AN ~ Spoilers for Lifeboat.
Chapter Four - Together
"Hello?" Daniel called closing the front door behind him.
He got no response, but heard ruffling coming from the living room. He deposited his shopping bags by the door and followed the sound. He found her sitting crossed legged on the floor completely surrounded in books. Every book he owned by the looks of it. She was completely focused and didn't look up as he entered the room. He moved a small stack off the end of the sofa nearest to her and sat down.
"What are you doing?" he asked her softly. She flicked through the pages her eyes flitting back and forth.
"Learning." she replied simply, finally looking at him. A smile broke across her face and he couldn't help but return it with one of his own. Her smile seemed to be contagious to him, it lit up her whole face making her eyes dance.
She attentively traced his lips with her fingertip, before she returned to the book. A minute or two later she finished, closed the book and balanced it on top of a teetering pile.
"Do you have anymore?" she asked him.
He glanced around the jumbled room, at the sheer mass of volumes around them. "You can't have looked through all these, I wasn't away that long."
"You went on a mission." It wasn't a question. "You were gone for longer than expected and you did not call." she didn't sound annoyed, just curious.
He rubbed the back of his neck roughly. "Yeah, um, there where some…complications."
She heard the stress in his voice and was immediately alarmed. Raising up to her knees, she moved herself between his thighs. She reached up to touch his face, her palm holding his cheek. Her eyes searched his face. "What happened? Are you all right?"
"Yes, yes, I'm fine. It was just a bit traumatic." He quickly explained about SG-1's most resent mission to P2A-347. How 12 minds, from the Stromos had been downloaded into his brain. "I don't actually remember it, just counting the crew in their stasis chambers, then I was back at the SGC with Janet in an isolation room and then I woke up back on the ship again with a server headache."
"That does sound traumatic." she agreed.
"Painful to, but apparently you've been on a mission of your own." He smiled, eyeing the books once again. "Anything in particular you were looking for?"
"No. Simply learning about your people, your planet. Once I learnt to read your language it was-"
"Wait! You taught yourself to read and read all these while I was gone?" He was amazed. She had the physique of a woman in her late twenties the mannerisms of someone much younger, innocent, yet clearly her mind was much, much older and more advanced.
She gazed into his astounded expression. "Have I done something wrong? There was not much in these books about what is considered correct behaviour, not current demeanour anyway. Although with this amount of data I believe I would be quit sufficient in your ancient Egypt."
He chuckled. "Some things we can't learn through books. And no you've done nothing wrong. I'm just surprised. The average person would take years to read all these." he waved his arm across the room, indicating all the books piled around her like a nest. "Not hours."
"I wished to absorb as much as possible as I did not know how much time I would have once you informed your people that I was human."
"Yeah, about that…I didn't tell them."
She tilted her head, questionably, at him. She didn't have to speak for him to see the 'why' being asked. He was going to say that he was worried that they would think he had cracked after everything he had been through on the last mission, but he knew that would only be a half truth, so he opted to tell her the main reason for his silence.
"I wanted to keep you for myself…for the time being at least." he said taking her hand.
"But I am yours and yours alone and ever shall be. Revealing my existence will not make me less so. Nothing can alter that."
'His', he liked the sound of that. He smiled warmly down at her as he gazed into the depth of her brown eyes. She brought her lips to his. Instinctually he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her to him. Standing he swept her up off the floor and carefully stepped over the dubiously piled books he carried her to his bedroom.
"I have been ordered to go straight to bed when I got home and I intended to follow the instructions to the letter. But they never said anything about having some company." He just wanted to hold her, maybe kiss her but more importantly he just wanted to know she was there. He wasn't alone anymore. For the brief few moments when he had regained consciousness in the isolation room with Janet he had been terrified that he was in fact losing his mind and he had imagined Leesia's whole return. The fear had only lasted for seconds, but it had been enough to make his heart hammer so hard against his ribs it caused him to black out again. When he had come to back on the ship his fear had abated some, but until he touched her it hadn't completely eased. He needed to hold her, feel her in his embrace so he could silence his panic.
He lowered her down onto the beds soft surface and laid next to her on his side, propped up on his elbow, his other hand on her abdomen. Her hands slipped under his shirt, feeling his chest as she had done the other night.
"I find your skin very alluring. It's soft and hard simultaneously. I may become addicted to your feel." she teased with a smile.
"I may let you." He dropped his head back, exposing his throat for her wondering fingers to explore the new terrain. He sighed deeply as she stroked down towards his collar bone and back up to the sensitive spot behind his ear.
"It feels good?" she asked.
"Incredible." he told her.
She beamed that smile that made her eyes dance with delight and repeated the same path her fingers had made but this time with her lips, causing him to moan. As she passed his jaw on the third him he turned his head and quickly caught her lips with his own, and it was her turn to moan.
"I want this." she told him simply. "I read about it: intimacy. I understand how the act happens now."
"You can't understand it through reading, it's something you have to experience to understand."
"Then let me experience it." she said, bringing her lips back to his exposed flesh. The tingles were back and just as merciless in taxing his restraint.
"I feel like I'd be taking advantage of you." he said as she started unbuttoning the shirt she was wearing. He took hold of her wrist gently stopping her.
"I can't do that." he told her gently. It took a lot of will to not drop his head to her skin she had managed to expose before he had stopped her. He wanted to taste her the same way she had just been doing to him, but her closeness and the tingles that were jumping between them were already taxing his control. If he started something now he doubted he would be able to stop.
"I read about that too 'to take advantage of someone: To use somebody in a selfish way in order to achieve a personal benefit, usually by exploiting a weakness' I do not comprehend how that applies in this situation. It can not be selfish if it's something we both desire. It's an act we can both take pleasure in so it will not be solely to your benefit. Are you planning to exploit any of my weaknesses?"
"No, never!"
"Then by definition you would not be taking advantage of me."
She had done her homework and had all the facts, but he was not about to lose this argument. "That's neither here nor there. It's not logical, it a feeling. You seem so innocent to me and I just want to protect that…can you understand that?"
She sighed and nodded. "I understand, but you have to know that your feelings are erroneous. I am more than mildly disappointed that you feel this way, but I will abide by your wishes."
Despite his best efforts he had once again hurt her feelings, he could hear it in her voice. "My point is it'll be better for us to wait. Usually people build up their relationship before taking that step, but believe me it is nothing to do with my wishes." he swallowed hard, as he ran a finger down her slender neck.
"Then I am confused again. You were correct: it really is not logical at all. Will you always feel this way for me?"
"Oh no, it's not like that." He cursed himself. He wasn't making her feel any better. "It's not about how I feel. Believe me I want to, it's…like I said it's something you build up to in a relationship."
"How?"
"By getting to know each other, learning to trust each other… falling in love."
"I know, trust and love you already. Are your feeling towards me not the same?" her eyes sparkled and he saw hurt there.
"Oh no, I mean, yes they are. Of course I…" he sighed heavily. Only she could make him, the linguist, struggle for words. He couldn't believe that he's once again made her feel rejected, all he seemed to be doing was making things worse with everything he said
That was it, argument over. "I know, trust and love you too." he echoed back to her.
Her confused puppy look was back, replacing the pained on of rejection, but before she could speak he locked his lips on hers.
Resting his forehead on hers he told her. "If you start to feel uncomfortable with anything, you will tell me?"
"Yes." she breathed eagerly.
"Right away?" he looked her straight in the eye.
"Yes." she repeated, meeting his gaze.
He took a second to absorb her words before grazing her lower lip with his thumb, his own lips following close behind it.
...
They remained silent in the warm embrace of each others arms, clinging to each other as their breathing slowed and their pounding hearts calmed.
Slowly he raised his head from her shoulder and his cool blue eyes met her warm brown. "Are you okay?" he asked her yet again.
"No. I have far surpassed merely okay. I now know what your meaning was when you said you have to experience the act to understand it. That was amazing." She smiled up at him and pulled his head closer to lock their lips together. "Is it always like that for humans?" she asked, the look of innocence still apparent in her.
Daniel smiled at her and answered honestly, "No. It's never been like that before."
Slowly, he rolled to the side, keeping her in his arms. "I love you." he whispered as he kissed her on top of her head.
"I love you also." she replied.
As they cooled Daniel pulled the comforter over them both. Even though he had been nearly exhausted before their coupling, not sleeping the previous night and having a challenging mission to deal with as well, now he had the opportunity to sleep, he couldn't face closing his eyes. He didn't want to miss a second of the total tranquillity and bliss he was now feeling. Leesia, curled herself along side him, her eyes closed, her fingers tracing patterns over his heart. He wrapped his arms tighter around her, unwilling to let the smallest gap come between them.
AN ~ Next chapter is nearly complete, but wont be up until I get at least two reviews. Mwahaha! J