Chapter

"Professah... how exactly does sex work?"

The question leaves Layton mortified. Of course a girl of 13 would know of sex at least somewhat but he never thought she would *bring it up to him*. He supposes the fact he assures her that she can tell or ask him anything has backfired for once.

Oh dear. He never calculated exactly what he would do if she asked something like this, just told himself to keep discussions and information about it as far as possible from her, making sure certain anatomy books were kept out of reach and the such. But now he's backed into a corner, and she's looking at him with those wide, questioning eyes...

He takes her hands in his, meaning to come off as serious as well, but of course, Lenore just giggles and scoots closer to him. Childish.

"Well, my girl, sex... er. copulation, rather, is a more proper word for it, is something that comes about between two people- two adults, that is, who deeply care about each other." Layton manages to get out, stumbling over his words.

Lenore rolls her eyes, she already knows this!

"I know those parts! I want to know HOW you do the copuluh- copulation !"

Layton swears he feels a bead of sweat gathering on his brow. He can't very well tell her. She's too young, too innocent. He's supposed to protect her. If he can't tell her, he could always...

No. He refuses to entertain the ideas that trail off in the back recesses of his mind. Refuses to train his eyes anywhere other than the girls face. Her curious eyes, cheeks still somewhat plump with baby fat, her lips a soft pink...

He feels like he's losing it. Lenore needs an explanation. Again, Layton steels himself. What is the easiest way to explain this to her?

"Well, to put it in simple terms, a man's... private area and a woman's sort of... combine. Slotting together, if you will."

He feels his hands beginning to slightly shake while holding hers and has to remind himself to calm down. This is just practical education. Lenore will be satisfied and go to bed after this. If he's lucky, he won't have to hear about this subject again for a while.

Unfortunately for Layton, Lenore is not satisfied.

"Professah! I still don't get it!" Lenore grumbles, taking her small hands from his and crossing her arms, "You're being so vague! Why can't you just explain to me properly! Show me how sex works!"

Hershel swears he can hear something in his mind crumble. He tries to remind himself she has no idea what she's saying, she's a child. He tries to remind himself that she's being pouty because she's too young to understand. He tries not to look at how much of her legs he can see from the bottom of her thin nightgown. He tries to stop himself from slowly moving forward.

He gently, gently puts a hand on Lenore's face. Her skin is so soft, he sometimes wonders if she's some sort of angel, a blessing as an apology for how awful his life had been. But other times, like now, she's neither angel nor blessing. She's just... a girl. His girl.

Lenore almost instinctively leans her cheek into his hand, her face squishing against it. She's so sweet Hershel feels like he might die if he dares to taste her. He would deserve it.

"My dear, dear girl. May I kiss you?'

Lenore raises an eyebrow. "Of course Professah! You never have to ask to do that," She tilts her head in slight confusion.

Hershel shivers at her naivete.

"I mean, may I kiss you properly, Lenore? As a man should kiss a woman."

Lenore looks like she's just been given an amazing gift. It's not dissimilar to the same face she makes when she gets to eat a sweet she's been craving, or when Hershel buys her a new dress.

"Really, Professah? Really, really?" She clasps her hands together like a plea.

Hershel can't find any words to say but to nod stiffly.

"Then yes! You may kiss me !"

Lenore closes her eyes, puckers her lips a bit too much to be natural, leans forward slightly, but waits for Hershel to make the actual move. And as he finally, *finally* feels those soft lips against his own, a small, high pitched noise of surprise, a small hand gripping at his shirt, he knows he won't be going back on this. For worse or far worse.

He pulls away, after what was probably far too long for a first kiss, especially for a young girl. Lenore looks somewhat dazed, still clinging to his shirt. After a few seconds, she comes out of it, and smiles brightly up at him.

"Professah... that was amazing! Can we do it again?"

Hershel quickly finds himself with a lapful of eager little girl, trying to kiss him once more. He manages to settle her down, barely.

"Now, dear, we can do more of that... later," he silently hopes the girl forgets, "You remember your original question, don't you?"

Lenore pauses for a moment, hand on chin before her eyes widen.

"Yes! I was asking you how sex worked, and you weren't making sense at all,"

Hershel laughs gently at her words, pushing down the impending doom he feels in his chest.

"That's correct Lenore. I believe you had a good point when you asked me to show you exactly how sex works. Now, usually, as I said, this would be between two adults, but you're a very clever girl, aren't you?"

Lenore nods so fast that Hershel is shocked she doesn't get whiplash.

"I am, I am! Please show me, you know I can be as mature as any adult!"

Again, Hershel has to suppress a shiver. He won't go back now, not when he's so close.

"Alright, my girl, where do we start..."

He eventually has Lenore laid down in front of him. It was somewhat hard to get her off of his lap, as she insisted she wanted another kiss beforehand in trade for being cooperative. He didn't deny her, small hands grasping his face and kissing him quickly, before moving off his lap and laying face up as hershel had told her to do.

She was looking at him, curiosity and excitement clear on her face. Hershel couldn't take his eyes off her either. But he reminded himself that first and foremost, this was for Lenore's education.

"Now, I'm sure you're aware of the... difference, in male and female anatomy, no?"

Lenore nods her head, but looks a bit worried. His sweet girl.

"Don't worry, for the purposes of this demonstration, you will be the same as any adult woman as well. You'll want to, err, familiarize yourself with your own body, and mine." He cursed himself for continually pausing and stuttering over his words.

Lenore just kept smiling, nodding and bouncing her leg slightly. The part of Hershel that's been a professor for around a decade knows that logically, it would be easier to teach Lenore about her own body first. But he doesn't think he'll be able to keep a level head when he's touching her. So, he asks her to sit up, and slowly takes her hand in his.

"So, here is the key part of the male anatomy." Hershel prides himself on not stuttering over his words this time as he leaves Lenore's small hand on his already embarrassingly hard cock. Clothed, of course. He has to be careful with this, step by step.

"Why's it... stiff?" Lenore asks, awkwardly petting and groping at his clothed erection.

Objectively, the untrained motions shouldn't bring Hershel any pleasure, but having her hand on him at all makes him feel a mix of extreme arousal and violent illness. He focuses on the former and continues.

"When a man is prepared for copulation with a woman, his... cock, will usually get erect, or stiff, as you said"

She nods, eyes trained on his crotch, still curiously pawing at him.

"Can I see it?" Lenore innocently questions.

She's practically giving it to him. Hershel may have to go back on not viewing her as a blessing, because he feels each sentence she lets out is too good to be true. Still, he's nervous. If the kiss wasn't a point of no-return, this surely was. Did he really want to-

"Please Professah? I want to learn!" the girl begged.

He could never say no to her, could he?

"Of course, my darling. One moment"

He slowly tried to unbuckle his pants, but noticed his hands were violently shaking. Instead, Hershel opted to just shove down his waistband enough to let his erection free. Lenore audibly gasped, making Hershel wince. Can't go back now.

"Wow... Professah, it looks so weird!"

Lenore giggled, poking at his erection with a finger.

Hershel had to repress more thoughts of what a childish response that was. He looked off to the side, shameful.

"Yes, I suppose it does.... you've never seen one before, have you?"

She shook her head, and moved to grasp his cock fully. Now Hershel was the one gasping, though she hadn't even done anything pleasurable yet. He chanced a glance downwards, and saw her smiling, chubby little hand unable to fully wrap all the way around his cock. Fuck. He swore that every second he burned in the after life would be worth it for this.

"If you just, ah, move your hand upwards, that's the head of the... the shaft," Hershel shakily instructed, and Lenore complied.

As one of her small fingers brushes past the tip of his cock, a bead of precum dribbles out as Hershel chokes back a whimper. Lenore let out a soft 'Hm?' and brushed her hand back over the head, dirtying herself with his shame.

"Professah, what's this?"

Lenore held up her small hand, a few fingers smeared with his precum, and it took everything in him not to take her then and there. Step by step, Hershel.

"That is... a fluid, made to prepare for sex. It occurs when the man is aroused, and helps for a part we'll be getting to, soon"

Lenore still looks a bit confused, but nods, before wiping her hand on the end of her nightgown and going back to examining his cock. She might be the death of him.

He can't take this any longer, he has to move things along.

"Oh, I'm sorry, my dear girl, but I believe it's best we move on to you now"

Lenore, somewhat reluctantly, nodded and retracted her hand from his cock. Hershel breathed a sigh of relief that he wouldnt be prematurely ejaculating from a child's awkward, inexperienced gropes. Lenore looked up at him, expectantly.

"Raise your arms, I'm going to take off your nightgown, if that's alright with you, my girl" Lenore nodded, and did as he asked.

Hershel had seen Lenore naked before. On a good few occasions, she had needed help with clothes being put on or taken off. There was at least once he'd seen her in only a towel going from the bathroom to her bedroom. But he'd never seen her like this. Bare without any other plausible deniability. His for the taking. Just hills and valleys of soft, rosy skin.

Hershel hesitated at her panties. pink, with a very small bow at the top. He thought he might vomit.

"Lenore, may I?" He let one of his fingers just breach the seam of the top of her panties, tugging ever so slightly.

Lenore, eager, but slightly nervous, nodded.

"Yes Professah... please don't be mean though..." She nervously broke his gaze.

Lenore... his little girl... his dearest friend... his.....

He removed her panties gingerly, tugging them down her legs and gently tossing them to the end of the bed. Then, he allowed himself to gaze at her.

Soft, just like the rest of her, of course. He felt he was unworthy of even looking at her, much less touching her. But he wasn't going to stop here. Lenore had wanted him to educate her, and he would.

"Professah... what do we do now?"

Lenore asked, impatient.

Hershel had been staring at her for longer than he thought he had, clearly. He let his hand go towards her core, then hovered over it. He couldn't, not yet. Instead, he pointed.

"You know what this part of you is, right?"

Lenore nodded, but was clearly somewhat offended at the implication that the professor thought her *that* daft.

"It's my private place, I know that much Professah!"

"Yes, very good, my girl. Now, this is where the man's shaft will go when you have sex" Hershel pointed slightly downwards, holding her chubby thigh to spread her legs slightly more. It made his head swim seeing the pink of her innocence there in front of him. Step by step. Just a bit longer.

"Professah, that's silly. Your thingie can't fit inside there. It's too big" Lenore stated bluntly, clearly thinking this was some sort of trick.

"Well, you are quite small compared to an adult woman," Lenore frowned, so Hershel continued, 'but I believe I can still educate you without going inside. I would not want to cause you any undue pain, dear girl"

Lenore looked scared for the first time that night.

"Pain? What pain, Professah?'

Hershel should have chosen his words more carefully.

"What I mean is, you're small enough that if we had sex the way adults do, it could hurt, but I will improvise. I promise you, my darling girl, no harm will come to you," he stroked her thigh gently, hoping she was reassured.

The soft smile she gave him was heart melting. He would give everything to this girl.

Lenore was honestly, a little bit overwhelmed. She was so excited at first! The professah had kissed her, really, genuinely kissed her, and was showing her something only adults did. But it was all happening very fast... she wanted the Professah to keep going, but she also wouldn't object to a bit of a change in pace, especially now that she was bare and vulnerable.

"Professah... can you do this slowly?" Lenore batted her eyelashes, a surefire way to get the Professah to agree with her. He glanced up from between her thighs, and looked at her face. Lenore had no idea why he was so intrigued by her privates, unlike his, she didn't have any weird, hard 'shaft', or whatever the Professah called it. But maybe he was just as curious as she was! There was always a chance this was his first time seeing a lady like this... the thought made Lenore blush. She was special. What they were doing was important.

"My dear girl, this is all moving a bit fast, isn't it? We can stop, if you want to-"

"No!" Lenore interjected, "I don't want to stop! This is special. I just want to savour it, is all. Is that alright, Professah?"

The Professah's expression softened from worry to endearment. Lenore quickly found herself in his lap once more, his jacket wrapped around her arms, giving her some coverage.

"Is this more comfortable than laying on the bed?"

A part of lenore wanted to say she was fine with being laid bare on the bed, she was big enough to handle it. But also, the Professah's lap felt nicer to sit in, and his jacket gave her the much needed cover she wanted to not feel so vulnerable. So she gave a small nod, tugging the coat closer to her, leaving her top half almost fully covered, but lower half still fairly exposed. Little did she know, prying eyes were gazing at that uncovered skin.

Hershel was awful. As much as he was making sure Lenore was comfortable, he was also putting her exactly where he wanted her. Her back was resting against his cock, only separated by his jacket. Her legs and core were in full view. He was abysmal.

"Lenore, dear. do you mind if I touch you? I'll go slowly, as you asked"

The girl nodded, smiling, clearly more comfortable in this position than she had been before. He was so caught in his lust he barely noticed her discomfort. He wouldn't make that mistake again.

Hershel inched his hand up her thigh, before gently resting two fingers on her core. He was shaking again. He ran one finger down her slit, and his breath hitched when he felt a slight wetness. She was perfect. He followed in this for a bit, simply tracing her opening. Slowly, step by step.

"Professah... is that all? I feel a bit weird..." Lenore had been slightly squirming for the past few minutes, and the wetness between her legs had grown a fair bit.

Hershel's breath felt short as he responded.

"I promise you that odd feeling is good, don't worry. And this is just the beginning, be patient, Lenore," She nodded, and rest her head against his chest once more.

He couldn't help himself. Hershel found himself using the wetness he'd gathered to gently graze her clit, and she made a high pitched keening noise. Immediately, he panicked, freezing up.

"Ah, are you alright?" It took all of his strength to keep his voice even. He wouldn't want to stumble and worry her.

Lenore nodded her head quickly.

"Yeah it jus' feels like... a lot," She squirmed more, inadvertently pushing herself further against Hershel's fingers, still frozen in place over her innocence. She keened once more, toes curling. Lenore breathed out shakily.

"It's a lot... but good. 'm okay Professah." Lenore smiled up at him once more, and he couldn't hold back a shudder. She was so darling.

He nodded back at her, giving a shaky smile. He didn't trust his words right then. He continued moving his hand against her, feeling how her body reacted against him and grew continually wetter, hearing her small whimpers and moans. Despite having basically no attention to it at the moment, his cock was still painfully erect, fueled enough by simply feeling her back against him, and his hands on her.

Considering the situation he was in, Hershel thought he was doing quite well. he had taught Lenore a good bit, as she asked, and he was making her feel good. there was a chance he could come out of this. Not forgiven, never, but not completely without redeeming qualities left. That's what he told himself, anyway, before he cracked.

"Professaah-," the small girl moaned out his title, hands tightly clenching at the jacket still wrapped around her.

Looking back, this is when Hershel will think he made his unforgivable mistake. But in the moment, he wasn't thinking about mistakes or regret or guilt at all. The only thing on his mind, was Lenore.

Very quickly, he found himself hovering over his girl's wide eyed form, his body caging hers in.

"Professah? W-what are you doing now?" she questioned him, still being dwarfed by his coat she clutched around herself.

Step by step, he tried to remind himself. Slowly he insisted. He wasn't going to hurt her. He just needed to feel her skin against his.

"My dear girl, this is the final step, so to say. Remember the slotting together i first mentioned?"

Lenore honestly didn't really recall, her head felt all fuzzy and so much had happened since she first asked him about all this. But she nodded anyway, not wanting to seem forgetful now. The Professah smiled at her, and she felt relieved. She must be doing something right.

"Good work, my girl. Now, as I said, you are just a bit too small for us to do that, but we can do something very... very similar"

Lenore was a bit disappointed that her small body was limiting the professah from treating her like a proper adult. Surely if she was sized like other girls her age, and less like she was still barely nine, he wouldn't be treating her so gently. However, she didn't want to feel pain either. So she didn't complain, and just nodded up at him, slightly spreading her legs more, as to be helpful, though the Professah already had a hand solidly on her thigh, keeping her from closing her legs in the first place.

As she saw his shaft be lined up to her, she once again felt a sudden spike of fear. Thank goodness it wasn't going inside her, she silently thanked the Professah for worrying about her in that moment.

Feeling his cock lined up against her wetness felt like the original sin.

She was so soft, he did his best not to clench her thigh too tightly. Seeing her spread her legs more for him... he made a silent prayer of thanks to a god that surely had forsaken them both.

It was sickeningly easy for him to slide between her puffy folds, only limited by the fact she was so, so small. He moved his hand off her thighs to hold his cock in position, as he kept sliding too far and smearing the bottom of her stomach with a combination of their fluids.

Bumping up against her clit made her whimper every time he did it, leading to him quickly thrusting against her so he could hear her whine and moan as much as possible. Deliriously, he thought about how that was a gentlemanly thing to do, making the lady feel pleasure over himself.

He found himself vigorously grinding against her small body, she was so wet that it was starting to collect on the sheets below them. He could change them later. A smarter man would have perhaps laid down a towel to stop little girl juices from getting everywhere, but this had all happened so very fast, there was no time for preparation.

Training his eyes on his girl's face, hershel found that Lenore was somewhat overwhelmed by the throes of ecstasy. Her little face was scrunched up, light brown locks framing it perfectly, a few strands stuck to her face with sweat, her cheeks pinker than usual, mouth open to let out her soft moans. Perfect. so perfect. It was no surprise, really, when he found himself caught on the rim of her innocence, from how intense his thrusting had been.

And it should have been less of a surprise still, when he shoved himself in as much as lenore's small body could take. Hershel took her innocence, and relished in it. He grunted over her, pausing a moment to take it all in. She was so wet, so warm. Her cunt was clenching tightly around him, and he couldn't fit all the way inside her, at least a few centimeters unable to press in any further. He must have been pressing against her cervix. He shook. She felt so, so good around him.

The Professah had gone inside. Like he promised he wouldn't. And it hurt, just like he said it would. Lenore couldn't really think clearly, there was too much happening to her body. He was so big inside her, she could hardly believe he actually fit. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, and she choked back a sob. She couldn't turn back now though, she didn't want to seem childish in front of the Professah, especially not when she had gotten so far.

After a moment of pure bliss, Hershel finally noticed the girl below him tearing up. Oh, that wouldn't do. Losing one's virginity did tend to feel quite painful, he knew, and she was so small. He just had to make her feel better.

Hershel slowly pulled back, watching lenore's expression carefully. she really was angelic, even with tears threatening to roll down her rosy cheeks. When he thrust back into her, she let out a muffled yelp, eyes popping open. she bit her lip, like she was holding back words, but instead just clutched his jacket and whimpered out everything he wanted to hear.

"K-keep going, Professah. I can take it."

His girl. After that affirmation, Hershel stopped holding back, thrusting into her with little restraint. Her walls were incredibly soft, and so tight. She was so wet from earlier that despite her incredible tightness, he was able to slip in and out of her with ease at his own fast pace. Of course, he was still gentle, somewhat. She deserved to be treated with respect. It wouldn't do if he hurt her while consummating their union.

He couldn't get his hands off her. running his hand through her hair, over her thighs, her budding chest. Every part of her deserved to be worshipped. She was an angel, and he was the one blessed enough to be able to deflower her. He knew he was almost definitely bruising her previously untouched cervix, but it was all to prepare her. His wife.

He was being so weird. Lenore was too full, and the Professah wasn't making her feel any better about it. She wanted this, she knew she did, but she didn't want it to hurt so much. His thing was so, so big inside her. She wanted the Professah's kind words and gentle touch. Not this.

The more it went on, the less she hurt, but it didn't stop her from wanting this to end, as much as she hated to admit it. Maybe... there was still a way to save this. A small part of her worried that like this, the Professah wouldn't listen to her. But she pushed that thought down. The girl put a small hand on his chest, and the Professah slowed his thrusts, but didn't completely stop.

"Can y-you talk to me? I want to talk while we do this," she tried to stay as serious as possible, still stuttering over her words a bit, and looked him in the eyes, pleading.

She was too darling. How could he forget? His dearest always was soft for praise, of course she'd want it at a time like this. Collecting himself, he complied.

"Yes, my dear girl, you shouldn't need to ask."

He saw her give him that sweet, sweet smile, accessorized by the small streaks of tears down her chubby cheeks, and part of his stomach turned. But that was surely nothing.

He started up his thrusting again, but was a bit slower than before, he had to be controlled enough to speak after all. Couldn't let himself get lost in her tight folds completely.

"You're doing so well. So, so well, my girl,"

he peppered her with praise like that for a while, watching her open up more to him, eventually clutching more at his shirt than his discarded jacket.

She was needy for him. It was only appropriate, he thought, a bride was always nervous on the wedding night, he just had to make her come around. And come around she had.

His words swam in her mind. She was good, clever, his dearest, Lenore swore he heard him mutter that she was an angel. She felt her face warm up with each piece of praise. He was spoiling her. It made her tummy feel warm too, and she used that feeling to push more against the Professah. She would prove that she's more than adult enough for sex. After all, how is she supposed to be a good wife if she can't do this?

Watching Lenore clumsily try to meet his thrusts, Hershel felt a shot of lust go down his spine. He had to do this. He had to do it tonight. Hershel pressed as much of himself as he could inside of her, and stopped for the first time since he first began. He looked deep into her eyes.

"Lenore, have you ever thought of being a mother?"

Had she? Lenore thought deeply. She liked playing house when she was younger, and that involved being a mother. She almost always made the Professah be the father after she came to live with him, and although he was awful taking care of their plushie children, it was nice to be able to kiss him more often under the guise of being his pretend wife. But she was old enough to know real children are nothing like pretend. They cried, whined, and were all yucky. She didn't think she was quite ready for that sort of task to be laid upon her.

But maybe... with the Professah at her side, it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe if she had a baby, he would marry her like he promised he would when she was younger. So she nodded, and Hershel gave in to his deepest desires.

"Good... good, good, good," Hershel punctuated each word with a thrust into her.

She moaned, clutching at him tighter. Finally, she was going to be truly his. He was going to mark her so deeply nobody else could touch her. She was his.

"You're perfect.. you're so perfect," he panted out, "You make such a good wife... you'll make such a good mother,"

Lenore seemed to melt at being called his wife. Good, she understood what she meant to him. His thrusts quickened, and his ramblings did too. He lost track of what he was thinking and what he was saying aloud. He wanted her near him all the time. Her mind was amazing, incredibly clever. She was taking him so well. Her voice was so beautiful, especially like this. She would take all his essence inside her and she'd look beautiful carrying his child.

He was unraveling fast, fast, fast. Lenore was out of it too. All she could feel was the Professah's thing pounding into her, making her feel all strange and too full, and hear him mumbling things she could barely understand about filling her and keeping her. She couldn't fathom how he could fill her anymore than how she already was, but just hoped it wouldn't hurt. She would do anything to be good for him.

When he finally reached his peak, it was with her. She gasped out his title and he followed with her name. Gripping at her hips bruisingly, he bent her body to a frankly concerning degree. Thank goodness young joints are flexible.

He rammed into the little girl's cunt, the head of his cock kissing her cervix as he came deep inside her, white seed flooding her insides. She clenched against him, like she was asking for more, milking his seed into her womb.

Hershel continued to fuck it into her, before realizing some of his cum was spilling out of her. That wouldn't do at all. If he was to breed her properly, she needed as much of his seed as possible to stay inside her. For a brief moment, he considered trying to go for a second round, before realizing he was getting much too old to attempt something like that, even with his perfect little wife's flushed face and still clenching cunt tempting him.

He slowly pulled out, making sure to scoop any of his essence that had slipped out back into her, pushing in a little deeper than he probably needed to. He needed to make sure it took, after all. She'd make such a beautiful young mother... a beautiful young.....

Oh god. What had he done.

He was shaking, more violently than he had all night. He took his fingers out of her very carefully. He wiped those fingers quickly on the sheets below, only to find them already soaked. He was disgusting. Immediately, he tugged his pants back up, and stood up off the bed.

Lenore looked... wrecked. She was barely covered at all by his jacket, was sweating, seemed to have some sort of mark on her shoulder [he didn't even recall when he could have done that], and of course, her lower half...

He needed to go. No, that wasn't enough. He needed to send her back to her parents, or, someone else. Anyone but him. Then he'd kill himself. Or he could kill himself now. He was sure there was something lying around somewhere that could work as a noose. He could always use his razor. Anything to protect her from him. He was about to turn to leave the room, to save her from the monster, when she whimpered.

"Professah...? Can we cuddle?"

Layton couldn't leave her. Not now, not ever. He never could. Not even to protect her. And, the rational part of him that had evaded him all night told him that realistically, him dying from a gruesome suicide that she would be the first one to find the scene of wouldn't help her well-being in any way. He had to take care of her, as he was supposed to.

"I-in a moment, dear girl. let me fix you up a bit, Hm?" He couldn't conceal the shake in his voice, but Lenore just nodded and relaxed more into the bed.

Layton quickly, clinically used a dry section of the sheets to clean up the mess he had made on her. Stupid. Irrational. Pathetic. Disgusting. She hadn't even started menstruating yet, she couldn't get pregnant no matter what he did. That should be the single silver lining here. He nearly had to bite back bile at how a part of him was disappointed.

When she was sufficiently clean, he used his jacket to more properly cover her, and then picked her up and brought her to her room. She shouldn't have to sleep in the same bed where he took her. Her head lolled onto his chest and his heart strangled itself. He set her gently down on her bed, baby blue blanket quickly tucked over her.

Stepping over plushies littering the floor, he went to her closet and quickly pulled out a new nightgown and a pair of bloomers. Usually she wouldn't sleep in such undergarments, but he needed to make sure he was keeping her as safe as possible. When he went back to her bedside, she was already basically asleep. he nudged her, and she sleepily put on the clothes given to her, as Layton looked away until he stopped hearing fabric shuffling.

He meant to return to his room, hoping she was too sleepy to protest, but she tugged at his shirt sleeve.

"Please don't leave," and of course, Layton was stuck.

The poor girl would get almost anything she wanted from him normally, but now? She could ask him to bring her the moon and he'd call up an astrophysicist. Of course he would stay with her, even if he was scared for her safety. He could control himself.

He got into her, admittedly quite small, bed. It was a bit of a miracle he fit at all. but Lenore was so small, and he curled up so his legs wouldn't go off the end of the bed frame. She nuzzled into him quickly, holding one of his hands in hers.

She whispered to him, "Can I have another goodnight kiss, professah?"

And, before he could register, Lenore moved to kiss him on the lips, quickly, chaste.

But as she slept in his arms, he could feel the warmth of her lips on his until the morning came.