Fic: A Rose By Any Other Name, STXI/Firefly, Kirk/McCoy/Gaila, NC-17 (1/2)
Title: A Rose By Any Other Name
Artist: brynnamorgan
Author: sail_aweigh
Rating (both art/fic): G/NC-17
Genre/Pairing: Genre: STXI/Firefly fusion/Pairing: Kirk/McCoy/Gaila
Word Count: 11,579
Warnings: kidnapping, swearing in Chinese, rimming, threesome
Art Thumbnail:
Fic Summary: Leonard McCoy doesn't much like the new sheriff of Riverside; he doesn't much like having his bath interrupted, either.
Link to Art: Art!
Author's note: Written for trekreversebang. I want to thank my stellar beta lindmere for whipping this puppy into shape. She always makes me shine brighter than Orion on a clear night with her help. This story was posted earlier as a WIP, it is now complete. I learned today about google docs revision history function. Saved my life, I swear. This is the second story in a series, the first one was A Cat May Look At a King, although I think it is possible to read this alone.
Author's note 2: If you hover your mouse over the italicized Chinese words, you'll be able to see a translation. For those of you reading on iPhones and the like, I've placed a glossary at the end.
"What in the Nine Hells is the meaning of this?" Leonard whipped the yellow slip out of his pocket and thrust it in the face of the man seated behind the desk.
"The meaning should be self-evident, Doctor; do you have a deficiency of the written language that impedes your understanding of it?" The new sheriff looked up at him from under straight black bangs, one sharply-slanted eyebrow arched in inquiry. "I can provide a translator if it is required."
"Wha...of course not! I'm a doctor; couldn't have got my shingle if I couldn't read Standard." Leonard threw the slip down on the desk. "No, what's this claptrap about my sign? It's nice and plain, clearly visible from the street so near everyone should be able to see it to find me. This piece of paper says I have to take it down! Some go se about not meeting Town Ordinance 438, section unbelievable, paragraph stupidity."
Leonard saw the sheriff's eye twitch; the barest movement of the iris was tantamount to an eye roll in the Vulcan's facial repertoire. He smirked.
"Doctor McCoy, my deputy informed you, in person, that your sign did not comply with the ordinance over two weeks ago. I measured it myself to verify and it hangs 1.2cm into the common walkway, posing a hazard to pedestrian traffic." The sheriff's voice held neither reproof nor pleasure at Leonard's predicament, near as he could tell. Although, close scrutiny of his face may have revealed that the corner of his mouth seemed to be failing at complete restraint from quirking up, just slightly, Leonard was sure. Smug bastard.
Leonard growled. "I'll have the Riley boy rehang it tomorrow. His mother will be glad of the extra income." He reached back over the desk and grabbed the ticket off the blotter.
"That will be sufficient, Doctor McCoy; as long as it's fixed before the Founder's Day ball next week." The sheriff nodded at Leonard as he put his hat back on his head to leave.
"Have a nice day, Sheriff Spock." Leonard may as well have said 'die in a fire, you green-blooded hobgoblin' for the ice in his voice, but Jim had told him to play nice and he was trying, dammit. He had better things to do, anyway, besides worry about the anal retentive persecutions of the town's new sheriff. There was a picnic to attend, with hodgeberries and his lovers, warm sun and grass at his back. Hell, he might even convince Jim to let him bring the fishing poles for him and Gaila; Jim could do, whatever, maybe some of that fancy yoga he liked so much. Well, Leonard kinda liked it, too, for what Jim could do in the bedroom with it, but you wouldn't catch him dead trying to bend his ankle around his neck the way his companion did.
Leonard left the office with an actual bounce in his step and that was enough for him.
oOoOo
Leonard loved seeing his partners spread out in front of him like one more course in the picnic banquet they'd brought with them; Jim's golden skin and Gaila's lush green dappled by the shade of the surrounding trees looked like something from a garden painting of Monet set against the waving grasses and lush flowering bushes that bordered Sato's Crossing. He'd come to this remote outpost a year ago hoping to start anew and he'd gotten more than he bargained for; what had started out as a simple desire for a bath had blossomed into a relationship with the bathhouse proprietor and, ultimately his, what was she? Neither Gaila nor Jim would say she was his girlfriend despite the amount of sex they had together, it wasn't necessarily a romantic relationship, although the care for each other was there; no, it was a shared history and a way of collaborating that resulted in a synergy that made them something just a little bit more, even to the extent it included him without making him feel like a mere adjunct to the existing relationship. When Leonard was with them, he felt like he could conquer the world; not that he would ever try, although he wasn't so sure about the other two. Hell, as long as it was his world they were ruling, he didn't even care.
"One of you better get down here 'twixt my nethers before I take this fine piece of pussy back to the bath house and find someone capable of lavishing the love and care on it that it rightly deserves."
Leonard could hear the pout in Gaila's voice without even being able to see it. He didn't bother to look up from where his hands spread both beautifully round globes of Jim's ass to expose his tender pink hole to view, secure in the knowledge that Gaila was joking and that Jim would be on that like white on rice. Leaning forward, he licked a broad stripe over the exposed hole in front of him, feeling Jim shiver at the action. He watched as the muscle tightened and released reflexively, just begging to be kissed and manipulated. Taking that as an invitation, Leonard commenced to laving it with small, darting licks around the edges and then into the center, loosening the tight muscle up until he felt Jim starting to push back on his tongue. [
Dipping his hand into the bowl of scented oil set out for their use, he used one finger to rub rings around the hole while listening to the increasingly louder sighs and moans coming from the green-skinned woman writhing under Jim's mouth and fingers.
"Oh, god, Jimmy, right there, baby. Don't you dare stop. Harder, baby, harder. Oh, oh, ohohohohohoooooooh." Gaila keened, her knees rising up around Jim's shoulders to clasp him tighter to her.
Leonard smiled at the sounds of enjoyment coming from Gaila and the deep rumble of Jim's own moans as he wordlessly encouraged Gaila to voice her enjoyment. He could see Gaila's legs writhing around Jim' waist, her hands clasping his head to hold him in place. Leaning forward, he took the opportunity to drop a few quick kisses along the sweet curve of her calf, ending with a nibble on her littlest toe and a flutter of his tongue over the rest. Her toes curled and clenched tightly with her release, her full-throated moan disintegrating into giggles at his action.
By now, he had two fingers worked inside Jim and was playing with his prostate; Jim rocked a little, his forward and back motions gaining momentum as his arousal built. He felt Jim shiver under the caress of Gaila's legs where she had lowered them to trail them along his calves, stroking in time to his rocking motion. Leonard watched in appreciation as Jim moved up along her torso to exchange a deep kiss with her, where she enthusiastically licked her own spendings out of his mouth.
"You ready for me, darlin'?" Placing one hand on Jim's shoulder, Leonard waited while the kiss trailed off into happy little kitten sounds from Gaila.
Jim was panting by the time the kiss was done. "Yeah, yeah. You're taking your sweet damn time," Jim grumbled. "Get on with it already. Gorram tease."
"I'm a doctor, kid; I don't believe in pain for pain's sake. Prefer to err on the side of caution when it comes to pleasure." Saying that, he gave one ass cheek a sharp slap before he pulled Jim upright on his knees and then down onto his cock in one smooth move. Leonard sank back on his haunches and closed his eyes as Jim slid down smoothly, luxuriating in the feel as the tight channel surrounded his cock. Fuck, he loved this. Love the feel of Jim opening around him willingly, the way they moved together smoothly to set up a corresponding rise and fall that had them both panting and moaning in seconds.
Leonard stilled momentarily at a soft touch on his cheek and opened his eyes. They fell closed again as Gaila leaned in for a kiss over Jim's shoulder. He could feel the shift of her body as she melded her front to Jim's while one of Jim's hands left off its steadying grip on Leonard's thigh to wrap around Gaila and pull her up as close to him as possible. Remaining still until their kiss ended, Leonard hooked his chin over one of Jim's shoulders so he could watch as Gaila kneeled down to take Jim's cock in her mouth.
"So beautiful. You are so beautiful. Look at her, Jim. Look at you. I could watch the two of you together all day. The only thing better is having both of you, here, with me. Wanna fuck you; wanna watch you come in her mouth." Leonard turned his head to look at Jim. Lust-blown blue eyes looked back at him. Jim's tongue came out and flicked at his lips.
"Please." It came out in a whisper, trailing off into a gasp when Leonard gave a strong thrust of his hips.
"Gaila, sugar, watch your teeth." Wrapping one arm around Jim's chest and using the other to keep their hips lined up, Leonard started thrusting hard, short strokes that jabbed directly over Jim's prostate, making him writhe and pant.
"You close, darlin'?" Leonard was having a hard time speaking himself--he just wanted to bury himself as far into Jim as he could and not come out for days. He watched as Jim nodded, short and jerky, his breath coming out nearly in sobs, thighs trembling against Leonard's in fatigue.
"I want you to come, then. I want to see Gaila swallow you down while I come in your ass. Now, Jim, now." Leonard grinned at Jim's shout of release and craned his neck so he could watch as Gaila wrung every drop out of Jim that she could. Turning to bury his face in Jim's neck, he let himself empty into the close, hot depths that Jim provided so willingly.
"Love you, baby," Jim whispered as Leonard let himself slump into a relaxed stupor against his back. He smiled at the words and the feel of Gaila's soft arms as she wiggled into a three-way embrace with the two men. He had everything he needed right here, no sharp edges, no boundaries, no regimentation. Just warm flesh and unconditional acceptance.
oOoOo
Leonard woke from where he was spooned up behind Jim on the blanket. Gaila was snuggled up under Jim's chin, their arms wound around each other's waists. He admired the view for a few more seconds before acknowledging to himself that the reason he'd awoken did need to be taken care of in the near future. Leonard carefully scooted back away from the entwined couple. Their slumber didn't break as he picked up a towel and headed off through the trees that hid the nearby stream to relieve himself. Best be washing up a little, too, so his clothes wouldn't get dirty when they dressed to return to town.
At the side of the stream, Leonard found a bush to drape his towel over. After taking care of his needs behind a large bush, he wandered back over to the water's edge where he crouched down to scoop some up and sluice it over his chest and shoulders. It was actually pretty damn warm; the stream looked fairly shallow and Leonard decided just this once that maybe it wouldn't hurt to venture into the unknown. Lord knew, he did like his baths.
Mind made up, Leonard picked his way into the center of the stream, which, he discovered, didn't even come up to his knees. Lowering himself to the graveled bed, he used his hands to scrub off his legs and stomach. When he felt he'd attended to every inch of skin as was necessary, Leonard placed his hands behind him and leaned back in the stream, letting the water flow over his shoulders and swirl around his chest. It felt good, taking a chance to be free and uninhibited, relaxing in the warm sun. He hadn't done this kind of thing nearly enough when he'd been younger and more driven to succeed. Perhaps that had been one of the problems with his marriage; he'd forgotten how to stop and smell the roses, or, as the case was now, the rose-scented bath oil that Gaila loved so much when he stopped in at the bathhouse for their communal baths. He wasn't so much a fan of going out smelling all flowery, but the way it added to Gaila's natural scent and the way it made everything feel more languorous and intimate was worth the trade off. If he spent the rest of his life smelling like a bed of roses, he'd die a happy man.
Shaking his head at his flight of fancy, Leonard pushed himself upright. Once on his feet, he splashed out of the stream. Gaila and Jim were waiting for him and if they woke up while he was gone, there was no telling what mischief they would get up to without him there to corral them with common sense. Using the towel to quickly strip the water off his arms and legs, he wrapped it around his waist and turned to head back to their picnic spot.
Lost in his thoughts of Jim and Gaila on his walk back through the trees bordering the stream, Leonard didn't immediately respond to the sound of branches snapping under booted feet off to one side. The sharp crak filtered through his thoughts and he had barely looked toward the sound before strong hands grabbed him from behind and a burlap sack was forced over his head, muffling the shout he instinctively let loose at the manhandling. Without his sight, he was quickly subdued, arms tied behind his back, while strange hands and metal implements poked and prodded him into a reluctant walk despite his attempts to dig his heels and toes into the leafy detritus under the trees. Every time he balked, he got a slap somewhere and what felt like the barrel of a gun poked into his back. It was mere seconds before he found himself back at the stream.
He tried shouting through the bag at his captors, but he was ignored as they partly-shoved, partly-dragged him through the gently rippling water. He gave up his attempts to communicate as they continued walking, leaving his companions behind all unknowing to his predicament. Another five minutes walk and he was loaded into a vehicle of some kind and he lost all sense of direction and hope for a quick discovery. Leonard worried about Jim and Gaila, wondered if they'd been taken captive, too. Most of the denizens of the bathhouse knew they were going on a picnic that day, but they wouldn't think to go looking for them for a good long while. Who was going to come find him? His thoughts spiralled down into a morass of fear and doubt while they jounced over dirt paths going nowhere as far as he knew.
oOoOo
Jim woke with a shiver, a small breeze ruffling the hairs on the back of his legs in contrast to the warm, plush feel of Gaila's breasts against his front. His arms momentarily tightened around her as he came more fully awake. He stretched out his neck, turning it side to side in an attempt to alleviate the kink that sleeping with his head on his arm had inflicted on him. A glance at the position of the sun and the length of the shadows around them as he did so said it was many hours later than he had expected them to sleep.
"Jim," a protest came from the form molded to his chest, her nose scrunching up in disdain at his movements. "Sleeping."
"Time to get up, sleepyhead. We need to get back to town; it's later than we meant to stay." Jim rolled on to his back, surprised that there wasn't another form there for him to recline against. That was just wrong. He tipped his head to other side, taking in the empty space on the blanket beside him.
"And we need to find Bones, so we can leave." He sat up and looked around, seeing all their clothes stacked off to one side next to the picnic basket. Bones wouldn't have gone far without his clothes; the man was all too modest except in the confines of his bedroom or places that he found adequate for intimate occasions. Getting him to bare himself where there was no guarantee of privacy had been like convincing a Shepherd to cut his hair, but he'd done it; mom had always said he could sell sand to a Bedouin.
Jim stood up and reached a hand down to Gaila, giving a gentle tug on the one she placed in his to help her find her feet. They quickly folded the blanket up and stuffed it into the picnic basket with the leftovers.
"We should go wash up at the stream; chances are that's where we'll find Bones." They grabbed towels and walking hand-in-hand picked a path to the stream. They chattered together happily about the plans for the town shindig that was scheduled for the coming weekend. Gaila was looking forward to seeing the outfit Nyota had contracted from one of the local seamstresses, a saucy combination of denim and lace..
The conversation came to a confused halt once they cleared the treeline and could see the stream. The river rippled its solitary way through the landscape; there was no sign of Leonard.
Jim dropped Gaila's hand to cup both of his around his mouth as he shouted, "Bones!" The shout faded into the peaceful quiet of the stream and the cooling breeze without an answer besides that of some small mammal startled into going to ground under a nearby bush.
"Doctor Leonard would not have left without us, Jim." Gaila's voice carried a thread of worry. Seeing her give a little shiver, Jim took one of the towels and draped it over her shoulders, wrapping an arm around her waist and snugging her in to his side.
"No, you've got that right. But there's no major predators around here, nothing larger than a prairie fox that might have messed with him, so he's safe wherever he is." Jim's arm tightened in a reassuring hug.
Gaila gave a quick shake of her head. "The worst one is still out there: humans."
Jim's head reared back at her comment. "You're absolutely right. Tzao gao! It's probably those nutters up in the hills. Gorram Kodosians." He dropped his arm from around her waist and grabbed Gaila by the hand instead, tugging her along after him as he started to scan the banks of the stream for clues, hoping not to see anything serious, like bloodstains in the dirt. He'd kill anyone who hurt his lover.
About 100 feet up the stream, they saw signs of a scuffle in the dirt, but that was all. Jim felt a huge sense of relief that Bones was at least intact, wherever he was. From where he stood, Jim could see that the dirt on the opposite side of the stream had also been disturbed by a small group of travelers. Dropping Gaila's hand he bent down and looked at the marks on his side of the water.
"More than five, I'd say closer to ten. Full dark is maybe four hours away; if we want to find Bones quickly, and get him back, we need the Sheriff and his deputy. With weapons." He slapped his hand against his bare thigh in frustration.
Looking around him at the bushes and nearby trees, Jim quickly found a broken branch to use as a marker for the location of the crossing. He drove the branch into the soft dirt by the side of the stream bed before turning back to Gaila and once more taking her hand.
"C'mon, Gaila. We gotta run." He raced her back to the blanket where their clothes were folded up and got dressed hastily, barely taking time to button up his shirt. Grabbing the picnic basket, they ran for the hovercar they'd taken out to Sato's Crossing and piled in. The trip to town wouldn't take more than half an hour, but Bones had been missing at least three hours and who knew what his kidnappers were doing to him? Jim was very rarely frightened for his own well-being, he'd been raised rough; but for Bones', well, the man had grown up in the soft life of Earth-that-was and that scared the go se out of him.
oOoOo
Leonard's back ached from the pounding it was taking from the kidnappers’ rickety cart. It didn't appear to have any kind of suspension from what he could tell, the seats were bare wood and little attempt had been made to smooth out the grain; he'd have to have help getting out the splinters that had stabbed him through his towel. At least his captors had finally consented to take the sack off his head about half-way through their travels. Since then, every attempt he'd made to initiate a conversation had fallen on deaf ears. He'd taken to counting the number of times he saw the front wheel on his side of the cart turn in an effort to estimate his distance from their picnic location, while the laconic kidnappers exchanged desultory offhand comments he attributed to gossip about their community, not recognizing any of the names. Most of all, though, he'd concentrated on using his bound hands to keep his towel from falling away from his hips during the rough ride.
It was with relief that he saw a small encampment come into view. Rough buildings, more like shacks than houses, were scattered around an open square. There were a number of large tents bordering the plaza, which was filled with tables where the townsfolk had gathered to eat. His stomach grumbled in complaint at the smell of the food coming from the tents; the hodgeberries from lunch were a distant memory at this juncture.
The cart came to a stop in front of one of the shacks, which had nothing special to set it apart from the rest. Most of Leonard's captors descended from the cart, one of them giving him a shove on the shoulder.
"Get out. This is where you'll be staying, doctor." The man gestured impatiently for Leonard to disembark. Leonard held his hands up, the rope still binding them together.
"Might find it a tad easier to be shut of me if you removed this now. I'm not going to try climbing out of this rattletrap with my hands bound. Sure to break a leg if I try." Leonard shook his hands in the other man's face. With a scowl directed at him for his testy words, the kidnapper loosened the knots around his wrists, throwing the length of rope in the bed of the wagon.
"There, get on with you." Securing his towel around his waist once more, Leonard descended from the cart carefully. If they knew he was a doctor and that's why he'd been taken, he wouldn't be any good to them if he was incapacitated. Once he had both feet on the ground, another kidnapper grabbed him by the elbow and marched him over to the door of the shack. After knocking sharply on the wooden panel, it opened and a young woman with flowing robes and a scarf wound around her head bid them enter.
"Blessed be, you must be the doctor. You must come with me immediately. Levi, you may leave the doctor here with me." The last kidnapper gave Leonard a narrow-eyed glare, but left the room as he had been bidden. The woman turned her flustered gaze away and tried to lead Leonard to a bed along the far side of the wall, but he stopped her by refusing to follow.
"Ma'am. I am a doctor, but what I also am is unclothed. Unless you want to set me up as the town Companion, instead, it would be a might easier to do my job if I were dressed properly." Leonard clutched the towel closer, scowling at the woman and his surroundings.
The woman's hands flew to her cheeks. "Oh, my. Yes, yes, I think that would be for the best. Oh, dear. I think there might be some left-behinds that will fit you."
She moved to a dresser along another wall and pulled out a shirt and a pair of overalls; handing them to Leonard, she pointed out a screen behind which he could change. Leonard almost balked at donnng the threadbare clothes when he didn't know what kind of an illness he was dealing with, whether it was contagious or not, but decided that if it was, chances were he'd already been exposed and he was well tired of his flesh being overexposed to these people. They were not who he would have chosen to see him en dishabille.
Dressing quickly, he stepped back out from behind the screen to confront his presumed patient, who was waiting for him on the bed. He took one look at him, at the disfigured skin on his face and hands, and realized that it was not contagious, except in the way that ignorance or willful disregard might affect a person or a community. Leonard turned back to the woman.
"Excuse me. I don't think we have been properly introduced on account of I've been kidnapped. I'm Doctor McCoy. And you are?" Leonard held his hand out in the way he was taught as being polite. The woman ignored it, not so much in disdain as in distrust. She flapped a hand at him in a weak effort to acknowledge him. Leonard shrugged and dropped his hand back down to his side. No skin off his nose if they didn't recognize universal symbols of peace and welcome.
"I'm Missy Clarkson, Doctor McCoy." She pointed to his patient. "That's Joshua Naismith, our farrier. Can you help him?"
"Helping him will be very easy, Ms. Clarkson. I have a few questions, though. Could we sit first?" He looked around for a chair to sit on and it was only then that he spotted a child sitting in the corner, holding a doll and rocking herself from side to side.
"Oh, is she a patient, too?" Leonard looked from the child to Missy, his eyebrows taking on a questioning arch.
"No, that's just Chloe. Her family was killed last year. She lives with me and my husband now." Missy led the way over to a table and four chairs. Leonard pulled out a chair for Missy, waiting until she sat down to pull out another one for himself. He watched as Missy settled herself on the edge of the chair, back straight, hands clasped in her lap.
"Doesn't she like to go out and play with the other children?" Leonard looked over his shoulder to the corner where Chloe was rocking the doll in her arms. He was a little surprised that she did so silently: no words, no humming or singing. Most children he knew mimicked what they saw adults around them do; it was a way of practicing for their duties when they grew up. Joanna had known all the lullabies Jocelyn--. He cut the thought off viciously, before it brought the pain rising up in his chest that he'd worked so hard to keep contained; he couldn't afford to let himself get distracted. Not if he wanted to do whatever his kidnappers wanted him to do, so he could get the hell out of there. That was, if they intended to let him go. He sure hoped that Jim and Gaila realized he was missing by now and had gone to get help from town; Jim and Gaila were the type to leap before looking and it often ended up with them in hot water and not the pleasant kind found in the emporium.
Missy leaned forward, her voice taking on a confiding tone. "Oh, no. The other children don't like to play with Chloe. She's mute, you see. Won't join in the hymns or talk to the other children. It frightens them." Missy looked at the little girl with pity. "She's better off here and she stays out of the way."
Leonard nodded his head at her assessment. "I see. It sounds like you all have done the best that you can for her. Well, as for Mr. Naismith, you'll be happy to hear that the cure for his problem is quite simple. But, I need to know a few things about the dietary habits of the community are as a whole; it may prevent the same thing from happening to others."
"We all eat from the communal table, Doctor. If it's something that would affect us all, why is Mr. Naismith the only one that's ill?" She gestured at the man lying on the bed.
Leonard skimmed his fingers over the cracks in the table surface, a restless need to focus on something other than those lingering thoughts of Joanna that Chloe has fostered. "He won't be for much longer, if you confirm what I suspect. Is the majority of your diet from corn?"
Missy eyes widened a little as she looked at him in surprise. "Yes, how did you know?"
Leonard smiled faintly. "I grew up in an area that historically had the same problem; it was part of my studies for my degree in public health. Mr. Naismith, and I'm guessing most of this community, is suffering from a vitamin deficiency called pellagra. It's relatively simple to fix."
The door opened suddenly, an agitated Levi entering the infirmary and slamming the door behind him. Missy looked at him in confusion, but Leonard found his eyes drawn to Chloe when he heard a thump come from the corner where she had been sitting. The child had dropped to the floor and scuttled behind the chair, her doll clutched tightly in front of her; still, not a single sound emerged from her pinched lips.
Levi's eyes darted around the room, his hands clenching and unclenching by his side. "We need to get rid of the doctoring fellow; there's a man here claims as to be the Sheriff of Riverside and he going to be wanting him back!"
Part 2
Glossary:
go se - dog shit
tzao gao -crap
chur ni-duh - screw you
fei hua - nonsense
Artist: brynnamorgan
Author: sail_aweigh
Rating (both art/fic): G/NC-17
Genre/Pairing: Genre: STXI/Firefly fusion/Pairing: Kirk/McCoy/Gaila
Word Count: 11,579
Warnings: kidnapping, swearing in Chinese, rimming, threesome
Art Thumbnail:
Fic Summary: Leonard McCoy doesn't much like the new sheriff of Riverside; he doesn't much like having his bath interrupted, either.
Link to Art: Art!
Author's note: Written for trekreversebang. I want to thank my stellar beta lindmere for whipping this puppy into shape. She always makes me shine brighter than Orion on a clear night with her help. This story was posted earlier as a WIP, it is now complete. I learned today about google docs revision history function. Saved my life, I swear. This is the second story in a series, the first one was A Cat May Look At a King, although I think it is possible to read this alone.
Author's note 2: If you hover your mouse over the italicized Chinese words, you'll be able to see a translation. For those of you reading on iPhones and the like, I've placed a glossary at the end.
"What in the Nine Hells is the meaning of this?" Leonard whipped the yellow slip out of his pocket and thrust it in the face of the man seated behind the desk.
"The meaning should be self-evident, Doctor; do you have a deficiency of the written language that impedes your understanding of it?" The new sheriff looked up at him from under straight black bangs, one sharply-slanted eyebrow arched in inquiry. "I can provide a translator if it is required."
"Wha...of course not! I'm a doctor; couldn't have got my shingle if I couldn't read Standard." Leonard threw the slip down on the desk. "No, what's this claptrap about my sign? It's nice and plain, clearly visible from the street so near everyone should be able to see it to find me. This piece of paper says I have to take it down! Some go se about not meeting Town Ordinance 438, section unbelievable, paragraph stupidity."
Leonard saw the sheriff's eye twitch; the barest movement of the iris was tantamount to an eye roll in the Vulcan's facial repertoire. He smirked.
"Doctor McCoy, my deputy informed you, in person, that your sign did not comply with the ordinance over two weeks ago. I measured it myself to verify and it hangs 1.2cm into the common walkway, posing a hazard to pedestrian traffic." The sheriff's voice held neither reproof nor pleasure at Leonard's predicament, near as he could tell. Although, close scrutiny of his face may have revealed that the corner of his mouth seemed to be failing at complete restraint from quirking up, just slightly, Leonard was sure. Smug bastard.
Leonard growled. "I'll have the Riley boy rehang it tomorrow. His mother will be glad of the extra income." He reached back over the desk and grabbed the ticket off the blotter.
"That will be sufficient, Doctor McCoy; as long as it's fixed before the Founder's Day ball next week." The sheriff nodded at Leonard as he put his hat back on his head to leave.
"Have a nice day, Sheriff Spock." Leonard may as well have said 'die in a fire, you green-blooded hobgoblin' for the ice in his voice, but Jim had told him to play nice and he was trying, dammit. He had better things to do, anyway, besides worry about the anal retentive persecutions of the town's new sheriff. There was a picnic to attend, with hodgeberries and his lovers, warm sun and grass at his back. Hell, he might even convince Jim to let him bring the fishing poles for him and Gaila; Jim could do, whatever, maybe some of that fancy yoga he liked so much. Well, Leonard kinda liked it, too, for what Jim could do in the bedroom with it, but you wouldn't catch him dead trying to bend his ankle around his neck the way his companion did.
Leonard left the office with an actual bounce in his step and that was enough for him.
oOoOo
Leonard loved seeing his partners spread out in front of him like one more course in the picnic banquet they'd brought with them; Jim's golden skin and Gaila's lush green dappled by the shade of the surrounding trees looked like something from a garden painting of Monet set against the waving grasses and lush flowering bushes that bordered Sato's Crossing. He'd come to this remote outpost a year ago hoping to start anew and he'd gotten more than he bargained for; what had started out as a simple desire for a bath had blossomed into a relationship with the bathhouse proprietor and, ultimately his, what was she? Neither Gaila nor Jim would say she was his girlfriend despite the amount of sex they had together, it wasn't necessarily a romantic relationship, although the care for each other was there; no, it was a shared history and a way of collaborating that resulted in a synergy that made them something just a little bit more, even to the extent it included him without making him feel like a mere adjunct to the existing relationship. When Leonard was with them, he felt like he could conquer the world; not that he would ever try, although he wasn't so sure about the other two. Hell, as long as it was his world they were ruling, he didn't even care.
"One of you better get down here 'twixt my nethers before I take this fine piece of pussy back to the bath house and find someone capable of lavishing the love and care on it that it rightly deserves."
Leonard could hear the pout in Gaila's voice without even being able to see it. He didn't bother to look up from where his hands spread both beautifully round globes of Jim's ass to expose his tender pink hole to view, secure in the knowledge that Gaila was joking and that Jim would be on that like white on rice. Leaning forward, he licked a broad stripe over the exposed hole in front of him, feeling Jim shiver at the action. He watched as the muscle tightened and released reflexively, just begging to be kissed and manipulated. Taking that as an invitation, Leonard commenced to laving it with small, darting licks around the edges and then into the center, loosening the tight muscle up until he felt Jim starting to push back on his tongue. [
Dipping his hand into the bowl of scented oil set out for their use, he used one finger to rub rings around the hole while listening to the increasingly louder sighs and moans coming from the green-skinned woman writhing under Jim's mouth and fingers.
"Oh, god, Jimmy, right there, baby. Don't you dare stop. Harder, baby, harder. Oh, oh, ohohohohohoooooooh." Gaila keened, her knees rising up around Jim's shoulders to clasp him tighter to her.
Leonard smiled at the sounds of enjoyment coming from Gaila and the deep rumble of Jim's own moans as he wordlessly encouraged Gaila to voice her enjoyment. He could see Gaila's legs writhing around Jim' waist, her hands clasping his head to hold him in place. Leaning forward, he took the opportunity to drop a few quick kisses along the sweet curve of her calf, ending with a nibble on her littlest toe and a flutter of his tongue over the rest. Her toes curled and clenched tightly with her release, her full-throated moan disintegrating into giggles at his action.
By now, he had two fingers worked inside Jim and was playing with his prostate; Jim rocked a little, his forward and back motions gaining momentum as his arousal built. He felt Jim shiver under the caress of Gaila's legs where she had lowered them to trail them along his calves, stroking in time to his rocking motion. Leonard watched in appreciation as Jim moved up along her torso to exchange a deep kiss with her, where she enthusiastically licked her own spendings out of his mouth.
"You ready for me, darlin'?" Placing one hand on Jim's shoulder, Leonard waited while the kiss trailed off into happy little kitten sounds from Gaila.
Jim was panting by the time the kiss was done. "Yeah, yeah. You're taking your sweet damn time," Jim grumbled. "Get on with it already. Gorram tease."
"I'm a doctor, kid; I don't believe in pain for pain's sake. Prefer to err on the side of caution when it comes to pleasure." Saying that, he gave one ass cheek a sharp slap before he pulled Jim upright on his knees and then down onto his cock in one smooth move. Leonard sank back on his haunches and closed his eyes as Jim slid down smoothly, luxuriating in the feel as the tight channel surrounded his cock. Fuck, he loved this. Love the feel of Jim opening around him willingly, the way they moved together smoothly to set up a corresponding rise and fall that had them both panting and moaning in seconds.
Leonard stilled momentarily at a soft touch on his cheek and opened his eyes. They fell closed again as Gaila leaned in for a kiss over Jim's shoulder. He could feel the shift of her body as she melded her front to Jim's while one of Jim's hands left off its steadying grip on Leonard's thigh to wrap around Gaila and pull her up as close to him as possible. Remaining still until their kiss ended, Leonard hooked his chin over one of Jim's shoulders so he could watch as Gaila kneeled down to take Jim's cock in her mouth.
"So beautiful. You are so beautiful. Look at her, Jim. Look at you. I could watch the two of you together all day. The only thing better is having both of you, here, with me. Wanna fuck you; wanna watch you come in her mouth." Leonard turned his head to look at Jim. Lust-blown blue eyes looked back at him. Jim's tongue came out and flicked at his lips.
"Please." It came out in a whisper, trailing off into a gasp when Leonard gave a strong thrust of his hips.
"Gaila, sugar, watch your teeth." Wrapping one arm around Jim's chest and using the other to keep their hips lined up, Leonard started thrusting hard, short strokes that jabbed directly over Jim's prostate, making him writhe and pant.
"You close, darlin'?" Leonard was having a hard time speaking himself--he just wanted to bury himself as far into Jim as he could and not come out for days. He watched as Jim nodded, short and jerky, his breath coming out nearly in sobs, thighs trembling against Leonard's in fatigue.
"I want you to come, then. I want to see Gaila swallow you down while I come in your ass. Now, Jim, now." Leonard grinned at Jim's shout of release and craned his neck so he could watch as Gaila wrung every drop out of Jim that she could. Turning to bury his face in Jim's neck, he let himself empty into the close, hot depths that Jim provided so willingly.
"Love you, baby," Jim whispered as Leonard let himself slump into a relaxed stupor against his back. He smiled at the words and the feel of Gaila's soft arms as she wiggled into a three-way embrace with the two men. He had everything he needed right here, no sharp edges, no boundaries, no regimentation. Just warm flesh and unconditional acceptance.
oOoOo
Leonard woke from where he was spooned up behind Jim on the blanket. Gaila was snuggled up under Jim's chin, their arms wound around each other's waists. He admired the view for a few more seconds before acknowledging to himself that the reason he'd awoken did need to be taken care of in the near future. Leonard carefully scooted back away from the entwined couple. Their slumber didn't break as he picked up a towel and headed off through the trees that hid the nearby stream to relieve himself. Best be washing up a little, too, so his clothes wouldn't get dirty when they dressed to return to town.
At the side of the stream, Leonard found a bush to drape his towel over. After taking care of his needs behind a large bush, he wandered back over to the water's edge where he crouched down to scoop some up and sluice it over his chest and shoulders. It was actually pretty damn warm; the stream looked fairly shallow and Leonard decided just this once that maybe it wouldn't hurt to venture into the unknown. Lord knew, he did like his baths.
Mind made up, Leonard picked his way into the center of the stream, which, he discovered, didn't even come up to his knees. Lowering himself to the graveled bed, he used his hands to scrub off his legs and stomach. When he felt he'd attended to every inch of skin as was necessary, Leonard placed his hands behind him and leaned back in the stream, letting the water flow over his shoulders and swirl around his chest. It felt good, taking a chance to be free and uninhibited, relaxing in the warm sun. He hadn't done this kind of thing nearly enough when he'd been younger and more driven to succeed. Perhaps that had been one of the problems with his marriage; he'd forgotten how to stop and smell the roses, or, as the case was now, the rose-scented bath oil that Gaila loved so much when he stopped in at the bathhouse for their communal baths. He wasn't so much a fan of going out smelling all flowery, but the way it added to Gaila's natural scent and the way it made everything feel more languorous and intimate was worth the trade off. If he spent the rest of his life smelling like a bed of roses, he'd die a happy man.
Shaking his head at his flight of fancy, Leonard pushed himself upright. Once on his feet, he splashed out of the stream. Gaila and Jim were waiting for him and if they woke up while he was gone, there was no telling what mischief they would get up to without him there to corral them with common sense. Using the towel to quickly strip the water off his arms and legs, he wrapped it around his waist and turned to head back to their picnic spot.
Lost in his thoughts of Jim and Gaila on his walk back through the trees bordering the stream, Leonard didn't immediately respond to the sound of branches snapping under booted feet off to one side. The sharp crak filtered through his thoughts and he had barely looked toward the sound before strong hands grabbed him from behind and a burlap sack was forced over his head, muffling the shout he instinctively let loose at the manhandling. Without his sight, he was quickly subdued, arms tied behind his back, while strange hands and metal implements poked and prodded him into a reluctant walk despite his attempts to dig his heels and toes into the leafy detritus under the trees. Every time he balked, he got a slap somewhere and what felt like the barrel of a gun poked into his back. It was mere seconds before he found himself back at the stream.
He tried shouting through the bag at his captors, but he was ignored as they partly-shoved, partly-dragged him through the gently rippling water. He gave up his attempts to communicate as they continued walking, leaving his companions behind all unknowing to his predicament. Another five minutes walk and he was loaded into a vehicle of some kind and he lost all sense of direction and hope for a quick discovery. Leonard worried about Jim and Gaila, wondered if they'd been taken captive, too. Most of the denizens of the bathhouse knew they were going on a picnic that day, but they wouldn't think to go looking for them for a good long while. Who was going to come find him? His thoughts spiralled down into a morass of fear and doubt while they jounced over dirt paths going nowhere as far as he knew.
oOoOo
Jim woke with a shiver, a small breeze ruffling the hairs on the back of his legs in contrast to the warm, plush feel of Gaila's breasts against his front. His arms momentarily tightened around her as he came more fully awake. He stretched out his neck, turning it side to side in an attempt to alleviate the kink that sleeping with his head on his arm had inflicted on him. A glance at the position of the sun and the length of the shadows around them as he did so said it was many hours later than he had expected them to sleep.
"Jim," a protest came from the form molded to his chest, her nose scrunching up in disdain at his movements. "Sleeping."
"Time to get up, sleepyhead. We need to get back to town; it's later than we meant to stay." Jim rolled on to his back, surprised that there wasn't another form there for him to recline against. That was just wrong. He tipped his head to other side, taking in the empty space on the blanket beside him.
"And we need to find Bones, so we can leave." He sat up and looked around, seeing all their clothes stacked off to one side next to the picnic basket. Bones wouldn't have gone far without his clothes; the man was all too modest except in the confines of his bedroom or places that he found adequate for intimate occasions. Getting him to bare himself where there was no guarantee of privacy had been like convincing a Shepherd to cut his hair, but he'd done it; mom had always said he could sell sand to a Bedouin.
Jim stood up and reached a hand down to Gaila, giving a gentle tug on the one she placed in his to help her find her feet. They quickly folded the blanket up and stuffed it into the picnic basket with the leftovers.
"We should go wash up at the stream; chances are that's where we'll find Bones." They grabbed towels and walking hand-in-hand picked a path to the stream. They chattered together happily about the plans for the town shindig that was scheduled for the coming weekend. Gaila was looking forward to seeing the outfit Nyota had contracted from one of the local seamstresses, a saucy combination of denim and lace..
The conversation came to a confused halt once they cleared the treeline and could see the stream. The river rippled its solitary way through the landscape; there was no sign of Leonard.
Jim dropped Gaila's hand to cup both of his around his mouth as he shouted, "Bones!" The shout faded into the peaceful quiet of the stream and the cooling breeze without an answer besides that of some small mammal startled into going to ground under a nearby bush.
"Doctor Leonard would not have left without us, Jim." Gaila's voice carried a thread of worry. Seeing her give a little shiver, Jim took one of the towels and draped it over her shoulders, wrapping an arm around her waist and snugging her in to his side.
"No, you've got that right. But there's no major predators around here, nothing larger than a prairie fox that might have messed with him, so he's safe wherever he is." Jim's arm tightened in a reassuring hug.
Gaila gave a quick shake of her head. "The worst one is still out there: humans."
Jim's head reared back at her comment. "You're absolutely right. Tzao gao! It's probably those nutters up in the hills. Gorram Kodosians." He dropped his arm from around her waist and grabbed Gaila by the hand instead, tugging her along after him as he started to scan the banks of the stream for clues, hoping not to see anything serious, like bloodstains in the dirt. He'd kill anyone who hurt his lover.
About 100 feet up the stream, they saw signs of a scuffle in the dirt, but that was all. Jim felt a huge sense of relief that Bones was at least intact, wherever he was. From where he stood, Jim could see that the dirt on the opposite side of the stream had also been disturbed by a small group of travelers. Dropping Gaila's hand he bent down and looked at the marks on his side of the water.
"More than five, I'd say closer to ten. Full dark is maybe four hours away; if we want to find Bones quickly, and get him back, we need the Sheriff and his deputy. With weapons." He slapped his hand against his bare thigh in frustration.
Looking around him at the bushes and nearby trees, Jim quickly found a broken branch to use as a marker for the location of the crossing. He drove the branch into the soft dirt by the side of the stream bed before turning back to Gaila and once more taking her hand.
"C'mon, Gaila. We gotta run." He raced her back to the blanket where their clothes were folded up and got dressed hastily, barely taking time to button up his shirt. Grabbing the picnic basket, they ran for the hovercar they'd taken out to Sato's Crossing and piled in. The trip to town wouldn't take more than half an hour, but Bones had been missing at least three hours and who knew what his kidnappers were doing to him? Jim was very rarely frightened for his own well-being, he'd been raised rough; but for Bones', well, the man had grown up in the soft life of Earth-that-was and that scared the go se out of him.
oOoOo
Leonard's back ached from the pounding it was taking from the kidnappers’ rickety cart. It didn't appear to have any kind of suspension from what he could tell, the seats were bare wood and little attempt had been made to smooth out the grain; he'd have to have help getting out the splinters that had stabbed him through his towel. At least his captors had finally consented to take the sack off his head about half-way through their travels. Since then, every attempt he'd made to initiate a conversation had fallen on deaf ears. He'd taken to counting the number of times he saw the front wheel on his side of the cart turn in an effort to estimate his distance from their picnic location, while the laconic kidnappers exchanged desultory offhand comments he attributed to gossip about their community, not recognizing any of the names. Most of all, though, he'd concentrated on using his bound hands to keep his towel from falling away from his hips during the rough ride.
It was with relief that he saw a small encampment come into view. Rough buildings, more like shacks than houses, were scattered around an open square. There were a number of large tents bordering the plaza, which was filled with tables where the townsfolk had gathered to eat. His stomach grumbled in complaint at the smell of the food coming from the tents; the hodgeberries from lunch were a distant memory at this juncture.
The cart came to a stop in front of one of the shacks, which had nothing special to set it apart from the rest. Most of Leonard's captors descended from the cart, one of them giving him a shove on the shoulder.
"Get out. This is where you'll be staying, doctor." The man gestured impatiently for Leonard to disembark. Leonard held his hands up, the rope still binding them together.
"Might find it a tad easier to be shut of me if you removed this now. I'm not going to try climbing out of this rattletrap with my hands bound. Sure to break a leg if I try." Leonard shook his hands in the other man's face. With a scowl directed at him for his testy words, the kidnapper loosened the knots around his wrists, throwing the length of rope in the bed of the wagon.
"There, get on with you." Securing his towel around his waist once more, Leonard descended from the cart carefully. If they knew he was a doctor and that's why he'd been taken, he wouldn't be any good to them if he was incapacitated. Once he had both feet on the ground, another kidnapper grabbed him by the elbow and marched him over to the door of the shack. After knocking sharply on the wooden panel, it opened and a young woman with flowing robes and a scarf wound around her head bid them enter.
"Blessed be, you must be the doctor. You must come with me immediately. Levi, you may leave the doctor here with me." The last kidnapper gave Leonard a narrow-eyed glare, but left the room as he had been bidden. The woman turned her flustered gaze away and tried to lead Leonard to a bed along the far side of the wall, but he stopped her by refusing to follow.
"Ma'am. I am a doctor, but what I also am is unclothed. Unless you want to set me up as the town Companion, instead, it would be a might easier to do my job if I were dressed properly." Leonard clutched the towel closer, scowling at the woman and his surroundings.
The woman's hands flew to her cheeks. "Oh, my. Yes, yes, I think that would be for the best. Oh, dear. I think there might be some left-behinds that will fit you."
She moved to a dresser along another wall and pulled out a shirt and a pair of overalls; handing them to Leonard, she pointed out a screen behind which he could change. Leonard almost balked at donnng the threadbare clothes when he didn't know what kind of an illness he was dealing with, whether it was contagious or not, but decided that if it was, chances were he'd already been exposed and he was well tired of his flesh being overexposed to these people. They were not who he would have chosen to see him en dishabille.
Dressing quickly, he stepped back out from behind the screen to confront his presumed patient, who was waiting for him on the bed. He took one look at him, at the disfigured skin on his face and hands, and realized that it was not contagious, except in the way that ignorance or willful disregard might affect a person or a community. Leonard turned back to the woman.
"Excuse me. I don't think we have been properly introduced on account of I've been kidnapped. I'm Doctor McCoy. And you are?" Leonard held his hand out in the way he was taught as being polite. The woman ignored it, not so much in disdain as in distrust. She flapped a hand at him in a weak effort to acknowledge him. Leonard shrugged and dropped his hand back down to his side. No skin off his nose if they didn't recognize universal symbols of peace and welcome.
"I'm Missy Clarkson, Doctor McCoy." She pointed to his patient. "That's Joshua Naismith, our farrier. Can you help him?"
"Helping him will be very easy, Ms. Clarkson. I have a few questions, though. Could we sit first?" He looked around for a chair to sit on and it was only then that he spotted a child sitting in the corner, holding a doll and rocking herself from side to side.
"Oh, is she a patient, too?" Leonard looked from the child to Missy, his eyebrows taking on a questioning arch.
"No, that's just Chloe. Her family was killed last year. She lives with me and my husband now." Missy led the way over to a table and four chairs. Leonard pulled out a chair for Missy, waiting until she sat down to pull out another one for himself. He watched as Missy settled herself on the edge of the chair, back straight, hands clasped in her lap.
"Doesn't she like to go out and play with the other children?" Leonard looked over his shoulder to the corner where Chloe was rocking the doll in her arms. He was a little surprised that she did so silently: no words, no humming or singing. Most children he knew mimicked what they saw adults around them do; it was a way of practicing for their duties when they grew up. Joanna had known all the lullabies Jocelyn--. He cut the thought off viciously, before it brought the pain rising up in his chest that he'd worked so hard to keep contained; he couldn't afford to let himself get distracted. Not if he wanted to do whatever his kidnappers wanted him to do, so he could get the hell out of there. That was, if they intended to let him go. He sure hoped that Jim and Gaila realized he was missing by now and had gone to get help from town; Jim and Gaila were the type to leap before looking and it often ended up with them in hot water and not the pleasant kind found in the emporium.
Missy leaned forward, her voice taking on a confiding tone. "Oh, no. The other children don't like to play with Chloe. She's mute, you see. Won't join in the hymns or talk to the other children. It frightens them." Missy looked at the little girl with pity. "She's better off here and she stays out of the way."
Leonard nodded his head at her assessment. "I see. It sounds like you all have done the best that you can for her. Well, as for Mr. Naismith, you'll be happy to hear that the cure for his problem is quite simple. But, I need to know a few things about the dietary habits of the community are as a whole; it may prevent the same thing from happening to others."
"We all eat from the communal table, Doctor. If it's something that would affect us all, why is Mr. Naismith the only one that's ill?" She gestured at the man lying on the bed.
Leonard skimmed his fingers over the cracks in the table surface, a restless need to focus on something other than those lingering thoughts of Joanna that Chloe has fostered. "He won't be for much longer, if you confirm what I suspect. Is the majority of your diet from corn?"
Missy eyes widened a little as she looked at him in surprise. "Yes, how did you know?"
Leonard smiled faintly. "I grew up in an area that historically had the same problem; it was part of my studies for my degree in public health. Mr. Naismith, and I'm guessing most of this community, is suffering from a vitamin deficiency called pellagra. It's relatively simple to fix."
The door opened suddenly, an agitated Levi entering the infirmary and slamming the door behind him. Missy looked at him in confusion, but Leonard found his eyes drawn to Chloe when he heard a thump come from the corner where she had been sitting. The child had dropped to the floor and scuttled behind the chair, her doll clutched tightly in front of her; still, not a single sound emerged from her pinched lips.
Levi's eyes darted around the room, his hands clenching and unclenching by his side. "We need to get rid of the doctoring fellow; there's a man here claims as to be the Sheriff of Riverside and he going to be wanting him back!"
Part 2
Glossary:
go se - dog shit
tzao gao -crap
chur ni-duh - screw you
fei hua - nonsense