Dragonwell: part 3

[so_jang]

Title: Dragonwell part 3
Author: oparu
Rating: R
Pairing: Elizabeth/John, guest Sam/Jack, Ba'al/Vala
Head Cheerleader: lanna_kitty FTW.
Notes: AU of the highest order. Pirate craziness. Elizabeth falls deeper in to the underworld of piracy and plotting. Jack sets his plan in motion.


"There's blood in your hair," John began as he untied her curls and let them loose. The left side of her head barely moved and he sighed as he reached for the laces of her shirt.

"Wait," she stopped his hands firmly and held them above her chest.

"Yes?" John stopped amused as he stared down at her.

"What is this?" Elizabeth wondered as she tried to find a way past him out of the bathroom. Her back was against the wall and he was already stoking the little stove to fill the ancient tub with hot water. "Am I paying you? Am I being paid?"

"I'm cleaning your hair," John evaded her questions with a maddeningly gentle smile. "Sometimes, doctor, things are what they seem."

"I could do that myself," Elizabeth complained as she tried to rub the lingering sensation of his touch on her hands off of her skin. "You aren't indebted to me, not more than a few hundred--"

John ran a wet thumb over her lips and shook his head slowly. "Believe it or not, doctor, occasionally I do things simply because I want to."

"This world doesn't have room for wanting," Elizabeth shot him down as she held her shirt shut over the fabric binding her breasts. He turned from her and turned spigots on the wall until water started to pour into the ancient steel tub. It splashed and sang against the metal. The room was starting to steam up and the air felt good against her skin. Her skin wanted John to keep touching her face.

"That's a dark way to look at things," he sighed for her and pulled a string on the wall. Chuck was in the doorway a moment later. "Excuse me," he offered to her with a nod of his head before he turned to the other man.

"I want you to get the Czech, tell him I have a contract that needs his type of finesse," John began the message and paused to think. "Tell him it's the contract he's been wanting to do since last summer," he finished as something darkened in his hazel eyes. When he was angry, they were nearly brown, but they were always distracting.

Elizabeth realized she'd known the man for all of a few hours and something was cracking in her finely crafted facade. Men were a means to an end. Simon had gotten her out of the tiny seaside town she'd been born in. Cameron had made her feel like her body was something to be worshipped and admired. Evan had been just what she needed at the time. John was something else.

He was lazily sexual. Even as he leaned over the tub and made sure he liked the temperature of the water, his limbs suggested they had better uses. His butt when he bent down was nearly perfect in his tight, black trousers. She had no right to be thinking about it, but he knew. John's relaxed smile as he balanced on the edge promised he knew exactly what she was thinking.

"I could leave you alone to bathe," he offered simply shrugging his toned shoulders. "You think you would rather I did," John mused as he started to slip off one of his boots and set it by the bathroom door as he shut it. "But you know that's not true."

"I thought you weren't allowed to have personal relationships," she argued feebly as he stepped out of his other boot and left it neatly by the door. John started undoing the buttons of his waistcoat and shook his head at her playfully.

"You know housemasters can do as they like," he corrected as his waistcoat opened to a simple black linen shirt. The fabric was tight and expensive, clinging to the lines of his body like morning dew on the deck. "And I find you've intrigued me," John continued as he started towards her. Blood had made her shirt stiff, and though she ached to have it off her skin, Elizabeth still wasn't sure.

"Because I've lived as a man?" she ventured as his dangerous hands settled on her collar.

"I've known other women to live as you do," he answered with a twinkle in his eye. His lip curled in anticipation as he started to pull the laces free from her fingers. "It's something else."

Elizabeth had a hard time believing it was just that he found her attractive. Men in his position were taught to find the beauty in each woman, so a simple infatuation was out of the question. "You want to believe that you've sudden decided you find me interesting enough to forgo your usual, extravagant fee?"

His laugh sounded like empty barrels rolling across the deck, or feet dancing in the hold. It was almost too rich to be real, but, Elizabeth couldn't hear that it was forced. She wondered if she could tell if it was. She had nearly built a life out of lies, but flock were special. Flock built whole worlds out of their lies. Worlds where anyone could be loved like royalty, if only for that moment.

"Is it so hard to believe?" John asked as he steadily worked his way down her shirt. Only her hands were holding it over the bandages that bound her breasts. "Occasionally, I find someone who intrigues me," he started to explain as he reached down pulled her shirt free of her trousers. His legs were between hers, teasing as she tried not to feel trapped between him and the wall. "You are fascinating."

"I'm not," Elizabeth retorted as she tried to ignore his knee slipping along her thigh. "Other than pretending to be a doctor, I know very little of interest and have done little with my life," her protest was halfhearted as he suddenly slipped her shirt down around her waist and exposed the smooth skin of her stomach.

"You've made it this far," John muttered into the cool skin of her shoulder before he turned down to touch the dried blood crusting on the tiny hairs of her arm. "You've saved my Laura and that is of great interest to me."

She gasped as his touch twisted the dried blood uncomfortably over her skin. It wasn't the pain that mattered, instead, it was the fact that he was touching her. Evan had touched her and it hadn't felt like this. Once, a very long time ago, she'd slept each night in Simon's bed as his wife, and she'd never felt like this. Elizabeth felt like she was crawling out of her skin and John could somehow reach through and run his hands along the naked nerves.

"I did it because Evan asked me," she murmured shyly wondering if he'd understand what she meant.

Running his thumb down along the sharp collarbone of her chest, John smiled patiently and remarked, "You're not in love with him." His confidence trickled into her chest like hot tea. "He made you feel needed and it's been too long since anyone let you feel that."

"You're seducing me," she protested as he reached for the straight pin holding her bandages in place.

Still smiling as he started to pull the pin free, John shook his head. "This is all for as much my enjoyment as yours," he corrected leaning back and rubbing the pin thoughtfully between his fingers. "Do you know how often I can afford myself the luxury of enjoying a seduction?" he asked as he stopped and ran his free hand through his hair. Letting it down from the ponytail at the nape of his neck, John had a soft innocence to him that made her breath catch.

"In my line of work, I can ill-afford a mistress who will become jealous," he continued honestly. "I am father and Shepard of my house. I am liar, cheat, whore and spy." The sincerity in his bright green eyes was almost more than she could stand to look at. "I cannot even remember when a kiss was given to me freely."

"A kiss is the beginning," Elizabeth murmured as she let the bandage slide down off her chest. Her breasts ached to be free of it, and the first touch of air against her nipples made her sigh.

"The overture of the dance," he finished for her with a pleased smile. "You were taught."

Returning his smile faintly, she tried to ignore the feeling of blood rushing up to her cheeks to stain them pink with embarrassment. "More practiced upon than taught," she insisted hoping he wouldn't expect she knew much more than the ritual sayings of the flock. "We grew up together, and when he started his training, he thought it wouldn't hurt me to know--"

Chuckling faintly, John reached for her chin and held it. "What do you know?"

Turning her head slightly as she studied his lips, Elizabeth parted hers the way she'd been taught a very long time ago, and let the feel of his breath guide her to his mouth. She knew she wasn't supposed to look away, that the connection between their eyes was nearly as important as the touching of their skin. Feeling the warmth of him on the sensitive nerves, she followed it in and lightly let the just her bottom lip touch his mouth. Cautiously letting him slip from her gaze, she felt the symmetry of his upper lip against her own as she tried to avoid the stubble that must be on his face.

Forgetting how much care flock took to be clean shaven, Elizabeth sighed into the kiss when she didn't feel his hairs digging into her skin. John let her lead, which immediately brought her back to soft memories of a very young man wrapping his hands around her back and demanding she learn how to kiss. Knowing she had to stop kissing John and doing it were two very different things.

"Too long," he teased when she finally released him. John must have been able to sense her melancholy thoughts because the hand on the back of her neck brought her rushing back to the present and her nearly naked chest in the sweet smelling air. "You are supposed to lead with the kiss, but never overwhelm in the first moment. They have to want more you. Feel that they have discovered you but do not understand."

Elizabeth nibbled his bottom lip playfully and winked at him as she eased him a little closer. Feeling him between her legs felt better than letting her breasts free. He guided her up onto the edge of the ancient tub they used for bathing, sneaking his hands into the top of her drawers, he returned her nibbling with a gentleness that only made her want to push him further out of his shell of respectability. Her foot was starting to pull him in close enough for her to reach his clothing when the moment was over.

Popping like a soap bubble, or a fragile sail in a storm, the connection between them vanished into vague disappointment when Evan burst in. He nodded quickly to Elizabeth in apology before he spoke. "Ba'al's men are ransacking your room at the inn, doctor," he explained as he watched John's eyes harden. "She's been linked to Osiris with suspicions of passing information to his black guards."

Elizabeth accepted the pin from John's apologetic hand and started to rewrap her bandages. Evan reached to help her as John started rearranging his clothing back into place. "What does it mean?" she asked softly staring from Evan's stoic face to John's suddenly hard eyes.

"It's part of the plan," John explained as he helped Evan tuck her shirt back in. "I apologize that we do not have more time," he offered with real regret as he retied up her hair and fixed his own. "I did enjoy kissing you."

Evan grinned impishly behind his head and Elizabeth tried not to show her amusement. "Kate thinks Laura will be all right to move, but she would like you to take another look at her," he requested as he cleared his expression. "Doctor, if you would." Hurrying after Evan, Elizabeth barely had a moment to look at John as he grabbed his good sword from his personal chambers and slipped into the stairs behind her.

"This will be fast," he whispered into the back of her neck. "It will be confusing, terrible and not make any sense to you but I have to ask you to trust me."

Evan was a few steps ahead and John nearly knocked her down when she stopped abruptly to look him in the eyes. "I'll trust you," Elizabeth replied simply. "If you betray me, you'll wish the Egyptians had you in one of their precious oubliettes."

He caught her chin again making the most of the moment they had before he nodded. "Jack is coming," he offered as he headed for the hall and the street beyond. "Hold to that."

Kate already had Laura wrapped in blankets and splints of wood. "I hate to move her," the blonde shook her head as she listened to John locking the door behind him. "After what she's been through but this house will no longer be safe."

Elizabeth didn't take the time to ask where they were fleeing to. Instead, she brought her hands to Laura's neck and checked that her heart beat strong and sure. Her skin was cool to the touch and so far, she'd avoided infection. "Where are you taking her?" she asked hoping that it was something they could tell her.

"I don't know," Kate replied honestly as Evan shook his head.

"John knows the plan," Evan added to Kate's explanation. "He's tidying up loose ends. He brought in the Czech for Aiden." The last of his words for for Kate and she seemed to take a moment to catch her breath before she nodded.

"I thought he might," she sighed as she ran her eyes loving over the sitting room. "It has been pleasant here. I think I shall miss it."

Evan offered his arm and she took his hand firmly. "This is the right thing to do," he reminded her with as he covered her hand with both of his. "John is right when he speaks of real freedom. You believe him as much as I do."

The idea of real freedom made Elizabeth's heart skip in her chest. Freedom to walk the streets as she choose, without being responsible to husband or lord was a luxury she wasn't sure she'd ever known again. John's words hung in her mind like bouys on the horizon.

It couldn't possibly be her Jack. Evan and Kate were both too young to have known him. She didn't even know which flock he'd joined when he'd left the tiny fishing village they'd been raised in. Had he been in this house? Had John known him? Elizabeth tried to keep her mind on the growing roar of the crowd in the streets but her memories kept intruding. Jack had known swordplay. He'd been one of the best before he'd joined the flock. His abilities certainly rivaled that of Ba'al himself now. Why was Ba'al looking for her? She'd never even been in the same city as Osiris, how could she?

Evan and Kate lifted Laura in the hammock of a blanket between them and carried her gently towards the back of the house. "The guards are coming for you," Chuck explained as he fell into step with Evan and Kate. "John has to give you to Ba'al---"

Elizabeth's skin crawled as if she were buried in rotting fish.

"-You will be safe," Chuck continued as she followed him out into the alleyway behind the house. Without the thick walls of the house, Elizabeth could hear deep horns of Osiris' envoys and the shouts of the angry crowd as the heavy carriages approached.

"Safe from what?" she asked the three sets of eyes as they slipped into the back of a covered wagon.

"Let Vala have you," Evan suggested as he caught Kate's nod of agreement. "Pretend to resist, but let her take you, no matter what happens, John was very specific on that matter."

Elizabeth turned over her shoulder and tried not to shiver at the thought of someone taking her anywhere. Jack's plan hadn't involved her being taken. "And Vala is?"

"The Lady Qe'tesh is not amused by this insolence!" A sharp female voice cut through the alleyway. A tall, thin woman wrapped in the tightest black leather sheath, leaned down to Elizabeth from the back of her immaculate black horse. "i think I shall enjoy breaking you."

Evan, Kate, Chuck and the wagon started to move as John appeared behind the horse. His face was devoid of expression, but his calm, quiet eyes told her to trust him. "I hope this will do, lady?" John asked with his eyes downcast like a good slave. Vala called him forward and allowed him to caress the tip of her boot before she kicked him aside.

"For now," she murmured as she moved the horse forward. Elizabeth could smell the sweat of the horse and the stench of the dirty street beneath her feet. John wanted her to go with Vala and this Egyptian was Vala.

When Vala, the Lady Qe'tesh, Elizabeth corrected herself, leaned to get a closer look at the doctor spying for Osiris, she did the most impudent thing she could think of and grabbed Vala's neck. Nearly pulling her out of the saddle as she clung to the Egyptian woman as she struggled, Elizabeth fought her way into a struggling, angry kiss. Qe'tesh was surprisingly gentle and quick to respond to Elizabeth's ruse. Biting her own lip, the Egyptian filled Elizabeth's mouth with blood as she screamed and broke away.

John's eyes flashed his amusement and Qe'tesh actually allowed herself to laugh as she wiped what was supposed to be Elizabeth's blood from her lips and spat. "My husband will let me wear your hide to court, traitor," she purred as she removed the snaking black whip from her belt. "That is, if there is any of it left when I'm done with you."

The whip sang past her head and Elizabeth only held her ground through sheer force of will. Qe'tesh pulled the whip back and then wrapped it around Elizabeth's neck.

"Ride with me or walk with the other slaves?" she asked as she kicked John and forced him to offer Elizabeth a hand up to her saddle. "I'll be taking this one's impudence out of your reward."

"Yes, lady," John agreed as he let Elizabeth see him smile. "As you wish."

---

Vala held Elizabeth on the saddle in front of her all the way back to Ba'al's mansion. More guards than Elizabeth had ever seen parted as Vala approached the gate. As she looked around, she caught the fear in the eyes of the guards and the way their parting was like that of small fish fleeing the path of a hungry shark. Riding her horse across the inner courtyard, Vala only stopped when she reached the very steps of Ba'al's mansion house. The stone steps gleamed in the late afternoon sun as her horse pawed at them impatiently.

"When I push you off the horse, fall hard," Vala whispered into Elizabeth's ear. "Look like it hurt," she ordered as she drew her arm back. An expert elbow narrowly missed the back of Elizabeth's head as Vala shoved her down to the ground. Hitting with her feet first, Elizabeth did as she was told, favoring her left knee and keeping her head down. Above her at the head of the stairs, the heavy oak doors creaked to announce the presence of the Governor of Cheyenne.

"What have you caught now kitten?" Ba'al's deep voice rang out through his holdings. The guards rustled and Elizabeth heard hands moving to sword hilts.

Vala's delicate boots dropped to the flagstones by Elizabeth's head, and the dainty hands that had held the reins of her horse and Elizabeth in the saddle, dropped to caress twin daggers on her upper thighs. The kick Vala directed towards her was absorbed by the flagstones but Elizabeth gruffly cried out anyway. She couldn't be sure how far the deception went. Was it for Ba'al? Was he really as cruel and terrible of a man as he claimed to be?

His boots were of the finest black leather, and unlike most Egyptians she had seen, Ba'al's clothes were fairly simple and only vaguely imbued with gold and riches. That alone was odd for a Egyptian. Osiris' reputation was built on his search for wealth, and Ba'al was rumored to hold his position only because Cheyenne was rich enough to pay whatever ridiculous taxes Osiris levied against them. Perhaps she should have spent more time listening to the current political situation before launching herself into the storm.

Ba'al's hand dropped into her hair and dragged her head from the stones. He took great care to grab her hair in whole, as to not hurt her even as he sneered at her. When he ripped her eyes up, Elizabeth made sure she appeared fearful. With Vala's blood still smeared on her face, she must have been convincing enough. Somewhere, deep in his stunning brown eyes, Ba'al was as amused as Vala had been.

"The whelp kissed me," Vala pouted like a spoiled child. "Drew up his filthy lips and kissed me like a whore."

Ba'al's hand snaked around his to grab Vala firmly by the upper thigh. The Egyptian style of dress was scare and nearly indecent by European standards, Vala's tight black sheath had long slits on the side that let her ride and fight freely far better than a European costume would have done. She had none of the skirts and stays Elizabeth hated so.

Ba'al's eyes gleamed with pride and Elizabeth wasn't sure she had seen it at all, but when he dragged her to her feet, it was still there. "Do you want me to punish him love?" A sharp backhand almost hurt as it crossed her face, but made more of a sound than injury. The naked pride was still in the governor's eyes and Elizabeth couldn't have been more confused by it.

"I'd rather do it personally," Vala begged dragging a dainty finger across Elizabeth's neck. "He's really a lovely spy. They should have sent him to you through the flock instead of disguising him as a doctor."

"Flock are really more to your taste, darling," Ba'al purred as he took a last, long look into Elizabeth's eyes. Something in her gut insisted she knew him, this governor-actor who was not what he seemed. "In fact," he raised his voice from the pleasant flirtation he'd been enjoying with his wife, to a mocking frustration. "This little doctor was trying to hide with your favorite plaything."

"John is innocent," Vala protested as she quickly knocked Elizabeth's head back down. The hint of fear she left in her voice sent a shiver through the courtyard. The lies ran deep in the house of Ba'al and Elizabeth could only listen in amazement and wonder what secrets the two Egyptians were passing in their eyes. "He came to me immediately, exposing this traitorous wretch for what he is." Another kick towards Elizabeth, and she grunted and favored the knee she had supposedly fell on. She'd have to limp when she stood, she reminded herself softly. "Let me play with my little doctor here, and I'll write you a confession personally."

"One that saves your whore," Ba'al quipped as he rolled his eyes. Vala grabbed the front of his suit and pulled him into a passionate kiss. For the first time since she had met either of them, Elizabeth sensed a grain of truth. The kiss, at least, was not entirely for show.

"He's not as good as you," Vala murmured as she nuzzled Ba'al's neck. "You know that my lord husband."

"Take him," Ba'al spat at Elizabeth's head. "Do as you will with him. I want him strung up by the time Osiris and his scum-" he corrected himself with a rich chuckle, "-I mean, the God-King and his royal guards arrive tomorrow."

Grabbing the cord that lashed Elizabeth's hands together, Vala dragged her towards the stairs into the house. "As you wish, my husband," she leered at Elizabeth and stroked the dagger on her hip. "He'll be in enough pieces for that."

Elizabeth remembered to limp but she could feel Ba'al's eyes on her back. She didn't know him, she couldn't. She'd lived her life in the fishing village she'd been born to, and then on any ship in need of a good doctor after Simon had died. She hadn't seen the Egyptian governor, nor did he have any reason to look at her as he had.

Dazed by the meeting, she barely paid any attention as Vala dragged her through the winding corridors to the highest tower of the mansion. The black stairs leading in a tight spiral up to the torture room were tiny and Vala was pressed against her, shoving her forward the entire way. Elizabeth couldn't figure out why, until she realized no guards would fit.

"You can stop limping," Vala offered easily as she shut and bolted the first door behind them. "Unless I truly hurt you?" she wondered with real concern in her face. When Elizabeth allowed herself to take a good look at the Egyptian woman, she found stunningly large and expressive blue eyes staring back at her. "I didn't, did I?"

"No," Elizabeth replied dumbly brushing the straw and dirt from her clothing. The room in front of her was a torture room of exquisite design. Wicked metal contraptions, straps and mysterious bloodstains were all over the walls and floor. No part of it was left unused and even the tiny, barred windows were ominous. Draping herself lazily over the rack, Vala eyed her up and nodded her approval.

"John was right," she appraised thoughtfully. "You pass decently as a man. Don't kiss like one though," she teased and giggled when Elizabeth blushed for a moment. "That truly was inspired."

"It was the most impudent thing I could think of," Elizabeth admitted as Vala gestured for her to sit on bench adorned with gleaming tools of maiming and tearing flesh.

"That bit should be sharp enough for the cord on your hands," Vala pointed for a moment before she gave up and slit it personally. "We have some time to ourselves. I usually intimidate my prisoners until I break them, and then beat them to a bloody pulp."

Elizabeth shuddered and flexed her wrists. "Are we skipping that part?"

"I'll make it look good," Vala promised as she studied Elizabeth's face and clothing. "I'll have to be careful that I don't expose anything delicate. Can't have Osiris knowing our hand-picked excuse for one of his spies is a woman. The tyrant would never employ a woman and he knows it. We'd be admitting publicly we don't know him at all."

"Seems complex," Elizabeth nodded as she studied the room in greater detail. No anatomy she had studied had prepared her for the ways a person could damage it.

Vala followed her eyes and shuddered. "There was a time when this was used for what it is," she admitted slipping back to her feet and heading for the corner. "That was a long time ago, before Ba'al was governor and things started to improve."

"The guards and the people still fear both of you like the black death," Elizabeth interjected as she watched Vala emerge from a black chest with a bottle of rum and a folded cloth full of food.

"It's necessary," Vala chirped as she took a drink and passed the rum over to Elizabeth. "Osiris is every inch the tyrant bent on destroying everything he cannot bend to his will. Ba'al just likes to live that way while he does as he pleases. He finds a certain amount of fear makes the peasantry that much easier to control. Not the best system, but indeed necessary for the present." Licking her lips, she winced as the rum caught the wound on her cheek where she'd gotten the blood.

Elizabeth felt the rum sting her throat and she hoped it would shock her mind out of her confusion. "And Jack?"

"Also necessary," Vala grinned and popped a sweet pastry into her mouth. "What good is being a tyrant if no one opposes you openly so you can hate them?"

That actually made Elizabeth smile as she reached for a piece of bread. "Jack is in collusion with Ba'al?"

"Osiris has spies everywhere rats have ears," Vala explained patiently as she shook her head in surprise. "I thought even the provinces knew that."

"I've been at sea a long while," Elizabeth admitted sheepishly sitting next to the Egyptian on the rack. "I seem to have missed the political intrigue."

"Ba'al has his plans, and Jack fits into them nicely," Vala offered as she passed the rum back to Elizabeth. "Osiris must be stopped, open rebellion would be too messy and drag on over too many years. The Lucians, the pirate scum-" Vala grinned and leaned in closer with her chin on her knee, "-even our gorgeous men of the flock have their parts to play in the grand scheme- Ba'al's grand scheme." Waving that away, she reached for Elizabeth's hair and toyed with a lock of it. "It's a shame you have to be a man when you'd be so lovely as a woman."

Blushing slightly, Elizabeth nearly choked on her rum.

"Did John have you yet?" Vala asked as she sniffed Elizabeth's hair and shook her head in answer to her own question. "I don't know why you're bothering to resist him. The man is an artist with his words and a musician with his fingertips. Not to mention certain skills with other, less poetic body parts."

"I don't think I want to be had," Elizabeth answered as she tried not to look like she was pouting.

Vala laughed and patted Elizabeth's head as if she were a wayward child insisting she'd never grow old. "Being had is one of life's great pleasures," she sighed and stretched thoughtfully. "We should all let ourselves be taken from time to time."

---

Jack pulled a long dagger from his boot and drove it into the table to hold his map still. Glaring at his glass bottle of rum as it dared to slide out of his read, he drew another dagger in his right hand and pinned it down by the ribbon around the handle. Pleased with himself, he grinned towards his paramour and waved for her to continue her explanation.

"It does little good to go over the plan if you're drunk already," the Lady Samantha Carter, countess of the fifty-first province of Ba'al's land of Nevada, shook her long blonde curls down over her shoulders and sighed as she let Janet pull the stays of her corset tighter.

"Not already," Jack lisped as he rolled his eyes and leered when they landed on the neat balcony of her white breasts. "I stopped drinking when you started going over the plan."

"-Again," Janet mouthed with him as she chuckled.

"-Again!" Jack continued as he felt the ship shift beneath them. "Bad weather," he remarked as his helmsman, a skinny bald man called Walter stumbled into the captain's cabin.

"We've missed Osiris' armada," Walter explained as everyone relaxed slightly. "I've also had word from shore. Doctor Wallace has been arrested as a traitor and Ba'al plans to execute him as soon as his witch has had her way with him."

"Thank you, Walter," Sam muttered in dismissal. Janet had finished her evil work and Sam stared at herself in the cracked mirror on the wall of the cabin in disgust. "Why did this monstrosity ever come into fashion?" she groaned as she waited for her chest to adjust to the corset. "Feels like I'm being crushed to death in Davy Jones' locker itself."

"Does wonders for your bosom, Carter," Jack quipped as he pulled himself lazily out of his chair and released the rum from the table. "Will you be going with her, imp?"

Janet Frasier appeared to have stolen her clothes from those left outside for young orphan boys in charity, but her eyes were bright and clear beneath her tousled brown hair. Passing as a youth frequently had its uses for her but the shake of her head was serious. "Osiris' men had a look at me when they sailed in, I'll cause too much trouble if I am recognized. Cameron should be sufficient as an escort."

"If I can explain how I afforded him," Sam sighed as she took a shallow breath and glared down at her breasts.

"Perhaps you have more assets than meet the eye," Jack quipped as he ran an admiring finger over her left breast and winked. "Though, the eye is certainly pleased with these new 'corsets'. Well invented, I say."

Fingering the dagger in her bosom, Sam rolled her eyes. Janet reached for her own dagger and joined in Sam's look of disgust.

Jack started to chuckle as he passed the rum to her. "I frequently go about reminding myself why I keep you on board," he replied drolly. "And aside from your healing hands, your ability to take your rapier wit to my heart never ceases to amaze me."

Janet shook her head and flashed a brilliant smile at her captain. "I'm going to go get myself cleaned up, so I actually look respectable when we go ashore for the fun parts," she offered as she pointed to the bright blue dress draped over Jack's bed. "Help the countess into that, would you, sir?"

"I much prefer taking it off," Jack replied reaching for Sam's waist so the breasts that had been shoved up by her hated corset were closer to his eyes.

"That'll be your reward," Sam purred as she pulled him over towards the overstuffed bed in the back of his cabin. Usually the bed lay empty, hammocks were more practical at sea, but when they were in port, the bed was something both of them were loathe to do without. "Cutting me out of this infernal torture device and putting me back in my proper attire."

Lifting the dress from the bed, Jack stole a kiss before he started draping the blue satin over her head. "So how do you intend to pretend to have the wealth for Cameron?" he asked as nibbled his way down her neck.

Sam could taste the rum on his lips and grinned wickedly. "I wanted both him and Cameron," she teased him as he reached around to grab a handful of his butt through her petticoat. "John will be useful, everyone suspects he's having an affair with the Lady Qe'tesh, so that gives us an excuse if needs be."

"We always need a fist full of back-up plans and a boot full of daggers, don't we?" Jack asked lightly before pulling the satin over her head. "Won't always be like this," he promised as her arms settled into the long, close fitting sleeves. Reaching around to do up the back, he sighed and turned her around when the buttons proved too numerous. Kissing the back of her neck as he moved her hair out of the way, he sighed and rubbed her bare shoulders. "We'll take her back."

"Jacob's ship," she sighed heavily and forced herself to concentrate on her hair. "My father never should have taken Osiris' contract. He should have known better."

"He was trying to keep you alive and unmarried," Jack reminded her as he handed over a pair of sapphire earrings he'd pulled from his vest pocket. The embroidered waistcoat had more pockets than a proper gentleman would have allowed himself, but Jack found them useful. "You could have been Osiris' new wife instead."

"I might have been easier to steal," Sam pointed out as she finished arranging her hair and switshed her skirts along the deck as she kept her feet. "He wouldn't have guarded me as well as the ship."

"I would have," Jack promised when she turned back to him, suddenly a lady instead of the lazy shipwright with mussed blonde hair he loved. "Meeting Cameron at port?"

"He'll be waiting for me, John too," Sam reminded him pulling her curls back to replace her gold hoop earrings with dangling pearls. "Both will be dressed far better than I."

"That's to be expected love," he muttered as he dug in a chest of jewels in the corner. Kicking it as he tossed costume jewelry out of the way, he stuffed his hands deeper until he came up with a glistening necklace of black pearls. "This will match your finery better I think," he decided as he pinned it around her neck. Nuzzling her forehead, he grinned when she turned up for a kiss. "I taught them well."

"You did," she agreed as her lips brushed his. "That you did."


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Part 2

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[dark-faith366.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad your continuing this. I absolutely love this universe.
Great chapter, the complexity of the whole political cheat is awesome.

[oparu.livejournal.com]

crazy icons batman ;)

thanks very much! This is my big bang universe, so I have to get everything squared away before I start that. Hopefully it'll work out well.

[ankareeda.livejournal.com]

*squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee* *hyperventilates* I nearly died, when I saw you updated. THANK YOU! *squishes*

This story is made of gold! Terrific!

"Did John have you yet?" Vala asked as she sniffed Elizabeth's hair and shook her head in answer to her own question. "I don't know why you're bothering to resist him. The man is an artist with his words and a musician with his fingertips. Not to mention certain skills with other, less poetic body parts."

"I don't think I want to be had," Elizabeth answered as she tried not to look like she was pouting.

Vala laughed and patted Elizabeth's head as if she were a wayward child insisting she'd never grow old.

*glee* ♥

[oparu.livejournal.com]

I love Vala, and Elizabeth. Cute Elizabeth. ;)

Thanks so much sweetie!

[lanna-kitty.livejournal.com]

I have told you this before, but I love this universe. I loved the Vala/Ba'al interaction!! Play-acting!Vala was wonderful.

So are we gonna see Radek get to work? :D or will it happen off screen?

I got to read Bonus Sam/Jack in this one.

Also, I am terribly amused that it is the men in this AU who are all clothes horses.

[oparu.livejournal.com]

Thankies!

I dunno. it depends on what I feel like writing. Sometimes I write some things better than others.

bonus sam/jack usually wins.

I just love boys talking about clothes and swords. It's so funny.

[soapbox-solo38.livejournal.com]

"Big Bang Universe"... I like that sound of that. It fits exactly how I feel about my Daemon story; that damn itch in the back of my mine that occupies almost every free thought, and is demanding to get written - but I keep insisting on trying to figure out the world(s) work before I post anything. And it's devolving into this massive AU I have no control whatsoever over...

[lanna-kitty.livejournal.com]

"Big Bang" in this case refers to sgabigbang. We get more Dragonwell 'cause she's doing another story set in this universe for that. *is gleeful*

Katherine

[(Anonymous)]

WOOHOO! I love this fic and I love the way you write it, it's like nothing I've ever read before. This world you've created s fascinating. Cannot wait for part IV! x