The chapter title has been used before, but I thought it fit for what transpires here - and the last of "Snow on the Sahara" is present. Enjoy.

Chapter Eight

The Calm Before the Storm

Annora was dreaming about him.

He didn't know how to take all of this in, but at the same time, it made him swell inside. She was dreaming about him, whatever it was, and not her husband. Another step down, who knew how many more to go.

He could spend all night - or all morning? - looking down at her while she slept, but he had to rest more, try to go back to sleep. He closed his eyes and sighed to himself, praying for more sleep to come. Unfortunately, it failed, because of the heat in his body that had been there since long before he allowed his hand to grasp that one part of her body which many men found irresistible.

Keevan looked down and saw the obvious arousal growing, thanks to both the dream and Annora. Perfect, again.

He hadn't even touched himself since the third and final night Weyoun instructed him in the art of sexual technique; it had become clear to him then that giving yourself the pleasure wouldn't allow you the ability to become so by your partner. But right now, the pressure in his groin was unbearable that he had to relieve it, or else he would never go back to sleep.

His Jem'Hadar were still nowhere to be seen, but he wasn't taking the chance of letting his loins stir painfully any longer. Biting his lip to keep a groan from escaping, Keevan raised a hand and ghosted it over his stomach, his insides tingling, and reached the hem of his pants, his fingers slipping beneath the waistband and finding his raging desire.

~o~

Her body felt irritated at coming out of its dream state. She had slept on the ground before in these situations, in Cardassian-styled beds and so on - nothing bothered her anymore, but upon waking up and her body twitching with a pleasant feeling she hadn't felt for so long, it was ruined upon hearing the painful whimpering above her.

She was laying on her back when she caught part of Keevan's body on the rocky bed above her, writhing slowly but painfully, crying. She bolted up right away and wrapped her blanket around her as she stood and looked down at him half-dressed and flinching. He couldn't just be having a nightmare; the medicine effects wore off, and he needed more. "Keevan," she whispered, leaning down and touching his arm, squeezing it and shaking him gently. "Keevan, wake up. It's me."

His eyelids creased before softening and opening, looking up at her right away. "A-Annora, it hurts," he croaked out. "I n-n-need my..." He trailed off pitifully, biting his lower lip and looking like a child who needed his mother's attention. She left him there and knelt down to pull her bag in her direction, pulling out the med kit and fishing out the analgesics, perching down beside him again.

Keevan sighed with relief when his bandages were changed after the pain relievers were administered. "Ah, that's better." His face had been away from hers, and now it turned back to look up at her. "I never did thank you."

"For what?" she asked, shoving the filthy wrappings inside, hoping to dispose of them upon rescue. She knew what he meant.

"Pulling me out of the wreckage, saving my life and keeping me alive this far," Keevan answered softly, reaching over and taking her hand into his, his fingers wrapping around her closed fist. His thumb massaged the vein on the back of her hand. "My sincerest gratitude."

"I couldn't just leave you back there."

"And for that, I owe you my life."

He spoke as though he were a noble, fallen warrior cared for by the woman whose life he saved. Well, come to think of it, he was no Vorta she ever met before the last day. He meant every word he said - but there was no telling how many others he deceived for his own sake and that of his people. "You're welcome," was all she could say.

"And speaking of which, should I be owed something in return?"

Annora stiffened. What did he mean by owe him? He laughed then upon seeing her body language as well as her face. "Oh, not at all whatever you're thinking. I'm just saying perhaps we could pass the time by you...reading to me any of your past tales you brought with you. I wouldn't be surprised if you did."

She did bring her novel with her, some of her news articles she brought for the hell of it as well as the empty one she wanted for her newest one, which had all been in vain and an absolute waste after all. She might as well led Captain Sisko and the crew to their deaths even if Uncle Bill asked them to find her instead. "What story do you want to hear?"

"Anything that you feel upmost confident with sharing with me," Keevan told her with an easy smile, relaxing her on the spot. He frowned then. "But that would depend on what the time is now, now that I remember."

Boots thudded the ground behind them. It was First Tirak'iklan followed by Third Remata'klan. "The sun has arisen, Commander," they both said in unison, impressing her, before the First had his solo turn. "We're continuing work on the communication system as soon as possible."

"Good." Keevan nodded. "The sooner, the better."

"The sooner the better," Annora agreed. She could see rescue coming now, but that would mean she would end up in Dominion territory, perhaps on Deep Space 9 now called Terok Nor now that their presence was there. She tried to prepare herself for whatever fate lay awaiting her there...but on the upside, she would be with Keevan.

IF his Founders granted him that permission.

"Now, about that story?" Keevan asked once they were gone, and she looked back up at him. His smile was beaming along with his eyes.

"Well, I take it you read all of my previous news articles." He nodded. "I'm currently working on a novel, though I don't have a title yet. It's about the unlawful but torrid love of a psychiatrist and her patient, a serial killer convicted by reasons of insanity for the murder of two women he had been with only for each of them to end badly - and he didn't take it well, so he killed them. But the courts didn't give him life imprisonment, and he was assigned to a young woman recently graduated from university and is given him as her first patient. He sees her as his one last chance, and she's never had a taste of danger in her life." Rarely did anyone, even Jeffrey, ask her about her novel, but when she talked about this newest one, she felt herself light up with pride because she knew it would sell, because all her previous ones did.

And Keevan looked like he was piqued with intrigue. He hadn't once interrupted her to ask questions like some did, choosing to wait until she was finished. "Now...that is what I would call a fascinating story."

She'd gotten similar responses, but those who wanted to read her story before it was even completed, she couldn't trust their judgement because she knew they would say something she didn't expect altogether. But with Keevan...these creatures were very intelligent compared to other beings she encountered. Other alien humanoids were, but the Vorta knew how to exhibit and sense emotions, turn the tables, and so many talents. They were always ahead of everyone, always curious and eager to learn.

"Please read to me, Annora. I want to hear every detail - but first -" He paused and inhaled through his nostrils. "- would a cleaning up be too much to ask?"

He was asking her to give him a bath, not that she blamed him. He needed one, but she also felt embarrassed. That meant she would get to see him naked and handle everything herself; he trusted her for it and not his Jem'Hadar, because they weren't made that way. The spring was under a mile away, but by moving him meant getting his injuries going again. She'd have to bring the med kit with her. All of it for four hundred feet on foot, and first she needed to feed them both with the berries from yesterday that were saved. "I'll take you to where I went yesterday, but it's going to be a hell of a travel on foot that I'd have to get two of your men to carry you."

He rolled his eyes, not happy with that part of the situation. "Of course. Which means you will have to do the honors of helping me out of my clothes before we go out. I would rather be out of them already and breathing the air than wasting time getting undressed out there in the smoldering heat."

Annora was shocked at his boldness in asking her to get him undressed...which meant she would be seeing the rest of him besides his magnificent torso. Now that was one step too far. "Keevan," she started, "your men might not like that -"

"But they won't dare to back away from me," he said strongly, amethyst eyes matching. "They'll obey my orders to carry me if they must. At this point, I don't care about their respect, only that I get one thing I want to keep myself in partially perfect condition." Then his eyes fell to the ground in which the blankets still lay, as well as the one she was still wrapped in - and she was still naked, too, which made him smirk. "I guess we both could use the same bath together, unless you object."

She could use one, yes, but this meant being in the nude with a man who wasn't her husband. And she might dare to cross lines, but she was also self-conscious about her body. "I don't know about sharing one with you," she whispered harshly, in case any Jem'Hadar eavesdropped, "because I won't allow another man to see me."

Keevan knew she would say that, because he rolled his eyes again and sighed loudly. "Annora, I won't take pleasure in taking advantage of you, remember? You're supposed to take care of me, or have you forgotten that, too? We don't have to resort to that certain stage just yet. Now, can you please help me?"

Her cheeks were on fire when she started at the end where she helped him get his boots off, showing small, dainty feet and toes. She returned to his side but stopped when she reached for the waistband. His hands grasped her wrists and held them again, feeling her pulse quicken beneath his hold again. "Don't be afraid, Annora. This might be the last time I tell you this," he warned. Releasing her hands, he shifted his hips up for her to latch her hands around his waistband, preparing to pull it down only for her knuckles to brush against something soft and fluffy in the front - Keevan's pubic hair.

She wanted to pull her hand away, but found she couldn't. Instead, she pulled his pants down all the way and tugged them off from around his ankles, keeping her eyes off his completely naked form the whole time. "Annora," Keevan said, his voice soft and dangerous before rising a couple levels. "Won't you even look at me like the brave girl you are?!"

She jumped and looked at his face again, seeing it firm as stone before softening upon seeing her reddened cheeks. "It's all right to look; you don't have to touch me just yet." Annora nodded, lowering her eyes and seeing the upper body which still made her flush, but then she saw his hips and pelvic area - as well as his member, which was slender and impressive, the curls light and feathery in both appearance and touch. The more she looked at him, the more her lower stomach tingled and pooled liquid heat. She was tempted to lean over and...

She stopped herself. She didn't even like doing that to Jeffrey, which he understood but had been hurt as much as he tried to hide it from her, so she couldn't take that chance with Keevan. She stood up and gathered her boots, pulling them on as well as grasping the other blanket, to wrap him up. She had to admit, as much as it shocked her, Keevan had a remarkable body to look at...and even better than her husband's.

"First, Third?" she called for him, and they came. "Can you get us to the spring?"

Walking naked and wearing a blanket and her boots wasn't so bad, now that she thought of it. The sun bore down on her bared arms and shoulders, and her legs which popped through the slit of the side of her wrap-around, and she walked beside both Jem'Hadar carrying Keevan the best they could, though his blanket around his body came undone beneath and bared his entire back, but good thing no one could see him. Annora couldn't help but giggle to herself as she conjured up the image of the blanket falling off and showing Keevan naked to his two best soldiers. Perhaps serve him right for how he treated Remata'klan.

She also brought the med kit with her in case he needed more tending to while they were here. "We arrived at our destination," Tirak'iklan informed the Third and their Vorta commander, pausing three feet before the spring which glimmered a silvery toned turquoise underneath the cloudless sky. Remata'klan nodded wordlessly; he held Keevan underneath the arms and helped him stand, but when he did, Keevan wobbled on his legs and grimaced.

"I don't need your help to stand, Third, or from you, First. Mrs. O'Neal can manage." He looked at her with a knowing grin, winking and making her look down at the ground. "Won't you, Annora?"

She nodded and walked over, after setting down the medical kit on the smaller rock beside the larger one on the edge before the water. "Yes. Gentlemen, you can turn your heads away until we finish." His eyes were so wet she thought they were like real water - or like he was going to cry at any second. She reached out with both hands for him to take, but he struggled with walking that he fell forward and onto her, allowing her to wrap her arms around him. As a consequence, his blanket fell from his body and pooled around his feet; the Jem'Hadar quickly turned their backs to them at once. Annora felt uncomfortable now, "hugging" a naked Vorta in the middle of a desert, but now she could assume that she had to be the same way. Shifting her torso back and lifting her underarms up, her own thermal blanket slid down and exposed her body to his as well, the skin-on-skin contact jolting their nerves like electrical charges connecting them to life.

Just a wish and I will cover your shoulders
With veils of silk and gold

When the shadows come and darken your heart
Leaving you regrets so cold
Lost out in the desert
You are lost out in the desert

Keevan chuckled, shaking on his legs but shifting his body backwards slightly so he could take a brief look down at her. "How does it feel now?"

Annora shook her head. "Let's just get this over with." She wanted to say it felt...well, what was the right word? She liked it, but she would have enjoyed it more had his Jem'Hadar not been present, and if he wasn't hurt in the side. "Come on; I'll help you." She wrapped his arm around her shoulder and her own around his waist, leading him over to the great rock so he could sit and watch as she knelt down to tug her boots off; he was still watching her the whole time, but it wasn't perverted in any sense of the word, just dazed. She returned to him and repeated the ritual of aiding him, walking slowly to the water edge together and stepping in, the cold water making them both wobble and nearly fall in; Keevan mostly, but he held onto her.

"Oh, cold!" he exclaimed, his arms still around her shoulders. He shivered audibly and physically against hers. She let him act it out for a little bit until he relaxed and sighed, leaning against her, burying his face into the area where her neck and shoulder met. "Ah, but I love the feel of it. I haven't felt like this in a long while, Annora. Have you ever enjoyed anything like this?"

Annora couldn't help but laugh now that this moment had grown more relaxing. She let him go with one arm and gathered some water into her palm before bringing it up to splash onto his back. Keevan shuddered again at the cool, wet contact on his skin and his moans of approval. "Sometimes, but not all the time. Jeffrey and I went to Risa after we graduated, and that was ever the only time I remember us having true fun." Sadly, it was all but a sad memory.

"Mmm." Keevan turned his face away from her neck, though the vibrations lingered. "It's a pity that we 'solids' can enjoy such trivial experiences while the Founders savor their Great Link."

"'Solids'?" Annora repeated, shrugging herself away to make eye contact with him, but he had enough strength to put his finger over her lips and bumped against her to lead the way to the great rock behind them, which provided privacy for them to swim over together and whisper. Keevan had his back against for support as he answered her, Annora keeping her chest underwater but still boasting her upper curves, which Keevan looked at briefly as he spoke.

"They're viewed as outsiders who don't see the joys of the Great Link." He made a noise that combined a scoff and a laugh. "Or so I was told as soon as I was activated."

"Well 'solids' aren't as bad as they think." By the sound of it, the Founders relished controlling his people's lives and subjecting them to cloning as an example of the rest. He nodded.

"Of course, but unfortunately, they're too proud. My people are examples of them taking it out on the monoformed beings." He was doing a hell of a fine job keeping his voice down because two of his men were nearby...and the bitterness and loathing was evident.

Annora, however, found it hard because of her rage and disgust at those Changelings, those creatures who had been feared by "solids" centuries ago and were to be so now that they took it above that level the solids raised over them. "That's an abomination, racist and inexplicably disgusting!" She lowered her voice when he narrowed his eyes, silently warning her. "I mean, all beings have flaws, but you can't hate all of them."

Keevan nodded somberly. "Quite so. From my knowledge of the Changelings, they were amongst the stars of the galaxy which would, on occasion, visit other lifeforms to learn and understand them. They meant for peace, but the solids mistrusted and feared them, often resorting to violence against them. Now the Founders choose to live as one form, known as the Great Link, but only on rare occasions, they would leave to do what they did best. Now they live on conquering other worlds and beings. But they do not do it alone; they have my people and the Jem'Hadar, both of us genetically engineered."

"So they created you, tweaked your genes and very being to obey them unless you're willing to risk your own life?" Annora felt inclined to duck her head underwater to tune out this vile story, but she had to hear it. Enslaving an entire race had occured on numerous occasions, lasting for years at a time, never knowing how long it would last to be honest, and each one got worse every time. Look at Bajor, for example, and the Holocaust of the depression era on Earth.

"Precisely." Keevan's eyes flared like purple fire. "The hunted now control the destiny of hundreds of others; what you can control can't hurt you. The simple motive behind their actions is the fact that the solids always posed a threat to them."

She shook her head again. This war had to be won by the Federation and soon, and these monsters brought to justice for their crimes. Now that she knew enough she could, now she could say to herself that Keevan wasn't all that bad - but what was the true story behind his people? "Tell me about your people and how the Changelings brought them in."

~o~

He was apparently the only one to doubt the origin of his people before the Founders "changed" them into what they were now. That tale was only an illusion just to keep the Vorta indebted about the fact that they were better than they were centuries ago; at least, he believed so. Nevertheless, he told Annora anyway.

"Well, you can say that back in those much older days, the more primitive ones, we were smaller than we are now, more animalistic but softer in nature," he said without managing the slightest hint of a smile, leaning his head a little more into the rock and turning his face halfway away from her and staring out into the sunlit water, his body warming a little more underneath the surface, "and nothing more than apes you would find on your homeworld. We lived idyllic lives, living in hollowed trees, surviving off the wild vegetation and as prey for savages. Our music was natural magic that you never heard anywhere else...but our lives changed one day when a Changeling stumbled into it.

"He had been on the run from solids, so you can see the irony in his situation. But one of our families hid him and saved his life, though sadly, the way I see it, their hearts of gold clouded their judgement when it came to the Changeling offering them a promise of a better future for them one day - and look at us now," he finished, turning his attention back to her, seeing her brown eyes wide and her jaw tighter than before. She had looked like this the whole time of his side of the stories everyone in the universe knew about the Dominion.

"That family should never have saved him then," Annora said softly, shaking her head so some of her hair swished atop the water surface. "Otherwise, you would have remained happy, wild and free from all of this."

"But then we would never be as we are now, humanoid and sophisticated. I would never have met you," Keevan told her sincerely, leaning forward and nuzzling his nose against hers. Remembering her touch and her arms around him, he felt such peace that hadn't existed since Weyoun's teachings. Being around her brought happiness that he never thought possible. He didn't want to leave this spot so soon because right now he was pouring every bit of himself out to her, because he couldn't stand her hating him since she knew nothing about him and his people besides what she already acknowledged.

He kissed her again, this one being the second time, and getting more insatiable every time. It was like he had waited all his life for something like this; he wasn't fooled that she didn't like this any more than he did. She was starting to enjoy this as much as he was.

But now they had to finish their shared bath and return to the cavern. Keevan felt like he was getting a tad weaker as she helped him out and seated him on the rock so she could dry him up. While she did - and his Jem'Hadar keeping their backs turned - Keevan looked her over and admired the entire view of her beautiful body. It was a shame that a man like her husband wasn't lucky enough to give that the blessing it deserved.

The moment he found his eyes meeting the representation of her femininity, they also spotted something to the left, imprinted in her left hip though inside and near her nest of curls. He frowned when he could not understand what it was. "Care to tell me what your marking is?" he asked, keeping his eyes on it and squinting.

She was just wrapping her own blanket around her when he asked her, frowning when she didn't know what he meant before realization etched in her features. "Oh, it's my tattoo. It's called the Trinity. On Earth in ancient times, in a country called Ireland, it is a three-pointed emblem which represents eternal life and everlasting love. All things that can never be broken, as well as provides protection."

That very definition raptured him right away. Eternity...no beginning and no end. That was what he loved. Now he was laid back on that hell of a bed in the cave, returning underground after a couple hours of being under the sun, breathing fresh air and bathing in pristine water. Such luxuries were rare when you served the Dominion - but one blessing was eternal life, though that would be until his line was terminated, either if the Founders saw fit, or if the cloning facilities were destroyed by the Federation. He wouldn't pretend it wouldn't happen when it always could.

Which was why he would do everything he could, with Annora's help, to stay alive even if his injuries got worse without that damned needed surgery.

"Before we get to my book," she said as she redressed, his men not bothering to look at her and concentrated on work - she didn't seem to mind now, for some reason - and Keevan lay on his makeshift bed, still naked but covered by his thermal blanket still wet on one side but drier on the other, the latter side keeping him warm, "I'm going back out to get more food and water."

Keevan laughed before coughing a little; he hadn't done that in awhile. "We certainly don't want to starve now, would we?" He tried to reach for her bag but found that he couldn't reach it. "Oh, may I do the honors of reading some of your story while you are out?"

She winked and dragged her bag over and fumbled around until she pulled a PADD out, turning it on and handing it over to him. "Enjoy," she told him with a little wink before turning and leaving, escorted by Fifth Soran'ilan, and an empty bucket to bring water from the spring back. Keevan smiled and waited until she was gone to bark over to First Tirak'iklan.

"I want your help to find anything on her in her possessions that would look suspicious."

He still had it inside him that there was more than her mission at the white facility than she told him, as much as it wounded him to invade her privacy, but what little loyalty he had to the Dominion resided enough to find anything else dangerous she might have possessed.

It seemed the novel would have to wait. He just had to know and satisfy his itching curiosity.

"I believe this might satisfy you, sir," Tirak'iklan said, holding up a PADD he had uncovered and handed it to him. "And the both of us. But it's what you were looking for."

The PADD was a journal entry, dated two days ago...and what he read left him feeling utterly betrayed and his suspicions confirmed.

I have never cared how anyone thought of me, but to be refused on the spot about going to the discovered ketracel-white facility myself by Uncle Bill is the last straw. I'm taking matters into my own hands and saving the lives of Captain Sisko and the others not only for myself and this newest story of a lifetime for all to see, but for the people killed by Jem'Hadar and Cardassians every day. Three days ago, I was refused by my own uncle, Admiral Ross, but somehow I should have expected it. But that won't stop me. For all I know, I might be called the hero for once besides from simply delivering the reports, not that I would call myself that or anything.

I just pray it goes as I hope it does. But if I lose my life, then it would be either way: I tried to make a difference by dying after blowing up that storage facility for those monsters, or I was a fool to go alone and crossed the line for sure this time. I accept either one.

He dropped the PADD onto his lap, squeezing his eyes shut and suppressing another onslaught of coughing. So, Annora DID lie to him on one occasion; she meant to destroy the facility herself with that little runabout of hers, not just get the story herself. She thought she could be the hero for once for her people - and she was the niece of Starfleet Admiral William Ross, it turned out. She lied...she lied...those words kept repeating over and over in his head that he didn't notice First Tirak'iklan take the PADD to read himself again.

"She's deceived us all then, Commander. When she gets back, what would you have me do?"

Keevan reopened his eyes, already knowing the answer. He still had those feelings for her, but he also didn't want her injured in any way. "Leave her with me, and if things get out of hand, restrain her but do not kill her," he said through gritted teeth, and the Jem'Hadar nodded his affirmative. "Leave for now until I call you."

Time elapsed, but he wasn't sure how much since it felt like an eternity, and then he heard the footsteps again, seeing her enter the area, carrying the bucket of water and more berries in her wrapping. "Got enough to last all day, and since I don't know how long it takes for more berries to grow in whatever this time of season is -" She was setting the bucket down beside the fire and kneeling down to unwrap the gathered food before Keevan's patience was lost; he couldn't stand another minute of waiting.

"You lied to me, Annora," he hissed angrily.

Ooops, trouble. :O Things get even more heated in the next chapter. Stay tuned!