Sequel to "Days of Open Hand"
Thank you kindly, Dawn!
Sequel to "Days of Open Hand"
Thank you kindly, Dawn!
WARNING: Gratuitous sex and sappiness alert. It's their honeymoon what can I do? Plus there's a toy. Don't say I didn't warn you.
CHAPTER 10
“You, beast!”
Kathryn laughed blissfully as she looked up at the woman who had just unceremoniously tossed her onto a large four posted canopy bed covered in white satin and silk. She braced herself up on her elbows as she watched Annika begin to undress.
“Oh, Annika, I need you. Please.” Kathryn bit her bottom lip as arousal pumped hotly through her small body. Her knees spread apart almost of their own accord in anticipation of Annika’s touch. She moaned deep in her throat as she felt Annika’s gaze on her splayed sex as if it were a warm caress.
Annika worked the fastenings of her corset apart as quickly as she could. Her desire-laden eyes were fixed upon her naked and obviously highly aroused wife. Wife, she loved knowing Kathryn was officially, legally, hers. Forever hers. The white gown pooled around her stocking clad feet before Annika unfastened her strapless white silk bra and pulled her lace panties off of her long stocking clad legs. Her eyes never left Kathryn.
“Leave the stockings.” Kathryn grinned when her husky tones stilled Annika’s hands on the clasp of her lace garter. “You look delicious in them.”
Annika smirked as she sauntered towards the large bed. “I’m partial to you like this, absolutely naked. And ready for me. I can see how much you want me, Kathryn.”
“Annika, my wife, my love, I’ve never wanted anything more than I want you. Need you. You are my life.” Kathryn arched her back like a bow as Annika pressed their bodies together and slowly lowered her back to the soft bed. The light kisses Annika placed along her jawline and then her chin, cheeks, forehead and lower to her lips were maddening to Kathryn. “Annika, please. Don’t tease.”
“Never.”
Annika’s hot, wet mouth suddenly began to move fervently against her lips. Their tongues brushed eagerly together as teeth clashed with the soft skin of swelling lips. A low growl rumbled in Kathryn’s chest when Annika crushed a palm against her right breast. Kathryn opened her legs to Annika’s stocking clad thigh. Kathryn was encouraged to rub against the trim, muscular thigh covered in sheer white silk with a hand pressed tightly against the small of her back.
Annika continued to manipulate Kathryn’s pliant breast and swallow her groans as Kathryn rocked against her. Annika brought her mouth to her wife’s breasts as her hand left a burning trail down Kathryn’s smooth taut stomach and then to the source of the wetness that soaked her leg through the gossamer fabric of the silk stocking.
Kathryn’s thick auburn hair fell in waves across her naked shoulders as she threw her head back and screamed her wife’s name when two fingers were thrust deep inside of her. Kathryn moved her hips in time with the enthusiastic motions of Annika’s fingers as they continued to repeatedly plunge in and out of her creating quite provocative though indelicate sounds when doing so. She clung to Annika’s biceps as she lifted herself off the bed only to be pushed against it when Annika reentered her with a third finger.
“ANN—OH GOD!”
Kathryn’s impassioned scream encouraged Annika to add another finger before she pumped into her wife with great force. The bed shook beneath them and Annika wondered if they would break it. She thrust into Kathryn harder and grinned at the thought. Her tongue played with Kathryn’s erect nipple, wetting it and making it swollen and stiff before she added her teeth. Annika nibbled on the rose colored bud while she made Kathryn come hard beneath her.
Annika didn’t allow Kathryn a moment to collect herself or for the golden glow to diminish before she thrust her four fingers back into her wife and continued the fierce rhythm of their lovemaking. She loved the sounds her fingers were making when they pushed between Kathryn’s swollen, drenched lips, but not as much as she loved the noises Kathryn was making deep in her throat. She was practically growling.
“Oh God! Feels so… damned good.” Kathryn writhed and bucked as Annika continued to ravish her breasts and thrust her fingers deeper each time they entered her. “Annika… don’t stop, please. Don’t ever stop. Loving me. Oh, yes! That’s good.”
Annika’s smiled as she continued to lap at her wife’s nipples and her thumb circled Kathryn’s swollen clit, which made the woman bucking fervently below her to scream loudly in ecstasy. The warm golden glow that burst forth from Kathryn’s shuddering body as she came washed over Annika like a wave made of pure sexual bliss. The moisture released from Kathryn onto Annika’s hand was warm and mixed with the wetness coating Annika’s inner thighs and the fabric of her stockings. Annika gently removed her fingers from Kathryn’s wet sex and waited for her wife’s heavy-lidded gaze to find her. Once their eyes met she suckled upon the fragrant moisture that covered her fingers, making each digit glisten in the moonlight shining through the large windows of their bedchamber.
Kathryn groaned at the sight of Annika licking her essence off of her fingers. Her desire to taste Annika on her own lips was overwhelming, so she leapt upon Annika which caused a squeal of surprised delight to escape from her wife. Annika’s smile shifted into openmouthed appreciation when Kathryn’s fingers parted the sensitive folds of her sex before just the tip of her tongue entered her.
“Oh, Kathryn. Yes!” Annika grasped the headboard with one hand and held onto one of Kathryn’s hands with other as her wife’s fingers found her clit and her tongue slid into Annika’s slick, overheated sex.
Kathryn moaned as Annika’s rich, flavorful essence washed over her tongue and into her greedy mouth as her fingers continued to play with Annika’s engorged clit. She loved Annika’s taste and did everything to make Annika release more. Kathryn wanted to coat Annika in her own juices before she licked her clean. But first she wanted Annika to scream her name as she came.
Annika needed no more encouragement to do so than Kathryn’s tongue thrusting deep inside of her and her clitoris being rolled between slick fingers.
“Kathryn!” Annika’s scream was torn from her as she surged off the bed and saw stars behind her eyelids.
Kathryn held Annika as she came back to herself; her long pale body relaxed against the bed and in Kathryn’s arms. Her hand soothed Annika as she held her close and in a soft voice spoke words that would have perhaps chilled her if she wasn’t feeling so warm, so safe and so loved. “That’s my good girl.”
****
“What is that?”
Annika jumped at the sound of Kathryn’s voice as she hastened to hide the gift Lyndsay had given her underneath a pile of clothes contained within her suitcase. She stood quickly and tried to look nonchalant despite how her trembling voice gave her away. “It’s, it’s nothing.”
“Annika?” Kathryn’s brow creased as she walked towards Annika from the steamy bathroom. She smiled sweetly, but her tone was bordering on demanding. “What are you hiding?”
Annika cursed herself for bringing it as her cheeks felt hot with embarrassment. Her discomfiture was beginning to be overwhelmed by her desire for Kathryn as she watched her gloriously naked wife, still flush and damp from her shower, drawing close enough that Annika could smell her and feel her warmth. Annika wondered if perhaps it hadn’t been such a bad idea after all. She had imagined using the ‘back massager’ on Kathryn, had fantasizes about it as she tried to find sleep the night before their wedding. She just hoped Kathryn wouldn’t be horrified or worse disgusted with her for suggesting it. As Annika looked at her wife’s expectant, loving features she knew she had nothing to worry about. And so with a soft sigh she brought the handheld massager out from underneath layers of her clothing.
“Oh,” Kathryn’s voice was a soft whisper of astonishment. Whatever she had thought Annika was hiding from her it certainly wasn’t this. “Oh my.”
“I know it’s silly I just—” Annika’s words stopped when she felt Kathryn’s warm hand on top of her hand clutching the massager.
“Have you ever used one of these before?” Kathryn’s wide dark blue eyes moved from the bulbous rubber head attached to the end of the curve plastic handle to Annika’s flushed features.
“No,” Annika’s eyes grew large as something like jealousy entered her frame at imagining Kathryn with someone else, someone who didn’t blush over a vibrator. “H-have you?”
“No. But, I am a scientist. I’m always looking to explore new things.” Kathryn’s grin was lop-sided, her voice low and suggestive as she brushed the pads of her fingers across Annika’s hand. “Would you like to try it?”
Annika felt nothing but hot, powerful arousal flooding her body with fiery heat as she pulled Kathryn’s naked body against her own equally unclothed form. She loved how their bodies fit together, the feel of Kathryn’s smooth skin against her own. Annika kissed Kathryn passionately before she pulled away to look down upon her with heady desire in her pale blue eyes and her voice was husky with need. “All for the good of science right?”
“Of course.” Kathryn reached out for the massager but was stopped by Annika’s hand grasping her wrist. “Annika?”
“Get on the bed, Kathryn. I want you on your back with your legs spread wide. Understood?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Kathryn felt a wave of arousal crash over her at Annika’s authoritative and oh so sexy tones. So she quickly did what she had been ordered to do. She slid onto the bed never once taking her dark blue eyes off of Annika. She braced herself on her elbows as she leaned back, bent her knees and opened them wide.
“I fantasized about this moment all last night, in that cold empty bed they forced me to sleep in. Away from you. Away from the woman I wanted to make scream with pleasure.” Annika turned on the vibrator as she moved onto the bed until she was kneeling between Kathryn’s spread legs. She saw her wife’s arousal coating her pink swollen lips and the soft skin of her inner thighs. Very slowly Annika touched the head of the vibrator to Kathryn’s clitoris. Even at its lowest setting the vibrations from the massager caused Kathryn’s hips to surge and for a cry to escape her in a rush.
Annika smiled mercilessly at the frustrated groan that pushed out of Kathryn when she brought the vibrator away from her wet sex. Annika wanted her wife to hear the next part said with a tone filled with promises for the future. “Kathryn, I think I should also tell you. There are attachments.”
“Oh my God.” The thought caused Kathryn to groan aloud and for warm moisture to coat her inner thighs with even more of her essence. It was nothing compared to the release of fluids once Annika placed the soft head of the vibrator against her engorged clit once again, only this time on a higher setting.
The bursts of golden energy that erupted from Kathryn as her hips bucked and her hands held onto her wife’s shoulders for dear life soon enveloped Annika as well. The field felt warm around Annika as she pulled Kathryn’s shaking body tightly against her with an arm encircling her waist once she had tossed the vibrator to the side of the bed.
“I have you, Kathryn. It’s okay.” Annika murmured soothing words as she kissed Kathryn’s throat then her collarbones as she began a heated trail down her wife’s quivering form. Annika’s right hand stroked Kathryn’s taut stomach as she used her other hand to hold her wife’s legs astride her face and began to feverishly lap up the copious amounts of warm, tangy fluid that had been released upon Kathryn’s shuddering climax.
“Ann—ika, please.” Kathryn’s slight body radiated warmth and her muscles felt as if they had been turned into jelly as she felt Annika’s tongue on her overheated perhaps overindulged sex. She thought she could take no more, but then Annika’s lips began to suckle upon her swollen clit and she felt the roughness of her wife’s tongue upon the bundle of nerves causing a reawakening of her arousal.
Annika felt Kathryn begin to tremble beneath her and moan her appreciation for this slow, more gradual buildup. Annika continued to take in the flavorful moisture that Kathryn released until a gentle touch on her shoulder brought her desire-laden gaze up to Kathryn’s enraptured features.
“Come up here.” Kathryn’s satisfied gaze brushed over Annika’s breasts and further down. She couldn’t quite move yet, but she needed to have Annika’s taste on her tongue, to hear her wife’s cries of release so she coaxed Annika to move up her body and let Kathryn’s mouth, her lips and tongue, perhaps even teeth bring her to a tremendous climax.
Annika grinned as she purposefully slid her hard nipples across Kathryn’s pale skin making her gradual journey up Kathryn’s slight form. She gripped the headboard as she kneeled on the bed, her knees on either side of her wife’s hungry features. Slowly she began to lower her hot, drenched sex to Kathryn’s eager mouth. Annika laughed with delight when her gradual descent was accelerated by Kathryn’s hands on her thighs. But then as Kathryn’s tongue impaled her Annika’s laugh turned into a cry of ecstasy.
Kathryn moaned against Annika’s swollen, pink lips as she continued to plunge into her hot sex and Annika began to rock against her unrelenting mouth. She loved being so enveloped by Annika’s essence, the piquant flavor of it, the intoxicatingly heady scent, the warm feel of it on her tongue and flooding her mouth as she drank greedily.
Annika’s slender back arched as she clung to the headboard when her release crashed over her and Kathryn’s name was torn from her throat in a desperate scream. Once her trembling body stilled Annika moved off of Kathryn and onto her back. Her chest heaved as deep breaths pushed air into her lungs and sweat glistened off of her porcelain skin.
Annika smiled as she felt Kathryn’s warm hand brushing across her breasts and heard her teasing, husky tones. Even with her eyes closed Annika knew Kathryn possessed a crooked grin. Annika caught Kathryn’s wrist in her hand as she stilled its motions upon her left nipple.
“Have I worn you out?”
There was a smugness to Kathryn’s voice that Annika just could not abide. Her eyes shot open and she looked at Kathryn’s lop-sided grin and sparkling eyes and knew she would not let the fact that they had been making love almost nonstop for the last ten hours keep her from taking her wife again and again on this their honeymoon.
Annika rolled over quickly and maneuvered Kathryn onto her back. Annika’s pale blue eyes shone as they looked down upon her wife’s elegant features, her voice explanatory. “My entire body is fortified by a near indestructible metal that gives me superhuman stamina.”
“Oh!” Kathryn’s dark eyes widened as she felt Annika’s fingers teasingly pushing between the slick, reddened lips of her sex. She groaned as they slowly entered her. “Lucky me.”
“Indeed.” Annika’s voice rumbled in her throat as she began to run her tongue across Kathryn’s breasts. “We’ll see who tires first.”
“Is that—oh my—a challenge?” Kathryn’s back arched as Annika’s teeth grazed her erect nipple and she more felt than heard her wife’s chuckle before her swollen peak was released.
“Merely a scientific endeavor, pitting your powers against mine.”
“Of course. Science.” Kathryn’s thoughts left her as Annika continued her assault upon her sensitive nipples and her fingers began to thrust into her with fervor.
As her hips rocked in eagerness to match Annika’s enthusiastic pace, Kathryn nearly forgot how to speak let alone her competitiveness. But somewhere deep inside of her pleasure-filled mind she remembered something of importance to this ‘scientific endeavor’; Annika wasn’t the only one who had brought a secret toy.
****
Kathryn smiled as the setting sun began to cast orange light into their bedroom. Her fingers played with the platinum ring on Annika’s finger as her voice filled the quiet air. “We might think about leaving the bedroom sometime. The island really is beautiful.”
Annika’s eyebrow rose incredulously. She hadn’t been the one to strip off her wedding dress even before Annika could drop the suitcases to the floor.
They had spent almost every moment since they had arrived two days ago through a purple glowing portal created by Harry Kim within their honeymoon suite making love. Things like sleep, food and other such necessities were their only interruptions during their stay at the exclusive resort, a wedding present loaned to them from the Paris’. Very exclusive as Annika found out since they were the only ones on the small tropical island aside from the staff, though Annika didn’t really think holograms counted as people.
“Did you want to go now?” Annika’s arms loosened around Kathryn as she sat up on the bed, a pout forming upon her full lips. “Would we have to put clothes on?”
“Never.” Kathryn pressed her lips to Annika’s before she moved off of the bed. She stretched her arms above her head and could feel Annika’s appreciative stare upon her breasts, her long back, everywhere. Perhaps leaving wasn’t such a good idea after all, she thought.
“Kathryn.” Annika smiled brightly at the distraction her gaze had caused. She moved quickly to her wife’s side and kissed her passionately before she released both her lips and her warm, tempting body. Her voice was low and guttural from desire. “We’d better go now or we’ll never leave.”
“Yes, all right.” Kathryn was swooning from the kiss, but soon broke out of her reverie when she felt a soft pat on her backside. “Fine, let’s go.”
“Up?” Annika knew she was perfectly safe, but she was still anxious about flying. Kathryn’s open arms and loving expression helped quell some of Annika’s worry. She moved into Kathryn’s embrace and was lifted off of her feet before they flew through the open skylight and into the evening air.
“I would never let you fall, Annika.” Kathryn held her wife to her tightly as she increased their ascent above the small island, high enough that they could see the entire expanse of it but not high enough to touch the holographic lattice that surrounded the tiny track of land.
“It’s beautiful.” Annika was warmed by Kathryn’s arms around her and the energy field that kept them afloat as she looked down upon the white sandy beaches and rocky peaks of the shoreline.
She knew from Kathryn’s explanation of the island that Vorik had created it using his volcanic powers. Annika still marveled at how easily acceptable these things were to Kathryn and the others. She was still in awe by each and every one of them. But above all the woman she had just made her wife.
The night air rushed around her as they lowered to the ground upon the sandy shore that was lapped at by indigo waves. Annika laughed out loud when she saw a rose-colored silk covered canopy bed set upon the beach. She moved onto the bed with Kathryn as they watched the stars reveal themselves across the dark sky.
Annika held Kathryn close as waves crashed upon the shore and her thoughts contemplated recent events. She looked out at the stars and wondered if there was another Annika Hansen holding another Kathryn Janeway in her arms somewhere in another universe. She hoped so. She spoke this hope to Kathryn who smiled at the thought.
“You know, I never believed in something as illogical as fate before I met you. But I feel like no matter how many different universes there are out there, however many Kathryn Janeways and Annika Hansens we would always be together.” Kathryn shrugged her slim shoulders at the romantic idea of soul mates. “It’s a silly notion, I suppose. Fate.”
“I don’t think it’s silly.” Annika pressed her lips to Kathryn’s shoulder as her voice filled with certainty. “I feel like we were meant to be together, Kathryn. And I hope if there is an infinite number of me’s out there that they all are as lucky as I am. That they too have found their soul mate, their Kathryn Janeway.”
“I hope that too.” Kathryn turned in Annika’s arms before she pressed her naked body against her wife’s and lowered her to the bed. She stroked her fingers across Annika’s brow and down to her lips as her husky voice caressed Annika’s enraptured features. “I don’t know what Kathryn Janeway would ever do without Annika Hansen in her life.”
“And you’ll never find.” Annika stroked Kathryn’s scarred back and lower to the curve of her hips as she rolled them over. She hovered above Kathryn, bracing herself on her hands as she smiled before she lowered her mouth to Kathryn’s breasts.
“Mmmm, good.”
Annika brought Kathryn to her climax gradually, lovingly and then she was coaxed to her own by Kathryn’s fingers within her. Their lovemaking throughout the night was at a much slower pace than it was in their hotel suite and it seemed to be a benediction of fate, destiny.
“Sleep now, I have you.” Annika smiled as Kathryn snuggled into her embrace. “I love you, Kathryn, forever.”
“Oh, Annika, I’m yours always.”
As Annika hugged Kathryn tightly to her and they fell into a peaceful sleep safe in the strength of their love for one another and the sun began to break across the horizon, it felt like something of an end.
Epilogue
Two universes over
Kathryn Janeway read over the profile held in her hands once again. She had looked at this personnel report several times since it had been given to her earlier in the week and yet her eyes still went to it. It didn’t tell her a whole lot about the person who was assigned as her bodyguard. Kathryn grumbled over the term and the United Federation of Planet’s board members who had approved it. There had only been one vote against having her assigned a bodyguard, her own.
Kathryn didn’t think Jeremiah Hayes and his threats on her life should be taken seriously. That man was a windbag who was only above a man on the street with a cardboard sign because of his enormous wealth. The UFM were taking him seriously now because Hayes had reportedly hired the Friends of Humanity as his mercenaries and put a bounty on her head. Five million dollars was a lot of money, Kathryn supposed. Kathryn shrugged her shoulders at what lengths people would go to for money before she returned her attention to the profile.
Annika Hansen. Code name: Borg. Powers: metalmorph with super strength, invulnerability and stamina. Unit: Rangers. Rank: Agent.
Kathryn had never met this Annika Hansen before, but Picard spoke very highly of her. He had told her Annika was smart, adaptable and above all dedicated. Kathryn rolled her eyes as she remembered how Picard had also said Annika was a bit brusque at first, but warmed once you got to know her. Kathryn had later found out from Chakotay, the only Ranger she kept in regular contact with, that Annika was known as “the Ice Queen”. Kathryn’s musings on the not so attractive nickname was broken by Mortimer Harren’s voice over the intercom.
“She’s here.”
“Oh yes, thank you Mr. Harren, please send her in.” Kathryn stood from her desk, smoothed the front of her light gray skirt suit down with her fingers and berated herself for being nervous. She moved smoothly around her desk and adopted what she hoped was a casual pose against it as she decided what to do with her hands. As the door to her office slid open, Kathryn decided to just cross her arms over her chest.
“Professor Janeway, I’m Agent Hansen.” Annika’s expression was not hostile, but nor was it entirely friendly as she moved swiftly towards Kathryn and offered her hand in greeting. “Annika Hansen. I’ve been assigned to protect you.”
“I don’t need protection.” Kathryn snorted a bit indelicately before she shook Annika’s hand and smiled graciously with her annoyance held in her husky tones as opposed to her features. “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thank you.”
“Picard, said you’d say that.” Annika shrugged as her hand was released and dropped down to her side. Her icy eyes bored into Kathryn’s and her voice was sharp and steely. “With all due respect, Professor, you don’t have a choice. The rest of the board overruled you. Now as I said before, I’ve been assigned as your protection. And I’m very good at my assignments. So don’t try to lose me or go off somewhere by yourself and we’ll get along fine.”
Annika knew exactly who Kathryn Janeway was and she did not relish in the idea of being her personal bodyguard. It wasn’t because she didn’t like the woman, far from it. If that were the case perhaps her assignment would be a whole hell of a lot easier, because right now she knew it was going to be torture.
While attending school in France, Annika had read and heard numerous stories about Kathryn Janeway. The woman was always on the frontlines, battling for the good of metahumans and humans alike. Watching the UFM newsfeeds and reading about Kathryn Janeway, Annika had fallen inexorably in love with the woman. She had thought it just a crush, one long since buried but then she had been assigned by Picard to protect Kathryn Janeway and her carefully hidden infatuation reemerged with force.
Annika kept her expression impassive even while she sensed heat from Kathryn’s body, the intoxicating scent of her perfume. Just looking at the beautiful woman suffused her body with something she was not used to nor comfortable with, desire. But if there was one thing Annika was exceptional at it was self-control. She was well known for not letting her emotions affect her work. Hell, she knew some people wondered if she even had emotions. Kathryn’s teasing voice brought her back to the present with a start.
“Would you relax before you sprain something?” Kathryn smiled good-naturedly. She knew this probably wasn’t Annika’s ideal assignment so there was no reason to be unkind. So she smiled, but her voice was commanding. “And it’s ‘Kathryn’, just Kathryn, all right?”
“Actually, Professor, protocol—”
Kathryn rolled her eyes as she waved her hand dismissively. “I don’t give a damn about Picard’s silly protocols and yes you can tell him that. Call me Kathryn. Please.”
“Kathryn.” Annika liked the sound of the name escaping her lips.
“See,” Kathryn had to look away as she felt an odd warmth flooding her body. She knew what it was, but she wouldn’t admit to it. So, she ignored it despite the catch in her soft voice upon hearing her name so reverently spoken. “Not so hard.”
“Indeed.” Annika smiled with humor as her pale eyes warmed perceptively.
Kathryn’s dark eyes went wide at the sight of Annika’s smile that transformed the already beautiful woman into a goddess before her eyes. Her fingers tingled and she knew what that meant. She was attracted to Annika Hansen, her bodyguard. “Oh no.”
“Professor?” Annika’s brow creased as she quickly corrected herself. “Kathryn?”
“It’s uh, I forgot to do something.” Kathryn needed Annika away from her. Far, far away until she could will her body to behave and for her mind to stop telling her ridiculous things like ‘hey, did you happen to notice how unbelievably gorgeous your bodyguard is?’ Kathryn turned and moved quickly behind her desk in a futile attempt to add distance between her and Annika. “I’ll have Mr. Harren show you to your room.”
“Actually, your room is my room.” Annika modulated her voice, her breathing and her expression betrayed nothing. Not the rapid beating of her heart or the way her palms warmed at the idea of being in such close proximity to Kathryn. “Until we can catch this Hayes guy I’m not letting you out of my sight. Understood? Just think of me as your shadow.”
Kathryn was not happy; no she was not happy at all. How the hell was she ever going to get any sleep with Annika in the same room with her? Kathryn’s discomfort turned to annoyance that colored her tones. “I am going to kill Picard. He’s probably having a ball over this.”
“He’s worried about you, Kathryn. Many are.” Me included, thought Annika, though she would never voice it out aloud.
Annika had had a few sexual encounters, trysts really in her life. Most of them had been with her fellow female Rangers and usually after a battle. But those were just flings. No emotions were instilled in what had transpired. Annika had always felt like something was missing. And now she knew what that something was or rather someone. Kathryn Janeway. She had been infatuated with the woman since the eighth grade and now even after only spending less than fifteen minutes in her presence Annika knew her heart had already been given to this woman years ago. It felt like destiny.
“Yes, well, I do appreciate their concern I suppose.” Kathryn struggled with her own shame as she absently fiddled with a small platinum bracelet around her wrist.
It wasn’t for vanity that she wore it. It was designed to intermittently disperse a small amount of an inhibitor formula into her bloodstream. It was so the insatiable hunger within her would never prove too tempting. It was her leash. And she hated it because she feared that she needed it.
“Shall I show you to your—my—our room then?” Kathryn cursed her stuttering and blush on her cheeks. She knew Phoebe was just going to have a field day with this.
“Of course, Professor.”
“Kathryn. If we’re going to be sleeping together call me Kathryn.” Kathryn’s annoyance and her muddled mind finally cleared away enough that she realized what she had just said. Her eyes went wide and her steps stilled as she turned to Annika who had been following her out of the office. “I mean, in the same room… with me. Never mind.”
Annika’s expression never broke but she reveled in the delight she felt at how adorably awkward Kathryn was being. She would never have imagined the indomitable woman blushing, certainly not this often. She felt herself falling a little more. Annika was quickly shaken out of her musing when the front door burst open and a great scaled dragon-like creature barreled in.
“Get down!” Annika’s metal casing covered her quickly as she lunged for Kathryn and brought the woman underneath her for cover.
“It’s Icheb! One of my students.” Kathryn’s chest heaved as she managed to extract herself out from underneath Annika to stand before Icheb and his classmates, Henry Burleigh and his sister Beatrice. “What have I told you three about flying indoors?”
“Sorry, Professor Janeway.” Icheb looked sheepish before he flew after his friends back outdoors.
“I apologize for—”
“It’s all right. You were just trying to protect me and I do appreciate it. I just wish it wasn’t necessary.” Kathryn shook her head ruefully. “Five million dollars, what a crazy man.”
“Indeed. And a dangerous one.” Annika’s voice lightened as she smiled a bit arrogantly. “I assure you are quite safe in my hands.”
Kathryn’s fingers still tingled as she led the way to her vast bedroom. As headmistress her quarters were the largest, and she needed them to put all of her belongings. Gifts mostly, like the grandfather clock her parents’ had given her when she had graduated from the Voyager Institute. A collection of paintings her sister had sent and she had yet to find time to hang. The living room was mostly a makeshift lab that her staff teased her about mercilessly with terms like “science geek”.
“I’ll bring a bed in.” Kathryn nudged some quantum physics books out of their path with her foot as she proceeded further into her quarters with Annika in tow. “There’ll be plenty of space once I do some picking up.”
“It will be more than adequate, Kathryn.”
Kathryn could feel Annika’s presence, her warmth and despite her attempts to ignore what her body and mind were telling her the beating of her heart was enough of an informant to tell Kathryn what was occurring. She was falling in love. It seemed crazy, a woman she had just met capturing her heart so quickly. She had known what it was when Annika had first said her name. It had made Kathryn’s heart awaken. She marveled at her feelings for Annika, so new and yet so powerful. It was as if she was fated to love Annika. But Kathryn Janeway didn’t believe in such illogical things like fate and destiny or even soul mates. At least she thought she didn’t. As she looked into Annika’s light blue eyes and saw something warm and loving within them Kathryn wondered. Maybe it was fate. Kathryn nearly snorted aloud. Fate, what a silly notion.
THE END