A/N: This is part two of Chapter Two of Thieves in Time. I don't own B7 or these characters, but I do enjoy messing with their lives!

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…INTO THE FIRE

"Gods! Avon, I love it when you push it to the limit!" Servalan cried, her long black hair flying loose behind her. "If only we could get one of my father's ships. Then we could go as fast and as high as we like."

Avon huffed a laugh. Much as he craved just that, he doubted his ability to accomplish it. "I don't have as much confidence in my piloting skills as I do in my driving skills, Servalan. That could be a very big mistake."

She laughed, smiling across at him. "I wasn't talking about your piloting skills, Avon, I was referring to mine."

"Yours?"

"Well, of course, idiot. Part of my studying at the academy this past term included piloting and navigation."

"I should have guessed." He slowed the vehicle to a more sedate rate of speed as they approached a wooded area. Skillfully, he maneuvered the air car in behind the trees and halted it altogether. When it was secured and all power systems shut off, he turned and pulled the girl closer to him. "I missed you while you were away," he whispered into her ear. "I don't have many friends that I can talk to, especially about you."

She wrinkled her nose. "I assume you're referring to that odious little Delta, what's his name, Vila?"

"Vila is my friend, Servalan," Avon told her firmly, not for the first time. "He's been my friend since I was six years old. I owe him more than you could ever know."

"I'm sure you do," she said, batting her luxurious eyelashes at him. "And I suppose he collects on the debt every chance he gets."

"I don't appreciate the implication, Servalan." Avon grabbed the long black hair and pulled her head back with it, nipping the skin at the base of her throat. "Just because others of our class indulge themselves with members of their own sex, doesn't mean I do. Vila just happens to be my friend, nothing more."

"Of course, Avon, of course. I was only teasing you." She struggled, trying to get free of the grip he had on her. "You're hurting me!"

"I'm just trying to make a point." He let go of her hair with a jerk of his hands. "And I don't like to be teased!"

"Well, I won't tease you anymore, then." She nestled close to him, her head on his shoulder. "Let's not fight, Avon," she purred. "I'll be leaving again in two days and this time I won't be able to come home until mid-term. My studies are taking up more of my time than before. Let's not waste tonight."

He caught her implication and pulled her to him, brushing her lips with his.

Servalan put her arm around his neck and pulled him down with her onto the seat. "Avon, it's going to be so long before we see each other again. I don't think I can bear it." Her lovely lips pouted, banishing any other thoughts from his head.

"I wish you didn't have to go," he murmured into the side of her neck. "Can't you stay here and go to the regular school with me?"

"You know I can't do that," she sighed. "We've been through it all over and over. I want more out of this life than a mansion up on a hill and a houseful of brats to carry on the family name. I want to be on top, where no one can reach me," she said fiercely. "I want the power that goes along with the position. I want to be able to make people do what I say, just because of who I am."

"Why are you so ambitious, Servalan?" Not that he had a problem with ambition. He had ambitions too. It was just that hers were getting in his way at the moment.

"I've never really thought about the reasons," she answered. "It's just something I've wanted since I was old enough to want. I've never considered anything but the top. I will be president of the Federation some day, and, with you at my side, who knows what we can accomplish."

His brow furrowed, he pulled back enough to look her in the eye. "I'm not sure I like the idea of being your second-in-command. Suppose I wanted to president myself, or at least someone as powerful. Then what would you say?"

She kissed him quickly. "I'd say we might have a fight on our hands. Right now, though, I have other things on my mind." She pulled him down on top of her, running her hands over his back. "I don't want to wait any longer, Avon. We've been seeing each other for more than a year. Why do we always have to stop?"

"I'm taking no chances, Servalan," he said, shaking his head. "You know I love you, but I won't be pushed into making love to you just because it's what people might expect."

"No one else expects it, Avon, just me. I want you and I want you now. Let me go back to school with a memory that I can cling to at night, please." Her eyes begged him to understand. Her hands reinforced her message. Her body beckoned to him.

He didn't answer her for a long moment. Then, coming to a decision he briefly wondered if he would regret, he began to unfasten her tunic, moving on to the fastener of her pants. She followed suit and in a very few minutes, they were totally naked in the front seat of the vehicle. A grin flashed over Avon's face as he reversed their positions. At her surprised gasp, he said, "Well, you said you wanted to be on top."

"Yes, I did." She smiled down at him, pushing the dark waves of hair off his forehead. She leaned back, settling her body against his, trying to find the right position. She wasn't totally inexperienced, and felt something wasn't quite right. While his eyes and hands and mouth said he was more than ready, his body didn't seem to understand. After several minutes of stroking and touching, she finally managed to produce a normal reaction in Avon. She positioned herself over him and eased him into her body.

"Yes," she moaned and began to move against him.

"Oh, yes," he echoed, thrusting upwards.

She moved over him slowly, languidly, then increased her own movements. She leaned over him, touching his lips with hers. "Don't stop, Avon, please."

He shook his head and closed his eyes. "Won't stop, ever." He continued to whisper into her ear. Suddenly she sat up.

"You called me Vila!" she spat at him, then realized he was no longer aroused enough to continue making love to her. "You called me Vila!" she repeated. Leaning back, she slapped him hard across the cheek. "You bastard! No wonder you didn't want me, you wanted him. You lied to me and you've been lying to me the whole time!" She slapped at him again but this time he caught her hand.

"Don't ever do that again!" he warned menacingly.

"Or you'll do what?" she taunted. "Send your Delta lover to show me how you really like it?"

"Leave Vila out of it!" he shouted.

"Oh, so you admit it, do you? Is that why you had so much trouble getting it up? Is that why you wanted me on top? Really, Avon, if I had realized how things were, I wouldn't have gone to so much trouble to arrange our time together."

He pushed her off him and reached for his clothes, waiting grimly until she was dressed before speaking again. As he watched Servalan fasten the last button on her tunic, he hoped he'd calmed himself enough to at least make some sense.

She reached for the door grip and jumped out of the car. Avon followed her, caught her by her hair, and pulled her back.

"Listen, bitch! You will listen to me!" He held her immobile by her long locks. "No one talks to me like that, do you hear, NO ONE! I don't care who you are, how powerful your father is, or how powerful you become. I won't be manipulated!"

"I wasn't manipulating you, Avon," she gritted out through clenched teeth.

"No, but whether you realize it or not, your father and mine have been pushing us together ever since we first met. That's what I resent."

"So you were lying when you told me you loved me?"

"No, Servalan, I meant it. I did…do love you, probably always will, but no one comes between me and my best friend. What you and I had is over. I realize I've probably written finish to my own career and my father's, but I don't give a damn! Vila's friendship is more important that all that."

"You do love him, don't you?" Servalan laughed, twisting out of his grip. "It's all over your face. Why can't you admit it?"

"Of course I love him, but not that way. If he knew someone thought such a thing, he'd die of embarrassment."

"Oh, I forgot," she said sarcastically, "he's a Delta and they don't do that."

"Neither do I."

She laughed out loud at him now. "Maybe your family isn't that far removed from the service grades after all. I must remember to tell my father. He'll be disappointed but relieved when he knows he won't have to worry about his daughter being used by an over-ambitious social climber. I can hardly wait. I wonder what he'll do to your father when he finds out what you tried to do to me."

"What I tried to do to you? Servalan, what are you talking about?" He stared at her intently, suddenly uncertain and just a little intimidated by this girl.

A smile crossed her face as she tore the neck of her tunic. "Why, you tried to take advantage of me and compromised my virtue, of course." She shook her head and laughed at the look of horror spreading over Avon's face. "You father will be lucky if he can get a job cleaning houses in the Delta sector when I'm through with the two of you! Since you obviously want to bed one of them, you should enjoy being one of them!"

Avon was struck totally speechless at the white-hot anger pouring from this fragile-looking girl. He'd known she had a temper, had even been the object of a tantrum or two himself, but nothing like this flow of lava. She seemed almost insane and he was both frightened and repulsed. Deep down, though, another part of him still craved her. He pulled her into his arms and bruised her lips with his.

She pushed him away, struck at him and missed, then raised her knee. He sidestepped that expected onslaught and smiled wryly at her.

"What's wrong, Servalan, not paying enough attention in your physical education classes? Maybe you should study street-fighting in the Delta sector. Much more effective, I'm told."

"You're insane!" She flung the words at him, clearly hoping the projectiles would kill him on the spot.

"Perhaps." His reply was quiet and that frightened her. Temper she could understand, but controlled anger was something she had no experience with. The power she'd sensed in this man when they'd first met was more in evidence now than she'd ever hoped to see. She knew she had to deflect or divert it somehow or this could get more out of hand than it already had.

She stepped in close to him, saying softly, "Avon…I'm sorry."

"No, you're not." Again he used her hair as a weapon against her, holding her away from him, her arms flailing the air. "You aren't sorry, you never were and I seriously doubt that you ever will be. Face it, Servalan, it's over and that's that."

"It'll never be over, Avon," she spat.

"We'll see about that!" He turned her loose and threw her bodily away from the air car. "Hope you enjoy your walk home through the Delta sector." He slid behind the controls and in less than three seconds had the vehicle up to full power. "Better hurry, it'll be dark soon and you won't be safe from all those wicked Deltas." He threw his last words over his shoulder as he gunned the engine and roared away.

"I'll make you pay, Avon!" she yelled after him, knowing he couldn't hear. Then, quieter, in a promise to herself, she said, "I'll make you pay if it takes the rest of my life."

She started to walk, hoping she could at least find her way to the Restal residence before darkness.

Oh yes, Avon would pay…dearly.