As the clocked chimed 2am, Mark stirred. He had fallen asleep on the sofa and in his sleep he dreamt of Kate, the murmur of her name passed our of his dream into the cold apartment.
He tossed and turn, his shirt rising over his taut stomach, the moon from the window casting a gentle glow around his slumbering form.
Suddenly as if the dream have finally reached its unhappy zennith, Mark sat upright, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, the imagine of burned on his retina. He heard her behind him, smelled her perfume on the air, her footsteps coming closer.
"Kate?" he asked, turning...
"I can be, for you". The voice didn't match the memory of his dreams, the softness of her lilt was off...
Dressed in a silken dressing gown, Leo had watched Mark from the bedroom door, stroking the silken material between his fingers. It was worn in places and he imagined how often Kate had done the same thing, wearing the same outfit. He hadn't planned to act tonight, just to watch silently but now he had awoken and the time was right, the time was now.
"What?" Mark asked, confusion softening his timbre of his voice, as something hardened beneath the silk gown.
"I can be Kate, for you, for tonight. Just let it happen..."
As Leo sat beside him, tucking his foot expertly under him just like she did tilting his head perfectly, Mark felt a stirring he didn't think he could feel since her death, but it mingled painfully with confusion and shame. Leo read him more easily than any book he had ever picked up, and he lay his hand on Mark's chest, one finger lazily stroking the burning skin. He felt him tense, and then relax as he tensed and felt himself harden further.
"Kate". Not a question, a statement this time. "Oh Kate", a yearning, a plea this time.
"Yes" whispered Leo, and Mark looked up, into his eyes, their darkness matching Kate's, looked upon his hair, as lustrous as hers had been. A cloud passed across the moon, darkening all within the room.
Leo leant forward tentatively, stopping so close that only their breaths intermingled,
running a finger gently down his face. Mark felt the tightening inside his trousers, the yearning for release as it too succumbed to Leo's gentle touch. He cupped Leo's face in shaking hands and pulled him in for a kiss, then firmer, harder, no pause for breath or thought, just sensation and passion, the pain of nails on flesh, teeth on tender skin.
Leo tore off Marks shirt, together they removed his trousers, releasing him and the breath caught in Leo's throat, it was a think of wonder. He kept on the bathrobe, simply pulling it aside to give Mark access as they collapsed onto the sofa, wrapped in the ecstasy of each others embrace.
In the morning, Leo lay wrapped in a tangle of dressing gown and blankets on the sofa, Mark clothes spilt across the floor as he stood at the kitchen counter, calmly, serenely making coffee.
This time Leo stirs and sits, watched from behind. He stutters, "last night... I've never... I just..." Mark strides across the room, coffee cups left on the kitchen side, his manhood confidently proud and eager as he puts a finger to Leo's lips. "Shhhh....
It's ok Kate, we've found each other again ".
He takes his hand away, replacing it with his hot lips, pulling the blanket and gown away from Leo's naked body and replacing it with his fervent form.
The coffee goes cold and from the pocket of Kate's gown rolls the drugs Leo lifted from the hospital. He would have to make sure he made the next coffee...