Allie's War Season Three

by JC Andrijeski

  "I guess I should have shaved first..."

  I grinned at him, running a hand over the scruff of his chin. I didn't hold his gaze for long though, embarrassed at the way I was probably looking at him. I could feel just how goofily happy I was, even with my body and light still pulling painfully on his.

  Lowering my cheek back to his chest, I explored the outline of muscles and bones with my hand, until I was lost in that too, realizing again how long it had been since I'd just gotten to touch him. He'd really felt different as Syrimne, when he'd been with Salinse. The sex had been great then, too, but it just felt...different. The last time I'd felt him even remotely like this had been at the cabin. I found myself unable to stop looking at him as that occurred to me, watching his body as it continued to calm down.

  He was still half-hard, enough that I knew it probably wouldn't take much to get his interest again. I wondered if he would mind, if I...

  He laughed, lowering his hand from his face to look at me.

  "No," he said, gripping me more tightly. "No, I wouldn't 'mind,' wife, if you did that to me...but you probably shouldn't do it anyway, at least not here..." Briefly, his heart pounded harder against my skin. I felt his erection return abruptly. "Alyson," he murmured, kissing me. "Gods. You were dangerous before. You're positively terrifying now..."

  Even as he said it, I felt his light reacting to his own words. A flush of jealousy slid through him, connected to something he'd been thinking...or realizing maybe. I couldn't really nail it down, since he stifled it almost at once, but the intensity of that made me nervous, too.

  Raising my head cautiously, I studied his face, but he kept his expression still.

  "Please," he said, smiling faintly at me. "Can we go somewhere more private before you seduce me again? I'm a little tired of having an audience, wife..."

  I continued to look at him, then decided to let it go.

  "Like where?" I bit my lip, shrugging before I laid my cheek back on his chest. "You mean like another hotel or something?" Thinking about this, I snorted. "Or more like another continent...?"

  "Not exactly."

  I could feel him hovering on a question.

  He wouldn't let me see it, not directly anyway, but I got a whisper of what it was about. I saw enough that it managed to dissipate the worst of my paranoia. Relaxing into his chest, I let my body sink deeper against his.

  "So," I said, feigning casualness. "I suppose we have to go downstairs. First, I mean."

  He caressed my hair with his fingers, not answering.

  "I should go back to my room," I added. "Get changed...you know? I probably shouldn't face 'Dori and the others in a bathrobe...especially given the privacy issues..."

  He didn't answer that, either, but continued to stare off to the side, his eyes faintly clouded. If I didn't know better, I would have thought he was talking to someone in the Barrier. Hell, for all I knew, he was. I hoped it wasn't Balidor.

  Finally, I sighed in exasperation, raising my head. "Do you want me to just ask you?"

  "Ask me what?" he said, his voice distracted.

  "Fine," I said. "I'll ask. Can I move in here with you?"

  He turned his head, staring at me, his eyes showing a blank shock.

  Then he laughed. "No," he said, smiling, tugging on my hair.

  I flinched. "No?"

  He shook his head, kissing my face. A smile still tugged at his lips.

  "You don't want us to live together?" I said, trying for clarity before I reacted. "I thought we talked about, once we started...you know...doing this again...that we'd do the marriage thing for real this time. Try to, anyway..." When he still only smiled, I frowned, making a seer's gesture with one hand. "So what was this, then? A little casual sex action? Should I prepare for the walk of shame down to my room, try to sneak out before someone sees me...?"

  He chuckled, watching me fume at him from where I sat up on his chest. His fingers clutched me tighter, pulling me flush against him.

  "I didn't say that."

  "Which part?" I said.

  "I didn't say I didn't want us to live together," he smiled.

  "Yes...you did," I said, pushing on his chest. When he refused to loosen his hold on me, I tried to wriggle free. When he just kissed my throat, pulling sensually on my light, I gave an outraged laugh, shoving at his chest. "Don't try to get all cuddly on me now, husband. You just totally set me up! You let me feel you thinking about it...then you let me make an ass out of myself, asking...all just so you could say no."

  "I said you can't move in here," he said, emphasizing the last word.

  "Yeah, I heard you," I snorted, pushing at him again. "Don't tell me you were hinting you want to share my room...?"

  "Is the sink in here really that much better?" he said, smiling.

  "Revik. Seriously. I'm not in the mood to joke about this..."

  Again, he refused to let me go. "So maybe you should ask me what I meant, wife...since you know for damned sure that I didn't mean I don't want to share a bed with you. I've been harassing you to live with me since I lured you to that cabin..."

  I rolled my eyes, but his words slowed the heat that had been building in my chest.

  They also made me realize that 'Dori and Vash had been a little right, at least in terms of me. I might not feel quite as crazy or as out of control as I had when I slept with him the first time, but there was a definite thread of irrational woven into my emotional reactions right then. The highs and lows were a bit higher and lower than usual...or maybe a lot higher and lower, it was difficult to tell. In any case, I needed to keep a tight rein on my reactions, at least until we'd worked out a few of the kinks between us.

  Teasing each other probably wasn't the best idea. Not right then anyway.

  But we'd always done that, especially to dispel tension. And there was the other elephant in the room we hadn't talked about yet, either. That thing about the imprints...meaning the fact that there hadn't been any. We'd obviously had some kind of lengthy light exchange when I held for him; I remembered our brief stint awake where he undressed me. Between how out of it we'd been and the length of Revik's beard, we must have been lying there for longer than a night...or even two. During that time, it was possible something happened to bind our light back together.

  Maybe that something had erased the imprints, too.

  But I didn't let myself think about that for long, either. Not lying that close to him. Even if he was feeling less emotional than me right then, my time with the Lao Hu was not a topic either of us was ready to tackle. Maybe ever.

  Definitely not now.

  Sighing a little, I relaxed my muscles long enough to lean on his chest. Remembering his last words, I tried to focus back on what we'd been talking about.

  "Fine," I said, my voice subdued. Sitting up, I tugged at his hair, still examining his bearded face. "What did you have in mind then...some kind of back and forth between rooms? Give us our own space? Keep the mystery going a little longer?"

  "No," he said, tightening his hands on me again. "...Absolutely not."

  "Then what?" I said, wary.

  "You're not going to let me bask at all, are you?" he said, laughing. His accent grew denser when he added, "...I'm pretty sure I just had the most mind-blowing orgasm I've ever had in my life, and you want me to think right now...?"

  Realizing what I was doing, what we were even talking about...and like five minutes after having sex for the first time in over a year...I frowned. Glancing down at him again, I conceded his point with a hand gesture.

  "Sorry," I said. "I guess I'm a little wound up."

  "Can you just trust me for once?" he said, kissing my fingers. "Give me permission to move your stuff, Allie...and I'll take care of it..."

  I met his gaze, seeing the softness in his eyes.

  Nodding after another moment, I relaxed back into his arms.

  "Okay." I sighed with mock drama, letting my voice grow teasing again. "...You are officially granted permission to m
ove, remove, break and otherwise tamper with my meager belongings, as it suits you..." I tried to keep the thread of humor in my voice when I added, "Just. You know...no more separations. If that's all right with you..."

  He didn't answer.

  I felt his arms tense at my words, though. When he didn't relax after a few seconds more, and I couldn't interpret his silence, I raised my head. It occurred to me even before I had that I might have opened another can of worms, saying that. And worse, that I was pressuring him. A lot, actually. Maybe even a ridiculous amount, given that we hadn't even taken showers yet...that he was still probably thinking more about sex than anything to do with our marriage. I had it somewhere in my head that I should apologize to him again, chill the hell out...maybe even leave for awhile, walk around the hotel until I calmed down.

  When I looked at him, though, I forgot all of that.

  His eyes met mine, unflinching. I saw the humor leach out of his clear irises.

  "No more separations," he said, his voice verging on hard. "I actually have a few things to say about that...and not only to you."

  I was a little taken aback. My eyes didn't leave his, though. "Really, husband?"

  "Yes, really," he said, his voice still hard.

  "And what are those things about?"

  "Rules of the house. Some of them need to change. Immediately." His arm tightened around my back. "I fully intend to throw my weight around, if necessary..."

  I smiled, sliding my arms around his neck. "Can I watch?"

  "You may."

  Hesitating, I continued to study his eyes. "Which rules in particular?"

  He smiled faintly, but his eyes didn't soften. "The rules around what we can and can't do with one another, and the bullshit security measures being used to justify some of that...including privacy in the construct..." His fingers stroked the hair back from my face, even as he kissed my cheek. "...The rules around military engagements, and division of command. Meaning I want you with me on ops from now on," he added, tugging me deeper into his arms. "Not just want. I insist. And I don't intend to hear any shit about it, either...not from any of them. Not even you. It doesn't help anything to separate us...it doesn't keep either of us safer. In fact I would argue that the reverse is true..." He kissed me again, a pulse of warmth leaving his light. "I need you with me in the field, Allie. If nothing else, that job at the bank convinced me of that."

  I didn't answer, but just looked at him, my chin resting on my crossed arms where they leaned on his chest. A pulse of relief must have left me at some point though, because I saw his expression relax, holding its own kind of relief.

  He kissed me, pulling me tighter against him. After a few more minutes of us kissing, and me laying most of the way on top of him, both of our breaths were getting short again. When I slid my leg tighter around his waist, he let out a soft groan, pushing me back with one hand.

  "Go easy on me, wife," he said, his eyes resting briefly on my lips. "I meant it about the privacy...and my willpower is hovering at about a two right now..."

  "It seems okay to me," I said, kissing his chest.

  He laughed again. "Only because it was at around a negative thirty before..."

  Seeing the same sort of happy look in his eyes as I'd been feeling earlier, I couldn't help but grin back at him. Tugging on his hair again, I kissed him without thinking, until pretty soon we were making out again. His fingers tightened on my back just before he started pulling me under him. That time, I felt him wavering, wondering if maybe we could just...

  A loud knock caused both of us to jump.

  For a second, we just looked at each other. I could almost feel the question hovering around his light, but both of us already knew the answer. He was still caressing my face with one hand when whoever it was knocked again.

  It was a hard knock that time. Insistent.

  I had only two real guesses about whose fist it belonged to. Only one, really, who would be banging on Revik's door, knowing full well what we were doing.

  "Yeah," I said to Revik, answering the question neither one of us had bothered to put into words. Sighing, I lowered my head back to the bedspread. "I think we have to."

  The knocking came a third time.

  "Just a minute!" Revik growled, glaring at the door.

  I couldn't help laughing at that, covering my mouth.

  He smiled down at me, but his eyes had hardened some, too.

  "You said we had to answer it," he murmured accusingly, nudging my cheek with his face. "So get dressed, wife...and prepare yourself to be annoyed for the next few hours..."

  Before I could answer, he rolled off of me.

  Climbing off the bed, he stood in the middle of the floor, looking around for his pants with a faint scowl on his face. I watched him for a few seconds before he glanced at me, prodding me again with his light.

  "Come on," he grunted. "Get up. No way am I doing this alone."

  Lying there only a second or two more before I resolved myself, I sighed a bit before I sat up. Following him off the mattress, I ran my fingers through my hair to get it out of my face, then joined him as he reached down to untangle our clothes.

  10

  CHAOS

  I SAT TO one side of the long conference table, almost erect in a high-backed, faux-leather chair, my leg folded under me, the other crossed over my lap. I've always been uncomfortable in normal chairs for any length of time...part of my allergy to having a real job, Jon used to joke. So rather than just sitting like a normal person, I have a tendency to screw my body up like a pretzel, looking for any position that works, or that at least keeps me from fidgeting.

  Or maybe I was just having trouble focusing on the different voices vying for attention around the room.

  I glanced at Revik as I thought it, who I made a point of sitting across from, instead of beside. He lifted an eyebrow at me when he met my gaze. We hadn't really worked out the logistics of who would run what meetings when; in fact, we hadn't tested out the whole leading together thing at all, really, since we'd only done it behind closed doors. I was still turning this over as I looked at him, realizing we both were probably waiting for the other to speak first.

  We definitely needed to work out a better system.

  I hadn't really confronted him on the whole 'The Bridge is in charge,' thing, either...which I was reasonably sure he still believed, at least if his behavior was any indication.

  One more thing I needed to bring up with him that night.

  As it was, I didn't keep my eyes on him long. He'd shaved and showered and looked like himself again in dark pants, a pale green T-shirt and a heavier, long-sleeved shirt, but I couldn't help noticing the 'something' that remained different in his light. A part of me wanted to keep looking at it and toying with it...and neither of us could afford the distraction.

  After another few minutes of back and forth between the main players, I found myself speaking up, raising a hand to silence yet another escalating argument.

  "Hey!" I said.

  I spoke loud enough that heads turned.

  I kept my hand up, meeting gazes with Balidor and Wreg, right before my eyes scanned past Jon and Vash and Poresh and Holo who sat on the same end. I'd probably been surfing these waters and personalities longer than Revik had anyway, with the exception of Wreg and the other ex-rebels, so maybe it made sense that I be the one to break it up.

  Even so, I found myself a lot more self-conscious doing it with Revik in the room.

  "Look," I said, lowering my hand when they fell silent. "We're not getting anywhere like this. You're all talking over each other's arguments..."

  Vash chuckled, making me smile, too.

  I had to admit, having him there, even when he was just watching everyone with amusement, made everything in me relax.

  "Okay," I said. "Can we just hit the pause button for a second? I need you all to step back. Recount the facts we actually know, before you all start running down different rabbit holes..." Seeing Balidor's jaw h
arden, I shrugged with one hand, seer-fashion. "What do we actually know? The big things, I mean...can we start there?"

  When they all looked at me blankly, I sighed a little.

  Glancing at the smile that remained on Vash's face, I found myself answering my own question.

  "Okay, so look," I said. "We know Chandre's disappeared, right? Two days after she was supposed to meet that Shadow guy in South America. We also know that she thinks that same guy probably has something to do with the disease in San Francisco...and that he also hired Varlan to destroy that disease for reasons we don't yet understand..."

  Hesitating a second, I glanced again at Jon.

  Jon was smiling, too, a near relief in his eyes. It took me a second to realize that it was because I'd stepped in. From Jon's expression, the fighting between Balidor and Wreg had been worse with me and Revik out of the picture. At any rate, he seemed to think it would somehow get better now that we were back.

  I had my doubts, but the relaxed look on his face was encouraging.

  "...We know Cass is missing, too," I added, feeling my throat tighten briefly. "...And Baguen. We also have those three lists of names that Revik and I got off the bank...and the book no one seems to be able to translate. Am I missing anything? Any of the big things, I mean?"

  Balidor leaned back in his leather chair, folding his arms.

  When I glanced at Vash again, he was looking between Wreg and Balidor and Jon, a faint humor still shining in his dark eyes. He giggled a little in the pause, as if he saw something funny in their light that no one else could see.

  Stifling a snort, I folded my hands on the table.

  "Anything else?" I said.

  "There is the matter of the rebels, Esteemed friend," Vash spoke up cheerfully, glancing back towards me after winking at Wreg, who scowled. "...And the relocation needed for those who wish to join us rather than Salinse." He made a smooth gesture with one hand. "Tarsi is also working with those among the refugees who feel the same. She has her own team now, which is fairly well dispersed across western Asia. She has some of them moving out into other regions, attempting to reach out to those whom Salinse is also attempting to recruit..."