fic: SG-1, Quiescence
(written for sf_friday48)
Disclaimer: Not mine. Rating: 12... 18+. Naked people.
Fandom: SG-1, set: Season 8, after Sacrifices.
Pairing: Ishta/Teal'c
Notes: Inspired by Something for Kate's 'Seasick'.
Summary: if I could leave here today then I would/If I could change my face and my name, I would/If I could run to some technicolor place then I would.....
Quiescence
by ALC Punk!
"It is strange," Ishta says, her head pillowed on his forearm.
Teal'c doesn't reply, other than to shift slightly, brushing his free hand down the line of her body. He knows by now exactly where her skin is softest, and just how much of the muscle underneath flexes when she's arching beneath him. The sweat dried on their skins nearly an hour before, but the warmth from the fire makes them both lazy and content.
Something that might be a purr drifts from her, and her head turns to pin him with a calm gaze. "You retreat here for solace."
Always practical. "Indeed." It's one of the reasons he finds her refreshing. There is no pretense, with her. No lying and having to hide parts of himself. He can simply be jaffa and not the confusing morass of jaffa and human and liberated soldier that the SGC demands.
Her hand touches his, fingers lacing between his, and she sighs. "You cannot keep this up."
"I must."
A snort, and she turns away, staring into the fire.
Teal'c watches the play of light and shadow on her skin, marveling anew that she allows him this. It's as though the powers in the universe (he will never call them gods) have decreed that his years of suffering and trial have some sort of absolution. At times, he thinks it might be her and the idea frightens him. She frightens him with her idealism and steady purpose.
"It is an endless war."
"Perhaps. But it is a war we must fight." He decides there is nothing she can say to that and seriously considers finding the blanket to cover them with.
"Do you trust me with more than your body?"
Her question comes as a surprise. He'd thought the discussion was done, that sleep was at hand. He shifts and tugs her closer, not releasing her hand. "I do not believe I... am capable..."
"Of love?" Her tone is scornful. "And yet you still believe in the cause, in the freedom of all jaffa. Is that not a kind of love, Teal'c of the Tau'ri?"
The words are a rebuke, but he accepts it, hand tightening on hers. "I.... have lost much."
"As have I."
There isn't an answer to give her. Not yet, when the future is yet to become bright. He might understand Rya'c and Kar'yn, but he cannot allow himself to hope that she will be alive the next time he returns. Nor that he will be alive the next time she does.
"Perhaps this is enough."
He wishes to believe her, yet she sounds too wistful. "I..."
"It has to be."
The image of her dead, of returning to find her gone as he found Drey'auc gone, as he found Sho'nac, eyes vacant burns through his mind.
Easily, he pulls her tighter against him, buries his face in her hair.
It's not an answer, he can't let it be. But he's still holding her hand, and he thinks he will never forget her scent.
"What you ask of me--"
"Is nothing you should not be willing to give." Practical, again. Her tone almost emotionless, as if preparing herself for his death.
The thought scares him. "Perhaps I should reconsider."
"And if you do?"
"I shall say there are still no answers. But the morning is a long time coming."
It's not an answer, but it's all he can give her, now. She sighs softly and relaxes into his embrace.
They don't move until the fire's burned down to ashes, and the smoke has dwindled away into nothing.
-f-
Disclaimer: Not mine. Rating: 12... 18+. Naked people.
Fandom: SG-1, set: Season 8, after Sacrifices.
Pairing: Ishta/Teal'c
Notes: Inspired by Something for Kate's 'Seasick'.
Summary: if I could leave here today then I would/If I could change my face and my name, I would/If I could run to some technicolor place then I would.....
Quiescence
by ALC Punk!
"It is strange," Ishta says, her head pillowed on his forearm.
Teal'c doesn't reply, other than to shift slightly, brushing his free hand down the line of her body. He knows by now exactly where her skin is softest, and just how much of the muscle underneath flexes when she's arching beneath him. The sweat dried on their skins nearly an hour before, but the warmth from the fire makes them both lazy and content.
Something that might be a purr drifts from her, and her head turns to pin him with a calm gaze. "You retreat here for solace."
Always practical. "Indeed." It's one of the reasons he finds her refreshing. There is no pretense, with her. No lying and having to hide parts of himself. He can simply be jaffa and not the confusing morass of jaffa and human and liberated soldier that the SGC demands.
Her hand touches his, fingers lacing between his, and she sighs. "You cannot keep this up."
"I must."
A snort, and she turns away, staring into the fire.
Teal'c watches the play of light and shadow on her skin, marveling anew that she allows him this. It's as though the powers in the universe (he will never call them gods) have decreed that his years of suffering and trial have some sort of absolution. At times, he thinks it might be her and the idea frightens him. She frightens him with her idealism and steady purpose.
"It is an endless war."
"Perhaps. But it is a war we must fight." He decides there is nothing she can say to that and seriously considers finding the blanket to cover them with.
"Do you trust me with more than your body?"
Her question comes as a surprise. He'd thought the discussion was done, that sleep was at hand. He shifts and tugs her closer, not releasing her hand. "I do not believe I... am capable..."
"Of love?" Her tone is scornful. "And yet you still believe in the cause, in the freedom of all jaffa. Is that not a kind of love, Teal'c of the Tau'ri?"
The words are a rebuke, but he accepts it, hand tightening on hers. "I.... have lost much."
"As have I."
There isn't an answer to give her. Not yet, when the future is yet to become bright. He might understand Rya'c and Kar'yn, but he cannot allow himself to hope that she will be alive the next time he returns. Nor that he will be alive the next time she does.
"Perhaps this is enough."
He wishes to believe her, yet she sounds too wistful. "I..."
"It has to be."
The image of her dead, of returning to find her gone as he found Drey'auc gone, as he found Sho'nac, eyes vacant burns through his mind.
Easily, he pulls her tighter against him, buries his face in her hair.
It's not an answer, he can't let it be. But he's still holding her hand, and he thinks he will never forget her scent.
"What you ask of me--"
"Is nothing you should not be willing to give." Practical, again. Her tone almost emotionless, as if preparing herself for his death.
The thought scares him. "Perhaps I should reconsider."
"And if you do?"
"I shall say there are still no answers. But the morning is a long time coming."
It's not an answer, but it's all he can give her, now. She sighs softly and relaxes into his embrace.
They don't move until the fire's burned down to ashes, and the smoke has dwindled away into nothing.
-f-