CLOSER

Selene crawled to where Bartimus lay unconscious and lay down next to him. She made sure not to sleep on his injured side and lay her head on his chest while embracing him. He made a slight movement like he was about to wake up so Selene started singing him a lullaby she had heard a woman sing to her child when her family had gone to live in the village. His heart beat became stronger and calmer and his breathing seemed to slow down. Selene lifted her head to look at his face but he pushed her back with his hand.

"Did I wake you?" she asked in a hushed voice.

"Yes." he answered in a husky voice,"Keep singing. You have a lovely voice."

Selene blushed but the others who heard the compliment could disagree.

"By lovely I mean by dragon standards." Bartimus added thoughtfully and Selene's face turned pale and she looked at him,"If you met a female dragon you would know what I mean. Don't sing for anyone else."

"I am torn between feeling fluttered and feeling insulted." Selene confessed.

Bartimus smiled at her and she smiled back at him weakly. She started singing again. Bartimus closed his eyes and pulled her closer to himself. Grand tree brought them something to cover themselves with. Selene whispered a thank you and Grand tree left them.

Once Grand tree had returned to where the others were sitting, Selene covered Bartimus with the clothe. It wasn't going to be enough for them to cover themselves while laying side by side. Because Bartimus had his eyes closed Selene guessed that he must be asleep so she lay down to sleep as well.

It was hard for Selene to give up the luxuries she had grown with when her parents had taken her to live among villagers and in a poor village but after meeting Bartimus it wasn't so hard. The cold air rushing about them made her shiver so she moved closer to Bartimus to feel his warmth. She fell asleep soon after to the sound of Bartimus' beating heart. When everyone was fast asleep Bartimus sat up and looked at Selene who had searching for him even while asleep.

When Selene was certain that Bartimus was indeed not lying next to her, she opened her reddened eyes to search for hi with her eyes. When she opened her eyes Bartimus was right in front of her, looking down at her with affection.

"Why didn't you cover yourself?" he asked her frowning.

"It's small and you are the injured one here so I thought it was better." she answered sitting up.

Selene touched his injured side gently and when she saw that he did not flinch she pressed harder but he still didn't move. She wasn't sure if he was alright or if he was pretending so she pressed her hand harder into his side and she saw him smile.

"That hurt a little but I healed a while ago." Bartimus said and Selene finally returned his I smile.

"Come closer." Bartimus said and Selene did so without protest.

He held her close to his body and started radiating heat. She looked at him in amusement and he smiled down at her adorable expression.

"I didn't know you can do that in this form as well." she whispered.

"I'm a dragon either way. Sleep."

"I'm not sleepy anymore."

Bartimus did not respond and got up from where he was sitting, startling Selene who now felt the bitter cold on her skin again. He extended his arm to her and when she took it he pulled her up from the ground. They started walking away from the campsite and Selene became a little worried. She just hoped he wasn't planning on taking her up a tree again. They walked in the comfortable silence for twenty minutes and Selene was starting to feel exhausted.

"Where are we going?" she asked breaking the silence.

It was a bright night so Selene could see clearly enough to know that they were heading no where in particular. There were no paths or trails which meant that no one ever came this way.

"We are almost there." he consoled her and she sighed.

She looked behind her thinking that was the direction they had come from but he pointed in another direction and said,

"The campsite is that way."

"Oh....That means you took a longer route for nothing."

"Not for nothing. I was a little lost."

Selene smiled, feeling pleased that he didn't know everything but also happy that he had realized he was going the wrong way. She started looking at their bare feet to occupy herself and she only looked up when a firefly flew just under her nose. There were many fireflies and she gasped at the beautiful sight in front of her. They had reached a rocky clearing that had a steaming hot spring. The rising steam made the fireflies' lights resemble a lamps on a foggy night or morning.

"It's.... fantastic and...."

"Beautiful." Bartimus finished the statement for her.

She nodded her head and then he let go of her hand and she walked closer to the water. She dipped her left foot in the water and felt how warm it was. The temptation was there to just dive in and sit but she was a little hesitant because of Bartimus.

"I am hoping you will get in with me." Bartimus said right next her ear.

Selene turned and looked up into his eyes whose color she couldn't quite see. He was standing so close to her that she felt like she couldn't breathe. He removed the bloodied bandage and toss it aside. His side was completely healed and as if to convince herself, Selene run her hands over his skin.

Bartimus did not move and let her touch him to her heart's content. He enjoyed her touch and when she was about to pull her hand away, he clasped it in his own and pulled her even closer than they had been before. He captured her lips in a kiss and he waited for her to get comfortable before he took her arms to wrap them around his neck. She started kissing him back and he slowly picked her up in his arms, eventually breaking the kiss. Selene only realized that she was still in her dress when Bartimus had walked in up to his torso.

"My dress..." she breathed helplessly.

"It's already wet. It'll dry by sunrise." Bartimus responded.

"Aren't we going back after this. They will be worried about us."

"The forest spirit will know we are fine."

Selene had nothing more she could say and waited for Bartimus to put her down. When he didn't move she wondered if he was planning on staying like this till sunrise.

"Won't you put me down?" she asked looking straight into his eyes,"You'll get tired."

"It's rocky down here. I'm afraid you might hurt yourself."

"Put me where you think it is safe. If you keep me up like this, I will get cold."

Bartimus walked around in the water and when he found a place that was fairly smooth, he lowered Selene into the water. Once her feet were on the ground, he planted a light peck on her shoulder that she didn't know was exposed and the action made her blush. When he saw her reaction he did it again on her other shoulder then he moved behind her and did it again. When he was in front of her again, she was pink and they both knew it wasn't because of the hot water.

He hooked his arm around her waist and found where the buttons keeping her dress in place were. He started to undo them torturously slow while teasing her lips with little kisses. When he finally got to the last one he moved a few inches away from her to watch the dress fall off of her. She had nothing but a flimsy dress underneath and he smiled making her even more shy.

He came back to stand in front of her and she wrapped her arms around him of her own accord. She was the one to initiate the kiss this time and he followed. They got lost in each other and lost track of anything that wasn't them.

In the morning, Selene was the first one to wake up. She was lying next to Bartimus, completely naked and unashamed and very happy that she was one with him. She stared at his sleeping face for a long time before he opened his eyes as well. He turned to look at her smiling face and smiled himself.

"Good morning." he greeted her.

"Good morning." she replied.

The sun was just rising so they decided to take a bath before going back to the campsite where no one was awake yet. They only bathed this time and Selene was happy that her dress was dry just as Bartimus had said. She wasn't pleased with the fact that it was cold but decided to put it on anyway.