Alternities

Medieval Times

2008-09-01T04:55:29Z

Who: Ami
When: Day 2 onboard the lifeboat
Where: The galley, the sleep capsules
Invited: Everyone
Status: Incomplete

Despite her late night, Ami woke early, or at least earlier than the rest of those on the lifeboat. Sometime during the night, she'd awoken feeling cramped and claustrophobic. She crawled out of Jon's cubicle, leaving him sated and sleeping and looking all of his not so young years. Tired and fully sated herself, Ami's modesty was forgotten and she curled up in her own capsule completely naked and dropped back to sleep. She thanked her lucky stars that when she woke again and peeked out there was no sign of any of her travel companions awake.

Ami took a shower, dressed and then headed to the galley. Once a pot of coffee was brewing, she started on breakfast - eggs, bacon, sausage and toast - and waited for everyone else to wake up. The possibilities of exploring a different time period loomed before them and the more Ami tried not to think about it, the more she did think about it and the more excited she grew.

(C'mon you lot,) Ami thought, taking off the bacon and piling it onto a plate. (I want to get going already.)

She peeked around, hopeful that a capsule would open. Three of them remained sealed up nicely and Ami sighed and turned back to cooking. She had coffee and bacon, what more did they need?

Say Goodnight, Gracie

2008-08-25T07:59:05Z

Who: Chloe
When: Bedtime, Day 1 on the Lifeboat
Where: The Sleep Capsules, specifically Chloe's
Invited: All (in various capsules)
Status: Complete

Dinner had been pretty good. Just spaghetti and tomato sauce, but filling and tasty. The conversation was pleasant as well, at least once they got off the subject of knowing when and if Cassandra might really be dead. Chloe couldn't help but wonder what it would take to kill her. Cassandra knew of others like herself; she at least knew the score. Chloe was unique. Or at least if there were any other Kryptonite-powered mutants back home with abilities like hers, she'd never heard of them.

Since Daniel had cooked, Chloe and Cassandra cleaned up. Daniel was a pretty fair cook--not that that came as a surprise to Chloe. Her own Daniel had been a good cook when he had the time and inclination. That thought had left Chloe briefly depressed. She was missing Daniel and George already.

Cassandra nudged her with an elbow, bringing her attention back to the task at hand. Cassandra had gotten ahead of her and several plates awaited drying. Chloe looked at her curiously. "Don't dwell," Cassandra said quietly. "I know you miss them, but dwelling on it won't help."

Chloe felt a brief flash of anger but kept her silence. She glared at Cassandra. Cassandra smiled sadly and turned her attention back to washing the remaining dishes. Chloe resumed drying the clean dishes with more force than necessary. As she worked her anger faded. "Sorry," she said after a minute.

"I understand," Cassandra said.

When they were done and the dishes put away, Chloe and Cassandra joined Ami, Jon and Daniel. They'd unfolded several collapsible chairs and a table from the floor or out of the bulkheads. A deck of cards was lying on the table but they weren't using them. The conversation didn't last much longer. Chloe grinned and said, "I'll try not to take it personally," when the others decided to call it a night. It had been a long day.

Getting ready for bed was a trial. They had no bedtime routines worked out, so there was a lot of cautious maneuvering into and out of and around the bathroom facilities, toiletry bags in hand. Chloe didn't bother with digging out a robe. She tapped the stone on her necklace and undressed by the stacked luggage, letting the black bars do their work. Really, given how they worked, Chloe thought, she was less likely to accidentally flash the others than anyone else.

She climbed into her chosen cubicle. The control panel on the wall was very well designed. Even without labels, the form the controls took, and their layout, made it fairly obvious what each one did. Chloe turned on the lights, then sat up long enough to close the modesty panel at her feet. Then she turned off the necklace again.

Chloe turned on the flatscreen overhead and experimented with the interface. Given what they'd learned in the cockpit, Chloe wasn't surprised to discover that she could have the video displayed on either of the walls or the ceiling of her capsule, and resize the image as much as she liked. She could also set the walls to display images from any public space in the lifeboat, or from the exterior. Chloe grinned. "I wonder...."

Trying to display a view of the showers or toilet cubicles wasn't an option. Nor was it possible to display a view of the other capsules--not, at least, without getting permission from the occupants. That suggested some interesting possibilities. Chloe canceled the requests and then idly surfed through the menu of stored video.

There was no word for the quantity of material available, or at least Chloe didn't know what it was. Terabytes and petabytes didn't begin to describe it. Every bit of radio, television or satellite traffic that had reached Taiphani island had been recorded. The interface--again--was remarkably intuitive. Far more sophisticated than anything she'd used before. She'd have to experiment with it sometime when she was more alert--Chloe suspected it would be a snap to dig up just about anything she wanted to find. She wasn't interested at the moment, though--just idly curious. She shut it off again.

She shifted restlessly on the padded sleeping surface, then went still. She couldn't hear anyone else moving about. Chloe listened intently for several minutes but as far as she could tell she was alone on the ship; there wasn't the slightly sound of anyone else moving around.

"Damn good soundproofing," Chloe said aloud. Her voice sounded odd in the confined space. Maybe the soundproofing was too good. The utter silence was a bit eerie. Chloe reactivated the flatscreen and found some soft classical music to fill the silence and then shut off the video. "Much better," Chloe said to herself.

She relaxed and let her thoughts drift. Inevitably, perhaps, they drifted to George and Daniel again. She was missing them terribly--and not just for the sex, though she was going to miss that terribly too. Chloe sighed and closed her eyes, letting herself drift on a sea of memories. She thought about Faith as well, and Captain Jack and Bill Campbell. And other lovers who'd been a part of her life over the last two decades. She couldn't remember all of them--particularly in the last couple of years, when she'd been drinking so heavily and screwing so indiscriminately.

Chloe opened her eyes again, feeling herself blushing. It was embarrassing--humiliating, really--to realize just how indiscriminate she'd become. Casual sex was one thing; Chloe had no problem with admitting to anyone who asked that she liked having sex, frequently and with a variety of partners. But that...that had been something different, something unhealthy.

"But those days are behind me," Chloe told herself. From now on, things would be different. When next she had sex again, it would be for pleasure or for love, not to anaesthetize herself. Even if it looked like her next chance would be quite some time in the future. In the mean time, Chloe thought, she'd just have to take care of herself the old-fashioned way. Fortunately, the capsules were very well soundproofed and had great video capabilities, if one were...so...inclined.

"Hmmm," Chloe said to herself. "I wonder...." She turned on the video again and began experimenting. Yep, just as she'd suspected. Chloe began caressing herself. All over at first, but slowly focusing on her erogenous zones. She took her time, slowly working herself into a state, watching herself in the mirrored surface of the cubicle ceiling as she masturbated. She only closed her eyes when her orgasm overtook her and she cried out, uncertain of whether she was pleased or disappointed that no one would hear.

Goodbyes, Again--This Time For Sure!

2008-07-13T23:15:55Z

Who: Cassandra
When: The Next Day
Where: The Ship, Taiphani Island
Invited: All Play!
Status: Complete

Cassandra stood in the cargo hold of the as yet unnamed ship. She checked off the last of the items they'd bought, "borrowed" or outright stolen on the Tablet PC she'd liberated as well. A checklist of what they had available along with notations of where exactly it had been stored would be invaluable. The last items to be wheeled onboard were several mountain bikes, along with spare parts and patch kits for the tires. She'd considered motorcycles, but the bikes didn't require fuel. While not as versatile as horses they also didn't need food and water, or require grooming or cleaning up after.

When it was empty the four by seven meter space had seemed rather large. Now that it was crammed with supplies, it felt awfully cramped. Of course, some of the boxes taking up space included shelving that, once assembled and mounted to the walls, would allow them to store the supplies more efficiently. The curving ceiling of the vessel was three and a half meters at the center, sloping somewhat toward either side. That made for a lot of overhead space they weren't currently using.

Nobody wanted to wait to get that done. Chloe in particular was in an agony of suspense. She hadn't said anything, but Cassandra could tell that she was torn between relief at being able to spend a little more time with her friends and desperation to get the leave-taking over with. Cassandra fully expected some serious tears once they were away. It was perfectly natural and only to be expected.

Chloe wasn't the only one eager to leave. Cassandra was ready to go as well. The emotional whiplash of seeing the TARDIS vanish without them, thinking themselves marooned, and then discovering the existence of the lifeboat had been exhausting. She thought that Daniel, Ami and Jon were equally ready to move along. Getting a look at their future selves--in a way--had to be a little unnerving. Not only was it a reminder of their mortality to see the effects of twenty years on themselves, but it also pointed out just how big a role chance played in who you became. Who you met and the events that happened to you played as big a role as personality, maybe bigger.

Cassandra shook off her thoughts and walked over to the open loading door. The four meter wide section of the lifeboat's hull was raised overhead. Chloe was off in a corner of the room having an intense conversation with her friends and lovers. Jon was in the cockpit. Ami & Daniel were probably there as well now that the loading was done. Cassandra studied the control panel by the door for a moment, then pressed a button.

The loading door began swinging slowly shut with the faint whine of a motor. Cassandra ducked under and stepped out, out of the way. "I'm closing the loading door now," she said into the handheld radio she took from her pocket. Those radios were another acquisition made in the dark of night.

"Copy that," Jon replied over the radio. The hatch closed. There was a hiss and a thunk. "Hatch is locked and pressure-tight," Jon said.

"I guess that's it, then," Cassandra said to herself.

It had been a long day--or night--supplying the lifeboat. With the help of the teleporters, they'd spent hours acquiring foodstuffs, clothing, tools, equipment and weapons to outfit the lifeboat. Sometimes they'd bought things. Chloe was happy to spend her money on things they could legitimately purchase--it would be useless to her once she'd left. She'd sponsored trips to grocery wholesalers, clothing stores and military surplus stores for food, clothing, camping gear and the like. A raid--Ami hadn't liked that word, but Cassandra and Jon both used it--on a hospital supply outfit had provided them with a couple of shopping carts worth of medical supplies, including a variety of powerful painkillers, antibiotics and other useful but hard-to-get drugs.

Cassandra had experience with living the survivalist lifestyle, and had a good grasp of what they'd need in the short and medium term--including all the little things that were easily overlooked if you hadn't actually tried to live off your stored supplies. She'd been a little surprised when Jon turned out to be similarly experienced. He'd chalked it up to seeing his "Uncle Jack's" cabin in Minnesota, which apparently was not just a vacation home but a thoroughly stocked up survival shelter as well. But then, given what she'd learned of his Uncle O'Neill, that wasn't as surprising as it might have been.

The raid--and this time nobody objected to the terminology--on the SGC's armory had netted them a number of P90 assault rifles, Glock handguns, Zats and even some "Ingtar" stun weapons that looked just like the real thing. Plus ammo and other equipment. Being able to teleport in and out made the raid possible, but at that it had been a very carefully planned event. The SGC ran a tight ship, with lots of surveillance cameras and guards constantly checking even secured areas. No doubt the thefts had been discovered in short order, even if they wouldn't be able to figure out who--or how--it had happened.

Ami wasn't happy about having the weapons aboard, but bowed to the reality of the situation. The deliberate inclusion of stun weapons had helped mollify her. Cassandra thought that the Ingtar weapons would be especially useful. Since they looked like regular firearms, Ami could wield one and still get the respect a real firearm would get--the Zat guns looked like toys or movie props. Nobody unfamiliar with them was likely to take them seriously without seeing them in action.

"Are we ready to go?" Jon inquired.

Cassandra glanced over at Chloe again. She was giving George and Alt!Daniel a desperate, fierce hug. "Give us a couple of minutes," Cassandra said. "Then I'll bring Chloe in. After that, we're ready to go."

Surprise Fatigue

2008-06-29T19:47:50Z

Who: Cassandra Sugarbaker
When: Later That Same Day
Where: Someplace Private
Invited: All Play
Status: Complete

They adjourned to George's room. This was one conversation that nobody wanted to hold in public. They also raided the bar in the corner; Cassandra had reconsidered her choice not to drink. This sounded like as good a time as any for alcohol. Jon's announcement that there was a vehicle available to the travelers had been...surprising. Once everyone was settled in a chair, the sofa or the bed, Cassandra broke the silence.

"Let me get this straight," she began. She looked at Alt!Jon and "Megabyte" Damon, who'd showed up a few minutes earlier. She recognized him from the photos on Chloe's tablet. Another of the survivors from The Island. "You're telling us that there just happens to be a...spacecraft here--"

"Not here, but accessible," Megabyte corrected her.

"--okay, accessible," Cassandra said. "There's a spacecraft accessible, which is capable of cross-dimensional travel, and which is available for our use."

"That about sums it up," Alt!Jon said.

George laughed. She elbowed Chloe and gestured at Cassandra. "I recognize that look!"

Chloe smiled tightly. Alt!Ami and Scott glanced at Cassandra, then at one another, then at George. "I think we all do, dear," Ami said. "All of us who were on the island, at least."

Cassandra frowned, annoyed. She wasn't used to being the one who was surprised by events, or caught off-guard by something hard to believe. She'd had more of it in the last couple of weeks than for centuries beforehand. That didn't make it any more pleasant, though.

"It's not quite that simple," Megabyte admitted.

"It never is," Daniel murmured into Cassandra's ear. His arm slid around her waist to pull her a little closer. She felt his arm brush the butt of the handgun in her waistband and the momentary hesitation before he ignored it.

"The spacecraft is very real, "Megabyte continued. "It's also extremely old but in perfect operating condition. The builders, the 'Ancients' built things to last--as evidenced by the stargate network. But the dimensional transit device is an aftermarket addition. We've been studying it...."

"But?" Chloe asked. "I definitely hear a 'but' coming."

"But it's way beyond us," Alt!Jon admitted. "We're pretty sure it'll work. We're much less sure that we could steer it. We might end up Lost in Space."

"Like us," Ami said.

"Yeah," Alt!Jon admitted. "Like you guys. But that's why it might be just what you need. You're already lost. None of us was willing to take a jaunt in the thing when we weren't sure we could get back. But you--"

"We've got nothing to lose," Cassandra said.

Alt!Jon shrugged. "Well...yeah."

Cassandra thought about it. "It's hardly ideal. But assuming the TARDIS isn't coming back, I don't see any alternative unless we decide to stay here."

Goodbyes

2008-06-11T07:47:28Z

Who: Chloe Sullivan
When: Two days later
Where: Outside the TARDIS
Invited: All Play!
Status: Complete

All good things must come to an end, and Chloe's reunion with George and Daniel came to an end that morning. Chloe had showered and was toweling her hair dry. Daniel was shaving and George was still in the shower. Someone knocked at the door. Chloe walked over to the door and peered through the peephole. Cassandra stood in the hallway dressed in jeans and a blouse. Chloe slipped the security chain off and opened the door. "Hey, Cassandra," Chloe said, "Come on in."

Cassandra entered the suite. Chloe closed the door and followed her into the living area. She saw Cassandra looking around, taking in the thoroughly mussed bed, the clothes strewn all over the floor. Daniel was visible through the open doorway of the bathroom, wearing a towel around his waist as he shaved. Chloe heard the shower cut off.

"What's up?" Chloe asked. As she spoke George put in an appearance, walking out of the bathroom naked, toweling off. She saw Cassandra and greeted her casually. Cassandra nodded and turned her attention to Chloe.

"Our time here," Cassandra said.

Chloe stopped toweling her hair and looked at Cassandra. Cassandra nodded. "Captain Jack came calling a little while ago. The TARDIS is refueled and the Doctor is antsy to get moving as soon as we can get our ducks in a row."

Chloe sat down on the end of the bed, feeling as if she'd been punched in the stomach. She'd known this was coming. She'd even looked forward to it. In a way. But she'd dreaded it too. And the moment of truth had been safely in the future. Now it was here and she wasn't sure how to feel. The mattress sagged as George dropped onto it beside her and put an arm around her. "Hey," George said, "this is what you've been waiting for. It'll be fine."

George spoke to Cassandra for a minute, though Chloe didn't follow the conversation. She turned and put both arms around George's neck and hugged her. Chloe heard the door open and close. She continued clinging to George.

A moment later Daniel appeared, crossing in front of Chloe before settling down on her other side. He put an arm around Chloe as well, and it turned into a three-way hug. Chloe felt herself tearing up and couldn't have said whether they were tears of sorrow for leaving or joy for having two such close friends and lovers all these years. Probably both. In any case, they spilled down her cheeks and she didn't try to stop them; instead she just held George and Daniel and took comfort in their holding her as well.

"Feeling better?" George asked at last. Chloe sniffled and raised her head, only now seeing that she wasn't the only one who'd been crying. George's eyes were red and her cheeks were damp as well. Chloe mustered up a smile and nodded.

"Love you," Chloe whispered.

"Of course you do," George said, smiling. If her smile didn't match its usual wattage either, neither of them chose to say so. It was an old joke between them. Then the smile softened and George looked like she might cry again. "I love you too, you know."

That brought on another fierce three-way hug and a little more sniffling. It didn't last as long as the first round, but it still left Chloe feeling wrung out. She settled back into Daniel's arms as George leaned back to look at them both. "Cassandra said to meet in the lobby. Once everyone is checked out, Captain Jack will lead us to the TARDIS."

"I'm surprised he didn't knock on the door himself," Daniel observed. Chloe leaned back and rubbed her head against his cheek, which rasped slightly where he hadn't finished shaving.

George laughed. "He wanted to. Cassandra said they were afraid if he found out where our room was they'd never see him or us again."

Chloe laughed, probably harder than the joke warranted. They all did, with lots of ribald comments on just how accurate that concern might have been. By the time they ran down, Chloe felt calmer now, but it was a fragile calm. It would take very little to upset her emotional balance. "I guess we'd better finish dressing, then, huh?" she said.

"Yes, and get you packed," Daniel said. "Then we'll come down to see you off."

Daniel's voice was steady, but Chloe could nonetheless sense how carefully he was controlling his own reaction. She didn't have to see his face either. She saw George's side of the silent communion and knew that the two of them would be comforting one another tonight...after she was gone. God.

With a Little Help from the Future

2008-06-08T16:32:51Z

Who: Jon, Jack
Where: The TARDIS
When: A day or two after The Breakfast Club
Invited: No one
Status: Completed

"Anybody home?" Jon rapped knuckles lightly on the blue call box door as it pushed easily inward. He didn't know a great deal about the TARDIS, the Doctor or all and sundry that went with it, but he learned early on that if the door was locked, you needed a key, and if it wasn't locked, the Doctor or Rose was around somewhere. Of course somewhere on the TARDIS could be any odd assortment of anywhere from one to one hundred rooms, or more, so finding them quickly wouldn't always be easy.

"How do you know some random strange person won't just wander in there unexpectedly?" Jon asked last night, their fourth night on Mystery Island World, when Rose, Molly and Jack made an appearance at dinner.

"Perception filter," Rose said, as though that explained everything.

It didn't, of course, so Jack provided the technical details before Jon waved him off with an exasperated, "Never mind. I'll just consider it one of those things that I really don't need to know how it works, long as it works."

He meant it, too. Less questions to have to answer if it should ever come to that.

The console room was empty, but the buzz of the TARDIS welcomed him. Jon felt it, not quite on the same level or in the same way that he felt the Ship or the other Tomorrow People or Ami, but he did feel it.

"Hello to you, too," Jon responded to the TARDIS as easily as he did the Ship, giving her a pat on one of her curving walls. If he hadn't been alone, he might have felt a little foolish, but then again, given his good spirits for the past couple of days, he doubted that as well. "I suppose it's too much to ask that you'd, you know, maybe point me to Doc or radio him that I need to see him?"

Jon was pretty sure he didn't imagine the TARDIS's amusement, but that was all he got in the way of a response.

"All righty then, guess I'll just pull up a piece of floor and wait," Jon declared. He circled the console and stopped at the exit door. There was a corridor beyond. Rose had said that some parts of the TARDIS were up again and accessible. It wouldn't hurt to go looking for the Doctor instead of waiting for the alien time traveler to reappear.

"Doc, you here somewhere?" Jon called out. He stepped into the corridor beyond the console room. The alienness of the TARDIS and the knowledge of the fact that the TARDIS did breach time and space hit him then, a punch to the gut, a cold hand pressing between his shoulder blades that both pulled and pushed him forward. Standing right here, the connection and link to Ami was tenuous and weak, shockingly so and Jon instantly recoiled.

/Jon?/ Ami's 'voice' was distant, though his feet carried him instinctively back to the console room. Even tinny as it was, Jon felt her confused panic.

(Wow. We've never been in the TARDIS without each other before.)

/I'm fine. It's the TARDIS./ Jon scratched the back of his neck, tangling fingers in long hair. Maybe it was past time to stop being too defiant and get a bit of trim. /That whole space-time whatever dimensional thing?/

/Right./ Ami understood, though it didn't soothe her completely. Jon truly empathized with those feelings. Understanding it didn't relax him either. /What are you doing on the TARDIS?/

/Just needed to talk to the Doctor,/ Jon gave the mental equivalent of a shrug. It wasn't a lie, but it pretty much didn't answer any of the five basic who, what, when, where, and why questions either. He'd give details later, if pressed, but didn't want to at the moment. /How goes the spa treatment?/

Instead of soaking up the sun, the ladies - sans Elder Ami who was devoting her time and energy to her husband today - had gone for facials, tub soaks and body massages, leaving the men to their own devices. Daniel and Daniel had their heads together, geeking off over something or other, leaving Jon to find his own fun. Not that he was complaining; he liked the downtime and the alone time, and it gave him an opportunity to seek out the Doctor for this one special concern.

/Wonderful./ Ami practically purred. /I'm going to be nothing more than a pile of goo by this evening./

/Putty in my hands, I can work with that./ The rejoinder came easily, though their new status as lovers was still only a few days old. Jon was still private in public, when surrounded by their companions and Ami, thankfully, understood and wasn't insulted by it. Of course, just even ghosting the thought of being alone with Ami that night got his young hormones kicking into high gear, and reminded Jon of precisely why he was here. /I'm gonna go find Doc, now. Looking forward to seeing you later./

/Rather much./

The ear-to-ear grin Jon wore as he left the console room this time wasn't banished by that abrupt pull and tug of almost near separation. (The sooner I find the Doctor, the better.)

He reached Door Number Three before Jack Harkness poked his head into the hallway. "Jon! The Doctor's not here."

"He's not?"

"Yeah, believe it or not, Rose dragged him out of here. Something I can do for you?" The last part came with Jack's typical smirk and innuendo. Fortunately, Jon's familiarity with the man was growing and it was easy to ignore.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked on his heels. "Nope. I'll just wait around for the Doctor."

"You sure?" Flirtation failing, Jack took the hint and fell into a more relaxed and companionable stance. "I know a lot about the TARDIS, if you're looking for something, and a lot about . . . well, a lot of things. Health advances of the future, technological advances, genetic advances, contraceptive advances?" Jack lifted his brows at the last, arms folded across his chest, a knowing smirk on his face.

Jon opened his jaw, closed it, tried again. "How did you -"

"Just a matter of time," Jack shrugged. "C'mon close quarters, everyone getting to know one another and you and the lovely Dr. Jackson, saw that one coming from the moment we first boarded the TARDIS. Eventually someone was going to come asking, and Cassandra doesn't need it, so it won't be Daniel. I was actually expecting it to be Ami though."

Jon filed away the little tidbit about Cassandra for later. Did being hundreds of years old render her sterile? Wasn't there something he learned in biology about women having a finite number of eggs?

"Why Ami?" Jon asked carefully.

"Because in twenty-first century earth society, the onus of birth control typically falls on the female. There are gels, sponges, shots, pills, hormonal inserts and internal barrier devices. For men? Condoms. Which really take away from the fun." The smirk was back, but this time, not flirtatious, "Not that I'm implying that you're not responsible. You are, or you wouldn't be here, but given the twenty-first century mindset, I really expected it to be Ami."

Jon tried to picture Ami talking to the Doctor, or Jack for that matter, about birth control and failed. "Yeah, just don't see it happening."

"You might be surprised."

"Doubt it," Jon replied. "So, what exactly do you know?"

"I know lots of things. Been a lot of places, a lot of different times. The question is, what does the Doctor have onboard the TARDIS?" Jack turned and started down the hall, motioning for Jon to follow him. "He picks up things here and there, and even he forgets about them, I think. He's a bit too curious, so I'm sure he has something. Ideally, something from the thirtieth seventh to fortieth or after the forty-ninth. Humanity got really puritan in between there, all about repopulating the universe and contraceptives weren't always very big things."

Jack talked about traveling through time and space much the same way that SG-1 talked about going through the 'gate and visiting other worlds. Now Jon understood why people always gave them slightly surprised looks. It was a bit disconcerting, even if you knew it was true. (Especially if you knew it was true.)

"What sort of things are we talking about? Not glorified condoms?"

Jack chuckled at that. "No, not that. There was a time when they were thinner, more sensitive, they were called smart condoms." Jack pulled a face and shuddered, "They didn't work out very well."

Jon decided he did not want to know any details on that. He had a pretty good imagination. A little too good probably. "No smart condoms. Got it."

"Implants, injections, nanites, a whole encyclopedia," Jack rattled off, leading Jon into the medical bay. "If there's anything on board, it'll be here. Let's just hope it's something you can really use." Jack started opening compartments, looking through before pausing to look back at Jon, "So, how is she?"

Jon folded his arms across his chest and glared.

"A gentleman never tells. Good man." Jack laughed and went back to the task of looting the Doctor's medical bay.

The Breakfast Club

2008-06-03T02:05:25Z

Who: Ami
When: The morning after All Tied Up and Nothing to Talk About
Where: Hotel dining room
Invited: Everyone
Status: Incomplete

Sometime in the middle of the night, early morning, Ami woke from a dream of Jon making love to her, on the edge of an orgasm. She had a few split seconds of alertness to register Jon's head between her legs before her climax swept her away. They made love, slow and tender, almost forgetting the condom, and laughing about it afterward. Wrapped in one another's arms, they talked about innocuous things, Jon clearly not able to get enough of touching her and stroking her skin. Not that Ami minded; he hands roamed idly over him as well. Eventually sleep claimed them both again, even Jon's youthful libido and capabilities not being able to withstand numerous orgasms.

Later still, Ami woke him with her hands and mouth, sucking and licking him to hardness when morning came and they finally stirred from the depths of their sex-slacked sleep. It was a quick morning shag, followed immediately by another round of post-coital napping, before Ami finally woke for the day. Waking up with Jon's naked body spooned behind her, his breath warming her neck, arm wound around her had to top the list of best ways to wake up.

She rolled over, careful not to disturb him, and studied him sleeping. It was the one time Jon looked completely young and unburned, and wasn't play acting. Raking fingers lightly through his hair, Ami mused again at the amazing fact that this youthful body was filled with half of a century worth of memories, experiences, regrets and hopes. Jon was stronger and harder than he gave himself credit for, and than most people would believe. Somehow he managed to go from being a fifty-something career soldier to a not-quite twenty-something Tomorrow Person without going completely mad. There were days that he still struggled, but those were growing fewer and far between. He was adapting to his new life, and someday he might even start to really appreciate it.

Ami brushed a kiss across his forehead. His mouth curled up into a smile and she grinned happily before sliding out of bed and making her way to the bathroom. Showered, dried and half-dressed in her bra and knickers, Ami finally woke Jon. He groused about not getting the opportunity to shower with her, but dutifully went to take care of his morning toilette when Ami pointed out that they were going to be a little more than fashionably late this time.

"It's your fault for taking advantage of me this morning," Jon teased before disappearing, (nicely) bare assed into the bathroom.

His hair was still damp when they reached the dining room and discovered that while they were late, everyone else was later.

"Wow," Jon commented, a teasing glint in his eyes, "Nothing like having to hurry up and wait."

Ami sipped her tea, "Shut it, you."

"I'm just sayin'. We missed a perfectly good opportunity to . . ." he trailed off, switching gears suddenly just as a shadow fell across their table, "Hey, running a little late?"

All Tied Up

2008-05-25T04:08:40Z

Who: Daniel
When: After Dancing
Where: Daniel's room
Invited: Cassandra
Status: Incomplete

Daniel used the shuttle ride back to the resort to tease Cassandra as much as she teased him with her flirty and seductive dancing. His fingers caressed her leg and thigh, stroking the inner thigh in the dark of the shuttle in just the right places where he knew it would drive her mad. Playful, teasing kisses were exchanged, nips on the ear and the neck interspersed with whispered promises of all the things he'd like to do to her once they returned to their room. Daniel's teasing suggestions had the added effect of arousing him as much as they did Cassandra.

He rode behind her in the elevator, hands wrapped around her waist, spreading kisses along her neck and shoulders while the growing evidence of his desire pressed into her from behind.

By the time they crossed the threshold of their room and Daniel kicked the door closed behind them, the heat in his lover's eyes could have melted steel. It was all that much more arousing to Daniel that he was the cause of that heat, that he was capable of producing this sort of reaction in a woman who'd been alive hundreds of years.

Briefly, Daniel reflected that a reflection on Cassandra's true age should have slowed him down, made him reconsider, or at least given him pause. In ten years he'd seen so much more unusual that her age was minor in comparison. Fascinating, yes, and someday when he thought he could get away with it without annoying her, he would certainly pick her brain. But that day was not today, and one hundred percent certainly not tonight.

She leaned up to kiss him and Daniel turned the tables on her. With very quick, sure deft movements, he turned them both around, pressing her against the door, her back to his chest. One of Daniel's hands held her arms above her head and the other crawled possessively down her side before snaking around to cup her ass. Though this wasn't Daniel's kink, he was more than happy to play along, considering how much it did for Cassandra.

Daniel dipped his head down, raining kisses on her exposed neck and shoulders before biting down gently but firmly where neck and shoulder met. Cassandra's delighted purr and pressing back against him sent a bolt of heat and electricity straight to his groin. Using his knee, Daniel pried her legs apart. The hand on her ass dipped down, slipping between her legs to cup and tease her through her panties.

He breathed hoarsely, heavily in her ear while stroking her through the thin material, but never quite as she wanted it. "I went shopping today. I have some silk scarves over in the dresser."

Nothing to Talk About

2008-05-24T22:53:15Z

Who: Jon
When: After Dancing
Where: Ami's hotel room
Invited: Jon
Status: Complete

Joon's note, neatly written and taped prominently to the bedroom door, declared that she would not be sleeping at the resort again, and that the room belonged to Ami. Still holding the note in one hand whilst watching Ami drift over to collapse on her bed, Jon hadn't yet decided how he felt about that. Oh, there certain parts of his anatomy and more than a good portion of his nineteen-year-old body that had come to partial attention and danced for joy, respectively speaking, but the fifty year old part shoved into the youthful body maintained a modicum of control. Which was a good thing because it was the century old part of him that kept screaming that he needed to take a few steps back and go slowly.

With so many possibilities and what-ifs, so many deviations and what could go wrong, Jon chided himself for letting things go as far as they did as quickly as they had this afternoon. (Letting things? Who are you kidding, Jon? You directed them with flags and flashing lights.) And he hadn't stopped. Not in the restaurant, telepathically flirting with Ami; not dancing when a great deal more than just telepathic flirtation had gone on. Certainly not in the elevator up to their room when he pressed her body between his and the wall, kissing her like she was the very air that he needed to breathe.

Jon wanted to blame his hormones, but he knew better. He might be able to lie with a straight face, not missing a beat, but he couldn't lie to himself. Once the blinders came off and he let himself see and feel, deep down Jon had known that he wouldn't ever be able to go back to that secure place of quiet denial.

(So, where do we go from here?)

"You going to stand there all night?" Stretched out on her back, arms out stretched, legs dangling off the foot of the bed, Ami didn't open her eyes to look at him.

"No," Jon admitted. He balled up Joon's note. A quick overhand toss sent it sailing in an upward arc, and over only to bounce off the rim of the garbage can. Rather than retrieve it, Jon lifted it telekinetically and directed it into the trash. Jon sighed, raked his hands through his hair, and scratched the back of his neck. "Ami, we need to talk."

"Bugger," Ami pushed the words out with a frustrated expulsion of air. She lifted up on her elbows and focused more sober than he thought eyes on him. "Isn't that supposed to be my line? And not until after we've shagged at least?"

Jon couldn't help but smile, despite the seriousness of his thoughts. Ami's complete lack of anger or malice, combined with the air of acceptance and expectation that he felt from her calmed him. Arms folded, hands shoved in his arm pits, Jon leaned against the dresser. "No, we need to talk about this now. About what's happening between us."

Ami blew out another puff of breath. Pushing herself fully upright, she shook her head, dark waves of hair caressing her shoulders. "No, you need to talk about it. Or sort it out. Or whatever." Ami waved a lovely dark hand in his direction. "Have fun talking to yourself about it."

She kicked off her shoes and stood, walking toward the bathroom as she talked, "And when you're done and you have it all figured out, we can get back to the snogging. Meanwhile, I'm going to be taking a shower. I'm sweaty, and I'm sticky and it's gross."

"Ami -"

/Jon, I know what I want. You know what you want, and we both want the same thing. Things are good between us now, and I'm not going to sit about and enable you while you sabotage it and take us back ten steps because you just can't accept something good happening to you./ Ami stopped in the bathroom doorway and looked back at him, her emotions an open book. This was easy for her, easy and so uncomplicated. Jon envied her that.

He felt the wispy touches of telekinesis, light brushes of air and pressure that didn't quite mimic human touch but made his breath catch and his heart speed up a bit anyway. /Now, I am going to go in here, take off my clothes and get in the shower. I'm hoping that you'll join me. But if you don't, that's fine too, I won't be upset. But I'm not talking, because there's nothing to talk about, nothing to decide, except for which bed we'll be snogging in./

Ami disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Jon staring speechless in her wake, and wondering when and how exactly he completely lost control of the situation.

Those Not Dancing

2008-05-15T01:03:16Z

Who: Alt!Daniel, George
When: After Just Don't Call Me Late to Dinner
Where: Chloe's room
Invited: Chloe
Status:

Daniel was being an amazing bastard and he knew it. He wouldn't have been doing it though if he hadn't known just how much George liked it. He held himself perfectly still, kneeling behind George on the bed, hands on her hips. George was on her hands and knees in front of him, head down, working her hips in small frantic motions to get some friction on the cock buried to the full hilt inside of her. Daniel's position limited her, as did his hands on her hips, and George whimpered and swore.

"Dammit Daniel, fuck me already!" She lifted her head to look back at him, blonde hair falling into her face. Her glare was interrupted by her mouth opening in a cry of pure pleasure as he drew back slowly, sliding along her slickened channel.

"Like this?" Daniel asked. He thrust forward, hard, sharp and swift, filling her again to the brim.

"Oh fuck yeah!" George cried. Head down again, her hips rocked, moving forward a bit and then back to meet his deep, pounding thrusts. Two times, three times, four times and then, near perfect stillness again, the head of his shaft nestled firmly against her cervix, his sac rubbing against her body. Daniel's hands gripped her hips again, holding her motionless and George cried out in objection, her lovely back arching up in a last effort to resume the deep fucking.

She panted and kicked her lovely feet. Her tight pussy flexed around Daniel as she did so, but he didn't move. As she slowly began to calm, Daniel started again, pulling back until only the head remained inside of her and plunging deeply home again. He repeated the rhythm, a slow almost withdrawl followed by a fast, hard deep thrust that made George yell and cry in pleasure.

"Yeah yeah yeah fuck yeah like that!" George moved with him, gaining momentum in her hips, her fingers bunching and digging into the sheets. Their pace increased. Daniel tightened his grip on her hips, pulling her back to slam her into him as he thrust forward, focused with single minded intensity on the slick, wet pussy wrapped around his cock.

As George's exclamations turned incoherent, Daniel dropped to his haunches, pulling George up and back into a sitting position in his lap. Hands still on her hips, he guided her up and down, bouncing her on his cock. George set her own rhythm and Daniel reached up to grab her wonderful bouncing breasts, as she worked herself into a frenzy on him. He mouthed her shoulder and as the bedroom door swung open heralding Chloe's arrival, Daniel suckled the sensitive skin of George's neck. His hand slid down George's stomach to finger her clit, sending her spiraling into an orgasm under Chloe's hungry, appreciative gaze.

Rhythm's Gonna Get You

2008-05-15T00:00:22Z

Who: Ami
When: After Just Don't Call Me Late to Dinner
Where: A nightclub
Invited: Jon, Daniel, Cassandra
Status: Complete

The bass pumped a steady thumping across the floor of the club as Ami twisted and swayed, working her hips and body to the saucy rhythms of the Latin music filling the air around them. Blue, red, green and orange lights illuminated the dance floor and bar of the top floor, open air dance floor of the three story night club. Bodies bumped and brushed, couples and singles weaving and grinding across the dance floor to carve out their own space. In the far corner, chants rose up, "Drink! Drink! Drink!" followed by a loud roar as the challenge was completed.

Ami nudged up against Jon, arms draped around his neck. With a hand resting comfortably on the small of her back, and a bottle of beer in the other hand, he neither looked nor felt half as disinterested as he claimed to be back at the hotel. Admittedly, he was on his third beer, and it had taken two beers to get him on the dance floor.

/Are you having fun after all?/ There were certain advantages to telepathy. Being able to hold a conversation without shouting in a hopping nightclub was one of them.

Jon pulled her closer, his warm breath tickling her ear, and causing her breath to catch, "Maybe. A little bit. I like watching you dance." The arm with the beer hand came to rest around her waist, and Jon punctuated his words by using his free hand to grope her ass.

Ami's mouth opened in a mixed laugh and gasp of surprise at his public forwardness. She pressed closer, keeping with the sway and stepping to the beat, just as Jon did. Drawing back a bit, she looked into his mischievously grinning face and sparkling eyes. "You're pissed!"

/No, I'm buzzed./ Jon dipped his head. Ami's heart did a half-skip, eyes fluttering half-closed for a kiss that never came. Disappointment could barely grow before it was shattered by the feel of his lips grazing her cheek, before Jon nipped at her ear. "Small difference."

Ami danced even closer, bodies touching, hips twisting and grinding against him. /How's that?/

Jon's hands glided to her hips. Somehow he held the bottle while two fingers tapped against her hip in the same rhythm as the music. His body moved with hers, surprisingly in sync with the music, loose and limber for someone who claimed to not like dancing. Ami couldn't see them, the top floor lacked mirrors, but the look in Jon's eyes and the movement of his body against hers was more than a little bit sexy.

/Well, if I was drunk, I'd do this./ Without warning or preamble, Jon's mouth covered hers. It was all teasing and tongue, biting and sucking at lips, leaving Ami panting and trembling with anticipation and want. Pressed as closely together as they were, shields leaking around the sides, Ami knew that he wasn't entirely unaffected.

(God, please tell me that's not all the beer.)

Jon chuckled, and hugged her close, skimming his palm up her back. /Honestly, it's not all the beer./

Just Don't Call Me Late to Dinner

2008-05-09T22:22:31Z

Who: George, Chloe & Alt!Daniel
When: Later that same day
Where: One of the hotel restaurants
Invited: Everyone!
Status: Complete

The greeter led George, Chloe and Daniel to the table reserved for their group. As they approached it, George took in the empty seats and untouched place settings. "Oh hell no!" she said. "Don't tell me we're the first ones here!"

Chloe said "Don't mind her," to the greeter when she turned toward George, looking alarmed. "We just didn't expect to be the first ones here. I'm sure the others will be along." The young woman handed them menus and then made her escape.

As the greeter walked away Chloe shot George a look. "Honestly, George! We can't take you anywhere!"

"Well, you can't," George said, taking Daniel's arm and stepping in very close. "'cause you're just a girl. But this handsome fellow can take me anywhere he wants." She bumped Daniel's hip. "Right, big guy?"

"Oh lord...." Daniel muttered.

George laughed and let him go. She, Chloe and Daniel took seats at one end of the table. A quick survey of the room convinced George that they really were the first ones to arrive for dinner. "I can't believe nobody else is here yet," she said again.

"Maybe we didn't have enough sex!" George said. "Maybe they're still going at it. Meanwhile, we're down here waiting for everyone else to show up."

"I don't think that's it," Chloe said at the same time that Daniel said, "We had enough--"

"No such thing," Chloe and George chorused. Daniel rolled his eyes adorably. "You're never done having sex--" George said.

"--you just have to stop occasionally to do other things," Chloe said with a laugh. They high-fived one another. Daniel shook his head ruefully and pretended embarrassment, but he'd known them too long and too well to truly be embarrassed by them. He'd have long since stopped coming 'round if that were the case.

"Oh good," Daniel said, indicating the doorway across the room. "More of our party has arrived."

Meanwhile, Elsewhere in the Hotel....

2008-05-06T05:36:47Z

Who: Chloe, George and Alt!Daniel
When: During Odd Couple Out
Where: Chloe's room
Invited: No one
Status: Complete

Consciousness slowly returned. The pure pleasure of earlier, the overwhelming ecstatic sensations which had blotted out thought and awareness, were slowly ebbing. Not yet capable of thought, Chloe lay motionless, drifting on a sea of endorphins, feeling her breast rise and fall with each breath. Her pulse thudded in her ears, no longer racing but still slowing.

Eventually Chloe opened her eyes. She was looking up at the ceiling of the hotel room. She was lying on the bed...George and Daniel were here. They'd conspired against her. They'd teamed up to drive Chloe insane with pleasure and for a short while Chloe suspected they'd succeeded. Or at least they'd driven her out of her mind--so lost in the pleasure that her awareness had faltered. She'd blacked out. Or maybe whited out.

Chloe rolled over onto her side and propped her head on one hand. Beside her on the king-size bed Daniel was giving George head. George’s head was tipped back, eyes closed, mouth open as she panted for air. Her whole body was rigid and trembling. Her arms were splayed out, hands clutching at fistfuls of the bedsheets. Daniel’s face was buried between her legs. Industrious lapping sounds competed with George’s panting in the otherwise silent room.

As Chloe watched, George began muttering to herself. “Oh god…oh god…oh—yesyesyesyesyes…” Then the litany of words cut off abruptly as George drew in a huge, gasping breath and then let it out in a long, guttural moan. Her whole body shuddered; George’s hands dug at the sheets as if she meant to tear them into shreds. She kicked her feet frantically, prettily.

(God, that is so hot,) Chloe thought.

She twisted and pulled at her own erect nipples with her free hand for a moment, then let her hand wander down to slide a finger into her pussy. She was sopping wet still, slippery with her own fluids and Daniel's sperm. Chloe fingered herself for a moment, shivering at the almost-too-intense sensations.

Daniel wrapped his arms around George's thighs and hung on for the ride, continuing his efforts. Chloe grinned knowingly. She’d been on the receiving end of Daniel’s oral attentions and she knew just how much fun they could be. George went limp for a moment, breathing heavily. She turned her head lazily and opened her eyes to look at Chloe with a sleepy smile.

"Goddamn," George said, panting. "That was...incredible...."

So Chloe had a perfect view when her eyes widened and she drew in a gulping breath. She lifted her head to gaze down the length of her torso at Daniel’s head between her legs. “Oh my god!” George said. She clamped her legs around Daniel’s head and arched her back, head falling back, as she came again. Her near hand groped until she seized Chloe’s hand and then she clung to it with a death grip for a few moments.

Then Daniel raised his head, mouth slick and shining with George’s juices. He crawled up onto the bed, erect and beautiful. He climbed up George’s limp body until he could kiss her fervently on the mouth. He balanced on one elbow and his knees for just an instant, his other hand guiding his entry into George.

George spread her legs, lifting her knees and scissoring her feet around Daniel's hips. Both of them made sounds of exquisite pleasure as they settled into position belly to belly. Daniel leaned down to kiss George again. George kissed him back very enthusiastically for a minute before they came up for air.
Chloe bit her lip and edged a little closer, the better to see and hear them.

They broke the kiss and grinned at one another like a couple of kids before Daniel drew back his hips and then thrust forward sharply. George grunted as the force of it rolled upward through her body. "Ohhh shit," she hissed. "More like that!"

Daniel thrust into her again, a sharp movement of his hips. "Like that?"

"Oh fuck yeah!" George groaned. Her hands found their way to his shoulders and clutched at him. She uncrossed her ankles from behind Daniel, placing her feet flat on the mattress, lifted her hips and began rocking them against Daniel. Chloe bit her lip to stifle a giggle at the fierce expression that appeared on George's face. "Oh...yeah," she said, matching Daniel thrust for thrust. "Yeah...like...that!" She groaned. "God...Daniel--"

Chloe sat up, incredibly turned on--as always--by watching her lovers have sex. She knelt with her feet under her, knees spread and began shamelessly masturbating as she watched them. Daniel glanced at Chloe once, gaze dropping for an instant to watch her finger-fucking herself with one hand and caressing her clit with the other. He met her eyes smiling then turned his attention to George again, resuming his efforts with a particularly forceful snap of his hips.

It didn't take long for George to come again as Daniel fucked her. Her breasts bounced with every thrust. She kept up her running commentary, her voice getting higher and tighter until she arched her back and shrieked, one hand leaving Daniel's shoulder to pound the mattress. "Oh fuck! Yes! Oh...oh shit!" When it was over, Daniel pulled out. By the expression on his face he was this close to coming too.

Chloe stopped playing with herself and leaned down to take one of George's nipples into her mouth, tonguing and sucking at it. George groaned and put a hand on the back of Chloe's head. Chloe nipped her. George gasped and jerked away. Chloe laughed and George gave her a gentle smack on the back of the head.

Chloe glanced at Daniel again. He was taking slow deep breaths and probably thinking about baseball. He didn't look quite so close to erupting. Chloe kissed George between her breasts and then licked her way down to her navel, provoking a giggle when she reached that ticklish spot. She glanced between their bodies and carefully climbed around on the bed until she was straddling George's head and had her own head between George's legs.

Chloe took a deep breath. George smelled so fucking good. Chloe lowered her head and began lapping at her pussy. At the same time she felt George lift her head to return the favor. George was still flying from the sex with Daniel so she came within a minute or so, clutching at Chloe's thighs and pressing her teeth into the soft flesh of her leg to stifle her scream.

When she had control of herself, George resumed teasing Chloe with her lips and tongue. Chloe lifted her head to see Daniel watching avidly. Chloe eyed his rock hard cock. She shifted her position a little, lowering her hips so George could continue eating her without having to lift her head--and Chloe could support her herself on her extended arms.

Chloe lifted one hand long enough to crook a finger at Daniel. He knee walked a little closer and Chloe reach forward to take hold of the base of his cock. He was hot and swollen and hard beneath the very soft skin there. She gently urged him a little closer, then took him into her mouth. Daniel groaned loudly at the sensation of her mouth on him.

Chloe closed her eyes and concentrated on giving Daniel the best blow-job ever. It may or may not have qualified, but Daniel was so keyed up that he came very quickly. Chloe came at the same time, her body growing rigid as George brought her off. He twitched and his cock grew harder still for an instant before he gave a guttural groan and began spurting into her mouth. Chloe continued caressing, tonguing and sucking Daniel until he begged her to stop.

Chloe let him slide free of her mouth and then pulled away from George, flopping onto her back by George's feet. Daniel collapsed on George's opposite side. Then there was only the sound of three people breathing heavily.

Odd Couple Out

2008-05-06T02:22:30Z

Who: Jon
When: After Fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun
Where: Ami, Cassandra & Joon's suite
Invited: Ami
Status: Complete

Getting Ami up the elevator and into her suite was easier than Jon than thought it would be. She sulked and pouted, but didn't put up a fight or lapse into any of her typical stubbornness. Jon wasn't foolish enough to think that the tide was turning, but rather credited it to her inability to walk a straight line for more than a foot or so and therefore needing him for support.

Jon half led, half-dragged Ami into the oversize bathroom -

"Why do I need to take a shower?"

"Because you don't want to take half the beach to bed with you."

"I'm not tired."

"You will be."

-- and for the first time since setting foot in the probably overpriced resort suite, truly appreciated the opulence. The bathroom laid claim to a jacuzzi tub, a walk-in shower large enough for a party of four, two sinks with vanity lighting, a vanity area with a small bench, and an attached dressing area. Jon parked Ami at the vanity table while he fetched towels and one of the complimentary hotel bathrobes. Ami didn't say a word the entire time he worked, sticking an arm in the shower to turn on and adjust the water, watching him with those dark hooded eyes.

"You're not talking to me anymore?" Jon asked. He unfolded a towel and hung it just outside the shower, well in reach of the open door.

Ami gave a shrug from where she sat on the small vanity stool, hands tucked beneath her thighs. The shrug didn't convey very much in the realm of answering his question, but it did do wonders for her cleavage. Jon jerked his attention away from her, burying his reaction in the repetitive motion of checking the temperature of the shower.

"Shower's read -" He stopped in mid-sentence, eyes on Ami again. Completely oblivious to his presence, or else not caring that he was there, her hands were up behind her neck, untying the thin straps of string that held the bikini top in place. "Whoa! Ami! What are you doing?"

"Getting out of my suit to get in the shower." Her answer smarted of 'What are you, an idiot?' She didn't stop her motions, giving a final tug to the straps which would have allowed the bikini top to fall free if Jon hadn't caught it telekinetically. Ami's petulant glare was more cute than threatening, and didn't stop Jon from grabbing and extra towel.

"You can get undressed as soon as I leave the room." Jon knelt in front of her. He wrapped the towel around her like a salon cover.

"Not going to take a shower with me, then?" If the one hundred eighty degree turn from petulance to the soft, dulcet tones Jon now heard hadn't been warning enough, the foot snaking its way up his thigh set off all sorts of alarm bells.

Jon caught her foot. "No. You're a big girl. I think you can do it yourself." He looked up at her. The large bathroom shrank by several square feet, closing in on him and locking him in place. Looking up at had been a really bad idea. Ami's dark eyes sparkled with mischief and a few other things that Jon did not let himself name. Her full lips turned up in a sultry, teasing smile, pink tongue darting out to wet them. The memory of the taste and feel of her mouth hit him like a freight train. Every ounce of blood not necessary for basic autonomous functions fled south. Jon didn't think he could form a coherent thought, never mind summoning the skills required for speech.

"But what if I slip?" Ami asked, her voice pitched low. "I could fall and hurt myself."

"I think," Jon croaked. He swallowed and tried again, catching hold of the other foot that attempted to lead the way up his hip, "I think that you're sober enough to safely bathe yourself."

"But what if I'm not?" For the inebriated, Ami moved gracefully and quickly when she wanted. She slipped off the vanity and into his lap, the modesty-towel dropping away, along with the bikini top as she did. Somehow, the towel landed between them, giving a little extra barrier between his very obvious and undeniable response to her and the thin material of her bikini. However, it left her gorgeous breasts fully exposed, and Jon didn't have enough willpower to not look. Unfortunately, he didn't get nearly long enough to appreciate the view before Ami's arms wound around his neck, her body pressed against his, lips pressed hungrily against his, /Only one way to make sure I don't hurt myself, yeah?/

His surprised gasp was her victory, tongue sliding past his quite unprotesting lips, fingers curling into the hair at the base of his neck. Jon's hands fluttered in mid-air, what remained of the voice of reason crying out for caution, before Jon shocked it into silenced by wrapping his arms around her half-naked body.

The Gentlemen's Game

2008-04-29T03:15:27Z

Who: Jon
When: During Fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun
Where: On the golf course
Invited: Daniel, Alt!Daniel, Scott, anyone else who isn't "courting skin cancer"
Status: Incomplete

Golf, the game known far and wide as the gentleman's sport, although that was not why the four men on the green played it. They stood at the third hole, golf cart a few feet behind them because it was the only activity upon which they all readily agreed. Even more disconcerting was that Daniel and his older counterpart agreed with stereo, "It's better than fishing."

"Nothing," Jon insisted, "Is better than fishing. Except, fishing with beer."

"You know," Older Daniel threw out, "There is still no fish in that lake."

Daniel blinked in disbelief at the elder. "Really?"

"Really."

Jon had rolled his eyes and dismissed the conversation with, "It's not about the fish, Daniel. Daniels. Whatever."

Anderson, on the other hand, hadn't seemed particularly thrilled with departing his lovely wife's company. At least not until they stepped aside and engaged in a quiet, and sometimes silent conversation that drew Jon's attention and more than a few questions. Anderson wasn't a Tomorrow Person, but clearly Ami the Elder could communicate with him telepathically and vice-versa; any telepath would know the signs. At the conclusion of that conversation, which carried a lot more ardor and heat than any conversation should have, Scott happily joined them.

It didn't take a great deal of imagination to guess exactly what sort of promises his wife made to elicit that sort of compliance.

And it was way more information than Jon wanted to have in his head.

Still, this little outing gave Daniel and Daniel – (and try saying that ten times fast and still keeping it straight) – to pick one another's brains, Anderson's brains and Jon's brains without worry of being overheard or disturbed. Additionally, it gave Jon ample opportunity to size up the man who in Bizarro Universe managed to end up married to Ami Jackson. Jon really wanted to know what it was that attracted Ami's counterpart to the tall, lanky . . . well, come on, the guy was clearly a geek.

(And,) Jon's paranoia poked at him, (Might just be her husband again when you get back to earth, if she decides to go looking for him.)

That thought made Jon decidedly uncomfortable.

"So, Scott," Jon called out, watching the Elder Daniel line up for his swing, "What's Ami like?"

Daniel's eyebrows rose, "There's a question I'm sure he doesn't hear everyday."

"I'm just curious to know what she's like compared to m—our Ami," Jon pointed out. He pointed back and forth between Daniel and his elder counterpart, "You two can play comparison contrast together, I'm going to a different source."

Fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun!

2008-04-27T08:52:29Z

Who: Chloe
When: After Negotiations
Where: The beach
Invited: Cassandra, George, Ami, Alt!Ami, others
Status: : Complete

Now that they'd established some boundaries, Cassandra and Chloe agreed to meet down on the beach. Cassandra left to return to her own room to change. Chloe stripped off her clothes. She opened her suitcase and fingered the necklace she'd found in the Tardis all those years ago. Chloe would much prefer to go naked and use the psychic necklace to maintain modesty, but there was nothing like it on earth. It would draw too much attention and raise too many questions. She sighed and tucked it away again.

"Bikini, it is," she said to herself.

It took longer to find the bikini than to put it on. She tossed a folded towel into an oversize beach bag, along with her tablet computer, sunglasses, sunblock, packet of tissues and room key and then she was ready to go.

The elevator stopped on every floor on the way down to the lobby. A number of young men and women entered and exited at each floor. Most of the guys gave her admiring glances of varying levels of subtlety; the guys with girls in tow tended to be the most subtle. Some of them gave Chloe glances as well, though they tended to be less admiring and more hostile. Chloe just smiled at everyone and didn't worry about it.

She walked out onto the brilliant warmth of the sunlit tropical beach. The sea glittered and flashed under the sun. Sailboats plied back and forth in the distance. Closer to shore jetskis buzzed up and down the beach. The water's edge was thick with swimmers. The beach itself was covered by sunbathers in chaise lounges or stretched out on towels on the sand. A few hammocks were stretched between palm trees here and there.

Chloe spotted George lying in one. With that as a clue, Chloe looked more closely and spotted Ami and Ami lying in the sun nearby, looking very much like mother and daughter. A couple of empty lounge chairs sat between them. As Chloe watched, Ami fended off someone who asked about one of them. Chloe walked toward them, picking her way carefully around and between groups of sunbathers.

"Looking good, George," Chloe said as she reached the hammock. As advertised, George was shaded from the sun by the palm trees towering overhead.

George was stretched out on her back, ankles crossed, head on a pillow. She was wearing a bikini under a faded and over sized t-shirt with a picture of three stick figures posed in an explicit fashion with the legend DEAD AND LOVING IT beneath. She had a paperback novel open in one hand and was sucking on the straw in a drink in the other. Chloe shook her head at George's t-shirt. She knew what it meant, but most people wouldn't find it funny--just nonsensical.

George finished sipping from her drink. She grinned at Chloe. "Feeling good, Chloe," she said.

Chloe turned to her Ami. "Are these chairs for Cassandra and me?"

"They are," Ami said. "It's a good job you're here. I'm not sure how much longer we could have held onto them."

"Thanks," Chloe said.

She dropped her bag in the sand and sat down in the chair next to the elder Ami. To her left was the empty chair for Cassandra. The younger Ami lay next to it, with George lying in the shade to her right. George looked at her and waggled her nearly empty glass at Chloe. "You're already behind, Chloe," George said. "Better get crackin'!"

Cassandra arrived while Chloe was still settling down, just in time to add her request to the drink order Chloe was giving to the cabana boy who'd appeared to take it. Chloe turned her head to look at Ami. "So, the guys got off alright?"

George's bark of laughter wasn't the only one. "You know what I mean," Chloe said to George.

Negotiations

2008-04-26T04:56:56Z

Who: Chloe
Where: Chloe's room
When: After A Brief Holiday
Invited: Cassandra
Status: Complete

Chloe and Cassandra didn't speak until they got to Chloe's room. They wouldn't be interrupted by anyone else there. Whatever Cassandra wanted to talk about, Chloe was pretty sure it was for her ears only. Chloe unlocked the door and held it open for Cassandra to enter, then closed it behind them.

“What did you want to talk about?” Chloe asked, dropping onto the end of the sofa. Cassandra studied her for a moment before sitting down on the other end of the sofa.

“Us,” Cassandra said. “You and me.”

“Ah,” Chloe said, feeling an unexpected tension in her stomach. “That.”

“Yes, that. I told you the other day that I could help you with what you're going through,” Cassandra said.

Chloe nodded. She had said it, and she had helped. Just knowing that there was someone who understood, who had learned to deal with being ageless while everyone around you got old, had helped. “Yes.”

“But what I have to teach you I can't impart in a few days, or a week.”

Chloe nodded. “And you'll be gone in a week.”

“So I guess the real question is, am I prepared to go with you?” Chloe said.

“Just so.”

“I...don't know,” Chloe said. “I've been thinking about that. Sometimes I feel like it's the best thing for me. Other times--I wonder how I could ever leave my friends behind, possibly forever.” She took a deep breath and sighed. “I think the technical term for this is ambivalence.”

Cassandra laid an arm across the back of the sofa to rest her hand on Chloe's shoulder. “Sometimes I think it was easier in the old days,” she said. “When travel was slow and difficult few people expected to keep in touch after someone moved away. That was especially true if you were traveling to the New World to marry--or said you were,” Cassandra added with a sad smile. “You could leave people behind and remember them as they were. You knew, intellectually, that the years were passing and they were growing older--but you didn't have to witness it.”

“Nowadays you can phone or chat in real time, or send an email around the world in an instant. If you have the money, you can fly almost anywhere in the world in a day's time. Cutting those ties is much harder. I imagine that's especially true for those of you who've grown up in a world of email, instant messages and jet travel.”

Chloe nodded slowly, eyeing Cassandra. The New World. Chloe was reminded anew that five hundred years wasn't just a glib description. She'd lived them moment by moment, days and weeks and months piling up into years and decades, and then centuries. That depth of experience suddenly loomed between them, so that Chloe saw Cassandra as alien. The Doctor was older still, but he was an alien, and he was...The Doctor. But Cassandra was human. Or she'd started that way. She seemed sane and likable, but living through five centuries had to mark a person. Didn't it?

“Chloe?” Chloe blinked, snapping her attention back to the conversation at hand.

"Yes?"

"This would be the same kind of clean break," Cassandra said. "That's something to think about. On the other hand, it would likely be final. If you changed your mind later, there would be no undoing it."

Chloe looked down, nodding. It would be hard to leave her friends behind for good. Very hard. But she would also have the memories to sustain her. They would grow no older in her memory. “If I go--if I come with you--what sort of relationship would we have?” Chloe asked.

Cassandra smiled indulgently. “We'll have to figure that out as we go,” she said. “It won't be an entirely traditional apprenticeship. You won't need the sort of hard training in swordwork that students normally require, but I would nonetheless teach you to fight.”

“Why?” Chloe asked. Not that she was opposed to the idea, but....

“Partly because I can only teach you what I know, and I know how to fight. Also because it's better to know than not to know. And because there are lessons to be learned from it which have larger applications.”

“Okay,” Chloe said slowly. She wasn't sure what Cassandra meant by that last, but she was willing to take her word for it. “What else?”

Cassandra gave her a laundry list of what elses. The countless practical details of moving through societies without drawing attention to yourself, or leaving a paper trail. How to make money, how to move it around, how to live without it when the day comes that you have to walk away from it--and it would come if you lived long enough, Cassandra assured her. Probably many times. “But by the time it happens to you, you'll know how to handle the situation.”

Then there were the mental and emotional skills. Those were less concrete but arguably more crucial to long-term survival. “Can't you just give me the Cliffs Notes version of that?” Chloe asked. She was joking, but also...not.

Cassandra shook her head slowly. “The proper mindset is something like zen in that respect. You can't describe the state,” she said. “Or I can't, at any rate. Perhaps someone else could, but I learned it by osmosis from Xavier and I can only teach it to you the way it was taught to me.”

“Oh,” Chloe said noncommittally. She thought for a moment, then said, “Cassandra?”

“Yes?”

“George came to see me because she think I'm going to disappear.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. She's got...good reason. And I called Ami--my Ami--last night because...I wanted to say goodbye. She wasn't about to let me go without saying goodbye in person, so she turned up here this morning to talk to me.”

“And?” Cassandra prompted her.

“And...she's gonna want to know why I'd choose to leave everyone and everything I know behind to sail off into the sunset with strangers, even strangers who are people she knows. Sort of. They both are.”

“You want to tell them why.”

“I...yes.”

“You want to tell her about me.”

“Yes.”

Cassandra sighed. “That's not what I had in mind when I told you my secrets,” she said.

A Brief Holiday

2008-04-20T23:32:29Z

Who: Alt!Ami
When: The morning after In the Still of the Night
Where: Chloe's hotel room
Invited: Chloe, Scott, anyone
Status: Incomplete

Getting a room at a popular, crowded resort during peak season was fairly easy when you had the right connections and knew the right people. Or, in Ami's case, knew the right people with the proper computer skills. It was all on the up-and-up though, charged to her credit card with the previously scheduled resort guest rerouted to another resort with an upgraded room with complements of the resort. Aaron had tried to explain to her the intricacies of how a hidden account would fund the money to the resort with on one the wiser, but eventually told her she was as hopeless as his mother when he noticed her eyes glazing over.

"Why do you need to go to Jamaica anyway, Mum?" Isabelle's presence in Aaron's flat wasn't unusual or unexpected. Ami had long suspected there was a more than platonic interest between Aaron and her elder daughter, but the two continually denied it. Yet, somehow, they remained fixtures in one another's lives.

"Long story," Ami said, "But I didn't lie when I said it was an emergency. And it has nothing to do with your father's and my sex life."

Isabelle shuddered, "Do you really have to say things like that?"

"If it's destroying your interest in sex, then your father will be pleased." Ami kissed her daughter good-bye, thanked Aaron with an affectionate matronly hug and kiss and headed back to Colorado Springs to pick up her husband.

"I found Isabelle," Ami informed with a smirk. Not that she had been missing, but it was nice to know where she was. She decided not to tell Scott that she suspected Isabelle had spent the night. Their daughter may have been a grown woman, and Scott may have considered Megabyte's and Claire's son like family, but Isabelle was still his little girl.

She checked her watch, "Nine o' clock. Chloe's expecting us. You ready, then?"

At his affirmative, they picked up their two small bags, Ami wrapped her arms around Scott and teleported them both to the hotel room Chloe described to her.

Where Do We Go From Here?

2008-04-20T04:04:38Z

Who: Ami
When: Around the same time as In the Still of the Night
Where: Ami, Joon & Cassandra's suite
Invited: Jon
Status: Complete

The evening with Rick went off without a hitch. Ami's fears proved to be unfounded and a short time into dinner, her nerves eased up and she truly began to enjoy herself. Ami wasn't naïve or stupid. She knew, without asking, that she wasn't the first unattached tourist that Rick chatted up and wined and dined, but for tonight she was the center of his attention and his only concern.

They struck up an easy dialog, flirting over dinner with eyes and hands. Light touches and warm gazes that grew into lingering touches and heated gazes as the main entrée was swapped out for dessert. Rick mastered the skill of caressing her with his eyes, raising her body temperature a few degrees and sparking a small, flickering flame in her core. More than once his eye lingered just long enough on Ami's lips to make her heart race and breath catch with anticipation.

When they departed the restaurant and Rick leaned in for the first kiss, Ami's entire body sighed with relief. There were no thoughts of nervousness or lack of practice, only thoughts of Rick's talented lips and tongue taking her breath away.

The evening and night were wiled away at an outdoor nightclub and bar, dancing and laughing and, yes, occasionally snogging. Beyond that, however, Rick remained a complete gentleman, following Ami's lead and not pushing beyond the boundaries that she set. His interest was genuine, and Ami got a good sense that though they both knew why he pursued her and what he hoped the eventual outcome would be, Rick was willing to take it slowly.

He dropped her off at her hotel, and after extracting a promise from her that he'd see her tomorrow, Rick gave her a good-night kiss that left her swaying on her feet, light headed and coupled with all the flirtation of the night, more aroused than she had been in a good long while. Ami knew that she smiled like a loon as she crossed the lobby and rode the elevator up to her suite.

There would be positively no way that she was getting to sleep for a while tonight. Not without a bath and . . . some relief.

The flickering light of the telly provided the only illumination of the living area of the suite when Ami stepped inside. Dully, outside the suite, she could hear the sounds of ongoing parties and laughter, a few stragglers who hadn't headed home yet. That was overlaid with the soft sounds from the cartoons playing across the television screen.

Ami kicked off her shoes and set her small purse down on the sideboard table. She crept slowly forward as to not disturb Cassandra or Joon –

No, a quick sense told her that Joon was already asleep. Cassandra wasn't in the suite, so the person watching the telly –

Jon's head popped up to look at her from over the couch. "Hey."

"What are you doing here?" The words came out both shocked and wary, the hormonal high that she'd been riding warring with the resurfacing earlier tension she and Jon shared.

"Daniel and Cassandra are –" Jon waved his hand negligently. "Otherwise involved. Joon said she didn't mind if I sacked out in Cassandra's bed seeing how she isn't going to be using it." Jon swung around to a sitting position, scratched the back of his head and twisted around, one arm on the back of the couch, to look at her. "If you don't want me here –"

"Where would you go?" Ami asked. She automatically shifted to a defensive stance, arms folded beneath her breasts. She realized it almost instantly and forced her hands down to her sides.

"I know a beach with a pretty cool space ship. Also," Jon gave her a half grin, "A great fishing cabin."

(So, this is where we are. Back to square one, ground zero, whatever you wanted to call it. )

Ami waved him off. She wasn't going to let Jon totally ruin her Really Good Night. "Stay. I don't care. I'm going to bed."

She was halfway to her room when he called out, "Jackson, wait a minute."

Wondering how much she would regret it, Ami stopped. She turned slowly, automatically folding her arms across her chest. Her clutch purse dangled from one hand. "Yes, Jon?"

"Look," Jon's gaze slid away and back again, and if Ami hadn't known him better, she might have said that he was nervous. "Can you ... I think that maybe we should talk."

In The Still of the Night

2008-04-14T06:52:51Z

Who: Chloe
When: After midnight
Where: Chloe's suite
Invited: Alt!Ami Jackson-Anderson
Status: Complete

Chloe sighed and turned on her side. Then she rolled over onto her belly and hugged her pillow and closed her eyes. Her feet danced, one leg dangled over the edge of the bed for a minute. Then she turned over onto her back--and stared up at the ceiling. The light from the alarm clock on the bedside table was enough for her dark-adapted eyes to be able to see the whole room.

She turned onto her side again. The glowing numerals on the clock changed from 1:04 to 1:05. "Damn it," Chloe muttered.

Chloe sat up. It was official. She wasn't going to sleep any time soon. A faint snore made her smile despite her annoyance. Daniel occupied the far side of the bed and George was lying in the middle. They weren't having any trouble sleeping, surprise, surprise. Chloe and George had worn Daniel out--"down to a nub," in George's colorful words--and George had been awake for two days by the time they'd called a halt to the orgy. Neither of them stirred despite the way Chloe was tossing and turning.

After dropping George and Daniel's bags in their respective rooms, they'd all retired to Chloe's suite to catch up. They'd considered going out for dinner, but simply ordering room service was so much easier--and it meant they didn't have to worry about being overheard. A lot of their conversational topics were common knowledge, but not all. And besides, they all knew where they would end the evening though none of them said it. They ate and drank and laughed and talked for hours.

Of course George and Daniel were curious about Chloe's recent acquaintances and their story. Chloe told them as much as she knew--other than Cassandra's secret. Daniel explained his intent to retire off-world. He didn't say exactly where, and Chloe and George didn't press him--well, not much and then only teasingly. The stargate program was public knowledge, but a great many details remained top secret. But Daniel's longstanding desire to get out there to one of earth's most prized possessions was hardly news, even if they didn't know where it was or even its name. Chloe was happy for him, really, but saddened as well. Once he left earth the chances were very good that she'd never see him again.

George explained why she'd come looking for Chloe. The idea that she was simply going to vanish came as quite a surprise to Chloe initially, though it didn't take long for her to conclude that it meant she'd be traveling in the TARDIS. A trip to another entire universe would seem to qualify as vanishing. Chloe didn't say it aloud but that answered one question that had been nagging at her. Cassandra had told Chloe that the student-teacher relationship among immortals often lasted a decade or more.

Chloe wasn't going to need that kind of extensive tutoring because she wouldn't need to learn swordplay; nobody was going to be after her head. For that matter, she wasn't sure she'd have that kind of relationship with Cassandra. Cassandra's understanding had been a big help, and Chloe was certain she had a lot to teach Chloe--but it wasn't as if Cassandra had actually offered her more than a few days of conversation so far.

(But if George's Seers are to be believed, I'll be going along for the ride when Cassandra and company weigh anchor,) Chloe thought. (So I guess Cassandra will say something about it. Or I will. Stupid self-fulfilling prophecies.)

They'd talked a while longer, but finally George got to her feet and pulled her t-shirt off over her head. "Enough talk," she said, glaring at Chloe and Daniel. "I've been awake for two days, and I wanna get laid before I conk out--so off with the clothes!"

Chloe laughed. But she obeyed, as did Daniel. They stripped and joined George on the bed and Chloe spent the next two hours making love to two of her few long-term lovers--and two of her best friends. She knew their bodies intimately, and they hers. It was wonderful, pleasurable and long overdue. The knowledge that this might be the last time she'd ever make love to them brought an intensity to it that had nothing to do with her changed body. If it also brought tears to her eyes more than once, she did her best to hide them.

Cassandra's advice--to cherish her friends and lovers while she had them--was never far from her awareness. She felt like an unutterable idiot for letting so much time go by without seeing them. She should have been seeing them as often as possible. Chloe made a special effort to imprint this encounter on her memory. She wanted to remember the sight and sound and feel and smell and taste of them both forever.

Chloe climbed out of bed and walked quietly out of the bedroom. She closed the door carefully behind her and turned on a lamp before sitting down on the sofa in the living room. She checked her tablet. It was 1:16 a.m. But Colorado Springs was on Mountain time, so it would only be 11:16 p.m. there. Late, but not "oh god, it can only be someone calling with bad news" late.

Chloe picked up the phone and negotiated the intricacies of long-distance dialing from a hotel phone. Eventually she heard a phone ring. Then again. And again. Just when she thought it would go to voice mail, someone picked up. "Hello?"

"Ami?" Chloe said. "It's Chloe."

Beer and Sports. Life Is Good. No, Really.

2008-04-14T01:51:29Z

Who: Jon
When: Several hours after What is it With Tropical Islands and Coincidence?
Where: The Sports Bar
Invited: Daniel, directly; anyone who wants to listen in indirectly
Status: Complete

Jon really liked the sports bar. It had everything that he needed to clear his head – or settle into a good sulk, depending on your view of things – beer and sports on large screen televisions. Also, it was considerably quieter without his "honorary" fraternity brothers around. Jon sat at the bar, ate greasy fries smothered in chili and cheese and slowly drank a tall mug of beer.

Yep, he had everything he needed. Basketball on one screen, baseball exhibition games on another, recaps of football games on a third, even horse-racing, rugby and the winner and still champion: a swimsuit competition taking place somewhere in Hawaii.

(We picked the wrong tropical island to land on,) Jon thought regretfully. He could always pop over to Hawaii, but that sounded like more effort than it was worth when he received updates and better views on the television than he would on site. Provided he could even find the hotel and get inside of it. Nope, the television presentation was so much better.

Hell, if he tried hard enough he could even lose himself in the emotions and thoughts of the bar patrons and not be distracted by the occasional slip of amusement, happiness, giddiness, or worse yet, arousal, from Ami.

Jon even convinced himself that if he sat in the bar long enough, and drank enough beers, he'd forget all about that nasty scene on the beach. So far, though, he either hadn't been sitting long enough or there weren't going to be enough beers short of him getting so shit-faced that he threw up on his shoes. Not exactly a happy option.

"So, I'm guessing conversation with Ami didn't go so well?"

Jon turned his attention from the swim suit contest to the sound of Daniel's voice. He frowned down at his empty beer mug and back up at Daniel. (Okaaay. Maybe it's time to slow down. Daniel's sneaking up on me for crying out loud.)

"Daniel?"

That single word encompassed a wealth of questions. Daniel didn't answer any of them. Instead he said a simple, "Jon," in acknowledgement and climbed up on the empty bar stool next to the him. He signaled the bar tender and followed Jon's gaze back to the television.

"Not sports. Good choice," Daniel complimented.

"You sound surprised," Jon remarked.

"Well, there is basketball."

"But no hockey."

"Good point."

They watched in silence for a few moments before Jon turned and looked at the archeaologist. "No … you know … tonight?"

Daniel blinked owlishly at him from behind his glasses. The bartender arrived; Daniel ordered a beer and when the man walked away, he nodded towards Jon's mug. "How many of those have you had?"

"I'm being tactful. I can be tactful, you know."

"Really, 'cause I kinda missed that earlier."

"Yeah." Jon sighed and raked his hands over his face. He watched Melinda, a tall dark-skinned beauty with endless legs and dark curls talk at length about pursuing a career in criminal justice. "I was . . . I was out of line earlier. Really out of line. I'm sorry 'bout that. I'm having a bad … day. Week. Something."

"You're an ass sometimes, Jon. I'm used to it. It's not me you owe an apology. If I took everything you – or Jack – ever said to heart, I'd have a complex by now. But –"

"Yeah, Cassandra. I get it."

"Actually, yes, you probably should apologize to her, but I don't really think you hurt her feelings either." Daniel accepted a frosty mug of beer and took a sip, still watching the overhead television. "Something going on with you and Ami?"

Jon stiffened. From Ami there came an overwhelming surge of giddy excitement and Jon knew, just knew that the smarmy bastard had kissed her. He signaled the bartender for another beer. "Can we talk about how much of a dick I am instead? I'm kinda warming to that topic."

What Is It With Tropical Islands and Coincidence?

2008-04-10T03:47:48Z

Who: George
When: About 5 p.m., after On the Beach and Scuba Dating
Where: The lobby of Chloe's hotel in Negril
Invited: Alt!Daniel, others
Status: Complete

George was dozing when the shuttle bus came to a halt. Her seatmate, a very large woman in a muumuu, nudged George with an elbow. "We're here, dearie. Wake up."

"Oh thank god!" George muttered. She'd been awake for nearly thirty-six hours at this point.

Her flight from Los Angeles had been a midnight red-eye, so she'd started her trip at the end of a very long day. Flying coach in a jam-packed plane to Chicago had been a joy. Then she'd had to run for her connecting flight, taking another fully loaded plane to Miami. They'd arrived well after noon, albeit they'd lost three hours to time zone changes. Boarding the small jet for the hop to Jamaica had been interesting--they'd walked out on the tarmac to board it, rather than taking a jetway. First time George had done that.

She'd thought that touching down in Jamaica meant it was almost over. Hah! First, she had to wait for her bags to appear. Then it was Hurry up and wait! in Customs and Immigration. Once she'd finally made her way through the bureaucracy, George had to find the shuttle that would take her to Chloe's hotel--and then wait some more until other arriving tourists showed up to fill it.

Then there was the ninety-minute trip by coastal highway from Montego Bay to Negril. It could have been an hour, but the bus stopped at a jerked chicken stand by popular demand. George had begrudged the time lost, but she had to admit that after a day of nothing but awful airline "snacks" and bad fast food snatched on the run, she was starving and the jerked chicken was fabulous. By the time the muumuu-wearing woman elbowed her, it was about five in the afternoon. The tropical sun would be setting in just a little while.

George waited--impatiently--for her bags to be unloaded. Then she headed to the front desk, where she joined another line. Oh...joy. Eventually she got to the front of the line and presented her credentials. Spring Break was clearly still in full swing around here, but working for Wolfram & Hart had its privileges. In this case, getting her a room in the otherwise fully-booked hotel.

George collected her room key, hotel map and guidebook and other paraphernalia. She was here to find Chloe and talk to her, but it could wait. Turning to go find her room and get a shower and some sleep, George crashed into someone. She staggered back. The stranger stumbled back. "Oh," George said, "I'm so sorry! Are you alright...Daniel?"

It was! It was Daniel Jackson. She hadn't seen him in a few years, but it was definitely him. Last time George had seen him, his hair was salt and pepper all over and thinning at the crown of his head. The thinning had graduated to an actual bald spot now, and he was mostly gray. But otherwise he looked much the same; weathered, but still in good shape and still handsome. His eyebrows rose behind the sunglasses he was wearing. "George?"

"What are you doing here?" they asked simultaneously.

Scuba Dating

2008-04-04T01:53:47Z

Who: Ami
When:Afternoon after Eggs Over Hard... and On the Beach
Where: The Scuba Diving Boat
Invited: Chloe, Jon, anyone
Status: Complete

The diving class was almost exactly what Ami expected. Not highly interesting, but choke full of very important safety and life saving information that most of the tourists here probably wouldn't remember in a few days, never mind a few weeks or months. The one saving grace of the class was one Rick O'Keefe, the instructor.

Around six feet tall, athletically built, with sun lightened brown hair dusted here and there with bits of gray and the beginnings of laugh lines crinkling around his dark eyes, Rick was the quintessential definition of "aging well." His personality was open and charismatic, and he engaged the students with ease, though he took a particular interest in Ami. When he joked, he always made certain to catch and hold her gaze a bit longer than he did the other students'; when Rick answered questions, he divided his attention between the questioner and Ami. He took extra time to explain things to her when she asked, extra time to go over demonstrations, placing himself far deeper into her personal space than required, and occasionally allowing a hand to linger on her arm, her shoulder, her hand.

The signals were there, and Ami didn't have to be empathic to read them. Once the initial fluster of being so publicly singled out passed, Ami found herself falling into a fun, flirtatious rhythm with Rick. Admittedly, she'd done it first simply to see if she could get a rise out of Jon, but eventually she returned the flirtatious interest because she liked it and there was something liberating in the openness of it all with no walls to hide behind.

Class wound down, then ended and Ami didn't say no when Rick asked her to join him for lunch before they regrouped later that afternoon for their dive. His company was pleasant and enjoyable, he was quite attractive and extremely attentive. Surrounded by beautiful women in skimpy dresses and skimpier bikinis, all through lunch and their casual walk afterwards, Rick kept his eyes and attention solely focused on Ami.

Their conversation ran the gauntlet of inconsequential items, from her exotic accent –

"You live in Jamaica. You hear exotic accents all the time."

"No, I hear Jamaican accents all the time. That makes British, exotic."

-- to his world travels and the all important careful inquiries regarding whether or not she and Jon were together. The latter, Ami answered with a very honest, "No, we're just friends." As for the rest of their relationship, Ami just defined it as "Complicated."

So it was that the afternoon found her sitting with Rick on the scuba boat, heads close together. Ami was as relaxed and comfortable as she could be with a man she'd only known a few hours, whom she wouldn't see ever again after a few days, and the common knowledge that this flirtation could really only lead one place.

It was both a frightening and exhilarating thought.

On the Beach

2008-04-02T02:51:04Z

Who: Chloe & Cassandra
When: Nearly noon, hours after Eggs Over Hard and a Side of Rye Toast
Where: The beach
Invited: Anyone who wants to play
Status: Complete

Life was good. Lying on a chaise lounge in the hot Jamaican sun with a fine sheen of sweat covering her body and ice melting slowly in the cold drink in her hand, Chloe was content. Of course, she could be content anywhere she got a lot of sun. She no longer needed to sunbathe religiously, as she had on the Island. Simply going about her everyday life was sufficient exposure. But it never hurt to sunbathe and in fact it felt pretty damned good.

"Looking good, Sullivan," Cassandra said.

Chloe opened one eye long enough see Cassandra standing over her, her hair slicked back and her skin beaded with seawater. A white bikini she'd bought just hours earlier did a credible job making Cassandra look like she actually had some color. Chloe smiled lazily. "Feeling good, Cassandra."

As Cassandra settled into her own lounge chair, Chloe closed her eyes again and asked, "Enjoy your swim?" Chloe could lie motionless in the sun for hours. Cassandra got up about once an hour to take a quick dip in the sea. Five minutes spent cooling off and splashing around and then she rejoined Chloe.

"Very much," Cassandra said.

They didn't speak for a while. Chloe basked in the sun. Cassandra put on a pair of sunglasses, found her place in the novel she'd started and continued reading. People chattered around them. Children yelled occasionally. A roaming band working their way up the beach stopped nearby to play a few appropriately carribbean-style tunes for tips for the tourists before moving on. From the pool well behind them came the amplified voice of a woman emceeing a game for children. A handsome cabana boy popped by to ask if they needed more drinks. Yes, thank you, both of us.

Something light struck Chloe, startling her. She opened her eyes to see a beach ball drop to the sand beside her. "Sorry! Oh I'm very sorry," a woman said. "Jeffrey, you have to be more careful. You should apologize to the lady."

A boy of about five or six hurried over to grab the ball. He clutched it to his chest and glanced at Chloe. "Sorry...." he said, then ran off. His mother apologized again, though Chloe assured her it wasn't a problem. She gave Chloe a grateful smile and then walked after her child. Chloe watched her go--watched them both go. The woman looked to be in her mid-twenties. The same apparent age as Chloe.

(Or Cassandra,) Chloe thought. She turned her head to look at Cassandra. Five hundred years, give or take. Five hundred years. When Cassandra was her age--was truly her age--the New World was still mostly unexplored. Hell, Columbus had discovered the New World less than twenty years before she was born! The United States wouldn't come into existence for nearly two and a half centuries, and its entire history covered only half her lifetime to date--a lifetime that could extend indefinitely into the future.

And so could hers. That five year-old boy could grow up, have children of his own, grow old and die surrounded by great-grandchildren--while she remained unchanged. And not just that little boy. Everyone here except Cassandra. Everyone on the goddamn planet, everyone she'd ever known, everyone she'd ever heard of--and billions besides--would be gone. The enormity of it hit her then and Chloe couldn't breathe for a moment. She felt dizzy, as if she were teetering on the edge of an abyss. It was scary and exciting and horrifying all at once.

Cassandra sensed her attention and glanced over idly, then closed the novel and turned onto her side to give Chloe her full attention. "What is it, Chloe?" Cassandra asked.

Chloe looked at Cassandra and didn't know what to say.