Title: New Ground
Authors: Brenda and ELG
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Takes place during and after New Ground (S3). (ER)
Series: Slash Consequences AKA 12 Days of Bunnyfic: #02
Notes: ER; J/D; angst,h/c; smarm, S3 spoilers; takes place during and after S3 ep New Ground
Disclaimer: Stargate Sg-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the authors. This story may not be posted elsewhere without the consent of the authors.

New Ground

That's another thing I hate about electrified cages. They're not sound-proofed. So when, after tazering him a couple of times, they come and drag the team-mate who also happens to be your lover outside to question him, you can hear what they're doing to him. Or, rather you can guess what they're doing to him by how loud they're making him cry out with pain. Zapping him, apparently. Over and over.

I know Daniel won't give up Teal'c but I don't know how long this guy is going to take 'no' for an answer.

Silence at last. Thank God. I look up and there he is, the guy with the weapon. Well an hour ago I was the guy with the weapon and now I'm someone stuck in an electrified cage having to put up with Daniel being tortured and not being able to do a damned thing to stop it. He should remember that. People can take weapons away from you. You can also pick them back up again, and the first chance I get I'm turning this guy into a bad memory.

Carter opens her mouth to ask what they've done to Daniel and I shake my head at her. Our only chance of getting through this is not letting them know we give a damn about each other. If we give that away, he'll use it against us.

My resolve lasts right up until they drag us into the prison tent to shove us into another lot of electrified cages and I see Daniel looking ghost white and still sick with the pain where they zapped him so many times. Son of a *bitch*, Reigar, I so want to kill you for that right now. As they push us into our cages, I hear Carter asking Daniel if he's okay. He just looks at her, can't even summon up a lie to make us feel better he is so very far from being okay. I catch a glimpse of a burn on the back of his right hand. They must have held the tazer onto his bare skin. That would have been when he screamed.

I can't help my anger and hatred spilling out as I look up at Reigar, "Hey, Reigar? You know that 'We come in peace' stuff? Bite me."

He doesn't understand the words but he gets that I'm angry. And why. Great, smart move, O'Neill, now all he has to do is kick the crap out of Daniel some more and he knows you'll fold.

***

Those energy blasts are coming too damn close to Daniel. It takes the rest of us to lay down enough cover for him to finish dialing, and even then it's a close thing. One shot nearly takes his head off, but a return shot by me takes out the Medrosian who fired it.

Finally I see Daniel slam his palm down on the center crystal and the Stargate comes to life. Thanks to our Medrosian hosts none of us have our GDO's, but thank God Teal'c managed to hold onto his. I hear his hoarse shout and hold my breath until Daniel is safely into the wormhole. Way past time to blow this Popsicle stand.

We've got two medical emergencies to attend to once we're all back safely. Teal'c looks like hell and Nyan is out for the count. As Fraiser arranges for them to be taken to the infirmary, I turn to Daniel, who hasn't said a word since we got back. He's staring at pretty much nothing as far as I can tell, and I touch his arm gently. "Hey. You okay?"

He flinches from my touch, then bites his lip. "Sorry," he mutters. "I'm fine."

I run a sharp gaze over him and again note the bad burn mark on the top of his hand and wonder how many more are hidden by his clothes. As torture-interrogation sessions go, this one wasn't exactly up there with some I've been an unwilling participant in, but it was Daniel's first brush with it, and they used Carter and me to try to get him to talk. I'm so proud of him for not giving in and betraying Teal'c, but I hate the fact he had to go through that. Part of my job is keeping my team from being tortured, and I blew that. I'm worried about what they did to him while he was out of my sight, how he's going to handle it...and if he's going to tell me.

There's a slightly glazed look in his eyes that worries me, too, as well as the fact he's not quite meeting my eyes. He was functioning just fine while he was dialing under heavy fire to get us out of there, but shock has a funny way of waiting until you think you're safe before really settling in.

"Come on." I take him lightly by the elbow and steer him toward the door. "Let's get down to the infirmary and get checked out." *And then I am going to take you home and check you out myself.* Fraiser may take care of the wounds you can see; but the whole package that is Doctor Daniel Jackson is mine to care for.

***

Son of a *bitch*. In fact, bastard, motherfucking, son of a *bitch*. As I stand in the bathroom doorway looking at those burns on his upper arms, his back, his ribs, Daniel just turns his head where he's shaving in front of the mirror and says, "Go to bed, Jack. I'll be there in a minute."

As I still stand there, staring at the places that tazer left on his smooth skin, he reaches out with his foot and, quite gently, closes the door in my face. His voice is quiet but firm, "Go to bed. You had an electric shock, remember? Janet said you had to keep warm and rest."

I want to get in the bathroom with him and start kissing all those places better but I know better than to argue with him when he uses that tone. He wouldn't let me help him wash either or let me talk him out of washing altogether. He wanted a wash and he was damned well having one and he could *manage*, thank you very much. Did I ever mention that Daniel's middle name really ought to be 'stubborn'?

The truth is, we're both still a little in shock; and not because of the electricity that went through our nerve endings. No one has ever tortured Daniel before. Not like that. Not ask him a question, hurt him when he doesn't answer. Ask him a question, hurt him when he doesn't answer. Hurt him some more. Then some more. Hold some bastard electrified weapon to his bare skin until it burns him. It was a shock to his system, certainly, but it was even more of a shock to mine and I'm still reeling from it.

I have to keep reminding myself he's safe now, but the memories and the rage keep washing over me in waves. Right from the beginning I have wanted to keep him safe. Even before I loved him. And long before I *told* him that I loved him. Not being able to keep Daniel safe is my idea of hell. Being locked in a cage with no way of helping him while that bastard made him scream in pain, that was definitely as close to hell as I ever want to come. Naetu had nothing on that.

He couldn't take the shower he wanted because of the burns. Doc Fraiser told him he had to keep the dressings dry, which is why he locked me out of the bathroom and washed himself all around those crisp white bandages; then he washed his hair; a plastic bag over his hand to keep the burn on the back of it dry while he did it. I think he needed to rinse the planet off his skin and I don't blame him. If I hadn't been under orders to keep my own dressings dry, I would have been straight under the shower myself.

My burns are on my back. I didn't even know I had them until Fraiser pointed them out to me. "How did this happen?"

I shrugged. "I've no idea."

Daniel looked up from where he was being bandaged by an orderly. "Reigar zatted Jack and Jack fell against the back of the cage. It was electrified. He wouldn't switch off the current."

He said it very carefully, as though he was trying to keep any emotion from his voice but there was a tell-tale tremor I recognized straight away. That was the voice he used to tell me what it had been like to watch his parents die. What it was like when Hathor raped him. What it like to watch that Goa'uld go into me and not be able to stop it. That was when I realized I wasn't the only one carrying a whole sack full of bad memories away from this mission.

When, ten minutes later, after she'd finished putting on my dressings, Doc Fraiser said to me in an undertone, "Take him home, Colonel. Look after him," I knew she didn’t just mean physically.

And now it's the time where I remind myself that for a reason I can't even begin to fathom, I am the only one on the planet who can make Daniel feel better. Not because I know the right things to say – most of the time I don't – but because it's me he needs; my touch; my voice; my body heat. Because what Daniel needs after a day like today is to know that I'm alive, I'm here, and I love him.

The water stops running and he switches off the bathroom light then comes into the bedroom, toweling his hair dry carefully because quick movements hurt him. I fold back the duvet and he climbs in next to me without a word.

Only when he's lying beside me, smelling of soap and shampoo but taut as a bowstring and still quivering with shock do I reach across and kiss him very gently on the forehead. He doesn't respond but that's okay. Back on that planet I was wrong-footed from the start; powerless and out of my ground. But I know where I am here. This is my time. The time when only I will do. This is when I start making Daniel feel better.

From his forehead I move to his eyes, placing tender kisses on each. I feel his eyelids quiver under my lips, so I linger there, waiting... and after a few moments I taste salt. *That's it. Let it go, Danny, let it go.* Suddenly my mouth is captured as Daniel wraps his arms and legs around me and rolls us both over onto our sides. He's trying to climb into my skin, he's kissing me with such desperation it's almost painful. But I urge him on, pull him even closer, give him everything he's demanding. His eyes are squeezed tightly shut as he moves his mouth and hands everywhere, tasting, touching, licking, biting. He needs to know I'm here, I'm okay, I'm his. *Oh yeah, I'm yours, Danny. Come on, come on, take everything you need.*

We're already both hard and I'm matching his frantic rhythm as he thrusts against me. He wants a headlong rush into oblivion, then that's what he's going to get. Neither one of us is going to last long, but that's okay. Right now all he knows is he needs release, and that's exactly what I'm going to give him.  But after this I'm going to give him what he doesn't *realize* he needs.

He's whispering my name over and over again like a mantra as he presses his face into my neck, and I'm responding with hot, husky whispers of what I want him to do to me. I slide one arm down his back and tease his opening with one finger; he's so close that's all it takes. Suddenly his body stiffens in mine and he raises his head from the security of my neck. For an instant, he looks directly into my eyes, then with what sounds suspiciously like a choked sob, he comes explosively in my arms. My own orgasm, which comes a moment or two later, isn't spectacular, but that look in Daniel's eyes had the effect of throwing a bucket of ice water on me. As he collapses against me, his body still trembling from that orgasm, I tuck his head under my chin and silently promise myself I'm going to take care of what I saw in his eyes.

We lie here silently, arms and legs entangled, the only sound Daniel's rapid, harsh breathing, the only movement my hands trailing up and down his back, soothing him. There's a soft, incoherent mumble from under my chin and I pull back a bit. "What?"

"Did I hurt you?" His voice is still a little hoarse and his eyelashes are wet and spiked, making them appear even longer than normal. "Your back," he clarifies guilty. "I forgot about those burns."

I grin down at him. "Did you hear me say ouch?"

Something flickers across his face and I see his Adam's Apple bob as he swallows hard. "No," he answers dully. "I never heard you say ouch."

*Oh boy, that is not a happy face.* I realize just how carefully I'm going to have to play this one. Reigar did more than just burn my Daniel's skin back on that planet, somewhere along the line I think he came dangerously close to searing his soul. I stretch out a hand and stroke his sweat-soaked fringe back from his forehead. "I don't think I told you how proud I was of you today."

He looks up at me in surprise. "Proud?"

"Yes, Daniel. Incredibly proud. You didn't tell that son of a bitch squat, not when he was torturing you, not when he zatted Carter and not when he zatted me. He singled you out because he thought you'd be the easiest to crack and you proved him wrong. You didn't give up Teal'c. I don't think I've ever been so proud of you."

"You nearly died." His voice is so bleak I flinch. He looks up at me and I read such misery in his eyes it makes my guts turn over. He says it again softly, "You nearly died, Jack."

"And you still didn't tell him, that's why I'm proud of you."

"I came this close…I…didn't know what to do…I didn't…" He puts a hand up to his head. "They showed me the body of a guard. He'd been killed with a staff blast. They knew Teal'c was out there, me confirming it or not confirming it really didn't make that much difference, but you could have…"

"Daniel," I rest my hands on his arms, stroking the skin gently, "we both know that if you'd told Reigar where Teal'c was because Reigar was threatening to kill me if you didn't it would have been the wrong decision."

"Would it?" he looks at me bleakly. "Teal'c might have been able to escape the guards looking for him. You were locked in a box being electrocuted."

"Teal'c was practically blind and only had some scientist kid to look after him. And anyway, that's not the point. You never give up a team-member no matter what."

"Even if another team-member is being killed right in front of you?"

I can feel him still vibrating with shock. That orgasm was supposed to wipe out the memories but all it did was distract him for a couple of moments. He's still in shock, still suffering, and not because of what Reigar did to him. This is all because of what Reigar did to me. Something I don't even know about. Don't remember and never will because I was unconscious at the time. But he remembers all too well and every time he closes his eyes that's what he's seeing.

I stroke his arms again gently. "Daniel, I know that even if you and I had never started a relationship it would have burned you up inside to watch me suffering, just like it would burn you up inside to watch Carter or Teal'c suffering. But you have to see how it would look?"

He looks at me. "Jack, that's part of the problem. If you and I weren't sleeping together I think I might have admitted Teal'c was out there. Teal'c wasn't in any immediate danger and you were. It would have saved you and Teal'c would probably have been able to evade the people looking for him anyway. But I knew that if I did everyone in the SGC was going to think that our relationship had compromised the mission. So I didn't tell him Teal'c was out there and you nearly died and…"

I pull him into my arms as his face crumples and rub his back soothingly, the way I always do when he needs consoling and comforting, dropping little kisses behind his ear as I do so. "And you did the right thing, Daniel," I breathe it into his ear. "You did the right thing. And if you want to talk about nearlys – well how close do you think I came to giving up Teal'c when that son of a bitch dragged you out of there?"

And damnit that isn't helping. He's still twanging like a guitar string.

"Ishouldn'thavescreamed…"

"What?" I bend my head lower to hear him better. "What, Daniel?"

He lifts his head, meeting my gaze as he bites his lip. "I shouldn't have screamed. I tried so hard not to, I swear, even when they…"

*Fucking sons of bitches!* I know they hurt my Danny and I so want to kill them for it.

He's shaking his head. "I knew what it would do to you and I was so scared you'd talk. It would have been my fault if you'd…"

"Daniel!" I tilt his head up and make him look at me and right now I'm not just the guy who loves him, I'm also his C.O. Sometimes I have to be his C.O. even in the bedroom because my Daniel is a seething mass of insecurities that even Jack O'Neill can't always convince of his own worth – sometimes I need a little help from Colonel Jack of the US Air Force because oddly enough there are some days when Daniel is more inclined to listen to him than he is to listen to me – "You did everything right. Everything. By the book. Perfectly. If I didn't know you better I'd swear you'd been listening to me the last few years."

And thank you God because that is a smile at last. He gives me one of those trying-to-be-reproachful-but-laughter-showing-through looks, then he reaches across and gives me a gentle thump on the chest. It's about as hard as a kitten batting a ball of wool because he's obviously still thinking of me as this fragile guy who nearly died, but at least it's an attempt at normality. "That isn't funny."

I put my face very close to his and brush my lips against his beautiful mouth. "I think I really need to convince you all my parts are still in working order."

And now he's tentatively responding to my kiss. It's not the desperate hunger of earlier when he was trying to burrow under my skin, this is careful, tender, his lips brushing against mine, his tongue reaching into my mouth and curling around mine gently. I stroke a thumb along his jaw as I cup his face in my hands and give him the right kiss for the occasion: deep, slow, the kind of kiss that has all sorts of promises wrapped up in it: that I'm okay and I'm going to stay that way; that I love him and I always will; and that I'm going to make love to him all night long.

The trouble is I still have a few problems to sort out. Maybe everytime Daniel closes his eyes he's seeing me unconscious and getting electrocuted, but every time I close my eyes I'm seeing him white-faced and still shaking from what those bastards did to him. I don't think I have ever zatted anyone with the venom I zatted Reigar for what he did to my Dannyboy. Son of a *bitch*. And now I'm angry again.

"Jack…?" Daniel's looking at me anxiously. "You okay?"

"Fine." I quickly lean across and drop another kiss on his forehead. "Just…you know…?"

"What?"

"Imagining how it would feel to twist Reigar's head all the way around until his neck snapped. You know the kind of thing."

There's a pause before Daniel says conversationally, "I didn't really warm to him either."

I remember the shock in his eyes when the guy hurt him for telling the truth. That has to be another psychological bruise. All Daniel did was try and answer his question honestly and for that he got tazered. That's the kind of baffling injustice that could really damage a guy like Daniel. I stroke his hair back from his forehead again, just wanting to touch his skin. He puts a hand up to stroke my chest and I catch another glimpse of that unsightly burn. He follows my gaze to it and then starts talking, not looking at me, tone level and quiet, as though we're talking about the weather.

"When they dragged me outside I thought they were going to kill me. I was scared. I couldn't predict how Reigar was going to react to anything I said or did. I couldn't…"

"Get inside his head?" I nod. "I know. It's a military mindset, Daniel, the kind that thinks the most important thing in the world is to obey orders, follow protocol. It's a dangerous state of mind and it scares the hell out of me as well. People who choose not to think for themselves are always terrifying, and when they have the power of life and death over you they're even scarier."

"They were so much stronger than I was and he was so angry. I couldn't understand why he was so angry but I knew he wanted to hurt me and there was nothing I could do to stop him. Then he showed me the corpse of that guard and I couldn't even think of a convincing lie to explain it. It was the proof Teal'c was out there and Teal'c was our only chance of escape…" Daniel bites his lip. "Then he showed me the DHD and told me to explain it. I knew if I told the truth he'd torture me because it would make him think I was an Optrikan and if I made something up he'd torture me because I wasn't in a fit state to lie convincingly…"

I close my eyes, stroking his back gently. Trying to keep the rage out of my voice that Daniel was hurt, I say, "All you can do in a situation like that, Daniel, is hang in there. You did the right thing." I kiss him again, slow, lingering, sexy, and he responds. I whisper it in his ear: "Want to do the wild thing with your old colonel?"

Daniel looks at me expressionlessly for a minute and then says, "Don't you think we might cause a short-circuit?"

"What?"

"All the electricity that got run through you and me today, if we…connect we might fuse every light in the place."

I slide my hands down lower and there's his opening. I finger it very gently and he gives a little gulp of pleasure. "I have a surge-protector," I remind him.

He looks me in the eyes just so I know we're not still talking about circuitry, then he moistens his lips very deliberately before saying, "I don't…"

Laughing softly, I roll us over very carefully so he's on his back and I'm on top, keeping my weight on my elbows. "You okay?" I want to make sure he's not in any pain.

He reaches up, brushing his knuckles gently down the side of my face. "I will be," he says simply. Then he slips his hand behind my head and brings me down until our lips meet. Sweetest kisser on this or any other planet, that's my Danny. When we finally break apart, our lips still brushing, he whispers, "I love you."

We don't say it often, at least not like this, but his eyes are shimmering with it, his face is alive and shining with it. This is what turns me into a puddle of goo. All this love...and it's all for me. It's only for me. I feel my eyes start to burn and I drop my head and sear him with a breath-stealing kiss. I cannot think about what might-have-been; I can't even allow myself to think about what was. All that matters is right now: he's alive, he's in my arms, and... from the look on his face he wondering what the hell is taking me so long to get this show on the road. I nuzzle the side of his face, just because I love doing that and it makes him squirm. "I love you too," I murmur. "Want me to show you how much?"

He wriggles determinedly underneath me. "If you don’t have anything better to do, Colonel..."

"Nothing else in my appointment book at the moment, Doctor Jackson." He raises those expressive eyebrows, waiting, and I take a moment to plan my campaign. *Be prepared to find out just how much I love you, Dannyboy.*

I start with his eyes. I love to kiss his eyes. I love the feel of those eyelashes tickling my lips. For good measure I plant a kiss right between his eyes and watch him go cross-eyed. The tip of his nose is next. Then that incredibly sexy mouth. I spend a lot of time on that because, as I said, my Danny is a great kisser. He protests as I move away from there, but I've got other plans. Got lots of territory to cover. He's got bruises and burns all over his body from where those sons of bitches tortured him. And I am going to seek out every last one of them. But first...

His throat. Oh, that long, pale throat. I lick, I kiss, I nip, until I come to the pulse point, and then I suckle there, feeling the strong, fast beat. His chest. I've charted every inch of this chest, know exactly the spot over which rib makes him giggle when I run my tongue in circles, know the feel of those nipples as they harden under my assault, have played with every hair that has managed to grow here. His arms, the inside of his elbow. Oh he squirms when I do that. I have to be careful this time because of the burns and the bruises. I kiss my way around the gauze on his left arm and work my way down to those incredible hands. I love playing with his fingers. I love sucking them into my mouth and running my tongue over his sensitive palm. I feel him relax by inches under me. He's aroused, but in a different way now. It's not so urgent, not so painful, not so desperate. This is the slow, gentle build-up he loves so much. We don't do it this way often because, frankly, the sight of my Danny naked in bed pretty much sets me off like a firecracker. But when we can manage it, this is the way we both like it, and sometimes we can make it last so long we both forget his poor old colonel is a forty-four year old with bad knees.

I kiss my way across his quivering stomach, spending some time investigating his navel -- another delightfully ticklish spot for my Daniel which always brings him surging off the bed -- and work my way down his right arm, starting at his shoulder. There's a bruise there, maybe from where he was thrown down at one point and couldn't catch himself. Probably happened while they were dragging him around outside...

I don't realize I've stopped until I feel Daniel's fingers on my head, gently carding through my hair. I look at his face and see such incredible love and understanding there I have to fight down the rage that wants to boil up inside me that anyone would dare to treat him the way that bastard Reigar did. He sees the struggle in my eyes and he brings his other hand up, gently bringing my head down so he can place kisses over my face exactly the way I did earlier to him: eyes, forehead, nose, mouth. By the time he's done, my anger has subsided. Oh, I'm still furious. And if I could go back to that damned planet and play a little twenty questions with ol' Reigar with a tazer, you bet I'd do it in an instant. And he wouldn't get away with a few burns either. But right now, I've got more important things to think about...

We kiss. Slow, deep, passionate. Some alien seeing us do this for the first time and knowing nothing about our culture would probably assume it was an act of communication, and in a way it is. Right now Daniel's telling me he loves me and he's okay and I shouldn't waste my time being angry when we could be having a good time together. I'm telling *him* I might need a little bit more convincing but I'm willing to listen. Daniel's always been a good talker.

My hands go to his body automatically as we try to wrap our tongues around each other's tonsils. I love the way his muscles feel under my fingers, that smooth skin, hot silk I've nibbled and licked so many times I know the flavor of it precisely. I've told Daniel the day he starts tasting of coffee is the day he *has* to cut down. I stroke the broad shoulders, stroke the hard curves of his upper arms, then I have my hands on his ribs, very gently, because of the burns. When we pause for breath, Daniel says, "Yes."

We both know what the question is but the point is I haven't asked it and I wasn't intending to, not after the day he's had. I frown. "I'm not sure…"

"I am." He blinks then and focuses on me. "Or do you mean you aren't…?"

"No, I'm…I was just thinking maybe you wouldn't…?"

Deliberately, Daniel slides down the bed until he's sitting in my lap, our groins rubbing against each other deliciously. He puts his arms around my neck and gazes into my eyes. "Are you any good at reading body language, Colonel?"

"I'm not sure." I'm mesmerized by the look in his eyes. All that mischief and innocence and love just for me. "I might need an anthropologist to explain it to me." I'm already reaching round behind him for his opening and he's already relaxed and ready, totally focused on me with that concentration he usually only brings to bear on artifacts. I suppose in the future I'm going to have reason to be grateful Daniel has such a weakness for crumbling old ruins.

When we kiss again it feels so right I wonder why it took us so long to start doing this. Daniel is reaching behind us blindly, trying to snag the lube from under the pillow without losing contact with my tongue. Even as he's kissing me I'm not sure which one of us he's taking care of here. I can't work out if he needs to keep on fucking until he's too brain fried to think about me being damned near killed right in front of him, or if this is what he thinks I need to stop thinking about Reigar. Either way I definitely think this is one of Daniel's better ideas.

He can't find the lube and the look he gives me is half annoyed, half rueful. "We don't really need that stuff do we…?"

And there is one of Daniel's worst ideas. I push him flat to the bed and kneel over him while I look under the pillow. Daniel has an almost infinite ability not to learn from his mistakes but I don't. We did it the way he's suggesting once, when we were both very drunk, incredibly randy, and, most importantly, downstairs, while the lube was upstairs. You want to get sober in a millisecond have the guy you love scream 'Jee-sus!' in your ear at the decibel level usually associated with Concorde taking off. No way in hell are we ever doing it that way again. However, I don't tell Daniel that somedays he has no more sense than an eggplant, despite the temptation, I just scrabble between the mattress and the bedhead and fish out the lube from where it's hiding. "Come to Poppa," I murmur reverently. I don't know what the people who make this stuff think they're making it *for* but it's damned good at the use we put it to.

Daniel is kissing the bits of me he can reach as I scramble over the top of him, working his way down from my chest, then wriggling himself a little lower to get himself at groin level. As I'm unscrewing the top of the lube, Daniel is closing his mouth over my cock.

"Oh God…!" He takes me all the way in to that warm wet heat and I have to grab the bed head convulsively. I thought I was hard before but suddenly I'm not just standing to attention, I'm saluting as well.

He sucks me hard and deep, hands gripping my thighs, and I know I'm not going to be able to last. I had visions of reverential love-making, me caressing every inch of him while I made love to him with the slowest most tender nudges of my adoring cock. Daniel seems to be interested in getting us both fried out of our brains as fast as possible.

He's sucking me off so hard I'm gasping, back arching while he pulls me in like a whirlpool. He's saying something but with a mouth full of cock its incomprehensible, but I know what he means: give it up, give in, let go, don't think, just be…

I come and he swallows me down like I'm nectar. I come around from a momentary whiteout to find myself face down on the pillow, gasping for breath with Daniel lying on his side next to me looking half-apologetic, half-pleased with himself. I wave the lube at him breathlessly. "No patience."

He gives me a sideways look, sexy as hell. "You're the one who put his cock in my face. What did you expect me to do?"

Primly I say, "I expected you to exercise a little self-control, Doctor Jackson."

He sticks his tongue out at me and he looks so damned cute doing it I feel breathless all over again. Wanting a little payback, I shrug, "Well that's me satisfied anyway, guess you're on your own…"

He grabs my wrist and wraps my fingers around his cock and, no, I don't need an anthropologist to tell me what he wants. I start to stroke him gently while maneuvering him down onto the bed. As I use my right hand to pull on this cock I'm slicking the fingers of my left with the lube. Then I slide two fingers up inside him. He gasps and I feel the blood pump even hotter into the cock I'm stroking. I know the rhythm he needs and I give it to him, pushing in deep and firm as I tug a little harder, a little faster. I've found his prostate and I'm massaging it while my other hand is stroking his cock. Daniel's jolting with pleasure and seeing the look on his face is making me hard again. He's got his head back, eyes closed, giving little moans of ecstasy as my fingers work their magic on his pleasure points, he's open, relaxed and slippery with lube inside. His body is slick with sweat now and one of Janet's white gauze dressings begins to curl over, revealing the red-mauve burn on his side. His moans of pleasure are getting louder and he's banging his head on the mattress gasping, "Yes, Jack…yes…" I bend my head and lick the exposed burn, making him whimper. I know what he wants and I'm hard enough to give it to him now. It only takes me a second, but then my mouth is over his cock and I suck hard, three, four times, as he starts to arch his back, I put my hands under his thighs and raise him up a little, then I let his straining cock fall out of my mouth and slide inside him in one smooth stroke.

Feeling my cock inside him tips him over the edge. He convulses and tightens around me, coming with my name on his lips. I love watching the way his face looks when he comes, all scrunched up like he's listening for something as the pleasure peaks and then the calm and joy I see there as it ebbs away to a delicious afterglow. I love it when we come together, but sometimes it's even better like this, when as he comes down from his high I'm still inside him. Sometimes I can make him come again while he's still tingling. He opens his eyes and gazes up at me, peace on his face at last. He knows I'm okay now. There will be nightmares but hell we've both had a lot of those in our time, we can cope with those as long as the right face is on the pillow beside us. But I'm alive and he's alive and we're both going to be okay.

"Hey, Dannyboy…" I say it very gently as I begin to thrust. I make it slow and tender the way I wanted it to be and he smiles, very relaxed and enjoying the aftermath of orgasm.

"Hey, Jack…" The look in his eyes tells me this is fine, to make this last as long as I can because he's enjoying it as much as I am. I guess there isn't a better way for us to remind ourselves we're both alive.

He's relaxing into my rhythm, moving his hips a little to meet me, looking up at me with that secretive little smile on his face. The one that always makes me kiss him. I kiss him and he smiles wider.

I've got my weight on my arms watching the progression of each of my thrusts in his face, a blink, a moistening of the lips, a little grimace, a little smile. And if there's a paradise I think it would be like this: watching Daniel looking so relaxed and contented while I make love to him slowly and tenderly for all eternity.

 The End