Fic: Ease the Moment, Part 3/3 (Lee/Kara) NC-17
Battlestar Galactica Fic
Title: Ease the Moment (3/3)
Rating: NC-17, this part
Summary: Lee and Kara contemplate the holocaust and their own actions, post "33"
Spoilers: miniseries, 1x01
Word Count: 4,279
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Ron said I could.
Author's Note: This has been sitting on my hard drive for months, so please forgive yet another post-"33" fic. My beta is forcing me to kick this one out of the nest, so give it a try.
Part 1 / Part 2
Hours later, Kara woke slowly, so it was some time before full consciousness arrived, and with it came the crash of guilt and horror, and even fear. Unconsciously, she brought her left hand up to her mouth .Oh, Lords, what have I done? This was never supposed to happen. Her mind blurred as she sped through all the millions of reasons this should never have happened.
Then she heard Zak’s voice in her ear, his fingers tracing her lips as he looked down at her with a smile: “You are so beautiful like this, Kara.” She shuddered. She had frakked Lee, and somehow he had managed to channel his dead brother. Shit, shit, shit. Gods damn it all, this was a disaster. She had to get out of this, get away-
“If you’re thinking about leaving, don’t.” His voice was quiet in her ear, and she turned her head right to find his laser-blue gaze fixed on her. He looked wide awake, and more relaxed than she remembered seeing him in, well, maybe ever.
“Why not?” She swallowed, somewhat noisily. He ignored her.
“Why did you start this Kara? Because you did…start this.” His eyes flickered over her face in speculation.
Frustrated, she rolled her eyes. “I don’t know, Lee. I’m pretty messed up. You know how I am.”
“I do.” And he just watched her as she squirmed and moved as though to get up, but his hand was there on her shoulder, clamping her down with an iron grip. She winced.
“Get off, Lee.”
“No.”
“Let me go.”
“Uh uh, sorry. You don’t get off that easy. Tell me what happened here, and I’ll think about it.” His voice was tight with emotion. He effortlessly held her still as she pushed up again. So she swung at him with her left fist, but he was ready, and he grabbed her wrist and pinned it above her head, while he came up on his elbow and leaned over her, practically nose to nose.
“Get off me!”
He shook his head slowly. “You used me, Kara.”
“I didn’t hear you complaining.”
His face darkened, and she was suddenly afraid.
“I’m not just another notch on your bedpost, Kara!”
No, you’re not, you’re could never be that, she wanted to say, but she couldn’t. Instead she stared up at him, green eyes shooting daggers into his fiery blue gaze. She could feel the animal inside pacing frantically now. “I don’t know what I was thinking,” she hissed, pouring all her frustration into her voice, but she heard uncertainty instead.
“Me neither,” he retorted. “Fine. Go.”
“What-?”
“Five minutes. After that, if you still want to go, go.”
She gaped at him, but when she didn’t respond, he must have taken that for agreement, because he dipped his head to her mouth and kissed her. She was determined not to respond, but her resolve melted under the heat of his lips, and suddenly he was laughing into her mouth even as he slid his tongue along hers. He let her come up for air, and he watched her closely as his right hand strayed down her bare skin, stroking at her with a light, firm touch. He covered her breast with his palm for a moment and tightened briefly, before moving on, and she wanted him to come back.
“Lee…”
“Shhh…it’s only five minutes, so shut up and pay attention.”
His hand traveled further down, over the taut muscles of her flat stomach, and then further down to brush over golden curls, and down. He pushed her thighs apart gently, and he cupped against her.
“You’re wet,” he breathed, his eyes on hers.
She bit her lip while her left hand gripped the pillow over her head. Gods, but she was wet, had been wet from the second she woke up and remembered how hot it had been between them before. She was wet despite the shame and the regret, and she didn’t have room in her brain to think about any of that now, because what he was doing crowded out her last remaining rational thoughts. He leaned in for another kiss, soft and then harder. His hand moved between her legs, and he was stroking against her, his fingertips finding her clit, and she gasped and shuddered as he teased with slow, slow movements. Her hips were rising against his hand.
“Is my time up?” he whispered against her lips.
“Not. Yet,” she gritted.
He lifted his head and fixed her with his electric gaze. She couldn’t fathom what she saw stir in his bluest eyes. He bent again, slowly, not breaking her gaze all the way down, and there was his mouth warm on her breast, sucking slowly and patiently at one nipple. She just watched his face, the expression of intensity and concentration and lovingness with which he applied himself to the task at hand. He looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself, and that aroused her more than before. Her breath caught and her throat tightened, as she watched his head move against her, and she twined one hand into his thick, brown hair and pressed him against her, wanting him to swallow her. She felt her entire body fading to points of sensations anchored by his touch: his hand, his glorious, questing hand, and this mouth. Harder and harder, rougher as he stroked against her clit, until finally he was sliding up through her thick wetness.
“Oh, Gods!” she gasped.
He chuckled, and the tremors of his laughter magnified the trails of sensations beginning to spin through her.
He thrust his fingers harder up against her, and she could hear the wet, sucking sound of his rhythm. The breath caught in her throat again.
“Lee.” Pleading.
“Do you want me to stop?” Gods, frakfrakfrak, he sounded so delicious, so sexy, as his voice slid over her, warm and teasing.
She shook her head once, squeezing her eyes shut. “Don’t stop.” Her voice was the barest whisper.
Both of her hands were deep in his hair, clutching convulsively as he sucked at her: breasts, throat, mouth, hungrily, savagely, and she was arching against him, against his mouth, against his hand, against the triumph in his low laughter as she heard herself begin to whimper.
“Don’t stop,” again, and it was almost a sob.
“Are you sure?”
“Almost there…” she breathed, her body tense as a stretched bowstring. His hand was thrusting hard against her and her hips were pushing back with the same intensity. But then he stopped, and before she could miss the pressure, she felt it, that glorious sensation, so rare, so perfect so…he fluttered, his fingers beating a tattoo against her insides just so, and she was gasping and shuddering and unabashedly crying out into his mouth, against the moist warmth of his neck, and soaring, and falling, all at the same time.
He wasn’t finished with her. When she thought she couldn’t come anymore, he was still inside her, relentlessly thrusting his hand again, and fluttering, alternating until she was blind, and she lost the end of one before another began, and he was kissing her so hard she felt devoured and broken apart, and her mind was just completely gone.
***
When she came back to herself again, later, it was to see naked Lee lounging easily beside her, a pleased grin on his face. He was working the fingers of his right hand.
“You’re a tough customer, Thrace,” he smiled down at her, when he saw her eyelids flutter. “I think I nearly broke my hand on you.”
She shook her head, afraid to meet his eyes, afraid of how naked she felt after what he had done to her, to her body. Her throat worked convulsively until she was finally able to produce a sound.
“Someone trained you well.” Her voice was rough. Had she screamed? She didn’t even know. She forced herself to look at him.
He inclined his head in agreement, and one eyebrow lifted. “So you liked that?” he said mockingly.
“Liked? Oh, um, oookay," she said slowly. "I guess you could say that. What do you think?” She pushed herself up on her elbows, trying to still the trembling in her legs. Her skin tingled everywhere, even the soles of her feet and her scalp.
“How many?” he asked with a half-serious smile.
She shook her head slowly and considered. “I don’t know,” she said finally. “I lost count.”
He smiled wider. “Seriously?”
“Yes. Seriously.” She needed something to wet her parched her throat. She could barely talk. Slowly, she turned onto her stomach, and she stretched one arm up at the narrow shelf overhead. Propping herself on her elbows, she swigged at the bottle, feeling his eyes on her, but grateful to be facing in the opposite direction. Until she felt his fingertips stroking down her skin, from shoulders to buttocks. Fiery trails.
“How long has it been, Lee?” He wasn’t like her-she knew he didn’t undertake sex lightly-at least, he never had before. She wondered if he would understand her question.
His hand faltered on her back, but then he resumed his slow motion. “Long enough.” He paused for a long moment. “I’ve been busy. No time for messing around.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, understanding. Not her. She had never had that kind of self control.
She turned over onto her side to face him and handed him the water, which he accepted with relish.
“Thanks.” He saluted her with the bottle.
She studied him as he drank, until finally, unable to resist, she extended her hand to touch him. His left eyebrow arched at her, and he put the bottle down. She held her breath and concentrated on his skin, not wanting to meet his eyes. She felt his stillness as her hand stroked upwards from his elbows, up over his bulging bicep. He was so warm and slightly damp from his own exertions, and he felt good under her hand, and for some reason, she was suddenly afraid. She shivered.
Instantly, Lee unfolded himself and stretched out beside her and put his arm around her, pulling her close.
“Cold?”
She shook her head. She looked into his blue, blue eyes and wondered how this would end. And then, almost as though to stifle the thought, she leaned forward and kissed him.
After an instant of hesitation, he kissed her back, sweetly, achingly, and she brought her hand up to cup his face. He was a very good kisser; she had never imagined that about him. She had never imagined any of this about him. And he stared right into her eyes, and she found herself unable to look away as they both gave and took and gave again, tongue against tongue, sliding warm and slick and soft and gentle.
When they finally broke off, they were both breathing harder. He leaned his forehead against hers.
“Kara,” he breathed. “What are we doing?”
“I don’t know,” she said honestly, surprising herself.
“What-” he swallowed. “What about Zak?” His voice was very tight.
She flinched, but she couldn’t look away. “Zak is dead, Lee,” she said evenly.
He frowned. “So what-what does that mean?”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Lee. This is what it is. Zak isn’t here. You are.” And the instant it came out of her mouth, she regretted it.
“So I’m just a handy substitute? Zak is gone, so you settle for me?” His voice was choked with hurt and surprise.
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean?” he challenged.
“I meant that I’m not thinking about Zak right now. Okay?”
He didn’t reply, he just looked back at her and waited.
“We’re taking a break, Lee. The world just ended, and we’ve been through hell. Okay? This is a break. A…vacation.”
“Right.”
“Yeah.” Then very softly: “Tomorrow, you’ll still be the CAG.”
He didn’t respond for a long time. And then: “Right.”
She nodded, afraid to break eye contact. They both knew what that meant. He understood what she was telling him. He looked about as happy as she felt. Bloodyfrakkinghell.
So she did the only thing she could to break the tension. She reached down between their bodies and took him in hand. And grinned as he nearly jumped out of his skin.
“Kara!”
“Yes?” she said, moving her hand over him very slowly, gently squeezing. He stopped breathing.
“Gods…”
She chuckled quietly, and continued her work. He was so hard and hot under her fingers. She watched the blood rise in his face with the effort to control himself.
“Is this all for me?” she teased, stroking harder.
He leaned his head forward and clamped his mouth onto her throat and sucked against her. His lips moved on her, hot and hard, like his cock under her hand. She pushed her legs against his, throwing one leg over his hip.
And she was startled to feel his hand over hers, moving up and down. For some reason it was an erotic jolt, as he used her to pleasure himself, and his eyes closed in concentration, or something else. She squirmed closer and felt the rhythm of their joined hands moving between them against her pubis. Oh, Lords…
“Lee?”
His eyes snapped open, and he must have seen the desire she felt, the wet heat-“Are you sure?”
Wide-eyed, she gave him the tiniest of nods. There was the same kind of apprehension in his open, naked face. She wanted him, Gods, she wanted him inside her.
He loosened her hand from his cock and brought it up between them, to his lips. Then he was pressing her wrist down above her head, anchoring her there with one hand, while he rolled her over onto her back.
He parted her thighs with his knees and lowered himself to her, and she raised her hips to meet him. He held himself up with his left arm and looked down into her face, his own open and naked with need.
“Kara,” There was effort now as he held himself off her. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Yes.” And she was lifting to accept him, to welcome him. Then she froze and she stopped him by seizing his chin with her right hand. Startled, he stared down at her like an animal paralyzed by light.
“Lee. Are you?”
He shook his head slowly from side to side, but he was smiling, and there was something terrible and beautiful in his face. Heartbreaking. She couldn’t stop him now.
He entered her with a maddening slowness, stroking his entire length up her by tiny degrees. He seemed huge and very hard. Since she was still a little sore from his previous vigorous attentions, she winced. He watched her closely.
“Relax,” he said with a small smile and a tight voice.
“You try,” she managed. And then he was kissing her, her open mouth, her throat, her eyelids, her shoulder. His mouth was so intense that she almost didn’t realize that he had begun to move between her legs. She gasped against his mouth, and he swallowed it, pushing his tongue against hers. It was glorious, this sensation that was pulsing and pounding through her nerve-endings. She felt her hair stand on end, and it seemed to go on and on. She pulled her knees up to either side of him and moved against him, lost in his rhythm.
He was patient, but she couldn’t say he was kind. He thrust into her, growing gradually faster, until she could taste her own orgasm about to explode, and then he backed way off and stilled.
“Bastard,” she snarled.
“Shut up, Kara,” he murmured with a tiny wicked smile. And kissed her again and again. Slowly, and then roughly. And began moving in her again.
It was a cruel dance. Every inch of her skin tingled, and she felt her body humming in response to his-his cock, his skin, his hot mouth. It was insane, and she just arched against him in a wordless plea.
“Please,” she whispered with a shred of coherence.
“Please, what?”
She laughed at that, and at his cruelty. She had never imagined he could be like this. She didn’t know what she had thought. She couldn’t think at all.
“Please, sir.”
So he thrust and he thrust into her, against her, sweetly, and then firmly, until finally they were just straining against one another, two bodies locked in a kind of combat, skin burning and melting. He spared nothing, and she gave as hard as she took, clinging to him and clenching at him with anything she could.
Until she felt herself shattering and breaking open as she shuddered powerfully against him, crying out, sobbing against his shoulder, eyes wide open in shock and delirium. A few more strokes, and she felt him swell impossibly and buzz inside her, and he was utterly silent as he came, save for hard breathing, which was so absolutely hot, because she felt his body come against her like the physical expression of a scream, like a hard blow, and it was so good she had to bite her lip against a second wave of orgasm that exploded inside her like a ten megaton bomb.
***
Lee collapsed off Kara, falling heavily to the mattress beside her, utterly spent in every way, with every nerve ending tingling. He curled against her, pressing his face against her neck and drawing her close against him. She still shook. He was breathing hard, like a runner coming off a fast sprint.
“Lee,” she moaned, “Frak me, you bastard.”
He smiled tiredly. “I thought I just did.”
“Right. You’re still a bastard.” Her eyes were closed, but a smile played around her lips.
“Most people would just say thank you.”
“Or…”
“Go again?” he guessed, capturing an earlobe in his teeth. She half-heartedly swatted at him, missing entirely, while he slid his tongue over the whorls of her ear.
“Yes, please.”
“Please, she says. Now she decides to be polite. Yes, please, what?”
“Yes, please, Captain, sir.” Eyes still closed, her mouth stretched in a wide grin.
He tucked one arm under his head and took her chin in his fingers to pull her towards his waiting lips. He wanted another kiss, and then another, just lips, soft and warm and tender.
And then he sighed. It was beginning to be difficult to keep his eyes open, yet he was suddenly starving. “Sorry, lieutenant, you’ll have to take a rain check.”
“Equipment malfunction?”
“Bingo fuel,” he replied with a faint smile. “Actually, less than that.”
“I’ll bet. I almost don’t remember when I last ate.”
He smiled wider with closed eyes. “Me, neither.”
“I have some food around here somewhere.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously,” she replied.
He forced his eyes open to find her head turned against his face, so they were nose to nose. “So what are you waiting for? An order?” he smiled, nuzzling.
“Hang on.” Kara pushed herself up, and climbed out of bed. He lay there watching her slim, athletic body unfold as she moved towards her locker. Reaching in, she retrieved an armful of metallic pouches and turned back to him with her lips pursed mischievously.
“What?” he puzzled at her expression. And she pelted him, the pouches flying at him fast and bouncing all over bare skin with no consideration for tender bits. Perhaps she was even aiming for those tender bits.
“Hey-hey!” he yelped, trying to twist out of the way. He plucked at one of the pouches and tore it open while keeping a careful eye on her. She sauntered back with a handful of drinks pouches which she proffered.
She had a glint in her eye that warned him too late as she had somehow pierced one of the drinks and squirted it all over his torso. He flopped helplessly on his back and glared up at her.
“What did you do that for?”
“Shut up and eat, sir.”
He shook his head, trying to understand why she always had to play these games. Not that it wasn’t fun-well, if you could call being sticky and wet, fun. “I think I’d rather clean up first, if you don’t mind.”
“Actually, I do,” she said as she straddled him. “Here-” she shoved a drink into one hand, poked in the straw and after peeling open a nutritional wafer for him, shoved it into his other hand. “Just eat.” He looked at her for a long moment, and then shook his head again, and obeyed her. She smiled in satisfaction when he took his first bite and sip.
He paused and cocked his head at her. “Aren’t you going to eat?”
She nodded, this time with a broad grin. “Keep eating, flyboy, and drink that whole thing right now.”
“Yes, Mom,” he replied wryly. A few hungry bites later, and the thick solid wafer was gone, and the drinks pouch was empty. She handed him one more of each, watched him finish it, and then another, and another. In between, she made short work of food and drink herself, without budging from her perch astride his thighs.
With the food in him, he began to feel a bit better, so he was able to admire Kara’s lean pale form as she licked crumbs off her fingertips. There was a growing pile of wrappers on the bed next to them.
“Feel better?” she grinned, cocking her head at him. She swept the wrappers off the bed in one swift motion.
“Yes.”
“Then you won’t mind if I do the honors…?” She bent forward to his chest and began to lick at the damp stickiness of the drying juice.
“Kara!”
She lifted her head and looked at him impishly. “What?”
He spluttered a bit.
“Right, that’s what I thought,” she said and returned to her work.
He was quiet as she finished, until she began teasing him by sneaking swipes at his nipples.
“Frak, Kara!”
“Shut up, Lee.”
“No, seriously.” He shifted under her and tried to escape.
“Running away?” she asked, as he unceremoniously dumped her against the mattress and climbed out to stand beside the bunk, running one hand through his brown hair. He gave her an exasperated glance and then rummaged for a clean towel. Meanwhile, Kara checked the time, noting that there were still several hours before their shift began.
“C’mon, Lee. What is it?”
“I can’t play these games with you,” he muttered, as he turned back to look at her, rubbing at his chest with the gray terrycloth. “I thought…”
“What?”
“Nothing.” His face was expressionless in the dim light.
“You thought what?” she challenged.
He was silent, considering, as he met her gaze. Then he shrugged uneasily. He came back to the bed and sat down on the edge, looking back at her over his shoulder.
“I thought I could…play this game with you. I had fun.”
Surprised, yet not surprised, she didn’t reply for a long moment. And then, through a constricted throat: “I did, too.”
A single eyebrow arched, and the corner of his mouth edged upward in a grudging smile. But it vanished quickly, and he grew serious again.
“I’m still the CAG, Kara. And you’re still one of my pilots. We have a professional responsibility, and I have to set an example.”
“I know,” she said quickly. “Let’s not talk about this anymore, Lee. Okay? This is vacation, right? You know that old saying about Dionysium-what happens in Dionysium-”
“-stays in Dionysium,” he finished for her. “Yeah, I know that one. So what happens in-” he glanced at his watch, “thirteen hours?”
“We do our jobs, Lee, just like always.” She tried for a flat tone but heard the resignation in her own voice.
“And what about this? Us?”
She blinked rapidly, and then steadily stared back at him. “There is no us.”
He nodded, struggling not to react. “Right.”
“We’re on vacation, Lee,” she reminded him thickly. He glanced at her, shifting on the edge of the bed.
Quietly: “I should go.”
“Don’t. Not yet.” She caught his hand, and he realized the effort it had taken her to say even that much. Kara never asked, she demanded, and she took what she wanted without thinking twice. She didn’t make requests. And yet…
And yet, here she was, looking up at him with an indescribable expression, and he found himself twining his fingers with hers.
“Just stay,” she was saying. And he saw how tired she looked, mirroring the weariness he felt, and he felt his resistance melting away. The sweetness and the sex had lifted him onto a tiny temporary raft of euphoria and pushed the horror of the last day, of the last week, down, but now he felt it rising up, and he could only look back into her clear eyes and wonder how long he would be able to soldier on without letting all of it drown him.
Suddenly helpless to resist, he allowed himself to be drawn back down beside her, and they huddled together in the dimness, seeking comfort from one another, a tiny unhappy island in the vastness of the space that surrounded them.
The world was over.
Tomorrow, they both knew, a new fight would begin.
Until then, they only had this, these stolen moments, strung together by their history and experience. It was a bubble outside of time, outside of the destroyed world in which they now lived, and if they never had it again, it would have to be enough for now.
FIN
Title: Ease the Moment (3/3)
Rating: NC-17, this part
Summary: Lee and Kara contemplate the holocaust and their own actions, post "33"
Spoilers: miniseries, 1x01
Word Count: 4,279
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Ron said I could.
Author's Note: This has been sitting on my hard drive for months, so please forgive yet another post-"33" fic. My beta is forcing me to kick this one out of the nest, so give it a try.
Part 1 / Part 2
Hours later, Kara woke slowly, so it was some time before full consciousness arrived, and with it came the crash of guilt and horror, and even fear. Unconsciously, she brought her left hand up to her mouth .Oh, Lords, what have I done? This was never supposed to happen. Her mind blurred as she sped through all the millions of reasons this should never have happened.
Then she heard Zak’s voice in her ear, his fingers tracing her lips as he looked down at her with a smile: “You are so beautiful like this, Kara.” She shuddered. She had frakked Lee, and somehow he had managed to channel his dead brother. Shit, shit, shit. Gods damn it all, this was a disaster. She had to get out of this, get away-
“If you’re thinking about leaving, don’t.” His voice was quiet in her ear, and she turned her head right to find his laser-blue gaze fixed on her. He looked wide awake, and more relaxed than she remembered seeing him in, well, maybe ever.
“Why not?” She swallowed, somewhat noisily. He ignored her.
“Why did you start this Kara? Because you did…start this.” His eyes flickered over her face in speculation.
Frustrated, she rolled her eyes. “I don’t know, Lee. I’m pretty messed up. You know how I am.”
“I do.” And he just watched her as she squirmed and moved as though to get up, but his hand was there on her shoulder, clamping her down with an iron grip. She winced.
“Get off, Lee.”
“No.”
“Let me go.”
“Uh uh, sorry. You don’t get off that easy. Tell me what happened here, and I’ll think about it.” His voice was tight with emotion. He effortlessly held her still as she pushed up again. So she swung at him with her left fist, but he was ready, and he grabbed her wrist and pinned it above her head, while he came up on his elbow and leaned over her, practically nose to nose.
“Get off me!”
He shook his head slowly. “You used me, Kara.”
“I didn’t hear you complaining.”
His face darkened, and she was suddenly afraid.
“I’m not just another notch on your bedpost, Kara!”
No, you’re not, you’re could never be that, she wanted to say, but she couldn’t. Instead she stared up at him, green eyes shooting daggers into his fiery blue gaze. She could feel the animal inside pacing frantically now. “I don’t know what I was thinking,” she hissed, pouring all her frustration into her voice, but she heard uncertainty instead.
“Me neither,” he retorted. “Fine. Go.”
“What-?”
“Five minutes. After that, if you still want to go, go.”
She gaped at him, but when she didn’t respond, he must have taken that for agreement, because he dipped his head to her mouth and kissed her. She was determined not to respond, but her resolve melted under the heat of his lips, and suddenly he was laughing into her mouth even as he slid his tongue along hers. He let her come up for air, and he watched her closely as his right hand strayed down her bare skin, stroking at her with a light, firm touch. He covered her breast with his palm for a moment and tightened briefly, before moving on, and she wanted him to come back.
“Lee…”
“Shhh…it’s only five minutes, so shut up and pay attention.”
His hand traveled further down, over the taut muscles of her flat stomach, and then further down to brush over golden curls, and down. He pushed her thighs apart gently, and he cupped against her.
“You’re wet,” he breathed, his eyes on hers.
She bit her lip while her left hand gripped the pillow over her head. Gods, but she was wet, had been wet from the second she woke up and remembered how hot it had been between them before. She was wet despite the shame and the regret, and she didn’t have room in her brain to think about any of that now, because what he was doing crowded out her last remaining rational thoughts. He leaned in for another kiss, soft and then harder. His hand moved between her legs, and he was stroking against her, his fingertips finding her clit, and she gasped and shuddered as he teased with slow, slow movements. Her hips were rising against his hand.
“Is my time up?” he whispered against her lips.
“Not. Yet,” she gritted.
He lifted his head and fixed her with his electric gaze. She couldn’t fathom what she saw stir in his bluest eyes. He bent again, slowly, not breaking her gaze all the way down, and there was his mouth warm on her breast, sucking slowly and patiently at one nipple. She just watched his face, the expression of intensity and concentration and lovingness with which he applied himself to the task at hand. He looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself, and that aroused her more than before. Her breath caught and her throat tightened, as she watched his head move against her, and she twined one hand into his thick, brown hair and pressed him against her, wanting him to swallow her. She felt her entire body fading to points of sensations anchored by his touch: his hand, his glorious, questing hand, and this mouth. Harder and harder, rougher as he stroked against her clit, until finally he was sliding up through her thick wetness.
“Oh, Gods!” she gasped.
He chuckled, and the tremors of his laughter magnified the trails of sensations beginning to spin through her.
He thrust his fingers harder up against her, and she could hear the wet, sucking sound of his rhythm. The breath caught in her throat again.
“Lee.” Pleading.
“Do you want me to stop?” Gods, frakfrakfrak, he sounded so delicious, so sexy, as his voice slid over her, warm and teasing.
She shook her head once, squeezing her eyes shut. “Don’t stop.” Her voice was the barest whisper.
Both of her hands were deep in his hair, clutching convulsively as he sucked at her: breasts, throat, mouth, hungrily, savagely, and she was arching against him, against his mouth, against his hand, against the triumph in his low laughter as she heard herself begin to whimper.
“Don’t stop,” again, and it was almost a sob.
“Are you sure?”
“Almost there…” she breathed, her body tense as a stretched bowstring. His hand was thrusting hard against her and her hips were pushing back with the same intensity. But then he stopped, and before she could miss the pressure, she felt it, that glorious sensation, so rare, so perfect so…he fluttered, his fingers beating a tattoo against her insides just so, and she was gasping and shuddering and unabashedly crying out into his mouth, against the moist warmth of his neck, and soaring, and falling, all at the same time.
He wasn’t finished with her. When she thought she couldn’t come anymore, he was still inside her, relentlessly thrusting his hand again, and fluttering, alternating until she was blind, and she lost the end of one before another began, and he was kissing her so hard she felt devoured and broken apart, and her mind was just completely gone.
***
When she came back to herself again, later, it was to see naked Lee lounging easily beside her, a pleased grin on his face. He was working the fingers of his right hand.
“You’re a tough customer, Thrace,” he smiled down at her, when he saw her eyelids flutter. “I think I nearly broke my hand on you.”
She shook her head, afraid to meet his eyes, afraid of how naked she felt after what he had done to her, to her body. Her throat worked convulsively until she was finally able to produce a sound.
“Someone trained you well.” Her voice was rough. Had she screamed? She didn’t even know. She forced herself to look at him.
He inclined his head in agreement, and one eyebrow lifted. “So you liked that?” he said mockingly.
“Liked? Oh, um, oookay," she said slowly. "I guess you could say that. What do you think?” She pushed herself up on her elbows, trying to still the trembling in her legs. Her skin tingled everywhere, even the soles of her feet and her scalp.
“How many?” he asked with a half-serious smile.
She shook her head slowly and considered. “I don’t know,” she said finally. “I lost count.”
He smiled wider. “Seriously?”
“Yes. Seriously.” She needed something to wet her parched her throat. She could barely talk. Slowly, she turned onto her stomach, and she stretched one arm up at the narrow shelf overhead. Propping herself on her elbows, she swigged at the bottle, feeling his eyes on her, but grateful to be facing in the opposite direction. Until she felt his fingertips stroking down her skin, from shoulders to buttocks. Fiery trails.
“How long has it been, Lee?” He wasn’t like her-she knew he didn’t undertake sex lightly-at least, he never had before. She wondered if he would understand her question.
His hand faltered on her back, but then he resumed his slow motion. “Long enough.” He paused for a long moment. “I’ve been busy. No time for messing around.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, understanding. Not her. She had never had that kind of self control.
She turned over onto her side to face him and handed him the water, which he accepted with relish.
“Thanks.” He saluted her with the bottle.
She studied him as he drank, until finally, unable to resist, she extended her hand to touch him. His left eyebrow arched at her, and he put the bottle down. She held her breath and concentrated on his skin, not wanting to meet his eyes. She felt his stillness as her hand stroked upwards from his elbows, up over his bulging bicep. He was so warm and slightly damp from his own exertions, and he felt good under her hand, and for some reason, she was suddenly afraid. She shivered.
Instantly, Lee unfolded himself and stretched out beside her and put his arm around her, pulling her close.
“Cold?”
She shook her head. She looked into his blue, blue eyes and wondered how this would end. And then, almost as though to stifle the thought, she leaned forward and kissed him.
After an instant of hesitation, he kissed her back, sweetly, achingly, and she brought her hand up to cup his face. He was a very good kisser; she had never imagined that about him. She had never imagined any of this about him. And he stared right into her eyes, and she found herself unable to look away as they both gave and took and gave again, tongue against tongue, sliding warm and slick and soft and gentle.
When they finally broke off, they were both breathing harder. He leaned his forehead against hers.
“Kara,” he breathed. “What are we doing?”
“I don’t know,” she said honestly, surprising herself.
“What-” he swallowed. “What about Zak?” His voice was very tight.
She flinched, but she couldn’t look away. “Zak is dead, Lee,” she said evenly.
He frowned. “So what-what does that mean?”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Lee. This is what it is. Zak isn’t here. You are.” And the instant it came out of her mouth, she regretted it.
“So I’m just a handy substitute? Zak is gone, so you settle for me?” His voice was choked with hurt and surprise.
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean?” he challenged.
“I meant that I’m not thinking about Zak right now. Okay?”
He didn’t reply, he just looked back at her and waited.
“We’re taking a break, Lee. The world just ended, and we’ve been through hell. Okay? This is a break. A…vacation.”
“Right.”
“Yeah.” Then very softly: “Tomorrow, you’ll still be the CAG.”
He didn’t respond for a long time. And then: “Right.”
She nodded, afraid to break eye contact. They both knew what that meant. He understood what she was telling him. He looked about as happy as she felt. Bloodyfrakkinghell.
So she did the only thing she could to break the tension. She reached down between their bodies and took him in hand. And grinned as he nearly jumped out of his skin.
“Kara!”
“Yes?” she said, moving her hand over him very slowly, gently squeezing. He stopped breathing.
“Gods…”
She chuckled quietly, and continued her work. He was so hard and hot under her fingers. She watched the blood rise in his face with the effort to control himself.
“Is this all for me?” she teased, stroking harder.
He leaned his head forward and clamped his mouth onto her throat and sucked against her. His lips moved on her, hot and hard, like his cock under her hand. She pushed her legs against his, throwing one leg over his hip.
And she was startled to feel his hand over hers, moving up and down. For some reason it was an erotic jolt, as he used her to pleasure himself, and his eyes closed in concentration, or something else. She squirmed closer and felt the rhythm of their joined hands moving between them against her pubis. Oh, Lords…
“Lee?”
His eyes snapped open, and he must have seen the desire she felt, the wet heat-“Are you sure?”
Wide-eyed, she gave him the tiniest of nods. There was the same kind of apprehension in his open, naked face. She wanted him, Gods, she wanted him inside her.
He loosened her hand from his cock and brought it up between them, to his lips. Then he was pressing her wrist down above her head, anchoring her there with one hand, while he rolled her over onto her back.
He parted her thighs with his knees and lowered himself to her, and she raised her hips to meet him. He held himself up with his left arm and looked down into her face, his own open and naked with need.
“Kara,” There was effort now as he held himself off her. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Yes.” And she was lifting to accept him, to welcome him. Then she froze and she stopped him by seizing his chin with her right hand. Startled, he stared down at her like an animal paralyzed by light.
“Lee. Are you?”
He shook his head slowly from side to side, but he was smiling, and there was something terrible and beautiful in his face. Heartbreaking. She couldn’t stop him now.
He entered her with a maddening slowness, stroking his entire length up her by tiny degrees. He seemed huge and very hard. Since she was still a little sore from his previous vigorous attentions, she winced. He watched her closely.
“Relax,” he said with a small smile and a tight voice.
“You try,” she managed. And then he was kissing her, her open mouth, her throat, her eyelids, her shoulder. His mouth was so intense that she almost didn’t realize that he had begun to move between her legs. She gasped against his mouth, and he swallowed it, pushing his tongue against hers. It was glorious, this sensation that was pulsing and pounding through her nerve-endings. She felt her hair stand on end, and it seemed to go on and on. She pulled her knees up to either side of him and moved against him, lost in his rhythm.
He was patient, but she couldn’t say he was kind. He thrust into her, growing gradually faster, until she could taste her own orgasm about to explode, and then he backed way off and stilled.
“Bastard,” she snarled.
“Shut up, Kara,” he murmured with a tiny wicked smile. And kissed her again and again. Slowly, and then roughly. And began moving in her again.
It was a cruel dance. Every inch of her skin tingled, and she felt her body humming in response to his-his cock, his skin, his hot mouth. It was insane, and she just arched against him in a wordless plea.
“Please,” she whispered with a shred of coherence.
“Please, what?”
She laughed at that, and at his cruelty. She had never imagined he could be like this. She didn’t know what she had thought. She couldn’t think at all.
“Please, sir.”
So he thrust and he thrust into her, against her, sweetly, and then firmly, until finally they were just straining against one another, two bodies locked in a kind of combat, skin burning and melting. He spared nothing, and she gave as hard as she took, clinging to him and clenching at him with anything she could.
Until she felt herself shattering and breaking open as she shuddered powerfully against him, crying out, sobbing against his shoulder, eyes wide open in shock and delirium. A few more strokes, and she felt him swell impossibly and buzz inside her, and he was utterly silent as he came, save for hard breathing, which was so absolutely hot, because she felt his body come against her like the physical expression of a scream, like a hard blow, and it was so good she had to bite her lip against a second wave of orgasm that exploded inside her like a ten megaton bomb.
***
Lee collapsed off Kara, falling heavily to the mattress beside her, utterly spent in every way, with every nerve ending tingling. He curled against her, pressing his face against her neck and drawing her close against him. She still shook. He was breathing hard, like a runner coming off a fast sprint.
“Lee,” she moaned, “Frak me, you bastard.”
He smiled tiredly. “I thought I just did.”
“Right. You’re still a bastard.” Her eyes were closed, but a smile played around her lips.
“Most people would just say thank you.”
“Or…”
“Go again?” he guessed, capturing an earlobe in his teeth. She half-heartedly swatted at him, missing entirely, while he slid his tongue over the whorls of her ear.
“Yes, please.”
“Please, she says. Now she decides to be polite. Yes, please, what?”
“Yes, please, Captain, sir.” Eyes still closed, her mouth stretched in a wide grin.
He tucked one arm under his head and took her chin in his fingers to pull her towards his waiting lips. He wanted another kiss, and then another, just lips, soft and warm and tender.
And then he sighed. It was beginning to be difficult to keep his eyes open, yet he was suddenly starving. “Sorry, lieutenant, you’ll have to take a rain check.”
“Equipment malfunction?”
“Bingo fuel,” he replied with a faint smile. “Actually, less than that.”
“I’ll bet. I almost don’t remember when I last ate.”
He smiled wider with closed eyes. “Me, neither.”
“I have some food around here somewhere.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously,” she replied.
He forced his eyes open to find her head turned against his face, so they were nose to nose. “So what are you waiting for? An order?” he smiled, nuzzling.
“Hang on.” Kara pushed herself up, and climbed out of bed. He lay there watching her slim, athletic body unfold as she moved towards her locker. Reaching in, she retrieved an armful of metallic pouches and turned back to him with her lips pursed mischievously.
“What?” he puzzled at her expression. And she pelted him, the pouches flying at him fast and bouncing all over bare skin with no consideration for tender bits. Perhaps she was even aiming for those tender bits.
“Hey-hey!” he yelped, trying to twist out of the way. He plucked at one of the pouches and tore it open while keeping a careful eye on her. She sauntered back with a handful of drinks pouches which she proffered.
She had a glint in her eye that warned him too late as she had somehow pierced one of the drinks and squirted it all over his torso. He flopped helplessly on his back and glared up at her.
“What did you do that for?”
“Shut up and eat, sir.”
He shook his head, trying to understand why she always had to play these games. Not that it wasn’t fun-well, if you could call being sticky and wet, fun. “I think I’d rather clean up first, if you don’t mind.”
“Actually, I do,” she said as she straddled him. “Here-” she shoved a drink into one hand, poked in the straw and after peeling open a nutritional wafer for him, shoved it into his other hand. “Just eat.” He looked at her for a long moment, and then shook his head again, and obeyed her. She smiled in satisfaction when he took his first bite and sip.
He paused and cocked his head at her. “Aren’t you going to eat?”
She nodded, this time with a broad grin. “Keep eating, flyboy, and drink that whole thing right now.”
“Yes, Mom,” he replied wryly. A few hungry bites later, and the thick solid wafer was gone, and the drinks pouch was empty. She handed him one more of each, watched him finish it, and then another, and another. In between, she made short work of food and drink herself, without budging from her perch astride his thighs.
With the food in him, he began to feel a bit better, so he was able to admire Kara’s lean pale form as she licked crumbs off her fingertips. There was a growing pile of wrappers on the bed next to them.
“Feel better?” she grinned, cocking her head at him. She swept the wrappers off the bed in one swift motion.
“Yes.”
“Then you won’t mind if I do the honors…?” She bent forward to his chest and began to lick at the damp stickiness of the drying juice.
“Kara!”
She lifted her head and looked at him impishly. “What?”
He spluttered a bit.
“Right, that’s what I thought,” she said and returned to her work.
He was quiet as she finished, until she began teasing him by sneaking swipes at his nipples.
“Frak, Kara!”
“Shut up, Lee.”
“No, seriously.” He shifted under her and tried to escape.
“Running away?” she asked, as he unceremoniously dumped her against the mattress and climbed out to stand beside the bunk, running one hand through his brown hair. He gave her an exasperated glance and then rummaged for a clean towel. Meanwhile, Kara checked the time, noting that there were still several hours before their shift began.
“C’mon, Lee. What is it?”
“I can’t play these games with you,” he muttered, as he turned back to look at her, rubbing at his chest with the gray terrycloth. “I thought…”
“What?”
“Nothing.” His face was expressionless in the dim light.
“You thought what?” she challenged.
He was silent, considering, as he met her gaze. Then he shrugged uneasily. He came back to the bed and sat down on the edge, looking back at her over his shoulder.
“I thought I could…play this game with you. I had fun.”
Surprised, yet not surprised, she didn’t reply for a long moment. And then, through a constricted throat: “I did, too.”
A single eyebrow arched, and the corner of his mouth edged upward in a grudging smile. But it vanished quickly, and he grew serious again.
“I’m still the CAG, Kara. And you’re still one of my pilots. We have a professional responsibility, and I have to set an example.”
“I know,” she said quickly. “Let’s not talk about this anymore, Lee. Okay? This is vacation, right? You know that old saying about Dionysium-what happens in Dionysium-”
“-stays in Dionysium,” he finished for her. “Yeah, I know that one. So what happens in-” he glanced at his watch, “thirteen hours?”
“We do our jobs, Lee, just like always.” She tried for a flat tone but heard the resignation in her own voice.
“And what about this? Us?”
She blinked rapidly, and then steadily stared back at him. “There is no us.”
He nodded, struggling not to react. “Right.”
“We’re on vacation, Lee,” she reminded him thickly. He glanced at her, shifting on the edge of the bed.
Quietly: “I should go.”
“Don’t. Not yet.” She caught his hand, and he realized the effort it had taken her to say even that much. Kara never asked, she demanded, and she took what she wanted without thinking twice. She didn’t make requests. And yet…
And yet, here she was, looking up at him with an indescribable expression, and he found himself twining his fingers with hers.
“Just stay,” she was saying. And he saw how tired she looked, mirroring the weariness he felt, and he felt his resistance melting away. The sweetness and the sex had lifted him onto a tiny temporary raft of euphoria and pushed the horror of the last day, of the last week, down, but now he felt it rising up, and he could only look back into her clear eyes and wonder how long he would be able to soldier on without letting all of it drown him.
Suddenly helpless to resist, he allowed himself to be drawn back down beside her, and they huddled together in the dimness, seeking comfort from one another, a tiny unhappy island in the vastness of the space that surrounded them.
The world was over.
Tomorrow, they both knew, a new fight would begin.
Until then, they only had this, these stolen moments, strung together by their history and experience. It was a bubble outside of time, outside of the destroyed world in which they now lived, and if they never had it again, it would have to be enough for now.
FIN