(A/N: Know its been a while but had some work. Not to mention the writers block. Finally got that out of the way. Reviews are the best solution to writers block you know….i sound desperate. Yes…I know. Enjoy!)
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Quinn was beginning to think she was completely off her rocker.
Reaper strode quietly and commandingly ahead of her. He wasn't talking or trying to make an effort to get her to talk. In fact, he hadn't said anything in the last five minutes. And she wasn't about to start a conversation even though they had circled the south perimeter like a million times.
Okay, not a million…but at least thrice.
He didn't quip, he didn't invade her space, and he didn't even act like a smartass. It was almost as if they had no link outside of this mission. He was being a proper soldier, and considering between the two of them, he was her senior, an appropriate commander. She silently obeyed his orders. Scanned this, stomped on that, kicked the dust over here and felt the ground over there. All dandy – exactly how she was wishing it should be before their encounter less than half an hour ago.
And for some reason, that was the problem.
Maybe it's my hormones, she thought, kicking the dust as she headed towards him – Yeah, that's it. I must be in PMS!
Wham!
She didn't realize she had been staring at the dust while she walked and slammed straight into his back; which as thick as a brick wall. Reaper whirled around.
"Dammit Phoenix!" She heard him as she tried to shake the birds that twittered around out of her head. "Watch where you're going!"
"Sorry sir!" She stopped her self, mid-recoil. She still had her shades on so she doubted that he saw her embarrassment. She rubbed her nose – he really was as thick as a wall! It actually hurt!
"You okay?"
"Yes, sir."
"Stop calling me, sir!"
"Yes, sir." She said, inadvertently. She didn't bother to tell him that she addressed anyone who behaved as a CO as 'Sir'.
"Phoenix."
"Sorry, I mean, Reaper."
He smiled that damned smile of his. She hoped the heat she felt on her cheeks was due to the hot desert. Reaper turned around and sighed in exasperation. Phoenix gathered herself and decided that now was the time to make her point.
"I told you there's no gate. No bunker…nothing." She said.
He rubbed his face with his hands. A gesture she remembered he often did when he was at a loss for ideas.
"These are the coordinates, Phoenix." He said. His tone suggested he was convincing himself and not her.
"Reaper, even if the bunker opening was here – we would have found an outdoor hatch. Something to activate it from the outside. And look – there's the fencing all around. It doesn't make sense to have no gate..."
She suddenly frowned.
"What?" he said.
"That's odd."
"What is?"
"Was this a military base?"
"UAC was pretty much privately owned but…they had military projects."
"How involved were they – I mean…with the military?"
"I don't know…quite a bit, why?"
"Odd."
"Why?"
"Well, usually, standard protocol for any base to have a minimum of three gates and the bunker by protocol should be…" She broke off midway, and then cursed. "Dammit!"
He took off his shades. "What?"
She ignored him and grabbed his scanner and retrieved the expected coordinates. "Bloody hell!" She hissed.
Reaper grit his teeth as he watched her. She suddenly whirled around and then started talking into her comm saying something to Poet about some goddamned interface and technical mumbo jumbo.
He knew that habit – he recognized it from ten years ago. Her face would suddenly brighten up when an idea struck her and she would first start mumbling to herself and talk in gibberish he couldn't understand.
He had hated that habit at the time – then spent the next one year trying to get the image out of his head.
He sighed and shook his head. Had it really been that long? He had spent his entire life convincing himself that Philadelphia was stuck in his head because of a million excuses from being the most gruesome mission at that time to the horrors of having to get out of the place alive and all that crap. Had he really succeeded that well to get her out of his head? Could he have stuck her so far back into his mind that he actually wouldn't recognize her? He told himself again, it was the fact that she had changed – her face, the way she behaved – hell! Even her name!
Reaper refrained from voicing his groan at the nagging voice in his head.
Sam was right…he'd been practicing hiding for so long he no longer understood the difference between running away and endurance.
Cold – she had become probably. Distant – very much so. Yet, as Reaper watched her hurry forwards in some direction, he saw beyond what to another would appear as reasonable interest.
She had succeeded in doing some hiding of her own too, it seemed.
She was excited – he could see it in her face – at least whichever part was not covered by her shades. Her cheeks had taken on that familiar glow – and it wasn't the heat. Reaper saw beyond what to another would seem as mere interest…he saw the excitement and he was sure if he took off her glares her eyes would shine brightly as they always did when she had a brainwave.
...Myself...I'm fighting myself ...
At least she knew whom she was fighting. Who the fuck was he fighting? At Mars – it was his childhood. What was it here? What was it with her?
John knew the answer. He just didn't dare admit it to himself. John sighed and let her talk to Poet over the comm without interrupting – he wasn't that great with techno babble anyway. He recognized the spot that he had followed her to were the coordinates they had come in search off. He found it odd that after all her protests and arguments she was the one who suddenly came back here nodding her head and talking to Poet over the comm.
He knew there was no point even trying to ask her what she was on about – she'd probably say something half way and then get distracted. At least, the girl he knew would.
What about the girl now? Was she really that different?
And what was she doing….?
John's jaw dropped slightly as he saw her get on all fours and start shaking the dust. That's all there was…dust and an occasional spot of pavement. The base had been masterfully constructed below the surface around the ark – there was near nothing above – except for the occasional helipads. She had been right – there was nothing. So what was she looking for?
"Phoenix?"
No response.
"What the fuck are you…?"
John broke off and made a face. He watched her remove her glove and tuck it into her belt hurriedly and then palm the surface.
Just before he was about to ask her if she had lost something, he saw the glove fall out of the belt on the ground. She didn't notice, so John sat on his shins and picked up the glove. Her hand was moving around randomly and slowly, her fingers sifting through the dust as though she was shaking gold nuggets out of sand.
…you have an artist's hand…
He let go of her hand. This was crossing his comfort zone.
…Eh? And what would ye know about 'em artists?...
The mischievous was glint was back on her eyes. He couldn't help smiling. It was infectious.
Her fingers sank into the ground – that hand was no longer small – it was longer and slender…
He looked away. Some part of his mind was aware that his heart was pounding. "You mind telling me what you're look for?"
No answer.
…I'm an archaeologist, right? We need to be artistic! We work with brushes and those tiny knives…
…Oi!...She swatted him.
…Hey!...He rubbed his shoulder.
…What a loaddadosh!…First you tell me ye grew up on Mars…and now yer tellin' me yer an archaeologist!...
…I'm not lying!...I studied archaeology. And there's an archaeological dig at Mars, you know...
…That's absolute shite! Yer such a liar! So whendya get the time to be a soldier an' all? Eh?...
…First of all – I don't understand your English – speak slowly…
…Oh! So now yer insultin' me ainglish! Yer a real somethin' aren' ya?...
She suddenly crouched up and started moving in a horizontally straight direction, keeping her fingers firmly in the dust. John stood up and followed her.
"Phoenix." He droned. "Are you going to tell me what you're doing or do I have to shake it out of you?"
No answer.
She had moved quite quickly away from him. John sighed and jogged up to where she was. Again she went down on all fours.
This was ridiculous!
He prodded her shoulder. He sighed and waited. He wanted to choke her and maybe pound her skull a bit to get the answer out but something told him she was on to something.
"If you know you're seeing an illusion, John…"
He looked up. It was the way in which she addressed him that he was startled. He could make nothing out from her half covered face.
He pulled off his shades and put them into his pocket as she continued, softly "If you know…and you're damned sure the wall that you see before you is not real – but you have to get past it and you can't. What do you do?"
…If ye know that what yer seein' is a dream…it's not real and ye have to get past it, what d'ye do, John?...
John held the trembling girl in his arms. The nightmare – whatever it was had shaken her too much.
…I try and wake up…
…But it's too real. It's so real that as long as ye see it ye kin' never move ahead…ye want tah' move…but ye jus' kain't..
John pulled her in closer and smoothened her hair. She's only a child…he told himself. She's only a child. You're not allowed to feel what you're feeling. Stop it. It's an illusion.
…I guess…He said…I'd just close my eyes and walk ahead…
John sighed and bit his lip. "I guess I'd just close my eyes and…
"…Walk ahead." She said with him simultaneously as he completed his answer.
"But if it is so real that you can actually feel it?" Her voice had something he hadn't heard in a while. Hope. "I mean – so real that as long as your eyes are open you can not possibly get past this wall."
Fed up of being unable to see her eyes he pulled her shades over her forehead and then allowed it to rest on the crown of her head. She didn't look like she minded his action. In fact, he doubted she even noticed that he had done that.
Her eyes were bright and glistening.
John stared at the fire as her sobs subsided.
…When I'd dream at night…I mean…like a nightmare?...she said.
He kissed the top of her head and pulled her closer. She curled in to him. He sighed…This is innocent…He told himself…She's only thirteen. I do not feel anything for this…this…child!
…the dream would be so real…she continued…that I knew it was a dream and I jus' couldn't wake up. Me mam, she'd come an' hold me, but all I could feel is this monster…or dragon…breathing on me. I couldn't even 'ear me mam's voice…
"Kae –" He caught himself before he used her name. "Kelly?" he said, clearing his throat. She didn't notice the slip of tongue.
She took his right hand and placed on the ground where her hand was. She placed her palm gently on the back of his hand.
"What is it?" he said. He nearly choked the words out.
She pressed the balls of her fingers on his nails…forcing him to feel the ground. John looked at her hand, outlined by his, and placed atop of each other.
He felt nothing under his fingers.
John pulled her face back and wiped the sweat off her brow. He looked into her eyes. They were bright and glistening against the firelight.
…then I'd tell meself…It's just a dream…it's not real…it's not real…
"It's not real." She whispered and closed her eyes. John stared at her as she continued to press his fingers on the ground. He still felt nothing but looked at her face. Calm and serene. A lock of hair fell over the scar and covered it as she lifted her head a little to face the wind.
"It's not real." She said, again.
She was thirteen again in his sight. Terrified out of her wits, hanging on to him for support.
He exhaled the breath he had held in for so long and closed his eyes and then turned his palm up and interlaced his fingers with her own and reversed the position of their hands, such that hers were below his. He slid his own fingers through the webs of her own and they felt the ground together.
"It's not real." He whispered, with her. He believed her.
And he felt it.
Under the pulps of his fingers he felt it…a slit – so fine that it would seem like a rim of a can before it was opened. His heart pounded and his eyes flew open. The only thing he saw was dust.
But something else was under his fingers. He looked at her. Her eyes were still closed
"You just close your eyes…" she was saying softly. "And you say it's not real…and you walk right through the wall."
John's breathing became laboured as he closed his eyes and opened it again. He felt the ridge – very well, even with his eyes open. But he saw nothing.
So he closed his eyes again and let her guide him. He felt her pulling him towards the east, and he followed her, slowly. They both crawled, hands interlaced, like two blind men groping for a coin.
"I feel it." He whispered, as some point in the middle. She didn't respond but kept guiding him until the ridge became a corner. He felt another ridge perpendicular to the one they had traced.
"It's the edge, of something…" he said. More to himself than her.
He opened his eyes. Still nothing.
She stopped moving. He let his fingers slide up to her wrist and he tapped it. She opened her eyes and looked at their hands. Then she looked at him.
He didn't bother wondering where the ice woman had gone. He knew that chick would soon make a come back and decided to enjoy whatever little of Kaela's normal self he could see.
She took the scanner with her other hand and punched in something. She single handedly fiddled with the scanner with her left hand since her right hand was under his, still pressed against the ground.
John did remember that she was right handed.
He waited patiently watching her every expression – and her face showed all right now – it seemed the mask had melted away…for the moment. She looked ahead of him and then made to stand.
It was only then that he let go.
"Wait here" she said.
He remained crouched on the ground holding the spot where he felt the edge as she stood up and went towards a quadrangular pavement patch, about half a mile away which was once used for parking. She bent down and started groping, keeping her eye on the scanner.
It was only then that what was going on struck like a truck.
"Fuck!" he said slowly as he digested everything.
"FUCK!"
He jumped up. "Kae – Phoenix!" He called to her as he started to jog towards her.
"Yes, John!" He heard her answer. Her back was to him. "I know! Late riser, aren't you?"
"What the fuck is going on! What was I feeling? That was the edge of the hatch, wasn't it?"
He saw that Phoenix's hand had stopped mid way about half an inch about the margin of the pavement in the air. He saw her press her hand down, grasping the pavement's yellow demarcation. He could have sworn he heard a click.
He slowed down to a stop and braced his thighs, panting. "Why the fuck can't we see it?"
She suddenly whirled around startled and landed on her bottom. She looked livid.
"What?" He said.
"What the fuck are you doing here!" She hollered. "I told you to wait there!"
"What? Why?"
"John! Now we've lost that spot!"
"What spot?"
"The hatch, dummy!" She gave him an indignant gasp and turned around and started patting the ground next to where she had grasped.
"What…the hell?" He crouched and rolled his eyes.
She muttered. "Now we're going to have to grope for that thing again, do you know that that thing has a five minute window period before it locks down automatically?"
"Wha –What are you talking about? What's with all the fussing!" He said.
"I'm fussing!" she exclaimed sarcastically. "I'm fussing? Oh that's right! I'm fussing!"
"Now you sound like a broken record." He smiled, shaking his head. He sat on his haunches, supporting himself with one finger on the ground. "You wanna tell me what's going on? And don't worry. One of us can look for it again…you can…" He broke off and frowned. "What exactly are you doing…or planning to do?"
Beep!
John was silenced. Maybe he had imagined that! But Phoenix was beaming. She pressed on the tar ground again.
Beep!
"Where the fuck is that coming from?" John whispered.
"It's not real!" She said, knowingly.
"Phoenix. That beep was real!"
"No….no…the beeps are real but…but…" John saw her fingers drumming in the air as she gently slithered her hand around a rectangular area of the pavement. Then she used her index finger to pat a trace around a discrete rectangle.
"But what?" Suddenly the back of his neck began to tingle.
She reached one corner of the rectangle she had traced and then pressed down.
Beeeep!
"Phoenix…" John said, his voice taking a warning tone. "You're not being very coherent."
She cursed under breath and threw up her hands. "I'm also blind."
"What?"
"As…in…I can't see…"
"See what? The imaginary beeper?"
Phoenix rolled her eyes and looked and him, cocking her head as she did so, and said in a condescending tone. "John…all hatches have an external console. Right…?"
"Yes. So we can activate it externally, if needed. You're telling me that tar road is the console?" He laughed. "What is it like? Touch screen…oh sorry! Touch road!" He snorted at his own joke, and was about to break into a laugh when she pressed again.
Beeeeeeeeeeep!
John sighed exasperatedly and said. "Okay! Given! That is the console…which we can't see…!"
"Why? You believed that was the edge of the trap door right?"
"I could feel that, Phoenix! Maybe we can't see it, because it is camouflaged in dust…really well camouflaged!"
Phoenix shook her head and then took his arm. John nearly fell forward because he was supporting himself on that hand. Instead he recovered and landed on his knees as she pulled his palm.
"I feel the road."
"Pretend its not there."
"What?"
"I'm serious, John! Remember the hatch."
John closed his eyes and took a good two minutes convincing himself that the road wasn't real and then he let her press his fingers down.
He felt something all right.
He opened his eyes. It seemed as though he was pressing the road, but he felt his fingers sink in below the level of the pavement and feel something that he knew from memory was the dial of a console.
"Now…assuming that the numbers are in the original configuration…" She said, biting her lip. "Damn! I wish we could…"
John pressed on what he though should be '1'. The number sounded like the beep that came from an ordinary console key designated as 1. Then he pressed '2' and then what he thought would be '0'. The sound changed both times.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
John groped towards where the reset button would be and pressed it, hearing the distinctly different sound.
"I have a good memory for sounds." He didn't bother to add. 'Ever since I've been injected with alien DNA'. "I can recognize most of them. That was a 1, 2 a zero and then a reset."
"Oh! Good!" She beamed. She seemed relieved. "So then key in the override."
"Phoenix…I am not going to key in the override until you tell me what we're dealing with here. Why can I not see what I can so clearly feel?"
She sighed and then pursed her lips in a pensive pause.
John sighed and then said. "And most importantly, Phoenix, why is it that I can only feel it after I believe that it is not there?"
She sighed deeply again.
"And what's with all the sighing?" He said, indignantly.
She rolled her eyes and said, "I'm not sure exactly, how it works…but I believe we are dealing with more than just an electromagnetic net over this place."
"Uh huh…and?"
"And I think part of the 'more' happens to be some sort of…"
John waited expectantly. "Of…what?"
"Of holographic interface."
"What?" he nearly laughed it off.
"Look!" she said, raising her hands and stopped him from calling her insane. "I don't know how it works – but I know that holographic interfaces can disguise…"
"I've played VR games, Phoenix, I know what holographic interfaces can do. The thing is – if you put your hands through it, it will pass right through. I felt the dust! I felt the road!"
"That's the catch…" she said, sighing. "The technology is a little more advanced than you'd like to believe."
"What…you mean they can simulate touch sensibilities now?"
"It's a really long story, John." She pleaded. "And I'll have to repeat it to Genghis. More importantly, I'm not the expert on this one. Poet is. I promise we'll tell you everything. Just…please…" She motioned her head towards his.
John debated for a minute and then agreed that she was correct. He closed his eyes and imagined the console and then allowed his instincts to guide his fingers as he punched in the numbers. A higher pitched noise indicated that he should swipe his card. He felt the slot and then swiped it. A loud distinct noise could be heard back where they had first felt the hatch.
The sound of a large trapdoor sliding open.
They both stood up and jogged towards where they had once been. The noise continued. But all they saw was the dust. Phoenix moved towards the coordinates and crouched down. Then she called Poet on the comm and told him to get his ass to the south quarter.
"I don't get it…" John said, crouching down and joining her as she started feeling the ground. "We even heard the hatch open – shouldn't the interface deactivate once…"
"Not necessarily…" She reached forward and covered the area with a wide sweep of her arm. "Blast!"
"What?"
"Oh nothing! I have to do this with my eyes closed. This thing is so believable that every time we touch…I touch that I can't even feel it! That's why I told you to stay here!"
John shook his head. "Well!Excuse me for wondering what you were up to!"
"I told you to wait…John! I mean these coordinates can't give us exact measurements."
"So why don't we just walk around?"
"Because you'll fall in the hatch, dummy! It's like a blind man walking over a ditch!"
"First off – what's with the dummy thing? And second – I thought you said you can feel this hologram. So how would we fall – I mean – wouldn't we be like walking on air or something?"
"First off – I'm calling you a dummy because you clearly are one! Secondly, no holographic technology is that good that it can cover a wide area like the hatch space. It's like a trick – John! It's not the real thing!"
"Hey! I'm not a dummy! And I'm sure there was no technology that was good enough to generate such high frequencies to access the hatch from outside – but we were wrong about that weren't we?"
"Well I'm telling you – there's no such technology -"
"You're actually negating yourself!"
"I am not."
"Yeah, you are."
"I most certainly am not."
"Yes. You. Are."
"You know nothing about holograms and you most certainly are a dummy if you believe that sort of shite that we can walk over thin air!"
"You're the one who said it unless I believed it wasn't there then only…"
"Oh! Shut up!" she said, shaking her head and treading slowly around the area, kicking the dust. "You're pissing me off!"
"Oh yeah?" John said, gritting his teeth. "What a coincidence? You are pissing me off!"
"Bugger off!" she said, kneeling down and feeling the ground. "You're ruining my concentration!"
Who the hell did she think she was? "Hey! Just who the hell do you think you are?"
"I am obviously the one who was paying attention in tactics and warfare class…unlike you."
"What the fuck does tactics and warfare have to do with technology?"
"Golden rule – well! – when you don't know the enemies defences – don't experiment!"
"That's not the golden rule!"
"Well it's a pretty damned good rule!"
She had that annoying, self-assured condescending attitude that pissed him off. John just kicked the dust right into her face and then smiled smugly. She burst into a series of coughs and sneezes, clearing her face before jumping up and charging at him. He held his arms out and caught her by the shoulders.
"You bastard!" she screamed as she struggled against his grip – he grinned cockily and kept her at arm's distance – literally. He was too strong for her.
"You self-righteous…!"
"Oh? I'm self-righteous!" John laughed sarcastically. He sneered. "Look in the mirror, sweetheart!"
"I'm not your sweetheart, you arrogant prick!"
"That's right…feel free to use the Irish slang."
"That's not even Irish!" She swung her leg at him but he pushed her away, so she ended up swinging her foot in the air. Grunting in annoyance, she pushed at him – he kept her restrained.
He yanked her by the arms and slammed her into his body.
"What the fuck…?"
"You're really a wild cat aren't you? Phoenix?" John bit the words out – using his shin to block her kicks. He twisted her arms, till she hand them behind her back. She writhed, struggled, thrashed and resisted like a caged animal.
"And what are we fighting about…again?" John mocked her. "Holograms?"
She stopped struggling and growled. He smiled. Considering that he was the stronger party – he enjoyed every minute of it.
"Well, you started it!" She whined.
He let her go.
She groaned as she nursed her arms where he had gripped them.
Unable to resist he taunted. "I don't think it's broken…maybe a little band aid would help."
She snarled at him and shoved him backwards. John stood his ground. He laughed when he saw her exasperation that he didn't even budge.
She wrinkled her nose and then this time gave him a stronger thrust. He laughed – since he was so rooted she had to endure the recoil and she stumbled back.
The third time she came at him, he caught her arms and pulled her close. She froze.
He smiled, calmly. "We've done this before, haven't we?"
They had…in Philadelphia. That time they were playing. She'd try and shove him with all her strength and see what it took to make him fall.
Her eyes showed that she remembered. Those steely grey eyes took a softer tone as they searched his. John let go of her right arm to shift a lock of hair away from her forehead. She slapped his arm away, and this time she pushed away from him – the recoil made her stumble back a few steps more.
Seeing the look on her face itself John realized that he had overstepped the line he had promised not to cross.
"Phoenix…" He started to say but broke off when she raised her hand in warning and shook her head – holding his eyes the entire time.
John let his shoulders sag in hopelessness as he rubbed his face – he was about to turn around went he saw her stumble backwards…and fall.
Somewhere in the short expanse of time his brain stepped on the gas and it seemed as though everything moved in slow motion.
His logic would ordinarily have reasoned saying it was only a small fall. He ordinarily would move forward and then give a hand out to help her stand up – he didn't have to be…dramatic.
He didn't know what made him do it – maybe it was the instincts that made his neck tingle and lunge forward and catch her before she would hit the ground.
She gasped at first in surprise as his body hit hers and his arm came around her, twisting her such that he would break her fall. John closed his eyes and waited for the ground to strike his back…but the ground faded away into darkness as he found their encircled bodies – then came her second cry of surprise – they fell right through the ground into what seemed like an abyss.
"Shit!" He cried as his body hit something hard and solid. Pain shot through his spine – but that wasn't they end of it. She cried again and before he knew it he was being toppled over and she was under him – he tried to grab onto their surface but there was nothing – it was flat as a sheet of iron – she suddenly rolled over his hand and then his body and he was again under her
Something was wrong – John realized and instinctively embraced her– they were still moving – not moving – falling…not falling – they were freakin' rolling on something - downwards.
Like spool on a flat surface they tumbled about for what seemed like too long a time until somewhere their momentum changed and they turned perpendicular.
John raised his head and found to his horror they were not rolling anymore but far worse they were sliding straight down a very steep incline. The incline was corrugated horizontally and the ridges scratched the skin under his quite sturdy uniform – and for some reason it kept progressing downwards.
John grunted and rammed his heel onto the surface until it struck home – a thin ledge of the corrugations. They slowed down and then suddenly stopped. He looked up at her and saw her arm stretched out – the finger nails clawing into a similar ledge above of them.
"Oww!" he heard her yelp. He winced as he tried to stabilize them, but knew that if he tried to move it would be risky. And judging from their position they still had half of the down slope to cover.
"Kaela?" He whispered. "You okay?"
She panted and nodded vigorously. John would only realize later that he had called her by that name and neither did she.
They looked up – bright sunlight streamed in through the gigantic opening of the gate. He looked at her – there were minor scratches on her face – he wasn't the only one getting scraped by the ridges.
"Where are we?" She wheezed.
"My guess is the hangar." He groaned as he tried to steady them. He needed to sit up.
She grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back down. "No, don't move."
"What?" He resisted her and sat up "Why?"
Accidentally his footing slipped. "Fuck!"
This time as their downward descent began again, she got pulled over him because at the time she managed to catch his shoulder he simultaneously grabbed onto her waist to hold on and they began spooling over each other.
"That's why!" he heard her cry as they tumbled on down. Then she suddenly yelped. "Ow! My head!"
He grabbed her head and shoved it into his chest – letting his supporting hand take the beating. When they finally rolled onto the flat ground, she was under him, and he had his head buried into her neck, one arm around her back and the other covering her head.
They both groaned simultaneously. John didn't even bother raising his head – everything was swirling in it. "I think I'm going to need more than coffee to wash this one out." He muttered to himself.
He heard her snort – instead of raising his head he turned it and tucked it into the side of her face and waited till both their breathing slowed. Moving – as it turned proved painful. She mumbled something to which he answered with an impolite 'Huh?'
"I said, are you okay? Is anything broken?"
John grunted and winced as he wiggled his toes and said. "I think just my pride. How about you?"
"I'll live."
He swore he heard a hitch in her breath for about two minutes when she asked. "So, you really are okay, then?"
"Yeah." He groaned, closing his eyes, wishing he could just fall asleep. This was more comfortable than the rolling and the falling.
"Then why aren't you getting off me?"
John raised his upper body and then realized they were in a compromising position – the key element being that their hips were positioned over each other at very suggestive places.
"Sorry." He grinned sheepishly. Then, he groaned and winced as he scrambled off of her and sat on the ground, rubbing his back. "That was fun!" He said sarcastically.
"Yeah," another voice broke in. John and Phoenix looked up to see Genghis, Bazooka and Sandman standing over them with amused expressions on their face.
"It was like watching porn," Genghis cracked sarcastically. "Except, of course, with all the clothes on."
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(A/N: Sorry for type errors. Don't have a beta.
Dr. Masaki. Especially because your compliment fueled this one. Thanks for calling me dedicated, I really and honestly was happy to read that. BTW . Just for the record…I am totally delighted to disappoint you regarding the romance bit.)
