Once their clothing had become nothing but a memory, Baila and Ash both seemed at the complete mercy of their own supercharged libidos as she pushed him down to the mattress below her. No longer seeming to show even a moment of their earlier hesitation, she straddled his dark-skinned hips, sliding his waiting hardness inside her as their hips began moving against one another with no thought remaining outside of their own lust, despite the lack of any sort of real relationship between themselves at all previous to that moment.

Sean allowed a fanged smile as he continued kissing Claire’s neck while his hands now made their way toward the bottom portion of her clothing. As he guided Claire to her knees only inches from where Baila and Ash continued their vigorous lovemaking, he began pulling away the remains of her clothing and whispered against her ear, “He was right again.”

“Hmm?” was the only barely audible response Claire could manage as her eyes refused to move from the other pair only inches from her and her own partner.

“Haven: About needing two servants, after all.” he smiled again as he finished undressing them both.

“This is the time you pick to say I told you so?” she asked, though still managed a small smile through her words as she felt him easily hardening behind her own now equally nude body.

“No, this is the time I pick to finally ease the fears, and desires, of every single person in this room here tonight.” he smiled again, bending her forward gently, as he slowly, easily entered her newly called upon wetness from behind and began their own lovemaking, as well.

Claire gasped a bit as he repositioned her and entered her body once again, but her gasp was replaced by another upon realizing that in that new position, her lips were now barely inches above where Ash lay back atop the mattress, his hot, heavy breath against Claire’s own now slightly flushed cheek as Baila pushed him closer and closer to the same climax that Sean’s expert touch was bringing out in Claire as well.

Atop Ash’s body, their hips still grinding passionately against each other, Baila’s lust-filled eyes once again came up to meet Sean’s as her own orgasms began to shake her while Sean continued to hold her gaze, this time, whilst Claire’s body brought him nearer and nearer to his own climax as well.

Once Claire’s and Ash’s pleasure began overtaking them due to their partners’ touch, Ash couldn’t curb his urge to move his hands from Baila’s hips above him, to instead reach for where Claire and he had watched each other’s lust build, their faces mere inches from one another’s the entire time. He eagerly took her face in his hands, his mouth covering her own as his seed began pouring into Baila’s body. Claire’s own tremors built to an intensity that her kiss mirrored as her mouth covered Ash's while her husband continued to bring her to those passionate heights throughout the same moment that Ash’s tongue penetrated her own mouth in a blur of intensity that had now seemed to swallow all four of them there that night, all other concerns about their own lives, and loves, all melting together in the heat of the entire encounter.

None of them were sure how many dizzying moments had honestly passed since Sean had begun their encounter slightly after sunset, as they were all now lying atop the large bed, all attempting to recover, in their own ways, from the pleasure that had rocked their bodies that night.

After several long moments of that recovery, Baila was the one who finally regained any of her energy at all as she breathlessly rolled to her side where she bravely draped her arm over Sean’s bare stomach as all of them had laid there, waiting for their still nude bodies to drop back to room temperature, or cooler, in some cases.

“Is it ok, now?” she asked as she turned her eyes toward both Sean and Claire, with innocence to her tone that in no way reflected the true meaning of her words as she allowed her fingers to slowly move over the trail of light hair that led downwards from Sean’s navel.

Sean turned his eyes only briefly toward her, a bit startled by her question, but quickly moved his gaze back to Claire as they both realized the meaning behind the words. At that moment, Ash seemed to take his cue from Baila’s bravery and slowly moved his hand up to cup Claire’s breast with a gentleness that belied the name given to his people.

At first Claire tensed slightly at his bold touch as she lay there next to her husband, but the reality of the situation somehow struck her as almost comforting as she allowed a small smile in response to the question on Baila’s lips which was now repeated to her in Sean’s eyes on her at that moment, looking to her to answer the question the other woman had posed.

Claire’s smile became more sincere as she moved her hand up to cup Ash’s and gently moved it downwards from her breast to her stomach and lower, “I think it just may be.” she whispered as she slid Ash’s fingers inside her easily returning wetness, while placing a gentle kiss over Sean’s lips before moving to cover Ash’s mouth with her own once more, as well.

Upon seeing Claire’s reaction, Baila allowed her own smile at Sean’s surprise, before finally moving to give into her long held desires, and at last taking a place atop Sean’s hips. Ash too moved to a place above Claire, as she parted her legs to finally allow another man to enter her in that way, for the first time since the day she had given her innocence to the soul mate who still lay beside her, his own body finally fully experiencing another lover’s as well, there in that same moment. That same moment when their previously held ideas of monogamy were at once dashed hard against the rocks, while somehow their love for one another now strangely felt stronger that night than it had in far too long of a time.

When Sean and Claire made their way back to that bedroom again, shortly before the next morning’s sunrise, they each reached toward the bed that Baila had made in the hours following she and Ash’s own rest after the strange encounter between the four of them the previous night had ended. Claire allowed a timid smile as they reached for the covers at the same moment before sliding under them within the half hour prior to the sun’s rising and pushing them each into that deep sleep once more.

Once the two slid underneath the covers, Sean automatically reached to wrap his arm around her shoulders and placed a gentle kiss upon her forehead as they each laid back in preparation for the day’s slumber.

“I suppose this is where you’ll expect me to explain myself?” he asked her softly, though with his own slight smile.

“I think you explained things pretty well the last time we were in this bed.” Claire said, speaking softly, though not bitterly, as she simply cuddled closer to him, seeming much more frail than she honestly was, physically anyway.

“You’re actually not going to say anything at all about…what we did?” he asked with furrowed brow, fully expecting an emotional scene when he next found himself alone with her once more.

“Listen to the question, Sean: What we did, what both of us did. There really isn’t anything that needs to be said, really, considering it was both of us.”

“Right…” Sean stated, seeming honestly well beyond thrown by that particular reaction.

“What? Did you want me to say something?” she asked with the tiniest chuckle, which threw him even further.

“Well, I thought you might, considering.” he stated, his own voice less confident than hers even.

“Fine, if you really want me to say something, then I’ll say thank you.”

“Thank you?” Sean asked, complete astonishment written all over his beautiful face at that moment.

“For waiting.”

“Waiting? What do you mean waiting?” he asked with another crease of the brow.

Then her voice did drop, though no new emotion crept forth, “That was the first time you actually made love with Baila, wasn’t it?”

Sean swallowed hard as each of her statements continued to throw him even more, “Well, I mean, I’ve done other stuff, you know, to help her, but yes…that was the first time I did that with her.” he admitted quietly.

“And I’m guessing you could tell whether or not it was the first time I let Ash, do that, too.” she returned in the same near whisper.

“Well, it seemed like it.” he returned softly as his mind flashed back over the events which had led to him holding Claire’s hand so very tightly as they had made love to each of their own servants the previous evening, though only after first making love to one another, as their own love would always come first, as they had promised.

“See, you could tell, just like I could tell that it was the first time you did that with her, which is what I was thanking you for. For waiting, before ever sharing that with her, before.” she told him with another soft smile as she cuddled closer still, her own arms enveloping him as well.

“You’re all right with everything then?” he asked as he kissed her hair once more.

“Not with everything, not by a long shot, but with the way things are with them now, yeah, I think I actually am.” she told him in a whisper, seeming to just then realize it herself.

Sean was a bit speechless for a long moment before finally letting his brain grasp the beginning of her confession, “So, what aren’t you ok with, then?” he couldn’t help asking.

“I was just thinking about other things.”

“Other things, meaning not the servants?” he asked warily.

“Yes, meaning, not the servants.” she assured him with a small squeeze.

“So, then, what other things?” he finally asked after another moment.

“There’s really not a lot of time until we drift off, Sean.” she reminded him with another small smile.

“Then I guess you need to talk fast.” he teased.

She sighed slightly and nuzzled his chest with her cheek once more before finally speaking up, “I guess I was just thinking, you know, about death, I guess.”

Sean blinked a moment at that statement before managing his own wry comment, “Oh, if that’s all.” Claire just shook her head at his response, before he continued, “So…what, about death?” he asked her slowly.

“Just wondering.” she managed in the same soft whisper.

“Uh, wondering, what, exactly?” he asked with further puzzlement.

Another slight sigh before she forced an answer to her lips, “Just wondering if it was the same.”

“If what was the same?” he asked in the same slow tone.

“If dying was the same for me, as it was for you.” she admitted, the words barely escaping.

Sean then looked further confused by that strange question before remembering their limited time for such a discussion, and found his own words, “Of course it wasn’t the same. I was murdered by some stranger in an alley with a knife, and left there to die…that wasn’t quite the way it happened for you. And I’m glad it wasn’t. I wouldn’t have ever wanted something like that to ever happen to you.” he assured.

Another slight sigh from her before allowing any response, “I wasn’t really talking about the way we died.”

“Then, what did you mean?” Sean asked gently.

“I meant, after that.”

“When we came back?” he asked worriedly, not sure he really wanted to rehash what had happened to Viola once again, after all these months.

“I mean, after we died, but before we came back.” she whispered as she buried her face further against his cool chest.

Sean swallowed once more as her words sunk in and the minutes drew closer to their forced slumber, “You’re asking me if I saw heaven or hell, then?” he whispered back.

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot. Like, when we celebrate the supposed deities, and when I realized that you actually hadn’t betrayed my wishes with Baila, after all, and just…I’ve just been thinking about it, a lot.” she managed.

“Did you see them, any of those spirits, or deities, I mean?” he asked her with another hard swallow.

“That’s why I was asking you. I wanted to know if you did, cause you, Sean, you’re a good person. Heaven, or Summerland, or whatever paradise is supposed to exist, it should have been there for you. You’ve never hurt anyone, not really. You died trying to save another person, even. It should have been there for you.” she insisted, though her voice trembled through every word.

Sean let out his own sad sigh as he pulled her closer, “I take it the tears are because you didn’t see it…either.” he added the last word in a raspy whisper as he squeezed her even more tightly.

“You didn’t….you didn’t see it either?” she asked as she turned the green pools up to him, where there were indeed the tiniest traces of red in the corners of both of their eyes.

Sean steeled himself to answer, “I didn’t see anything, Claire. Nothing at all. I was in the alley, then there was just…darkness…then I woke up in that room with Haven. There wasn’t anything else in between. Nothing but that…darkness.” he repeated again as he kissed away a tear that had began trickling down her pale cheek, “Was there anything at all for you, that you can remember? Anything?” he asked.

“Not a thing.” she whispered, “That’s all there was for me too. All there is.” she managed, “This is all there is, just this, this life. But at least in this life, as wrong as it is that we even have it, at all, I still have you, which is the only thing that makes me want to keep living it at all, it always has been. That’s the one thing that has never changed.” she promised him before leaning in to kiss his lips before that sunrise did finally come, forcing them back into that darkness once again, as it seemed, now, that it always would, no matter what.