Selfish (1/1) | Capture the Flag (1/1)
Very happy birthday wishes winging their way to zapf_chancery! Hope these offer some amusement :)
Title: Selfish (1/1)
Pairing: Nathaniel Taylor/Alicia Washington, mentions of Ayani Taylor
Genre: Romance/Angsty Bits
Rated: PG
Taylor jogged into the opening of the small cave, dropping the packs on the dirt floor and waiting for Wash to join him after securing the Rover. He watched as she scowled up at the sky from her position in the driver's seat and said something angrily as the rain started to pelt down even harder than before.
With a deep sigh, she almost threw herself from the vehicle, running flat out to the protection of their previously scoped-out home for the night. Taylor was waiting, watching as she barrelled towards him with her head ducked and he moved to intercept her, catching her up in his arms with a laugh.
Wash scowled up at him when he continued to laugh at the image she presented, hair hanging in loose damp strands from her ponytail, drips forming on her nose and chin. She brought her hand up to flick water in his face and he just lowered his head to kiss her, the simple action placating her for now.
Sighing (with happiness, he hoped) Wash turned in his arms to look out at their abandoned Rover.
"Five minutes, tops." She groused.
The engine had died on them halfway through their trip out to the newest outpost, far enough away from the one they'd chosen to overnight at that walking back wasn't really an option - and then it had started to rain. They knew exactly what the problem was from the utter immediacy of losing power; could fix it in, as Wash had said, an incredibly short time. But playing around with electronics during a storm wasn't worth the trouble. By some stroke of luck they had pulled up outside a cave and, leaving Wash to radio the colony, Taylor had performed a quick recce to determined it long abandoned.
Now Taylor rested his cheek against her temple, finding the sight of the rain falling an oddly soothing one. He was reminded of a time long since passed, the last he could remember any serious prolonged rainfall in the future. He and Ayani had decided to take five year old Lucas camping, knowing the threat of pollution was making the likelihood of it being possible again very small.
Only it had rained, long and hard and unforgiving.
But that hadn't stopped his wife. The image of her, frustrated by the thought of any more idleness, storming out of their tent and getting soaked in an instant, would always be burned into his mind. The way she held her arms out, tipped her face up to the sky and then twirled around, laughing, summed up so much about why he loved her that it ached to think of, even now.
"Ayani would have loved it here." He said quietly, almost without thought.
Wash melted more firmly into his embrace at his words, turned her head to press her mouth to bicep gently. "She would have." Came her soft agreement, warm breath gusting over his skin as she spoke.
"I remember the first time she saw the forests in Somalia. She was astounded by how green everything was still." He said. "I think it... helped. With the transition."
Wash chuckled. "I think I made some clumsy comparison to her eyes which she said she found endearing."
Taylor smiled, the memory of Ayani's fond amusement as she recounted the story returning to the forefront of his mind at Wash's prompt. "You weren't wrong." He replied softly.
At length his hand slipped down to cover the scars on her torso and she sighed, linking her fingers with his.
"So much happened that day I'll never forgive myself for." He said, speaking his admission into the curve of her neck, soothing its truth with his lips.
"Nathaniel..." Wash murmured, squeezing their linked fingers. "There's nothing you could have done that would have made it go any better."
He growled as his arms tightened around her "I could have not left you alone, risked losing you both."
"And Ayani and Lucas might have been taken even sooner." Wash added, her voice calm from delivering such a justification many times in the past. "It's done, Nathaniel."
She wasn't wrong. It was done. And it had marked them both in a million different ways, visible and not. He stroked his fingertips over her scars and felt her shiver, unable to tell if it was pleasure or revulsion at the reminder.
He grunted, moving away from her. "I'm so damn selfish."
"Selfish?" Wash echoed, confusion clear for him to see.
"I've clung on to you so tight." He said, walking further into the cave, hearing the sound of the rain fade. "You could have had a life of your own, but whenever I sensed you getting too far away, I pulled you back."
He heard rather than saw her reaction to his words, the harsh scoff escaping her without hesitation. He glanced up from his pack to see her glaring at him, hands firmly on her hips. It was a look he'd been on the receiving end of a hundred times, but never with such naked fury.
"You're telling me that you think me so weak-willed that I just came to you blindly each time you crooked your finger?" She asked, voice low. "You've said many unpleasant things to me in the past Nathaniel, but I think you've outdone yourself this time."
Nathaniel sighed, her point made even before her words. He stood, approaching her with the care he would afford to an angry animal ready to strike. "I'm sorry." He said simply. "Alicia, I didn't think."
"Clearly." She said quietly. "That's the problem. Sometimes I think you don't realise how much I love you. How even during the moments you pushed me away, I didn't go far."
"I know, Wash. Believe me. I'm the luckiest son of a bitch in the world to have had yours and Ayani's love." He moved in closer. "It's a hell of a lot more than this old soldier deserves."
Wash smiled sadly at him, reaching up to lay her hand over his heart. "That's where you're wrong. You've earned it a hundred times over." She said, closing the gap between them and resting her head on his chest. "I wish you could see that."
Nathaniel smiled as he looped his arms around her, holding her tight within his firm embrace. "I'll work at it."
"Good. Because I'm not going anywhere. I will always come back to you." She paused, turned her head to rest her chin on his sternum as she shot him a smirk. "Of my own free will."
Nathaniel chuckled. He knew damn well that Wash's free will was a formidable thing, to have suggested otherwise was downright foolish.
"I love you." He said, watching as her eyes lit up at the honesty of his words. It was something so rarely said, by either of them, but he could tell its worth to her in this moment, could tell its importance in resolving their difficulties.
"Despite my better judgement, I love you too." She said, rising up to meet his lips.
The kiss they shared was sweet, deep and soul-searching, an affirmation of their feelings, their survival. It left him warm, soothed his worries and he could see the same in Wash when he pulled back, saw her fight to catch her breath and felt a flush of male pride.
"What do you say I rustle us up some rations?" He offered.
Wash hummed, grinning. "Nothing says romance like food poisoning." She said. "How about I get us some food, and you set up camp?"
"Playing to our strengths." He smiled. "So sensible."
Wash snorted, starting away from him. "It's been known to happen, sir."
They ate what Nathaniel would concede without hesitation to be a far better meal than he could ever put together, reminiscing over their memories of the time before Somalia, a time when their lives were full of the light of Ayani. There was a time in his life when he swore he would never be able to talk of her without a burning pain in his chest, but the love of another good woman had taken the pain and reformed it to joy, pleasure.
He was selfish. But he'd defy anyone else not to be in his position.
Title: Capture the Flag (1/1)
Pairing: Nathaniel Taylor/Alicia Washington, Guzman
Genre: Fluff, Humour
Rated: PG-13
Summary: Fill for mercscilla's prompt 'Taylor/Wash - Hunter' in Friday One Word Challenge - Week 42.
This year she was going to do it. She wasn't going to get distracted, she was going to beat Shannon and see that smug look wiped off his face for the last time.
There was no reason for him to be better at her than this, no reason for a cop to be able to beat a highly trained soldier in the art of stealth and reconnaissance. But Jim didn't have distraction in the form of a stubbornly 'impartial' Commander trailing his every step.
This year though, the world was on her side. She had doggedly stayed one step ahead of Taylor, through perseverance and anger. She had captured what she knew to be half of the flags dotted about the colony, just one more would ensure her victory.
And she knew exactly where it was.
Wherein lied her biggest problem.
Traditionally, the final flag on the scavenger hunt was behind Command, in the clearing between the large building and the Commander's unit. It made for a good meeting place to tally the score for those who had been foolish enough to try and outscore the Big Two (her and Guz - later her and Shannon once Guz dropped out to help Nathaniel adjudicate).
But it was also between Command and the Commander's unit.
Her progress this year had been remarkable in its lack of being pulled into dark corners by strong tempting hands and a gruff voice in her ear. The chance of her making it to the flag before Nathaniel pounced again was... slim.
She could work with that.
Approaching the main colony building was the tricky bit. An open area afforded her little cover, few shadows to lurk in until she deemed the coast to be clear. But she made it to the base of the building without feeling a warm gaze at her nape and it was with a smile that she looked around for one final time.
The smile turned into a grin of triumph when she saw Shannon in the distance, rushing off towards where she had already been, where she knew he would come up empty. This meant she had time to spare for certain, and the knowledge guided her feet in gentle steps towards her goal.
She rounded the building and caught sight of the red flag illuminated by the moonlight. Evaluating her chances for stealth, the possible hiding places of her husband (he was around her somewhere, she knew that to be a certainty) and the amount of time it would take her at full sprint to reach the target, Wash took a deep breath to centre herself.
And ran.
She made her ground quickly, wondering if maybe she'd caught Nathaniel asleep on the job, her hand was just beginning to reach out for the flag when she spotted a new shadow to her right. She put on a final burst of speed but wasn't fast enough, arms encircling her waist and tugging her into a roll.
She ended up on her back, hands pinned over her head, Nathaniel's face hovering over her with smug satisfaction painted clear across it.
"Every year!" She huffed, wriggling under him but getting nowhere due to the hard pressure of his legs either side of hers. "Why can't you let me win?"
"Like it when you're mad, Wash." Nathaniel smirked, stealing her lips before she could protest further.
Alicia ripped her mouth away from his before he could get too much of a control on the situation, despite her body screaming at her to deepen their contact, to indulge in his touch. She scowled at him even as he grinned cheekily at her, and she shunted her hips to force him off.
She was only a few steps away from the flag when Nathaniel caught her again, forcing her back into the side wall of his unit while she shouted her frustration into the clearing.
"Shh, Wash. You'll attract attention."
"Nathaniel." Alicia groaned, feeling him hook her leg over his hip and losing the will to fight him. "I'm so close!"
"Haven't even done anything yet, Wash." He replied.
She snorted, shifting uselessly beneath him. "Just... let me get the damn flag and I'm all yours."
Nathaniel lifted his head from where he was kissing down the neckline of her shirt. "Think I've got all of you already, wouldn't you agree?" When she only huffed in response, he became slightly more serious. "How many flags have you got?"
"Half." She said. "I need one more."
"No you don't." The sparkle was back in his eyes. She narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion, and he capitulated easily. "I might have forgotten to put one out. So technically, you have half, plus one."
Her suspicion didn't fade. "You cheated?"
"Well Wash, I'm getting old. More like I... forgot."
She made him sweat for a moment, still sore at his disregard for her personal interests. "Well in that case...." She said eventually, and the wolfish grin of intent Nathaniel shot her made her feel oddly light-headed.
She jumped on her free leg and he wrapped it around him even as his mouth were back on hers. It was oddly perfect, extremely satisfying and... entirely the wrong place to be doing it.
"Wait." She said against his lips, missing his touch as soon as he pulled away.
Nathaniel groaned, rocking his hips into hers. "What now?"
"What now? You know what now! In a few minutes this area will be full of soldiers, Nathaniel."
"So?"
She glared. "So, I'm not putting on a show."
Nathaniel sighed, resigned, and forced her leg from his right hip, ignoring her grumble as her foot landed awkwardly on the floor. Free to move, he pulled his comm unit from his pants. "Guz, come in."
"Yes Commander." Came the response.
"Call off the hunt, Wash won."
There was a long stretch of silence, punctuated by a lone chuckle. "Very well sir."
Nathaniel shot her a look that managed to at once tell her both how impressive he thought he was, and ask her permission to continue. With a roll of her eyes, Alicia pulled him closer, engaging his lips once more.
Several moments passed, with Nathaniel's hand making very interesting progress, before Alicia's comm unit crackled to life.
"Attention all hunt participants. The competition is complete, Wash captured the last flag." Guz said. "And if you know what's good for you, you'll stay away from Command for the rest of the night."
Title: Selfish (1/1)
Pairing: Nathaniel Taylor/Alicia Washington, mentions of Ayani Taylor
Genre: Romance/Angsty Bits
Rated: PG
Taylor jogged into the opening of the small cave, dropping the packs on the dirt floor and waiting for Wash to join him after securing the Rover. He watched as she scowled up at the sky from her position in the driver's seat and said something angrily as the rain started to pelt down even harder than before.
With a deep sigh, she almost threw herself from the vehicle, running flat out to the protection of their previously scoped-out home for the night. Taylor was waiting, watching as she barrelled towards him with her head ducked and he moved to intercept her, catching her up in his arms with a laugh.
Wash scowled up at him when he continued to laugh at the image she presented, hair hanging in loose damp strands from her ponytail, drips forming on her nose and chin. She brought her hand up to flick water in his face and he just lowered his head to kiss her, the simple action placating her for now.
Sighing (with happiness, he hoped) Wash turned in his arms to look out at their abandoned Rover.
"Five minutes, tops." She groused.
The engine had died on them halfway through their trip out to the newest outpost, far enough away from the one they'd chosen to overnight at that walking back wasn't really an option - and then it had started to rain. They knew exactly what the problem was from the utter immediacy of losing power; could fix it in, as Wash had said, an incredibly short time. But playing around with electronics during a storm wasn't worth the trouble. By some stroke of luck they had pulled up outside a cave and, leaving Wash to radio the colony, Taylor had performed a quick recce to determined it long abandoned.
Now Taylor rested his cheek against her temple, finding the sight of the rain falling an oddly soothing one. He was reminded of a time long since passed, the last he could remember any serious prolonged rainfall in the future. He and Ayani had decided to take five year old Lucas camping, knowing the threat of pollution was making the likelihood of it being possible again very small.
Only it had rained, long and hard and unforgiving.
But that hadn't stopped his wife. The image of her, frustrated by the thought of any more idleness, storming out of their tent and getting soaked in an instant, would always be burned into his mind. The way she held her arms out, tipped her face up to the sky and then twirled around, laughing, summed up so much about why he loved her that it ached to think of, even now.
"Ayani would have loved it here." He said quietly, almost without thought.
Wash melted more firmly into his embrace at his words, turned her head to press her mouth to bicep gently. "She would have." Came her soft agreement, warm breath gusting over his skin as she spoke.
"I remember the first time she saw the forests in Somalia. She was astounded by how green everything was still." He said. "I think it... helped. With the transition."
Wash chuckled. "I think I made some clumsy comparison to her eyes which she said she found endearing."
Taylor smiled, the memory of Ayani's fond amusement as she recounted the story returning to the forefront of his mind at Wash's prompt. "You weren't wrong." He replied softly.
At length his hand slipped down to cover the scars on her torso and she sighed, linking her fingers with his.
"So much happened that day I'll never forgive myself for." He said, speaking his admission into the curve of her neck, soothing its truth with his lips.
"Nathaniel..." Wash murmured, squeezing their linked fingers. "There's nothing you could have done that would have made it go any better."
He growled as his arms tightened around her "I could have not left you alone, risked losing you both."
"And Ayani and Lucas might have been taken even sooner." Wash added, her voice calm from delivering such a justification many times in the past. "It's done, Nathaniel."
She wasn't wrong. It was done. And it had marked them both in a million different ways, visible and not. He stroked his fingertips over her scars and felt her shiver, unable to tell if it was pleasure or revulsion at the reminder.
He grunted, moving away from her. "I'm so damn selfish."
"Selfish?" Wash echoed, confusion clear for him to see.
"I've clung on to you so tight." He said, walking further into the cave, hearing the sound of the rain fade. "You could have had a life of your own, but whenever I sensed you getting too far away, I pulled you back."
He heard rather than saw her reaction to his words, the harsh scoff escaping her without hesitation. He glanced up from his pack to see her glaring at him, hands firmly on her hips. It was a look he'd been on the receiving end of a hundred times, but never with such naked fury.
"You're telling me that you think me so weak-willed that I just came to you blindly each time you crooked your finger?" She asked, voice low. "You've said many unpleasant things to me in the past Nathaniel, but I think you've outdone yourself this time."
Nathaniel sighed, her point made even before her words. He stood, approaching her with the care he would afford to an angry animal ready to strike. "I'm sorry." He said simply. "Alicia, I didn't think."
"Clearly." She said quietly. "That's the problem. Sometimes I think you don't realise how much I love you. How even during the moments you pushed me away, I didn't go far."
"I know, Wash. Believe me. I'm the luckiest son of a bitch in the world to have had yours and Ayani's love." He moved in closer. "It's a hell of a lot more than this old soldier deserves."
Wash smiled sadly at him, reaching up to lay her hand over his heart. "That's where you're wrong. You've earned it a hundred times over." She said, closing the gap between them and resting her head on his chest. "I wish you could see that."
Nathaniel smiled as he looped his arms around her, holding her tight within his firm embrace. "I'll work at it."
"Good. Because I'm not going anywhere. I will always come back to you." She paused, turned her head to rest her chin on his sternum as she shot him a smirk. "Of my own free will."
Nathaniel chuckled. He knew damn well that Wash's free will was a formidable thing, to have suggested otherwise was downright foolish.
"I love you." He said, watching as her eyes lit up at the honesty of his words. It was something so rarely said, by either of them, but he could tell its worth to her in this moment, could tell its importance in resolving their difficulties.
"Despite my better judgement, I love you too." She said, rising up to meet his lips.
The kiss they shared was sweet, deep and soul-searching, an affirmation of their feelings, their survival. It left him warm, soothed his worries and he could see the same in Wash when he pulled back, saw her fight to catch her breath and felt a flush of male pride.
"What do you say I rustle us up some rations?" He offered.
Wash hummed, grinning. "Nothing says romance like food poisoning." She said. "How about I get us some food, and you set up camp?"
"Playing to our strengths." He smiled. "So sensible."
Wash snorted, starting away from him. "It's been known to happen, sir."
They ate what Nathaniel would concede without hesitation to be a far better meal than he could ever put together, reminiscing over their memories of the time before Somalia, a time when their lives were full of the light of Ayani. There was a time in his life when he swore he would never be able to talk of her without a burning pain in his chest, but the love of another good woman had taken the pain and reformed it to joy, pleasure.
He was selfish. But he'd defy anyone else not to be in his position.
Title: Capture the Flag (1/1)
Pairing: Nathaniel Taylor/Alicia Washington, Guzman
Genre: Fluff, Humour
Rated: PG-13
Summary: Fill for mercscilla's prompt 'Taylor/Wash - Hunter' in Friday One Word Challenge - Week 42.
This year she was going to do it. She wasn't going to get distracted, she was going to beat Shannon and see that smug look wiped off his face for the last time.
There was no reason for him to be better at her than this, no reason for a cop to be able to beat a highly trained soldier in the art of stealth and reconnaissance. But Jim didn't have distraction in the form of a stubbornly 'impartial' Commander trailing his every step.
This year though, the world was on her side. She had doggedly stayed one step ahead of Taylor, through perseverance and anger. She had captured what she knew to be half of the flags dotted about the colony, just one more would ensure her victory.
And she knew exactly where it was.
Wherein lied her biggest problem.
Traditionally, the final flag on the scavenger hunt was behind Command, in the clearing between the large building and the Commander's unit. It made for a good meeting place to tally the score for those who had been foolish enough to try and outscore the Big Two (her and Guz - later her and Shannon once Guz dropped out to help Nathaniel adjudicate).
But it was also between Command and the Commander's unit.
Her progress this year had been remarkable in its lack of being pulled into dark corners by strong tempting hands and a gruff voice in her ear. The chance of her making it to the flag before Nathaniel pounced again was... slim.
She could work with that.
Approaching the main colony building was the tricky bit. An open area afforded her little cover, few shadows to lurk in until she deemed the coast to be clear. But she made it to the base of the building without feeling a warm gaze at her nape and it was with a smile that she looked around for one final time.
The smile turned into a grin of triumph when she saw Shannon in the distance, rushing off towards where she had already been, where she knew he would come up empty. This meant she had time to spare for certain, and the knowledge guided her feet in gentle steps towards her goal.
She rounded the building and caught sight of the red flag illuminated by the moonlight. Evaluating her chances for stealth, the possible hiding places of her husband (he was around her somewhere, she knew that to be a certainty) and the amount of time it would take her at full sprint to reach the target, Wash took a deep breath to centre herself.
And ran.
She made her ground quickly, wondering if maybe she'd caught Nathaniel asleep on the job, her hand was just beginning to reach out for the flag when she spotted a new shadow to her right. She put on a final burst of speed but wasn't fast enough, arms encircling her waist and tugging her into a roll.
She ended up on her back, hands pinned over her head, Nathaniel's face hovering over her with smug satisfaction painted clear across it.
"Every year!" She huffed, wriggling under him but getting nowhere due to the hard pressure of his legs either side of hers. "Why can't you let me win?"
"Like it when you're mad, Wash." Nathaniel smirked, stealing her lips before she could protest further.
Alicia ripped her mouth away from his before he could get too much of a control on the situation, despite her body screaming at her to deepen their contact, to indulge in his touch. She scowled at him even as he grinned cheekily at her, and she shunted her hips to force him off.
She was only a few steps away from the flag when Nathaniel caught her again, forcing her back into the side wall of his unit while she shouted her frustration into the clearing.
"Shh, Wash. You'll attract attention."
"Nathaniel." Alicia groaned, feeling him hook her leg over his hip and losing the will to fight him. "I'm so close!"
"Haven't even done anything yet, Wash." He replied.
She snorted, shifting uselessly beneath him. "Just... let me get the damn flag and I'm all yours."
Nathaniel lifted his head from where he was kissing down the neckline of her shirt. "Think I've got all of you already, wouldn't you agree?" When she only huffed in response, he became slightly more serious. "How many flags have you got?"
"Half." She said. "I need one more."
"No you don't." The sparkle was back in his eyes. She narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion, and he capitulated easily. "I might have forgotten to put one out. So technically, you have half, plus one."
Her suspicion didn't fade. "You cheated?"
"Well Wash, I'm getting old. More like I... forgot."
She made him sweat for a moment, still sore at his disregard for her personal interests. "Well in that case...." She said eventually, and the wolfish grin of intent Nathaniel shot her made her feel oddly light-headed.
She jumped on her free leg and he wrapped it around him even as his mouth were back on hers. It was oddly perfect, extremely satisfying and... entirely the wrong place to be doing it.
"Wait." She said against his lips, missing his touch as soon as he pulled away.
Nathaniel groaned, rocking his hips into hers. "What now?"
"What now? You know what now! In a few minutes this area will be full of soldiers, Nathaniel."
"So?"
She glared. "So, I'm not putting on a show."
Nathaniel sighed, resigned, and forced her leg from his right hip, ignoring her grumble as her foot landed awkwardly on the floor. Free to move, he pulled his comm unit from his pants. "Guz, come in."
"Yes Commander." Came the response.
"Call off the hunt, Wash won."
There was a long stretch of silence, punctuated by a lone chuckle. "Very well sir."
Nathaniel shot her a look that managed to at once tell her both how impressive he thought he was, and ask her permission to continue. With a roll of her eyes, Alicia pulled him closer, engaging his lips once more.
Several moments passed, with Nathaniel's hand making very interesting progress, before Alicia's comm unit crackled to life.
"Attention all hunt participants. The competition is complete, Wash captured the last flag." Guz said. "And if you know what's good for you, you'll stay away from Command for the rest of the night."