Chapter Nineteen: Awake

Aaron woke again at sunrise. Since the enhancements, he didn't require the amount of sleep a person would normally need, and his slumber was shallow-always on alert. Marta, however, slept a full eight or nine hours and deeply. She had rolled onto her stomach, her head buried in the pillow, her face turned away from him. The brightening sunlight on her back made her skin glow golden and her rumpled hair shine. The sight took his breath away. Aaron lay gazing at her with a feeling he couldn't put to words. All he could think was how desperate he was to keep her safe. But he would be putting her in harm's way today.

He rolled to his back and rubbed his eyes as his mind began churning. He felt restless and needed to move. He always thought better when he was active. He glanced over at Marta longingly. This time, though, he wouldn't wake her to fulfill his selfish desires. Aaron kicked off the covers and headed for the bathroom, deciding he could put in a few laps at the pool.

Before he left the room, Aaron walked to Marta's side of the bed and knelt to her eye level. He brushed her hair from her face and smiled when she didn't even flinch. Had he worn her out? He grinned devilishly at the thought. He rose after placing a kiss to her cheekbone and a gun on the nightstand next to her. Folding another gun in his towel, he silently left the room for the hotel pool.

Bright sunshine poured through the windows onto Marta's face. She turned her head away from it with a contented noise and stretched her body lazily. She sat up abruptly when she noticed she was alone in the bed. The shower in the bathroom was running so she flopped back on the bed and reveled in the feel of the warm sun. Her thoughts drifted to her night with Aaron and she smiled to herself, remembering. Her happiness dimmed as she remembered their plans for the day.

The bathroom door opened and Aaron stepped through, a shy smile on his face as his pale blue eyes locked with hers. "Good morning."

"Good morning," she replied, appraising him as he stood in his towel, his muscles rippling from his exertion swimming. "This is a welcome, familiar sight."

"I remember it being something more like this," he said, dropping his towel with a crooked smile.

Marta's eyes widened at the view and flushed, surprised by him again. She wondered if she would ever get used to his boldness.

Aaron stalked toward her with intent and crawled in over her when he reached the bed. "Or more like this," he suggested, hovering face to face above her, leaning in and pressing his swelling member against her pelvic bone with a wicked smirk.

"Aaron," Marta reprimanded, squirming from under him and turning away.

"What?," he questioned, grabbing to pin her as she flipped over and scrabbled up the bed. "Where are you going?"

"Ugh," she grimaced. "I'm a wreck, but you're fresh out of the shower. Stay away." Her hand reached for the glass container of water on her nightstand, wrenched open the cap and chugged it down.

"You're perfect," Aaron disagreed, kissing the small of her back left exposed by her flight.

"No, really. Aaron," she pleaded. "I'm a mess. Just let me freshen up first."

"Mmm," he mumbled, pulling the sheet just a few inches lower so he could trace the twin indentations at her tailbone with his tongue. "As long as I've been dying to join you in the shower, I think I can wait just a little longer for the privilege."

His right hand rose up the back of her leg to grip and squeeze her butt cheek through the sheet. "But what I can't wait for...," he trailed off from saying, as he nibbled at the flesh just above the sheet where the curve of her bottom began.

"Aaron...," Marta breathed, sounding defeated, flustered, turned-on and irritated all at the same time. Her face turned around to give him a heated glare. She looked the wreck she claimed to be with the wavy curls of her mussed hair in disarray and the dark makeup smudged about in rings around her flashing green eyes.

Looking up at her when she uttered his name, he couldn't help but chuckle.

"Errrgh!," she grunted, swiping at him to brush him off. "I told you; now get off."

Aaron laughed and climbed a little farther up her body. "No; you're adorable."

Marta buried her head in the pillow and groaned dispassionately. The sound challenged Aaron to change the tone of her moans so he snaked his arm under and around her hips, hauling her back down the bed between his legs as he balanced on slightly bent knees. He lifted and tilted her pelvis just enough to slowly press his erection into her moist sheath. Marta sighed and relaxed into the position, even arching her back to ease his entry.

"That's it," Aaron encouraged. He lowered himself onto her, nearly lying atop the full length of her. His left hand made its way to into her hair, gathering it into his fist, and pulled her head back gently till her ear reached his lips. "You're the most beautiful woman in the world," he whispered.

"And you're a beautiful liar," she retorted, her voice catching in her throat as he nuzzled low behind her ear, recalling their earlier encounter. He kissed her there then took her earlobe between his teeth, his tongue followed each kiss. He made his way down to her shoulder and his left hand moved to gently lift her chin, deepening the concave curve of Marta's spine.

Aaron pushed himself as deep into her as he could manage, rolling his hips in an exaggerated fashion. He used his entire body to thrust forward in an impossibly slow cadence. His hand slipped from her chin to her throat. He could feel her arterial vein throb with a rapid heartbeat that increased with every long, rhythmic curl of his pelvis as he ground it into her backside again and again.

In time, Aaron felt every muscle straining from his jaw to his toes. It took his whole body to keep from crushing her while maintaining momentum. A sheen of sweat formed on his skin. Eventually, the penetration became easier as Marta's body responded in earnest, their bodies slick between them. Aaron's patience and persistence was rewarded when a haggard moan finally tore from her chest and Marta trembled beneath him. Her vaginal walls clenched around his throbbing penis and he begged, panting, "Come on, doc. Come with me."

He stretched forward and felt his testicles seize. "Shit!" he cursed, but Marta climaxed immediately following his outburst with an expletive of her own.

Aaron groaned in relief and release. They rode out their orgasms together, grasping at each other as they shook in ecstasy. The rush of blood slowed and they came back to themselves as they stilled.

Aaron felt boneless, draped over Marta, his head next to hers as he lay heavily on top of her. He pressed his lips to her temple. "I love you, Marta."

"So you say, but you're crushing me," she gasped, trying to push herself up under his dead weight. "I can't breathe!"

He laughed and rolled them over. He fell out of her as she came to rest on top of him, her back against his front. Aaron made a displeased sound. "Damn it."

Marta smiled serenely, feeling blissful and cherished. Though lying over him left her nakedness exposed, she was safe in his arms and she didn't move to cover herself. Instead, she rested back against him, tilting her head to touch his.

He embraced her and held her tight, not ready to let her go. He hadn't wanted to slip from inside her yet. He contented himself by allowing his hands to roam her body languidly, exploring the warm skin with gentle strokes and squeezes.

As Marta relaxed under his touch, she felt his seed trickle from her womb. Her heart plummeted and she froze, silently screaming at herself for not using the protection she had procured.

"Aaron!," she fearfully exclaimed, "I bought condoms but forgot to have you use them. They're in the nightstand; how could we forget? I'm back on the pill but I only started yesterday."

"It's all right," he replied soothingly but followed his comment with a bitter laugh.

Marta turned to face him, not understanding his reaction. A bitter expression matched his bitter laugh. She looked at him questioningly. "Why aren't you worried?"

Aaron eased her down to her side, turning toward her as he rose slightly to rest his head on this hand. He looked melancholy. "We don't have anything to worry about. There is no risk sleeping together without protection."

"What do you mean? I can't take the risk of getting pregnant while we're on the run."

"I can't get you pregnant," he stated plainly adding, "Even if I wanted to."

Marta silently pondered his response before replying, "Oh. But there was nothing in your chart about being infertile."

Aaron's expression darkened. "I was neutered."

Her eyes widened and she registered his tone but corrected him, "You're certainly not neutered."

He sat up abruptly in anger. "That's exactly what they did."

She was bewildered. "Who's they?"

Aaron looked back at her dumbfounded. "You can't be serious."

Marta could have smacked herself. "Outcome."

He grunted a disgusted affirmation.

"But there was nothing in your chart about a vasectomy, or infertility, or anything like that," she wondered. "And I was on the medical panel as well as the virology research in the program."

"It was done immediately after I joined," he said, rubbing his eyes. "Before I started taking the blue pills, doc. So maybe I agreed to it when I signed myself over. Couldn't understand what I was agreeing to, right?"

He shrugged but was obviously upset. Marta understood he felt violated. Neutered. That comment would've gone in his psychiatric evaluation.

"I'm sorry," she offered quietly.

She wouldn't admit to him that it was for the best. It made sense why Outcome couldn't allow their subjects to pass on genes that had been altered by the experiment. They had rendered him infertile before the medicinal or viral treatments. Otherwise, he might have healed from any surgery.

She glanced at Aaron and he was looking at her suspiciously. "I didn't know!" she defended.

"Maybe not, but you agree with what they did," he responded in a pained voice. It wasn't a question.

He moved to get out of bed. "Well, you don't have to worry. As their test rat, I was screened for everything under the sun a million times. I'm clean and I won't ever procreate."

Marta got out of bed and walked towards the bathroom as Aaron angrily pulled out his clothes from the suitcase. She turned around to address him before closing the door.

"I am sorry for everything that happened to you, and for my part in the program. I will prove that to you. I'll pay for my culpability or make things right-whatever you need me to do."

She turned the lock and he sighed. He knew it wasn't her he held responsible. She was ready to help him bring down Rick Byer and his gang, despite the danger. He had been drawn to the doctor even as she poked and prodded him for Outcome. She had just brought up a sore subject for him.

It wasn't that he longed to be a father, necessarily. He hadn't really thought of it; other than the general longing for family. What bothered him was that the choice to live a normal, happy life with wife and kids had been taken from him. He was less than human to them.

He was only a weapon to be tossed aside after the ammo ran out.

A few minutes went by, then the shower in the bathroom turned on and the lock to the door was flipped before he heard the shower door open and close. The sound of it, and what it represented to him, nearly made him cry.

What a p***y. He shook his head at himself, his mood lifting, and went to join Marta in the shower. Finally.