FIC: The Rites of Hedona- S/D ADULT
Happy Birthday shutthef_up! Aka Courser! Aka the One Who Talks About Stargate Porn With Me!
I hope it's a good birthday for you. I hope I can make it a little better.
My gift to you... Aliens Made Sam and Daniel Have Sex Fic! (Yes, I know, you're so surprised. :p)
I mean, every author has to write at least one of these, don't they?
The Rites of Hedona
By Jennghis Kahn
**
Category: Alien-induced smut, pure and simple. A little humor, a little angst, negligible on both.
Pairing: Sam/Daniel
Rating: ADULT.
Warnings: Graphic sex of the het-type variety, plus mutual m/f mast. Some cussing.
A/N: For Courser’s birthday. I hope she enjoys her fic! Thanks be to rowan_d who did the beta duties on this and did wonders with it. I was writing on a short schedule and she was doing extra duty to correct this piece.
Summary: Oh those darned aliens and their strange sex festivals. What is it about them that we find so embarrassingly enticing?
**
“Umm… could you repeat that, please?” Sam tilted her head at the Hyborian priest standing beside the village’s leader.
Sala, the village leader, blinked at her. The male priest simply arched one brow on his heavily tattooed face and gave her a long-suffering glance. He sighed heavily before speaking, as if she were thick and dull-witted and he couldn’t be bothered to explain things to insects.
“You wish me to explain the ceremony of Hedona again?”
“Yeahhh… that part where Daniel and I have to have sex. I think I really need to hear that again. Yes.”
Beside her, Daniel licked his lips nervously and gave a quick glance around them at the masses of villagers. This was definitely going to be tricky. He cleared his throat softly and let his arm brush Sam’s. A reminder that she needed to tread carefully and perhaps this was more his forte’ than hers. She slid a glance sideways with worried eyes. Message received.
The priest heaved another great sigh and spread his arms while he delivered his speech. “Every spring comes the Rites of Hedona, goddess of life and pleasure. We honor her by completing the Ceremony of Hedona in which each adult shares their life essence and pleasure with a partner of their choice. This makes Hedona strong, and in return she blesses us with good health and untold wealth.”
“Okay, see-“ Sam started to protest, but Daniel placed a warning hand on her shoulder. She relaxed her grip on her P-90 and let him step ahead of her.
Daniel directed his words toward Sala. “Sala, we didn’t know about your ceremony. I understand that it’s important to you, but surely Hedona would make exceptions for visitors?”
“Hedona is a powerful goddess, Daniel. She expects much in return for her power,” Sala said sternly.
The priest beside her lifted his head and peered down his nose at them. “To defy Hedona is to be cursed. The last time we suffered so, it was because of visitors through the gate, like you, who refused to honor the goddess properly. When they left Hyboria and returned through the gate, we were struck with a horrible plague. Many died. Hedona was very displeased with us.”
“But that was obviously a disease brought through by the visitors!” Sam was starting to get a bit twitchy.
“Sam…” Daniel warned, shooting her a dark glare.
“Daniel…” She glared right back at him. “Do you understand what they’re telling us here?”
He waved a hand at her and turned to the priest. “We’ll just leave, okay? We’ll go through the gate before the ceremony. We’ll go right now, and there will be no curse.” He looked hopefully at them.
“Impossible. The gate is now buried.” The priest sighed.
“The gate is WHAT?” Sam jerked upright and widened her eyes.
“The ceremony started at moonrise last night. The gate is lowered into its bed for 2 weeks or until the ceremony is completed. No visitors are allowed to leave or arrive until the curse has been avoided for another year.”
Sam blinked at him. “Well, that’s just ridiculous!”
The priest’s gaze darkened, and Daniel quickly jumped in, placing himself between Sam and the priest, turning to face Sam so he couldn’t be overheard. “Okay, belittling their religion? Not a great idea, Sam.”
“This is insane, Daniel!”
“Every adult on the planet must complete the ceremony. We will not allow you to put our village in danger.” The priest was growing agitated with them.
Sam flushed angrily. “Well, you should tell people that! You should tell people they need to leave or they’re going to have to be part of a sex ceremony. You don’t just ambush people with that! That’s just… just… impolite!”
“Sam…” Daniel was watching the surrounding villagers gathering closer.
“Daniel!”
He stepped into her personal space and held her elbow. “We can work this out. It’s not like they’re threatening to skin us alive and throw us in the evening stew.”
Sam stared at him. He stared back. She settled down a bit. “Okay, okay. You’re right.”
Sala smiled at them. “It is a great festival, Tau’ri! There is no reason to be fearful. There is good food and wine and the worries are few! Because you are visitors and we have learned much from you in your short time here, we would allow you the place of honor for the festivities!” She motioned to a raised slab in the middle of the festival grounds. It was outfitted with pillows and casks of wine and already there were a number of villagers grouped around it, waiting for the show.
“Ahmm… “ Daniel felt his mouth run dry.
Sam’s eyebrows shot upward. “Oh… hell, no.”
Sala smiled. “It is a great honor. Accept and you will be blessed by Hedona for the entire year.”
“We, uh… “ Daniel licked his lips and glanced at Sam. “We’re really a more private people than you are, Sala.”
She shrugged. “Well, no matter. It is your right to refuse the honor.”
“You may not refuse the ceremony though,” the priest stated.
Daniel glanced at Sam and read the same thing in her eyes that was running through his own mind. It’s just you and me and things have gone wrong and the gate is buried now and Jack can’t come back for us. We can’t get a message through. Ohhh, shit.
The priest looked concerned. “If you cannot hold congress with each other, then I am sure we can find a suitable partner for each of you among our village.”
Sala fidgeted a bit and slid her gaze sideways to glance at the priest. “No one wants to join with the aliens, Dar,” she said quietly.
The priest grimaced a bit. He looked almost apologetically at Sam and Daniel. “Indeed, although we welcome you as aliens and wish to learn of your race, you are rather… unfortunate in your appearance.”
“Unfortunate?” Sam shared a glance with Daniel. He shrugged and then directed his gaze to the villagers beyond. They were a people who enjoyed all the excesses of life. They ranged in various shapes and sizes and colors and all had intricate and vast tattoos spanning their entire bodies. They shaved their heads bald while ignoring body hair, shaving that only to work the ink of the tattoos into their skin. Their idea of attractiveness obviously varied greatly from the United States Air Force. Sam shrugged back at him in understanding.
The priest heaved another great sigh at their backwards ways and seemed to take pity on them. “It would be a great test, but our people are generous and caring. Two of them will sacrifice themselves for the good of the whole and will do their best to complete the ceremony with you.”
Sam and Daniel glanced at each other in disbelief.
Daniel took an instinctive step closer to Sam and held up his hand. “Umm… no, we’ll stick together I think.” Sam nodded quickly in agreement, and he continued, “Look, in your culture sex has a different meaning than it does in ours. Colonel Carter and I are friends and nothing more. Sex is reserved-”, he hesitated and looked skyward for a moment as he rolled his eyes and winced, “- for those couples who are in love and wish to marry.”
Sam looked mildly amused, now. The Hyborian leaders did not share in the joke.
“That’s absurd!” The priest nearly spat. “Sex and marriage have nothing to do with each other! One is a sharing of the body, the other a sharing of the heart.”
“Well, we tend to like to do both at the same time,” Sam insisted.
The priest shrugged. “Have it your way. We don’t care as long you complete the ceremony.”
Daniel’s shoulders slumped, and he turned to glance at Sam as she blew a long, frustrated breath from her lips. She met his eyes and he read the sarcasm in them perfectly. This is going well.
“Look,” Sam finally said, feeling a bit belligerent and a lot put out. She ignored Daniel’s alarmed glance. “We’re not going to strip down and have sex for you people. I appreciate that you’ve decided that sex is an important part of your religion and this ceremony, but we come from a place of, er, mostly religious tolerance, and we expect to be treated fairly or there will be no treaty between our planets. Got it?”
The two village leaders and Daniel stared at her. She looked between them, nervously, forefinger tracing the trigger guard on her P-90.
“Um, what Colonel Carter meant is that-“
“Enough!” Sala interrupted him with an angry stare. “I am at the end of my patience. You will be placed in the temple until you change your mind and complete the ceremony.”
“What? No, I don’t think…” Sam started to protest, P-90 coming up, when there were several razor-sharp spear tips suddenly pointed at her head. She flicked a glance toward Daniel and saw several of the same spear tips inches away from his throat. Her stomach fell.
They took her P-90 and Daniel’s pistol but left their knives in their belts. Their packs were scooped up from the commons and given to the young advocates following behind the priest.
“You will get these back and be allowed to leave the planet when you have completed the ceremony,” he instructed as they walked toward the huge stone structure of the village’s temple.
“What if we never complete the ceremony?” Daniel asked with a dry throat.
“There is enough food and water for 2 weeks. It rarely takes that long.” The priest was trying to sound reassuring now, and Daniel felt a sudden urge to throw a foot in front of him and send him sprawling. Which really wouldn’t help their situation any.
“What happens after 2 weeks?” Sam asked.
Sala looked at them with pity. “Well, if someone must die this year, better you than us.”
“Great.”
Daniel glanced at the darkness beyond the doorway of the temple and turned a confused glance to the priest. “How will you even know if we’ve completed the ceremony?”
He smiled coldly at them and lifted his arms. “Hedona will know. Hedona knows all. When you have pleased her, she will release you from bondage.”
They were shoved quickly through the doorway of the temple and the thick stone door slid shut behind them with a grating boom.
They stood in the darkened cavern and looked at each other in resignation.
“Well,” Daniel said dryly. “This is an alarming turn of events.”
“What I wouldn’t give for a Naquadah bomb right about now,” Sam muttered darkly.
**
There were several torches burning in sconces on the stone walls. Far above were narrow cylindrical holes bored into the ceiling. Blue sky showed where they opened up to the roof, allowing the smoke to escape and fresh air in. Daylight streamed down in narrow, illuminated shafts, dust swimming within the confines.
It wasn’t a particularly large room, but it didn’t feel closed in with its high ceilings and columns of light. There was a trickle of water in the corner where a spring bubbled up and filled a small pool before obviously flowing out again underground. In the opposite corner there was a similar set-up, sans the pool, that was apparently the Hyborian version of a chamber pot. Woven sacks and wooden jugs hung from pegs on the walls. When Daniel investigated, they held fruit and root vegetables and dried meats.
“Not exactly the Ritz,” he drawled with a raised eyebrow.
Sam sighed. “Not even the Holiday Inn,” she retorted, grimacing as he held up a dark, wrinkled piece of dried meat.
“I think this one is some sort of liquor,” he said hesitantly, uncorking one of the jugs and sniffing at the contents.
“Good. If nothing else, we can get smashed and you can take advantage of me,” Sam grumbled.
Daniel slid a glance her way, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. He was glad she was still in good spirits.
There were woven blankets rolled into neat bundles placed atop a stone bench. Above the door was a gigantic woven tapestry of a voluptuous woman that Daniel assumed was the goddess Hedona. Running in rows around the room were carved scripts. Daniel hadn’t had time to work out the written language of the Hyborians. It was similar to Cimmerian, and he could work out a bit here and there, but he couldn’t get the entire message.
They moved methodically along the walls, inspecting every crevice and every errant chip. There was nothing. No opening was big enough, no crack was weak enough, no wall thin enough.
“Well, there has to be a trigger somewhere,” Daniel insisted, frustrated. He studied the ceiling looking for abnormalities or holes, anything.
Sam explored the big, sliding door, easing the blade of her ka-bar into the edges, testing the depth and looking for the controls. The door was more than a foot thick. Quite a bit more. She wasn’t sure exactly how it was controlled, but the tip of her knife found nothing.
They pushed at it separately and together. They tried chipping away at the edges with their knives and their boots and then pieces of one water jug. Sam climbed gingerly onto Daniel’s shoulders to study the tapestry and peek behind it.
“Nothing,” she said later as they sat on the carved stone bench and stared piteously at the fading light coming through the narrow chimneys.
“Well, even if you could mix some sort of explosive up, this room isn’t very big. Anything strong enough to blow through those walls would certainly take us out too.”
Sam nodded wearily. “You’re right.”
He handed her a piece of fuzzy, red fruit. “Try this one. It’s pretty good.”
She took it from him and bit into it. It wasn’t overly sweet, but mild and filling. “Thanks.”
“Look,” he said, fingers nervously playing with the cork of the water jug. “Maybe we need to talk about the obvious way out of here.”
Sam swallowed and took a breath before turning her head to look at him. He was looking back, eyes dark blue in the fading light, glasses reflecting the flickering image of a torch behind her. “We haven’t even been here overnight yet,” she said softly. “We haven’t reached that level of desperation, have we?”
“I’m just… putting it out there,” he said, eyes moving over her face. “It’s not like I’d be…” He sighed. “Unable to perform with you.”
She couldn’t help it. She smiled, and felt a bit of heat rush to her face. Thank God for twilight. “Well, yeah, I mean if it’s between sex and dying…” she trailed away and he winced. She grimaced. “Wait, that didn’t come out right. I meant…” She took a deep breath. “I meant thank you. And likewise.”
He smiled and gave an almost wistful nod. “Well, maybe you’ll think of something tomorrow.”
“What about the writing on the walls?” Sam asked, gazing up to where the carved script was disappearing into the lengthening shadows.
Daniel squinted, studying the wall. “I can make out a little of it. It’s not very useful so far. There’s a lot about the virtues of Hedona, her history, her stories. That sort of thing. There’s something above the doorway about true freedom being a gift to others, which-,” he raised his eyebrows in a quick motion, “-I’m assuming is sexual in context.”
Sam shook her head. “Why is it always us?” she muttered.
“Do you think there are sensors or something that can tell when people have, uh, completed the ceremony?” Daniel asked. He took a bite of the red fruit and wiped at the juice that ran over his chin.
Sam shrugged. “Who knows what sort of technology they actually have hidden away here. I didn’t see anything very advanced yesterday, but they kept us pretty isolated in one location. We have sensors that can detect body heat from hundreds of yards away and machines that measure any sort of bodily function we can come up with, so it’s really not out of the question.”
Daniel gazed up toward the ceiling. “Maybe Hedona is watching us.”
**
The next morning, Sam tried some of the green fruit. It tasted vaguely medicinal and practically flowed over her tongue. “Eww. This is fruit?”
Daniel walked back from washing up at the spring and took it from her. He sniffed it and then touched his tongue to it. Immediately he winced. “Eh!”
“Told you.” Sam grinned.
He wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand and dropped the remains of the fruit back into the bag it had come out of. “Ahhh, it’s all slimy,” he complained, trying to wipe his hands off on his pants.
Sam watched him with amusement. “Considering how elaborate and sweet their feast was yesterday morning, I’m sort of surprised they keep that particular fruit on their menu.”
Daniel walked back to the spring to clean his hands on the soft cloths left for that purpose. He glanced back at Sam. “I don’t think we were supposed to eat it.”
She frowned. “What?”
He made his way back to her and sat beside her on the stone bench with a gentle smile. “I, um, I think it was more along the lines of organic Astro Glide.”
Sam furrowed her brow. “Oh.” Her eyes widened suddenly. “Oh!” She made a face. “Well, that’s sort of considerate and yet… creepy.”
Daniel huffed out a small laugh and then grew serious. “Sam… we’ve been all over this room again this morning. There’s no way out of here.”
Sam sobered. “I know.”
He hesitated briefly. “I don’t think we should just sit here for 2 weeks waiting to see what happens.”
“Me either.”
He leaned down and braced his elbows on his knees, then glanced at her. “Sam?”
She looked at him.
He held her gaze. “This doesn’t have to be a big deal for us. We’re good friends and we’re close and this isn’t something that couldn’t have happened back home.” He rolled his eyes a bit. “Well, I mean, the aliens pressing us to have sex wouldn’t happen, but we could just as easily have had a few drinks one night and ended up… together.”
She nodded. “I know, Daniel.”
“Neither of us is attached. We don’t need to justify our actions to anyone.”
“Except the Air Force,” Sam said quietly.
He didn’t say anything for a moment, and then, “Far be it for me to suggest lying on the mission reports, Sam, but-“
“But we don’t need to go into graphic detail,” she finished for him.
He nodded slowly.
Sam leaned forward and mirrored his position. They were close enough that she could feel his body heat and smell the fruit on his breath. “That doesn’t mean I necessarily want to just throw down on the floor and get it on with you. Or that I’d even be able…”
“I’m not saying that we should. Yet. I’m just saying…” He trailed away and seemed to think for a moment. When he looked at her again, she couldn’t keep her gaze from his mouth. “I’m just saying that it’s you and I, Sam. You and I. This should not destroy us. It really shouldn’t.”
She licked her lips nervously, but gave him a faint smile of encouragement. “I agree. If it comes to that…”
He nodded absently and then stared down at the floor. “So, anymore ideas?”
She cleared her throat. “Well, uh, how about… doing it by ourselves?”
He shrugged. “I thought of that too. I don’t know. Maybe? It doesn’t really seem in the spirit of what Dar and Sala were telling us about the ceremony. The whole sharing thing. But if there are just sensors around picking up our body chemistry, it might work.”
“Do you think you could actually, uh…”
“Get off?” Daniel asked wryly with a small grin. Hell, things were bad enough as they were without adding an inability to even speak about sex. “I think so. If we wait 2 weeks, maybe not so much…”
Sam nodded in agreement to that. “It’ll be a little difficult to get in the mood, but I guess I can give it a try. Maybe only one of us has to do it.”
Daniel rubbed at a spot on the back of his hand. “I think we’d better pick something and try it. Something that has several possibilities available at once. If we try one at a time, we’ll spend the entire 2 weeks working up to penetration and we’ll have had more sexual contact than the both of us combined in our lifetimes.”
Sam snorted. “What do you suggest?”
“Wanna get drunk and get laid?”
She hit his knee with hers. “Daniel.”
He smiled, battling to keep his nerves at bay. “We’ll try the solo touch thing first, okay? We’ll do it at the same time. I think that’d be closest to the spirit of the ceremony, and we’ll be less self-conscious if both of us are occupied.”
Sam exhaled a long breath. “Right.” She glanced at him. “Look, Daniel. Thank you for being so matter-of-fact about this. You’re really keeping me from going nuts here.”
He gave her a lazy smile; his gaze skimming along her face, before he leaned against her shoulder and suddenly pressed a quick and chaste kiss to her cheek. “How else can we be? Freaking out isn’t going to help anything, and I trust you.”
She bit her lip a bit and felt ridiculous. “I trust you too. Honestly, if I have to be in this situation with someone, I’m glad it’s you and not Jack or Teal’c. You and I, we can handle this.”
Daniel smirked a bit. “Well, I have to say, if I’m going to be in a situation where I have to have sex with a teammate… I’m pretty glad it’s not Jack or Teal’c either.”
Sam leaned into him, pressing her face briefly to his shoulder as she laughed. “Oh my God, we really are eggheads. We’re talking this thing to death!”
“Come on,” he said softly. He grabbed her wrist. “Let’s just do it. Get it done.”
He stood and pulled her up beside him. She exhaled another long breath. “Where?”
Daniel glanced around and then led her toward the door. He glanced up at the tapestry of Hedona. “Here, I guess. If Hedona’s such a voyeur, we might as well give her a good look.”
“All right.”
Daniel turned to face her, fingers sliding to his belt buckle. “Um, I’m going to kneel, okay? Sit back on my heels. It’ll be… easier for me that way.” She met his gaze, and he watched something change in her eyes. She nodded confidently, still tense but the nervousness was starting to disappear.
“Okay,” she replied. “I think that’ll be easier for me too.” They’d decided on a course of action, and she was going to see it out. Anyway, he was right. This didn’t have to be some big drama between them. She started pulling the bottom of her T-shirt from her trousers.
He pulled his belt loose and worked at the buttons on his fly. “Back to back?”
“Yeah. I’m not sure if it’d help or hurt to have you watch me,” she answered truthfully. He didn’t answer, but he smiled faintly in agreement. He turned away from her and lowered himself to his knees. She saw him push his trousers down over mid-thigh before he sat back on the heels of his boots, spreading his knees.
Something inside her clenched a bit. Warmly.
She stepped behind him and turned her back to him, working on the buttons to her own trousers and letting them slip just past her hips before she knelt down and then sat on her heels. She left the Underarmor shorts on that she wore for underwear on missions. She could work around those.
“If you need to lean back against me, go ahead,” Daniel said quietly from behind her. “I’ll hold you up.”
“Okay.” She swallowed. He was directly behind her. She could feel the air around her move when he did. She could hear the rustling of his clothes and his breath. God.
She moved her legs apart a bit then realized she had to tilt back to slide her hand down. Her head brushed Daniel’s neck. She was not at all sure this was going to work as she slid her hand beneath her shorts and between her own legs. Behind her she could tell Daniel was getting started. He was silent, but she felt the movements of his arm so close to her. She closed her eyes and concentrated, trying a few cursory strokes around her clit first to raise some sort of arousal. She was surprised when she found she was already damp. She realized the image of Daniel behind her, knees spread as he sat on the heels of his boots, hand moving slowly between his thighs, was seared into her mind. And it wasn’t a bad image.
She took a shaky breath and began to rub lightly.
Daniel glanced down and watched his cock slide through his hand. He was hard enough for his regular, preferred stroke, but he hadn’t signed the deal yet. He wasn’t “dedicated” hard yet. He slid the pads of his fingers over the smooth tip and then rubbed at the glans. It definitely sent a ripple up his spine. He slid his other hand beneath his balls to anchor himself. Jesus… this was fucked up, and yet…
Sam took a gasping breath behind him. She was obviously trying to hide it, but he heard the shaky quality anyway. It made his dick jump up a bit. He realized he was listening intently, trying to hear anything of what she was doing. Her head was coming back and occasionally her hair would brush the back of his neck. Oh, so fucked up… but damn it… he’d just gotten dedicated hard in moments. Sam… God. Just knowing what she was doing behind him, regardless of their relationship, was making this a hell of a lot easier than he thought it would be.
He closed his eyes and twisted his palm around so he was sliding up and down in firm, hard strokes, pulling a bit at the end when he reached the head. His breath leaked slowly out of him in undisguised pleasure.
Sam bit her lip as the sound of Daniel’s hard breath reached her. She could hear the whisper quiet sound of skin on skin, and absurdly wondered if he preferred to jerk-off dry. Obviously, or he could have used the fruit, she thought. That drew a smile to her lips and she lost some of the momentum she had going. It definitely felt good, but…
Daniel exhaled again, long and slow. At the end of it, she heard just the hint of his voice. It was definitely a moan. Her smile faded and she felt that tight clench between her legs as her mouth ran dry. They had both leaned back naturally as the act had progressed, and now she could feel his shoulder against hers, the muscles bunching and sliding fluidly as his wrist moved.
There was a delicate coil of tension building in her belly, and she suddenly realized she could do this. Not only could she do this, she wanted to do this. She wanted to listen to Daniel and imagine him kneeling there, pleasure on his face, as she got herself off. She wanted him to listen to her and be just as aroused as she was.
She tried to swallow a gasp and failed. When he moaned softly again, she gave up. She leaned back against him, feeling him inhale sharply and then press back to brace her. She rubbed the pad of one finger right down over her clit and the pleasure surged outwards.
The slide-whisper of skin on skin was faster behind her, and suddenly Daniel’s voice came from behind her, breathless and tight and a bit hoarse. “Sam… I can’t hold it much longer.”
She focused in on one small area and squeezed her eyes shut. “It’s okay, Daniel.” Her voice sounded like sex, even in her own head.
Daniel pressed back harder against her and then groaned roughly. Then he groaned again and she thought she heard rain hitting the floor of the temple before she tensed and then she was coming, relief and heat racing along every nerve, her body shaking against Daniel’s hard shoulders, head arched back against his until she’d worked through it.
**
She slid down onto her ass on the stone floor and felt Daniel do the same behind her. They leaned heavily against each other.
“Fuck… “ He sighed tiredly.
She grinned and then laughed, his uncommon cursing overcoming the embarrassment that had been starting to creep into her aftermath.
“Find that funny?” he asked indignantly. She could hear the smile in his voice.
“A little,” she answered.
He leaned his head back against hers. Then he suddenly jerked it up again. “The door…”
She looked to the side. The door remained tightly closed. Not even a speck of dust moved out of place.
She sagged back against him. “Fuck,” she sighed tiredly.
**
Daniel watched her sleep. He’d dozed for a while himself but hadn’t been able to fall deeply asleep. His watch told him it was late morning. Sam lay on her back on one of the Hyborian sleeping mats on the floor, her SGC jacket draped over her like a blanket.
Some part of his mind was telling him that no matter how close they were and how okay they thought this was… having sex would change them. Already had. He didn’t believe sex should have the power to ruin their friendship. Not like this anyway. If they’d been pining away for each other for years, yeah. Maybe then. He wasn’t sure if he was being pragmatic or just justifying some lame psychological whim. It didn’t really matter.
Her breath hitched a bit and then her eyelids fluttered open. Blue eyes looked up sleepily and focused on him. Her brows furrowed. “What are you doing?”
He smiled, realizing he’d been caught but not in any panic to escape. “Thinking.”
“’Bout what?” She yawned.
“What do you think?” He took a wry tone, but gently. They were in this together. He slid down onto his side next to her again.
Sam breathed deeply and turned to face him. “We’ll get out of here, Daniel.”
“We always do,” he replied.
She smiled. He closed his eyes briefly and let out a long, heavy breath that made Sam flash back to way he’d sounded while he was getting himself off. She felt a little catch in her belly that ran straight between her legs. She wondered with some concern if she’d now get that mental image of him every time he sighed across from her at the briefing table. It wasn’t a bad thought, but the soldier in her winced at the complications that might arise.
Could they share this together and then just let it go? Let it just exist between them in their lives without poking at it or examining it too hard?
Maybe she was already thinking too hard. They needed to get the hell out of here first.
“Hey,” he called quietly.
She met his gaze. “What?”
He pursed his lips a bit the way he always did when he was about to say something he was uneasy about. “Have you ever considered me… in that way?”
She lifted her eyebrows. “Like dating you? Or just sleeping with you?”
“Well, both, I guess.”
“Sure.” She gave a nod of acquiescence. “Of course I have. More than once, even. How could I not, Daniel?”
“I know. Me too.”
“Especially that first year,” she said with a smile. “I was really impressed with you then.”
“Not now?” He frowned at her.
“Yes,” she insisted. “Now, too, but in a different way. You’re not that same idealistic young man anymore.”
He shrugged. “Maybe I’ve just grown up.”
“Maybe I have too.”
He gave her that lop-sided, barely-there smile. The one that wasn’t meant to impress or convey anything except that it was Daniel and he felt like smiling. She looked over the planes of his face, realizing she knew each small feature down to the smallest patch on his jaw where his beard wouldn’t grow well.
She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his.
He drew a quick breath of surprise but made no movements and allowed her to kiss him. Just as she began to pull back, he jumped forward a bit and moved his lips against hers.
They pulled apart.
“Let’s just do this,” Sam said.
“Okay.” He looked at her in concern. “You sure?”
“Yes. We’re not going anywhere until we’ve had sex. I’m not sitting around in this temple for 2 weeks in angst over something so ridiculous. Besides which, I have lab time scheduled at Area 51 next week, and I am NOT missing it.”
He smiled.
She hesitated suddenly, concern in her eyes. “I don’t mean to get all bossy here. I mean, if you’re not ready yet…”
He swallowed with a dry throat. “I’m ready,” he assured her. He was working through a case of nerves, but the earlier encounter had relaxed him a bit and made him more comfortable. And Jesus… it had really turned him on.
“How do you want to do it?” he asked. He felt he should.
Sam wavered a bit. He watched it happen in her eyes. She was such crap at hiding her feelings when it came to her eyes. “Uh…”
“Do you just want to get it over with? I’m pretty sure you need to come, Sam. If you want to get yourself there again, I could just…”
“I…” She looked a little startled by the idea. “Is that how you want to do it?”
“Not really, no.”
She looked questioningly at him.
He cleared his throat nervously. “I really need you to be into this, Sam. I think it’d help if we both were.” He brought his gaze to hers and licked dry lips. “I want to make you come.”
She had to hold her breath to keep it from bursting out in a rush. Godgodgod. She nodded.
He eased toward her on the sleeping mat until he was stretched out directly beside her. He slowly pulled her jacket away and then leaned in. “Okay.” He nodded. His hand slid carefully onto her hip. “Tell me if I do something you don’t like. I’m uh… not going to get freaky or anything.”
That made her laugh. She couldn’t help it. Daniel was just so… Daniel. And yes, he was attractive, and yes, she’d wondered about him from time to time, but it was still Daniel and this was so not something to get upset about.
She moved into his arms and let him kiss her. He slid one thick forearm down around her waist, bringing her flush against him. His tongue slipped against hers, and she wasn’t sure why, but this seemed the most intimate of the acts they’d have to commit right then. He kissed well. Even as he kissed her harder, his mouth was soft and arousing.
Daniel used his weight to urge her onto her back. She looped her arms around his neck, pulling him after her. It was a heady thing, having Sam Carter beneath him, her mouth moving with his, her familiar scent surrounding him in a very new way. He really wanted to explore the rest of her.
Daniel moved slowly, sliding one hand across her stomach, over her T-shirt. When she slid her fingers into his hair, he rubbed his thumb in small circles beneath her breast. Tentative. He wasn’t sure how far she wanted him to go with this. He was pretty sure he wanted to take it as far as she’d let him though. Her thigh moved against his, and when he leaned over her a bit more; she was rubbing up against the fly of his trousers. He was quickly getting hard.
“Okay?” he asked against her chin as he kissed her on the jaw.
“Yeah,” she answered. Her voice was a little breathy. It made him break out in a sweat.
He slid his mouth down to her neck, keeping it slow and easy. When her breath caught and he felt her swallow, he hesitated and slid his open mouth warmly over the spot again. He moved his hand down and under the hem of her T-shirt, pushing his fingers up over the smooth skin and sliding them around the contours of her bra. She moaned just a bit. He shifted his legs trying to find a position where his now very hard cock could rest comfortably in his trousers.
Several hours was more than a generous refractory period for him. Despite how erotic he’d found it to sit back to back with her and stroke himself while he listened to her get herself off, this was even sexier. It was new and it had been a while and it was Sam.
Sam reached down to grab at Daniel’s T-shirt, urging it upwards. He pulled his mouth off of her neck and sat up, reaching back over his head to grab a handful of the fabric and slide it up and off. He looked back at her.
"You want to, uh... just get it all off?"
She hesitated and then sat up beside him. She peeled off her trousers and then her shirt while he shoved his BDU's down his legs and off. He wore boxer briefs beneath, which she had known he preferred, but she started feeling a bit more self-conscious anyway. As he shucked the boxers, she steeled her resolve and slipped out of her bra before shedding the shorts as well.
She was suddenly aware of the cool air moving through the room.
His eyes flickered down her body as he turned toward her again. She knew he couldn't help it. She felt a nervous flutter. His eyes reached hers, and he studied her for a moment. "Come on," he said softly, no command in his voice. She went, gaze sliding downward as he twisted around to face her. He was hard, a wet glisten at the tip, sparse dark hair covering his groin and creeping toward his navel. She realized they were definitely going to do this.
Daniel slid a hand into her hair and tugged her head closer. He kissed her lightly. There was a slight nervous tension between them now that he didn’t want there. He drew her up onto her knees with him then slid his arms around her.
“Still okay?”
“Yeah, you?”
“Yes.” His mouth dragged down over her neck again, his hands sliding around her breasts. He was a soft touch. It made her tense in all the right places. She let him lay her out again, and he seemed to take confidence in that. She ran her hands from his hair to the shallow dent between his shoulder blades as his mouth moved down her body. He gave soft licks to her nipples and then left a warm, wet trail along her navel. She shifted a bit as he ran his mouth over her hip. He hesitated there, pressing his forehead against her abdomen and giving a quiet groan. She took a deep breath. He’d raised the anticipation in her. She felt a little drunk.
“Sam…”
She looked down to where blue eyes looked back. She’d never seen this expression on his face before. It caused an unexpected ache between her legs. His hands gripped her thighs, thumbs always moving in those small circles. She could see his chest moving with his breath, a little faster than normal.
He glanced down between her legs. “I’d really like to…” He stumbled a bit over the wording. “… Use my mouth.”
Assent stuck in her throat, but God, she wanted him to. Every sensitive nerve in her body flared with want. She finally just nodded.
“Tell me if it’s too much,” he murmured, and then he was easing her legs apart, and she was as open to him as she’d been to any man in her bed. She felt the rough drag of his day-old beard against the inside of her thighs, and then a tentative slide of tongue.
She bit her lip.
He used tongue and lips on her, stopping occasionally when she couldn’t keep her hips still. He’d pull back then, just barely, his breath blowing lightly over her while she settled down and tensed with expectation. She moaned finally when his hands tightened on her and held her hard to his mouth, tongue slipping on her clit with determination. Her hands wanted to grab his head, but she didn’t know if he’d like that or not. She anchored her fingers in the sleeping mat instead. She realized distantly that she was getting too close to orgasm. The best possible scenario was for them to come together, or as close as they could manage. Her body definitely wanted to just forget it and let go. It was with difficulty that she slid a hand into his hair and tugged gently.
“Daniel… God, stop.”
He did. He stopped and she heard him swallow even from his position between her legs.
Daniel took a moment. He pressed his lips together and rose slowly, hearing Sam’s deep sighs filling the quiet chamber. She was close, and he was enthralled with that. His belly was damp where his cock had been pressed against it. He wiped a hand over his mouth before sliding onto his side next to her. She turned immediately and pressed her mouth to his, her hand running over his chest and then down his stomach. He returned the kiss, his mind following her hand as it crept lower.
When her palm slid over his aching cock, he jumped. But then her thumb was rubbing over the tip and he heard himself groaning into her mouth. Good, good. So damn good.
“Is it okay if you’re on top?” he asked, voice sounding too deep to be his.
“Are you sure?” She was already pushing him down onto his back.
“Yeah. Just take it easy. I’m not far off.”
He stretched out underneath her then slid his hands up her thighs, helping her get her balance over him. She braced her hands on his shoulders and he guided her. And fuck… he was sliding inside of her. He closed his eyes, feeling the air in his lungs pressing outward. Suddenly his entire mind was centered on his dick, and he gritted his teeth.
“Fuhhh…” He wanted to swear, but couldn’t quite get it all out. She was warm and snug and wet and she knew what she was doing. She took it easy and worked slowly, and although his control remained tenuous, it remained.
She rocked on him rather than sliding up and down. He felt his desperation ease a bit. He could hear his own hard, fast breaths along with hers. Her eyes were downcast; her head low as she rode him. He watched her for a moment with total awe. Muscle moved fluidly in her arms and her abs, and his eyes were drawn to the pale breasts just out of his reach. Oh, he was not going to last long now.
“Sit up,” he told her, voice thick.
She did, blue eyes looking down at him, heavy-lidded now instead of wide and flashing. He slid fingers through the blonde hair between her legs and pressed on her clit with his thumb. Her own rhythmic movements worked her against him.
She moaned, and he thrust his hips upwards. She wanted to move faster as she got closer, and his thumb kept slipping. He finally put an iron hold on her thigh, holding her against his thumb, and pushed his hips up into her, fucking her from below. Jesus, come on, Sam, he thought desperately. He couldn’t take this much longer.
She came. She arched her back and moaned long and low, and she came apart on him. He was gone. He grabbed her hips and dug his heels into the floor, and tightened his jaw to stone as orgasm overtook him. It was good and it was hard and he could smell his own semen thick in the air as he hit the bottom of the fall.
**
They lay silently in the aftermath, the air cold against sweat-soaked skin, Sam warm and still breathing hard on top of him. She bent her head against his shoulder, hands still braced on his chest, his softening cock still buried inside her. His breath stirred her hair.
She thought about saying something but didn’t feel the need. It was good. They both knew it. She disengaged herself from him slowly, sliding to his side. He glanced at her, eyes searching hers for a moment. She smiled. He smiled back.
There was a low rumble that confused them both for a moment, and then fresh air swept into the room around the door sliding open before them.
“Oh, thank God!” Sam said, collapsing in a boneless heap next to him.
Daniel laughed. “I guess Hedona was pleased.”
“Hedona needs to hit some 12 step meetings. She’s a little too obsessed with sex.”
“Let’s get out of here.”
They were lacing up their boots when a noise at the door made them look up. A tattooed face peered into the chamber and stared at them.
“Dar?” Daniel stood.
The priest stepped into the chamber and raised his hands. “Praise be to Hedona! The ceremony is now complete! The curse has been avoided for another year!”
“Yeah, great, glad to help,” Sam muttered, yanking her jacket on. “Can I have my gun back now?”
“Of course.” The priest smiled. “The gate will be unburied immediately and you will be allowed to go. We thank you for joining us in our celebration.”
“Oh yeah?” Sam started toward him, and Daniel grabbed her arm.
“Sam…”
She glared at him but let him pull her back and lead her out of the temple. Dar took several steps back as she passed by. “You have done a good thing,” he said to her, his manner friendly, now.
She gave him a dark look, but she didn’t contradict him. It hadn’t been ideal, but… bad? No. Not that either.
“You okay?” Daniel asked her as they walked back to the gate.
She glanced at him and hesitated for a moment. “I’m fine,” she finally answered, then she smiled at him. “You and I, right?”
He nodded, eyes clear in the sun. “You and I,” he repeated firmly.
~end~
I hope it's a good birthday for you. I hope I can make it a little better.
My gift to you... Aliens Made Sam and Daniel Have Sex Fic! (Yes, I know, you're so surprised. :p)
I mean, every author has to write at least one of these, don't they?
The Rites of Hedona
By Jennghis Kahn
**
Category: Alien-induced smut, pure and simple. A little humor, a little angst, negligible on both.
Pairing: Sam/Daniel
Rating: ADULT.
Warnings: Graphic sex of the het-type variety, plus mutual m/f mast. Some cussing.
A/N: For Courser’s birthday. I hope she enjoys her fic! Thanks be to rowan_d who did the beta duties on this and did wonders with it. I was writing on a short schedule and she was doing extra duty to correct this piece.
Summary: Oh those darned aliens and their strange sex festivals. What is it about them that we find so embarrassingly enticing?
**
“Umm… could you repeat that, please?” Sam tilted her head at the Hyborian priest standing beside the village’s leader.
Sala, the village leader, blinked at her. The male priest simply arched one brow on his heavily tattooed face and gave her a long-suffering glance. He sighed heavily before speaking, as if she were thick and dull-witted and he couldn’t be bothered to explain things to insects.
“You wish me to explain the ceremony of Hedona again?”
“Yeahhh… that part where Daniel and I have to have sex. I think I really need to hear that again. Yes.”
Beside her, Daniel licked his lips nervously and gave a quick glance around them at the masses of villagers. This was definitely going to be tricky. He cleared his throat softly and let his arm brush Sam’s. A reminder that she needed to tread carefully and perhaps this was more his forte’ than hers. She slid a glance sideways with worried eyes. Message received.
The priest heaved another great sigh and spread his arms while he delivered his speech. “Every spring comes the Rites of Hedona, goddess of life and pleasure. We honor her by completing the Ceremony of Hedona in which each adult shares their life essence and pleasure with a partner of their choice. This makes Hedona strong, and in return she blesses us with good health and untold wealth.”
“Okay, see-“ Sam started to protest, but Daniel placed a warning hand on her shoulder. She relaxed her grip on her P-90 and let him step ahead of her.
Daniel directed his words toward Sala. “Sala, we didn’t know about your ceremony. I understand that it’s important to you, but surely Hedona would make exceptions for visitors?”
“Hedona is a powerful goddess, Daniel. She expects much in return for her power,” Sala said sternly.
The priest beside her lifted his head and peered down his nose at them. “To defy Hedona is to be cursed. The last time we suffered so, it was because of visitors through the gate, like you, who refused to honor the goddess properly. When they left Hyboria and returned through the gate, we were struck with a horrible plague. Many died. Hedona was very displeased with us.”
“But that was obviously a disease brought through by the visitors!” Sam was starting to get a bit twitchy.
“Sam…” Daniel warned, shooting her a dark glare.
“Daniel…” She glared right back at him. “Do you understand what they’re telling us here?”
He waved a hand at her and turned to the priest. “We’ll just leave, okay? We’ll go through the gate before the ceremony. We’ll go right now, and there will be no curse.” He looked hopefully at them.
“Impossible. The gate is now buried.” The priest sighed.
“The gate is WHAT?” Sam jerked upright and widened her eyes.
“The ceremony started at moonrise last night. The gate is lowered into its bed for 2 weeks or until the ceremony is completed. No visitors are allowed to leave or arrive until the curse has been avoided for another year.”
Sam blinked at him. “Well, that’s just ridiculous!”
The priest’s gaze darkened, and Daniel quickly jumped in, placing himself between Sam and the priest, turning to face Sam so he couldn’t be overheard. “Okay, belittling their religion? Not a great idea, Sam.”
“This is insane, Daniel!”
“Every adult on the planet must complete the ceremony. We will not allow you to put our village in danger.” The priest was growing agitated with them.
Sam flushed angrily. “Well, you should tell people that! You should tell people they need to leave or they’re going to have to be part of a sex ceremony. You don’t just ambush people with that! That’s just… just… impolite!”
“Sam…” Daniel was watching the surrounding villagers gathering closer.
“Daniel!”
He stepped into her personal space and held her elbow. “We can work this out. It’s not like they’re threatening to skin us alive and throw us in the evening stew.”
Sam stared at him. He stared back. She settled down a bit. “Okay, okay. You’re right.”
Sala smiled at them. “It is a great festival, Tau’ri! There is no reason to be fearful. There is good food and wine and the worries are few! Because you are visitors and we have learned much from you in your short time here, we would allow you the place of honor for the festivities!” She motioned to a raised slab in the middle of the festival grounds. It was outfitted with pillows and casks of wine and already there were a number of villagers grouped around it, waiting for the show.
“Ahmm… “ Daniel felt his mouth run dry.
Sam’s eyebrows shot upward. “Oh… hell, no.”
Sala smiled. “It is a great honor. Accept and you will be blessed by Hedona for the entire year.”
“We, uh… “ Daniel licked his lips and glanced at Sam. “We’re really a more private people than you are, Sala.”
She shrugged. “Well, no matter. It is your right to refuse the honor.”
“You may not refuse the ceremony though,” the priest stated.
Daniel glanced at Sam and read the same thing in her eyes that was running through his own mind. It’s just you and me and things have gone wrong and the gate is buried now and Jack can’t come back for us. We can’t get a message through. Ohhh, shit.
The priest looked concerned. “If you cannot hold congress with each other, then I am sure we can find a suitable partner for each of you among our village.”
Sala fidgeted a bit and slid her gaze sideways to glance at the priest. “No one wants to join with the aliens, Dar,” she said quietly.
The priest grimaced a bit. He looked almost apologetically at Sam and Daniel. “Indeed, although we welcome you as aliens and wish to learn of your race, you are rather… unfortunate in your appearance.”
“Unfortunate?” Sam shared a glance with Daniel. He shrugged and then directed his gaze to the villagers beyond. They were a people who enjoyed all the excesses of life. They ranged in various shapes and sizes and colors and all had intricate and vast tattoos spanning their entire bodies. They shaved their heads bald while ignoring body hair, shaving that only to work the ink of the tattoos into their skin. Their idea of attractiveness obviously varied greatly from the United States Air Force. Sam shrugged back at him in understanding.
The priest heaved another great sigh at their backwards ways and seemed to take pity on them. “It would be a great test, but our people are generous and caring. Two of them will sacrifice themselves for the good of the whole and will do their best to complete the ceremony with you.”
Sam and Daniel glanced at each other in disbelief.
Daniel took an instinctive step closer to Sam and held up his hand. “Umm… no, we’ll stick together I think.” Sam nodded quickly in agreement, and he continued, “Look, in your culture sex has a different meaning than it does in ours. Colonel Carter and I are friends and nothing more. Sex is reserved-”, he hesitated and looked skyward for a moment as he rolled his eyes and winced, “- for those couples who are in love and wish to marry.”
Sam looked mildly amused, now. The Hyborian leaders did not share in the joke.
“That’s absurd!” The priest nearly spat. “Sex and marriage have nothing to do with each other! One is a sharing of the body, the other a sharing of the heart.”
“Well, we tend to like to do both at the same time,” Sam insisted.
The priest shrugged. “Have it your way. We don’t care as long you complete the ceremony.”
Daniel’s shoulders slumped, and he turned to glance at Sam as she blew a long, frustrated breath from her lips. She met his eyes and he read the sarcasm in them perfectly. This is going well.
“Look,” Sam finally said, feeling a bit belligerent and a lot put out. She ignored Daniel’s alarmed glance. “We’re not going to strip down and have sex for you people. I appreciate that you’ve decided that sex is an important part of your religion and this ceremony, but we come from a place of, er, mostly religious tolerance, and we expect to be treated fairly or there will be no treaty between our planets. Got it?”
The two village leaders and Daniel stared at her. She looked between them, nervously, forefinger tracing the trigger guard on her P-90.
“Um, what Colonel Carter meant is that-“
“Enough!” Sala interrupted him with an angry stare. “I am at the end of my patience. You will be placed in the temple until you change your mind and complete the ceremony.”
“What? No, I don’t think…” Sam started to protest, P-90 coming up, when there were several razor-sharp spear tips suddenly pointed at her head. She flicked a glance toward Daniel and saw several of the same spear tips inches away from his throat. Her stomach fell.
They took her P-90 and Daniel’s pistol but left their knives in their belts. Their packs were scooped up from the commons and given to the young advocates following behind the priest.
“You will get these back and be allowed to leave the planet when you have completed the ceremony,” he instructed as they walked toward the huge stone structure of the village’s temple.
“What if we never complete the ceremony?” Daniel asked with a dry throat.
“There is enough food and water for 2 weeks. It rarely takes that long.” The priest was trying to sound reassuring now, and Daniel felt a sudden urge to throw a foot in front of him and send him sprawling. Which really wouldn’t help their situation any.
“What happens after 2 weeks?” Sam asked.
Sala looked at them with pity. “Well, if someone must die this year, better you than us.”
“Great.”
Daniel glanced at the darkness beyond the doorway of the temple and turned a confused glance to the priest. “How will you even know if we’ve completed the ceremony?”
He smiled coldly at them and lifted his arms. “Hedona will know. Hedona knows all. When you have pleased her, she will release you from bondage.”
They were shoved quickly through the doorway of the temple and the thick stone door slid shut behind them with a grating boom.
They stood in the darkened cavern and looked at each other in resignation.
“Well,” Daniel said dryly. “This is an alarming turn of events.”
“What I wouldn’t give for a Naquadah bomb right about now,” Sam muttered darkly.
**
There were several torches burning in sconces on the stone walls. Far above were narrow cylindrical holes bored into the ceiling. Blue sky showed where they opened up to the roof, allowing the smoke to escape and fresh air in. Daylight streamed down in narrow, illuminated shafts, dust swimming within the confines.
It wasn’t a particularly large room, but it didn’t feel closed in with its high ceilings and columns of light. There was a trickle of water in the corner where a spring bubbled up and filled a small pool before obviously flowing out again underground. In the opposite corner there was a similar set-up, sans the pool, that was apparently the Hyborian version of a chamber pot. Woven sacks and wooden jugs hung from pegs on the walls. When Daniel investigated, they held fruit and root vegetables and dried meats.
“Not exactly the Ritz,” he drawled with a raised eyebrow.
Sam sighed. “Not even the Holiday Inn,” she retorted, grimacing as he held up a dark, wrinkled piece of dried meat.
“I think this one is some sort of liquor,” he said hesitantly, uncorking one of the jugs and sniffing at the contents.
“Good. If nothing else, we can get smashed and you can take advantage of me,” Sam grumbled.
Daniel slid a glance her way, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. He was glad she was still in good spirits.
There were woven blankets rolled into neat bundles placed atop a stone bench. Above the door was a gigantic woven tapestry of a voluptuous woman that Daniel assumed was the goddess Hedona. Running in rows around the room were carved scripts. Daniel hadn’t had time to work out the written language of the Hyborians. It was similar to Cimmerian, and he could work out a bit here and there, but he couldn’t get the entire message.
They moved methodically along the walls, inspecting every crevice and every errant chip. There was nothing. No opening was big enough, no crack was weak enough, no wall thin enough.
“Well, there has to be a trigger somewhere,” Daniel insisted, frustrated. He studied the ceiling looking for abnormalities or holes, anything.
Sam explored the big, sliding door, easing the blade of her ka-bar into the edges, testing the depth and looking for the controls. The door was more than a foot thick. Quite a bit more. She wasn’t sure exactly how it was controlled, but the tip of her knife found nothing.
They pushed at it separately and together. They tried chipping away at the edges with their knives and their boots and then pieces of one water jug. Sam climbed gingerly onto Daniel’s shoulders to study the tapestry and peek behind it.
“Nothing,” she said later as they sat on the carved stone bench and stared piteously at the fading light coming through the narrow chimneys.
“Well, even if you could mix some sort of explosive up, this room isn’t very big. Anything strong enough to blow through those walls would certainly take us out too.”
Sam nodded wearily. “You’re right.”
He handed her a piece of fuzzy, red fruit. “Try this one. It’s pretty good.”
She took it from him and bit into it. It wasn’t overly sweet, but mild and filling. “Thanks.”
“Look,” he said, fingers nervously playing with the cork of the water jug. “Maybe we need to talk about the obvious way out of here.”
Sam swallowed and took a breath before turning her head to look at him. He was looking back, eyes dark blue in the fading light, glasses reflecting the flickering image of a torch behind her. “We haven’t even been here overnight yet,” she said softly. “We haven’t reached that level of desperation, have we?”
“I’m just… putting it out there,” he said, eyes moving over her face. “It’s not like I’d be…” He sighed. “Unable to perform with you.”
She couldn’t help it. She smiled, and felt a bit of heat rush to her face. Thank God for twilight. “Well, yeah, I mean if it’s between sex and dying…” she trailed away and he winced. She grimaced. “Wait, that didn’t come out right. I meant…” She took a deep breath. “I meant thank you. And likewise.”
He smiled and gave an almost wistful nod. “Well, maybe you’ll think of something tomorrow.”
“What about the writing on the walls?” Sam asked, gazing up to where the carved script was disappearing into the lengthening shadows.
Daniel squinted, studying the wall. “I can make out a little of it. It’s not very useful so far. There’s a lot about the virtues of Hedona, her history, her stories. That sort of thing. There’s something above the doorway about true freedom being a gift to others, which-,” he raised his eyebrows in a quick motion, “-I’m assuming is sexual in context.”
Sam shook her head. “Why is it always us?” she muttered.
“Do you think there are sensors or something that can tell when people have, uh, completed the ceremony?” Daniel asked. He took a bite of the red fruit and wiped at the juice that ran over his chin.
Sam shrugged. “Who knows what sort of technology they actually have hidden away here. I didn’t see anything very advanced yesterday, but they kept us pretty isolated in one location. We have sensors that can detect body heat from hundreds of yards away and machines that measure any sort of bodily function we can come up with, so it’s really not out of the question.”
Daniel gazed up toward the ceiling. “Maybe Hedona is watching us.”
**
The next morning, Sam tried some of the green fruit. It tasted vaguely medicinal and practically flowed over her tongue. “Eww. This is fruit?”
Daniel walked back from washing up at the spring and took it from her. He sniffed it and then touched his tongue to it. Immediately he winced. “Eh!”
“Told you.” Sam grinned.
He wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand and dropped the remains of the fruit back into the bag it had come out of. “Ahhh, it’s all slimy,” he complained, trying to wipe his hands off on his pants.
Sam watched him with amusement. “Considering how elaborate and sweet their feast was yesterday morning, I’m sort of surprised they keep that particular fruit on their menu.”
Daniel walked back to the spring to clean his hands on the soft cloths left for that purpose. He glanced back at Sam. “I don’t think we were supposed to eat it.”
She frowned. “What?”
He made his way back to her and sat beside her on the stone bench with a gentle smile. “I, um, I think it was more along the lines of organic Astro Glide.”
Sam furrowed her brow. “Oh.” Her eyes widened suddenly. “Oh!” She made a face. “Well, that’s sort of considerate and yet… creepy.”
Daniel huffed out a small laugh and then grew serious. “Sam… we’ve been all over this room again this morning. There’s no way out of here.”
Sam sobered. “I know.”
He hesitated briefly. “I don’t think we should just sit here for 2 weeks waiting to see what happens.”
“Me either.”
He leaned down and braced his elbows on his knees, then glanced at her. “Sam?”
She looked at him.
He held her gaze. “This doesn’t have to be a big deal for us. We’re good friends and we’re close and this isn’t something that couldn’t have happened back home.” He rolled his eyes a bit. “Well, I mean, the aliens pressing us to have sex wouldn’t happen, but we could just as easily have had a few drinks one night and ended up… together.”
She nodded. “I know, Daniel.”
“Neither of us is attached. We don’t need to justify our actions to anyone.”
“Except the Air Force,” Sam said quietly.
He didn’t say anything for a moment, and then, “Far be it for me to suggest lying on the mission reports, Sam, but-“
“But we don’t need to go into graphic detail,” she finished for him.
He nodded slowly.
Sam leaned forward and mirrored his position. They were close enough that she could feel his body heat and smell the fruit on his breath. “That doesn’t mean I necessarily want to just throw down on the floor and get it on with you. Or that I’d even be able…”
“I’m not saying that we should. Yet. I’m just saying…” He trailed away and seemed to think for a moment. When he looked at her again, she couldn’t keep her gaze from his mouth. “I’m just saying that it’s you and I, Sam. You and I. This should not destroy us. It really shouldn’t.”
She licked her lips nervously, but gave him a faint smile of encouragement. “I agree. If it comes to that…”
He nodded absently and then stared down at the floor. “So, anymore ideas?”
She cleared her throat. “Well, uh, how about… doing it by ourselves?”
He shrugged. “I thought of that too. I don’t know. Maybe? It doesn’t really seem in the spirit of what Dar and Sala were telling us about the ceremony. The whole sharing thing. But if there are just sensors around picking up our body chemistry, it might work.”
“Do you think you could actually, uh…”
“Get off?” Daniel asked wryly with a small grin. Hell, things were bad enough as they were without adding an inability to even speak about sex. “I think so. If we wait 2 weeks, maybe not so much…”
Sam nodded in agreement to that. “It’ll be a little difficult to get in the mood, but I guess I can give it a try. Maybe only one of us has to do it.”
Daniel rubbed at a spot on the back of his hand. “I think we’d better pick something and try it. Something that has several possibilities available at once. If we try one at a time, we’ll spend the entire 2 weeks working up to penetration and we’ll have had more sexual contact than the both of us combined in our lifetimes.”
Sam snorted. “What do you suggest?”
“Wanna get drunk and get laid?”
She hit his knee with hers. “Daniel.”
He smiled, battling to keep his nerves at bay. “We’ll try the solo touch thing first, okay? We’ll do it at the same time. I think that’d be closest to the spirit of the ceremony, and we’ll be less self-conscious if both of us are occupied.”
Sam exhaled a long breath. “Right.” She glanced at him. “Look, Daniel. Thank you for being so matter-of-fact about this. You’re really keeping me from going nuts here.”
He gave her a lazy smile; his gaze skimming along her face, before he leaned against her shoulder and suddenly pressed a quick and chaste kiss to her cheek. “How else can we be? Freaking out isn’t going to help anything, and I trust you.”
She bit her lip a bit and felt ridiculous. “I trust you too. Honestly, if I have to be in this situation with someone, I’m glad it’s you and not Jack or Teal’c. You and I, we can handle this.”
Daniel smirked a bit. “Well, I have to say, if I’m going to be in a situation where I have to have sex with a teammate… I’m pretty glad it’s not Jack or Teal’c either.”
Sam leaned into him, pressing her face briefly to his shoulder as she laughed. “Oh my God, we really are eggheads. We’re talking this thing to death!”
“Come on,” he said softly. He grabbed her wrist. “Let’s just do it. Get it done.”
He stood and pulled her up beside him. She exhaled another long breath. “Where?”
Daniel glanced around and then led her toward the door. He glanced up at the tapestry of Hedona. “Here, I guess. If Hedona’s such a voyeur, we might as well give her a good look.”
“All right.”
Daniel turned to face her, fingers sliding to his belt buckle. “Um, I’m going to kneel, okay? Sit back on my heels. It’ll be… easier for me that way.” She met his gaze, and he watched something change in her eyes. She nodded confidently, still tense but the nervousness was starting to disappear.
“Okay,” she replied. “I think that’ll be easier for me too.” They’d decided on a course of action, and she was going to see it out. Anyway, he was right. This didn’t have to be some big drama between them. She started pulling the bottom of her T-shirt from her trousers.
He pulled his belt loose and worked at the buttons on his fly. “Back to back?”
“Yeah. I’m not sure if it’d help or hurt to have you watch me,” she answered truthfully. He didn’t answer, but he smiled faintly in agreement. He turned away from her and lowered himself to his knees. She saw him push his trousers down over mid-thigh before he sat back on the heels of his boots, spreading his knees.
Something inside her clenched a bit. Warmly.
She stepped behind him and turned her back to him, working on the buttons to her own trousers and letting them slip just past her hips before she knelt down and then sat on her heels. She left the Underarmor shorts on that she wore for underwear on missions. She could work around those.
“If you need to lean back against me, go ahead,” Daniel said quietly from behind her. “I’ll hold you up.”
“Okay.” She swallowed. He was directly behind her. She could feel the air around her move when he did. She could hear the rustling of his clothes and his breath. God.
She moved her legs apart a bit then realized she had to tilt back to slide her hand down. Her head brushed Daniel’s neck. She was not at all sure this was going to work as she slid her hand beneath her shorts and between her own legs. Behind her she could tell Daniel was getting started. He was silent, but she felt the movements of his arm so close to her. She closed her eyes and concentrated, trying a few cursory strokes around her clit first to raise some sort of arousal. She was surprised when she found she was already damp. She realized the image of Daniel behind her, knees spread as he sat on the heels of his boots, hand moving slowly between his thighs, was seared into her mind. And it wasn’t a bad image.
She took a shaky breath and began to rub lightly.
Daniel glanced down and watched his cock slide through his hand. He was hard enough for his regular, preferred stroke, but he hadn’t signed the deal yet. He wasn’t “dedicated” hard yet. He slid the pads of his fingers over the smooth tip and then rubbed at the glans. It definitely sent a ripple up his spine. He slid his other hand beneath his balls to anchor himself. Jesus… this was fucked up, and yet…
Sam took a gasping breath behind him. She was obviously trying to hide it, but he heard the shaky quality anyway. It made his dick jump up a bit. He realized he was listening intently, trying to hear anything of what she was doing. Her head was coming back and occasionally her hair would brush the back of his neck. Oh, so fucked up… but damn it… he’d just gotten dedicated hard in moments. Sam… God. Just knowing what she was doing behind him, regardless of their relationship, was making this a hell of a lot easier than he thought it would be.
He closed his eyes and twisted his palm around so he was sliding up and down in firm, hard strokes, pulling a bit at the end when he reached the head. His breath leaked slowly out of him in undisguised pleasure.
Sam bit her lip as the sound of Daniel’s hard breath reached her. She could hear the whisper quiet sound of skin on skin, and absurdly wondered if he preferred to jerk-off dry. Obviously, or he could have used the fruit, she thought. That drew a smile to her lips and she lost some of the momentum she had going. It definitely felt good, but…
Daniel exhaled again, long and slow. At the end of it, she heard just the hint of his voice. It was definitely a moan. Her smile faded and she felt that tight clench between her legs as her mouth ran dry. They had both leaned back naturally as the act had progressed, and now she could feel his shoulder against hers, the muscles bunching and sliding fluidly as his wrist moved.
There was a delicate coil of tension building in her belly, and she suddenly realized she could do this. Not only could she do this, she wanted to do this. She wanted to listen to Daniel and imagine him kneeling there, pleasure on his face, as she got herself off. She wanted him to listen to her and be just as aroused as she was.
She tried to swallow a gasp and failed. When he moaned softly again, she gave up. She leaned back against him, feeling him inhale sharply and then press back to brace her. She rubbed the pad of one finger right down over her clit and the pleasure surged outwards.
The slide-whisper of skin on skin was faster behind her, and suddenly Daniel’s voice came from behind her, breathless and tight and a bit hoarse. “Sam… I can’t hold it much longer.”
She focused in on one small area and squeezed her eyes shut. “It’s okay, Daniel.” Her voice sounded like sex, even in her own head.
Daniel pressed back harder against her and then groaned roughly. Then he groaned again and she thought she heard rain hitting the floor of the temple before she tensed and then she was coming, relief and heat racing along every nerve, her body shaking against Daniel’s hard shoulders, head arched back against his until she’d worked through it.
**
She slid down onto her ass on the stone floor and felt Daniel do the same behind her. They leaned heavily against each other.
“Fuck… “ He sighed tiredly.
She grinned and then laughed, his uncommon cursing overcoming the embarrassment that had been starting to creep into her aftermath.
“Find that funny?” he asked indignantly. She could hear the smile in his voice.
“A little,” she answered.
He leaned his head back against hers. Then he suddenly jerked it up again. “The door…”
She looked to the side. The door remained tightly closed. Not even a speck of dust moved out of place.
She sagged back against him. “Fuck,” she sighed tiredly.
**
Daniel watched her sleep. He’d dozed for a while himself but hadn’t been able to fall deeply asleep. His watch told him it was late morning. Sam lay on her back on one of the Hyborian sleeping mats on the floor, her SGC jacket draped over her like a blanket.
Some part of his mind was telling him that no matter how close they were and how okay they thought this was… having sex would change them. Already had. He didn’t believe sex should have the power to ruin their friendship. Not like this anyway. If they’d been pining away for each other for years, yeah. Maybe then. He wasn’t sure if he was being pragmatic or just justifying some lame psychological whim. It didn’t really matter.
Her breath hitched a bit and then her eyelids fluttered open. Blue eyes looked up sleepily and focused on him. Her brows furrowed. “What are you doing?”
He smiled, realizing he’d been caught but not in any panic to escape. “Thinking.”
“’Bout what?” She yawned.
“What do you think?” He took a wry tone, but gently. They were in this together. He slid down onto his side next to her again.
Sam breathed deeply and turned to face him. “We’ll get out of here, Daniel.”
“We always do,” he replied.
She smiled. He closed his eyes briefly and let out a long, heavy breath that made Sam flash back to way he’d sounded while he was getting himself off. She felt a little catch in her belly that ran straight between her legs. She wondered with some concern if she’d now get that mental image of him every time he sighed across from her at the briefing table. It wasn’t a bad thought, but the soldier in her winced at the complications that might arise.
Could they share this together and then just let it go? Let it just exist between them in their lives without poking at it or examining it too hard?
Maybe she was already thinking too hard. They needed to get the hell out of here first.
“Hey,” he called quietly.
She met his gaze. “What?”
He pursed his lips a bit the way he always did when he was about to say something he was uneasy about. “Have you ever considered me… in that way?”
She lifted her eyebrows. “Like dating you? Or just sleeping with you?”
“Well, both, I guess.”
“Sure.” She gave a nod of acquiescence. “Of course I have. More than once, even. How could I not, Daniel?”
“I know. Me too.”
“Especially that first year,” she said with a smile. “I was really impressed with you then.”
“Not now?” He frowned at her.
“Yes,” she insisted. “Now, too, but in a different way. You’re not that same idealistic young man anymore.”
He shrugged. “Maybe I’ve just grown up.”
“Maybe I have too.”
He gave her that lop-sided, barely-there smile. The one that wasn’t meant to impress or convey anything except that it was Daniel and he felt like smiling. She looked over the planes of his face, realizing she knew each small feature down to the smallest patch on his jaw where his beard wouldn’t grow well.
She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his.
He drew a quick breath of surprise but made no movements and allowed her to kiss him. Just as she began to pull back, he jumped forward a bit and moved his lips against hers.
They pulled apart.
“Let’s just do this,” Sam said.
“Okay.” He looked at her in concern. “You sure?”
“Yes. We’re not going anywhere until we’ve had sex. I’m not sitting around in this temple for 2 weeks in angst over something so ridiculous. Besides which, I have lab time scheduled at Area 51 next week, and I am NOT missing it.”
He smiled.
She hesitated suddenly, concern in her eyes. “I don’t mean to get all bossy here. I mean, if you’re not ready yet…”
He swallowed with a dry throat. “I’m ready,” he assured her. He was working through a case of nerves, but the earlier encounter had relaxed him a bit and made him more comfortable. And Jesus… it had really turned him on.
“How do you want to do it?” he asked. He felt he should.
Sam wavered a bit. He watched it happen in her eyes. She was such crap at hiding her feelings when it came to her eyes. “Uh…”
“Do you just want to get it over with? I’m pretty sure you need to come, Sam. If you want to get yourself there again, I could just…”
“I…” She looked a little startled by the idea. “Is that how you want to do it?”
“Not really, no.”
She looked questioningly at him.
He cleared his throat nervously. “I really need you to be into this, Sam. I think it’d help if we both were.” He brought his gaze to hers and licked dry lips. “I want to make you come.”
She had to hold her breath to keep it from bursting out in a rush. Godgodgod. She nodded.
He eased toward her on the sleeping mat until he was stretched out directly beside her. He slowly pulled her jacket away and then leaned in. “Okay.” He nodded. His hand slid carefully onto her hip. “Tell me if I do something you don’t like. I’m uh… not going to get freaky or anything.”
That made her laugh. She couldn’t help it. Daniel was just so… Daniel. And yes, he was attractive, and yes, she’d wondered about him from time to time, but it was still Daniel and this was so not something to get upset about.
She moved into his arms and let him kiss her. He slid one thick forearm down around her waist, bringing her flush against him. His tongue slipped against hers, and she wasn’t sure why, but this seemed the most intimate of the acts they’d have to commit right then. He kissed well. Even as he kissed her harder, his mouth was soft and arousing.
Daniel used his weight to urge her onto her back. She looped her arms around his neck, pulling him after her. It was a heady thing, having Sam Carter beneath him, her mouth moving with his, her familiar scent surrounding him in a very new way. He really wanted to explore the rest of her.
Daniel moved slowly, sliding one hand across her stomach, over her T-shirt. When she slid her fingers into his hair, he rubbed his thumb in small circles beneath her breast. Tentative. He wasn’t sure how far she wanted him to go with this. He was pretty sure he wanted to take it as far as she’d let him though. Her thigh moved against his, and when he leaned over her a bit more; she was rubbing up against the fly of his trousers. He was quickly getting hard.
“Okay?” he asked against her chin as he kissed her on the jaw.
“Yeah,” she answered. Her voice was a little breathy. It made him break out in a sweat.
He slid his mouth down to her neck, keeping it slow and easy. When her breath caught and he felt her swallow, he hesitated and slid his open mouth warmly over the spot again. He moved his hand down and under the hem of her T-shirt, pushing his fingers up over the smooth skin and sliding them around the contours of her bra. She moaned just a bit. He shifted his legs trying to find a position where his now very hard cock could rest comfortably in his trousers.
Several hours was more than a generous refractory period for him. Despite how erotic he’d found it to sit back to back with her and stroke himself while he listened to her get herself off, this was even sexier. It was new and it had been a while and it was Sam.
Sam reached down to grab at Daniel’s T-shirt, urging it upwards. He pulled his mouth off of her neck and sat up, reaching back over his head to grab a handful of the fabric and slide it up and off. He looked back at her.
"You want to, uh... just get it all off?"
She hesitated and then sat up beside him. She peeled off her trousers and then her shirt while he shoved his BDU's down his legs and off. He wore boxer briefs beneath, which she had known he preferred, but she started feeling a bit more self-conscious anyway. As he shucked the boxers, she steeled her resolve and slipped out of her bra before shedding the shorts as well.
She was suddenly aware of the cool air moving through the room.
His eyes flickered down her body as he turned toward her again. She knew he couldn't help it. She felt a nervous flutter. His eyes reached hers, and he studied her for a moment. "Come on," he said softly, no command in his voice. She went, gaze sliding downward as he twisted around to face her. He was hard, a wet glisten at the tip, sparse dark hair covering his groin and creeping toward his navel. She realized they were definitely going to do this.
Daniel slid a hand into her hair and tugged her head closer. He kissed her lightly. There was a slight nervous tension between them now that he didn’t want there. He drew her up onto her knees with him then slid his arms around her.
“Still okay?”
“Yeah, you?”
“Yes.” His mouth dragged down over her neck again, his hands sliding around her breasts. He was a soft touch. It made her tense in all the right places. She let him lay her out again, and he seemed to take confidence in that. She ran her hands from his hair to the shallow dent between his shoulder blades as his mouth moved down her body. He gave soft licks to her nipples and then left a warm, wet trail along her navel. She shifted a bit as he ran his mouth over her hip. He hesitated there, pressing his forehead against her abdomen and giving a quiet groan. She took a deep breath. He’d raised the anticipation in her. She felt a little drunk.
“Sam…”
She looked down to where blue eyes looked back. She’d never seen this expression on his face before. It caused an unexpected ache between her legs. His hands gripped her thighs, thumbs always moving in those small circles. She could see his chest moving with his breath, a little faster than normal.
He glanced down between her legs. “I’d really like to…” He stumbled a bit over the wording. “… Use my mouth.”
Assent stuck in her throat, but God, she wanted him to. Every sensitive nerve in her body flared with want. She finally just nodded.
“Tell me if it’s too much,” he murmured, and then he was easing her legs apart, and she was as open to him as she’d been to any man in her bed. She felt the rough drag of his day-old beard against the inside of her thighs, and then a tentative slide of tongue.
She bit her lip.
He used tongue and lips on her, stopping occasionally when she couldn’t keep her hips still. He’d pull back then, just barely, his breath blowing lightly over her while she settled down and tensed with expectation. She moaned finally when his hands tightened on her and held her hard to his mouth, tongue slipping on her clit with determination. Her hands wanted to grab his head, but she didn’t know if he’d like that or not. She anchored her fingers in the sleeping mat instead. She realized distantly that she was getting too close to orgasm. The best possible scenario was for them to come together, or as close as they could manage. Her body definitely wanted to just forget it and let go. It was with difficulty that she slid a hand into his hair and tugged gently.
“Daniel… God, stop.”
He did. He stopped and she heard him swallow even from his position between her legs.
Daniel took a moment. He pressed his lips together and rose slowly, hearing Sam’s deep sighs filling the quiet chamber. She was close, and he was enthralled with that. His belly was damp where his cock had been pressed against it. He wiped a hand over his mouth before sliding onto his side next to her. She turned immediately and pressed her mouth to his, her hand running over his chest and then down his stomach. He returned the kiss, his mind following her hand as it crept lower.
When her palm slid over his aching cock, he jumped. But then her thumb was rubbing over the tip and he heard himself groaning into her mouth. Good, good. So damn good.
“Is it okay if you’re on top?” he asked, voice sounding too deep to be his.
“Are you sure?” She was already pushing him down onto his back.
“Yeah. Just take it easy. I’m not far off.”
He stretched out underneath her then slid his hands up her thighs, helping her get her balance over him. She braced her hands on his shoulders and he guided her. And fuck… he was sliding inside of her. He closed his eyes, feeling the air in his lungs pressing outward. Suddenly his entire mind was centered on his dick, and he gritted his teeth.
“Fuhhh…” He wanted to swear, but couldn’t quite get it all out. She was warm and snug and wet and she knew what she was doing. She took it easy and worked slowly, and although his control remained tenuous, it remained.
She rocked on him rather than sliding up and down. He felt his desperation ease a bit. He could hear his own hard, fast breaths along with hers. Her eyes were downcast; her head low as she rode him. He watched her for a moment with total awe. Muscle moved fluidly in her arms and her abs, and his eyes were drawn to the pale breasts just out of his reach. Oh, he was not going to last long now.
“Sit up,” he told her, voice thick.
She did, blue eyes looking down at him, heavy-lidded now instead of wide and flashing. He slid fingers through the blonde hair between her legs and pressed on her clit with his thumb. Her own rhythmic movements worked her against him.
She moaned, and he thrust his hips upwards. She wanted to move faster as she got closer, and his thumb kept slipping. He finally put an iron hold on her thigh, holding her against his thumb, and pushed his hips up into her, fucking her from below. Jesus, come on, Sam, he thought desperately. He couldn’t take this much longer.
She came. She arched her back and moaned long and low, and she came apart on him. He was gone. He grabbed her hips and dug his heels into the floor, and tightened his jaw to stone as orgasm overtook him. It was good and it was hard and he could smell his own semen thick in the air as he hit the bottom of the fall.
**
They lay silently in the aftermath, the air cold against sweat-soaked skin, Sam warm and still breathing hard on top of him. She bent her head against his shoulder, hands still braced on his chest, his softening cock still buried inside her. His breath stirred her hair.
She thought about saying something but didn’t feel the need. It was good. They both knew it. She disengaged herself from him slowly, sliding to his side. He glanced at her, eyes searching hers for a moment. She smiled. He smiled back.
There was a low rumble that confused them both for a moment, and then fresh air swept into the room around the door sliding open before them.
“Oh, thank God!” Sam said, collapsing in a boneless heap next to him.
Daniel laughed. “I guess Hedona was pleased.”
“Hedona needs to hit some 12 step meetings. She’s a little too obsessed with sex.”
“Let’s get out of here.”
They were lacing up their boots when a noise at the door made them look up. A tattooed face peered into the chamber and stared at them.
“Dar?” Daniel stood.
The priest stepped into the chamber and raised his hands. “Praise be to Hedona! The ceremony is now complete! The curse has been avoided for another year!”
“Yeah, great, glad to help,” Sam muttered, yanking her jacket on. “Can I have my gun back now?”
“Of course.” The priest smiled. “The gate will be unburied immediately and you will be allowed to go. We thank you for joining us in our celebration.”
“Oh yeah?” Sam started toward him, and Daniel grabbed her arm.
“Sam…”
She glared at him but let him pull her back and lead her out of the temple. Dar took several steps back as she passed by. “You have done a good thing,” he said to her, his manner friendly, now.
She gave him a dark look, but she didn’t contradict him. It hadn’t been ideal, but… bad? No. Not that either.
“You okay?” Daniel asked her as they walked back to the gate.
She glanced at him and hesitated for a moment. “I’m fine,” she finally answered, then she smiled at him. “You and I, right?”
He nodded, eyes clear in the sun. “You and I,” he repeated firmly.
~end~