Ghosts - Day 2

[Bogwoppit]

"Oh Mark - I'd no idea you had a kid!"

And truly, Mark had no idea why he had told her. It wasn't like him to open up to someone so easily, not about things that really mattered. Generally he was an open, friendly, easy-going kind of guy, but things that were close to his heart he held, well, just that - close to his heart. Maybe it was the alien planet thing... he had heard from a couple of members of off-world teams that the whole situation brought the team closer than normal, made them more like a family, relying on each other, spending days, weeks, months at a time together, trusting one another completely...

"D'ya know - now that you mention it I can totally see you as being a dad. Molly's very lucky. And so's her mother. I mean, If I had kids, which I don't, I'd want you to be the dad... Uhm, not like that - I mean someone like you to be the dad."

At her first words Mark gave Gypsy a self-effacing smile, then sat forward to wrap the blanket around himself. The fire was burning low and Mark felt a chill run through him. He was tired, and still aching from the unaccustomed exercise of the day. As Gypsy continued, first digging herself a hole, then trying to dig herself out of it, Mark's smile broadened into a grin, then he chuckled softly. It wouldn't occur to him for a moment that she meant it the way she thought he might think, but the fact that she did think he might amused him.

"Ok ok- what I meant to say, honestly, is that Molly is very lucky to have a dad like you. Phew! How old is she? She must miss you when you're off-world..."

The thought of being away from his precious girl sobered Mark, and his smile slipped away as he drew his gaze from Gypsy to look into the dying flames.

"Yeah she misses me..." he nodded thoughtfully. "She's two, just old enough to begin realising how often I do leave her..."

He could say more. He certainly thought more, like how Molly missed her mom too, how she asked most every night whether Mommy was coming to say goodnight, how despite what Katee seemed to think, the little girl wasn't better off without her...

But enough was enough. This was getting way too deep, and no matter how much he liked Gypsy... which was more than he wanted to admit... he wasn't ready to tell her everything. In any case, she must have overheard the conversation between him and Katee earlier... she must at least have an inkling... It was too close. Gypsy was a soldier. Katee was a soldier. Soldiers stuck together.

"Look," he said, taking a deep breath and drawing himself up taller as he looked back at her. "I'm tired, it's been a long day.... even longer one to look forward to tomorrow no doubt..."

He smiled apologetically and raising his eyebrows. She looked so cute half-lying there by his fire... as though she belonged there. It could all be so easy... But she was married! He still couldn't take that in. Something a bit odd about that too... what young girl didn't talk about her husband or boyfriend every chance they got?

And anyway, even without that... it was way too complicated having Katee here... just being here... and Mark was way too old for her.

He grinned to himself as he stood up, reaching out a hand to drag Gypsy to her feet.

"I'm gonna get some shut-eye," he said as he pulled her up to stand in front of him. "You should too..."

He looked down at her... the top of her head just about reached his chin... and he was instantly drawn in to those big brown eyes of hers. For a long moment he simply looked into their soulful depths, before dropping his gaze to her pert nose, then her full lips...

He blinked, and let go of the hand he still found himself holding as he turned away.

"G'night Gypsy," he said, his voice rough as he stepped to the door and opened it.

Maybe he was being brusque, but in truth he didn't trust himself to be with her any more. His emotions were running too high, from the battle, from the thought of what tomorrow would bring, from his two encounters with Katee... He needed to switch off.

((Ooc: Thought we ought to get going or poor Uni will have nothing to do for ages!! ))

[Bogwoppit]

If this was what West felt like with a woman then DJ could completely understand why he was such a ladies' man! The power coursed through his veins as he looked up at the young, innocent, trusting face above him.

"DJ -... What if I can't...?"

"Oh sweetheart..." he breathed, smiling indulgently as he lowered his gaze to her small, firm breasts before his eyes. "Of course you can..."

He reached up behind and loosened the lacing on her simple dress, sliding it off over her narrow shoulders before coaxing her to her knees with a gentle pressure on her upper arms, and from there lowering her back onto the pillows. He followed her onto the bed, kneeling beside her, and kissed her gently, reverently, running his fingertips down over her elegant neck and throat and lower, pushing her dress down to her waist.

He paused, and raised his head to look down at her pale flesh beneath him, trembling slightly, her ribs clearly visible as she breathed. She looked so beautiful, and so bloody young ! Somehow her nakedness made him feel guilty, wrong somehow. She was so obviously innocent when it came to this sort of thing.

But he wasn't about to stop now.

"Mari... you're sure...?" he spoke softly, his one concession to his conscience.

He looked down into her trusting face, and groaned softly in the back of his throat, lost. Lowering his head he kissed her lips, coaxing them apart with his tongue to explore her mouth, then moved downwards, kissing her throat, nipping minutely at the soft skin stretched across prominent collarbones, and further to taste the untouched flesh of her softly swelling breasts. Taking one hard brown nipple into his mouth, he caressed the other with sure fingers, still unsure whether he should continue or stop, still feeling slightly wrong about doing this.

But his erection was throbbing needfully, and his heart was thudding painfully in his chest, and he had never had much of a conscience anyway to be honest.

Lowering himself to a full stretch beside her, he covered her narrow hips with one strong thigh, the towel finally sliding away completely to leave him naked. He pressed against her, and slid her dress down further so that his flesh was against hers. As his hand left the rough material of her clothing, his palm encountered the downy softness of her sex, and he slid his fingers down between her legs to touch her.

"Touch me..." he half whispered, half pleaded, and briefly left his task to guide her hand to his pulsing shaft.

[Bogwoppit]

Not only did West have a wicked sense of humor and a sarcastic streak a mile wide when the occasion called for it, but he could also be extremely acerbic when he was in the mood, not to mention downright stubborn.

And right now he was in the mood.

"Give me the ointment. If you have not a true care for tending to your wounds then I will do what I can and send a healer to you when I return to my room. I will not have your death on my conscience Joe West."

He watched her, and he saw the colors of her varying moods race across her exquisite features... Confusion, realisation, shock... fury...

Inside Joe smirked, but on the outside he remained completely impassive, green eyes fixed on her face as she stepped up to him, close enough to touch... close enough to kiss.

"No thanks," he replied briefly, no smile on his lips, nor yet a frown on his brow. He simply spoke in a voice which at once brooked no argument, but yet held a trace of amusement.

Major West was a nice guy, generally speaking, but he also got what he wanted, always. And right now he wanted this woman who was used to being in charge to know what it was like to be at the command of another. Not for any ignoble or petulant reason, not out of spite or dislike, but because he knew that she was going to have to get used to following orders immediately and without question over the coming days and weeks if that day's skirmish had been anything to go by. If she wanted to survive she needed to learn to listen.

Not to mention the fact that it was funny as hell to see her consternation when he didn't do what he was supposed to - fall at her feet and worship the ground she walked on. He would never stoop to being disrespectful, he just wasn't made that way, but he sure knew how far he could bend the line without falling over it.

He looked down into her startling blue eyes for a long moment, leaning forward almost as though he would kiss her, then he gently took her arm and turned her firmly out of the door once more.

"Your father will be thinking I'm taking advantage of you," he said casually, placing the same hand with which he had taken her arm now in the small of her back to guide her along the hallway. "Wouldn't want that now would we..."

He smirked for real then, but didn't so much as glance at her, eyes firmly forward as he marched her down the dimly lit passage.

[Bogwoppit]

"Oh fuck Lake you are fucking sexy when you're pissed off. So.... fucking... "

The fact that she was turned on by his being pissed at her turned him on all the more. Matching the violence of her response with more of his own, he wasn't at all surprised to taste blood on his lips as she broke off the savage kiss, though whether it was Thrace's or his own he had no idea.

When he first flipped her over he had let go one of her hands to place his fingers at her throat, and now he slid that hand further down to cup one heaving breast, rubbing his thumb roughly across the hard nipple barely disguised by the silky black fabric of her bra. He felt her hand confident on the buckle of his belt, and lifted his hips to facilitate her task.

"You're fuckin' lovin' this aren't you..." he rasped,blue eyes blazing. "You like it rough..."

His breath was coming faster as she slid her hand with practised ease along his erection. Pulling her bra down he dipped his head to taste her flesh, flicking his tongue out to tease her, sucking her nipple hard into his mouth, his fingers reaching to free her other breast. There were no other thoughts in his ravaged mind now but this place, this time, this woman.

Raising his head he grazed her chin with his teeth, following a path along her jawline to nip at her ear lobe. The dark stubble which shadowed his own jaw scratched her deceptively delicate skin, reddening it instantly.

"I'm gonna fuck you," he grated, breathing the words into her ear and into her mind. "I'm gonna fuck you so hard you won't be able to fuckin' stand up tomorrow, let alone march..."

So much for him being all hers to do with as she wanted... he had never been a passive lover, and this bitch excited him beyond reason.

Rolling off her momentarily, he reached down and grabbed a handful of silk at her hip, ready to rip off the offending garment. At the last second however practicality prevailed when he realised she probably wasn't the sort to pack more than one or two spare pairs of pants, and instead he tugged them down harshly.

Lake wasn't one for sentiment or tenderness, but he did pause just long enough to look down into her face before he buried himself hard and fast inside her. Once again he held her hands above her head as he thrust into her, the sensation erasing all memory of other times and other women... another woman. He wanted to own Thrace, to overpower her, to hurt her, to make her beg for mercy.