Andromeda Rising: Chapter Ten

[amberfocus]

A/N:  The romance kicks up between Jack and Andromeda, Cassi is recovering from her bite wound, no pack appearance at all, and Dare, Mars, and Tegan arrive on the planet Boeotia.


                                                                Chapter Ten:  What I've Done

Andromeda rose from the darkness on a wave of pain that crested and withdrew slowly, leaving her numb. It was very much like the time when as a child she had grabbed a hold of a barbed wire fence charged with electricity. It had left her feeling burnt out for days, a remembered tingling of fire that faded slowly into nothingness.

She tried to move but became aware of something heavy holding her in place as if she were bound and as she tried to shift it away from her she felt other aches and pains rise to the surface. She struggled to regain her conscious mind and forced her eyes to open.

Well, that explained the weight holding her down, she thought nervously as she looked at Jack’s bare chest. His arms were wrapped around her body and one of her legs was trapped between his. She realized with a start that Jack was naked and the reason she was so very sure of this was that she was also naked and very much in contact with his skin.

She fought to clear away the cobwebs in her head and as her mind cleared she realized what she’d done. She did not even have to search to find the steady blue flare in her mind that signaled she was fully and forever bonded to the man before her. And he was fully and forever bonded to her.

What have I done? she thought in a panic. She hadn’t asked him if it was what he wanted. She hadn’t given him a choice in the matter. She’d reacted on instinct, brought her hand to his temple and hers to his, and the bond had been forged. There was no going back. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. It was supposed to be--.

Jack’s arms loosened around her and she pulled back only to look up into his sapphire blue eyes. They were full of wonder as they looked into her face. He brushed his fingers over her cheek and gave her a slow incredulous smile. “I can feel you,” he said. “In my mind, it’s like…this deep purple fire.”

He rolled over onto his back and sighed in contentment. “You’re amazing,” he told her.

“Do you understand what we did?” she asked him in a shaking voice.

“Not completely,” he told her, “But I’m pretty sure we’re…” He searched for a word, settling on one that seemed not quite right. “Married?”

“Bonded,” she said softly. “A marriage contract can be broken. This…this can’t be. I’m sorry, Jack,” she rushed out. “I didn’t mean for it to happen, it just…did and I--.”

“Shh, sweetheart, shh.” Jack turned on his side and leaned up on one elbow and caught her eyes. “I’m not sorry. I’ve been fighting my attraction to you since I pulled you away from that prince at Holy. This is way beyond just physical for me. You need to know that.”

Andromeda turned away from him and sat up on the edge of the bed. If it weren’t for the aches and pains in her body, physical wasn’t even something she’d really been aware of. She’d been lost completely in the linking of minds and the ecstasy of that had subjugated anything carnal. She knew it had happened. The bond wouldn’t have been complete if they hadn’t and it was furiously complete.

“Will it always be…like that?” Jack asked. “That intensity?”

“No,” she said. “If we trigger the link then it can be, but most of the time it won’t have that…amount of…of…totality.” He nodded. “I’ll be back,” she said softly and rose. She limped her way to the bathroom. She might not remember much in the way of physical but she was aching in places she’d never been aware of as being part of her body before. It was a stretchy kind of hurt, not entirely unpleasant.

She wondered what it would have been like without the bonding snapping into place. Judging from the look on Jack’s face she wouldn’t have to wait too terribly long to find out.




Jack watched Andromeda leave his bed with a touch of anxiety. A slow smile spread across his face as he realized she couldn’t walk straight, but then maybe that was part of the problem. He was sensing something from the link between them, like she was walling something off. His smile faded.

He wondered if he’d hurt her. He had known she’d been a virgin, but with the passions incited by the bonding link he had not been able to think to control his actions. Parts of the experience were fuzzy but he knew that they’d made love with quite a bit of force. And he wasn’t exactly a small man. He cursed. Was she running away from him?

The last thing he wanted was for her to be afraid of him or to be afraid of climbing back into his bed. He had spent a long time being a careful and considerate lover and he’d hate to think he’d blown it with the best person to ever come into his life. He got up and headed into the bathroom that was attached to her bedroom, since she was in his, and managed to beat her in coming back to his bed. He hoped everything was going to be okay between them. He wanted to spend the morning making love to her.

He heard the start of the shower and realized he was going to be waiting for awhile. Unless… He stood up and walked over to the bathroom door and turned the knob. She hadn’t locked it. He opened the door and stood in the doorway.

“Andromeda?”

“What is it, Jack?” she asked.

“Would you like company?” He heard something thunk against the tub floor and realized she’d dropped the soap at his question. He stifled a laugh.

“I…I guess so,” she stuttered. He pulled the shower curtain back and reached down and retrieved the bar of soap, handing it to her and stepping in beside her. It was a wonderful shower, with shower heads coming from three different directions that pretty much made sure that you were never cold unless you stepped away from them.

Jack reached forward for a sea sponge and lifted Andromeda’s right hand, which still clutched the soap. He swiped the sponge over the soap a few times and then put it against her shoulder and in slow languid circles he began to wash her body. Andromeda was trembling by the time he finished his very thorough job.

When he moved on to her hair, his fingers skillfully working in the shampoo and gently washing down the length of it instead of piling it on top of her head to wash and create massive tangles, she knew he’d done this before. This was something a long-haired woman would teach a man, not something he picked up on his own. She felt a slight wave of jealousy, but pushed it away, concentrating instead on the feel of his hands against her head.

When she’d been thoroughly rinsed she leaned against the wall for a moment before meeting his eyes and reaching out for the sponge. She was determined not to be shy about this; she had bonded this man, for goodness sake! And it wasn’t like she was a particularly modest person. She’d shucked off her clothes too many times on strange planets to swim in inviting mountain lakes or oddly colored oceans to worry much about nudity. But then again, no one had ever looked at her the way Jack did.

Slowly and carefully she returned the favor, washing his hair first, before moving on to his body. She spent a long time, perhaps longer than was strictly necessary, making sure he was completely clean. Her eyes were curious and lingering as her hands learned the planes and lines of his body. By the time the hot water ran out neither one of them was the least bit interested in the shower.

The water turned off and Andromeda wrung out her hair. Hot jets blew the remaining water from their bodies and Jack swept Andromeda into his arms and walked back into the bedroom with her.

“You know I can walk!” she protested.

“Oh?” he replied cynically. “I saw the way you walked out of here.”

“Well, that I think was entirely your fault, Mr. Harkness.”

“Oh, not entirely, Miss Harper,” he teased. “I seem to recall there were two of us in this bed last night.”

“Were there really?” she asked feigning disbelief. “I find I’ve quite forgotten.”

“Then maybe I should refresh your memory, sweetheart,” he said tossing her down on the bed where she bounced in a thoroughly distracting and utterly delightful way.

“Maybe you should,” she said and suddenly all teasing was gone from her voice as Jack eased down on the bed beside her and proceeded to teach her a brand new definition of the word tease, followed quite a bit later by a brand new definition of religion. Well, he called out to several gods anyway. And all of it was good.




“You’re doing much better today,” Daniel told Cassi. “But you’re still not going back to look for Andromeda yet.”

Cassi was sitting up in bed and trying to look fierce; an effect altogether spoiled by the fact that crossing her arms across her chest had pulled at the wound on her neck and made her wince. “Why not?”

“Don’t give me that look, Cassi. You know it doesn’t work on me,” he said firmly. “And anyway, Andromeda’s fine.”

“You don’t know that,” she said in an accusing tone.

“Yes, I do. I saw it. She’s fine. She’s…happy. And in no danger at the moment.” For a moment his gaze had gone distant the way it did when he was recalling a vision. “You on the other hand,” and his gaze swept back to his wife, “are in danger if you try to do too much too soon. You lost a lot of blood--.”

“Which you replaced--.”

“And your body has been through quite the trauma and we still don’t know if you’ve been infected with the bultungin virus, so just humor me and be good and stay in bed until I say you can get up,” Daniel told her. “Otherwise all those letters that come after my name aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.”

“I seem to remember a time when you had better ways of keeping me in bed all day then threatening me with your degrees,” Cassi pouted.

“Still do have better ways to keep you there,” he said with a soft smile. “But you’re not in any shape for that either, Cass, so enough. You need to heal.”

“But I’ll be so bored,” she whined. “At least you can come snuggle up with me and watch holovids.”

“You sound exactly like Rafe! Now, I have a lot of work to do,” he said. When her face fell he added, “But I should be done in three hours. After that, I’m yours. I’ll bring you lunch in bed and everything. Anything you want in particular?”

“Steak,” she said. “That’s good for tissue regeneration, right? Medium-rare. Otherwise surprise me.”

“Don’t I usually?” He gave her the sweet, secret smile that had first made her look twice at him all those many years ago, the one that always coaxed a smile from her own face even in the worst of her moods.

“Yes, you do.” He kissed her sweetly and gave her a gentle shove.

“Now go. To bed. Doctor’s orders. Doctor husband, not Doctor father,” he added mischievously. Cassi rolled her eyes but took herself off down the hall and tucked herself into bed.

When Daniel was sure she was completely out of the way he pulled out one of the medical texts on obscure human diseases that he’d borrowed from the Doctor and took himself down to the den to read up on the bultungin virus. If his wife was going to be stuck with the illness, he wanted to be as prepared as possible to deal with it.




When Marsden’s TARDIS materialized on the planet Boeotia and Dare stepped foot on its soil he was unimpressed. Perhaps it was just the fact that they’d landed in a swamp, it might have been the smell, or it could have been that the greens and browns around him seemed to be washed out and barely capable of being described as colors.

Tegan shoved past him, took one look around her and said, “Oh, look, we’ve found the armpit of the universe.”

“Pretty apt,” said Mars, “Judging from the smell.

“There’s a township about a mile that way.” He waved vaguely to the north. “It’s where The Conquered Goddess is registered from. We should be able to find out who owns it now and if we can’t then it’ll be on record who owned it previously. If we can talk to that person we might be able to get some answers on whom Andromeda’s with.”

“Let’s go then,” said Mars. He glanced down at his younger aunt’s feet, which were encased in rather useless looking flip flops. “You might want to change your shoes, Teeg.”

Tegan glanced down at her feet in surprise and then said, “Just a tic.” She darted back into the ship and was back in a few minutes with thick socks and hiking boots on her feet and a warm jacket. Unlike her brother or her nephew, she’d inherited the human thermostat and was much more subject to chills than they were. With the wind blowing the way it was, she was sure to need it.

Mars locked his TARDIS and watched as it blended into the scenery, or mostly blended in. His ship couldn’t bear to make herself look quite as bland as her surroundings, so she was the prettiest tree in the swamp. They made their way out of the swamp, following a small hand-held device that marked the location of the TARDIS and the route they were to follow to reach the town hall of the place the ship had been registered from.

The town came into sight about ten minutes into their journey and they were greeted by a little sign that said, “Welcome to the Boeshane Peninsula. Population 10,006.” As they walked along little houses grew up around them. It was as modern as any 51st century Terran colony should be and yet it still gave the impression of being a backwater hick town from the 22nd century American bayou of planet Earth.

Mars rooted around in his mind until he found the word he’d been looking for: Louisiana. Only Louisiana had smelled a fair bit better. Even after the Hurricane Ephram of 2119 and all the standing water and rotting vegetation and dead animals. They’d helped in the aftermath of that storm, staying with some descendants of his aunt Tish’s.

Yet this place did not look devastated by any natural disaster. It looked bright and shiny. But it was the impression it gave off that had made him think of that time. Mars took a step closer to Dare and at the same time he felt Tegan’s hand insert itself into his.

“I guess I don’t have to ask you two if you feel the wrongness of this place,” Dare commented wryly, having noted both moves.

“It’s like…” Tegan began. “I dunno. Time is out of sync here?”

“What did that sign say back there? Welcome to where?” Dare asked.

“Boeshane Peninsula,” Mars reminded him.

Dare smacked himself in the forehead. “Oh, of course. Uncle Jack.”

“Who’s Uncle Jack?” Tegan asked with a frown. “Have I ever met him?”

“Yes, you have done,” said Dare. “But you wouldn’t remember it. Dad blocked everyone’s memories of seeing him but mine. He’s not really an uncle but he is my bond father. And the Boeshane Peninsula is where he grew up.”

“Why would he do that?” Tegan asked, her hand rising to her temple with a frown.

Dare frowned. “Because of crossing timelines. Even I wasn’t aware of all of it until a moment ago. The memories are becoming unblocked and…” He trailed off and stopped walking. “Oh. Oh, no. Cassi’s going to go spare when she finds out.”

“Finds out what?” asked Mars impatiently.

“That Dromee has run off with a younger version of Uncle Jack before he met Mum and Dad,” explained Dare.

“So what’s wrong with that?” Tegan asked. “He’s a good man, isn’t he? Dad wouldn’t have made him your bond father if he wasn’t a good man.”

“Oh, he’s a good man; he’s just always been a bit of a libertine.”

“Not surprising if he’s from the 51st century, but it’s not like he’d be pursuing Dromee like that, he’d know she was too young,” Tegan said.

“No, he wouldn’t. Because she doesn’t tell him. And well…I’ve already said too much,” Dare broke off.

“You can’t tell us this much and then just stop,” protested Tegan. “That’s not fair.”

Dare sighed. “When I met up with the future Andromeda in the past when we had to save Mum and the unborn me I found out that she had run off and bonded to Jack when she was sixteen and he was twice her age. And…now that really is all I’m going to tell you. Just suffice it to say that stuff happens that we absolutely cannot interfere with or time will get seriously out of joint.”

“Well, if we know what’s going on, is there any point in tracing ownership of The Conquered Goddess then?” Mars asked.

“To prove my theory is right, for one thing. I know she runs off at sixteen, but sixteen is a long year, so…” He shrugged. “We’ll finish this.” With that he began walking again. After a moment his sister and his son followed along behind him, hands still clasped together in their nervousness over the way the planet felt.

Ch. 11:  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/177424.html