Nightgown

Author’s Note: This contains ridiculous amounts of slash. Slightly off-canon. Disregard that Dani’s found her parents again after the Demon Bear saga. And never mind that I’m twisted, while you’re at it. No flames, please.


Icy fear bathed her and made her heart pound as she bolted upright in her bed. The mattress bounced from the impact.

“OH! SPIRITS!” she cried. She shook. She hugged herself. The room was dark. Foreboding.

She’d had the dream again. Hunger. Blood. Anguish. It consumed her, threatening to swallow her up before she could wake.

A tear trickled down her cheek, and she wiped it away with the hem of her blanket. She wouldn’t give in to tears. She wasn’t a baby.

But her childhood had been taken too soon. Ripped away before she could savor it.

“Mom,” she sniffled, wiping away another errant tear as she rocked herself, hugging her knees.

There was hardly any moonlight outside. She was lonely. Scared. Too alert. She heard night sounds that would likely chase her into sleep, if she ever went back. The dreams would come back.

She needed a distraction. A safe place.

She needed Rahney.

*


She didn’t knock, not wanting to wake Illyana and Shan from across the hall. The door hinge creaked as she nudged her way inside, tiptoeing on bare feet. She saw Rahne sleeping peacefully, breathing deep with the covers only pulled to her knees. Her arm was flung over head as though she’d fought an invisible enemy on her way into dreamland.

Her face was innocent, something Dani always appreciated about her. Her features were well-formed and dewy-fresh, and she kept her titian hair cut brutally short, leaving nothing to distract from her beauty. She was undecorated and unspoiled.

Dani sniffed as she noticed her choice of sleepwear. Where on earth did she get that thing?

“Rahney?” she whispered, hating to wake her. She looked so comfortable. But she smiled a little as Rahne smacked her lips. “C’mon, Rahney, move over, please?”

“Mmph,” she moaned.

“Please? Rahney!”

“Nnngh…whawhaWHAT?” Rahne flew up from her pillow and accidentally smacked Dani’s forehead in the process.

“OW!”

“Och…colleen, why’d ye sneak up on me like that?” she accused.

“Sorry.” She sighed. “I don’t want to be alone. Can I sleep with you tonight?”

“Dani…of course ye can. What’s the matter, lass?”

“I had a nightmare, and I don’t like being in the dark. I didn’t want to turn a light on and wake anybody with it shining in the hall.”

“C’mon in, then.” Rahne scooted back toward the wall and opened the blankets, nodding for her to enter. Dani gratefully sank onto the bed and tucked her legs in. Rahne finished tucking her in, patting the covers around her.

“Better?”

“Kinda. I just hate it when I dream.”

“Poor wee lass.” It was a laughable endearment; Dani towered over Rahne when they stood in their bare feet. Rahne settled herself back on her pillow and felt Dani’s eyes on her. She met her amused glance.

“Aren’t you hot with this thing on?” She nodded to Rahne’s nightgown.

“Well…aye. ‘Tis a bit warm tonight.”

“So why bother wearing it?”

“Och, Dani, it’s my only one! I kinna just sleep in me underwear!”

“Who can’t? You sleep in whatever’s comfy, Rahney.” Rahne’s eyes flicked over Dani’s shorty pajamas made of sage green cotton. The top was a Victoria’s Secret ribbed tank, coupled with tiny flannel boy shorts. They left little to the imagination. Rahne flushed as Dani fidgeted beside her.

“That can’t be comfortable. C’mon, Rahney.”

“What?”

“Take it off.”

“It would na’ be right. It isn’t modest t’wear nothing tae bed.”

“No one’s looking. No one’s here but you and me. No one sees you when you sleep.”

Dani was nonplussed and thoroughly immodest. Her wardrobe held clothing that left little to nothing to the imagination, making it that much harder to remember that Dani was the sister of her spirit. Her best friend.

Lusting after her…well, it was just wrong. Sinful.

And entirely too easy.

She was stirred from her reverie by a tug on her sleeve. The gown twisted around her upper torso as Dani attempted to wrestle it off of her. “Och, Dani, STOP!”

“You’ll feel better. I’m comfortable with just a light blanket, but lying next to you will be just as hot with all that fabric in the way.”

“Yuir such a noodge, Dani,” Rahne hissed.

“I won’t tell anyone if you want to just take it off.” There was a strange gleam in her eyes, but Dani looked earnest. She sat up and peeled the blanket away from them. “There. Get some cool air on your legs, at least.”

“Well…”

“Man, that thing’s long. I could never wear all that.”

“Not even during winter?”

“I’m used to the cold. I grew up in the mountains.” Rahne reluctantly kicked her feet free of the blankets, inwardly conceding that the air felt good on her bare toes. The only thing she really missed was that safe, “tucked in” feeling of snuggling next to her best friend under the blanket. “Rahney? Why are you always so shy?”

“Ah dunno,” she admitted. “M’not shy, Dani.” But the pinkness in her cheeks didn’t lie.

“Well, you always just cover up and hide. Big clothes, no makeup, and you always act embarrassed around the guys.”

“Reverend Craig taught me of the wages of sin and of the price of vanity and excess pride.”

“This nightgown has nothing to do with vanity. It’s just excess cloth.” Dani leaned up on her elbow, staring down at her friend. “You’re cute, Rahney.”

“No’m not,” she argued, but her smile was bashful and made her face glow.

Dani’s fingers turned into little crab claws and walked over Rahne’s belly. “OCH!”

“Shhhh, shh,” Dani shushed over Rahne’s yelp. “Don’t wake Shan and ‘Yana.”

“Quit it, then! Yuir mean!” Dani’s smile was sly, broadening as she poked Rahne in the armpit to watch her squirm.

They tussled; Rahne hugged herself and deflected Dani’s fingers with swatting hands, giggling warnings as Dani gained the advantage. They buffeted each other with the close contact, warming soft flesh. When Rahne moved to stop Dani’s tickle, her efforts managed only to pin her friend’s hands against her body rather than remove them. Inadvertent, certainly. But Dani tingled at the feel of Rahne so close. So touchable.

Her fingertips grazed Rahne’s breast in the scuffle. Both girls stopped, their smiles suddenly hesitant.

“Ooo, sorry, m’sorry,” Dani promised, snatching back her hand as though her breast burned her. Rahne’s smile completely dropped, and she crossed her arms over her chest, gripping her shoulders.

“Ay, Dani. Well, then, that’s enough. I’m tired now.” It was a lie.

Her touch felt right. She felt a small thrill of sensation in her belly and was disappointed when Dani took her hand away.

Rahne rolled to her side, facing the wall. Dani watched her; Rahne felt her eyes on her back. “What, Dani?”

“You are cute, Rahne. You don’t have to be so modest and hide yourself all the time.”

“I guess,” Rahne mumbled, but she still wouldn’t face her.

Dani reached for her shoulder and lightly shook it. “Would you look at me, please?” Rahne sighed, closing her eyes for a moment, then flipped back onto her back.

“I have fun teasing you sometimes, Rahne, because you don’t always tease back. And I don’t give anyone a hard time unless I like them. I like you,” she reasoned.

“Yuir my best friend, Dani,” Rahne admitted. “But I feel…naked when I wear less. And…I can’t help it. It feels sinful, and wrong. Reverend Craig didn’t approve.”

Despite her logic, Rahne still managed to look fresh and sweet. The nightgown was plain white, with long sleeves and gathered cuffs trimmed in eyelet lace. It was old-fashioned, nearly antique; its full skirt reached down to her ankles and it hung in voluminous folds. The basque had a front yoke of pintucking and it fastened with tiny pearl buttons. More lace trimmed the high collar.

The white cotton draped loosely over her curves and was still thin enough that Dani made out the slope of her belly and soft-looking breasts. Her skin flushed the longer she looked at her.

“Ye dinna want tae give men the wrong idea, wearing too little,” she explained. “The Reverend frowned upon women being too forward.”

“You hardly say so much as ‘boo’ to any of the guys who’ve said hi to you when we go anywhere, except Guthrie and Bobby.” She didn’t mention Doug, who’d been giving Rahne the eye lately, knowing it would just make her blush like a raspberry. “That’s not being forward.” Dani hunkered down beside her, facing her as she lightly touched her arm. Rahne’s green eyes were solemn. “But there’s nothing wrong with just enjoying who you are. Or just enjoying your own body. What you wear. How you sleep. It doesn’t matter.”

“Yuir body’s a temple, Dani.”

“Then’s it’s okay to let someone worship in it once in a while.”

“OCH! Dani!” This time Rahne’s eyes grew round and she looked aghast. She gave Dani’s shoulder a hard shove, nearly pitching her off the bed. Dani giggled and shoved back.

“Rahne…thanks for letting me stay.”

“I dinna mind, Dani.”

“I mean it. I got scared tonight. I didn’t want to be alone.”

“Yuir never alone.” Slowly Rahne’s features shifted to her transitional form, covered in a fine layer of russet fur. One fuzzy hand reached for Dani’s and clasped it. “Ye can feel me, the same way I can feel ye, Dani. When yuir lonely, think about how it is right now, when we’re in each other’s heads.”

“I feel better now. I feel less scared when I’m with you.”

“Me, too,” Rahne assured her. She shifted back to her normal form, and her green eyes were warm.

The connection between them was intimate and charged with a sensual awareness, drawn from being so close, in bed. Dani let go of Rahne’s hand and traced a slow path up her arm, skimming along the cool white cotton. She molded the shape of her shoulder, then her neck with her palm. Dani’s thumb stroked Rahne’s jaw thoughtfully. Rahne’s attention was rapt, but her body stiffened. Her nostrils flared and Dani watched her pupils dilate.

“Dani, what’re ye doin’?”

“I don’t know. I wanted to touch you.”

“Why?”

“Because…you just look so sweet.” Rahne’s body slowly relaxed. “I guess I can’t help it.” Rahne’s eyes flitted to Dani’s hand as she drew it away, following its movements like a wary cat.

Rahne’s small, warm fingers closed around Dani’s wrist. She replaced her hand upon her cheek, flattening her palm over her baby-smooth skin. She leaned into her, eyes closed in contentment, and the corner of Rahne’s mouth grazed Dani in a light caress.

“Ye dinna hafta stop,” she murmured.

Rahne was hesitant, but she reached toward her, stroking a tendril of dark hair back from Dani’s forehead where it had escaped her plait.

“Then show me,” Dani beckoned. Her voice was husky, like dark honey.

“Dani…”

“Show me how to touch you.”

“I dinna know how.” Rahne was embarrassed, but she craved…something. Something only Dani could give, that only Dani could show her.

“Show me what feels good to you, Rahney.”

Dani was expectant; excitement glowed in her dark eyes. Rahne’s locked on them as her hand slowly drifted to her throat, then slid down to her chest. It drew to a rest at her breast, covering the mound. Her fingers flexed around it, bunching the cotton as she kneaded it with a generous, firm grip. Dani watched her breath quicken as she slid her palm over her flesh, teasing it with the rasp of the cotton. The fabric was pulled tightly over her, hiding next to nothing. When Rahne let her hand slip, Dani saw the ripe, turgid peak.

“Don’t stop,” Dani urged. Arousal tightened her crotch and made her tingle. Rahne played with it again, this time spending more time on it, sliding the stifled nipple through the gap between her fingers. Her breast was temptingly full. Dani’s hands itched to feel it cupped in her own grip.

“Does that feel good?”

“Aye,” she breathed. “It feels verra good. Dani?” Dani nodded her reply. “It’s…different. I feel…warm. Here.” She slid her palm down to her belly. “And…here,” she said, moving her hand lower, just over her lap, “when I have ye watching me.”

“Rahne, I-I like…watching you touch it. Do it some more.”

“Here?”

“Wherever you want.” Rahne gently rolled from her side to her back. The fabric of her nightgown bunched itself under her back with that motion, twisting slightly around her torso. Her breasts and belly were thrown into stark relief. Her eyes never left Dani’s face as her hand retraced its back from her abdomen to the pulsing flesh below it. She barely stroked the valley between her thighs, still obscured by the cotton. Her mouth pursed, then made a tiny ‘O’ of pleasure as her own hand caused sensations she considered too scandalous to talk about, even with her best friend.

But talk was becoming unnecessary. Her secrets were unfolding with every touch.

“I want to see you do it. Without this on.”

“Ye really want tae see me? That badly? Och, Dani, I dinna want tae just…”

“Don’t be embarrassed.” Dani leaned over her, propping herself up on her elbow. She ran the back of her index finger down Rahne’s cheek, then let it drop, tracing a line between her breasts, which were heaving now. Rahne never stopped stroking herself, even though her garment hindered her. “Have you ever done it bare? Without underwear?”

“Nay,” she admitted. “It’s too…dirty. Too messy,” she explained, wrinkling her nose.

“No. It’s better when it’s wet. It feels really, really good. Try it. If you hate it, we can stop.” Rahne was about to ask her what she meant by “we” but she was distracted by Dani’s fingers tangling themselves in her gown, bunching it up in her fist. Rahne’s legs were kissed by cool air as her hemline was pulled up from her ankles to midway up her thighs. Her bare skin was fair, creamy and flawless, hardly a hair in sight. Dani smiled as Rahne’s knees briefly knocked together. “Don’t be scared. You’ll like it.” Her voice held dark, yummy promise, like a girl about to raid the cookie jar who needed an accomplice. “I do it all the time.”

“Ye do?” Rahne asked in wonder. Then she gasped, hips jerking reflexively as Dani skimmed her fingers over the slope of her thigh. Where she was merely warm before between her legs, now she was hot, and grew damp. The sensation was ticklish and exciting. Rahne didn’t know how to explain it to her friend that she was becoming turned on.

But it just felt so good…

“Uh-huh.” Rahne quivered as Dani’s hand explored her further, stroking patterns on her sensitive inner thighs, watching her abdomen jump. “Mmmmmmmmm…you feel so good, Rahney.”

“Och. Goodness,” she sighed. Dani’s fingertip flicked the edge of the elastic binding along her groin. The underpants were much more drab than the gown, Dani tsked to herself, but like the nightgown, they didn’t hide how sweet Rahne was. Her thighs were rounded with muscle and spread open further to give Dani more – but still scant – access. Rahne’s nipples tingled, and her hips arched into the feelings Dani was stirring with her feathery stroke of her sex, tickling her over her panties. She circled it, flicking her fingers and tracing its puffy softness. All of the blood in Rahne’s veins rushed into her lips, making them swell and ripen, begging for Dani’s ministrations to continue. “Oh, Dani. Please. Mmmmmmm…mmmmmm…don’t stop, it feels so good.” All of her self-restraint evaporated with Dani’s lazy perusal. Her head leaned back into the pillow and she closed her eyes in surrender.

She didn’t argue when the crotch of her underpants was peeled back and lifted aside, and when those wicked fingers crept over her lips. Dani smelled her faint musk and probed her. “It’s so soft,” Dani whispered. “You feel all soft and warm.”

“Ooooo,” Rahne moaned. Her thighs spread so wide they almost flattened on the bed. Dani explored her wetness, poking her finger just between the thickened lips of her sex, tracing the divide. It almost felt like her own, but it was decadent. Different. Fresh. The gown rode up over Rahne’s belly, exposing the homely waistband of the panties and her shallow belly button.

“You’re getting all wet. It’s all slippery inside you.” Dani smiled. “It feels really nice in here.” The leg band of the briefs was binding and impeding her, but she was enjoying the slow slide and dip of her fingers in that wet heat and faint squishing sound it made. Rahne’s face contorted in pleasure. Dani was showing her things she never imagined on her own, things that made her realize how deprived she’d been up til now.

“Aye! Yes,” she whispered. Rahne bit her lip and clasped the pillow beneath her head. Her stomach fluttered and clenched, and her nipples stiffened even more, ruching and so sensitive that they ached. Rahne hands didn’t know what to do, until one brushed her breast. She found the pulsing little bud and toyed with it, then latched onto it. She tugged. And tugged. And kneaded, twisting it. Rolling it.

Savoring it, while Dani thrust her hand deeper, massaging the narrow tunnel inside her. Rahne grew slick with need and want.

Above her, Dani watched as her creamy skin flushed, rosy color blooming on her cheeks, in her lips as they fell open in long moans. She felt powerful, the sensations heady as she commanded Rahne’s body, concentrating on her sex. Showing her. Molding her. Guiding her.

Rahne gasped, chasing Dani’s other hand away as she tried to tug down the offending panties. She held Dani’s hand immobile mid-yank.

“Dani! Nay! It’s too much, please! Don’t make me.” It sounded ridiculous to them both. Rahne’s face beseeched her. “Can’t we just do like we are now?”

“But, Rahney,” Dani pleaded. “I want to see you. It’ll be better if I can see you. And then I can touch you everywhere. You’ll like it. I promise, Rahney.” Rahne licked her lips. She’d been true to her word, so far. She had liked it.

Her crotch throbbed, unhappy to have things set on pause. Rahne loosened her hold on Dani’s hand, then released it to palm her cheek. “Take them off, now.” Her hips lifted up, and Dani worked them down, abrading Rahne’s thighs with the snug elastic. It was odd, feeling her bare buttocks against the bed sheets. Rahne’s hand drifted over her own stomach, still feeling unsettled by her bare skin, so exposed in front of someone else.

“Oh, Rahne,” Dani whispered. “You’re so pretty.” Rahne’s underpants were slid down over her knees, forming a hammock between them as Dani went back to her nest.

It was so much easier, so heady to open that mound without the restraint of tight cotton around her hand. Rahne’s voice was choked and furtive with each press, twist and thrust. Dani’s wrist burned with her efforts, but Rahne felt so good wrapped around her, squeezing and wet. The pressure changed, growing harder and stretching her until it almost ached.

“What’re ye doin’, Dani?”

“Giving you more. I do this sometimes. I like it.” Her second finger slid inside easily with help from Rahne’s juices. She hooked them inside, twisting and feeling her textures. Rahne fondled her breasts again; both girls’ hands move in concert to bring her to a fever pitch. She felt pressure building in her cervix, in her womb, making her skin feel hot.

“I can’t stand it, it’s so…aaaaaah! It hurts, but it feels so good,” Rahne gasped. Dani didn’t press quite as deep, slowing down so Rahne could enjoy it. And she did. Her body reveled in those feelings, and Dani was more aroused than ever, hearing her and watching her. She found a knot of nubby flesh inside her that sprang back when she pressed it. Rahne’s entire body bucked in response.

She rubbed it more deeply. Harder. Faster. She remembered the last time she’d taken herself on a similar ride, with as much intensity.

Rahne’s thighs were shaking and jerking in time with her hand. Her earlier attempts at trying to hush herself were forgotten.

She fell over the edge. Rahne’s cry was choked and muffled by the pillow when she jerked half of from beneath herself to cover her mouth. Her legs straightened into stiff rods as she squeezed Dani’s fingers, holding them there while she came. Her climax rocketed through her and made her toes curl, goosebumps race over her skin and stomach flip.

She was soaking wet. She was hard of breath. Dani withdrew her hand and used Rahne’s nightgown to wipe her fingers dry. She began to lower the hem of the gown to cover her, but Rahne stopped her again.

“Nay. Dinna bother wi’ it, Dani.” She tugged at her, pulling her down to the mattress. “Please. Lay with me.” She needed to hold her. She didn’t know why, but she was desperate about it. Dani didn’t protest when Rahne snuggled her close, tucking her carrot-topped head beneath her chin. Rahne listened to Dani’s thrumming pulse while she stroked her hair.

“I didn’t know it could be that way,” she whispered.

“It felt good, didn’t it?”

“Aye.” Rahne’s lips pursed and pressed themselves against Dani’s collarbone. Dani smiled, pleased. Rahne felt her body shifting slightly; Dani was lifting her slightly off of her and bunching her gown up over her hips. “What’re ye doin’ now, lass?”

“I can’t stand this thing a moment longer. I want you butt-naked.”

“Och, Dani!”

“Might as well.” Rahne sighed, then conceded. She tried to avoid looking directly into her friend’s face as Dani drew the gown up over her head. “And I’ll let you see mine, if I can see yours.” In moments, Rahne was decadently, startlingly naked. It was such an odd sensation to have nothing between her and the cool sheets.

Dani stared at her reverently; her touch felt irresistible. “Wow.”

“What, colleen?”

“Yours are so nice. They’re bigger than I thought they were!” Dani stroked one experimentally, toying with her nipple, round, thick and a luscious tourmaline pink. Rahne gasped and closed her eyes in pleasure.

“That feels so good. Dinna stop.” Dani moaned around it when she took one into her mouth. Rahne was lying on top of her, belly to belly, squirming in pleasure as Dani suckled her. Her lips were hungry at her breast, tongue lapping her urgently, then slowly, swirling around it. Rahne’s hips rippled and moved against her, and heat and tiny thrills tickled her again, pooling in her crotch. Dani cupped her ass, guiding Rahne’s pelvis against her and making her grind. The friction between them felt so heady, and Dani wanted more.

“Mmmmm,” she moaned into Rahne’s flesh. She moved back and forth from one to the other while Rahne threw back her head, exulting in the pulling sensations in her breasts.

“Oh, Dani! Oh, DANI!” Dani’s fingers dug into the crease of Rahne’s buttocks, wanting to get closer, make her cry out that she wanted it. Whatever Dani had to give.

Dani didn’t stop Rahne’s small, girlish hands from sliding beneath her ribbed tank. She stroked Dani’s belly as she tugged it up over her ribcage. She enjoyed the feel of their bare skin rubbing together, even slightly.

“Can I?”

“Yes. Please.” Dani paused long enough to help Rahne get her shirt off. It was dark in the room, but Rahne could still see her pert breasts, a scant handful. Her dark coffee nipples were already stiff, sensitive pearls.

“I like them,” Rahne pronounced shyly, and she leaned down and kissed Dani. It was soft and sweet and wet, and it aroused Dani every bit as much as everything that came before it. Rahne sighed into the recess of Dani’s mouth as she shyly kneaded her breast, treasuring it. Dani’s shorts slipped free of the tangled covers; she was glad to be rid of them.

There was nothing left but the sighs and low cries between them, hot flesh and lips sliding together and building friction and heat. Rahne’s body tingled again; she wanted to make Dani react as strongly as she had. Dani guided her hand to her center, testing it, but she settled on keeping Rahne where she was after a few thrusts.

“Just rub against me, Rahne,” she husked. “Just rub your pussy against mine…oh, God, that feels so good. Keep doing it.” They were panting, kissing each other senseless. Rahne felt the call of Dani’s body keenly, drowning out the voices in her head that this was sinful. She wanted to drown in her.

Dani couldn’t take it anymore; she grasped Rahne’s hips and jerked her at the pace that suited her, hitting the right spot fast and hard. She spasmed and cried out as she came, every nerve sparking at once. Her hips thrust against Rahne as she rode the aftershocks. She was breathless and replete. Rahne had a hard time not moving any further, craving another release.

“I’ll make it good for you,” Dani whispered, leaning up and kissing her deeply. Her mouth trailed hotly, sloppily over Rahne’s throat down to her breasts. Rahne’s body was thrust up to give Dani better access to her tits, dangling them directly into her mouth. “This feels good, too.” Rahne yelped as Dani’s index finger probed her anus.

“DANI?”

“Try it when I do this.” She lapped her nipple, enjoying her taste as her finger slid in up to her first knuckle. Her free hand eased between them and turned, cupping her sex. She massaged her clit more roughly than before. Rahne felt herself pulled closer to the edge, each stimulus working in concert to make her come apart.

Rahne came again, grinding and jerking into Dani’s hand. Her eyes were wide, mouth dropped open in surprise, shuddering out a long, shaking moan.

They lay together breathless and quivering. Somewhat belatedly, Rahne reached down to roll the blanket up over them against the chill. They lay awake in the dark. Dani was on her back and encouraged Rahne to snuggle against her, cheek laid on the slope of her chest and listening to her heartbeat.

“I wanna stay and sleep here,” Dani murmured.

“S’fine, lass,” Rahne agreed.

“Want your nightie back?”

“Nay, colleen.”