Chapter Eleven

"Come on...let's do it."

"Now?"

"Yes, right now." Sam pressed. "I can't wait any longer."

"But...in broad daylight?"

"Fine, how about tonight?"

"I don't know... Are you sure you're ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

Jack looked at Sam doubtfully. She noticed the lack of confidence in his dark eyes and smiled mischievously. Sam was sitting in the bluish grass of the garden looking up at Jack who was just pacing idly. With the quickness of a panther Sam jumped to her feet.

Before Jack could properly react Sam had one hand on his shoulder and had slipped one leg behind his. With a move that was more skill than brute force Sam brought Jack down to the soft ground. She sat on his stomach and pinned his wrists over his head. Jack offered some resistance and found her surprisingly powerful. A bright smile spread across Sam's face, a cat with its prey under paw.

"I'm ready." Sam said confidently.

"Alright, tonight it is. I've got the codes to both doors burned into my memory, as I'm sure you do."

"Yup."

"We'll crawl out through here and we're off. Let's just hope we're not in the middle of a city."

"Escape is definitely made more difficult by the fact that we don't exactly blend with the natives." Sam agreed ruefully. "But how long have we been here?"

"Two months at least."

"If Ser'in was going to let us go, she would have by now."

"Agreed."

Sam released Jack's wrists and he reached up and carded his fingers into her hair. He pulled her down into a kiss that was made more passionate by the thought of finally tasting freedom. Sam slid down further onto his hips and smiled. She pushed herself up to look down on Jack with one delicate eyebrow raised.

"You're probably not going to buy that whole 'sidearm' excuse this time, are you?"

"Not a chance." Sam chuckled.

"At least that means I'm back to full health." Jack teased.

"I'll be the judge of that."

Jack's eyes widened in shock at the highly suggestive comment. Sam pressed herself harder against him as she leaned in for another kiss. Jack reached up and ran his hands down her sides. Sam had worked every day over the past month to regain the strength she'd once had and it showed. If anything she had more definition to her now than ever before. With nothing else to do and a low fat diet the pair had been working out constantly in an effort to be ready to run when they decided to make a break for it.

However, this was the first time either one of them had been ready physically or emotionally to turn their relationship into a truly sexual one. Jack still wasn't sure if he was ready for this, not only had it been a long time since he'd had a partner, but there was also the fear that Sam would end up far from home, on the run, and carrying a child. Sam knew her own body well enough to know that she didn't have nearly enough body fat for her system to be interested in a pregnancy.

Jack didn't believe her. However with her slender frame against his it was becoming increasingly difficult to worry about consequences. Sam bit down on the space where his neck met his shoulder and any reason and logical thought he may have been capable of instantaneously vanished. Jack wrapped his arms around Sam's lower back and held her closer. Sam had just started pulling up on Jack's shirt when an unwelcome third party announced themselves.

"Jaa'ck, Sa'man'ta..." Ser'in called.

Sam made a noise of frustration and rested her head on Jack's chest. Ser'in usually waited at the gate at the far end of the hallway for them to come to her. However today she stepped out into the garden to look for them. Sam looked up and saw that the dragon had come to an abrupt stop and was looking at them with her head tilted to the side.

"It's like having your parents walk in on you." Jack sighed.

"I could have sworn we were supposed to have at least another hour."

"I'd hope that she'd just go away, but I have to admit the mood is kinda broken."

With another heavy sigh Jack gently rolled Sam off. She got to her feet and helped him do the same. Jack took one last look around the garden in case it was a moonless night, he wanted to make sure he knew exactly where everything was. They were counting on a lot of things to go right, not the least of which was the disks still embedded in their skin. The hope was that it took an auditory stimulus to set them off and that they didn't work like an invisible fence.

Ser'in looked excited, which just served to irritate Jack further. Sam took his hand and gave it a supportive squeeze. He looked over at her and was forced to smile. He reached out and brushed her cheek affectionately. They walked over to Ser'in who was practically jumping up and down in excitement.

"What's gotten in to you?" Jack asked.

Ser'in started chattering and making all sorts of odd sounds. Sam and Jack looked at one another nervously.

"Do you think this is a good thing?" Sam asked.

"She hasn't steered us wrong yet."

Ser'in beckoned them to follow her as she started back down the hall. If she suspected that she'd interrupted an intimate moment she didn't show it. When they got back to the small cell they stood at the bars expecting Ser'in to open them. However she reached out and took Sam's hand to lead them further down the hall.

They made their way to a new part of the complex that neither of them had seen before. It wasn't until Ser'in nudged Jack to go with a different group of aliens that they'd come across that they started to get nervous. Jack shook his head and stepped closer to Sam.

"No way, the last time we were separated we ended up with anti-Dramamine patches."

Ser'in took Jack's hand and pulled him towards the others while making reassuring sounds.

"I don't think we're in trouble here," Sam said "go with them."

"Alright, but for the record: I don't like this."

"Duly noted."

The three dragons that Ser'in handed Jack off to were friendly enough. Everyone had seemed to calm down about being around them since they'd been given the disks. Even Va'lo had begun to treat them as he would a reasonably well behaved dog. Ser'in took Sam's hand and hustled her off into a near by room. The heavy floral scent of a bath invaded Sam's sense immediately.

"You don't usually get this excited about bath day, Ser'in. Not to mention that we're not due for another few days. What's going on?"

Ser'in showed her sharp teeth in a bright smile and motioned towards the tub. Sam rolled her eyes and pulled off her baggy clothing. She slipped into the warm blue water and noticed that there were far more soaps around than normal. Two more pastel coloured aliens came into the room, one of which was holding a heap of bright white cloth.

"Are you guys getting us ready for something special?"

Ser'in smiled again and came over to encourage Sam to use the heavily scented soaps. Even though it really wasn't necessary all three helped Sam scrub her skin. For a moment she was reminded of princesses in the movies that were catered to hand and foot. She closed her eyes as they massaged a thick lather into her hair.

"Jack will be having a fit by now if your friends are giving him a similar treatment."

Ser'in purred and helped Sam rinse the soap from her hair. Once they decided that she was clean enough Sam was allowed to get out of the warm water. They wrapped her up in a large round towel and had her sit down on a near by chair. Ser'in took her hand and with an egg shaped stone started filing Sam's nails.

"Full spa?" Sam chuckled. "I'm not really the type to enjoy pampering."

Chattering among themselves the aliens continued to work on Sam. She was surprised when one of them produced a device that looked a lot like a tiny lightsaber from Star Wars and used the blade to cut her hair into the short messy pixie cut that she had arrived with that had since grown out quite a bit. Fluffing her hair out with some sort of drying device they took a step back to admit their work.

"Okay, now I'm starting to get nervous." Sam admitted. "What is going on here?"

Ser'in wandered over to the heap of cloth and pulled out one of the items. She brought over a pair of flowing pants that looked like they'd been made with a human set of legs in mind rather than the awkward alien ones she'd been wearing. Reaching out to take them Sam discovered that they were a much finer quality material as well, smoother than silk with a stunning sheen.

"Why do I get the feeling that the time has come for us to be put on 'display'?"

Sam stared at Ser'in sadly, trying to communicate to her that she wasn't interested in upgrading cages. Ser'in simply encouraged her to try the new outfit on. Sighing heavily Sam pulled the pants on. They fit her hips surprisingly well. The pants flared out from her hips to form almost a skirt in appearance.

"I hope there is a top to go along with this."

Ser'in seemed to understand and had one of the others bring her what looked like just a long strip of cloth made of the same material. Sam closed her eyes and shook her head sadly. Ser'in came up and had her hold her arms out. With the help of the others she looped it over Sam's head, crossed it over her chest, wrapped it around her ribs twice, and then had it tied off in the back. The tails of the wrap brushed against Sam's lower back.

Looking down at her exposed belly Sam groaned. She glared at Ser'in, but the dragon was much too proud of the effect of the new outfit to notice. Ser'in had one of the other's hand her a pair of strong clippers and she used them to break the chains around Sam's wrists and her throat, although she was careful to leave Jack's dog tags which Sam was still wearing alone.

Satisfied with her work Ser'in sent the others away. Taking Sam's hand once more she lead her back out into the hall and off to the left. Sam could hear Jack swearing at the other aliens long before she saw him. When they came around the corner Sam caught sight of him and came to a dead stop.

Jack was wearing a similar pair of pants as she was that hugged his narrow hips, however they didn't flare out as much and didn't give the same skirt effect. They'd stretched a skin tight tank top over his chest and stomach where it disappeared into the low waistband of his pants. Although an opaque shimmering white it displayed his new muscular definition in breathtaking detail. His hair had turned rich silver over the past few months of stress, However the colour did nothing to age him, it looked like he'd been born with the striking colour.

"Ja...Jack?"

Jack stopped his pointless arguing and looked over at Sam. The look of shock that fell over his face was so priceless that for just a fraction of a second Sam felt the humiliation was all worth it. Even still she found herself crossing her arms over her bare stomach and flushing in embarrassment. Jack said nothing, he just furrowed his brow as if he didn't understand what he was looking at.

They were all standing outside a solid door that held a colourful panel which Ser'in punched a complicated code into to make it slide open. She made the others back away and she personally lead them down the now open hall. There was another solid door at the end which Ser'in opened and ushered them through.

Sam gasped at the amazing world that the door had opened up to. She didn't even notice as the door closed behind them, blending in perfectly with the natural stone. It was a rain forest complete with several large banyan type trees. Everywhere flowering plants and deep coloured vegetation grew. It had a steep topography and they were standing halfway up on what amounted to the top of a miniature scaled mountain. The large granite rocks that littered the landscape were coated in bright green moss and flowering vines. Off just to Sam's right was a gently running stream that cascaded into a large turquoise pool.

The breathtaking forest was not what had caught Jack's eye first. He was noticing the fact that they were standing in the middle of a new prison. Three hundred feet in any direction from where they were standing was a rounded glass wall that encircled them and went from the floor to the ceiling a hundred feet above. The ceiling itself was glass allowing the natural light to pour in. The glass wall even formed the far edge of the deep pool and on the other side the barrier the stone floor gave way to set of steps so on lookers could view under the water.

There were hundreds of the alien reptiles on the far side of the thick glass. Some of them had caught sight of the humans right away and were pointing them out to others. There were several flashes that reminded Sam of old fashioned cameras. There was no sound from the crowd, the glass kept all sound out, and Sam realized it would keep it in as well.

"Looks like we're the new star exhibit." Sam sighed.

Jack still hadn't said anything. He pried his eyes away from the curious on lookers. Sam found his intense gaze suddenly on her and she crossed her arms over her stomach again. She could see that he was grinding his teeth together by the way his jaw muscles bunched. His expression was an odd mixture of murderous intent and hopelessness. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose before stalking off.

"Jack? Where are you going?"

"To see if that water is cold..."