BDP37
The intertwined couple soon drifted off into sleep. The long nights apart, the stress, and the recent bout of lovemaking had combined to defeat their best efforts to stay awake. While they dozed, the moon slowly yielded her mastery over the heavens.
The alarm shrilled, pulling me partially awake. Reluctant to give up my very pleasant dream, I flailed my arm in the direction of the offending sound. I intended to hit the snooze button so I could steal a little more time to sleep, but instead my palm connected with bare flesh.
"Mmmph," came the disgruntled response from the owner of the well- muscled torso I had just smacked.
I leaned up on one elbow, hair falling around me in a tangled mass. I blinked stupidly at the man taking up more than his share of the bed, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. I am hardly at my best before coffee, so it took me a minute.
The uncommunicative lump with his head buried under my spare pillow was Ian. I leaned across him and slapped the alarm, knowing it would give me ten more minutes to snuggle with him.
The first rays of dawn were gilding Ian's chest as I settled back against his side. I draped a proprietary arm over him and closed my eyes.
"Cunna ifrinn!" I swore as I bolted upright. My brain had finally started working, and it had remembered that Ian should not be here. I snatched the pillow off his head.
"Moira," Ian made of my name a muffled protest as he curled in on himself.
"Ian, wake up! You should have been back at the lab hours ago. Surely they've noticed your absence by now!" I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him onto his back, trying to get him awake.
The night crew, Kane and Abbot, were lazy bastards. Unless a monitoring alarm was activated, they spent most of the night playing poker with the cleaning staff and junior lab techs. However, they were smart. They always started their rounds at least an hour before the morning crew came in to relieve them. That way they had current information on their logs, and they fudged the rest of the data based on that.
I had heard about their habits from Matheson, who sometimes sat in on the game. He was very good, winning more often than not. He preferred fleecing officers, but he liked to play low stakes occasionally just for the fun of it. Normally I would have been verbally appalled at their unprofessional behavior, but at Matheson's request, I had kept my silence. Now I was glad that I had.
I stared down at Ian, who still showed no signs of waking up. Not quite ready to go for the cold water, I tried shaking him, "Nottingham, get your ass up!"
Instead of galvanizing Ian, he just pulled the covers over his head. "Mph sleepin', go 'way."
"What is wrong with you?" I was beginning to get worried. This did not seem like typical behavior for him, Ian just didn't strike me as the deep sleeper type. When I found I couldn't pry the sheet from his fingers, I went in from the side and flipped the blue cotton upward.
Ok, not the best idea I've had. Confronted with that entire beautiful sleep-tousled male, I forgot just what my problem with him being here had been. I don't know how many precious minutes I would have spent drinking in the view if the alarm hadn't gone off again, pulling my attention back to the matter at hand.
Ian must get back to the lab; Kane and Abbot would begin their morning rounds soon, if they hadn't already. With a silent apology, I leant down and ran my nails over the soles of his feet, which I had discovered last night, were very ticklish.
Ian jerked his feet away, and finally sat up. He smiled sleepily at me and pulled me into his arms for a long kiss. I felt a strong sense of regret at not being able to spend the day lazing in bed with him, but it wasn't like we had civilian jobs. Calling in sick wasn't really an option. "I hate to throw you out of my bed, but you are going to be missed soon."
"What time is it?" Ian had started to wake up and realize the danger of our situation. He sprang out of bed, heading for the bathroom and his clothes.
"Oh-five-hundred, and it's a good thing I go running every morning or it would be even later. Neither of us would have woken up on our own." I said to his back, watching him pull his pants on. Not as much fun as him taking them off, but enjoyable nonetheless.
"I might yet be safe. The night crew doesn't do any more than glance into the room, and I stuffed my spare uniforms under the blankets to make it appear as though I were in my bed. It won't stand up to close inspection, but it's not likely to get one either. It will make it harder to slip unnoticed back into my room." Ian's voice was muffled during the last sentence, as he pulled his shirt over his head.
"I can go in early and distract them. If I keep them away from the monitors they'll never see you switch places with your stand-in." I began pulling clothes on with equal haste. I could not stand to think of Ian getting into trouble, especially not if there was something I could do to help him.
"No, I would rather you didn't. If I get caught I don't want there to be any uncharacteristic behavior on your part. It would stand out in the wrong mind, and then we'd both be in trouble. I think you should go jogging just like every other morning. Make sure that you're seen." Ian had one foot on the tub, busy lacing as he talked.
He was probably right, although it went against the grain to leave him to take his chances alone. It seemed cowardly. I may be a lot of things, but no one has ever accused me of being chicken. "You know, my behavior these past few days could hardly be considered normal. I don't know that showing up to the lab early would be enough of a deviation to ring any of Casca's alarms."
"You don't really believe that do you?" Ian looked at me with both eyebrows raised in disbelief.
"No," I sighed heavily. Casca would notice that I came to the lab early. Even if Ian were not discovered AWOL the bastard would scrutinize the lab tapes, checking to see what had brought me in. I conceded his point with bad grace. Just because he was right didn't mean I had to like it.
"Good. I would hate to think that you were underestimating Casca. He is a very dangerous and perceptive man." Ian came to me for a last kiss before leaving.
His embrace was deeply possessive. Ian rolled me into his arms and moulded me tightly to his frame, his kiss feeling more like a brand than a demonstration of affection or love. From anyone else I would have been furiously angry at the macho display, and I would have blistered his ears for it. The fact that I just stood there mutely, watching him leave, told me how far I'd fallen.
Suddenly the idea of going jogging held merit. I needed to get out and think somewhere neutral. My apartment held to many emotional triggers to let me work through this logically. I pulled on my dark blue sweats and running shoes. I did my stretches in the warmth of the apartment before heading out into the cold grey dawn.
The intertwined couple soon drifted off into sleep. The long nights apart, the stress, and the recent bout of lovemaking had combined to defeat their best efforts to stay awake. While they dozed, the moon slowly yielded her mastery over the heavens.
The alarm shrilled, pulling me partially awake. Reluctant to give up my very pleasant dream, I flailed my arm in the direction of the offending sound. I intended to hit the snooze button so I could steal a little more time to sleep, but instead my palm connected with bare flesh.
"Mmmph," came the disgruntled response from the owner of the well- muscled torso I had just smacked.
I leaned up on one elbow, hair falling around me in a tangled mass. I blinked stupidly at the man taking up more than his share of the bed, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. I am hardly at my best before coffee, so it took me a minute.
The uncommunicative lump with his head buried under my spare pillow was Ian. I leaned across him and slapped the alarm, knowing it would give me ten more minutes to snuggle with him.
The first rays of dawn were gilding Ian's chest as I settled back against his side. I draped a proprietary arm over him and closed my eyes.
"Cunna ifrinn!" I swore as I bolted upright. My brain had finally started working, and it had remembered that Ian should not be here. I snatched the pillow off his head.
"Moira," Ian made of my name a muffled protest as he curled in on himself.
"Ian, wake up! You should have been back at the lab hours ago. Surely they've noticed your absence by now!" I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him onto his back, trying to get him awake.
The night crew, Kane and Abbot, were lazy bastards. Unless a monitoring alarm was activated, they spent most of the night playing poker with the cleaning staff and junior lab techs. However, they were smart. They always started their rounds at least an hour before the morning crew came in to relieve them. That way they had current information on their logs, and they fudged the rest of the data based on that.
I had heard about their habits from Matheson, who sometimes sat in on the game. He was very good, winning more often than not. He preferred fleecing officers, but he liked to play low stakes occasionally just for the fun of it. Normally I would have been verbally appalled at their unprofessional behavior, but at Matheson's request, I had kept my silence. Now I was glad that I had.
I stared down at Ian, who still showed no signs of waking up. Not quite ready to go for the cold water, I tried shaking him, "Nottingham, get your ass up!"
Instead of galvanizing Ian, he just pulled the covers over his head. "Mph sleepin', go 'way."
"What is wrong with you?" I was beginning to get worried. This did not seem like typical behavior for him, Ian just didn't strike me as the deep sleeper type. When I found I couldn't pry the sheet from his fingers, I went in from the side and flipped the blue cotton upward.
Ok, not the best idea I've had. Confronted with that entire beautiful sleep-tousled male, I forgot just what my problem with him being here had been. I don't know how many precious minutes I would have spent drinking in the view if the alarm hadn't gone off again, pulling my attention back to the matter at hand.
Ian must get back to the lab; Kane and Abbot would begin their morning rounds soon, if they hadn't already. With a silent apology, I leant down and ran my nails over the soles of his feet, which I had discovered last night, were very ticklish.
Ian jerked his feet away, and finally sat up. He smiled sleepily at me and pulled me into his arms for a long kiss. I felt a strong sense of regret at not being able to spend the day lazing in bed with him, but it wasn't like we had civilian jobs. Calling in sick wasn't really an option. "I hate to throw you out of my bed, but you are going to be missed soon."
"What time is it?" Ian had started to wake up and realize the danger of our situation. He sprang out of bed, heading for the bathroom and his clothes.
"Oh-five-hundred, and it's a good thing I go running every morning or it would be even later. Neither of us would have woken up on our own." I said to his back, watching him pull his pants on. Not as much fun as him taking them off, but enjoyable nonetheless.
"I might yet be safe. The night crew doesn't do any more than glance into the room, and I stuffed my spare uniforms under the blankets to make it appear as though I were in my bed. It won't stand up to close inspection, but it's not likely to get one either. It will make it harder to slip unnoticed back into my room." Ian's voice was muffled during the last sentence, as he pulled his shirt over his head.
"I can go in early and distract them. If I keep them away from the monitors they'll never see you switch places with your stand-in." I began pulling clothes on with equal haste. I could not stand to think of Ian getting into trouble, especially not if there was something I could do to help him.
"No, I would rather you didn't. If I get caught I don't want there to be any uncharacteristic behavior on your part. It would stand out in the wrong mind, and then we'd both be in trouble. I think you should go jogging just like every other morning. Make sure that you're seen." Ian had one foot on the tub, busy lacing as he talked.
He was probably right, although it went against the grain to leave him to take his chances alone. It seemed cowardly. I may be a lot of things, but no one has ever accused me of being chicken. "You know, my behavior these past few days could hardly be considered normal. I don't know that showing up to the lab early would be enough of a deviation to ring any of Casca's alarms."
"You don't really believe that do you?" Ian looked at me with both eyebrows raised in disbelief.
"No," I sighed heavily. Casca would notice that I came to the lab early. Even if Ian were not discovered AWOL the bastard would scrutinize the lab tapes, checking to see what had brought me in. I conceded his point with bad grace. Just because he was right didn't mean I had to like it.
"Good. I would hate to think that you were underestimating Casca. He is a very dangerous and perceptive man." Ian came to me for a last kiss before leaving.
His embrace was deeply possessive. Ian rolled me into his arms and moulded me tightly to his frame, his kiss feeling more like a brand than a demonstration of affection or love. From anyone else I would have been furiously angry at the macho display, and I would have blistered his ears for it. The fact that I just stood there mutely, watching him leave, told me how far I'd fallen.
Suddenly the idea of going jogging held merit. I needed to get out and think somewhere neutral. My apartment held to many emotional triggers to let me work through this logically. I pulled on my dark blue sweats and running shoes. I did my stretches in the warmth of the apartment before heading out into the cold grey dawn.