A/N: Another two flashbacks, and they finally get there. About time too.
A silent agreement had fallen between them after their last session in the range – they had to mix it up a bit. Competitions of accuracy alone were no longer possible as they had risen to practically the same level of ability. Taylor had therefore made the decision to suggest an addition – they would have to assemble each weapon from its constituent parts before hitting a predetermined sequence of points on the target. The first to complete the cycle would win.
"Win what?"
He had grinned wickedly at her, seen her eyes flash with desire in response. "Whatever the loser is willing to do."
#
(Equivalent Year: 2147)
It was Wash's turn to choose the guns and Taylor arrived at the range up to find three different kinds of pistol laid out on each of their benches.
"Three shots to the head with the first, chest with the second and neck with the third." She said, hands in her pockets as she waited by her own station.
She chose the pistols because she worked best with them, knew them inside out, upside down, could take one apart, clean it and put it back together with her eyes closed – a fact he knew to be true due to a couple of the guys in the unit in Somalia getting her to do it on a regular basis as entertainment on long, boring evenings in camp.
He didn't speak, simply removed his jacket and stood at his station ready, waiting.
She gave the countdown and they began.
She got a head-start on him on the first pistol by a fraction of second but he soon made it up, and by the time they were assembling the third they were neck and neck. The final three rounds into their targets rang out in perfect unison.
They turned to each other with triumphant smiles, pulling off their ear protectors and advancing on the other slowly.
"What do you look so pleased about?" She asked with a curious tilt of her head.
"I won." He shrugged.
She laughed derisively at him. "You did not."
"Prove it." He baited.
She glared at him and stepped closer, her chest only a couple of inches from his own.
He'd seen her front up to many a fellow soldier in his time – as a plucky young recruit she rarely won but now she rarely lost, be it against a newbie with ideas above his station or a worn-down, strung-out vet who didn't take kindly to her correcting his sparring technique. Taylor was fairly certain he was the sole person in Terra Nova who she would still allow herself to feel intimidated by, her natural bravado not enough of a shield against his superior size and position.
He watched as she stared him down, wondering if she'd crack. Or when.
Eventually she dipped her head, just a little. Licked her lips. Lifted her hands to her ponytail and released it. Shook out her hair and smiled.
Dropped to her knees.
Well, that was new.
She reached out for his belt while his brain played catch-up, hands coming to rest over hers when he felt his zipper being lowered. "Wash..." He started, trailing off when he realised he didn't quite know what to say. He'd never asked for her to do this, much as he had wanted to. "You don't have to."
She licked her lips again as she looked up at him through her eyelashes, looking unfairly breathtaking. "I want to." She assured him.
She waited until he removed his hands to continue lowering the zipper, reaching her hand into the gap and grinning when she felt him already half hard. He cursed mentally – though he was generally always so in her presence, especially down in the range, it wasn't the best knowledge for her to have over him.
When her hand wrapped around his length, though, it was difficult to be particularly concerned. It also wasn't difficult to completely lose his misgivings and allow her to tease him to readiness.
She pushed the material of his pants out of the way with her free hand, not lowering them completely yet just enough to push his underwear down and expose him fully. She grinned up at him once more before leaning forward and engulfing the tip of him with her mouth.
He tried to be a gentleman about it (as far as that was possible) but as she started to lower her mouth onto him further his hand flew to her head instinctively, winding in her newly-released hair to hold her steady. She hummed delightedly around him and he groaned as he realised that had been her plan all along. She played him far too easily.
One hand came to the base of him to wrap around carefully as her other moved around to grip his ass, nails digging in hard. The hint of pain made him jerk, thrusting into the heat of her mouth involuntarily. She adjusted her hold to take the further intrusion, running her tongue along the full length of him as she withdrew slowly.
She blew a light blast of cold air across his wet tip, eyes crinkling as she chuckled at his pitiful moan. Her mouth was around him again in an instant, blending the moan into a groan of relief and arousal. She pumped her hand in counterpoint to the motion of her head, which he had managed to refrain from influencing so far.
He allowed his eyes to slip closed as she licked and sucked, creating the most sinful noises in the quiet, still air of the range. She was still humming in satisfaction as his hips started to rock, the vibrations doing ridiculously wonderful things to him. When she lightly added her teeth into the mix, just for a second, he grunted, both hands now fisting in her hair and slowly guiding her back and forth. She fought him when he tried to get her to move faster, digging her nails into his ass further as warning.
"Wash..." He groaned. "I can't... not much longer."
The sides of her mouth quirked at his attempt to warn her but she was not so easily deterred. If anything it made her redouble her efforts, employing every trick she knew to bring him closer to breaking point. He looked down to find her staring up at his face and the connection of brown eyes on blue was enough to send him over the edge, spilling into her mouth as she swallowed without comment.
He fell back against the bench, pants still half-hanging down, watching as she stood and wiped carefully at the corner of her mouth with her thumb, before inserting the digit into her mouth and sucking.
"Fine, you won." She said, returning to her bench.
Yes. Yes he did.
#
They usually waited until a few weeks after the arrival of a pilgrimage to indulge in their hobby – they needed the extra time to help everyone get settled in, but they also sorely needed a stress-relieving session once that miraculous event had finally occurred.
But this time it couldn't wait. He couldn't wait. Something he'd been waiting for had finally arrived with the Eighth Pilgrimage and showing Wash was top of his to-do list.
#
(Equivalent Year: 2147)
"You wanted to see me sir?" Wash asked, walking into the range and smiling curiously at him as he leaned against a large metal crate. "What's in the box?"
"It came through with the Eighth." He said.
"Okay..." She smiled properly at him now. "But what's in it?"
"You remember Samuels?" He asked, crossing his arms (on purpose, her gaze redirected as usual and made him feel almost superhuman). "He mustered out a few weeks after you joined the unit."
She nodded. "I do, sir."
Of course she did, she had a mind like a steel trap. "He probably never got around to telling you but he had grand plans to open a war museum in what was left of Boston, fill it with historical weapons and costumes, like they had at the turn of the last century. He was a collector, had a load of fully-functional old pistols and rifles gathering dust at home that he wanted to find a use for."
"Did he manage it?" She asked, walking closer to sit on top of the crate next to where he stood.
Taylor nodded. "Quite a success too, until the domes started going up and his museum wasn't inside the boundary. People stopped wanting to come out to see it once they needed rebreathers, the building started to degrade as a result of the pollution and eventually he contacted me just before we shipped out to Terra Nova to tell me he was going to have to shut down."
Wash frowned. "What happened to all his things?"
"That's what I asked him, I sent a message through during the Fifth and we've been conversing since." He took a step back. "Stand up."
Her brow furrowed but she complied instantly, moving to stand beside him. He lifted the lid and her audible shock made him laugh.
In front of them, nestled within packing materials in carefully labelled boxes were a rich assortment of antique guns; pocket revolvers, flintlock pistols, even a musket buried deep within. Taylor knew there was sufficient ammunition and powder also hidden inside the crate, provided they only used the weapons infrequently.
He watched as she reached out and cautiously touched one of the pistols, before hefting it up into her grip and judging the weight. She aimed with it to test the sight and grinned, running her fingers over the embossed metal. "These are beautiful." She breathed, placing the pistol down reverentially and shutting the lid. "You got these for me?"
"For us." He corrected with a wink but her scowl was enough to make him backtrack. "Of course Wash. For you."
He recognised something different in the way she approached him after his correction. Amongst the pleasure and gratitude of his little surprise there was a naked adoration of him that soothed a deeply held anxiety he hadn't realised he still possessed.
The times before had been games. A bit of fun. Something light within their dark lives.
He suspected now that it was going to become even more.
She reached up for his head and tugged his lips to hers, hungrily showing him her gratitude. His arms came to rest on her lower back as he returned her kiss with enthusiasm. He started to back her up towards the nearest surface, the crate, but she switched their positions and instead guided him towards it until his knees hit resistance and buckled. He collapsed heavily onto the crate, the edge digging into his ass as she bent at the waist to keep their lips joined.
She spread her legs to straddle his lap and continued to work her lips over his as her hands ran down his torso to the hem of his shirt. She finally broke away in order to lift it up and off of his body, and he took the chance to do the same to her before she could regain too much control. He earned himself a scowl once again for that and she moved off him, depriving him of her warmth in the cool room.
She didn't move too far, instead leaning over to undo his belt and instruct him silently to lift his hips so she could tug his pants down roughly. In doing so he scooted further onto the crate, leaving his knees at the edge this time. There was still plenty of room behind and he leant back on his hands to watch as she grinned in satisfaction at the display of his arousal, pants hanging loose around his ankles.
She quickly removed her boots before she shucked off her own pants and underwear and slowly walked up to him, clearly enjoying the way his gaze roamed over her body.
She planted her hands firmly on his shoulders and moved first one, then the other knee to straddle his lap. Her extra height perfectly aligned the top of her chest with his mouth and he leant forward to nip and suck at her collarbone as she aligned her weight above him. She looked down at him with a raised eyebrow, a silent question of his readiness. He nodded once, kissing her sternum and she smiled, gripping his shoulders firmly as she started to lower her weight.
The feeling of her engulfing him was exquisite, so tight, a sensation he had gone far too long without experiencing. He wanted nothing more than to let his eyes drift closed and allow her to carry him away on a wave of pleasure but the desire to see her face as she reacted to him was impossible to ignore. He forced his eyes open as she lowered herself down and painted her face into his memory; the way her eyes fluttered closed at his first intrusion, how her mouth fell open when she felt him stretch her, her expression of awe at the feelings coursing through her body.
Her fingernails were digging into his shoulders as she seated herself completely in his lap but he embraced the pleasure-pain, bringing his hands to her hips as she stilled.
Her eyes opened slowly and she smiled at him, blissfully happy, as she wound her arms around his neck. He knew what he saw in her eyes was reflected in his own – contentedness.
Home.
They stayed still and together for several moments, Wash dipping her head to capture his lips. Their tongues battled lazily, her hands combing through his hair as one of his came up to cup the back of her head and hold her close.
Eventually the desire to move became too great and she rose up slowly, gripping him with her muscles and drawing a long groan from his throat. She broke her hold on his lips to gasp as she lowered back down but he pulled her lips back to his as he settled his weight onto one hand. She ran a hand down to press against his chest as the other ran fingertips over the back of his neck.
The need to breath overrode her desire to keep their kiss going and she tugged his bottom lip between her teeth as she pulled back. He wouldn't let her go far, keeping their foreheads pressed together as he started to move back against her, lifting his hips on her down stroke to meet her. She caught his gaze with her deep brown eyes and he saw the humour there, sensed her next move coming as a result but still couldn't brace himself for the rotation she put in her thrust. He faintly heard her chuckle quietly as he grimaced and let out a quiet moan.
His hand left her hair (detangling his fingers was an adventure, he didn't know why she hadn't winced at his tight hold – though maybe she liked it, that was something to explore further) and trailed down her back to cup her ass and briefly squeeze. She groaned, clenching her inner muscles in response. He grinned, nipping at her lower lip until she growled in frustration and joined their lips once more.
Her movements grew more erratic as he continued to thrust up into her, so he drew his hand around to run light touches across her chest, teasing sensitive skin. He tweaked her nipples and swallowed her resulting gasp. He moved his lips along her jaw to her ear, taking the lobe between his teeth and nuzzling at her skin.
"Come for me Alicia." He whispered.
With two more thrusts she was there, throwing her head back with a shout as she ground down and pulsed around him. He followed quickly, raising his hips once more to get the friction necessary to push him over the edge with her.
He held them up with his supporting arm when she slumped against him, head tucked into the crook of his neck as her hot breath played over his heated skin. Once she had apparently regained the ability to think clearly she tipped her head to the side and placed a small kiss to the side of his throat.
"Thank you." She muttered.
He wasn't entirely sure what she was thanking him for, the gift or the sex or something else entirely so he just smiled, kissing her temple. "You're welcome."