Across Time: Book Two

A/N: Here's that lemon I promised. Once again, I beg you to excuse the amateurish effort.

Chapter 5

Sen was very, very sated. The previous night had been something special, alright. He stretched out his long body and tucked his arms behind his head.

Weeks on the road with only the supplies they could carry on their backs. He smiled; it sounded wonderfully exciting. And even though there would be a third person traveling with them, he had little doubt that his sex life wouldn't suffer. Iliza would just have to become used to fervent cries of passion in the dead of night, that's all.

He rolled over onto his side and spooned Kilan once again. The older, yet smaller, male pushed back against him, moaning slightly in his sleep when he encountered early morning hardness. Sen's eyelids half-closed at the stimulation, then sighed because he knew there wouldn't be time to quench the newly rekindled fire in his loins.

"Ki," he said gently into the pink shell of his nearest ear. "It's time to get up." Kilan mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like a refusal and an invitation rolled into one. "As much as I want to take you up on that, we should be hitting the road soon. Don't know about you, but the last thing I want is to have Biran burst in here."

"Right," he mumbled. "She doesn't care if I get blue balls."

The pouty look on his face was too cute to ignore. Sen caved and wrapped the slender fingers of one hand around Kilan's manhood. "You'll have to settle for a hand job."

"Aw, c'mon!" he gasped at the touch while intensifying the pout three-fold. "How much more time would a quickie take?"

"Too much!" But he caved even further, threw back the covers, and lowered himself bodily over his mate's hardness. His insides burned briefly as they protested the lack of preparation, but it wasn't anything that he couldn't handle. "You owe me!" he said as he began to ride.

The bed frame creaked ominously as the two of them headed rapidly toward climax. A long, continuous moan burst forth from deep within Sen's body, one that steadily gained volume until he reached the pinnacle of pleasure.

He caught himself with his arms as he fell forward so that he didn't smother Kilan. They kissed tenderly before being broken apart by clapping. In a tangle of arms and legs, they uncoupled and faced the closed door.

"Bravo! A fine performance," Biran said with an unreadable expression on her face. She pushed herself away from the doorframe where, apparently, she'd been leaning for quite some time. "Now that you've finished fucking, can you find some way to fit the needy into your busy schedule?"

The strange look on her face scared them both more than a little. "Yes, Biran," Sen said meekly. "We're on our way."

"Ten minutes."

***

Neither could meet her eyes. Biran watched them carry bowls of hot cereal back to the table and consume their breakfasts in silence.

She sighed and felt guilty. "Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that your sexual activities weren't as important as other things. To you, I'm sure it's number one or two on your list."

"It's okay. This entire thing is my fault," Kilan said. "If I hadn't been so horny-"

Sen interrupted. "Forget it. Biran, is there anything else we need to know?"

"Yes. Avoid that cities unless you absolutely have no choice. According to the prophecy, there will be strange and malicious people around."

"Where do they come from?"

Shrugging, she answered, "Somewhere. Beyond the sky. It doesn't give an exact location and I doubt it really matters. If you want to see the prophecy yourself, as Wilch. I don't have a copy."

"You really didn't believe it was true, did you?"

"My beliefs don't matter, either. The only thing that truly does is finding out what's wrong and stopping it before the problem becomes worse."

Sen nodded, rose from his chair, and saluted. "Yes, ma'am. We're on it!"

She walked them to the lift that would take them to the surface. A complicated series of pulleys attached to strong cables were controlled by equally strong people to lift, or lower, the device in its shaft. There was a hollow tube that ran from the surface to the Underground that allowed for communication. On the surface it was hidden by a medium-sized boulder.

Iliza was already waiting there with medical and personal supplies, having risen especially early.

"Report back to me," Biran said. "Good luck." She pulled the heavy metal doors of the lift closed and signaled to the crew. The two men and two women grabbed a hold of thick wooden bars attached to a giant gear that was connected to the cables within the tunnel wall.

"Isn't this fantastic?" Sen asked as they rose slowly. "I've never been this far away from home before and now I'm going even farther!"

Yet another adult decided to dampen his good mood. Iliza looked at him kindly, but seriously. "Remember why we're leaving, Sen. This isn't a vacation."

He would not be subdued this time. "You know what? No."

Her brows contracted in disapproval. Kilan scooted from between them and over to the farthest corner of the lift. As much as he loved Sen, he didn't want to take any of the doctor's abuse that wasn't meant for him. Besides, he could handle himself now.

Heat leapt into Iliza's eyes. "Are you refusing to show respect for this serious situation?"

"No," he said again, this time in a different tone. "I know this looks bad, and I know that people might be in trouble, but we can't help anyone if our minds are too full of shit." A slight pursing of his lips indicated his recognition of a distraction: the lift was halting. "Look, we all need doses of light stuff sometimes. Sadness, anger, depression, etc. weigh you down and cause your mind to lose focus. Those people need our full attention."

Biran's voice floated up to them from the comm. tube embedded in the rock beside the shaft. A small circular door in one side of the lift admitted clear sound, although it echoed just a little. "You're above ground. Good luck, guys. See you soon."

"We'll go and see that this was all a big misunderstanding," Sen said to her as he unlatched the thick metal doors. "See ya later." He skipped out into the dry desert heat.

Kilan startled Iliza with his quiet words. "He works hard to be happy all the time. Before we met, Sen's life was Hell." A small smile touched his lips. "With him around, my own personal demons don't bother me much anymore."

The doctor watched him follow his partner's tall form and realized that there were many more facets to the teenager than she realized.

***

The entrance to the Underground was embedded in a large rock formation that cast a tall shadow over the burning sand. On the outside, the lift doors were painted the same dark brown shade as the rock around them. Unless you knew what you were looking for, it was very easy to miss.

After several bad starts, Iliza convinced Sen to don desert traveler's clothing. Both young men had already learned the hazards of going without, but he resisted simply because of his residual anger at her. She eventually told him that she wouldn't give him salve if he became sunburned and Kilan's unsuccessfully hidden wince caused him to give in. His skin was somewhat fair, after all.

Kilan dropped back to walk with him. For a long moment they followed along behind Iliza silently while exchanging meaningful looks on occasion. Then Sen sighed and said what was easily becoming his most-used word for the day, "No."

"Ki'chin, she didn't mean to insult you. No one knows you as well as I do."

A profoundly hurt look flashed across his face anyway, one he had been holding back for a mile. "How could she think that I didn't care?"

"Don't worry about it." Kilan wrapped his arm around Sen's waist and settled against his side. Sen's hand clasped his shoulder. "I know different and that's all that really matters."

Though there was no outward sign, the doctor had heard every word. She wanted to somehow apologize, to show him that she deeply regretted her words. Even as they'd emerged from her mouth, she hadn't truly believed them.

"Are you ready for lunch?" she asked when the sun was directly overhead. Both young men looked a little wilted and in dire need of a break. Even if she'd known nothing about them, she would have made them for city-dwellers -- there was just that look about them. Iliza, on the other hand, had lived in the desert all her life. In fact, she had been a runner before she'd become a doctor.

After quickly pitching a shelter from the sun, she pulled rations out of her pack. "Until we leave the desert this is all we have," she explained when looks of distaste settled on Sen and Kilan's faces.

Sen sampled a bar of... something then winced when his taste buds rebelled. "Make a note, Ki."

"Why?"

"Because this is the first time in history I've ever completely lost my appetite."

After much cajoling and pleading, Kilan got Sen to eat two bars (both of which were chased down by copious amounts of water). They weren't horrible to him, just a little on the chalky side. Iliza consumed her share with resignation while she speculated about the fourth outpost's problem. It was highly likely that it was medical in nature. Each outpost had its own doctors on hand, but none were as skilled as she was when it came to the diagnosis and treatment of strange illnesses and conditions. In her gear was a portable laboratory kit so that she could analyze the disease. Stomach sinking, she thought of the damage something new could cause before it was contained. Terms such as 'epidemic' and 'plague' brought a cold sweat to her body.

Two pairs of eyes quietly observed her. Kilan noticed things on the surface such as the paleness of her face and the tension fairly singing throughout her body. His mate's keen sight noticed the deeper emotions of fear and worry. He implored Kilan silently about offering comfort and the answer was a short nod.

He shifted in the sand over to where she sat, her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. "Don't forget to hope," Sen said in a voice near whisper. "You can't do your job without it."

"She thinks they're dying or I wouldn't have been sent," was the broken response. "I don't know the actual words of the prophecy but I know that much." Her arms tightened. "Finding all those people dead would be one of those things I never recover from."

At a loss, Sen frantically tried to come up with words of comfort. While he was thinking, Kilan stepped in. "We're both rested enough to travel farther. You need to get there as soon as you can." He offered her a hand up. "The longer we walk, the better the chance."

She allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. "You're right." A weak smile was summoned from somewhere deep inside. "Let's go."

~*~

Goku imagined that he could see the gears of Vegeta's mind working furiously. The simple story of love between two people was deepening and taking on new complexities. Biran's mention of a prophecy and her apparent belief in it, left him wondering how much of his people's history was lost... or selectively forgotten.

"Why didn't I know about this?" the former prince of the Saiya-jin asked tonelessly. "Someone was hiding this, Kakarotto. If not my father then... someone."

Declining to speak for a long moment, Goku began tracing soothing patterns on his mate's lower back. Unconsciously, Vegeta leaned into the touch and closed his eyes.

"You know, 'geta, this story is a lot different than the ones you told me about our people." He paused to carefully consider the impact his next words would have. "Maybe they were embarrassed. This isn't exactly a bloody tale of war."

The small body stiffened then relaxed almost immediately. "Kakarotto, I can't really get mad at you for telling the truth. Most of us were animals, at best."

Tension hung in the air, exuded by Vegeta's very pores. Goku grinned. "You still are." He waited a second, before adding, "But you're my animal."

That received both an eye roll and a small smile in return.