The Long Way Home

Chapter Thirty One: Control

When I lay with you
I could stay there
Close my eyes
Feel you're here forever
You and me together
Nothing gets better

Adele – Set Fire To The Rain

It had been four mind numbing, relentless weeks of being poked and prodded before Carson had proclaimed her as physically fit. The time she spent trapped in the infirmary, spending her days being drained and by the end laser treated in an attempt to reduce the ragged scarring between her belly button and ribs had almost driven her literally insane. There had been so many things going on in the city and she had been desperate to help.

There had been a brief spell where John had joined her in the Infirmary for a couple of hours as a patient after he returned from an off world mission with cracked ribs and graze from a bullet singed into his skin. Carson had treated him next to Cass's bed so they could converse. John had been sullen and withdrawn when he had returned from his trip to the desert planet. They had lost two scientists to a psychopathic, super Wraith. The battle with the Wraith had nearly claimed not only John's life but Rodney's as well before Ford and some of the Marines had arrived to help.

That was three weeks ago now and John had made a point of visiting Cass as often as his time table allowed and she was content with that. After the storm several areas of the city had been flooded and it was up to John and the Marines to escort the scientists safely around while they checked for structural anomalies.

Last week had been the worst, the city had gone into automatic lock down after sensing an outbreak of a virus that had been laid dormant since the times of the Ancients. She had been confined to the Infirmary while Carson and John had dressed in Hazmat suits and aided the afflicted until they had managed to destroy the virus using a huge electric magnetic pulse.

It had killed Cass not being involved. It made her feel useless especially after she had witnessed the first of the dead being rolled past in her in the aftermath of the cotangent. They had cremated the bodies and put the ashes inside Athosian made urns in order to return to their families if they ever made it back to Earth.

The memorial ceremonies had been quiet reserved affairs which they had all attended and the wealth of respect for those people never failed to astound Cass. Everyone here had felt the resounding sense of loss that haunted the lonely halls of the City.

Life seemed so short and fleeting when Cass thought about what they had been through. John got into death defying situations all of the time, he was the leading strategist here, trouble was in his nature. Cass couldn't lie, she was exactly the same. Their lives were so full of violence and instability that thinking towards the future was pointless and stressful. She couldn't imagine a life without John, here or back home on Earth.

Briefly she wondered if they would have felt this way if they had become an item on Earth and the truth was no matter where they were or what their circumstance the two of them were meant to be together.

Cass swiped her hand over the door panel to John's room and stepped inside when the door slid open. John was lying on his bed, his hands behind his head as he tilted his head towards her He was clad in his regulation tight black t-shirt and grey combats. A small smile graced his lips as she strode towards him with purpose.

"Well hello there Major." Cass murmured seductively, climbing onto the bed until she straddled his hips.

John's large hands came to rest upon the curve of her waist as she looked down at him, her silky dark hair falling over her face as her sapphire gaze met his. Cass's delicate fingertips were doodling heated patterns along the contours of his chest through his clinging black T-shirt. Her lean thighs were hugging his hips as she arched, grinding down against his aching groin. It was clear what she wanted. This was the first time that they had been alone and intimate since before the storm.