lips pressed against her skin gentle like butterfly wings.

"Good morning to you, too," she said languidly when that was all she was capable of as he relocated his hand from the top of her own into her hair tangling it in the strands and tugging lightly on them in tact with his caresses. "There's breakfast somewhere between semi-warm and cold on the table," she managed to get out–purr, it was more of a purr, really, when his fingers felt even more magical in her hair than they'd felt inside her and her mind was spiraling down to the morning erection he probably had–as she grasped at the thought of her trials with cooking that meal. She wouldn't see it get wasted. He would have his chance to eat her out later as something told her his appetite for that was harder to sate even if he had to be starving by now after the evening they'd had.

"Ah, sorry about that," Valtor said, his hand cupping her cheek now and even though his thumb stroking over it was distracting too, the words finally registered in her mind once his fingers weren't in her hair. "I might have been awake the past, let's say, ten minutes but wanted to stay in bed with you a little longer," he offered half-apologetically as if he'd felt her excitement to share her cooking with him rushing through the veins into which he'd pressed his kisses.

Griffin ran her thumb over his lips repeatedly trying to come up with a reason not to kiss him but all she could think of was that that had a big chance of delaying breakfast even more, yet that didn't seem undesirable at all anymore. "I didn't want to wake you and that's the shenanigans I get as thanks," she said, sure her wording wouldn't let him think he'd done anything wrong. He'd almost had a meltdown over ordereing for her even as she'd been visibly overwhelmed by the choices when he'd treated her to lunch on Christmas since she'd been expected at her annual gathering with the twins and her mom that same evening. She didn't want to see him go through that again. "I can't help but wonder how the scent didn't tempt you," she joked even if she did have expectations of him being left in awe by her culinary skills.

"Better things to taste right here," Valtor was quick to offer before he closed his lips around the tip of her thumb.

Griffin chuckled at his antics and it wasn't even despite herself like it had been with some of her–other?–boyfriends, especially in high school. She'd always considered her humor a bit more refined even if it was on the more biting side–and there she was, taking after his tendency for puns–but a clichéd joke could still get her if it had sincere yet aware delivery. And Valtor pulled that off seamlessly with his mischievous demeanor. It made him seem younger and more carefree than she knew he was and the sight stopped her breath, not to mention the critical part of her brain.

"Come on, you sleeping menace," she teased before withdrawing her thumb as she leaned in to kiss him, using the opportunity he gave her to let her tongue inside his mouth and taste him, sharing a moan with him that felt like one whole instead of two distinct parts.

It seemed that the vocalness had not been enough for him as he took his chance to speak the moment they parted. "All my beauty was exposed for your appreciation and that's how you repay me for the generosity?" he asked, trying to lure her into another kiss as her "apology" but she wouldn't have any of it when he'd been supposed to surrender his remarks to the previous one.

"I knew you were awake." The shift in his breathing had been a dead giveaway when she'd familiarized herself with his breathing patterns, with the frantic and disorderly ones when their chests had been pushed together on their way to the edge of pleasure and with the calm and peaceful ones when he'd been pressed into her back and cuddling her. "I just thought I could do some more appreciating," she said and if that hadn't been enough to convince him, the kiss she pressed to his cheek seemed to do the trick when he met it with pure awe. So much so that it poked at her heart when she could tell it was the marvel of a first experience. Well, second if she counted the one she'd given him after their first dinner.

There was that selfish impulse that made her heart tingle–almost like her shoulder when she'd put too much pressure on it but in a more pleasant way which probably had to be alarming but she only cared about what it could be, about what they could be–at the knowledge she was a first of his in a way and got to claim that look in his eyes as her own. There was also the compassionate part of her, though, that wanted to give him all the opportunities to have that look in his eyes when no one had cared enough to figure out what it would be like if he were to give it to them. No one had cared enough to give him the affection that sparked that adoration and wonder in his eyes. And that was a mistake of the universe that needed to be fixed in hers.