"Come on, Em! You almost got it!"

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, the sky a clear blue, the air warm. Paige paced by the pool, watching as Emily moved through the water, glancing anxiously down at the stopwatch in her hand as she got closer and closer to her.

Damn, she's not going to make it.

Emily touched the wall, pulling off her goggles, looking up at her hopefully. "Well?" Paige sighed, pursing her lips with a slight shake of her head as she sat down, crossing her legs at the side of the pool and holding out the stopwatch so that Emily could see her time.

Emily growled, slapping her hand across the top of the water in frustration. "I'm still three seconds off! We've been at this for two weeks and I'm still nowhere near where I was last season. There's no way I'm going to be ready for the county meet." Emily's fingers rubbed at her temple, looking strained.

"Hey," Paige soothed, scooting even closer to the edge of the water, running her hand along Emily's shoulder. "You heard what Coach said, you just need to keep at it; you'll get back on form, just don't give up." Emily's eyes fluttered closed as Paige's fingers dug lightly into her skin, Paige frowning. "Jeez, Em; you're really tense."

Emily sighed, her head lolling sideways as Paige began to massage her shoulder. "No wonder; this is really stressing me out." Emily turned in the water, facing away from Paige and waiting expectantly.

Paige took the hint, her hands skimming the surface of the water as she ran them across Emily's upper back, her thumbs probing her skin to locate the affected areas, kneading around a particularly large knot at the top of Emily's right shoulder. After a few minutes, she eventually put pressure on the knot itself, Emily groaning softly as she moved her thumb in slow, firm strokes over it. Paige smirked as Emily slipped lower in the water, her legs obviously giving way. "That feel good?"

"Mhmm," Emily hummed, standing up straight again, arching back into Paige's hands. "I had no idea you were so good at this." After a few more minutes, Emily turned around, visibly looking more relaxed, a grin on her face. "You'll need to do that more often." Emily bounced up from the water, pressing a brief kiss to her mouth.

Paige smiled softly, biting her lip as she stared down at Emily, who was now leaning on her elbows at the side of the pool, her forearms brushing against Paige's crossed legs, Paige feeling a drop of water trickling down her shin. "We'll have to see about that." She dipped her head for another kiss, Emily's hand coming up to grip the back of her neck, dragging her down. Paige laughed, pulling away before she tipped forward into the pool while still wearing her tank top and shorts.

"Come in already," Emily pleaded, tugging on Paige's wrists, trying to yank her into the water. Paige had refused to get into the pool when Emily had arrived at her house, knowing that doing so would drastically decrease the amount of time they actually spent working on Emily's stroke.

Although they had initially agreed working out in her pool probably wouldn't be the best idea and that they should just stick to training at school, Emily needed all the practice she could get; the meet was on Friday, after all. It had taken a lot of willpower to stay out of the pool, but Paige had been serious about her offer to help Emily get back on form, and that wasn't going to happen if they were too busy making out.

"Em, let go," Paige snorted, leaning backwards, trying to get away from her in a last attempt to keep her promise to help Emily get her time down. When Emily wouldn't loosen her grip, Paige resorted to telling a lie. "Emily! Let go! I swear to god, if you pull me in and ruin the phone in my pocket my dad will kill you." Emily released her instantly, Paige shuffling backwards out of her grasp, standing up. She smirked, showing Emily her empty pockets, Emily's jaw dropping with mock indignation. Paige stuck out her tongue playfully.

"Right," Emily stated with a grin, placing her hands flat on the side of the pool, ready to heave herself out. "You're coming in here whether you like it or not."

"Wait!" Paige laughed, holding her hands out, knowing that if Emily got out of the pool she would catch her (when Paige let her, that was) and they would end up staying out of the water altogether, probably crashing onto the sofa at the poolside. "Wait." Emily slid back into the water, raising her eyebrows expectantly. "Okay, I'll get in-" Emily's face lit up, "-but… we're not done yet. I think you've got a few more laps left in you yet."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Paige," she whined, although a smile tugged at her lips. "Come on, we've been at this for over an hour. You're worse than Coach."

"Hey, I told you I was gonna push you," Paige stated. "It's the only way you'll improve." Emily pouted. "Okay, fine," Paige relented, kicking off her shoes, figuring that Emily wasn't going to get any better if she wasn't in the right mind-set. "Instead of doing laps, let's race; maybe trying to beat me will give you that extra push you need." Emily huffed, opening her mouth to argue, but then a slow smile spread across her face. "What?" Paige asked curiously as she pulled the tank top over her head and slid down her shorts, leaving her in her swimsuit. She didn't miss the way Emily's eyes roamed up and down her body, giving a subtle bite of her lip that made Paige's heart race.

"Okay," Emily said, their eyes locking. "We'll race; if you win, we can keep at this for as long as you want, but if I win, we stop for the day and do what I want." She raised her eyebrows, waiting for Paige's reply, Paige pretending to mull it over, knowing that either outcome would be good for her.

"Deal," she agreed, smiling as she grabbed her goggles and swim cap, sitting at the edge of the pool as she put them on, her legs dangling into the cool water. "Wait," she suddenly said. "I need to do a few warm-up laps first."

"Paige…" Emily muttered impatiently.

Paige slid into the water, shivering in the cold. "What? You didn't think I was going to race you without warming up, did you? That wouldn't exactly be fair." She set off with a smile as she practically heard Emily rolling her eyes behind her.

She did three laps, and was about to do one more before Emily pounced onto her back, her arms wrapping around her shoulders as they fell under the water briefly. They came up, Emily's laughter filling the air. "Okay, that's enough; let's race."

Emily's closeness almost made Paige want to just scrap the race altogether, Emily placing a soft kiss to the base of her neck that made her stomach dip. Her eyes closed as Emily kissed along her shoulder, feeling her tongue flicking out against her skin. Emily moved up her neck, her breath hot against her ear. "Unless you want to just forget about it. I mean, let's be honest, I'll probably win anyway…"

Paige grinned, her competitiveness spiking at the playful taunt. "Yeah, we'll see about that." She gently pried Emily's arms from around her body, Emily sliding off of her with a sigh.

"Yes. We will; prepare to go down." Paige turned to see if Emily had meant that to be an innuendo, seeing the smirk on her face and knowing she had. Paige gave an amused shake of her head, trying to ignore how dry her mouth had just become as Emily pulled down her goggles and got into lane.

Paige cleared her throat. Right, focus. She's trying to distract you.

"Count of three?" Emily asked. Paige nodded as she positioned herself, gripping the side of the pool as she placed her feet against the wall, ready to push off. "One," Emily started. "Two." Paige grinned excitedly. "Three!"

She pushed hard off the wall, adrenaline flooding her body as she began to swim furiously to the opposite wall, catching sight of Emily every time she turned her head to take a breath; they were neck and neck. Paige pushed herself harder, somersaulting quickly as she reached the end of the pool, pushing firmly off the wall, kicking hard when she reached the surface of the water. When she caught sight of Emily again, she'd fallen slightly behind.

Paige focused all of her attention on the wall ahead, her arms burning as she swam as fast as she could. Almost there. Yes! Her hand touched the side of the pool, looking up to see Emily touching the wall just moments after her. She pulled off her goggles with a cocky grin, Emily playfully banging her fist against the water. "So, what was that you were saying?" Paige goaded, quirking an eyebrow.

"Oh, shut up," Emily laughed, flicking water into her face. "I was tired after doing laps for an hour; you had way more energy than me."

Maybe she was right, but that didn't stop Paige from teasing. "No, I don't think so. I'm just better." She was only joking, they both knew that Emily was the faster swimmer when at her best, but Emily looked away from her, a dejected expression on her face. Paige edged closer to her, sensing her insecurity. "Hey," she said, waiting until Emily met her eyes again, giving her a slight smile. "Look, I actually think I know what you're doing wrong now."

Emily noticeably perked up. "You do? What?"

"It's your tumble turn; I don't know exactly what you're doing, but that's the point I overtook you in the race, so."

Emily just stared at her for a moment, finally nodding her head with a smile. "You know, I think you might be right. Thanks… Coach." Paige grinned, glancing down at the water briefly, looking up to see Emily's eyes still fixed firmly on her. She swallowed. "So, you're not seriously gonna make me swim more laps, are you?"

Paige sighed, moving closer, now standing right in front of Emily, shrugging. "Well, I won, and you know what the deal was…" Emily's face fell, a crinkle appearing above an eyebrow. Paige slowly lifted a hand from the water, smoothing it over with her thumb. "The deal was," she continued, slipping her fingers up under Emily's swim cap, pushing it back along with the goggles resting on top of it, "that we can stop anytime I want." She flung the swim cap and goggles out of the pool, Emily smiling as Paige reached behind her head to loosen her hair tie. Emily's damp hair spilled down around her shoulders, Paige biting her lip in anticipation of what was about to happen. "And I want to stop now," Paige stated, chucking her own swim cap and goggles beside Emily's.

That was the only encouragement Emily needed, reaching out to grab Paige's hips, pulling her close, Paige sliding her hand up Emily's neck and into her hair as the other went around her back, their mouths meeting with a smile.

"Finally," Emily whispered against her lips, a hand running up Paige's front, ghosting over her breast, as her other pulled at Paige's own hair tie, goosebumps spreading over her body. Emily's fingers slipped down to rest on her stomach, Paige's heart pounding in her ears. "Are you sure your parents are out for the day?" Emily's hand began to creep upwards again, Paige swallowing.

She nodded, nipping at Emily's lip. "That's what they said." The hand that had been resting on Emily's back moved to skirt along her outer thigh, smoothing around to Emily's ass, squeezing gently. "Let's hope so, anyway."

Emily smirked, kissing Paige slowly, her tongue flicking into Paige's mouth as she groped her breast, running a thumb over a hardened nipple. Paige moaned breathily, her hand tightening in Emily's hair, pulling slightly. Emily inhaled sharply, pinching Paige's nipple through her swimsuit, Paige's fingers reflexively digging into her ass.

Emily placed her hands on Paige's shoulders, suddenly jumping up in the water, her legs wrapping around Paige's waist, her ankles locking at the back of her thighs. Paige released Emily's hair, both hands now on her ass to support her in the water. Well, this is new. They'd never done it in the pool before; sure, they'd made out in it before, like that night Emily had told her she'd been looking for someone (her; she'd been looking for her), but they'd never actually had sex.

She'd be lying if she said she hadn't fantasised about this position, but she knew she'd never be able to hold Emily's weight; however, the water solved that issue, and she relished in being able to easily carry Emily around in the water.

Emily grinned, dipping her head to attack her mouth again, Paige's hand slipping up her back, Emily's hand gliding back down to rub over her breast. Paige bit Emily's bottom lip gently before trailing her mouth down her chin, nibbling along her jaw. Emily's head tipped back as Paige kissed her neck, her tongue tasting the chlorine on her skin.

Emily held Paige's head close as she sucked on her pulse point, Paige's hand sliding to Emily's front, raking her nails over a nipple, Emily's hips jerking into her stomach. Paige smirked against her neck, palming Emily's breast slowly, her other hand slipping underneath the elastic of Emily's swimsuit, feeling the soft, smooth skin of her ass, both of them groaning.

Paige reached up, hooking her fingers around the strap at Emily's shoulder, attempting to yank it down but not getting very far. She pulled back from Emily's neck, tugging at the material impatiently. "Here, let me," Emily gasped, smacking her hand away, Paige trying to hide her smile at how Emily was having difficulty controlling her breathing, knowing how turned on she was getting.

Emily leaned backwards, her legs tightening around Paige, Paige's hand moving around her body to support her as she managed to roll her swimsuit halfway down her upper arms, Paige almost catching an elbow in the face in the process. She knew it would be easier if they separated for a moment, but neither seemed willing to do so. With a lot of struggling and a little bit of help from Paige, Emily finally managed to free her arms, which instantly went to the back of Paige's neck again as Paige's mouth descended on the newly exposed skin.

Paige's hand slid up her back, peeling the swimsuit halfway down her stomach, leaning back to eye Emily's breasts, half concealed beneath the water sloshing around them. She shifted Emily higher, bowing her head to take a nipple into her mouth, walking them backwards to pin Emily against the wall of the pool.

She swirled her tongue around it, Emily moaning above her, her back arching into Paige as her heels dug even deeper into the back of her thighs. Paige flicked her tongue back and forth repeatedly, humming against Emily's wet skin as her hand came up to thumb Emily's other nipple.

After a few minutes, Emily's fingers began to claw at her back, Paige feeling her hot centre grinding into her. She kissed her way back up to Emily's mouth as she slid a hand down across the top of her swimsuit, firmly pressing two fingers against her clit. Emily gave a muffled cry against her mouth as she began to rub over her slowly, Paige's clit twinging; she realised the only thing wrong with this position was that she didn't have Emily's leg to rub herself against to relieve some of the building pressure between her own legs.

But, pulling back to watch Emily's face as she touched her, she forgot about the ache for a moment; the slight crease on Emily's forehead was back, her eyes closed, her mouth falling open in a silent gasp of pleasure. Paige's breath caught in her throat, burning the image to memory.

She kissed Emily softly as she pulled her back into her arms from against the wall, one hand still on her ass as her other slid up from her clit to her stomach before moving back down again, this time sliding inside of Emily's swimsuit. The swimsuit pressed her palm flat against Emily's toned abdomen as she slipped her fingers down slowly, Emily clutching the back of her neck tightly when she finally reached her warmth. Even though they were surrounded by water, Paige could feel Emily's own wetness slick on her fingers, Paige's hand straining against the swimsuit as she started to stroke her.

Emily's hands tangled in Paige's hair, grinding down into her hand, small moans escaping her throat with every rotation of her hips. Both of them were now breathing heavily, their lips brushing every now and then, Paige's tongue flicking out to tease Emily's mouth as she started to focus all her attention on Emily's clit.

"Faster," Emily murmured, a hand tightening in her hair as the other gripped her shoulder, writhing against Paige in an attempt to make her fingers work harder against her. Paige smirked, lowering her head to suck water droplets off of Emily's neck as she quickened her pace under the water, two fingers circling Emily's clit over and over.

Her arm was starting to ache, but Emily's short gasps in her ear spurred her to keep going. Almost there. She bit down softly into the skin of Emily's neck, sucking on her pulse point once more as she continued rubbing, Paige finally hearing Emily's breath hitch, a whisper of her name on Emily's lips as her hips lost their rhythm. Emily released a breathy sigh as she trembled against Paige, Paige's fingers slowing inside Emily's swimsuit.

Emily slumped against her, her legs loosening their hold slightly around Paige's thighs. They were both panting, Paige feeling tired even through her own arousal. She slid her hand out from between Emily's thighs, her arm feeling like a dead weight as she wrapped it around Emily's back. She slowly walked them over to the corner of the pool, turning to lean back against the junction of the walls, Emily's arms slipping from around her neck down to her chest as she lowered her legs from around Paige's body, her feet skimming Paige's at the bottom of the pool.

Emily looked at her with warm, open eyes, smiling that smile that Paige knew was reserved especially for her. "That was amazing."

Paige laughed, smiling widely; she always felt a sense of pride at getting Emily off, even though she had done it numerous times now. "Yeah?" Emily nodded, leaning in to kiss her slowly, lazily, her hands running lightly over Paige's breasts, Paige moaning softly as Emily pushed a thigh up into her centre. "Don't think we're doing this every time though," Paige teased, knowing that she would totally do this every time if they could. "We need to keep working on-"

"Shut up," Emily whispered, kissing her hard, thumbing Paige's nipples before sliding her hands up to pull down Paige's swimsuit. Paige's stomach flipped excitedly as Emily rolled the garment down her body, Emily's fingers grazing her sides under the water as she began to kiss along her jaw. Paige's head fell back against the corner of the pool, groaning as she felt Emily's tongue hot on her neck, tugging the swimsuit down over her ass, the material bunching around her thighs as Emily smoothed her hands back up to her chest, squeezing her bare breasts gently as she nipped at Paige's skin with her teeth.

Paige reached down, trying to push the swimsuit off completely, but Emily's thigh was in the way. "Em," she gasped, but Emily didn't seem to take any notice, still too busy driving Paige crazy by pressing heavy, open-mouthed kisses to her neck. She needed to feel Emily properly against her. "Em," she repeated. "Can you-" She inhaled sharply as Emily sucked on her pulse point, palming her nipples roughly at the same time. She's trying to kill me.

Emily finally moved back up to her mouth, Paige finding a smirk on her face as Emily's hands came up from under the water, cupping her neck. "Patience," she murmured, her teeth tugging at Paige's lip softly, their breasts pressing together, the throbbing between Paige's legs becoming painful. Yeah; she's definitely trying to kill me.

They kissed languidly, Paige using all of her restraint to try and follow Emily's instruction, but having any sense of control when it came to Emily had never been her strong point. One of Emily's hands finally slipped downwards, disappearing below the water, a touch so delicate that Paige only felt it because she was so finely tuned into Emily's every move. Emily stopped at her inner hip, stroking the sensitive skin slowly, eventually sliding her hand in between their bodies to smooth over the skin underneath her belly button, Paige's hips jerking involuntarily.

Paige was ready to growl in frustration when Emily didn't move her hand any lower, but then she began to move her head down instead, her lips trailing from Paige's mouth to her chin, down her neck, down to her chest, half of Emily's face disappearing underneath the water as she kissed over a nipple. Paige clenched her teeth, grasping at Emily's upper arms, stifling a moan as Emily's tongue swiped over her nipple repeatedly before sucking it hard into her mouth.

Emily's hands slipped to the back of her thighs, finally pushing the swimsuit the rest of the way down and lifting Paige up in the water so that the waterline was just below her breasts, the walls of the pool digging painfully into her upper back. She placed an elbow either side of the pool, lifting herself up so that it wasn't as uncomfortable, Emily's head completely disappearing from view, Paige feeling the burn of her kisses all the way down her stomach.

She could feel Emily's hands gripping her thighs tightly, using Paige's body to pull herself further down into the water, Paige tensing as she sensed Emily's face parallel with her centre. She felt a steady stream of bubbles tickling against her clit that Emily could only be blowing deliberately. Paige might have laughed if it didn't turn her on so much, gasping loudly as Emily brushed her lips against her, Paige bucking into her face. Emily surfaced with a grin as she ran a hand through her hair to push it back, wiping the water from her face, looking like she was having the best time of her life teasing Paige to the brink of insanity.

Paige opened her mouth, ready to demand that Emily touch her already, but Emily surprised her by curling her hands around the back of her thighs, pulling her up higher in the water, Paige's arms automatically helping Emily lift her to sit on the edge of the pool.

Paige felt extremely exposed, her eyes flitting nervously around the yard, making sure there were no prying neighbours around; hoping that A hadn't chosen this moment to spy on them.

All thought soon left her head however, Emily spreading her thighs and leaning in to press her mouth fully against her. "Fu-" Paige's curse was cut off by a strangled moan, Emily's tongue running up and down her slowly, her fingers digging into Paige's inner thighs, holding them in position.

Paige fell backwards onto her elbows, the ground hard and uncomfortable against her naked skin, but she didn't care; all she could focus on was Emily's tongue and the incredible things it was doing. She watched avidly as Emily's eyes closed, feeling her tongue dipping inside of her slightly, both of them moaning softly. Seeing how much Emily enjoyed doing this made Paige instantly wetter, arching herself even further into her mouth.

Emily's eyes opened to meet her own, a hand moving up to run over her abdomen, smearing water droplets over her skin as her tongue moved up to work over her clit, swirling around it quickly before sucking gently, all the while maintaining eye contact with her. Emily repeated the motion over and over, the sensation getting too much for Paige, her eyes fluttering closed, her hips twitching upwards.

Emily let go of one of her thighs, pushing a finger inside of her, Paige crying out as Emily continued to lick at her clit, quickly adding a second finger, Paige's head starting to spin, her toes starting to tingle beneath the water.

"Em," she groaned, her head tipping back, gritting her teeth. God, she never wanted it to end, but she couldn't hold on for much longer, not with the way the tip of Emily's tongue was now flicking her clit repeatedly, the way her fingers were thrusting in and out of her. Paige breathed deeply and slowly through her nose, a familiar warmth beginning to creep over her more light suck to her clit and she went rigid, her back arching, her ass lifting slightly up from the ground, shuddering against Emily's mouth with a sigh as she came.

Emily placed slow, idle kisses on the inside of her thigh as Paige lay back fully on the ground, gasping as Emily removed her fingers, her heart racing, her stomach moving up and down quickly as she breathed heavily.

A lazy smile formed on her face as she stared up at the clear blue sky, the sun warm on her skin. She felt Emily move away briefly, hearing a slap on the ground next to her once she came back.

Paige's head flopped sideways, looking down to see that Emily had retrieved her swimsuit from the pool and thrown it beside her, Paige's eyes fixating on Emily as she heaved herself out of the pool, her own swimsuit still rolled down to her waist. Paige gulped, taking in Emily's glistening body, wondering if it was possible to ever get enough of her.

Emily smiled, leaning over her, water dripping onto Paige as they kissed, Paige groaning as she tasted herself on Emily's lips. "Well, that's one way to end a practice session," Paige murmured, reaching up to push Emily's wet hair back, noticing a slight sting in her elbow from where she'd been leaning; she may have a few scrapes and bruises, but it had certainly been worth it.

"Best session ever," Emily grinned, moving back to pull her swim suit on properly, Paige's hand leisurely stroking up and down her back, closing her eyes. She released a contented sigh, ready to fall asleep there and then, only cracking an eye open when she heard Emily giggling.

"What?" she asked, her heart skipping a beat at the sound.

"Don't you think you should put something on?" Emily raised an eyebrow in amusement, her eyes flitting appreciatively down her body.

"No, I don't want any tan lines."

"Paige!" Emily laughed, shoving her shoulder lightly.

"What? I don't," she smirked, Emily shaking her head with a smile. "Seriously though, I don't think I can move."

Emily snorted. "That good, huh?"

Paige tried to lift a leg from the water, her thigh shaking with the effort. "Yup," Paige sighed, giving up, her foot making a splash as it plunged back into the pool. "That good." Emily laughed, looking pleased with herself. She stood up, Paige watching as went to retrieve a towel from a nearby table, walking back to Paige and holding out a hand.

Paige sighed, letting Emily drag her into a sitting position, Emily wrapping the towel around her shoulders. Emily sat back down, her feet dangling into the pool beside Paige's as she took her hand. "Thanks, by the way," Emily said, looking at her warmly. "For helping me with my swimming. I don't know what I'd do without you. Hell, I wouldn't even still be swimming if it weren't for you."

Paige squeezed her hand, smiling at Emily, her heart full. "I'm here for you- whatever you need, remember?" They hadn't even been together when Paige had first said the words at the masquerade ball, but she still meant them. Whether it was helping with swimming, homework, or something far more sinister, Paige would be there, keeping Emily safe.

Emily leaned in to kiss her softly, resting their foreheads together, their noses brushing. "I remember."