Chapter 25: Love

The next day dawned clear and bright, and although Shana was dying to go out, there were things they had to attend to first. There were three bedrooms here at the cabin, and Cam and Charlie took the second while Snake Eyes and Shana took their usual master. Bed linens needed to be aired out for their two week stay, furniture needed to be dusted and the kitchen cleaned, and when they went through the attics for stuff that Shana and Snake eyes had put in storage, they discovered there was a leak in the roof and water had collected on the tarps and plastic that they'd wrapped everything in.

So Shana and Cam set about cleaning that while the guys went about fixing the roof. The cleaning took less time than the roof-fixing, and they came out with a blanket, spread that out on the sunny grass, Shana with a beer, Cam sipping lemonade, and they both watched their sweaty, shirtless guys working on the roof. Shana was still basking in the warm glow from the evening before, and she grinned appreciatively at the play of Snake Eyes' wiry muscles flexing under tanned skin, at the way his jeans pulled tight against powerful thighs and lean buttocks without a hint of cellulite.

Cam leaned over as Shana was lost in contemplation of what else she could do to that hard, tight body and said "Shana, I swear if you start purring I will smack you."

Shana choked on a mouthful of beer, spluttered for a moment as she tried to catch her breath, then burst into outright laughter. "Do I really look that bad?" she finally managed to gasp out.

"Yes, you do." Cam grinned at her friend. "Like a cat who's just found a whole saucer of cream. Smug and self-satisfied. And don't think Snake Eyes up there hasn't noticed you watching him. He's been on his knees with his ass in the air pretending to hammer the same nail for the last ten minutes just so you could ogle his backside."

"I am not ogling! I'm…appreciating." Shana felt her cheeks flush, and to cover it she ducked her head and returned her attention to her beer.

"Uh-huh. Whatever you say, Shan." Cam shook her head.

"Hey, I notice you're not immune to Charlie's charms up there," Shana said after watching her friend watch Charlie for a couple of minutes. "And I swear he's raising that hammer a little higher than necessary just to flex those marvelous biceps of his."

Cam's cheeks acquired a dusky copper hue. Shana snickered. "I will admit, though, he does have nice arms. Not as nice as Snake Eyes, but definitely nice. Did you see the way that salesgirl in the lingerie store yesterday was looking at him? I swear she looked like a cat eyeing up a nice fat canary." She tossed down the last of her beer. "I had a question—you and Charlie are newly married and I expected to see it bother you somewhat."

Cam shook her head. "Not really. I mean, I guess it started to bother me a bit, but when I went down our link, I found he was kind of embarrassed by the way she was looking at him. Flattered that she would appreciate him, but embarrassed all the same by the way she was so openly staring at him. And he felt no attraction for her, none at all. I knew I didn't have anything to worry about. Just like right now I know he's showing off his muscles just to see me smile."

"Can I tell that with our bond?" Shana was intrigued.

"You should. Ours—Charlie's and mine—is relatively new compared to yours, you just haven't been aware of it on a conscious level. Charlie taught Snake eyes conscious control while we were…gone. He knew the link was there from listening to Snake Eyes tell Doc that he saw you in his dreams—and when Snake Eyes came into the infirmary with cuts and scratches that we later found out were in the same place yours were." Cam smiled. "Close your eyes and reach down into yourself, find that little thread of light that connects him to you. Then follow it. The closer you get the more of his emotions you'll feel."

Slightly apprehensive—and intrigued—Shana closed her eyes and felt for that thread of light. Each time she tried to find it, it got easier; this time it was almost immediate. She felt down it, and felt Snake eyes' emotions.

Happiness. Pleasure that Shana was watching. Delight that she found him attractive, a feeling that he was the luckiest man in the world for being able to attract a woman like Shana. A little wonder that he was married to her, that they'd finally made permanent something that had been in their souls for years but was now finally acknowledged by everyone. Satisfaction. And an almost overwhelming sense of male pride in the fact that he was toned enough to please her and make her happy.

Shana grinned as she looked at Cam. "I see what you mean." Then her smile turned cheerfully wicked. "Hey. Let's make them look at us."

Cam raised her eyebrows, but smiled. "I'm game. What do you have in mind?"

Up on the roof, Charlie scrubbed an arm across his sweating forehead, then blinked as he saw the blanket below them was empty. "Hey. Where did they go?"

Snake Eyes looked down, noticing for the first time that Shana wasn't down there anymore, and shrugged. Maybe they went inside to use the bathroom? Who knows, with women?

Charlie chuckled. "You're right. Who knows."

They started fixing the roof in earnest, now focused more on the roof than on impressing the girls below—which went sailing completely out the window a moment later when both Shana and Cam came out, dressed in…well, it might have been called a bathing suit, but neither of the guys would have even considered taking their wives to a public beach wearing those…fabric scraps.

Charlie was so distracted he accidentally hammered his thumb.

And those two little minxes knew the effect they were having, too. Shana had gained weight and muscle back, was sinewy, supple and toned, fair skin slightly freckled and slowly acquiring a sun-kissed golden tan. Cam, despite the scars and her still-apparent thinness, was still beautiful to Charlie, and many of the scars were starting to fade from their initial angry red to a slightly more normal clear honey. Under the bright sun, Snake Eyes studied the scarring. He could see where it had drawn tight, causing Cam's shoulder to tilt upward and warp her back, but he could also see where repeated exercise and gentle stretches were starting to give her back some normal mobility; if she hadn't been in the Army and muscular movement was a necessity, she could skip surgery and just wait for her skin to stretch naturally, but since she was military, she didn't have that luxury. He could see, however, that an incision made by a surgeon right along her shoulderblade would release the tension and return mobility almost immediately, provided she gave her skin enough time to heal.

And then all thoughts vanished as Shana stretched out on her stomach on the blanket and Cam poured some lotion into her hands, then started to work it into Shana's back from shoulders to heels. Neither man could even pretend to concentrate on fixing the roof anymore; they watched, libido rising as Cam worked lotion into Shana's body in an undeniably sensual way; then Shana flipped over and Cam worked it into the front of her body. Shana then sat up, Cam lay down, and Shana proceeded to return the favor for Cam.

Cam sat up as Shana finished applying the tanning lotion, then blinked as she looked up and saw the empty roof. "Hey, where did they go?" she asked, looking around. "I didn't even see them finish up."

"Neither did I," Shana said. "I wonder where they went—"

She never had time to finish her sentence.

Someone grabbed her from behind, and a moment before she lashed out in panic she smelled the familiar scent of her husband's sweat and felt the sword-calluses on the hands that picked her up. She screamed in laughter, pummeling his back with her fists (albeit gently; she could sense his mischievous mood down their bond and knew he wasn't going to hurt her.)

Charlie had done the same thing to Cam, picking her up, throwing her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. "Me, brave. You, squaw," he pretended to grunt. "You my woman now." Cam was laughing so hard Charlie was having trouble carrying her, a problem that ended abruptly when both Charlie and Snake Eyes unloaded their burdens at the end of the pier that led out onto the lake.

Shana's scream of startlement was cut off abruptly as she hit the surface of the lake and went under, scant seconds after Cam hit the surface too. Seconds later both women were treading water. Cam blinked, pulling strands of heavy, wet hair out of her eyes as Shana proceeded to swear, explosively and at length, in Gaelic.

Snake Eyes just stood there on the edge of the dock and grinned. So did Charlie. That was when the girls made their move. After a quick glance at each other, in which nothing needed to be said, they lunged for the end of the dock, grabbed their respective husbands' ankles, and yanked him down in the water with them.

Charlie came up spluttering, to face Cam, treading water with a wicked smile on her face. "What's good for the goose is good for the gander," she grinned.

In answer, he skimmed his hand along the surface of the water, sending a huge wave of water at her. She ducked, answered with one of her own. Shana took her side, then, and the afternoon ended with a game of splash and tag in the still rather cold lake.

Evenings were still cool, and Cam was still healing, so Shana and Snake Eyes took a quick shower and then offered Cam and Charlie the use of the tub, which Cam declined at first because to her a bath deep enough to soak all of her in was a shocking luxury, but Charlie accepted with delight and coaxed her into it, and it gave Shana and Snake Eyes a chance to prepare dinner for the four of them. Snake Eyes asked her, jokingly, if she wouldn't rather wait for Cam to come out of the bath so she could give her friend another cooking lesson, but Shana eyed him indignantly. "You have to be kidding. I love her, she's my friend, but she's a complete disaster in the kitchen and there's no way I'm going to let her anywhere close to mine."

He grinned smugly. That earned him a smack on the arm…and then a kiss.

Cam eyed the tub dubiously. "It seems like a huge waste of water."

"It is. But the fun is worth it." Charlie was already peeling off his clothes, hard bronzed body glistening with water from the lake and not a little sweat from their earlier exertion on the roof. It had been an intensely warm day, even hotter with the sun's rays reflecting off the roof, and while the cold dip in the lake had cooled hum off, he really wanted to wash off the seat and grime from the roof and relax in the hot water.

And he really wanted to enjoy his wife. His stubborn, overly-sensible, adorable wife, who had no idea how much of a treat a hot bath could actually be. And well, he was determined to get her in it, even if he had to drag her in kicking and screaming.

She couldn't be that stubborn, could she?

She was standing there, looking apprehensively at the tub, when something occurred to him. He knew about her past, the fact that she'd been the victim of abuse—was it possible that a tub held bad memories for her, and would his insistence on it hurt her? Would she feel like she had to get into the tub with him just because he wanted it and not because she really wanted to try it with him? "Sweetheart, if you really don't want to do this, we don't have to. I didn't think…maybe the tub reminds you of something you'd rather forget?"

"Um. Not really. I'm game if you are," but even he could spot that for the lie it really was.

He stepped close to her, wrapping his arms around her. "Baby, if you really don't want to, I'm not going to make you. Was it your Aunt and Uncle?"

She swallowed hard. "Not exactly. Just…one of the clients they rented me to…he had one of these. He made me take a bath with him, made me wash him, and…it was the first time I'd ever…been forced to…use my mouth." Her eyes filled with tears and she looked up at him, unconsciously hunching her shoulders. "I'm sorry, you married a woman who's such a wreck, mentally and emotionally…"

He was horrified that she could even think that, and told her so. "Sweetheart, I love you. Nothing is going to change that. I don't think any the less of you for it—in fact, any reasoning, thinking human being would admire you more for even being willing to look at a hot tub again, much less thinking about getting into it. I don't want you to do things just because I want you to, I want you to do something because you want to." Something else occurred to him, and he groaned inwardly. 'And…I'm sorry about dumping you into the lake earlier—it didn't occur to me until just now that you'd been thrown into a pond in New York and you might have bad memories." He could only imagine how traumatic it would have been if she'd had a panic attack right there.

"I…it was a shock at first, but I could feel Shana there, and I could feel you there through our bond and it…kept me from panicking. There was a split second, but then I came up and Shana was yelling at Snake Eyes in Gaelic, and it was so funny I didn't even have time to panic. I don't think I'd ever trust anyone else to do something like that, but it's you, and it's different."

"Cam…at some point…will you sit down and tell me all about what they did to you so I can avoid doing something like that in the future?"

"Maybe. Someday. I don't really want to discuss it with you now." She started to pull off her shirt. "All right. Let's try this hot tub thing. Yes, Charlie, I really do want to," she said with a smile to his concerned look.

She sank gingerly into the tub, thinking for a moment about the last time she'd been in one of these…but Charlie was next to her, and the bathroom door was locked, and nothing was going to get at them here, not with Shana and Snake eyes in the kitchen and Charlie beside her. She trusted that her friends would help keep her safe, she didn't have to be constantly hypervigilant, and as she sat back in the tub, she felt herself relaxing. Really, this was nice…

And then it went beyond nice, as Charlie eased himself in beside her and grabbed the bath sponge, lathering it and starting to wash her back gently. The developing scars itched, but she was afraid to scratch in case she tore skin or her nails dug too deep, so most of the time she just tried to ignore it. But Charlie was gentle, using just the right amount of pressure to satisfy the itch but not enough to break the skin, and she moaned in sheer pleasure as he found all the itchy spots and sponged them until they—finally!—stopped itching.

His large hands were warm and gentle as he lathered his hands with soap and washed her, bare-handed, all over. She still marveled at the fact that her scars didn't seem to bother him, that there was no change in the tenderness of his expression, nothing but love and care and concern as he soaped her carefully. "I can't believe you don't see my scars," she sighed as he went on down her torso, over the white hypopigmented burn scarring.

He stopped, sat back and looked at her. "I do see them," he said, quietly. "And it pains me to know that you had to go through something so horrible, and I want to kill the people who hurt you. Every single one of them. As slowly and horribly as I can. But it is not mine to take revenge, that will be up to the Great Spirit, and in the meantime, I do what I can to offset every bad thing that happened to you. And I'll continue to do so, for the rest of your life. Every day, for the rest of your life. But each of those scars tells a story, a story of your survival, of your will to live, of your strength of will and character, and you would not be the person you are if you didn't have them. And I love the person you are."

She stared at him silently for a moment, eyes filling. "I…thank you, Charlie," she said finally, choking a little. "Thank you…every time I look at the scars and start hating them, hating myself, I'll remember that. They are a part of who I am, and I wouldn't be me without them…and I don't want to be anyone but me, because you're here and if I were someone else you wouldn't be here."

He leaned forward and kissed her damp forehead, cupped her chin and swiped at a tear with his thumb. "Then I'm glad I finally told you that." He stopped as he heard a peculiar noise. "Is that your stomach rumbling?"

"I'm a little hungry," she confessed.

He chuckled, a deep, throaty sound. "Then let's finish up and go downstairs. Whatever Shana's cooking down there, it smells really good."