FIC: The Stars in Their Courses - Chapter Sixty-five
Summary: Family reunion.
Rating: T
Genre: AU, Adventure, Romance, Drama, Angst
Word Count: 2,500
Chapter Sixty-five:
Lee settled his father under Laura’s tarp shelter out of the light rain. Bill grumbled, but he seemed grateful for the fire’s warmth.
Laura sank to the ground beside him, snagging his hand to clutch, her cold fingers running over the big back with its prominent veins.
“Bit of a hike up here,” Bill said.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” she scolded.
“And you were up for a stroll in the park?” He lifted his hand to cup her chin.
She wrinkled her nose at him and kissed his warm palm before pulling his hand down to squeeze it tightly. “It’ll be worth it,” she said. “When we have the map to Earth.”
He cleared his throat. “I forgive you, Laura.”
She arched her eyebrows in surprise. “For what?”
“For leaving me. Marriages shouldn’t start with discord.”
Her fingertips found his ring and turned it on his slack finger. “Oh, that.”
Opening his mouth to protest, Bill closed it without a word. Laura obviously had something on her mind. He waited.
She cradled his hand in her lap and looked over to Elizabeth, Billy and Kara chattering excitedly by the fire. “Lieutenant Thrace says that there are survivors back on the Colonies. There are people fighting against the Cylons every day. They’re fighting for their homes, their future.”
“I see,” Bill said slowly.
She searched his stoic features, not finding what she expected there. “Doesn’t that give you pause? Maybe your impulse the day the Cylons attacked was right. Maybe we should have stayed and fought for our homes. Maybe the President of the Colonies should have stayed with her people.”
Curling his fingers up, he grasped her hand and squeezed it. “I didn’t come here for this. I didn’t come here to navel-gaze or to catalog our mistakes. We made a decision to leave the Colonies after the attack. We made that decision. It was the right one then, it’s the right one now.” His gaze turned to the children as well. Lee had joined the group. “So every moment of every day since then is a gift. Doesn’t it feel that way to you?”
He wondered if this conversation meant she regretted marrying him, if the wakened Bill wasn’t as attractive as a noble, dying leader of her own.
Laura watched Elizabeth fall over on the moss in some exaggerated retelling of a story. She smiled. “A gift from the Gods.”
“No. From you.” At the intensity in Bill’s reply, she looked back to him. “For convincing me that I should go. I would be dead. My son and our daughter would be dead. Whatever else the costs, I won’t second-guess that outcome.”
She nodded slowly. She’d come to see that Bill Adama wasn’t a man to look in the rear-view mirror. She’d always felt as though he was grasping for the past, what they could have had. Now she could see that he’d been pressing for the future he foretold for them. She wiped away a stray tear.
As though reading her mind, he continued in his low, husky voice. “Yeah, I wish I’d been there for Beth’s childhood...but I gotta look at what sort of father I was for the boys--“
She scooted closer to him, laced her arm through his and leaned her head on his shoulder.
“--and I just gotta say, let’s live for now, today onward. I’m in love with you today, Laura, not some fantasy from my past.”
Suddenly uncomfortable, she shrugged. “I know--“ A part of her had fervently hoped that when they met again, he’d hold out the ring, laughing, and tell her to put it back in her pocket; no harm, no foul. Now she didn’t see how that thought could have ever entered her mind.
“No, it was one of the excuses you were making. I just wanted you to know.” He stroked her soft cheek, holding her head to his shoulder. She gripped his wrist, feeling the study pulse and finding reassurance in its rhythm. “I will follow you, Laura Roslin, wherever your map leads us.”
Elizabeth stood over them, breaking the spell. “Starbuck says we’re almost there.” Her pleading eyes shifted from Bill to Laura.
He smiled back. “It’s time to go find this tomb of yours,” he said to Laura and offered her Elosha’s tattered Scrolls.
Elizabeth grinned and tugged her mother upright.
The group came out of the woods into a narrow clearing. Sharon led the way, pointing out a rock face in a looming cliff. “Here it is,” she said flatly. She turned and gave Laura a defiant look.
“Lieutenant Thrace, I hope you have that arrow handy,” Laura said, barely able to contain her excitement.
Grinning, Kara unlooped the quiver from her back and took off the lid. She slid the arrow free.
“Is it some sort of key?” asked Elizabeth. The girl stood at the rock face, tracing the fine crack that signified there was a door.
Kara tried to fit the arrow into the rock somehow. “Stupid frakking thing couldn’t come with a handbook.” She tried another direction. “No, because that would just be too logical, wouldn’t it?”
Opening her damp scrolls, Laura read from it. “And the Arrow of Apollo will open the Tomb of Athena.”
“That’s really helpful,” muttered Elizabeth, tearing down the moss looking for something like a keyhole.
Kara seconded her disgust. “Yeah, well, unless anyone sees a keyhole, or whatever, we’re either in the wrong place or we’re just perfectly screwed.”
Shooting a suspicious look at Sharon, Lee joined the two young women at the rock.
Bill took charge. “Okay, then why don’t we just...Helo, come here.” He gave his weapon to Billy, who pointed the muzzle away from them gingerly.
Helo put down his gun as well, shed his pack and joined Bill and Lee to brace himself against the rock.
“On three,” ordered Bill. “One, two, three!”
Laura gritted her teeth. Typical man, she thought to herself, wincing every time Bill grunted. When the rock finally gave way and an opening appeared, her face lit up.
“There it is,” huffed Bill.
“Oh my Gods,” Laura whispered, enraptured.
Bill stepped back and allowed the younger men to push it the rest of the way open.
Lee smiled at Kara. “After you.”
Bill motioned for Laura to enter next and Elizabeth hurried after her mother. “Helo, you stay out,” he said.
“Yes, sir,” replied the young officer.
“Chief,” Bill said. “Guard those two.”
“Yes, sir,” said Tyrol, lifting his weapon to a ready position and turning his back on the tomb’s opening.
Helo stared at his commander in astonishment, but Bill entered the tomb without another glance.
“If the Arrow didn’t actually open the tomb, how do we know this is the right place?” asked Kara, moving slowly through the dim cavern.
“We don’t,” said Bill. He pulled Laura close with one arm and tucking his weapon under his other arm, tugged Elizabeth near. He noted the broken statuary and relics. “But it’s a tomb all right.”
“The scriptures say you need the Arrow to find the map,” Laura said stubbornly.
“These broken statues, I recognize them,” said Starbuck. “The ram, Aerilon. Gemenon, the twins.” She turned slowly, pointing to each figure. “These are the icons of the Twelve Tribes, the Twelve Colonies.”
“This could be Picon, the fish,” said Billy, bending over and peering at a shattered figure in the shadows.
Lee swept away dust from a marble woman’s breast. “I guess this little lady could be Virgon, right?”
“The goat, Caprica,” said Kara, pointing to yet another statue.
Bill took it all in, allowing his mind to see the familiar in the unfamiliar.
Laura wandered away from him. “Sagittaron,” she called out. “The archer.”
Bill strode to her side and noted the piece’s empty bow. “He’s missin’ something.”
Elizabeth twined her arm through her mother’s, holding her close. Kara approached the statue carefully. She fit the arrow into the stone bow. The jewels on the arrowhead glowed, the stone door slammed shut, and there was a flash of light, then absolute darkness.
In the dim light, Bill found his wife and daughter, gathering them near. Elizabeth smelled the green grass first, before she felt the stone floor become loam beneath her boots and saw the ceiling become a flood of stars and inky sky.
Lee and Kara swung up their weapons. “No,” murmured Laura.
“Uh, where the hell are we?” asked Billy. Stone pillars appeared in the darkness, and the stars aligned in constellations.
“I don’t know,” Laura said dreamily. “Tomb of Athena, I think.”
“I thought we were already in the tomb,” said Bill.
Starbuck found herself whispering for some reason. “I think that was the lobby.”
Tilting back her head, Laura focused on the sky. “Again, the ancient symbols.” She noticed glowing marks on the stones surrounding them. “These patterns were on the original flags of the Twelve Colonies, back in the days when the Colonies were called by their ancient names.” She nodded towards the rock before her and then around the circle. “Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Libra, Virgo...”
Elizabeth walked up to one of the rocks, raising her hand to the lights.
“Don’t touch,” Laura said sharply, suddenly shaken from her spell.
“It’s not going to hurt me,” said the girl. “I just want to know if it’s real.” It felt like a solid rock under her hand, despite not being there moments before.
Bill came up behind his daughter, examining the bright lights on the outcropping. “The jewels match the constellations.”
Realization dawning, Lee stepped forward. “This is the map. This is the map to Earth.”
“Maybe,” his father rasped. “So is Earth in one of these constellations?”
This time, Starbuck’s voice was low from emotion, not fear. “We’re standing on it.”
Elizabeth’s throat closed with equally strong feelings. They were home.
“We’re standing on Earth,” Kara repeated, stronger this time. “The scriptures say that when the Thirteenth Tribe landed on Earth, they looked up into the heavens and they saw their twelve brothers.”
“Earth is the place where you can look up in the sky and see the constellations of the Twelve Colonies,” suggested Laura.
“I don’t know what good it’s gonna do us though,” said Starbuck, suddenly frustrated. “Then what are we supposed to do? Search the entire galaxy for one particular star pattern?”
Lee turned slowly, searching the heavens. “There. There is Scorpio. I’ve seen that before. It’s the Lagoon Nebula.”
“Astro body M-eight,” Bill noted. Laura moved to his side, her face tilted up to the stars, her eyes bright.
“It’s a long way from here,” Bill told them, slipping his arm around Laura.
Lee jutted out his jaw. “Yeah. But at least now we have a map and a direction.” His determination was replaced by joy as he smiled broadly.
Elizabeth stroked a tall blade of grass between her fingertips, savoring its crisp texture in the moment, knowing they had to leave and return to space’s sterility.
When they exited the tomb, still overwhelmed by what they’d seen, reality dampened their exalted state. It was pouring rain.
The Chief, Helo and Sharon huddled close to the tomb opening, peering out at the downpour.
Adama assessed the situation. “Damn, I want the Raptor to pick us up, but I don’t think that ridge is stable enough to hold its weight with this saturation,” he said.
“No, sir,” said Chief. “I’ve been checking it, and the ground’s soup out there.”
Adama called Racetrack on the wireless radio set and confirmed the situation. “She says it’s even worse down in the valley. The ceiling is about a foot above the Raptor.”
“And night’s coming on,” said Chief. He pointed along the cliffs. “There’re shallow caves here; really just outcroppings, but it’s something. We can use them for shelter tonight.”
Adama led Laura to one of the enclaves. It was blissfully dry, with a soft sand floor. “Let me get our supplies,” he said. “I’ll be back soon.”
She smiled weakly and watched the rain rush off his broad back and hunched shoulders as he hurried away. She felt faintly guilty, but burrowed down into the sand.
The others were choosing their own shelters. Bill pulled Lee aside. “You stay with Billy--“ His eyes narrowed as he watched Billy bend over and listen to what Elizabeth was saying. “Keep an eye on him. No late night roaming.”
“What do you mean?” asked Lee. He followed his father’s gaze. “Oh!” His matching blue eyes narrowed. “Got it, Dad.”
The Chief discovered piles of shattered wooden boxes and altars within the tomb. “Hate to think about all the archeological data lost,” he said as he piled the debris under the overhang at the entrance. “But it’s not like anyone’s coming here again.”
Bill carried an armload back to Laura. He quickly started a fire near the opening so the smoke would be drawn out. He watched Laura shiver. “Come closer.”
She put out her hands to the low flames. He returned with their sleeping bags. Unrolling her damp one on the sand first, he then laid his large, dry one atop it.
“Get out of those wet clothes,” he ordered. “Let’s put them by the fire.”
Uncertain, she slowly removed her coat. She peered out into the gloom. Water was pouring off the lip of the enclave’s opening like a waterfall.
Taking her coat and hooking it on an outcropping, Bill reassured her. “No one can see anything, trust me. I could barely find my way back here.”
Shaking, she quickly shed the rest of her clothes. She slipped into his sleeping bag in her underwear and watched him hang up her damp garments to dry. “You too,” she urged.
His grin flashed in the dimness. “I will.” He quickly stripped, the orange firelight illuminating the edges of his sturdy body as he loomed over her.
His scars, running from the center of his collarbone to the waistband of his clinging briefs, seemed to glow red.
“Gonna let me in?” he asked. Laura realized she’d been staring, paralyzed.
She lifted the sleeping bag’s edge and he crawled in beside her. “Nice and toasty,” he rumbled, rolling them so he was behind her and she was trapped in the strong cage of his arms and legs.
She hummed, a sound somewhere between a sigh and a whimper.
“It’s our wedding night.” His big hands spanning her hips as he drew her tightly to him.
Laura had the sudden realization that not only was Bill not going to remove his own ring, but that he was going to put one on her finger. That glow she’d seen in his eyes since he’d appeared out of the parted branches wasn’t revived health, but possessiveness.
The end... Chapter Sixty-six>>>
Rating: T
Genre: AU, Adventure, Romance, Drama, Angst
Word Count: 2,500
Chapter Sixty-five:
Lee settled his father under Laura’s tarp shelter out of the light rain. Bill grumbled, but he seemed grateful for the fire’s warmth.
Laura sank to the ground beside him, snagging his hand to clutch, her cold fingers running over the big back with its prominent veins.
“Bit of a hike up here,” Bill said.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” she scolded.
“And you were up for a stroll in the park?” He lifted his hand to cup her chin.
She wrinkled her nose at him and kissed his warm palm before pulling his hand down to squeeze it tightly. “It’ll be worth it,” she said. “When we have the map to Earth.”
He cleared his throat. “I forgive you, Laura.”
She arched her eyebrows in surprise. “For what?”
“For leaving me. Marriages shouldn’t start with discord.”
Her fingertips found his ring and turned it on his slack finger. “Oh, that.”
Opening his mouth to protest, Bill closed it without a word. Laura obviously had something on her mind. He waited.
She cradled his hand in her lap and looked over to Elizabeth, Billy and Kara chattering excitedly by the fire. “Lieutenant Thrace says that there are survivors back on the Colonies. There are people fighting against the Cylons every day. They’re fighting for their homes, their future.”
“I see,” Bill said slowly.
She searched his stoic features, not finding what she expected there. “Doesn’t that give you pause? Maybe your impulse the day the Cylons attacked was right. Maybe we should have stayed and fought for our homes. Maybe the President of the Colonies should have stayed with her people.”
Curling his fingers up, he grasped her hand and squeezed it. “I didn’t come here for this. I didn’t come here to navel-gaze or to catalog our mistakes. We made a decision to leave the Colonies after the attack. We made that decision. It was the right one then, it’s the right one now.” His gaze turned to the children as well. Lee had joined the group. “So every moment of every day since then is a gift. Doesn’t it feel that way to you?”
He wondered if this conversation meant she regretted marrying him, if the wakened Bill wasn’t as attractive as a noble, dying leader of her own.
Laura watched Elizabeth fall over on the moss in some exaggerated retelling of a story. She smiled. “A gift from the Gods.”
“No. From you.” At the intensity in Bill’s reply, she looked back to him. “For convincing me that I should go. I would be dead. My son and our daughter would be dead. Whatever else the costs, I won’t second-guess that outcome.”
She nodded slowly. She’d come to see that Bill Adama wasn’t a man to look in the rear-view mirror. She’d always felt as though he was grasping for the past, what they could have had. Now she could see that he’d been pressing for the future he foretold for them. She wiped away a stray tear.
As though reading her mind, he continued in his low, husky voice. “Yeah, I wish I’d been there for Beth’s childhood...but I gotta look at what sort of father I was for the boys--“
She scooted closer to him, laced her arm through his and leaned her head on his shoulder.
“--and I just gotta say, let’s live for now, today onward. I’m in love with you today, Laura, not some fantasy from my past.”
Suddenly uncomfortable, she shrugged. “I know--“ A part of her had fervently hoped that when they met again, he’d hold out the ring, laughing, and tell her to put it back in her pocket; no harm, no foul. Now she didn’t see how that thought could have ever entered her mind.
“No, it was one of the excuses you were making. I just wanted you to know.” He stroked her soft cheek, holding her head to his shoulder. She gripped his wrist, feeling the study pulse and finding reassurance in its rhythm. “I will follow you, Laura Roslin, wherever your map leads us.”
Elizabeth stood over them, breaking the spell. “Starbuck says we’re almost there.” Her pleading eyes shifted from Bill to Laura.
He smiled back. “It’s time to go find this tomb of yours,” he said to Laura and offered her Elosha’s tattered Scrolls.
Elizabeth grinned and tugged her mother upright.
The group came out of the woods into a narrow clearing. Sharon led the way, pointing out a rock face in a looming cliff. “Here it is,” she said flatly. She turned and gave Laura a defiant look.
“Lieutenant Thrace, I hope you have that arrow handy,” Laura said, barely able to contain her excitement.
Grinning, Kara unlooped the quiver from her back and took off the lid. She slid the arrow free.
“Is it some sort of key?” asked Elizabeth. The girl stood at the rock face, tracing the fine crack that signified there was a door.
Kara tried to fit the arrow into the rock somehow. “Stupid frakking thing couldn’t come with a handbook.” She tried another direction. “No, because that would just be too logical, wouldn’t it?”
Opening her damp scrolls, Laura read from it. “And the Arrow of Apollo will open the Tomb of Athena.”
“That’s really helpful,” muttered Elizabeth, tearing down the moss looking for something like a keyhole.
Kara seconded her disgust. “Yeah, well, unless anyone sees a keyhole, or whatever, we’re either in the wrong place or we’re just perfectly screwed.”
Shooting a suspicious look at Sharon, Lee joined the two young women at the rock.
Bill took charge. “Okay, then why don’t we just...Helo, come here.” He gave his weapon to Billy, who pointed the muzzle away from them gingerly.
Helo put down his gun as well, shed his pack and joined Bill and Lee to brace himself against the rock.
“On three,” ordered Bill. “One, two, three!”
Laura gritted her teeth. Typical man, she thought to herself, wincing every time Bill grunted. When the rock finally gave way and an opening appeared, her face lit up.
“There it is,” huffed Bill.
“Oh my Gods,” Laura whispered, enraptured.
Bill stepped back and allowed the younger men to push it the rest of the way open.
Lee smiled at Kara. “After you.”
Bill motioned for Laura to enter next and Elizabeth hurried after her mother. “Helo, you stay out,” he said.
“Yes, sir,” replied the young officer.
“Chief,” Bill said. “Guard those two.”
“Yes, sir,” said Tyrol, lifting his weapon to a ready position and turning his back on the tomb’s opening.
Helo stared at his commander in astonishment, but Bill entered the tomb without another glance.
“If the Arrow didn’t actually open the tomb, how do we know this is the right place?” asked Kara, moving slowly through the dim cavern.
“We don’t,” said Bill. He pulled Laura close with one arm and tucking his weapon under his other arm, tugged Elizabeth near. He noted the broken statuary and relics. “But it’s a tomb all right.”
“The scriptures say you need the Arrow to find the map,” Laura said stubbornly.
“These broken statues, I recognize them,” said Starbuck. “The ram, Aerilon. Gemenon, the twins.” She turned slowly, pointing to each figure. “These are the icons of the Twelve Tribes, the Twelve Colonies.”
“This could be Picon, the fish,” said Billy, bending over and peering at a shattered figure in the shadows.
Lee swept away dust from a marble woman’s breast. “I guess this little lady could be Virgon, right?”
“The goat, Caprica,” said Kara, pointing to yet another statue.
Bill took it all in, allowing his mind to see the familiar in the unfamiliar.
Laura wandered away from him. “Sagittaron,” she called out. “The archer.”
Bill strode to her side and noted the piece’s empty bow. “He’s missin’ something.”
Elizabeth twined her arm through her mother’s, holding her close. Kara approached the statue carefully. She fit the arrow into the stone bow. The jewels on the arrowhead glowed, the stone door slammed shut, and there was a flash of light, then absolute darkness.
In the dim light, Bill found his wife and daughter, gathering them near. Elizabeth smelled the green grass first, before she felt the stone floor become loam beneath her boots and saw the ceiling become a flood of stars and inky sky.
Lee and Kara swung up their weapons. “No,” murmured Laura.
“Uh, where the hell are we?” asked Billy. Stone pillars appeared in the darkness, and the stars aligned in constellations.
“I don’t know,” Laura said dreamily. “Tomb of Athena, I think.”
“I thought we were already in the tomb,” said Bill.
Starbuck found herself whispering for some reason. “I think that was the lobby.”
Tilting back her head, Laura focused on the sky. “Again, the ancient symbols.” She noticed glowing marks on the stones surrounding them. “These patterns were on the original flags of the Twelve Colonies, back in the days when the Colonies were called by their ancient names.” She nodded towards the rock before her and then around the circle. “Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Libra, Virgo...”
Elizabeth walked up to one of the rocks, raising her hand to the lights.
“Don’t touch,” Laura said sharply, suddenly shaken from her spell.
“It’s not going to hurt me,” said the girl. “I just want to know if it’s real.” It felt like a solid rock under her hand, despite not being there moments before.
Bill came up behind his daughter, examining the bright lights on the outcropping. “The jewels match the constellations.”
Realization dawning, Lee stepped forward. “This is the map. This is the map to Earth.”
“Maybe,” his father rasped. “So is Earth in one of these constellations?”
This time, Starbuck’s voice was low from emotion, not fear. “We’re standing on it.”
Elizabeth’s throat closed with equally strong feelings. They were home.
“We’re standing on Earth,” Kara repeated, stronger this time. “The scriptures say that when the Thirteenth Tribe landed on Earth, they looked up into the heavens and they saw their twelve brothers.”
“Earth is the place where you can look up in the sky and see the constellations of the Twelve Colonies,” suggested Laura.
“I don’t know what good it’s gonna do us though,” said Starbuck, suddenly frustrated. “Then what are we supposed to do? Search the entire galaxy for one particular star pattern?”
Lee turned slowly, searching the heavens. “There. There is Scorpio. I’ve seen that before. It’s the Lagoon Nebula.”
“Astro body M-eight,” Bill noted. Laura moved to his side, her face tilted up to the stars, her eyes bright.
“It’s a long way from here,” Bill told them, slipping his arm around Laura.
Lee jutted out his jaw. “Yeah. But at least now we have a map and a direction.” His determination was replaced by joy as he smiled broadly.
Elizabeth stroked a tall blade of grass between her fingertips, savoring its crisp texture in the moment, knowing they had to leave and return to space’s sterility.
When they exited the tomb, still overwhelmed by what they’d seen, reality dampened their exalted state. It was pouring rain.
The Chief, Helo and Sharon huddled close to the tomb opening, peering out at the downpour.
Adama assessed the situation. “Damn, I want the Raptor to pick us up, but I don’t think that ridge is stable enough to hold its weight with this saturation,” he said.
“No, sir,” said Chief. “I’ve been checking it, and the ground’s soup out there.”
Adama called Racetrack on the wireless radio set and confirmed the situation. “She says it’s even worse down in the valley. The ceiling is about a foot above the Raptor.”
“And night’s coming on,” said Chief. He pointed along the cliffs. “There’re shallow caves here; really just outcroppings, but it’s something. We can use them for shelter tonight.”
Adama led Laura to one of the enclaves. It was blissfully dry, with a soft sand floor. “Let me get our supplies,” he said. “I’ll be back soon.”
She smiled weakly and watched the rain rush off his broad back and hunched shoulders as he hurried away. She felt faintly guilty, but burrowed down into the sand.
The others were choosing their own shelters. Bill pulled Lee aside. “You stay with Billy--“ His eyes narrowed as he watched Billy bend over and listen to what Elizabeth was saying. “Keep an eye on him. No late night roaming.”
“What do you mean?” asked Lee. He followed his father’s gaze. “Oh!” His matching blue eyes narrowed. “Got it, Dad.”
The Chief discovered piles of shattered wooden boxes and altars within the tomb. “Hate to think about all the archeological data lost,” he said as he piled the debris under the overhang at the entrance. “But it’s not like anyone’s coming here again.”
Bill carried an armload back to Laura. He quickly started a fire near the opening so the smoke would be drawn out. He watched Laura shiver. “Come closer.”
She put out her hands to the low flames. He returned with their sleeping bags. Unrolling her damp one on the sand first, he then laid his large, dry one atop it.
“Get out of those wet clothes,” he ordered. “Let’s put them by the fire.”
Uncertain, she slowly removed her coat. She peered out into the gloom. Water was pouring off the lip of the enclave’s opening like a waterfall.
Taking her coat and hooking it on an outcropping, Bill reassured her. “No one can see anything, trust me. I could barely find my way back here.”
Shaking, she quickly shed the rest of her clothes. She slipped into his sleeping bag in her underwear and watched him hang up her damp garments to dry. “You too,” she urged.
His grin flashed in the dimness. “I will.” He quickly stripped, the orange firelight illuminating the edges of his sturdy body as he loomed over her.
His scars, running from the center of his collarbone to the waistband of his clinging briefs, seemed to glow red.
“Gonna let me in?” he asked. Laura realized she’d been staring, paralyzed.
She lifted the sleeping bag’s edge and he crawled in beside her. “Nice and toasty,” he rumbled, rolling them so he was behind her and she was trapped in the strong cage of his arms and legs.
She hummed, a sound somewhere between a sigh and a whimper.
“It’s our wedding night.” His big hands spanning her hips as he drew her tightly to him.
Laura had the sudden realization that not only was Bill not going to remove his own ring, but that he was going to put one on her finger. That glow she’d seen in his eyes since he’d appeared out of the parted branches wasn’t revived health, but possessiveness.
The end... Chapter Sixty-six>>>