Fic: Healing Touch
“Damn it,” Laura muttered as she yanked her hands away from her blouse, staring down at them in disgust. Cottle had warned her that the Diloxan could cause nerve damage, but she had initially shrugged off the tingling and numbness in her extremities. That discomfort had been nothing compared to the nausea and bone crushing fatigue, but now she couldn’t even dress herself properly. Only six weeks into chemo and already her fine motor skills were shot to hell.
As she continued to stare at her hands, flexing them to try and find some relief, she heard Bill approach her from behind. He reached around her back, threading his arms through hers and pulling her close. Grasping her hands, he rubbed them gently.
“Hurting?” he asked sympathetically as he kissed her high on her cheek near her ear.
“No more than usual,” Laura sighed as she leaned into him. He felt good against her back. Strong and reassuring. “But every day these damn buttons get harder.”
“Perhaps it is a sign that you should wear the white one without buttons every day.”
She looked into the mirror at him grinning back at her and began to forget the pain and frustration she was feeling. “Wouldn’t you just love that,” she replied chuckling. His fondness for her wrap shirt had to be the worst kept secret in the fleet.
“Just trying to be helpful,” Bill pointed out with a chuckle of his own as he released her hands and began to button her blouse for her, using the mirror as a guide.
Watching their reflection, seeing his concentration, she smiled. It was a relief to know that she did not have to do this alone. He could anger her, frustrate her, sometimes crowd her, but mostly he just made her happy. And he asked for so little in return. Perhaps less than was fair to him, but nothing about the lives they were living was fair. At least they were together now.
“All done,” Bill announced after fastening the last button, pulling his hands up to run along her shoulders, smoothing the fabric of her shirt.
“Thank you,” she said as she twisted her head to give him a quick kiss.
“You’re welcome,” he replied with a soft smile. As they both looked back toward the mirror, Bill took her hands in his again, rubbing them once more.
“That feels good,” Laura sighed, closing her eyes and leaning back into him. “Makes the tingling go away.”
“The massaging really helps then?” he asked curiously.
“Yes. Cottle recommended it actually. Said it might give me some relief,” she explained. “I guess he was right.”
“Good to know,” Bill said, spinning her around in his arms and kissing her hands. “I’ve got to get to CIC, but let’s pick this up again tonight.”
“Bill Adama as masseuse. Do I need to get this in writing?” she teased.
He laughed. “Don’t worry. I’m as good as my word. I’ll see you tonight,” he finished as he dropped her hands and turned to leave the head.
“I’ll be here … and maybe we can fit in a manicure too!” she called after him, grinning as she heard him laugh once more before he pulled open the hatch and headed to work.
**
Laura dropped her toothbrush into the holder and patted her face dry with her towel. Checking in the mirror that everything was clean, dry and in place, she headed for the door. She was planning on demanding her hand massage. She had not forgotten his promise.
As she walked back out into their quarters, she could see that he had not forgotten either. The lights were dimmed, and he had lit candles and turned on soft music to play in the background. A small bottle of lotion was sitting on the coffee table. She wondered where he had been hiding that.
“What’s all this?” she asked with a smile as she looked at him sitting on the couch waiting for her, stripped down now to his tanks and shorts.
“I told you I was as good as my word,” he explained as he patted the space beside him.
“It’s just a hand massage, Bill,” she laughed as she took the seat he offered. “Hardly merits such a production.”
“I’ve got something a little more elaborate in mind,” he explained.
“I’m intrigued,” she offered with a quirk of her eyebrow. “What’s that?” she asked as she pointed to the book in his lap. She had not seen it before. It was large and thin and looked like a manual.
“Cottle gave it to me. I made some inquiries today about treating your pain with massage.”
“He must have loved that,” she grinned.
“A smart remark or two may have been made at my expense,” he admitted playfully, “but you’re worth it.”
Laura’s grin broadened. “I’d think you were bucking for a promotion, Bill, but Admiral is already top of the heap.” She held out her hands, eager to get started. “Go ahead and dazzle me with what you’ve learned.”
Bill quickly kissed her hands and then set them back in her lap. “I told you I had something a little more elaborate in mind.”
“Such as?” she asked curiously.
“According to this guide,” he began, holding up the book in his lap and then setting it on the coffee table, “all the organs in your body are connected to pressure points in your feet. Manipulating those pressure points is supposed to relieve pain and restore health.”
“You are going to give me a foot massage to cure my cancer? … And Cottle recommended this?”
He chuckled at the incredulously amused expression on her face. “Well he did point out that since you were already crazy enough to believe in chamalla, this hokum would be right up your alley. I had to agree.”
“Heh, now that sounds more like it,” she chortled. “I was worried I might have to start sharing my prayer beads with the two of you.”
“Behave,” he ordered as he motioned for her to scoot back and lay her head against the arm of the couch. “I figure at worst this will relieve some stress, so what’s the harm.” Shifting around so that he was kneeling facing her, he picked up her left foot and settled it on his thigh.
“Close your eyes and relax,” he told her as he opened the book to a rather complicated looking illustrated diagram and then poured a dollop of lotion into his hands and began rubbing them together.
“And miss the show?” she teased. She was so tickled by the improbability of this event that she had no intention of missing a moment. She loved when he surprised her like this, when he showed her the spunk and spirit that still lurked beneath all those stolid layers of command and responsibility.
“Suit yourself,” he shrugged as he picked up her foot and began to smooth her skin, moistening it with the lotion on his hands.
Bill looked down at her seriously before suddenly pressing his thumb hard into the arch of her foot, grinning wickedly at the groan that involuntarily escaped her lips. “Still think this is a joke, Madame President?”
“No, sir,” Laura breathed as he kept pressing deeply into her flesh.
“Good. Then close your eyes and relax.”
She did as she was told, sighing deeply as he dragged his fingers along the sole of her foot. Her nerve endings were now tingling in the best way possible.
Bill smiled as he watched Laura’s eyelids fluttering and listened to her soft moans and giggles, punctuated by keening gasps as he stroked and kneaded her flesh. He knew she was fully relaxed now, which was a rarity. She worked so hard, even through illness, carrying the weight of their whole world on her shoulders. It made him happy to know that he could give her this escape.
It also turned him on. She was much thinner now than when he had first met her, her skin paler, and of course he missed her hair, but she was still the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on. It thrilled him to know, as she wriggled beneath him, that his touch could do these things to her. He only wanted to love her. As much as she would let him.
He found it increasingly difficult to concentrate as the sounds of her pleasure intensified, while the hem of her nightgown rode higher up her thigh. It was time to turn that particular distraction to his advantage. Checking the diagram to ensure that he had hit all the necessary pressure points, he rested her foot on his thigh and began to slowly ghost his fingers up her leg.
“Is that in the handbook?” she purred, her eyes still closed.
“Just a little improvisation,” he explained as he slipped his hands beneath the silk of her gown, fingers circling lightly over the skin of her thigh. “I want to be sure to maximize the therapeutic effects of this treatment.”
“I like improvisation,” she told him as she slipped her foot into his groin, smiling and wiggling her toes mischievously against his hardness. “Almost as much you do,” she finished with a teasing whisper.
He halted his caress achingly high on her thigh when he felt her touch. Two could play this game. Looking into her eyes, now open in protest, he clucked his tongue and shook his head before hooking his fingers into the soft fabric, skating the backs of his hands along her skin as he slowly slid her gown back down her leg to just above her knee. “Time for the other foot,” he explained. “Can you make it?” he asked with a grin.
“Can you?” she retorted as she ground her foot harder into his groin, chuckling as she felt his cock bobbing against her heel.
Grabbing her ankle to still her movements, Bill gathered his breath, riding out the shock of electricity that was jolting through him. “Not if you play dirty,” he protested, thinking how unfair it was that she could do so with so much more effectiveness. Being a man put him at a distinct disadvantage in this department, and they both very clearly knew it.
He placed her leg on the couch alongside his hip and then pulled her other foot onto his thigh. “Be good,” he ordered as reached over to pour more lotion onto his palm.
“Whatever the doctor orders,” Laura agreed with eyes dancing. The world outside that hatch felt wonderfully far away, the ache in her bones disappearing after it.
She closed her eyes again when Bill began smoothing the skin of her foot with the cream, her shoulders relaxing as she sighed at his touch. Talented hands. She already knew he possessed them, but this was a virtuoso production, and she planned on calling for as many command performances as he’d consent to.
She intended to make it well worth his while too, desire already building like a crescendo inside her. It felt so good to want him this way again. Since her treatments began, her passion for him had come in fits and starts, always ebbing away too quickly. He’d always understood, making love to her gently or more often just holding her until she fell asleep. As he ground his fist into the ball of her foot, she knew that tonight there would be no need to settle for gentle.
It was getting harder for him to control his reaction to her as she groaned at his touch, squirming happily under his ministrations. He cautioned himself against the hope that tonight her desire could match his. This was all for her. It had to be, for there would be nothing without her. But still, his cock called for optimism as it strained against the fabric of his shorts.
He glanced down at the diagram, and with a grin and a shrug he figured why not. Circling his hand around the top of her foot, he brushed his fingers slowly back and forth across the band of skin that covered the juncture between leg and foot. When he saw her fingers flexing into the soft leather of the couch and her lips slipping open to let out a heated sigh, he made his move, grinding his thumb hard into the outside of her heel.
Gasping at the sudden pressure, Laura felt a tingle and a gush, her desire now pooling heavily between her legs. She stared back at him, eyes now open and narrowing in both passion and surprise. She wanted to believe he had done that on purpose, because she very much wanted to believe he could do it again.
“Gods, Bill, I really hope that is in the handbook,” she told him breathlessly.
“I take it the maneuver had its desired effect then?” he asked with a triumphant smirk.
She ignored his arrogance. She wanted him too badly to punish him for it. Besides he’d earned the right to show off.
“Why don’t you check for yourself,” she suggested as she wrapped her off leg around his waist and pulled herself down toward him, the fabric of her nightie sliding up to the middle of her thigh and bunching there.
“If you insist,” he growled as he wrapped her other leg around himself, leaning over her, bracing one hand by her ear and then sliding the other slowly, achingly up her thigh, tunneling under her hem as he worked his way closer to her heat. As his fingers reached the juncture between her legs, his eyes widened in surprise, his cock twitching at the thrill of the discovery that nothing stood between him and the proof of her desire.
“Mmm,” she moaned as she closed her eyes and rotated her hips against his hand, spreading her wetness against him. “I was optimistic about tonight’s possibilities, Bill, and dressed for it,” she explained, her breath hitching as he dragged his fingers through her folds, “but you’ve exceeded my every expectation.”
“I’ve always aimed to please my superiors,” he husked as he thrust two fingers inside her, smiling at the way she threw her head back and arched into his touch, reveling in the realization that he did not need to take it easy on her tonight.
She tightened her legs around his waist, pulling her hips up to deepen his penetration. She wanted to tell him how much she appreciated an obedient officer, but the words got lost on the way, swallowed up by the flames licking along her skin, nerve endings burning from his touch now. So she kissed him instead, pushing her tongue into his mouth, seeking a rhythmic counterpoint to his hands that were working her so fervently.
He flicked his thumb against her clit and she came with a beautiful cry. He’d never grow tired of that sound. Feeling her contractions ease, he brought her down from her high gently. Despite the vigorous protest from below his waist, he knew he’d be satisfied just to have done this much for her.
“Do you need to rest?” he asked, nuzzling her ear as he slid his hand away.
“No. Do you?” she laughed breathlessly as she mustered all her strength to push them into a sitting position, settling into his lap, straddling him with her knees braced against the cushions on either side of him. She had no intention of letting his nobility get in the way of what was turning into the best frak they’d shared in ages. She quickly pulled her nightgown over her head, knowing he’d be defenseless then. Even he was not that wonderful.
His face lit up at the sight of her naked in his arms, and he dove at her cancerous breast, nipping and sucking her flesh, defiant, refusing to believe anything so beautiful could ever take her from him.
She leaned back in his arms to give him greater purchase, undulating her hips against him, aching to feel him inside her. “Frak me, Husker,” she moaned as he bit down on her nipple. Pushing his shoulders back against the couch, she straightened herself in his lap and looked directly into his eyes. “Hard,” she ordered as reached down, pulling his bulging erection from his shorts.
“Yes ma’am,” he replied obediently as he covered her hand with his, helping her guide him into her, thrusting his hips up to fill her completely. She felt wonderful, tight and hot, and wetter for him than she had been in weeks.
“You are so frakking sexy,” he told her, gripping her hips tightly as she moved eagerly in his lap, and groaning each time she contracted her muscles as she drove down hard onto him.
She knew she was going to come again soon, now so keyed up that the simple friction of their hips grinding would be enough to push her over the edge. She wanted to take him with her. “Frak me harder, Bill,” she urged. “Make me scream.”
That was a command he could not ignore. He loved it when she talked dirty during sex, leaving him with no doubts that he turned her on. His youth far behind him, it was good to know that he still had it. He shifted their position, laying her back against the soft leather. Kneeling on the couch and balancing one leg on the floor for leverage, he hooked her legs around him and began to pound into her.
“Like this?” he grunted over the sound of their skin slapping together, his thrusts growing more frenzied. He was close.
“Yes,” she cried as she clutched at the damp fabric of his tanks with one hand, throwing her other arm over head and digging her nails into the arm of the couch. Her body tensed suddenly and then rapidly uncoiled, no thoughts possible save one: It could still be this good. “Oh Gods yes!” she screamed as she came apart beneath him.
The sound of her shouts coupled with the feel of her pulsing around his cock was enough to force his own climax. “Laura,” he cried as he came inside her with one last buck of his hips before collapsing, shakily balancing himself on his elbows to keep his weight off her. As he slowly returned to his senses, he circled his hips gently to ride out the last rippling waves of their orgasms.
As he looked down at her, she could see the love for her that filled his eyes. Smiling up at him, a tear slipped down her cheek. She longed to give back to him all that he deserved.
“Shhh,” he soothed as he reached down to kiss her tear away, gathering her tightly in his arms. He’d hold her for as long as her gods would allow.
She wove her fingers through his hair and then pulled him toward her lips. Her kiss was soft and gentle, full of gratitude, thankful for his healing touch. Relief. Joy. Hope. Love. In these things he had made her believe.
Finis!