I apologise for the "M' rating. I just couldn't see doing it any other way. Hope you enjoy, and can forgive the end of the chapter...
Disclaimer: They're still not my characters, but...
Too High a Cost
By: Mariel
-xxxxxxxxxx-
Chapter 9
Reaction
There was nothing in his first response to her but anger, followed quickly by need and frustration and a desire to punish.
And still their mouths clashed hungrily.
Slowly, he lowered their hands. Their bodies strained against one another, hard against soft, their breaths coming in short, ragged gasps.
She had betrayed him. Lied to him. Left him.
He let go of her wrists and grabbed the hair on the back of her head with one hand. His other arm wrapped around her and held her firmly as their kiss deepened.
His teeth bruised her lips, his tongue probed her mouth..
He was furious at her.
He couldn't get enough of her.
The world that had so suddenly begun to spin out of control around them just as suddenly stopped. After a long, breathless pause, the synergy of air and plant and rock and planet gathered itself, channelling though their bodies to explode in a sudden, heated flare of desire...
Mindlessly consumed by the need for more of him, Laura unzipped his jacket. Running her hands over his chest, she lifted his undershirts and wrapped an arm around him. Lifting a trembling hand to pull his head close, her nails raked the back of his neck as she pressed her mouth against his.
She needed him.
Wanted him.
And would have him, because what had happened before would happen again.
She would have him here, on the ground of Kobol, just as she had before... Nothing was more important...
He undid her pants and slipped his palms around the curve of her backside as he nuzzled her neck. Drawing her close to him, he heard her softly moan as she struggled to stay close to him while stepping out of her boots. She strained against him, welcoming the heated blush of desire that coursed through her. Free of her own lower garments, she undid his trousers, her hand immediately seeking and encircling his hardness. Pressing the heel of her hand against it, her whole body shuddered in anticipation of having him inside her.
Their hands busy, their mouths still crashing together in bruising kisses, they slowly sank to the forest floor. She lay beneath him. Spreading her legs in welcome, she sighed as he settled himself between them. Guiding him into her, she wrapped long, slender legs firmly around him.
Home. He was home.
There was power in this. Strength in this.
And there was healing...
At first his movements were a punishment, a release of anger and grief and loss, but it was also a healing, and it was hers to give.Welcoming the thought, she gave it gladly.
She forgave him. Could he forgive her?
He held her, bruising her flesh until, with a groan, he pushed against her and held. He felt her arch and move slightly to welcome his orgasm. Groaning her name, he gradually relaxed and slid out of her. Slowly rolling off of her, he turned onto his back and wordlessly stared at the sky.
And discovered he had not had enough.
Laura lay beside him, her body bruised and more vibrantly alive than it had been in far too long. She wanted more of him, wanted not to stop now but to continue until they were where they had once been, until they had put right what had gone so wrong. Hope burgeoned inside her. She had seen a glimmer in his eyes of what he had once been.
Had seen something of what he had once felt...
Unbidden, tears welled in her eyes. She wanted him more than life.
Needed him more than life.
And now, lying next to him, knew she had never felt his absence more deeply.
When he moved onto his side and rose up on his elbow, she looked up at him with dark eyes. His hand reached down to touch her and she started in surprise, tightening her legs together.
"Let me touch you," he ordered.
Slowly, she relaxed.
He bent his head and caressed her mouth with his lips while his fingers explored her. With a touch so light it was a pleasurable torture that made her moan, he fondled her while his mouth trailed kisses along her throat. Using her moistness and the moistness he had left in her, he created a slick, delicious contact that made her open her legs and strain against his hand as her sensitivity to his touch heightened.
Pressing herself against his fingers, she lifted an arm to hold his head against her, revelling in the feel of his mouth against her skin. Trembling, she exhaled a small whimper of desire. Her hand reached to grip his arm and she groaned when, leaving her thobbing and needy, he abruptly stopped his ministrations.
She clutched at him tightly, willing him to love her again.
-xxx-
He rose and moved to kneel between her legs once more. He knew this was impossible, knew that there was nothing natural in his being hard and ready for her again so soon. He even knew that her response to him was somehow different, that her wantoness was somehow heightened in ways he couldn't define... but he didn't care and refused to question. Driven by a desire so intense and heated it pulsed through his veins like a wildfire, he moved over her. Taking joy in the eager, ready way she welcomed him back, he thrust into her again, exalting in the power of their union.
He moved inside her - long, controlled strokes this time; delicious, languorous movements that allowed them to savour and heighten their pleasure. Anger gone, the past and present ignored, they clung to each other, two souls capturing a rhythm both primal and uniquely their own.
When he heard her breath catch softly and felt her grip on him grow harder, he gave himself up to his clamouring senses. She tightened around him rhythmically and they both stilled as the sought-for cataclysm swept them away...
Voices finally united, they cried out.
Some faraway, muddled part of his brain felt her hold him as he spilled his seed into her. Slowly, he relaxed against her body.
-xxx-
The gorge was deep and the underbrush virtually impenetrable in some spots. The falls that cascaded down into it blocked out sound, making it not only the perfect place to hide from cylons but also a place difficult to find people you were concerned for.
An hour after Roslin and his father had disappeared into the woods, Lee had finally admitted, "I think perhaps we'd better go find them after all."
A good while later, after taking random paths here and there and seeing no sign of either his father or the President, he began to reconsider his decision. "We'll never find them," he complained to Kara. "We should probably leave them alone, anyway. We don't really need to see them fight."
"Shhh..." Kara lifted her chin and turned her head to listen carefully. Leaves rustled gently in a barely-there afternoon breeze. The roar of the waterfall blocked out most sound, but-
"This way," she whispered.
They'd gone only a few metres when Kara stopped again. She could see the swiftly moving water of the river through the thickly-leavened undergrowth and moved towards it. When she stepped onto the cleared bank, she followed the flowing water with her eyes. Farther down along the river's bank, she saw and recognised two bodies. Roslin lay on the mossy ground, her hair spread like a halo around her head. Adama lay over her. The President's slender arms were wrapped around him, and though Kara could not completely see them, there was no mistaking their position or the movements they were making.
She stood, blinking, then slowly turned her eyes away.
Taking a few steps away from the water, she said in a soft voice, "I think maybe we should go back now."
Lee came to stand beside her. "Go back? I thought-"
Her expression soft, Kara put a hand up and covered his lips with her fingertips.
"They've stopped fighting, Lee. It's going to be okay."
Curious, he glanced in the direction she had been looking. He took a step forward, but Kara stopped him.
"Lee, I don't think-"
"What?" he asked.
"They'd not fighting," she said, still not letting him move forward. Unable to come up with a way of saying what she had seen, she held his gaze, willing him to figure it out. "They're definitely not fighting. I think we should head back now."
He looked at her, puzzled.
"I was wrong," she explained patiently. "They didn't need the Admiral's rack. They're doing just fine with the ground."
His eyes widened.
"Oh," he said. He blushed slightly and stepped back. There were some things he could happily live without seeing. Swallowing awkwardly, he said, "I guess we should go back, then."
Smiling, Kara nodded.
-xxx-
They lay together silently, too spent to question anything about what had just transpired. Thankful for the warm sun still angling down onto them, they rested in apparent contentment, Roslin's head on Adama's shoulder, her hand resting on his chest.
Adama stared at the sky. He could feel the warmth of the ground beneath him and the softness of the body that pressed against him...
Slowly, as his thoughts gained coherance, he realised what he had done. He grimaced, wondering how he could have allowed himself to make such a mistake; how he had managed to frak an already difficult situation into something even worse.
Sex on the ground of Kobol had solved nothing.
And changed nothing.
What had to be done would be done.
Slowly, reluctantly, Adama moved. Disengaging himself gently from her, he stood. Finding his pants, he put them on. Zipping them up, he looked down at her, his expression unreadable.
"This was a mistake. I'm sorry."
He truly was.
She had been watching him sleepily, enjoying the quiet moment. Dismayed by his words, her eyes widened.
"No," she said.
When he didn't respond, but instead began to do up his shirt, she felt a desperate anger rise inside her.
"No," she insisted again. Rising up on her elbows, she said, "This was not a mistake." It had been a step forward, a beginning...
She watched him continue to arrange his shirt. When he was finished, she put her hand out in a silent request for him to help her up.
He looked at it and stilled. An expression she couldn't interpret crossed his face, and then, slowly, he leaned forward and stretched out his hand to meet it.
When he pulled her to her feet, she met his eyes and stepped closer to him.
"This was no mistake, Bill," she repeated. Reaching up, she softly touched his face. "We needed to do this. It was right. We need to feel these feelings again. We need to regain what we had. It's there. I know it is. You've got to trust in it."
He stood, silently regarding her. She could see that he was waiting, but for what, she wasn't sure. Not knowing scared and frustrated her, so she said the first thing that came into her head.
"I love you."
The words, unadorned and clearly spoken, glittered in the air between them like crystals.
Bill looked at her. He seemed stunned at first, then his expression became pained and he backed away.
"Don't," he said. "Don't say that."
Turning, he walked away.
End
Chapter 9
The path of true love and all that...