Moving Forward (Completed)

Chapter Sixty Three

Katherine watched Rafael exit the bathroom, his feet stopping his forward momentum when he noticed her position. Her bottom was propped up on a pillow and her legs were crossed as they rested against the headboard—even upside down she could tell he was fighting not to let his amusement show.

"Don't you dare laugh."

"I wasn't." It might have been more believable if his voice hadn't shook. Rafael cleared his throat when she glared at him and tried again. "I promise, I'm not laughing... at you at least." He let a chuckle slip when she rolled her eyes. "What is the actual goal here?"

"To stop gravity from working against us."

He moved to sit next next to her, smiling as he looked down. "I can hold you so you're completely upside down, help them swim to their intended goal a little faster."

"Har har," Katherine grumbled, "I'm just trying to keep it all inside, ok." Rafael stared at her for a moment—maybe a moment too long. "What?"

"I can't decide if that's kind of sexy or really gross." Katherine grabbed the closest pillow and swung it at him. The fact that she was laying on her back didn't actually allow for much momentum and he chuckled as he caught it. "How long are you going to lay like that?"

"Ten, maybe twenty more minutes... I didn't really read a set time."

"And you're going to do this every time we have sex?"

"For the foreseeable future," she nodded. Rafael settled himself so that he was leaning against the headboard next to her legs. "What are you doing?"

"Keeping you company." They could chat while she laid there, and considering she hadn't bothered to dress yet his view was rather enjoyable.

MJ had major projects due in at least three classes. One was a solo project, but the other two involved groups—her least favorite type of school assignment. MJ may have been grumbling about the workload, but Katherine found the timing perfect.

She was in peak ovulation heading toward the weekend, Rafael's work load was light enough for him to meet her at home right after work, and MJ kept finding herself stuck at school longer than she'd like. It was a rare, but they basically had the house to themselves and Katherine was sure it was a sign.

"The group I'm assigned to for world history is meeting at that coffee shop everyone at school seems to use as a hangout tomorrow." MJ muttered into her dinner plate.

"You do realize you will have to work with people for the rest of your life, right?" Rafael chuckled.

"Yes," MJ grumbled, "but I assume when I have an actual job those people I will be working with will be interested in what we're doing. If that were the case with my classmates we could spend an hour divvying up task and meet back up a few days later to put everything together. Instead, my Friday afternoon is going to be spent listening to the latest gossip while we take four hours to get through what should have been completed in two."

"I like how you think people stop gossiping just because they become adults." Katherine smiled. Her weekly grade level meetings were often derailed, though it was more due to idle chitchat than gossip.

"You mean I'm going to have to deal with people like this forever?"

Both Katherine and Rafael chuckled at how wide MJ's eyes had grown.

"It took years for me to get SVU to work as efficiently as they do now."

"Really? Amanda says it took them years to soften you up... that you used to be less than eager to help them out on cases." Katherine was the only one left chuckling.