Of Angels and Angles, Part 4 of 4
Bodie wasn't quite sure when the real world started seeping back in through the fog. Eventually he realised that the bed he was lying in was utterly stationary, lacking even the faint humming vibration of the Capri in a steady orbit. Dirtside, then.
There was a hand around his, warm and callused and comforting. Bodie squeezed just a little, and felt the hand tighten gently in response.
"Welcome back, sunshine," Doyle said softly.
Bodie opened his eyes, at first seeing only Doyle, alive and whole. The relief overpowered all of his other concerns for a moment. He went to speak, and found his voice muffled by an oxygen mask. He glared and pulled it off. "We made it."
"Yeah."
Bodie shifted and struggled to sit up. "We're in an Infirmary," he said blankly. "How long have we been here?"
"Going on four days."
"How did we get past the ships? I don't remember."
"You wouldn't. The weapons bubble was hit--you took a nice blow to the head, and then almost took a spacewalk without a suit."
He shivered. "But you set us down all right."
Doyle flinched, a faint shadow of a frown masked in a heartbeat. "Yeah, I set us down." His wings shivered, just faintly.
Bodie frowned, knowing that something was wrong, but not quite what. His grip on Doyle's hand tightened suddenly. "Your wings, Doyle!" he hissed. "What are you thinking? If someone checks the records--"
"It doesn't matter."
"It doesn't matter? Are you sure I'm the one who got hit on the head? Of course it bloody matters. You could be caught! And I'm in no state to stop them." He wasn't even wearing the damned bounty collar.
Doyle closed his eyes briefly. "Bodie, I have to go."
"Go where?"
His eyes flickered over to the doorway. "They said I could stay with you until you woke up."
Bodie shifted to follow the direction of Doyle's glance. A pair of Angeline were standing at the door, waiting, and Bodie's heart sank as he realised where they'd set down. "No--oh, Ray, no."
"It was the only place we could run to." He laid a passkey on the table beside the bed. "The Capri's in a berth at the spaceport. She's pretty torn-up, but you'll be able get her running again. Just--promise me you won't try to fix the thrusters yourself?" His smile was strained.
Bodie reached out and grabbed his hand again, his grip tight. "You can't let them do this."
He shook his head. "You don't understand." Doyle leaned forward and kissed Bodie hard on the mouth. "It's worth it," he whispered, his lips still brushing Bodie's.
Doyle's hand slipped out of Bodie's grasp, and he approached the waiting Keepers. At the doorway, he turned back. "Do me one favour, Bodie? Don't go to the judgment. And don't do anything stupid, yeah?"
"That's two favours," Bodie said, desperate to keep him there for just one moment longer.
But by then, Doyle was gone, escorted into the corridor by the two silent Keepers.
As soon as he could be sure his voice would stay steady, Bodie called up the on-duty medic and asked for his clothes. They'd been cleaned; no traces remained of the blood that must have stained his shirt. Under the circumstances, he was considerably less grateful for that nicety than he might have been otherwise.
The medics all gave him disapproving looks, but nobody made any attempt to stop him as he signed the paperwork permitting his release from the Infirmary.
He was nearly ready to make his escape when someone knocked on the door-frame. He finished buttoning his shirt and turned around to see a tall, blonde Angeline in the doorway. He glared at her. "Keeper Alea, is it? Come to gloat?"
"No, I--" she hesitated, dropping her gaze to the floor. "I came to deliver the bounty price. It was part of the conditions of Doyle's surrender."
You'll be able to get her running again, Doyle had said when Bodie asked about the Capri. He had made sure that Bodie would have the means to do it, but he didn't want the money--not if this was the price for it. "Keep it. He was never really my bounty, anyway."
She looked up at him then, her eyes fierce. "He doesn't deserve this," she whispered. "What he did, it wasn't right, but he doesn't deserve to have his wings taken."
"How about that?" he said coldly. "Something we agree on."
"So what are we going to do about it?"
Bodie looked at her in surprise. "I don't know. He told me not to do anything stupid. Wanted me to just leave him here."
"Of course he did. The whole damned Doyle family was too stupid and self-sacrificing for their own good. And I'm not going to see another one of them hurt because of it."
"Good. It'll be nice to have some help."
She smiled at him, a tremulous expression, and Bodie realised that she'd just compromised her entire life's morals by coming to him and saying what she had. The least Bodie could offer her was a bit of understanding.
"Keeper--"
"Just Alea," she corrected.
"Alea, then. Ray told me that you loved his brother."
She smiled tightly. "Jamie and I had been engaged for a week and a day when he was killed."
"I'm sorry."
"So am I. And I can't stand by and let his brother be hurt like this. Jamie wouldn't want it--and neither do I."
Bodie nodded; it was as good a reason for helping Doyle as any. "Come on back to the Capri, then. We can have a proper cup of tea, away from prying ears, and we'll talk about...what to do next."
***
The walk to the spaceport was more exhausting than Bodie had expected. Convalescence had never been his favourite game, and he'd always had a tendency to push himself a bit too hard, too soon, which tended to make matters worse.
Fortunately, Alea didn't seem to notice. She followed him into the berth and eyed the Capri sceptically. "She's a bit of a mess, isn't she?"
Bodie opened his mouth to defend his ship, but he had to admit that Alea had a point. The Capri's paint was blistered and scarred from the heat of the 'beam salvos she'd avoided, and some of the outer hull panels were peeled back where they hadn't quite managed to escape all of the blasts. Doyle had put her on full burn to outrun the assault ships, and she wasn't used to being pushed like that--the engines at least would need overhauling before he could even lift off.
He couldn't see the weapons bubble from the ground; he wasn't sure he wanted to. "Ray and I will get her running again," he said sharply, then keyed the ramp down. He gestured for Alea to follow him into the ship, and the ramp rose behind them with a squeal of distressed metal. "We'll fix that, too."
He walked back to the galley and stopped in the doorway. On the table lay the fake bounty collar. There was no note, nothing at all but the coiled band of leather. With an effort, Bodie kept himself moving, crossing the galley and rummaging around for the tea things. When he'd finished, he handed one cup to Alea and settled into his chair with an undisguised sigh of relief.
"How long do we have?" he asked.
"Until noon tomorrow."
Not very long, but long enough to sort out their move. "So how does it work, then? Is it public--are there going to be witnesses?"
"Yes. There won't be much of a trial, not like you Earthbound have. He's already been declared a Fallen, you see."
"Sentenced without a trial," Bodie said with a thin smile. "How very civilised."
"But there will be a formal declaration," Alea continued, ignoring Bodie's sarcasm. "And that might be where we can help him. I can't speak out against the ruling. It would cost me my position as Keeper. But I could appeal to them, and give you a chance to speak in his defence."
"Will they even listen to me? After all, I'm only a bloody Earthbound."
Alea bit her lip. "They will if you have the support of an Angeline. I...I think I could go that far to help him."
"You think you can, or you will? I have to know for certain, Alea."
She looked him in the eye. "I will," she said steadily. "I will make sure you have your chance to speak."
"Thank you."
"You will be able to speak with them--that doesn't mean they will change their minds. What will you do then?"
Bodie didn't like thinking that failure was even a possibility, not with what that would mean for Doyle, but he had to acknowledge that it might happen. "I don't care if he's got wings or not. I still want him to be..." Bodie gave up the pretence. "I still want him."
Alea nodded. "But you have to understand that he may not feel the same way."
"I know." Bodie's head throbbed viciously, and he rubbed at the half-healed cut above his temple.
"You shouldn't have left the Infirmary," Alea said.
"I'm all right."
"You won't be helping him if you collapse at the judgment."
"I said I'm all right." He wasn't entirely sure that was true, but he couldn't just lie in bed while Doyle went out to a punishment he didn't deserve.
"If you're certain," Alea said, clearly unconvinced. "I will speak with the Magistrates tonight. Tomorrow I will meet you here and escort you to the judgment."
"You don't have to--just tell me where it will be."
She smiled. "Trust me. You will want an escort."
After a restless night and a long walk through the city, Bodie found out why. The judgment was to take place atop a broad pillar some thirty feet high, with sheer glass-smooth sides and no way to ascend besides flight. Yet another thing to delineate the Angeline from other, Earthbound species. Bodie wondered what happened to injured Angeline, or those born with malformed wings. He didn't expect that they found much compassion here.
"Great," Bodie growled. "Now how the hells am I supposed to get up there?"
Alea gave him a wry look. "I'll take you up."
Bodie snorted. "I weigh twice what you do, Alea, there's no way you can--"
She wrapped one arm around his waist and jumped. A few powerful beats of her wings stirred the air around them, and a moment later they had risen to the level of the platform. She set him down with a smug look.
"Thanks," Bodie said, and he turned to face the Magistrates.
Alea hadn't lied about the executions being public. There were a few dozen Angeline seated along the rim of the dais, and others simply hovering above it, waiting. At the far end of the platform sat seven Angeline, three men and four women. One of the men seemed to be in charge of the proceedings--his chair was in the centre, and rose slightly higher than the others. Bodie decided to address his argument to that one.
On a small table before the Magistrates was a needle and a simple laser saw. Bodie's mouth went too dry to speak.
The Magistrate in the centre of the gathering cleared his throat gently. "You are William Bodie?"
He forced himself to look away from the saw. "Yes. I wanted to speak with you about this--judgment."
The Magistrate looked at Bodie with a slight frown, as though unable to understand why he would bother. "What complaint do you have? We afforded you Sanctuary. We have done you no harm."
"Yeah, but you're about to do my partner a great deal of harm, and I take issue with that."
"Your partner. You speak of Raymond Doyle, the Fallen?"
"Yeah, I'm talking about Ray."
"His status is clear; the punishment is just according to our laws."
"Yes, but won't you let anybody speak in his defence?"
"How can there be defence for his actions? He violated our laws."
"But there were extenuating circumstances. He had a reason for--" Bodie stopped. He could see that the concept of a justifiable crime meant absolutely nothing to the Magistrates. There was no circumstance, in their worldview, that would allow a person to break the laws. He was going to have to find another way to appeal to them.
Turnabout, maybe. "The whole reason you're after him is because he killed an Earthbound, right? Doesn't it balance things, knowing that he's saved an Earthbound, too?"
The right-most Angeline spoke, sounding mildly interested. "Has he done so?"
"He's saved my life more than once. He set down here, knowing what you'd do to him, because of me. He was willing to give himself up, to give up his wings, because I was hurt. He could have kept running for years, maybe, if he'd let me die, but he didn't. He wouldn't. A sacrifice like that--surely it's worth a bit of clemency?"
The Magistrates conferred behind raised wings, and Bodie fought to keep from betraying his nervousness with a sigh or a shift of weight. If they said no, then things were going to get very, very interesting. Having seen the laser saw, he knew he wouldn't be able to let Doyle go without a fight. But he didn't exactly have a plan B--even if he could fight them off long enough to get Doyle away from the square, the Capri still wasn't spaceworthy. They'd have to steal a ship, and fast, because Bodie was concerned about what kind of punishment the Angeline meted out to those who didn't have wings to take.
He was pretty sure he didn't want to know.
The meeting ended in a flutter of white feathers. Bodie set his jaw and waited for
them to speak.
The Magistrate in the centre inclined his head. "In light of your words, we have reconsidered the matter. The price of Raymond Doyle's Vengeance will be cancelled, and his bounty repealed. But he will never be welcome on our homeworld. Once he departs from the planet, he may not return; if he does, the penalty will be reinstated and his wings forfeit."
Weak with relief--and no small bit of exhaustion--Bodie bowed to them. "Thank you," he said. He wasn't sure what else one was supposed to say in a case like this. He went to stand aside, but one of the Magistrates held up a hand to stop him.
"Stay here," she said. "We will release the prisoner to your custody."
The woman gestured towards one of the Keepers standing ready. "Bring him."
The Keeper leapt from the edge of the platform and returned a moment later escorting Doyle.
Doyle flew under his own power, rising unnecessarily high above the platform before dropping gently towards the surface. Bodie couldn't blame him; after all, he expected it to be the last time he would ever use his wings.
He wasn't cuffed or restrained in any way, but he looked utterly defeated, his face blank as he landed on the dais and stood before the Magistrates. Then he looked up and saw Bodie standing beside them, and his eyes widened in horror and dismay.
Bodie wanted to rush over to him, to explain that everything was all right, but he knew that ritual was important to the Angeline, and he'd already put enough of a kink in their judgment process. He tried to offer a reassuring smile, to little effect.
"Raymond Doyle," the head Magistrate said, his voice ringing in the silence.
Doyle raised his head to look at him, his shoulders back, and said nothing.
"You stand before us declared as Fallen for the laws you have broken. As you were once a Keeper, you know well the penalty for such actions." He paused. "The sentence of a Vengeance is the forfeiture of one's wings."
Doyle nodded, his eyes closing briefly.
"However, your voluntary return in order to save your companion is not without merit. It suits the Magistrates to commute the sentence to exile. You will keep your wings, but you will not be permitted to return to our world."
Doyle's eyes flickered from the Magistrate to Bodie and back again, but he did not question the judgment. He bowed instead, demonstrating his appreciation for the commuted sentence.
"Until such time as you are able to depart, your companion will be answerable for your actions."
"So don't embarrass me, all right, angelfish?" Bodie said, stepping over to his side.
The Magistrate spoke one more time. "You are released from custody, Raymond Doyle."
Bodie caught his hand and all but dragged him to the edge of the dais. Doyle wrapped an arm around Bodie's waist and lowered them both gently towards the ground. Bodie could feel him shaking, but he didn't think it was from the added weight.
As soon as they hit the ground, Bodie was moving, desperate to put as much distance between them and the Magistrates as possible. Doyle kept pace with him, but they had both slowed noticeably by the time they reached the Capri.
When the ramp had folded up and sealed behind them, Doyle turned and threw his arms around Bodie.
"You," he muttered into Bodie's shoulder, "are an idiot."
"Shut up," Bodie said, and kissed him.
Doyle made a quiet sound and slid one hand up to glide through the short hair at the back of Bodie's neck, pulling him closer.
Bodie was just beginning to wonder if he'd actually have to let go of Doyle in order to get them both into his cabin when the com chimed. He groaned in protest and pulled away from Doyle.
"Hold that thought, angelfish," Bodie said. He pushed the com button in the corridor and swore when nothing happened--yet another casualty of the attack. He turned and dashed up to the cockpit to the com unit there. "Yes?" he demanded, refusing to let his sudden uneasiness colour his voice. If it was an Angeline boarding party come to take Doyle back, they were going to do it over his dead body.
"It's Alea," a familiar voice said. "I--"
Bodie didn't wait for her to explain why she had come. If she had come on business, she would have identified herself by her title. He dropped the ramp to let her aboard, and then left the cockpit to meet her in the corridor.
But before he could explain the situation, Doyle saw her. He tensed and took a half-step backwards. "They haven't changed their minds?" he asked.
Bodie stepped up beside Alea, shaking his head. "No. She's on our side."
Doyle gave him a disbelieving look, and Bodie couldn't exactly say he blamed him.
"She's the one who asked the Magistrates to let me speak. If she hadn't, I suppose I really would have had to go and do something stupid."
"You did?" Doyle asked, turning to Alea.
She looked faintly embarrassed. "You were right, Ray. There are some things for which the law does not account, crimes that are mitigated by circumstance. Can you forgive me for trying to bring you in?"
Doyle waved away her apology. "You were only doing your job."
"So were you," she said firmly. "I understand that, now."
He smiled. "Would you like some tea?"
"No, I'm afraid I can't stay."
"Don't want to be seen in the company of an ex-fugitive and an upstart Earthbound," Bodie said teasingly.
Alea flushed. "It isn't that."
Bodie waved a hand. "I understand. You've done more than anyone could have expected already, Alea. We don't want to get you into trouble."
She nodded. "All right, then. Now, I hope I never see you on this planet again--either of you."
Bodie grinned at the admonishment, and Alea turned to go.
"Wait." Doyle vanished into his cabin and returned an instant later. "This is all that I have left of Jamie's. I think he'd like you to have it." He held out the battered tin soldier.
Alea frowned at it. "But he was your brother."
"He would have been your husband."
She took it, tracing over the remnants of the gold and blue paint that still clung to the toy. "Thank you, Ray." She stood on her toes and kissed him swiftly on the cheek--the most affectionate gesture Bodie had ever seen a 'normal' Angeline make. "Good-bye."
She kissed Bodie on the cheek as well--he tried, and failed, not to blush--and she turned to go. Her footsteps faded down the ramp, followed by the hiss and groan of the hatch sliding back into place, and then they were alone again.
Doyle took a deep breath and turned an unreadable gaze on Bodie. It lasted long enough that Bodie began to wonder if Doyle was going to kiss him again or possibly punch him in the jaw, but instead of either he walked down the corridor to the galley. He fixed Bodie a cup of tea and made him sit with it while Doyle himself prowled around the ship, making a list of the damages and the replacement parts they'd need.
Every time he stopped in the galley he started fretting about how they'd manage to pay for the new parts, but Bodie just shook his head and told him not to worry about it. They'd have enough to restore the basic systems, and then they would be able to work their way towards fixing up the extras. Bodie didn't mind the thought of a long repair job.
If there was nothing that needed fixing, there would be no reason for Doyle to stick around. He hoped Doyle would stay anyway, but now that he didn't have the Angeline bounty on him, there wasn't really any benefit to staying with Bodie. A couple of kisses didn't amount to any kind of a promise, after all.
So when Doyle finally slumped into a chair at the table, a long list of repairs in front of him, Bodie could forgive himself for having to hide a smile behind his teacup.
Doyle looked up from his repair list--he was starting to rank things in order of importance, Bodie thought--and gave him a hard look. "You need to sleep," he said abruptly.
Bodie glanced out the galley viewscreen dubiously. It was still daylight outside. And he'd spent half the last week in a bloody Infirmary bed, he didn't need--
He caught himself mid-yawn. All right then, maybe a bit of a rest would be nice. He eyed Doyle's drawn face. When had he last slept? Waiting to get your wings cut off couldn't be very conducive to rest. "All right. But only if you join me."
"Bodie..."
"Just a kip, that's all. I think we're both too tired for anything else, aren't we?"
Doyle nodded and stood up to rinse out the teacups, then followed Bodie down the corridor into the cabin.
Bodie kicked off his boots and pulled his shirt over his head to toss it in the general direction of the laundry bin. Doyle hesitated, then stripped off his own shirt. Bodie took in the sight wistfully, wishing he had the energy to really appreciate a half-naked Doyle in his bed. He settled onto the bed and felt Doyle's slight weight shift the mattress before an arm wrapped around his waist to hold him.
Curled together in the centre of the bed, they were both asleep within moments.
***
When Bodie woke up, he was alone, but the muffled clanks and curses from somewhere aft told him that Doyle hadn't been taken--he'd just decided to make a start on the repairs. Bodie showered and dressed, feeling more or less normal again. It had been almost a week, after all, since their emergency landing. It was about time things got back to the way they had been.
He poked around at the cockpit for a while, fixing a few shorted wires--even he couldn't screw that up too badly--but there wasn't much to be done. The bow had taken less damage than...other parts of the ship.
He sat back in the chair, and something glinted on one of the control panels--a credit chip. Bodie slipped it into the reader and stared. It contained the bounty price that Doyle had insisted Bodie be paid. Alea must have left it while they were planning Doyle's rescue, and somehow Bodie doubted it had been simply forgotten. Then again, she had seen the extent of the damage to the Capri, and she must have thought they would need the money.
Bodie didn't remember much about the fight that had preceded their arrival on Angeline. All he could recall with clarity was the jolt of impact as the 'beam had glanced off the bubble. Doyle had listed a complete replacement as part of the necessary repairs, but it couldn't have been as bad as he seemed to believe it was. He was so keen on keeping Bodie away from the weapons bubble--but Doyle was in the engine room, now, and couldn't stop him. Bodie glanced up and down the corridor, then climbed up the ladder to survey the damage.
It wasn't as bad as Doyle thought. It was probably worse. Bodie stared at the clear plastic of the bubble--three solid inches of it--and saw the web of fine cracks that spread across it, the tiny slivers that were missing entirely. He imagined the scream of escaping air, tugging at him as the cracks spread, threatening to shatter the bubble entirely.
There was a smear of dried blood on the console. He rubbed at the stain, feeling a phantom ache in the healing cut above his temple. Scalp wounds bled torrents; he couldn't imagine what a horror he'd appeared when Doyle had found him. No wonder the poor bastard had been so cagey lately.
He heard the faint ring of footsteps on the ladder, and then the hiss of the access hatch. Doyle stood behind him, very close in the tiny bubble.
"I didn't think it was as bad as you kept saying," Bodie confessed. "Thought you'd just had a scare."
"I did." Doyle stepped forward, resting a hand on Bodie's hip. "There was blood, and I didn't know if you were breathing. I thought you were..." Doyle trailed off.
Bodie leaned back against him, letting Doyle's hand slide around his waist. "But I'm not," he said firmly. "I'm alive. We're alive."
"Yeah, we are." Doyle bent his head, trailing his lips along the nape of Bodie's neck.
Bodie shivered. "Ray, what I said, when the generator broke--"
"Forget it."
"No. It was out of line, and I'm sorry. You don't owe me anything, you know that."
"Yeah," Doyle said, one hand sliding beneath the hem of Bodie's shirt to glide over the warm skin beneath. "I know. Now can we go to bed?"
Bodie laughed. "I thought you'd never ask."
Doyle pulled away and dropped down the ladder. Bodie followed, brushing past him in the narrow corridor to lead the way to the cabin, and Doyle took a teasing pinch at his arse as he passed, eliciting an affronted curse. Bodie turned and pinned him against the bulkhead for a slow kiss, moving from lips to jaw to throat.
"Thought you wanted to go to bed."
"Mm," Bodie said, grazing Doyle's collarbone with his teeth. He splayed one hand gently over Doyle's groin, and Doyle arched into the touch. "Right. Bed." He pulled away and opened the cabin door, raising the lights to half-power.
The bed was neatly made, but Doyle's eyes settled on the floor beside it, where a single white feather lay. He glanced questioningly at Bodie.
"Found it tangled in the sheets after you got yourself grazed..."
"And you kept it?"
Bodie shrugged.
"I've got more, you know."
"Yeah, but if they'd got to you..."
Doyle laughed and caught him up in an embrace. "You really are a sentimental bastard, underneath everything, aren't you?"
"How would you know?" Bodie countered. "Haven't seen the underneath yet, have you?"
"No, but I'm looking forward to it."
Bodie dropped down onto the bed and pulled Doyle after him. His fingers worked at the buttons on the front of Doyle's shirt and he started to push it off his shoulders. Bodie frowned. "Hang on, how do you get it off?"
Doyle snorted. "Well, I hire on with an arrogant pilot, and then after several months and a lot of narrow escapes we go to bed and--"
"Ray. The shirt."
"Right." He knelt up, wringing a groan from Bodie at the pressure of Doyle's hips against his. He pushed the shirt off his shoulders and eased it over his wings. The fabric snagged on the tip of one wing; an irritable flick sent it to the floor in a heap.
Bodie's eyes roamed over the bared skin with undisguised appreciation.
"You just wanted to watch me strip, didn't you?"
"Guilty," Bodie said with a grin. "Trousers next, and put a little shimmy into it, would you?"
Doyle laughed and instead set to work on Bodie's shirt. Unencumbered by wings, it was easier to deal with, and Doyle traced long fingers up and down Bodie's chest, lingering over the old scars. He bent his head to lick at first one nipple, then the other, and Bodie writhed against him, pressing up against Doyle's weight.
Despite Doyle's distracting behaviour, Bodie managed to unfasten Doyle's trousers. He tried to slip a hand inside, and swore. "Bloody hell, you wear these things too tight."
Doyle grinned against Bodie's throat. "You love it."
Bodie wasn't about to deny that. Doyle slid off him, an action that Bodie soundly opposed until he opened his eyes and saw Doyle stripping out of his trousers.
"Nothing underneath?" he asked.
Doyle ducked his head shyly, but recovered himself and knelt back on the bed. "Now you, eh?" Doyle's hands over Bodie's groin nearly made an early end of everything. Bodie bit his lip sharply and let Doyle tug the trousers and pants down over his hips. The movement left Doyle's head close enough that Bodie could feel the warmth of Doyle's breath against his cock.
Doyle turned a glance up at him, tongue sliding over parted lips. Bodie shook his head and pulled him back up to straddle Bodie's hips. "I think we might have to save the fancy stuff for next time, angelfish."
Doyle nodded agreement and began to rock forward against him, long slow strokes that sent sparks skittering down Bodie's spine. Bodie clutched at the angle of Doyle's hip, the curve of his arse, and Doyle bent to kiss him, his wings gently buffeting the air around them and flickering over his skin.
They had been on edge for days; it wasn't going to take long. Bodie bucked up against Doyle one last time, the friction too much and never enough, and he sighed as he came. Before the world had quite settled around him, he felt Doyle go tense above him, warm drops scattering over his chest.
Bodie opened his eyes in time to see the dazed half-smile on Doyle's face. Then Doyle shifted and slipped down to lie beside Bodie, his breath beginning to slow. Bodie was going to say something, or at least pull a blanket up to cover them, but before the idea could turn itself to action he fell asleep.
***
Bodie woke an indeterminate while later--the lights in the cabin had dimmed as they slept, and he wasn't about to get up and find out what the local time was. In fact, nothing short of a ship-board fire would be enough to draw him out of bed just now.
He vaguely remembered waking long enough to clean up, the way that Doyle had twitched sleepily at the touch of the flannel, but that might have been half an hour ago or half a day.
Doyle was still asleep beside him, one wing draped almost protectively over him. The lowest feathers rested lightly on Bodie's thigh, shifting just slightly with every breath. Bodie closed his eyes and decided that another hour's sleep wouldn't cause the worlds to end.
Then Doyle stirred in his sleep and curled closer to Bodie, and one long feather skated delicately over Bodie's cock.
Well, he certainly wasn't going back to sleep now. He reached out and began to comb gently through the feathers, straightening pinions that either sleep or exertion had displaced.
After a few moments he heard a quiet sigh.
"If you keep doing that, I'm going to embarrass myself. Again."
Bodie stroked the edge of Doyle's wing with a fingertip. "You haven't got anything to be embarrassed about," he said firmly.
"No?"
"Seen it all, haven't I? I'd have noticed."
Doyle grinned and raised himself up on one arm, casting a long look over Bodie's body. "So, that fancy stuff you were talking about last night..."
"Do you think you're up for it?"
Doyle grinned. "Find out for yourself."
Bodie turned over and kissed him, bringing their bodies into contact from chest to hip. There was no question of whether Doyle was up for it. Bodie shifted into a better position, an echo of how they had lain together last time, and went on kissing him.
For Bodie, kissing was usually a means to an end, not something to waste too much time on. But he thought he could go on kissing Doyle for hours, listening to the quiet, pleased sounds low in Doyle's throat.
Eventually Doyle pulled away, flushed and grinning. "Have you got--?"
"In the table."
Doyle leaned up to pull out the tiny drawer and rummage for the tube. He retrieved it, and then eyed Bodie questioningly. "What would you like to do with this, then?"
"I'd like..." Bodie's face heated. "I want you to fuck me. On my back, so I can look at you."
Doyle groaned. "Keep talking like that and I'll spoil everything before we get started."
Bodie rolled onto his back and stole Doyle's pillow to settle it underneath him. Doyle slowly worked one slick finger inside him, his eyes never leaving Bodie's face.
Doyle's fingertip brushed teasingly in just the right place, and Bodie pressed into the touch. Doyle grinned and withdrew, giving Bodie just enough time to sigh in frustration before he pressed in again with two fingers.
"Get on with it, will you?" Bodie gasped in a voice he barely recognised as his own.
"You're sure?"
"Yeah."
Doyle pulled back, and Bodie grimaced at the emptiness. It took a moment to find the right position, Doyle kneeling between Bodie's thighs and Bodie's legs locked around his waist. Then, much too slowly for Bodie's liking, he slid inside.
Bodie bent his knees in an attempt to pull Doyle closer, and Doyle laughed breathlessly. "Slow down," he said. His hands skimmed over Bodie's chest, teasing, and he tried a shallow thrust.
Bodie rose up to meet him, driving Doyle to a quicker pace. Despite their best intentions, they both realised that slowing down would be next to impossible--there would be time to be patient later.
Doyle knelt above him, his head thrown back and his wings trembling, pulse pounding in the taut throat. Bodie held tight to him, trusting that Doyle wouldn't leave him behind. A moment later, Doyle reached out and took him in hand, stroking in time with his thrusts, and Bodie clung desperately to the last shreds of control. He was determined that this time he wouldn't be the one to lose it first, that he would be able to watch Doyle come.
Doyle gasped, shivering on the edge, and Bodie raised his hips to meet one last deep thrust. Doyle groaned as he came, back arched and wings stretched wide.
Bodie followed him over the edge with Doyle's name on his lips.
It was a long while before Doyle spoke, his head resting on Bodie's shoulder. "There's work to do," he murmured, already more than half asleep.
Bodie slid his arm around Doyle's waist, feathers tickling his skin. "Go to sleep, angelfish. It'll keep."
***
Bodie woke an hour or so later. He let Doyle sleep and went to check on the delivery of the parts they had ordered to replace what was beyond repair. They were missing only the new hydraulic pieces now, and Bodie extracted a fervent promise from the seller that the parts would arrive the next day.
He decided that was enough work to do before breakfast. He sat down with tea, toast, and the latest news on his handheld. He checked back a few days--there was nothing, of course, about an altercation in the empty space beyond the Angeline system.
Not long after, Doyle slipped into the galley wearing only a pair of jeans, with his hair still dripping into the towel that was draped over his shoulders. His wings still looked damp and heavy, but the feathers were straightened, a far cry from the disarray of the night before.
Bodie had meant to ask him something, but he spent a pleasant minute staring at him instead. He wondered whether the galley table would support them if he bent Doyle over it for another go, and regretfully concluded that it probably wouldn't.
Doyle turned around and caught him staring. "Morning," he said, not at all embarrassed.
"Morning." Bodie finally recalled what he'd meant to say. "Is there anything you want to do before we leave? Anyone you'd like to see? If we can't come back here, you'd better do it now."
Doyle paused in the act of sweetening his tea. "Actually, there is one thing."
"Anything you want."
"I'd like to visit Jamie. I mean, his memorial." Doyle fidgeted with the edge of the towel. "I never had a chance to, before--I was on the run the night he died. And after we leave here, I know I'll never have another chance."
Bodie nudged the empty chair out from the table. Doyle brought his cup of tea over and sat down. He swiped Bodie's handheld to check the news.
The tea was half-gone when he spoke again. "Would you come with me?"
Bodie chuckled. "Worried they'll go back on their deal, try to take you in again?"
"No. I'd just appreciate the company." He rubbed at the back of his neck, embarrassed.
Bodie tipped Doyle's face up with a fingertip and kissed him lightly, tasting the sweetened tea on his lips. "Yeah, of course I'll go with you."
"Tomorrow? I want to see about finishing work on the weapons bubble tonight."
"Tomorrow," Bodie agreed.
By evening the weapons bubble was airtight again, although the weapons themselves were only running at half-power. Doyle just said that they had better not get into a fight until they could fix it.
Bodie laughed, but he couldn't help wondering what Kell was going to do next. He slept uneasily, waking once at a half-remembered dream of pain and tearing wind. He settled down beside Doyle, and eventually he slept again.
The morning dawned bright and warm, good weather for a leisurely walk.
"Are you sure you're up to it?" Doyle had asked, frowning at him.
"That's funny," Bodie said. "I don't remember you worrying about whether I was 'up to' any of the other things we've been doing for the last few days."
Doyle flushed and said nothing more on the subject. Bodie made himself behave for at least a quarter-mile, but beyond that he couldn't keep quiet.
"What's the Angeline outlook on two men together?"
Doyle shrugged, a gesture that included his wings as well as his shoulders. "It's accepted. Not worth noticing, even."
"So we're not going to get hauled off to the Magistrates again for holding hands?"
Doyle's eyes were wide and innocent. "But, Bodie, we're not holding hands."
Bodie grinned and reached out, curling his fingers around Doyle's. "How far is it to the grave?"
"Just outside the city," Doyle said. "Though it's not exactly what you'd call a grave."
"Angeline don't do burials? Let me guess, ashes scattered to the wind instead?"
Doyle gave him a surprised glance. "Yes, exactly."
Bodie snorted. "Even in death, you don't want to be Earthbound."
"I wish I'd never called you that," Doyle said with an exasperated sigh.
"I'm only joking. I understand it. Flight is important to you--burial would be the last thing most Angeline would want."
"So if something happened to me, you wouldn't--?"
Bodie's hand tightened on Doyle's. "Nothing's going to happen to you," he said sharply. "But no. I wouldn't do anything you didn't want, even then."
The field of memorials was visible from some distance, a broad stretch of tall grasses scattered with graceful structures of glass and stone. Up close, Bodie saw that there were no dates on the sculptures, only names, but he could tell by the weathered edges that some of the memorials were very old indeed.
He kept himself to the edge of the grounds, not wanting to insult the memorials with his Earthbound presence. All right, that wasn't fair. Doyle ought to be able to say his farewells in peace, that was all.
After a bit, Doyle walked back across the field to him. If his face was a little wet, Bodie didn't think it needed to be mentioned.
They walked back in quiet for a while, and when Doyle did speak his voice was steady. "Wish you could have known him. You would have got on with him, I think. And he'd have liked you, as long as you didn't bring up your smuggling exploits at the dinner table."
"Oh, I would never. That subject is much better suited for afters."
Doyle laughed. "Coffee, tea, and black-market 'beam guns. I'm sure that would go down a treat."
They reached the edge of the city again, and Bodie couldn't help but notice the way that the eyes of passers-by seemed to follow them as they walked. They made almost no effort to disguise it, either, turning and even rising a few feet into the air to get a better view as they passed.
"I am getting bloody tired," he muttered, "of being stared at by everyone."
"Might as well get used to it, until we lift off."
Bodie frowned and looked over at Doyle. "You said it wasn't even worth noticing here, two people of the same sex."
"It isn't," he protested. "It's just, well. I suppose it's you."
"Me?" Bodie asked, indignant.
Doyle trailed his fingertips down Bodie's spine. "No wings. So you're either an Angeline criminal, or--"
"--an Earthbound," Bodie finished with a sigh. "Your lot are a bunch of feathery, holier-than-thou arseholes. They wouldn't suppose I was 'good enough' for an upstanding Angeline citizen like you, is that it?"
Doyle snorted. "I am not an upstanding Angeline citizen."
"Oh, I don't know. Some parts of you seemed pretty...upstanding last night."
Doyle flushed crimson. "Stop that."
"Or what?"
"Or I'll have to drag you into an alley and have my way with you. And I'm fairly certain there are laws against doing that sort of thing in public."
"I'll try to control myself until we're back to the ship," Bodie said, but his mind wandered as they walked back. All that attention--well, it was enough to make anyone wonder, a bit.
"Ray, does it bother you, at all, that I'm not Angeline?"
Doyle looked at him as though he'd gone mad. "Bother me?"
"Well, you can't have grown up thinking 'Oh, one day I'll settle down with a nice Earthbound lad and live happily ever after.'"
"No, I didn't. I don't think I thought much about settling down at all. But if you're asking if I have complaints about the way things have turned out, then the answer's no."
They stepped inside the shaded berth, blinking as their eyes adjusted from the bright sunlight. Doyle took a few minutes to circle the Capri before they went inside, checking the new panels to make sure the seals had set. He was smiling when he followed Bodie into the ship.
"We should be ready to go in a day or two," Doyle said, pausing in front of the cabin they now shared.
"Yeah," Bodie said, frowning.
Doyle gave him a sidelong look. "I thought you'd be happy to get off a planet full of--what was it?--feathery, holier-than-thou arseholes."
"Oh, believe me, I won't be sorry to see the last of them. But as soon as we leave Angeline space, we lose sanctuary. And I highly doubt that Kell's satisfied with only partially destroying us."
Doyle nodded. "I had thought of that."
"Any ideas on how to avoid his notice?"
"One, but I don't think you'll go for it."
"Try me."
"Sell the Capri and buy something different."
Bodie flinched.
"I did say you wouldn't like it. I don't like it, either. But if it keeps us alive..."
"But it wouldn't--not for long. We'd be safe in the air, but the bounty file has our images attached. Sooner or later someone in a port will recognise us."
Doyle leaned against the door of the cabin. "Well, I'm out of ideas."
"All we have to do is find a way to make Kell remove the bounty, right?"
"You look like you have an idea," Doyle said, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Well, maybe."
"Are you going to share it?"
"I was thinking we could knock on the door and offer to explain ourselves." Bodie made a face. It sounded so much worse out loud.
Doyle stared. "You're completely mad. They'd pick us off before we got up the walk."
"No, that's our way in. Kell will be too curious as to how we managed to find the place--he'll at least give us a chance to tell him that. And then we can explain Jenny's unprovoked attack on us."
"We don't have any way to prove what happened, though."
"We might. I've got an audio recorder on the Capri, but I don't know if it will be enough to convince him."
Doyle balked. "You have an audio recorder?"
"Yeah."
"So when we were--last night--you have a recording of that?"
Bodie chuckled. "The recording wipes itself every forty-eight hours unless I save it to a different bit of memory. I pulled the hours when Kell was on-board and saved them, but I never went back to listen to them. I hadn't ever thought about pulling the recordings from our cabin, but now that you mention it..."
Doyle rolled his eyes. "Any time you need reminding, come and find me."
Bodie grinned decided that now would be a good time to refresh his memory.
***
He waited until he was alone, much later, to play back the recording. The first hour of his absence was quiet, and he sped up the recording; the only time Bodie heard a voice was Doyle's quiet curse as he noticed the short in the sensor panel. Then the hiss of the lowering ramp, and the dull thud of impact when Doyle hit the ground.
The next few minutes were garbled, switching from microphone to microphone along the ship's main corridor. It cleared up once they reached the engine room, where Bodie had found Doyle.
You are a pretty thing, aren't you? Jensen said. No wonder he's kept you so long. Maybe I'll keep you myself for a little while; you can be Bound to me.
Go to hell, came Doyle's voice, followed by the heavy sound of a punch.
Bodie's hands curled into fists, and he wished Jensen were alive so he could have his turn to kill the bastard.
"Forget it, Bodie," Doyle said from behind him. "I'm all right, and we took care of it."
Bodie thought of the empty, dazed look in Doyle's eyes when he had lowered the 'beam gun, and wondered if that sort of thing ever became 'all right' for an Angeline. "Yeah," he said quietly. "We took care of it."
Doyle bent over the chair to kiss the top of Bodie's head. "I'm done mucking about with the engines. We should be spaceworthy now."
"Should be?" Bodie teased.
"I promise. If we die in a fireball on lift-off, I'll be very embarrassed."
"You and me both, angelfish." Bodie switched on the com and queued them for an early departure.
He did all the pre-flight checks. Twice. There was no reason to think that anything would go wrong, but he'd never fired the thrusters with more apprehension.
It wasn't quite the smoothest lift-off. A series of shudders and whines suggested that a great many parts of the ship could use a tune-up, but nothing exploded, so Bodie considered it a success.
Doyle looked annoyed when he unfastened the crash belt. "Bloody thrusters," he sighed.
"Anything I can help with?"
"No," Doyle said. "You just sit there and make sure there's no surprise party waiting for us at the other end of the jumps."
"I'll do what I can."
Doyle disappeared aft. Bodie could have done with some company; he didn't like the thought of spending the next eighteen hours waiting to arrive at a planet where they were probably going to get killed. But he'd only have been in the way, in the engine room, and the ship did need some more work. He made himself a cup of tea, left the kettle hot for Doyle, and settled into the pilot's chair to wait.
***
The landing on Charloss was a little better than the lift-off, enough that Bodie could ignore the fear of crashing in favour of the much larger fear that they weren't going to survive to lift off again.
It was late morning when they arrived. Rather than walk the ten miles to Kell's compound, they rented a skimmer and left it in an open field about three miles away.
Doyle powered down the skimmer.
"You could wait here, you know," Bodie offered.
"You should know me better than that."
"I do. I just wanted to give you the option."
"To hell with the option. Let's just go," Doyle said, sounding more confident than Bodie knew he felt. "The sooner we get there, the sooner we're back to the ship and off this rock." He climbed out of the skimmer. Bodie followed him, and after a pause to orient themselves, they started in the direction of the compound.
Since Doyle's sentence had been commuted, he had taken to wearing Angeline clothes that left his wings free, even in the narrow corridors of the Capri. Bodie found it incredibly distracting and enjoyed it entirely too much. Now, as they covered the last few miles, Doyle would rise into the air occasionally to make sure they were still on course through the pathless grasslands.
The third time he did it, Bodie kissed him when he came back down.
"What was that for?" Doyle asked.
Because if Kell shoots us, I won't get another chance. "Do I need a reason?"
Doyle smiled. "Never."
The compound seemed to loom suddenly up from the plains. Bodie was surprised at the size of it, but of course he had never seen the place, even at the distance that Doyle had.
There was a small post settled a hundred yards from the door, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Bodie suspected that an electrified field surrounded the building; Doyle proved it by tossing a pebble into the clear air to the left of the post.
There was a flash, and the pebble bounced back to his feet, scorched.
From the lone post, there came a voice that demanded to know what they wanted.
"We're here to see Kell," Bodie said, just managing to keep his voice steady. "We have business to discuss."
After several moments in which Bodie expected every second to end in a 'beam blast, the flat voice replied, "Enter." Bodie knew that testing the electrified field again would be seen as a lack of trust in his host, so there was no choice but to step forward and hope it didn't kill him.
They passed through the field unharmed. If nothing else, it meant Kell had decided to kill them up-close, and that meant he might give them a chance to speak. At the door, a pair of guards arrived to check them for weapons and lead them down the corridors to the sitting room where Kell had received them the last time. It had evidently undergone a few changes in the past weeks.
Lounging in the chair that had belonged to Kell was Hida, the guard who had escorted them to and from the compound last time.
Bodie glanced around; the complement of guards seemed subtly different. "Where's Kell?"
Hida gave him an entirely false look of grief. "While we were attacking you, his ship developed a reactor leak. Very tragic, very sudden."
"Very final?" Bodie added, just a hint of dryness in his voice.
"Indeed," she said smugly.
Well, that was...news. It might be good; after all, it was Kell who had the grudge, and Hida didn't necessarily have any reason to want them dead. She had probably called off the attack as soon as Kell was dead, which had allowed the Capri to make a jump at last.
But she was also an unknown quality. She didn't have any reason to want them left alive, either, and now that they knew the location of her base, it might be easier to get rid of them than to let them walk away.
Bodie had gambled on Kell's curiosity. Hida didn't disappoint him.
"How did you find this place? I dropped you far enough out that you couldn't have found your way back."
Doyle spoke up, stretching his wings gently. "Aerial reconnaissance."
"Ah, yes. You hid your wings quite well, you know. None of us guessed it, not even Aris." Hida nodded at the Angeline woman.
She had another wing now, a light metal frame with a cloth covering stretched over it. It wasn't as graceful as her other wing, but it looked like it might allow for flight. Maybe it was a reward for helping Hida overthrow Kell. Doyle certainly seemed a bit more comfortable having noticed it, but they were both well aware that a crime lord could be magnanimous to her underlings and still quite happily shoot her guests where they stood.
But Hida seemed more thoughtful than vengeful. "Kell's bounty on you was worth twelve thousand. Fifteen, if you were taken alive. Did you really intend to come in here and talk him out of killing the pair of you?"
"It seemed like a better idea than waiting to be shot in some dark pub," Bodie said. "And we have evidence that Jensen's death wasn't our fault. He came looking for us--to kill me and hand Doyle over for a bounty--"
"A bounty?" There was a bit too much interest in Hida's voice.
"It's since been cancelled," Bodie said coldly. "Jensen was killed in self-defence, and I have an audio chip to prove it."
She waved her hand. "I don't care about Jensen. He was Kell's crony, not mine. I'd have had to kill him to get to Kell anyway."
"So in essence, we did you a favour," Doyle said, seizing the opening. "And if you take back the bounty, you'd be saving twelve thousand--surely you can find a better way to use the money."
Hida smiled coolly. "You do like to push your luck, don't you?"
Doyle matched her smile and said nothing.
Hida looked from Bodie to Doyle, chuckled, and sat back. "Are you looking for work? I can always use people with more audacity than sense."
"On a freelance basis, maybe," Bodie hedged. "We'd rather not be...tied down."
"Well, not where other people can see," Doyle said innocently.
Bodie elbowed him, but Hida smiled again. The expression still made him nervous.
"You can go," Hida said. "If I want you for a job, I'll contact you."
"And the bounty?"
Hida glanced over at Aris, who looked up from her handheld and gave a curt nod. "Cancelled," Hida said, "effective immediately. You shouldn't have anything to worry about."
"Would you be insulted if I checked the lists?" Bodie asked.
"I'd be disappointed in you if you didn't."
Bodie checked his handheld and found the 'Cancelled' notice in bold letters over their bounty sheet. He nodded approval.
"I imagine you can show yourselves out," Hida said dryly.
"Yeah."
"Fair skies."
"You too," Doyle said.
Hida waved them off, and they were dismissed.
Despite her assurances of goodwill--which the cancelled bounty had gone a long way to cement--Bodie was glad when they left her compound behind. Back to the borrowed skimmer, then to the spaceport, and then...
Well, that was a question, wasn't it?
They didn't talk much while Doyle flew them back to the port. It was irrational to suppose that Doyle might leave, now that they had no common threat to bind them together, but he was relieved anyway when Doyle walked into the Capri with all the contentment of a man coming home.
Bodie sat down in the pilot's chair and took the first deep breath he'd had in a while. Free, the pair of them. No bounties, no pursuit, for the first time in months. And Doyle had stayed.
They lifted off in the light of setting suns, out into the star-strewn black of space. Bodie set them in a high orbit, considering all their possibilities. He glanced over at Doyle in the co-pilot's chair. "Where to?"
Doyle's fingers circled Bodie's wrist, and he tugged him gently back towards their cabin. "Who cares?"
End
Part 1 -- Part 2 -- Part 3 -- Part 4