Out of the Way – 1/1 (Sheridan/Ivanova/Garibaldi) – Way V

Ξ May 12th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Babylon 5, Fanfic, Way Series |

"Out of the Way"

Part 1/1

Story V in the "Way" Series

Copyright (C) 1996 by A. Manley Huff

<ahaight@earthlink.net>This story is not in any way intended to infringe on copyrights held by J. 

Michael Straczynski, Babylonian Productions Inc., or Time Warner 

Productions.  This story may be distributed only with prior permission of 

the author, and may not be posted to any archive, ftp site, or web page 

without the written permission of the author.  This story is distributed 

for the individual personal entertainment of persons over 21, and is not 

subject to purchase or sale by anyone.

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	Garibaldi woke up because he realized he couldn't move his legs.  

Then he realized that Susan was wrapped around them, sound asleep.

	He grinned up at the ceiling in the darkness of his bedroom.  John 

was close to him, curled on his side, snoring gently.  The impression of a 

panther from the night before was still strong, and even as Garibaldi 

reached out to rub his back, Sheridan shifted slightly and rumbled in a 

remarkably pantherous way.

	Really wanting to stretch his legs out, he gently moved them, 

extricating them one at a time.  Susan stirred and complained in a soft, 

unconscious moan, holding him tighter for a moment.

	"Hey," he murmured.  "Gimme my legs back.  They're cramping."  

Susan growled in some semblance of comprehension and allowed him to 

stretch out on the bed.  "Ahhh, that's a lot better," he sighed.

	"Can't help it," Susan mumbled from under the covers.  "They're 

comfortable."

	"Sorry I woke you up," Garibaldi replied quietly.  "But I hadda 

stretch."  Susan shifted, a shrug, and rolled over.  He wished he could 

see her; she was naked, as they all were, and his memories of her nudity 

made him feel very warm inside.

	"S'okay," she sighed.  She hummed, amused.  "Hope you liked last 

night."

	"Like?" he said.  "Why is it that we can't come up with words good 

enough for things?"  He sighed, and when he spoke again his voice was 

gentle.  "My God, Susan.  I didn't know I could feel like that.  I didn't 

know I could feel like I do now."

	"How do you feel now?" she wondered quietly.  There was a soft 

pause in the darkness.

	"Safe," he said.  She heard him laugh.  "Isn't that something?  I feel 

safe.  And wanted.  Loved.  I'm not used to feeling like that."

	"I'm glad you feel that way," she said.  "It means John and I got our 

message across."

	He was going to ask her what she meant by that, but was 

interrupted by Sheridan rolling over and rumbling deep in his chest.  His 

question faded into the back of his mind as another, somewhat more 

immediate, curiosity took hold of him.

	"You think he would mind if we woke him up?" Garibaldi asked.  

Ivanova chuckled.

	"Depends how you plan on waking him up," she said.

	"Oh, I was definitely thinking of something very naughty," he 

murmured.  He reached out under the covers, searching for Sheridan's 

body.  He found it, closing his hand around an unexpectedly stiff, warm 

erection.  Sheridan rumbled again, his hips thrusting gently, reflexively.  

"Whoa," he said.

	"What?" Susan wondered.

	"Middle of the night boner," Garibaldi said, sounding extremely 

pleased.  "We should take advantage of this, you know."

	"Well," Susan said, "he did tell me once he liked being treated like 

a sex object."

	"Yeah?  Well, let's go for it."

	"What did you have in mind?" she asked.

	"I was thinking the classic double mouth attack," he said.  "I'll go 

for his cock and you can have the rest."  She laughed.

	"Deal."

	"Oh yeah," she heard him mutter and they switched places in the 

bed, Garibaldi moving down to spread Sheridan's legs and Ivanova 

putting herself up by Sheridan's chest.  Garibaldi hummed pleasurably 

and she heard a wet sound that she knew very well.  Sheridan's hips 

pushed up, a low growl coming out of his throat.

	"Don't be gentle, Michael," she said as she leaned down to lick at 

Sheridan's nipples.  "He likes it rough and intense.  Suck for all you're 

worth."  He laughed, his mouth full, and suddenly Sheridan convulsed, 

his voice breaking into the room sharply.  It startled her even as she felt 

adrenaline flame out from her middle.

	Everything came undone when she bit down on his nipple.  A 

sound like nothing she'd ever known came roaring out of John's throat, 

his hand raising up to claw across Susan's back, nails digging deep.  She 

grunted, surprised by the pain and the suddenness of it, but didn't 

relent.  She knew she didn't dare stop, and hoped Michael had the sense 

to keep going, too.

	What she didn't know was that Michael had made his teeth felt at 

almost the same instant she did, nipping sharply at the tender skin 

under the head of Sheridan's cock and drawing his teeth back down the 

shaft.  He took Susan at her word that Sheridan liked it rough.  Neither 

of them -- possibly not John himself, either -- really understood how true 

that was.

	Sheridan's voice was clear and hard, like polished steel in the air, 

as he yelled and swore, writhing on the bed.  They had to hold him down 

to keep him still enough, and he still fucked Michael's mouth with a 

savage relish.  He made enough noise to wake the dead, all in that 

bright, shining voice that spoke of unbearable fire, a sexual fury that 

went beyond his body and would remain unsatisfied even once this was 

done.  He did not speak their names, did not say anything intelligible 

beyond the most rudimentary exclamations of affirmation and desire, but 

his voice alone made their guts wrench, made their hearts tremble and 

their groins flame.  A man who would never get enough -- of this, or 

anything.

	Susan discovered, purely by obeying an impulse that she usually 

suppressed, that he loved to be bitten.  Hard.  She left deep marks on his 

ribs and belly, bruises that would show darkly later.  He howled with 

each one, laughing, swearing, begging for her to do it again.  She bit his 

throat and he grabbed her by the hair, pulling her mouth to his brutally. 

 She tasted blood, not sure whose it was and not caring.

	Michael was not even sucking on him when he finally started to 

writhe the way he did when his orgasm was approaching.  Michael had 

the head of John's cock in his mouth and was applying gentle pressure 

with his teeth on the flesh, alternating with quick strokes of his tongue 

around the crown and into the hole.  Obviously it was bliss, and he kept 

it up at a steady, uneven pace as John began to howl.

	"Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah _oh yeah_ _oh yeah_ _yeah_ _yeah_ 

_yeah_ _yeah_ YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAHHHHHH AAAAAAAHHHHHH!"  He 

arched his back, drawn taut as a steel cable, Susan's mouth sucking 

hard on one nipple and Michael taking his come eagerly.  When the peak 

of it let go suddenly, he swore violently again.  "FUCK, _oh_ dammit..."  A 

growl left him, low and shuddering.  "Ah, shit, that hurt."  He started to 

laugh, full-throated and exalted.

	Then there was a violent rustle in the bedcovers as Sheridan tore 

through the bed toward Garibaldi.  Strong hands closed on Garibaldi's 

shoulders and he was pushed down on his back.  He could sense 

Sheridan looming over him in the darkness, pausing for a considering 

instant, breath ragged.  Then a hot mouth on his, tasting him, tasting 

what he had taken out of John's cock.  Sheridan growled at him, the kiss 

almost cruel.  Garibaldi knew the truth, though -- blind hunger, a 

simple, oppressive need to devour.  He rubbed his hands up Sheridan's 

back, welcoming it even though it was painful.  Sheridan seemed to get 

his fill, and broke the kiss with a groan.  "Oh God yes," Sheridan moaned 

breathlessly.  "God, you two are so fucking amazing."  He sat up, 

reaching for Susan.  He found her shoulder, moved closer to her as she 

turned to face him.  He put his palm on her back, searching for the deep 

scoring he had given her.  "I think you're bleeding," he murmured, 

drawing away wet fingertips.

	"I'll live," she said, sounding distinctly amused.

	"Christ, John," Garibaldi said from his pose on his back.  "Did you 

grow fangs and horns when I wasn't looking?"  Sheridan laughed roughly 

in the dark.

	"I guess I was a lot less inhibited...sleeping like that and then 

having you wake me up.  Oh, I love it, damn..."

	"You like waking up like that?" Susan asked.

	"Ooh, yeah," Sheridan purred.  He laughed again, sounding briefly 

shy.  "Urm...what time is it?"

	"A little after four hundred," Garibaldi said, and Sheridan groaned 

tiredly.

	"No wonder I'm exhausted."  There was the sound of him flopping 

back down onto the bed.  He heard Ivanova chuckle.

						***

	The next morning, Sheridan spent an unusually long time in his 

office taking an interstellar communication.  When he came out, he 

looked much more upbeat than when he had gone it.  She watched him 

come around the upper deck in C&C, privately appreciating his 

muscular, easy gait.

	"Good news," he muttered to her.  "The Lumati want another 

meeting.  The Ambassador said it was to 'finalize our relationship'.  From 

talking with him it looks like they want to deepen our alliance, maybe 

provide us with a lot more firepower and resources than we're currently 

getting.  He wants me to come to their flagship for negotiations."

	"That _is_ good news," she said.  "Uh...do I have to go?"  He 

grinned.

	"No," Sheridan said, and she heaved a sigh.  "They said they only 

required me.  It's traditional, apparently."

	"Thank God," she said.  "I don't think I could...do _that_ again."  

Sheridan stifled a laugh.

	"You looked pretty good from where _I_ was watching," he 

murmured for her ears only.

	"So when do you go?" she asked.

	"Tomorrow," he said.  "I'll take a Starfury out.  Their flagship's in 

Ganges sector -- close enough that I'm not worried.  I'll probably be gone 

about four days."  Ivanova nodded, then she looked apprehensive.

	"You know, the Lumati's method for sealing deals is pretty well 

established.  Do you think they're going to make you..."

	"I don't know," Sheridan shrugged.  He looked a little apprehensive 

in the depths of his blue eyes.  "Guess I'll find out, won't I?  It can't be 

much worse than what we've already done, and that wasn't so bad."

	"I guess not."

						***

	"This sucks."

	Ivanova sighed as she sat down in front of Garibaldi.  It had been 

he who had spoken, and she nodded, drumming her fingers on the table. 

 They were in Earhart's, the high babble and warm laughter of good 

morale keeping the place hopping.

	"I miss him, too," she said, downing a swallow of her drink.  

"Thought I was gonna go crazy this morning when I woke up wishing I 

could fuck him and he wasn't there.  It's frustrating."

	"I hadn't realized how much a part of my sexual habits you two 

have become," Garibaldi said in a low voice.  "I can still jerk off but it 

isn't as much fun as when you guys watch.  So, I don't even bother.  

Jeez, I haven't come since he left two days ago."

	"That's bad for you," Ivanova teased him.  "Tell you what, I'll take 

you to dinner.  Gotta do something to stop from going nuts, right?"  He 

grinned.

	"Sounds good.  How's nineteen hundred sound?"

	"Perfect."

						***

	He had a sexy walk, a casual swagger that transferred to her body 

softly as they went deeper into the maze.  She had one arm around his 

lower back, able to feel his muscles shift as he moved, definition sharp 

beneath his silk shirt.  His hand shifted a little where he had an arm 

across her shoulders, holding her close against his body as his thumb 

rubbed her trapezius restlessly, slowly.  They had been walking like that 

since they left the restaurant, each of them comfortable with the 

closeness, needing the sensuality of it but hesitant to take another step 

that would bring them to the level of intimacy they always knew in 

John's presence.

	The oddness of that struck Ivanova suddenly.  Sheridan was the 

exhibitionist, Garibaldi the voyeur, and _she_ felt inhibited when John 

_wasn't_ around?  Oh, that was one for the books, all right.

	//What happened to the brass nerve, Susan?// she asked herself 

wryly.  //Can't go for Garibaldi's ass when Sheridan's not looking?  Oh, 

that's sad woman.  Very sad.  And his ass is so cute...//  It was the soft 

scent of his cologne again, flooding her groin with warmth, that finally 

got her nerve back.  She moved her hand down over his belt, down to rub 

her palm over one of his buttocks firmly.  She felt his hand tighten on 

her shoulder but he said nothing.

	"What's the matter, Chief?" she teased in a low voice.  "Don't you 

like being fondled by a superior officer?"

	"Oh, I like it a lot," he sighed ruefully, glancing at her.  She saw the 

heat in his eyes.  "Just...nervous, I guess."  And he did shiver suddenly.

	"Of me, or where we are?" she wondered.  He swallowed.

	"Both," he said.  She stopped him and they paused on the path.

	"I'm the one who's supposed to be a prude about this, remember?" 

she said, rubbing her hands up his chest.  She found his nipples 

through his shirt and he gave a sharp sigh, his eyes closing briefly.

	"Dammit," he whispered, "no fair taking shortcuts."  And he bent 

his head to meet her as she reached for his mouth with her own.  

"Mmmm...uuurrrryeah," he sighed, putting his arms around her tightly.  

"You are so fucking sexy."  She chuckled as he kissed his way down her 

neck to the collar of her white shirt, nuzzling the hollow of her throat.  

She was surprised when he pulled away, still swallowing hard.

	"What is it, Michael?" she said.  He shook himself a little, taking 

his hands off of her hips.

	"We shouldn't be doing this," he murmured, looking away uneasily.

	"What the hell are you talking about?" she said, keeping her voice 

down but very confused.  "If you're nervous about being out here we can 

sure as hell go somewhere else."

	"It's not that," he said.  "Well, not entirely."  He rubbed at his face, 

still not meeting her eyes.

	"Look at me for Chrissakes," she hissed and he obeyed reluctantly. 

 "Is it something I did?  God, Michael, at least tell me."  Michael put his 

hands in his pockets and shrugged frustratedly.  He couldn't think of 

any way to explain so he just said it as basically as he could.

	"You're John's," he muttered.

	"I'm _what_?" she said.  "Are you out of your mind?  John doesn't 

_own_ me like some kind of...of _cat_."  Garibaldi's mouth twitched -- a 

leopard was exactly what she looked like that moment.  A sleek, sexy...

	"Susan, moving in on you while John's not around is the worst 

thing a man can do to his friend," Michael sighed.

	"Don't look now," Susan growled, "but you and John did it without 

telling _me_."  Michael looked shocked for a moment.

	"But...he said you wouldn't mind..."  Oh, that sounded good.  "That 

you'd talked about it before and you _wanted_ him to if he wanted it."

	"That's right," Susan said quietly.  "And we had the same 

conversation about you and me.  Jesus Murphy, Michael, how thick is 

your skull anyway?  John's not the voyeur.  Do you think he would have 

let you and me do what we've already done if he were jealous?  If he 

comes back from this diplomatic mission and finds out we _haven't_ 

done anything while he was gone, he'll think there's something wrong 

with us.  He's been worried from the beginning that you and I won't ever 

warm up to each other, and...and I for one am glad we did."  She realized 

her throat was trying to close up.  "Michael, didn't you hear me the other 

night?"  She took his face in her hands.  "Ya lublu tyebya."  She 

whispered it for him, softly exotic.  "Ya lublu tyebya.  I love you.  

Dammit."

	He kissed her again, filled with heat from her closeness, comforted 

by her words -- given the permission that some part of him needed.  He 

wasn't betraying John by doing this...wasn't trying to take something 

that Susan didn't already want to give him.  Sweet, ferocious 

lust...Garibaldi hummed low in his throat.  He wanted her bad, wanted 

to hold and kiss her and pleasure her.  She responded so deliciously to 

him, writhing in his arms now as he kissed her throat, nuzzling hard into 

her neck and collarbone.

	She pulled at him, dragging him by his tunic down a side path in 

the maze to a low stone bench.  She needed to feel him, to press close.  

She made him sit down and she climbed into his lap to straddle him.  

His surprise was obvious in his face but he didn't resist, and she pushed 

her sex against his cock through their clothes.  He was rock hard 

beneath her.  She held his face, thumbs stroking his cheeks sensually.

	"Jesus, Michael, you've got such a big cock," she whispered.  "I 

want it, you know.  I love big cocks."  He felt a surge of primal pride and 

shifted slightly to let her feel more of it, spreading his knees a little more 

and pushing it between her legs.

	"That sounds really good from my perspective," Garibaldi 

murmured, his arms around her waist.  She moved again, grinding her 

pelvis into his, trying to ease the throbbing ache in her sex.  He shoved 

gently and her breath caught.  He grinned.  "Found something, huh?" he 

asked.  "Like that?"  She took his lower lip between her teeth and nipped 

him, making him grunt.

	"Hell, Michael," she groaned.  "I love that.  I love you, I love your big 

cock, I love your hands around me.  One of these days I was gonna just 

fuck you in front of John, see what he thought of it.  He'd love to watch, 

I'm sure.  But he's not here and I'll just have to take my ease without 

him, won't I?"  She grinned at him and was rewarded by a look of utter 

desire and naked wanting on his face.  He moved again, the hard ridge of 

his cock pressing against her clitoris through layers of their trousers and 

underwear.  She gasped a curse and Michael licked his lips.

	"Thought so," he murmured.  "Let's see if we can't do something 

about _that_, hm?"  His hand was on her belt buckle, pulling it loose.  He 

unfastened her trousers as she watched, silent, breathless, unzipping 

them down to the seam quietly.  He pulled the tails of her blouse out and 

put his hand up under it to lie flat on her lower abdomen.  She exhaled 

shakily, resisting the urge to move, to get his hand closer to her sex.

	But he had that in mind already, his thumb exploring down under 

the edge of her underwear, pushing through soft, curly hair.  The outer 

lips of her sex were swollen and warm, and when he probed gently his 

thumb was covered in wetness.  He grinned up at her as she gasped.

	"Michael," she whispered, amazed, hungry.  "Oh yeah.  Yeah, do 

it."

	"Hell, you're ready, aren't you?" he growled.  "Susan, oh man, it 

makes me crazy to feel you wet like this for me.  You want me to touch 

you?  Huh?"  His thumbpad touched her clitoris firmly and she choked 

on a groan, holding his eyes in desperate thirst, not daring to move from 

his lap, not daring to do anything but beg him with her eyes and her 

voice.

	"Yeah, Michael, come on," she hissed.  His hand was hidden under 

the trailing edge of her blouse, buried in her trousers, his thumb 

stroking wetly back and forth between the lips of her sex, stroking her 

clitoris lightly.  She shuddered with every sliding touch, her entire body 

quivering.  Her hands were gripped into his shoulders tightly and his 

cock flared in his pants.  "Yeah Michael," she whispered brokenly as 

electric flame rushed up her back from her groin.  "Yeah Michael."

	He licked his mouth, watching her, feeling her with one arm 

around her back and the other bent to pleasure her.  Her weight on his 

lap shifted when she twitched.  He could feel her shivering, saw the raw 

sensation in her gray eyes, the sheer intensity of her desire.  He pushed 

his thumb back farther to her vaginal opening, which was also hot and 

pulsing.  He flicked his thumbtip into it and she gave a strangled gasp.  

He repeated it swiftly, rapid flickering strokes in and out of the sensitive 

flesh.  She shuddered violently, whimpering, beyond speech to express 

her appreciation.

	"That makes you want my cock, huh?" Garibaldi whispered 

fiercely, their mouths close.  "Want something bigger than my thumb?"  

He dragged his thumbtip back across her clitoris, pausing to tickle it.  

Her hands clenched into his arms viciously, her eyes finally closing for a 

few panting breaths.

	"I thought," she gasped softly, "thought you didn't like doing things 

like this in public."  Garibaldi smiled wickedly.

	"This path's a dead end," he said, "and my back's to the open end.  

Who can tell, huh?  Unless you start yelling."  He chuckled as she swore 

at him.  He was rubbing her clitoris now, a steady, urgent pleasuring 

meant to drive her over the edge with a scream.  He wondered if he would 

have to kiss her to keep her quiet, but she was holding her screams 

down to quiet groans -- just barely.  "Yeah, there you go, Susan," she 

whispered.  "Am I gonna make you come?  I've been wanting to, you 

know.  Do it just for me."  He stroked through her wetness again, making 

her snarl, then returned to rubbing her clitoris in a sharp, even rhythm.

	"Dammit, Michael, you're gonna make me..."

	"Come on, Susan, do it for me -- "

	"Can't hold it, oh Jesus -- "

	"Gonna come, huh, Susan?  You want my cock in there?  God, 

you're so hot -- "

	"Yeah, I want you, Michael, oh I'm coming -- "

	"Let go, come on -- "

	"Yeah, I'm gonna -- "

	"That's it -- "

	"Oh, Christ -- "

	"There you go," Michael crooned, "yeah there it is, Susan."  She 

was grunting, whimpering, eyes shut tight and writhing against him.  

"Mmm, yeah.  God, I want to fuck you."  Her sex was throbbing hard, 

wetness flooding his thumb and part of his palm.  "Do it for me, yeah, 

Jesus it looks so good."  She gulped hard, trying to stifle her moans.  His 

thumb slowed carefully when she flinched, sensitive in the hot wake of a 

fiery orgasm.

	"You wanna fuck me, Michael?" she gasped, holding his face to 

force him to look at her.  He was flushed, trembling with arousal.  "Let's 

do it then.  Come on; we'll go back to my quarters.  Right now.  While 

you're still hot for it.  Dammit I still want your cock."

	"Oh yeah, God," Michael groaned.  She climbed off of his lap, 

hastily stuffing her blouse into her trousers and zipping them back.  

Garibaldi got to his feet eagerly, shifting his cock in his pants.  It would 

show while they went through the corridors back to her quarters, but 

there wasn't much he could do about it but bluff his way.  //At least I'm 

big,// he thought.  //Maybe that'll keep their mouths shut.//

	"Come on," Susan muttered, pulling him with her out of the 

labyrinth.

	He grabbed her as soon as they got inside the front room of her 

quarters, not even waiting for the door to shut.  She was on him just as 

quickly, pressing her mouth to his passionately, licking and tasting him. 

 She unbuttoned his shirt swiftly, getting her hands inside.

	"You want my cock, huh?" he murmured between kisses.  His own 

hands were working on her belt and trousers, pulling her shirttails out.  

Her hands were everywhere; on his nipples, stroking down his chest, 

sliding into his pants.  When had those gotten unzipped?

	"Yes," was all she said, too breathless to come up with anything 

more profound or witty than that.  "Now.  Please, Michael."  Her trousers 

and underwear were around her knees, one of his hands between her 

legs.

	"Jesus," he murmured.  She was _really_ ready, wet and warm 

under his fingers.  He teased her softly and she groaned, almost a sound 

of pain.  She kicked the trousers off irritably, absently, pushing 

Garibaldi's boxers down to bare that big cock that haunted her dreams.

	"Come on," she muttered, drawing him back toward the wall.  

"Please, Michael."  As she turned around he understood what she 

wanted, and she put both hands on the bulkhead as he took her hips 

firmly.  He shifted carefully, pushing the white shirttails from her 

buttocks and taking the excuse to caress her, getting his cock between 

her thighs.  He felt a drop of warm wetness land on the tip right before 

he pushed it against the lips of her sex.  So wet -- Christ, he thought it 

almost throbbed around the tip of his cock.  "Michaelllll," she groaned.

	Even as she begged him with his own name, he pushed, sinking 

deep into her with a sigh of such relief, oh, it was so good...

	"Oooooohhhhh yeeaaahhhh," Michael purred as her sex clenched 

around him like a vise.  She was so tight and hot; he laughed softly, 

amazed, delighted.

	"Do it," Susan hissed.  "God..."  He withdrew slowly, as Susan drew 

her breath in through clenched teeth.  When he rammed back into her 

suddenly, she cried out, her fingers going stiff on the wall like talons.  

Not in the mood for teasing games, Michael immediately started 

thrusting, a steady, urgent fucking that drove Susan wild.  She clawed at 

the wall, groaning loudly.  "Oh yeah, you're so fucking big, oh my God, 

Michael..."  He held her hips tightly, ramming into her hungrily, letting 

himself groan and purr and laugh.  She pounded the wall hard with her 

fist, once, and swore viciously, pushing back against him.  She couldn't 

get enough of him, couldn't have enough of that delicious cock, his 

hands strong on her hips.  "Can't take you all the way like this," she 

moaned suddenly.  "Gotta move."

	Michael slowed his thrusting for a few moments.  Her legs 

quivered; he could feel the trembling in her flanks under his hands.

	"Aw, do I hafta pull out?" he teased in a whisper.  She growled at 

him and he withdrew.  He shoved his pants and boxers the rest of the 

way off, kicking them away along with his shoes.  "I got an idea, though," 

he said, pulling her away from the wall, getting her close to him to hold 

and kiss her as he moved her back across the room.

	"Mmm?" she moaned, lost in his mouth.  His hands were undoing 

her shirt buttons to bare her breasts and belly.  Damn, she was 

gorgeous.  She gasped when he picked her up and sat her down on the 

table.  "I don't think the table's sturdy enough for this..." she managed as 

Michael bent over her.

	"Guess we'll find out, won't we?" he said wickedly and pushed her 

down on her back with a hard thump.  In the next instant he had both of 

her legs in his hands and was shoving his cock into her.  It went in -- all 

the way in -- and Susan let out a roar of surprise and relish.  Her hands 

gripped the table's edge, holding on for leverage and also out of sheer 

violence.

	"Ha!  Gotcha all the way now, don't I?" Michael snarled, bucking 

hard to take her breath away.  She just laughed wildly as the table jolted 

with each thrust, lifting partway off the floor.  There was the hard, wet 

sound of his hips slamming against hers, the thudding bounce of the 

table, and both of them yelling and grunting noisily.

	They gradually pushed the table across the floor until it hit the 

wall, and Michael found himself with exquisite leverage, pounding into 

Susan with a spontaneous, fiery abandon the likes of which he hadn't 

known in any kind of recent memory.  He knew it was going to be over 

soon, and when Susan started showing signs of reaching a breaking 

point, he slowed, leaning down.  "Suzotchka," he murmured, "let's move 

this to the bed, huh?  You'll be more comfortable."  She groaned pitifully.

	"Oh, God, Michael, I'm so close," she moaned.  Michael got his 

hands around her waist, pulling her up off the table.  She put her hands 

around his neck, legs around him, and he picked her up.

	"Come on," he crooned.  Standing up, he held her tightly, hands 

gripped around her sweat-slicked buttocks.  He was still ensheathed in 

her, deep enough that he could feel her sex throbbing dully.  It was 

difficult to hold the position, and he walked carefully into the bedroom.  

Susan, her arms around his neck, murmured something in Russian, and 

then whispered to him.

	"Oh, Michael," she purred.  "God, I'm so close.  You're so big, 

damn, I think I could almost come just like this."  He said nothing, just 

lowered her down onto the bed, and she reached back to brace herself as 

he came down on top of her.  "Hard and fast, Michael, hard and fast," 

she hissed.  He obeyed immediately, starting to buck savagely and able 

to see in her eyes the orgasm that threatened her.  "Oh yeah, Michael, oh 

yeah, come on...God you're gonna make me come, gonna make me -- "  

She broke off and yelled in Russian, bright and clear like glass, arching 

back and clutching at his shoulders.

	His own climax wasn't far behind, and when Susan regained some 

coherency, she saw it in his tension, his hard fucking, the quivering 

groans that escaped him.

	"Gonna do it," he groaned hoarsely, "yeah, coming, 

aaaaahhhHHH!"  It flooded over him in a rush of heat and piercing 

pleasure, surging out of his cock deliciously.  He was surprised by her 

voice in the midst of it.

	"Pull out, Michael," she breathed.  "Let me watch you come."  He 

withdrew his cock, sitting back even as the orgasm peaked and he 

groaned softly.  She loved seeing it, his big cock spilling its heat on her, 

splashing over her thighs and her sex.  He was holding himself gently, 

fingers and thumb delicately stroking key sensitive spots on the shaft 

and crown.  He leaned his head back and he moaned quietly, clearly 

finding a more ethereal pleasure in it than in the fucking, and wetness 

dripped over his knuckles.

	He finally went dry, still trembling gently, his back arched in 

sensuous pleasure.  He looked down at her from up on his knees, then 

reached up, back behind his head to stretch, flexing biceps luxuriously 

and purring.

	"Now _that_," he said, "was a good, old-fashioned _screw_."  Susan 

chuckled, writhing sensually on the bed on her back.

	"Well I feel most thoroughly screwed," she agreed.  Michael shook 

himself out with a satisfied sigh.

	"Ohhhh, man," he breathed.  "That was _good_.  I haven't had a 

fuck like that in...well, shit, ever, I think."  He laughed, and so did she.  

Michael carefully unbent his legs from under him and lay down on the 

bed.  "Ahhhhhh.  Much better.  I think a lot of my muscles are gonna 

hurt tomorrow."

	"I always kind of liked that part," she murmured, amused.  "Like 

my body reminding me of what I did."  He hummed contentedly, and she 

grinned.  "You want to stay here tonight?  You can, you know."

	"Rrrrrrmmmm," he said, sprawling out on the bed.  "Thanks.  I 

don't know if I could face the rest of the station right now after running 

through the halls with a raging boner in my trousers."  She giggled.

						***

	He had just gotten out of the shower the next morning when she 

barged into the lavatory.

	"Jeez, you're forward," he grumbled teasingly as he toweled off.  

She was naked, deliciously, achingly naked.  He felt warmth pool in his 

groin and when she took the towel away from him mischievously, he was 

laid bare, his cock rising between his legs in slow, pulsing steps.  

Something devious flickered in her eyes and she wrapped her hand 

around his erection.

	"Come here," Susan murmured wickedly.  "I want to teach you 

something."  Garibaldi followed interestedly as she led him back to the 

bed by his cock.

	"Yeah?" he said.  "What?"

	"Kneel down on the bed," she said, gesturing in front of her as she 

climbed into the middle of the covers.  "You ever tease yourself by 

bringing yourself right to the edge and then backing off, to see how long 

you can keep yourself close but not actually coming?"  Garibaldi shot her 

a hooded, thoughtful look as he climbed onto the bed.  Then he smiled 

curiously, like a man with a secret.

	"Yeah," he said.  "I'm pretty good at it, if that's what you're getting 

at.  Why, you going to go for another record?"  She laughed and moved 

close to him, touching his thighs to rub them sensuously.

	"No," she said.  "Not exactly."  She got her own thighs around his, 

almost sitting astride him.  "I want you to touch yourself, play with 

yourself, but don't come.  I'll do the same.  We keep doing it until we 

can't stand it anymore, and then I take your cock inside me.  The idea is 

for the penetration to be the trigger that sets us off, without any 

thrusting."

	"You mean we get so crazy that just my cock going in makes us 

come?" he said, licking his lips.  She was _very_ close, and he was 

already responding, his cock starting to twitch.  She noticed it and 

grinned.

	"Yep," she said, sliding her hand down between her legs.  "You're a 

voyeur," she mused.  "You get off from watching me play with myself, 

don't you?"  Michael swallowed hard.

	"Oh yeah," he murmured.  "Like you wouldn't believe."

	"So go on," she urged.  "Do yourself too.  But don't come.  Not until 

we're both crazy for it."  He put his hand around his own cock, just 

holding tight for a moment, watching her as she put two fingers down 

into the soft hair of her sex and started to move her hand slowly.  He saw 

the instant of delight on her face, sweet and hungry.  His cock hardened 

the rest of the way and he stroked gently with two fingers of his own on 

the underside of the shaft, applying pressure.

	"Damn, it sounds like fun if we can do it right," he sighed, loving 

her passionate gray eyes.  "Jesus, you make me hard just looking at me." 

 She chuckled.

	"Good," she whispered.  It sounded a little strained.  "So do you.  

The eagerness on your face, so raw..."  She started to groan softly, 

holding his eyes, her hand moving between her legs.  He ached to help, 

to touch her, his cock throbbing with the thought, but he knew that self-

discipline was crucial to this.  Keeping his hand on himself, watching 

her, waiting for the right moment...

	"You tried this with John yet?" he wondered.  Susan grinned at 

him.  It was savage.

	"He can't do it," she said in a gasp.  "He doesn't have the self-

control.  But I think you do.  Don't prove me wrong."

	"I can do it," Michael growled, grinning to match hers.  Her thighs 

were tight around his, her body writhing gently, so close her caressing 

hand almost touched his where he stroked his cock.  "Hell if I can't.  

Fuck, you make me horny, Susan.  The way you look at me, at my cock.  

How bad you want it.  God, when I had you on the table last night you 

were begging for it, yelling for it you wanted it so bad.  I never had 

anybody that hot for me.  Oh, man..."

	"It isn't just your cock," she said, deliciously inflamed by his 

words, by the determination with which he returned her heated stare.  

"It's what you can do with it.  Any man can have a big cock.  I've been 

with men before who were big like you.  But you really know how to use 

it right.  Like you said, a good old-fashioned screw.  Damn, Michael, I'll 

yell for it every time if you keep fucking me like that."

	Michael licked his mouth again.  His cock was so hard it almost 

hurt, his hand on it the perfect stimulation he had taught himself over 

his lifetime.

	"Ahhhrrrr," he growled, slowing his hand suddenly and closing his 

eyes for an instant.  "God, that's so good."

	"Close, huh?" she murmured, grinning.  He nodded, his jaw 

clenched, smiling.  "Good; you're doing good so far."  He saw her hand 

move suddenly, heard the wet sound of her plunging two fingers into her 

sex, penetrating herself.  She shuddered and Michael fought to keep his 

hand still until the pleasure receded enough for him to continue without 

coming instantly.  Jesus, she was hot...

	"Fuck, you're gonna drive me nuts, Susan," he groaned, laughing.

	"That's the idea," she hissed, leaning forward briefly to lick at his 

mouth.  He gasped and reached back with his own tongue.  She pulled 

away after a few moments and he bared his teeth hungrily.

	"Fuck, Susan," he whispered.  "Oh..."  This time it was she who 

almost came, groaning painfully with the frustration of stilling her hand 

and holding his gaze fiercely.  The sight of it made his own climax swell 

suddenly and his hand stopped, gripping tight to the shaft.  His cock 

shivered but the orgasm didn't arrive.

	"Yeah, Michael," she groaned.  "You want it?"

	"God you don't know how much," he hissed, looking up at her 

where she nearly straddled him.  "But not until we're both crazy, yeah?"  

She laughed softly.

	For almost forty minutes, they sat close and drove themselves and 

each other to the brink of insanity.  Sweat rolled down Michael's back, 

heat in his thighs, his belly, groin, chest.  Everything was burning on the 

edge of breaking him with the need that flamed in his body.  He had 

fought it back seven times and now hovered on a plateau of something 

unimaginable, like that sweet, painful instant just before orgasm, but 

drawn out over the space of minutes.  He felt sweat drip off of his chin 

again onto his quivering hand where it was tight around his ruddy, 

swollen cock.  The hole at the tip was so wet, leaking gently onto his 

knuckles and mingling with his sweat.  He'd never been so incredibly 

ready.

	Susan was no better.  They both sweated where they touched, 

dampness between her skin and his, hot like being in an oven.  Her sex 

was swollen and tender, direct touch on her clitoris so unbearable she 

had resorted to teasing around it.  Even that now was enough to bring a 

warm threat of climax and she backed off, trembling.  She swallowed 

hard for the hundredth time, loving the sight of Michael's astonishing 

self-control, the absolute, raw need in his face in spite of it.  They still 

held the other's stare, loving the glimpses of feral thirst in the other's 

eyes, lips pressed together, throats closing around low grunts and 

moans.

	"Susan," he said in a strangled whisper.  "Susan, I can't take it any 

more.  I gotta have it.  I gotta have you around me, oh, God, let me, 

_please_..."

	"Not yet," she grated.  "I'm not...quite...ready..."  Her hand moved 

again, slow, teasing, around the edge of the lips of her sex, then pushing 

inside suddenly for an instant and pulling out again as she gave a 

heaving gasp of sexual shock.  "Oh..."

	"Susannnnn," he groaned, stroking a finger around the crown of 

his cock.  The ridge was too sensitive now; just a single lick there and he 

would be done for.  He leaned toward her, reaching as if to bite her, and 

then his mouth closed with a snap of teeth, his lips peeled back from 

them in a snarl.  "Susan, dammit, I _need_ it.  Fuck, I'm gonna go 

insane..."  She put her free hand on his shoulder and squeezed tightly.

	"Think it's now," she gasped.  "I think..."  She rose from her 

kneeling position to climb onto him, taking her hand away from her sex 

finally.  Holding his shoulders with both hands, she lowered herself 

carefully, hovering just over his cock.  "Yeah, Michael?  Gonna do it?"

	"Shit, yeah," he hissed.  "Just wanting it I think I can come now, 

oh, Susan..."  He put his hands on her hips as she came down on him, 

slowly, exquisitely, letting herself down onto his cock and he began to 

impale her.  Her sex started to quiver and throb, right on the edge, and 

something enormous rushed forward inside her, a tide of impossible 

pleasure about to hit.

	"Michael," she choked, "Michael, oh, Michaelllll -- "  He saw the 

dawning shock in her eyes, felt her sex trembling around his rock hard 

cock.  Then something touched him, deep inside, like a finger across the 

very essence of his sexual soul.  He sucked in a deep, shocked breath, 

filling his lungs with astonishment and fire as something awesome began 

to flame in his groin.

	"Oh, _Susan_," he breathed in pure amazement.  "Oh, fucking 

_Christ_ -- "  He reached up and took her face in his hands, holding her 

eyes, wanting to see every moment of this, to show her what he was 

feeling.  "Oh, I'm doin' it, hell yeah, 

oh..._fucking_..._Christ_...Ah...Ah...Ah...Ah..."

	"Coming with you, Michael," Susan whispered feverishly, holding 

his wrists.  "Yeah, feel it?  Oh, yeah, I can feel you coming.  Oh, _God_..." 

 But she didn't look away from him, her sex throbbing hard, gripping 

him, waves of ecstasy flaring out to fill her with shudders and groans.

	It seemed to take forever to let go, receding like a slow tide, warmth 

washing through them both until they became aware of their own 

panting, hard breaths and the sweat that covered them.  Michael looked 

stunned, his eyes so open to her in that moment, and she gazed back at 

him, wondering if he saw as deeply into her.

	Then she started to laugh, a full-throated sound of joy and delight. 

 Michael grinned and let out a whoop.

	"Eeeeeeyyyyyaaaahoooo!" he howled, grabbing her around the 

waist with both arms and grinning up at her.  "That was _incredible_!  

Oh, god dammit!  Where the _fuck_ did you learn how to do that?"

	"Trade secret," she panted.  "I gotta keep something to myself, don't 

I?"  She kissed him long and obscenely, and he purred, his arms around 

her.  "You're good at it, too, Michael.  You're _really_ good."

	"Think we should try to let John in on it?" he wondered as she 

disengaged from him.  "We could try teaching him."  He looked and 

sounded like he savored the idea of engaging Sheridan that way.  She 

laughed, sprawling out on the bed on her belly.

	"We could drive him crazy doing it in front of him," she said 

thoughtfully.  "He'd end up fucking one or both of us in an explosion of 

lust.  As I said, he doesn't have the self-control to do it with me, but it 

was kind of fun watching him lose it."

	"Huh, I'll _bet_," Garibaldi said wryly.

	"Not a bad idea, though," Ivanova said finally.  "Part of the problem 

is that when John and I try it, we're both aroused and when he loses 

control I don't want to stop him, and we end up fucking.  But if there was 

someone else there, kind of a referee, it might work better."

	"Definitely something to keep in mind," Garibaldi said.

						***

	They met Sheridan when he came back the next day in his 

Starfury, escorted by two Lumati heavy fighters.  He came out of the 

pilot's locker room looking tired and besieged.

	"Welcome back, Captain," Ivanova said warmly.  He smiled at 

them, glad for their friendship suddenly as if he had realized while he 

was gone how precious it was.  "How did it go?"

	"Well," Sheridan said with a sigh, "we got a more complete 

commitment from the Lumati.  They've been having raids on their outer 

colonies -- Shadow ships and their allies.  They want an alliance with us; 

they're scared I think, and I don't blame them.  I hammered out a treaty 

of mutual support.  They're ready to throw everything they've got at the 

Shadows, and we really need that assistance."

	Ivanova nodded, and Garibaldi moved closer.

	"We missed you," Garibaldi said in a low voice.  "We missed you a 

lot.  Feel like coming back to my place for some...ah...recreation?"  

Ivanova grinned at the tone.  Garibaldi was almost as randy as Sheridan 

most of the time, so she was surprised when Sheridan looked reluctant.

	"Uh...no, I'm...really tired, Michael."  He sounded apologetic and 

worried, as if uncertain how the refusal would be taken.

	"Hey," Garibaldi said gently, "no problem.  You look beat.  Go on 

and get some sleep."  Sheridan relaxed, looking grateful, and the two of 

them watched him amble on down the hall.  As they watched him go, 

Ivanova blinked.  Amble?  Sheridan was walking oddly, possibly the way 

someone who was bruised would walk.  As if...

	She looked at Garibaldi, who met her eyes; he was thinking the 

same thing.  They spoke at the same time, shaking their heads.

	"Naaaahhh."

End Story V

 

Last Time, Back Way – 1/1 (Sheridan/Ivanova/Garibaldi) – Way IV

Ξ May 12th, 2008 | → 1 Comments | ∇ Babylon 5, Fanfic, Way Series |

“Last Time, Back Way”
Story IV in the “Way” Series
Copyright (C) 1996 by A. Manley Huff

This story is not in any way intended to infringe on copyrights held by J. Michael Straczynski, Babylonian Productions Inc., or Time Warner Productions. This story may be distributed only with prior permission of the author, and may not be posted to any archive, ftp site, or web page without the written permission of the author. This story is distributed for the individual personal entertainment of persons over 21, and is not subject to purchase or sale by anyone.

—————————————————————–

The sound of the shower ceased, and Ivanova rolled over indolently in Sheridan’s bed, waiting for him to come back and do something sensuous to her body, which she knew he would. They spent much of their off-duty days together, sleeping in the same bed luxuriously and having conversations late into the night. She always liked to shower first, to have the time to herself to listen to him in there and bask in the afterglow of whatever kind of sex they had had.

Tonight it had been oddly violent and raw, John raking his short nails across her flanks as he had fucked her hard, grunting viciously close to her ear. And yet there had been something sweetly honest in it, his basest, most intimate needs bared to her by his sexual urgency. She knew him deeply in those moments, heard his soul in his voice, saw his heart in his eyes. If there was any such thing as violent compassion, it was in him.

Tonight…tonight he had kissed her at the instant of his climax, and she had tasted love in his mouth. He had not said anything when the orgasm passed, had not spoken the feeling that she saw in his gentle, hesitant smile. But then he had embraced her tightly with a soft moan, and she knew that any words would not have been equal to his experience.

She heard him come back into the bedroom, his bare feet quiet on the carpet. The mattress dipped as he came into bed with her on his knees, and then his warm nakedness was on top of her, his soft penis pressed into her buttocks, strong legs next to hers, and he bent down to kiss lightly up her spine. He paused at her shoulder, then bit gently. She hummed softly, appreciatively, to let him know his attention was enjoyed. He hummed in reply, with an odd note to it, and she listened intently when he spoke.

“You really are beautiful, you know that?” he whispered. “Not just on the outside. You let me be who I am and you don’t resist or mock me for it. God…God…” He rested his forehead on her shoulder with a sigh. “I’ve done things with you I never did with anyone else…shown you things I kept inside myself the whole time I was married. There are…edges in me that are so much a part of me…they make me ache. And it’s all right for me to show them to you. God, you even like it. The…the entire relationship we have with Michael…showing off for him, letting him watch…Anna would never have done that for me. She would never have allowed it. And it was something I wanted desperately to have if I could just find the right person…and now…Susan…Susan, I love you.”

Ivanova rolled over to touch his face in the darkness. It had been almost five months since the first time they had let Garibaldi watch them make love. A little over five months since she and John had become lovers. In those short months with Michael, a bond had been forged. Michael was so sweet, so painfully shy sometimes and blatantly, deliciously honest other times. But he had never touched them, at least not sexually. He stayed in the chair, in the shadows, watching, hungry, loving every moment and heartbreakingly grateful for the honor and the trust conferred on him. There was something much more private, much more loving, in that distance than there would have been if their relationship had begun more physically. They all knew it, sensed it. It was a treasure, a fragile, delicate thread that was slowly and surely becoming a bond of something much stronger and more lasting.

“I know you can’t say that back to me,” Sheridan said after a brief moment, putting his fingers on her lips. “I don’t expect you to. Maybe you will eventually, maybe not. But I want you to know that I feel this way.”

“I’m…honored,” she replied quietly. “I could never do anything else but give you what you need. I like doing that. It’s no sacrifice.” She was silent for a moment. “There’s something else you’ve been wanting to ask me lately but you haven’t. I wish you wouldn’t hide it.” Sheridan sighed heavily and rolled onto his back. She waited patiently, knowing that whatever it was, he feared that she would react badly to it.

“I’ve been thinking about Michael,” Sheridan said. “I’d like to let him get a little closer to us, both literally and figuratively. You don’t look at him much when he’s watching us make love, but I’ve seen him fighting down the urge to make himself come while he’s with us. He definitely gets hot enough to want to, and he touches himself through his pants, but I don’t think he’s ever climaxed. Sometimes when I hint at it, he becomes evasive. But I think he wants to do it.”

“He’s probably paranoid of imposing himself too much on our relationship,” she said. “I keep getting the impression that he doesn’t think of himself as part of it, even though we’ve involved him intimately from our perspective. He’s still acting like an outsider.”

“Yeah,” he said, “you might be right.” A pause. “Would you…be open to letting him in a little more?”

“How do you mean?” she asked.

“We could get him really turned on…he likes it most when you go down on me. Then get him to come onto the bed with us to watch. I think…if I do it right, I can get him to open up to us more.”

“And open his pants and do himself,” Ivanova chuckled, and Sheridan laughed roughly.

“Yeah, I…I hope so.” She heard him swallow. “At least, I’d like to see him more involved with us. I want to see him come for us. For me.”

“I detect notes of voyeurism in there,” she teased.

“I think sometimes that exhibitionists are, in some weird way, closet voyeurs, too,” he said. “As if…seeking reciprocity.”

“John,” she said, amused by his reluctance. “If you want to do something to Michael, by all means, do. There are few things that I like better than the idea of you and him together. If you’re attracted to him, I won’t stop you. In fact, I would love to have a front row seat.” There was another pause, and then Sheridan was hugging her.

“Thank you, oh, God, this could be so sweet.” He pulled away when she started laughing. “What is it?”

“I just had a thought,” she said. “Do you think _this_ is Michael’s number one favorite thing in the entire universe?”

They howled with laughter.

****

Ivanova strode down the corridor toward Garibaldi’s quarters. She could still see Sheridan’s startled expression from that morning when she had volunteered to invite Garibaldi to their next “spectator session,” as they had started to call it. Garibaldi didn’t watch every time they made love; they did keep some of it for themselves. Especially, perhaps, that morning. Sheridan confessing that he loved her…it was still amazing to her, in a quiet, reassuring way. And that morning his lovemaking had been very gentle and slow.

The truth of the matter was that she had started to really enjoy the sessions they spent with Michael. It was such a clinical word…sessions. Wasn’t it, in a way, just another kind of lovemaking? After all, any two strangers could have sex, and that wasn’t the same as what the three of them were doing. It was a real bond, of trust and friendship and oddly open lust. It was true she didn’t look at Michael much when she was actually making love to John, but she had seen what John was talking about; the distance, the buried need. Michael obviously took tremendous pleasure in being with them, watching. But there was something else that went unsatisfied. She didn’t like that idea any more than John did. If there was something else Michael needed that he wasn’t getting, she wanted to make it happen for him.

She smiled wryly. John had seemed a little startled that she admitted to finding the idea of him and Michael together to be…interesting. Hell, the idea of two men making love was a natural turn-on for her, and the idea of John and Michael made her belly quiver with curiosity and eagerness. She was not jealous, not at all. She was even a little surprised by that. But somehow it just wasn’t threatening. Not John and Michael. Not threatening, no, but she intended to do what she could to facilitate it, and then get the hell out of the way. She grinned as she arrived at Garibaldi’s quarters, and pressed the door signal.

The door opened after a moment, and she went in. Garibaldi was just coming out of the bedroom, dressed casually.

“Hi. What’s up?” he asked amiably. She went a little closer to him than usual before stopping and answering him.

“John and I were wondering if you’d like to watch tonight,” she said, and savored his reaction to both her tone of voice, and the invitation. “We wanted to do something special for you.”

“Really?” he said. “I’d love to. Are you…” He swallowed. “Are you going to tell me what or do I have to wait to find out?”

“No advance teasing,” she said, grinning. “But could we do it here, in your quarters?” Garibaldi’s eyes widened. They had never done that before. Neither she nor Sheridan had ever asked, and he hadn’t suggested it because it seemed too forward given the nature of their relationship.

“Sure!” he said. “I’d like that. As long as you don’t mind a big duck poster staring down at you the whole time.” Ivanova’s mind coughed up the framed Daffy Duck picture he had hanging on the wall over his bed, and she chuckled.

“I got no problem with the little black duck,” she said, and Garibaldi grinned. “What time’s good for you?” Garibaldi raised both eyebrows.

“Since ‘immediately’ is probably out of the question, how about nineteen hundred?”

“Nineteen hundred, then,” she said, smiling at him. “John’s really looking forward to it.” Garibaldi swallowed, and she smirked inwardly. /Got him by the balls now./

“I’ll be waiting,” he murmured.

****

“Will you stop that?” Ivanova said plaintively. Sheridan paused in the middle of the floor.

“What?”

“Pacing like that. You’re making me nervous.”

“Sorry,” he said, turning around to pace back toward the wall agitatedly. Finally she got up and went toward him.

“John,” she said, touching his shoulder gently. She couldn’t keep her amusement out of her voice. It was fascinating watching him become suddenly uptight like this when he had spent the past few months as the most open and unabashed of the three of them. “It’s okay. You want this.” Sheridan turned on her like a panther, buried passion rising in him like hellfire.

“Yes,” he hissed. “I want this. I want you. I want him. I feel like I want everything, like I could…” He gestured as if lifting something. “…take it all in my hands and into me…” He closed his eyes and swallowed a hard sigh. “God, you don’t know…it’s so hard to try to put into words. I’ve thought about things like this. Dreamed them in dreams that until now have stayed in my head. But to have it waiting for me in Michael’s quarters — now — God, it feels like every moment of arousal, every moment of power and need and delight all wrapped up in a tight little ball — ” He clenched a hand into his shirt on his stomach.

“I think he wants it as much as you do,” she said, answering his intensity with sober steadiness. That was what he needed now, that surety. “I’ll do most of the work. You just do what you want…what you need. Jesus, John, I don’t know what’s more terrifyingly wonderful about you sometimes; your repression or your openness.” He was looking at her with that naked rawness in his eyes again. Not sexual exactly…but needing.

“We’d better go,” he murmured. “We’ll be late.”

****

He moved through the corridors with a stone-faced expression that was dark and forbidding like a black sky before lightning split the heavens. Ivanova was aware of it, aware of his tension, of the sensation he must harbor in his belly to be moving like he was, hands clenched at his sides. He said nothing, and when they reached their destination, Garibaldi greeted them with that endearing shyness. He tried so hard to be nonchalant, and managed only to look achingly hesitant.

The door closed behind Ivanova, but she didn’t hear it. Sheridan’s soft breathing next to her was like a jungle cat growling in the distance.

“Hi,” Garibaldi said, moving toward them. He had changed clothes…she had always liked that shirt on him, something bronze with a subtle pattern. “This is really different…doing it here. I’m glad you suggested it.” Ivanova shrugged enigmatically, smiling.

“We thought it was about time. That maybe you’d be more comfortable.”

“Yeah, I — ” He broke off as Sheridan moved close to him, watching him intently, just breathing softly. “You okay, John?” Sheridan reached up to close his hand tightly on Garibaldi’s opposite shoulder and push the man back into the bedroom behind him. The intense stare was not to be argued with, and Garibaldi let himself be guided backwards toward the chair by the wall from where he would watch them tonight. Sheridan pushed differently this time, making him sit, holding him down with those savage eyes. Garibaldi swallowed as Sheridan’s hand slid from his shoulder, fingers spread. “John?” Sheridan touched his mouth to silence him, and Garibaldi saw the hard look fracture for an instant, baring a glimpse of desperate appetite, like white flame. Hungry, so hungry…

Ivanova came up behind Sheridan and embraced him with pure sexuality, one hand drawing across his chest, the other moving down to press into his groin. Sheridan leaned his head back and let out an exhale of relish. His own hand covered hers between his legs, and in another breath she was working at his belt.

Garibaldi felt astonishment fight with ecstasy inside his chest somewhere. He started to tremble. They were close to him, so close…usually they were on the bed already when they began this, but he could reach out that very moment and touch Sheridan’s leg if he wanted to. Oh, God, this was already unbearable. He sat absolutely still and Ivanova dragged Sheridan over to the bed.

She coaxed him out of his clothes, didn’t really need to encourage him but his need was so plain on his face and in his demeanor that it seemed to almost get in the way of things. Clothes shed, he returned to the bed on his knees and Garibaldi realized what they were doing. Jesus, yes, she was going to go down on him. Garibaldi licked his mouth, shifting restlessly in the chair.

The noise that rose from Sheridan’s throat when she engulfed his cock was utterly feral, demanding and savoring in the same breath. He began grunting sensuously, writhing a little to fuck Ivanova’s mouth, and Garibaldi echoed the cries softly, holding tightly to his cock already painfully hard in his trousers.

And then Sheridan looked over at him, the gaze like a hand reaching straight into his gut and closing a fist around his heart. Sheridan extended his hand in a spread-palm gesture, pointing to the empty edge of the bed.

“Come over here, Michael,” he growled. Susan was between his spread knees, holding him, pleasuring him with her tongue and teeth, licking and sucking him to the point of nearly being unable to think at all, much less engage in this demand, this domination. But he had to. The pain and lust and longing in Garibaldi’s eyes pulled at him so. Even if he had not come here intending to do this, he would still be making this plea, this offer. “Come on.”

Garibaldi couldn’t believe this. He got up, legs trembling, leaving the cushioned chair behind to approach the bed where Sheridan panted and swallowed groans, and Ivanova was going down on him like nothing else existed. The wet sound of it made Garibaldi’s gut clench deliciously. Sheridan’s eyes were like shards of steel. “On the bed. Do it.” Garibaldi climbed onto the bed on his knees uncertainly, wondering what in God’s name Sheridan meant for him by doing this.

“What am I — ”

“You want to come?” Sheridan grunted, holding Garibaldi’s eyes in spite of sweet distractions of pleasure from Susan sucking on him. “Huh?” He groaned softly and glanced away before continuing. “You want to fondle yourself, play with yourself and come while watching this? Fucking hell, Michael, do it.” Garibaldi stared, eyes wide, adrenaline flaming in him. His cock was rock hard, his hands quivering to obey, to tear his clothes open and just obey…

“John, Christ, I don’t know if — ” Sheridan was upon him like a wolf, leaning down across the bed savagely to reach for his trousers and pull the belt free until it hung open. The bulge in his groin was quite pronounced, and Sheridan, panting, drew back, gesturing fiercely.

“Fuck you, do it!” Sheridan hissed. “You want it so bad. I want to see you let go from watching me.” Susan’s tongue sent a flicker of heat up his spine and he leaned his head back with a snarl. Garibaldi had one hand on his cock now, holding tight. “Michael,” Sheridan growled, holding his hand out entreatingly. “Michaellllluurrrrr…” He arched back in bliss at the delight Susan was bringing him, and Garibaldi had both hands down his pants before Sheridan could draw another breath.

“God damn it,” Garibaldi whispered in a rush. “God damn it, John, you make me so fucking hot…”

“Do I?” Sheridan hissed with a smile, loving the sight of Garibaldi with both hands disappearing down into his pants and moving slowly, urgently. “Show me.”

“God damn it,” Garibaldi moaned, holding his balls up hard to his body and kneading his cock tensely. It felt so good, so luscious and electric. He used one hand quickly to unbutton his shirt to get it out of the way of his groin.

“Yeah, come on,” Sheridan whispered to him. “Ahhhhuuurrrr, God, Susan…” Garibaldi realized that Sheridan was looking at him penetratingly, keeping his gaze instead of looking away like he had done much of the time in the past few months. He realized again that he couldn’t stand having his cock confined. Sheridan wanted this out of him, forced it just by the naked thirst in his eyes. Garibaldi struggled with his trousers and boxer shorts, pushing them both down out of the way so he could fondle himself properly. Sheridan bared teeth at him in a vicious grin of appreciation. “Yeah, Michael,” he said, voice straining, “come on. Do yourself.”

“Damn you, John,” Garibaldi hissed. His hands moved on his cock and balls voluptuously, holding tight to his testicles with one hand and sensuously kneading his cock with the other. “Fuck, this is so fantastic, oh, man…” Sheridan reached out again, palm up, coaxing him, urging him.

“Come on, Michael,” he whispered provocatively. He licked his mouth, sweat gleaming on his face and throat. Susan was making him twitch and buck reflexively. “Do it on my hand. Come on my hand.”

“Jesus Christ, John, don’t turn me on like that, oh fuck,” Garibaldi moaned, closing his eyes, his cock tight in a grip of intense, swift masturbation. “I don’t know if I can shoot that far but damn it, you make me want to…”

“You can,” Sheridan grunted. “I want to feel it. I want to see you.” His feverish stare alone would have been enough to get Garibaldi hot, and the sight of him getting close to his own climax, groaning through clenched teeth, panting softly, made Garibaldi forget about anything but the raw need that pounded in his blood, in his groin. “Do it, Michael. Come on me.”

It was too much, the sound of Sheridan’s hungry, rasping voice, the erotic blaze of dominance, of such open, base desire. Garibaldi felt the promise of his climax swell urgently, deliciously. Never been so close, never had the chance of masturbating in front of them like this…oh, it was so sweet. He savored the distant rising heat that came toward him like a wall of flame. Sheridan saw it in his eyes and opened his mouth expectantly. “Yeah, Michael…” Garibaldi kept his eyes open, holding John’s rapturous stare, as the orgasm consumed him, thick streams arcing across the bed to splash over John’s open hand and arm. “Yeah, that’s it, Michael. Come for me. That’s it.” Sheridan’s own ache to receive it was so obvious, white wetness dripping between his trembling fingers onto the bed as Garibaldi’s rich ejaculation covered the bed between them in long, powerful surges.

John started to laugh, a joyous, silvery cry as he leaned back to close his eyes. Garibaldi realized he was coming, his hand clenching possessively into a fist around the wetness Michael had given him. John’s laughter became a yell of ecstasy, a note of sweet pain in it, of pleasure beyond toleration.

“Oh yeah, John,” Garibaldi whispered, smiling, delighted to see such bliss.

The end of it was John panting hard, elation still painted on his features. He flopped down onto the bed on his back, fist still tight around the milky semen in his hand, groaning. He laughed again, convulsing.

“Oh my God,” he moaned, grinning. “You are so fucking amazing, both of you. Damn it, I don’t have a vocabulary big enough to say that right.” He laughed joyfully.

“Shit, what a mess,” Garibaldi gasped, laughing himself. Susan had sprawled herself across Sheridan’s legs, humming to herself contentedly.

“I love this kind of mess,” she murmured. “A man coming is never a disagreeable mess.” Garibaldi leaned down on folded arms on the bed to gaze across at her face from about eight inches away.

“You are a perverted and lecherous woman,” he said, smiling. “I ever tell you I like that about you?” She chuckled, licking her lips slightly. “What does he taste like?” Garibaldi murmured.

“You want to find out?” she asked mischievously.

“Yeah,” he said, and closed the few inches between them to kiss her exploringly. He drew back, running his tongue across his upper lip. “He tastes kinda like me, actually.” Ivanova reached down to take Garibaldi’s right hand.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” she said, licking away some of the semen that had spilled onto his knuckles during his ejaculation. He watched with pure wonder and pleasure. “Tastes like you to me,” she said in a low voice. Garibaldi hummed, pleased, putting his head back down on folded arms.

“You two look cute like that,” came Sheridan’s amused voice. He was propped up on his elbow, watching them.

“You should talk, Mr. Boy Scout,” Ivanova replied teasingly. Garibaldi laughed.

“Yeah, and you just blew _that_ image all to hell,” he said. “If the past five months hadn’t been enough. Damn, John…” Sheridan leaned toward him, holding his eyes.

“You ever watch yourself in the mirror when you come?” Sheridan asked. “Or listen to yourself? You’re really something, Michael.” Garibaldi sobered quietly.

“I just had to be honest with you, you know?” he said softly. “You wanted it so much. Damn _I_ wanted it so much. Hahrrrrr…” He heaved a sigh and let his head drop back down onto his arms. He looked at Sheridan sidelong. “And I bet you want to wash that off.” Sheridan opened his hand to look at the drying stickiness on his palm and forearm. “Go on,” Garibaldi said, waving toward the lavatory as if shooing a reluctant pet dog. Sheridan snorted, amused, and disengaged himself from Susan to climb off the bed and go clean himself.

Ivanova hummed quietly, laying on her side, eyes half-closed.

“You know,” she said after the bathroom door closed. “You look really silly like that.” She meant his posture and state of undress; his trousers and boxer shorts around his knees, shirt open, laying on his stomach with his bare bottom exposed. He laughed.

“Guess what?” he said. “I don’t care.” He was smiling devilishly. “I feel really good and that doesn’t happen to me as much as I’d like. I’m not gonna mess it up.”

“Good idea. Cute boxers by the way.”

“Thanks.” The shorts in question were black with small, vibrantly colored aquarium fish on them.

Finally, Garibaldi gave a sigh, sat up, and pulled his shorts and trousers back on. He slid the belt out and tossed it over the side of the bed, but left his pants unzipped. “My butt’s getting cold,” he explained, propping himself up against the headboard. Ivanova was laughing. “Hey, no mocking the audience,” he teased. “C’mere.” He reached for her arm to pull her up to him. “Come on, lemme hold you.”

She acquiesced with a tolerant snort of wry amusement, snuggling back against his bare chest so he could embrace her. She was quite naked, but his hug was more affectionate than sexual, his chin nuzzling her neck. “John loves you, you know,” he murmured. “I can see it in his eyes.”

“I know,” she said contentedly. He understood why she said nothing more, and kissed her shoulder warmly.

The bathroom door opened, and Sheridan came out, presumably cleaner than when he had gone in. He took in their pose on the bed, and held out his hand, palm toward them.

“Hold her like that,” he said in a rough voice, and stalked over to the bed. Garibaldi raised his head, intrigued by Sheridan’s demeanor as the man came onto the bed with them. Garibaldi and Ivanova both watched him push his way between their legs, holding Susan’s thighs to begin kissing and nipping at her belly and breathing warmly on her loins.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Ivanova asked him with a wry smile. Without a word, Sheridan plunged his tongue into her, engulfing her sex with his hot, wet mouth. She gasped in surprise and ecstatic shock, arching back against Garibaldi, who held her delightedly.

“Three guesses,” Garibaldi growled into her ear, and laughed when she cried out. He came to understand very quickly why John had commanded him to hold her; she writhed like a chained fury, head craned back on his shoulder, voice tearing from her in howls of pleasure. He loved it, loved her strength, loved feeling her tremble and twist in his arms, pressing back against him. She had both hands curled around his thighs tightly, and even John’s careful torment did not last more than a minute or so before she wailed in hungry release with his tongue playing with her.

She was breathing hard when her voice finally went silent, collapsed completely against Garibaldi, eyes closed. She swallowed as if to speak, but just panted, gulping for breath. Garibaldi laughed softly, just holding her. Sheridan sat up, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. He looked very smug and satisfied.

“I love doing that to her,” he confided to Garibaldi, who grinned.

“I think she did, too,” Garibaldi said. “Do you guys have some sort of a record for that?” Sheridan nodded.

“Thirty-eight seconds,” he said.

“Thirty-seven,” Ivanova corrected breathlessly. “And I was already aroused when you started.”

“What about this time?” Garibaldi asked, only half-seriously. Sheridan opened his mouth to reply.

“Oh, who the hell cares?” Ivanova panted. “It was great. It was mind-blowing. Michael, you’re fantastic.” He hugged her sensuously and she purred.

“I have got to go to bed,” Sheridan moaned, looking around for his clothes and putting them on one piece at a time. “I need to sleep alone for a change.” Ivanova grinned. He paused and looked at them. “And before I wake up out of this wondrous dream I’m having,” he said quietly. Garibaldi smiled faintly.

“Thanks, John,” he said. Susan moved to wiggle gently out of his embrace.

“I gotta go, too,” she said. “Besides you look like you need to be alone to recuperate.”

“Get my sanity back, you mean,” Garibaldi sighed. She grinned as she got dressed. Sheridan stood quietly back, waiting for her. “You guys are the best.”

That look on Sheridan’s face again, calm, evaluating, predatory. A sated lion contemplating future prey from a lazy vantage point.

“Michael,” he said. “I really appreciated this. I’m glad to find out we can do this. Maybe…we could get closer as time goes on.” Garibaldi shivered. He swallowed but was all seriousness when he replied.

“I’d like that,” he said. Ivanova finished adjusting her trousers, and with a silent glance from Sheridan, the two of them left Garibaldi’s quarters.

When the door closed, Garibaldi flopped face down on the bed with a groan. “I’m insane. This is too good to be happening.” He started to laugh, weary, elated, happier than he could remember being in so very long…

He drifted off to sleep, still in his clothes, with the dampness of his semen on the bedcovers drying underneath him. Sometime in the night, he pulled the blanket around him and hummed softly, content.

****

Ivanova lay awake that night, gazing up at the ceiling in the dark, thinking about what she and John and Michael had done. Sleep somehow seemed an unwelcome escape; she wanted to dwell on the sweetness of what had happened to her, what she had heard in both men’s voices. She hadn’t been able to watch most of the time, being busy pleasuring John, but what she heard had inflamed her so much that when Sheridan had come out of the bathroom and plunged his tongue into her, coming had been so easy and so violent…

She shivered under the covers, rubbing her hands down her flanks and thighs on her silken pajamas. And Michael had been at her back, holding her, strong and warm. He smelled good, different from John but so male. She remembered his voice in her ear, growling, his voice earlier when John had coaxed his orgasm out of him. She knew what John meant about how Michael sounded when he was close. Soft whimpers, groans, naked pleading in the noise but never becoming words. And when he came, breathless grunts and wrenching, soft cries that made her groin throb just remembering them. God, what must he look like, to sound like that?

She realized she was trembling, one hand pressed between her legs. She swore and shoved her pajamas off so she could touch herself better. She wanted a cock in her, wanted to fuck. But she didn’t know whether it was John’s or Michael’s cock she hungered more for. She had caught a glimpse of Michael’s when it was hard, right after she had pulled away from Sheridan. It was a big cock, thick and long. And when he had come, those long, arcing streams across the bed into John’s hand…

She had both hands between her thighs now, growling softly. Two fingers went inside her, then three. God, she was so hot, even after what John had done earlier that night. She could still smell Garibaldi, feel his arms around her, strong, hairy chest pressed into her back. She’d felt his cock in his trousers, too, still thick, pressed against her buttocks.

When her climax came it was like a storm ripping through her, no gentleness or warmth in it. It was all flame, burning her from within, and it was Michael’s cock fucking her. She laughed as the orgasm rose even more and she howled.

****

Sheridan awoke the next morning to the sound of his own laughter. Smiling, he opened his eyes and rolled over. He’d dreamed about Susan and Michael, both of them pleasuring him. Susan had been sucking on him, licking and nibbling his cock without letting him come. He had taken out the frustration and delight on Michael, who had been kissing him luxuriously. Sheridan had gotten Michael’s trousers open and was fondling him. God, he was so big! That was one thing that made Sheridan ache; Michael’s gorgeous, thick cock. His desire for it had gotten the better of him and soon he was sucking Michael while Susan sucked him. He could still feel Michael’s hand in his hair, stroking, while Michael bucked gently into his mouth, swearing softly. That thick cock had spurted heat into his mouth, coming, coming for him and Michael had groaned and whimpered as he swallowed.

And Sheridan awoke laughing to the bliss of it.

****

2 Days Later:

Garibaldi leaned against the dugout, watching Sheridan bat at the plate.

“Home. Run. One hundred forty-seven yards. Average velocity: one hundred eighteen miles per hour.” Sheridan wasn’t aware of him yet, and he took the moment to just observe, taking in Sheridan’s strength and grace, his effort and focus. There was such control in his poise, a soft grunt escaping him when he swung at the pitch. “Home. Run. One hundred twenty-two yards…”

Sheridan was gorgeous. Garibaldi felt the realization like a wash of flame in his chest and throat. It was a strange moment of comprehension. The past few months had been delicious beyond hope, and two days ago Sheridan and Ivanova had invited him closer to them in a sexual bonding that had left him with joy in his heart ever since. He felt it now, looking at Sheridan. Felt the greater blaze of personal desire that had gripped him that night when Sheridan had urged him to come on his hand.

The pitching machine went still as Sheridan stepped back out of the batter’s box and onto the grass, breathing deeply, gazing with contemplation out over the field beyond the foul lines.

“You’re better at that than I am,” Garibaldi said, coming away from the dugout. Sheridan started and looked over at him. Then Sheridan smiled slightly, an open, unconscious expression of enjoyment of Garibaldi’s presence, not to mention his close-fitting trousers and dark gray, metallic shirt.

“Guess I’m just better’n you,” Sheridan drawled. Garibaldi snorted.

“Yeah right,” he said. Sheridan started to step back up to the plate. “Um, John…” Sheridan paused on the grass expectantly. “Can we talk about something?”

“Sure,” Sheridan said, picking up on the other man’s anxiety and excitement. “We can talk about anything you want.” Sheridan’s openness and calm made it easier, and Garibaldi drew a deep breath.

“This is harder than I thought.” He sighed and tried again. “I’ve always been more attracted to women than men,” he said. “Though there’ve been certain men who were…well…good candidates. All my life I’ve wanted a man to make love to me, but I never seemed to find the right one. Either he wasn’t attracted to me, or he was too rough, or untrustworthy, or just plain not my type if he was perfect in every other way. I have to be able to trust a man before I can let him fuck me. It’s not quite the same thing with women. Do you understand what I’m getting at?” His plaintiveness made Sheridan smile although Sheridan took him very seriously.

“I think so. You’re a virgin with men and you’ve been looking for the right man to lose it to.”

“Yeah,” Garibaldi said, hands deep in his pockets. A pause. “And I think you might be the right man.” Sheridan swallowed, just looking at him for a long moment. Then he tossed the bat away with both hands. It hit the grass with a solid thump.

“I hadn’t realized it would be that significant an event for you,” he said. There was a much longer pause as he was quiet for a few moments, just looking at Garibaldi. Then he drew a breath — suddenly — as if strangling. “I’ve been…” His breath caught on the emotion lodged in his throat. “Dammit I’ve been wanting to make love to you for the past five months but I didn’t know how to tell anyone…not you or Susan.”

“Would Susan object?” Garibaldi asked. Shit, he hadn’t even thought of that. “I mean…would she be upset that you and I are attracted to each other?”

“No,” Sheridan said wonderingly. He kept telling himself this situation should be more casual, and not so full of breath-shaking, aching apprehension. Was there fear in it somewhere, too? And love? Oh, God, love… “She wouldn’t. We talked about it a few days ago. She said she wanted me to pursue it if I wanted to…”

“My God,” Garibaldi muttered. Sheridan let out a breath of amazement.

“I know,” he said. “But it seems like it’s just as well since you weren’t sure until now. I wouldn’t have wanted to push you.” Garibaldi nodded.

“I’ve kinda been thinking about it lately…hoping, you know? But now that I’ve decided, and you obviously want to…I think…” Garibaldi swallowed. “I think I want you to push. Hard.”

“Really,” Sheridan said in a low voice. He walked over to Garibaldi slowly, visibly taking him in, thoughtful. “And how hard would that be?”

“I don’t know,” Garibaldi said. His own voice had an edge in it now. He could smell Sheridan, clean sweat and aftershave, and the scent made his groin burn. “How hard do you get?” Sheridan laughed a short laugh of fascination and arousal.

“I think we could find out,” Sheridan said, reaching up to stroke Garibaldi’s face, drawing fingers across his jaw and mouth. Garibaldi turned his head into Sheridan’s palm, responding reflexively to the shock of the touch. He swallowed as Sheridan smiled ferally and clawed nails lightly down his throat to the edge of his shirt collar. Sheridan started to unbutton the dark gray shirt, fingers trembling. Garibaldi, surprised, took Sheridan’s hand to stop him.

“What are you doing?” he said incredulously.

“What do you think?” Sheridan replied wickedly.

“We can’t do this out _here_, Jesus — ” Sheridan grabbed at him as he started to pull away, holding him by the hips to press their groins together.

“Why not?” Sheridan laughed roughly. Garibaldi gulped, painfully aroused suddenly in spite of his nervousness.

“Because somebody might _see_ us, dammit,” he said, twisting out of Sheridan’s grasp. He discovered he was trembling. “John, Christ, you want to know how much you turn me on? I’m actually _considering_ letting you fuck me on the grass in the infield.” Sheridan moved toward him again, lips parted in unconscious pleasure and need, but didn’t touch him.

“What could I say that would persuade you?” he asked, eyes glittering. The voice was like distant thunder. Garibaldi lifted a warning finger.

“Without lube, nothing. You try to fuck me without some kind of lube and I’ll kick your ass into the next sector.” Sheridan licked his mouth consideringly, pushing into Garibaldi’s personal space until Garibaldi could feel the heat of his body.

“Manufactured lubricants weren’t invented until the eighteen hundreds,” Sheridan pointed out with a teeth-baring smile. “And even once they were, people didn’t always have any when the mood would strike.” He breathed softly across Garibaldi’s throat, their mouths only centimeters apart. Garibaldi was visibly shaking, trying to control his breathing. “I think we’ve got enough spit between the two of us.” Garibaldi was sure, somewhere deep down in his gut, that Sheridan was perfectly serious about fucking him right then and there.

“Yeah, well I’m not giving you any of mine,” Garibaldi said. He started to back away to put some distance between himself and this man who made his cock ache in his trousers, hard and quivering. Sheridan lunged after him, not letting him get away. He grabbed Michael’s arm and pulled the man back to kiss him, ravenous, devouring his mouth passionately. When Sheridan grabbed him, Garibaldi had gone as far as to put his hands on Sheridan’s shoulders with the intent of shoving him away forcefully (and then punching him in the mouth), but when John’s mouth touched his, his anger vanished like mist. Surprised, inflamed, his hands moved down to touch hesitantly at Sheridan’s sides. Then he was embracing John completely, lost in the magnificence of Sheridan’s desire for him.

Sheridan dragged him down onto the grass, covering the other man’s body with his own. It was so good, so satisfying to have this pleasure finally after so long of wanting. Sheridan was rumbling low in his throat, and when he broke away from Garibaldi’s mouth to kiss wetly down the side of his neck, Garibaldi felt a growl tear out of him from deep in his chest.

“John,” Garibaldi panted. His blood was like fire, heart racing, groin throbbing. “John, cut it out. Somebody’ll find us. I know you’re an exhibitionist but I’m _not_ and if we get caught, I’ll…I’ll…” Sheridan’s mouth under his jaw made him forget what he was going to say. “John…dammit…”

Sheridan’s mouth was liquid flame on his throat, searing him to the soul. He wasn’t consciously aware of the moment he made the decision to surrender, but he whimpered softly.

Sheridan felt something change, felt the resistance melt away like ice in the sun, and Michael’s arms went around him eagerly, the mouth under his responding fully to him. It was more desperation than he had ever felt in Susan, more raw abandon even than the moments he had heard Susan whisper words that shocked him to the core.

//Oh, God,// Sheridan thought. //He’s letting me. After talking about trust, and other men being rough, and choosing me after God knows how many years of wanting this, he’s going to let me do it right here and now, in spite of his terror of being seen in a public place, and being afraid of me hurting him. God…Jesus…//

Sheridan released his mouth to look down at him, stunned by the wild depth and passion of the reaction he had elicited. Michael’s eyes opened to gaze back, and they were completely open, straight to his heart.

“If I fucked you right now, you’d let me, wouldn’t you?” Sheridan asked him softly. Garibaldi swallowed hard, and Sheridan could feel his heart pounding where their bodies pressed together under Sheridan’s weight.

“Hell yeah,” Michael whispered. “As stupid as that sounds. I guess it makes me look easy. But right now? The way this feels? Yeah, I’d let you.”

“And you’d hate yourself for it later,” Sheridan said. “And me.” He shook his head. “I won’t do that to you.”

“I knew there was a reason I trusted you,” Michael said quietly. Sheridan backed off of him and stood, putting a hand out to help Garibaldi up.

“I’m glad you did,” Sheridan said. He looked suddenly lost. “I didn’t trust myself just now. I didn’t…” He looked away. “My God, I don’t even know myself half the time anymore, much less anyone else. Michael, Jesus — ”

“Don’t apologize,” Garibaldi said. “If you do you’ll be denying what you just did, and I don’t want that. John, believe me, if I were more experienced, and less modest, dammit…” He sought the ground with his eyes.

“You’re not easy, are you?” Sheridan murmured.

“What?”

“Before, when you said it made you look easy for you to give yourself to me like that. But you’re not. Not ever.”

“No,” Michael said quietly.

“Fuck,” Sheridan whispered in pure amazement, his eyes dropping to the ground again. “And you want _me_?” he said, raising his eyes again to Michael’s calm openness. “You want me..?”

“Yeah, John,” he said again, still so gently. “Yeah, I do.” Sheridan closed his eyes for a moment, trying to reclaim some equilibrium.

“The way I’ve been the past few months,” he said finally. “It’s new to me. Hell, that’s not true. Nothing new about it at all. But it didn’t used to be _real_ like this.”

“Something brings it out,” Garibaldi murmured. Sheridan nodded.

“Yeah. You do. Susan does. And why now? My God, maybe we can only go on needing for so long before we start to instinctively see how those needs could be met by other people. You and me, a voyeur and an exhibitionist? Christ, Michael. And Susan…”

“Susan makes you hurt just looking at her,” Garibaldi said. “I’ve seen the way you get. Like you can’t even hold all the emotion she makes you feel and it spills over.”

“I’m in love with her,” Sheridan whispered, looking at the ground.

“I know,” Garibaldi said. “I can see that, too. Why’s that so bad?”

“She doesn’t return it,” Sheridan said. “Not the way I feel it.”

“Yeah, I…know that, too,” Garibaldi murmured, and Sheridan looked up at him. The look in John’s eyes was such anguished longing. “I think you need to give her more time. People never fall in love at exactly the same time. And she’s been burned more than you have. Believe me, John, you’re exactly the type to fall in love with. I’d bet everything I own on it.”

They looked at each other for a long time, Sheridan’s expression calming into something falling between muted amazement and gentleness.

“Thanks,” he said at last. He let that subject go as another drifted forward, urgent in his belly. “You’re going to think I’m crazy,” he said, “but it turned me on when you fought back.” Garibaldi smiled faintly, an expression of buried, heated interest.

“Oh yeah?” Garibaldi said. “No wonder you got aggressive when I started resisting. You get off on it.”

“Guess I do,” Sheridan said, rubbing at his stomach as if nauseous. He swallowed. “It scares me sometimes. Been like that pretty much all my adult life. It’s more intense with some people than others. And you…you scare me with how much you make me feel it.”

“Good,” Garibaldi muttered, making Sheridan stare at him. “Maybe you’ll start showing me whatever it is that I can feel missing when we’re together. You hold back from me.”

“So do you,” Sheridan said. Sheridan caught a glimpse of terrible loneliness in Garibaldi’s eyes before the other man looked away. He realized what an isolated life Michael led.

//God,// Sheridan thought. //Reduced to peeping on securcams for some kind of pleasure and sexual release when it’s so obvious now that he desperately needs to be _with_ people. Until two days ago he still only watched even with Susan and me. And then when I invited him onto the bed he responded so intensely. Damn. He needs a proper fuck, and hell if I won’t give him one.//

“Hey,” Sheridan murmured, moving close to him to run fingers down his chest to his groin, squeezing briefly between his legs. Michael shivered unexpectedly — a ripple of surprise up his spine. “How about I come to your quarters tonight and we do this right?”

“Just you and me?” Garibaldi asked. Sheridan’s brief fondling of his crotch had set a hot ember burning there, straining.

“Voyeurs are traditionally a little paranoid about being watched themselves,” Sheridan mused. “And I don’t want you to be thinking about anything but _my_ hands, _my_ cock, and _my_ mouth.” The look on Michael’s face was quietly, profoundly amazed. “So you go back and get ready for me. I’ll be there at twenty hundred.”

“Okay,” Garibaldi swallowed. “You know, you have no idea how hot I get thinking about you,” he whispered. “Damn, I’ll be lucky if I don’t come the second you touch me.” Sheridan grinned.

“That might be interesting,” Sheridan said. “Twenty hundred hours, Michael,” he warned, moving away back to where he had dropped his bat what seemed like centuries ago. He gave one more backward glance, grinning, before leaving the baseball field.

Garibaldi rubbed his face with both hands.

“Oh, man,” he muttered. Then he went off to get ready.

****

He had put his favorite sheets on the bed — the soft flannel ones that made him think for a short time that he lived like a king. The lavatory was subtly adjusted to accommodate two people, and he tidied up self-consciously.

It seemed so sudden, yet he had spent many years working up to this moment. Once upon a time he had been filled with both excitement and terror at the prospect of meeting a man who could finally fill this desire. He had tried initially to squelch the terror, but it returned anew with each subsequent man he met who might be the one. And then there was the strange relief/disappointment of deciding that the man was not the right one, and he kept searching.

He’d been watching Sheridan for more than two years now, both inside and outside his bedroom, and had learned some sweet and delicious things in both arenas. As a captain he was exemplary — authoritative, firm, rational, open to reason and not afraid to correct a mistake even if it made him look foolish. Yet he was not a brusque or unkind commanding officer. He expressed concern for those under his command, was sensitive to their moods and acted to smooth ruffled feathers and ease tempers without appearing to have done so. On Babylon 5, the world moved on Sheridan’s word, paused when he paused, seemed sometimes to breathe with him, and hold that breath gently when he slept.

Garibaldi didn’t often get the chance to see Sheridan really as a man and not his CO. But those nights (and days! God!) when Sheridan unwittingly bared all for him on the securcam, he learned a more private aspect of Sheridan’s nature. Sheridan truly seemed insatiable. Even accounting for unusually good luck in choosing his moments to spy on the man, Garibaldi seldom tuned in to a session that _didn’t_ involve masturbation sooner or later. Garibaldi usually didn’t masturbate along with him, since sitting at his desk was an awkward position that tended to inhibit his orgasm. But Sheridan showed no such inhibition, whatever position he was in.

There had been one time, one of the first, when Sheridan had come off duty and, still in uniform, had barely let the door close before dropping to his knees in the middle of the floor, holding himself between his legs. Garibaldi had watched, open-mouthed in amazement, as Sheridan, humming and growling to himself, had rubbed and fondled his groin, then dug a hand in while the other worked at his belt. Garibaldi had spied on a lot of people in his career, and no one had ever shown such incredible, candid sexuality, even in private. It was almost like a performance, but there was nothing fake about it, no pretense or self-consciousness in Sheridan’s demeanor. Just pure pleasure in his own body, in his ability to arouse himself. Sheridan had gotten his trousers open, exposing his red, swollen cock, using his other hand feverishly to take off his uniform jacket and fling it onto the floor behind him. He had unbuttoned his white shirt, but never got as far as actually taking it off, seeming instead to be overwhelmed by his sexual need and doing what had to be done to get his trousers and briefs out of the way so he could pleasure himself. Head thrown back, white shirt open to bare a sleek belly and muscled chest, Sheridan had lost himself to the flame of ecstasy. Growling, moaning, talking in half-phrases in a guttural voice, he had finally yelled his release, and made a delicious mess on his trousers and hands that still haunted Garibaldi late at night.

He returned to the front room of his quarters, anxiety twisting in his stomach like butterflies…and hawks and lions and jackals and God knew what else could be rampaging around in there. He was fully dressed. There were, he knew, certain pleasures to be had just in undressing someone, or being undressed. But he had something particular in mind for Sheridan, something he knew the other man would enjoy even if he had never thought of it.

Garibaldi sat down on the couch, head leaned back against the cushions, trying to relax and not show himself for an utter, weak-kneed slave in John’s grip. That was what burned in him; that submission. But he knew it was not easy submission that Sheridan wanted, and he intended to make John howl before the night was done.

There was a demon in Sheridan’s belly. It was ripping steel-tipped talons along the inside of his gut. He hadn’t realized until confronted with this opportunity how completely he needed it. It set fire to instincts and urges long dormant — things in him that had slept because had they remained awake and unsatisfied, they would have driven him mad.

In his marriage he had learned that he would not have those yearnings answered, and they had slept. But alive now in his heart, knowing that an outlet was at hand in not one, but two, lovers, he had found a peculiar sort of agony. Sweet, oh, it was sweetness. Like pain, but he would have gone to terrifying lengths for this exquisite clawing in his belly.

He reached Garibaldi’s quarters trying to control his quivering breaths. Something struggled for release in this crucial moment as he reached for the door signal. The door opened after a moment, and he stepped inside. The lighting was sparse. Certainly enough to see but not at all glaring. He was glad of it, drawing a deep breath that seemed to fill his chest with heat.

Michael was there, leaning against the countertop, arms folded. There was something oddly challenging about the gesture, and Sheridan repressed a growl. Garibaldi must have seen something in Sheridan’s eyes, because his expression changed suddenly.

“John?” he said. Sheridan grunted questioningly, a black, heated noise.

“I think I’ve just…been wanting this for a long time,” Sheridan said finally. There was a flicker of a smile, joyful for just an instant. “Wondering if it’ll be as good as I hope. Knowing somehow that it will. Something about you…about this…”

“You worried about losing it like you did on the baseball field?” Garibaldi asked, moving toward him. Sheridan drew a calming breath against Garibaldi’s intense presence. He nodded faintly.

“Yeah,” he said. There was still something violent in his blue eyes, firmly held but not very far under the surface. “I suppose I am.”

“I like you like that,” Garibaldi said. He was extremely close now, his body heating the air between them. Sheridan swallowed, looked for a moment like he might step back, but he held his ground. “I like to see you be uncivil for a little while.”

“Just be careful,” Sheridan said unsteadily. “You’re already making me crazy just standing here and I don’t know what my limits are.”

“John Sheridan out of control because of me,” Garibaldi mused softly. “Yeah, I think I could definitely go for that.” Sheridan actually bared teeth at him, halfway between a grin and a snarl.

“Didn’t you get enough of that watching me on the securcam?” he asked roughly. He reached for Garibaldi’s face and neck, touching him sensuously, just savoring it. The skin under his palm was smooth. Michael had shaved for him. He smiled and saw Garibaldi’s puzzlement. “I’d think you’d prefer me to be easy on you considering that this is your first time.”

“John,” Garibaldi said, visibly aroused by Sheridan’s hand on his throat. The fingers were like a brand on his flesh, making his heart beat hard against his ribs. “The issue has never been gentleness.” That made Sheridan’s eyebrows rise. “The issue’s that you do what _I_ want rather than what _you_ want. I trust you. And if I tell you I want to see you wild, then you do it, right?”

Sheridan was breathing hard, inflamed by the words, working on the buttons on Garibaldi’s shirt, determined to get this man naked and get on with what pounded low in the back of his mind, like drums. Garibaldi’s hand came up to stop him, much like before on the field, but the grip was gentler. “I want to see you this time,” he said. “Strip for me.” Sheridan licked his mouth, wide-eyed.

“What?” he said, not believing he had heard right.

“I think you heard what I said,” Garibaldi replied. “Strip.” Slowly, Sheridan’s surprise hardened into something much darker, like breaching a door into a hidden place in his soul.

Sheridan stepped back from him, feeling fire spread out into his hands and toes. He couldn’t breathe suddenly, and had to deliberately draw breath. It quivered as it moved past his throat, and there was a flood of warmth up his back as he became aware of Michael’s eyes on him.

“You like looking at me?” he wondered, his voice like suede over an iron core. One of his hands drifted down to his own crotch, thumb rubbing idly. “Huh?” He grinned, and saw Michael react to it, mouth opening unconsciously. The response, the ache in Michael’s eyes, inflamed Sheridan violently and he began to strip — not for Michael, but for himself. His clothes seemed to burn as he slid his copper patterned shirt from his shoulders, the air cool relief on his skin. Garibaldi had admired his musculature once, and Sheridan saw that lust again in the other man’s face, his hand clenching at his side. Sheridan leaned down to take off his shoes.

Garibaldi’s witness was like the finest knife into his gut, twisting sweetly until Sheridan thought he would scream with the intensity of what roared inside him. He was breathing hard as he worked at his trousers, sliding them down — sliding his own palms along his thighs — and holding Michael’s eyes because there was such stark rapture in them. Sheridan had never felt such delicious satisfaction; Michael’s gaze was more than the desire of someone who liked to watch. It was the hunger of a lover, the barely reined lust of someone who wanted _him_. And Michael started to move toward him, shyness and hesitation broken by the sheer, feral pleasure that stared at him out of Sheridan’s magnificent eyes.

“John,” he groaned, reaching out with one hand. Sheridan kicked his trousers away viciously, naked except for his gray socks, and closed the little remaining distance with a half-snarl on his face. He grabbed Garibaldi’s outstretched hand and pressed it to his own warm, bare chest.

“You want to touch me, huh?” Sheridan whispered in a hiss, taking Garibaldi’s other hand and putting it on his stiff cock. Michael groaned and fondled him unashamedly. “You want me, Michael?”

“God, yeah,” Garibaldi managed in a strangled growl before Sheridan kissed him passionately, consuming his mouth with fire. Sheridan pushed him back toward the bedroom, fumbling at Garibaldi’s belt. As they passed the countertop, Garibaldi grabbed something from it and pressed a small container into Sheridan’s hand. “Use this,” he mumbled between hard kisses. Sheridan took it tightly and Garibaldi found himself with his bed against the back of his legs. Sheridan had his shirt open and was caressing him, tasting his mouth savagely and growling. “You sound like a starving lion someone let out of its cage,” Garibaldi grunted, laughing as Sheridan bit his neck. He realized suddenly that his trousers and shorts were around his ankles.

“I feel like one,” Sheridan snarled and shoved him down on the bed. He took advantage of Garibaldi’s momentary surprise to pull the man’s shoes off and get the trousers and boxers away from him. Everything went on the floor at the foot of the bed, and Sheridan crawled into bed with him, finding his mouth again in a sensuous, obscene licking that made Garibaldi’s cock strain, hard as iron. “You gonna give me this, huh, Michael?” Sheridan hissed, biting down Garibaldi’s neck, down his chest to engulf one nipple wetly. Michael whimpered and arched up against him, pressing his cock into Sheridan’s thigh. “Open your legs for me.”

Sheridan pulled back to find the lubricant he had dropped onto the bed when they had arrived in the bedroom, and was surprised to see Garibaldi roll over onto his belly, offering his firm, muscular ass.

“John,” Garibaldi moaned. He swallowed hard. “Please. Please…” Sheridan’s eyes widened and he got the small tube in his hand open, covering two fingers with the slick gel.

“Oh, won’t I just,” Sheridan hissed, abandoning the tube and moving between Garibaldi’s legs to put one firm hand down on Michael’s back and stroking the other between his buttocks to find his anus. He wiggled one finger in and Michael lifted his hips, groaning. “God, you have a gorgeous ass, you know that?” A second finger slid in and suddenly Michael was writhing beneath him.

“Oh yeah, John,” he whimpered. “Oh yeah…” Both hands clenched into the bedcovers, breathing hard through an open mouth, Michael twisted and groaned as Sheridan’s fingers fucked him. It only made the hunger for the real thing more intense.

Garibaldi wondered distantly what had happened to his resolve to not give this so easily. Wasn’t he going to resist a little? Fight back and make Sheridan work harder to get it? That determination had faded in the face of Sheridan’s magnificent nakedness, and flamed to ashes under Sheridan’s mouth. He wanted to surrender it, to be devoured by Sheridan’s raw power and need. It was so good, John’s fingers inside him, giving him a taste of what a cock would feel like. He had worried about being able to take a cock, even though he had practiced in anticipation of this moment. Now he didn’t care. He wanted John’s cock in him, and whether it hurt or not didn’t matter a damn.

Sheridan was chuckling, awed by Michael’s utter submission, wildly aroused by the way he gripped the bedsheets and panted. He wondered if Michael were actually beyond speech, and then realized with a sharp, cold shock that Michael was whispering his name, over and over, breathless and desperate.

“Hell and damn, Michael,” Sheridan whispered back to him. “You want my cock? Why wait any more.” He pulled at Garibaldi’s shoulder. “But turn over. I want to watch you while I fuck you.” He pulled his fingers out and turned Michael onto his back gently. Garibaldi obeyed, panting, looking at him with complete trust and desire.

Garibaldi felt his heart leap into his throat when he saw Sheridan’s face. There was no unthinking animal there staring back at him. Instead he saw a hungry, aroused man, mouth open, teeth bared, eyes hot. It was the most terrifyingly delicious look he had ever seen on anyone’s face, and he knew he had made the right decision in choosing John. Sheridan was stroking lubricant onto his cock quickly.

And then John leaned over him, pressing between his legs, hands on either side of his shoulders on the bed. He felt the gentle nudge of John’s cock against the opening to his body, and his breath caught.

“Ready?” John asked him softly, looking down into his eyes, breath quivering.

“No,” Garibaldi said, his own voice hoarse. “But do it anyway.” John pushed firmly. Michael made a soft noise and something gave. “God, yeah, John,” he said in a strained whisper. John was trembling, sheathing himself slowly, trying not to do it hard or fast. Oh, Jesus, and he wanted to…wanted to ram his cock home and just fuck until he howled. He felt sweat trickle down his face and held Michael’s eyes.

“Yeah, you want this?” he asked softly, his own voice hard with the effort of holding back. “You want my cock?”

“God damn it, John,” Michael groaned, closing his eyes for the barest moment. He was holding Sheridan’s buttocks, loving the sensation of them clenching as John pushed into him. “God, you’re so good. So big, ah — ” His face twisted in a grimace, and John paused.

“Does it hurt?” he asked. Michael let out the breath he had held. He nodded sharply.

“Yeah,” he said in a strained voice. “Oh, God, but it’s the best kind of pain. The best kind of pain, John, oh, Jesus…” John buried his cock in Michael’s body in one final, long thrust, savoring the groan of pain and longing that tore out of Michael’s throat.

“Damn, you’re something, Michael,” Sheridan whispered, not daring to move for a long moment, amazed by the man under him. Michael didn’t look away; held his eyes steadily, trying to share everything with him.

John started to move, aware of every tiny flinch and grunt Michael made, aware of Michael’s hands on his back, coaxing him, pulling him in an urgent, gentle fucking.

“Yeah do it, John,” Michael breathed against his mouth. “Fuck me. God, I’ve wanted this so bad. Didn’t want to tell you. Even…even before we started all of this…with Susan…I wanted you. God, I love both of you so much.” He closed his eyes briefly, realizing what he had said. “Damn, John, I love you. Didn’t even know it until a few days ago. Fuck — ah, fuck me, please, oh…” Sheridan pressed firmly into him for a moment, then pulled back to move gently, letting Michael’s words settle heavily in his belly.

“Oh, Michael,” Sheridan whispered. He couldn’t say it back, not and be sincere. He didn’t say those words easily or lightly. He understood suddenly how Susan must have felt.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Garibaldi shushed him, touching his mouth to stop him from trying to say something that would only have been futile. “Don’t say it unless you mean it. You don’t have to be in love with me. We’d miss out on a lot if we had to be in love with everybody we made love to. Actually, I think I want your friendship before anything else.”

“Michael,” Sheridan groaned, bowing his head to kiss Garibaldi warmly.

“Your friendship and your lust,” Garibaldi gasped, laughing, as Sheridan broke away. Sheridan laughed too, growling and thrusting hard to watch the reaction.

“Oh, you have both of those,” Sheridan hissed, savoring Michael’s open-mouthed shock.

“So stop holding back,” Garibaldi murmured, rubbing Sheridan’s slowly clenching buttocks.

“But I don’t — ”

“John,” Garibaldi said, “I know what’s in you. I can see it in your eyes. Don’t worry. Just let go. Please. Show me who you are, John. Show me everything.”

Sheridan leaned forward a little to press himself deep, muscles in his arms and shoulders quivering with the strain. He let out a tense breath, trying to relax his own inhibitions, consciously freeing a restraint that had been in place for so long he wasn’t sure if he could let go of it.

Then he rolled his hips, thrusting, and Garibaldi felt something warm inside him shiver. Sheridan opened his eyes and all Michael could do was drown in them.

“Oh, God, John,” he breathed, reaching up to touch Sheridan’s mouth, rubbing his lips and stroking his tongue briefly in awe. John licked his fingertips softly, fucking slowly, intensely. Every push was the sweetest, burning sword filling him.

“I’ve wanted to do this to you for so long, Michael,” Sheridan whispered as Garibaldi drew his wet fingers down Sheridan’s throat. They were both starting to sweat, breathing hard. Sheridan grunted roughly, a sound of such relish that Michael grinned at him.

“Sounds like you’re — ah — enjoying this as much as I am,” Garibaldi gasped.

“Damn, you don’t know,” Sheridan moaned. “I never felt anything like this. Oh, _God_.” His hips were quivering as he thrust, and he swallowed a gasp. “Michael…Michael I don’t want to hurt you but I can’t hold back any more. Please, oh, sweet God…”

“Go on, John,” Garibaldi said, touching his mouth and holding onto his arm with the other hand. “You won’t hurt me. I know what you wanna do. It’s okay.” He choked back a cry when Sheridan rammed hard into him suddenly, teeth clenched and bared. It was the most magnificent look on John’s face for just a breath, and then Sheridan started to buck. Slowly, urgently, the pace and ferocity of it began to build and build, and John’s voice broke into the room with a curse.

“Oh, fuck, Michael, I want this,” he hissed. “I want you. God, you’re so — ah, Jesus, I can’t — ” He groaned loudly, everything turning to flame inside him. Michael was hot beneath him, sweating, grunting every time he bucked. There was such love and desire and raw, primal need in Michael’s eyes that it made him hurt. He closed his eyes, crying out softly with each thrust.

“Look at me, John,” Garibaldi hissed, taking his chin firmly and Sheridan started, looking down into the open desperation of the man he was making love to. “Come on, yeah. I love the way you sound, Jesus, come on. Look at me and let me watch you.” Sheridan licked his lips and swallowed repeatedly around his own deep-throated groans.

“Gonna come into you,” Sheridan growled. “Gonna fuck you good like you should be and make you scream…damn, Michael, I shoulda done this a long time ago…come into you…done this right…”

“Yeah, talk to me, John,” Garibaldi hissed, stroking his lips with both hands, teasing at his tongue with gentle fingertips until John sucked on them, breathing hard, bucking into him savagely. “Talk to me. God, I love your mouth.”

John’s sweat dripped onto his throat as John’s voice broke into vulgar, incoherent whispers and pleas. Michael stroked his mouth and face and shoulders, sometimes holding onto him tightly, urging him.

“Come on, John, let it go. Let go into me. Now, do it now. Come on, now, John, fuck me hard…”

“Know what I’m gonna…what I’ll do to you when I…oh, Michael, so close, I’m gonna…” Sheridan was bucking desperately, his voice like fire in Michael’s chest. “Gonna come into you…bet you won’t though…gonna wrap my tongue around your big cock and make you…come…gonna make you come for me…”

“You close, John?” Garibaldi laughed, grunting sharply as Sheridan slammed into him, faster and faster. “Yeah, you close, huh?”

“Oh I’m gonna come,” Sheridan wailed, a full-throated yell that made Michael’s gut clench deliciously. “Gonna do it, oh yeah, please, so fucking good…shoulda done it a long time ago, oh, Michaelllll..!”

“Yeah, go on,” Garibaldi whispered as Sheridan’s scream drowned the room in savage, howling noise. Every muscle seemed clenched taut, his hands clawing into the bedcovers by Michael’s shoulders. Garibaldi could feel John’s cock surging inside him, pulse after pulse. “Yeah, do it baby.” He rubbed his hands up John’s arms eagerly, loving this more than he ever imagined.

Then Sheridan drew a breath, and another yell came out of him, this one joyful and raucous.

“HA! HhhhhrrrrrrrAAAAGGGGGhhhh!” He kissed Michael deeply, laughing, kissing down his throat to taste salty sweat.

“Christ, John,” Garibaldi gasped, grinning broadly. “You’re a fantastic fuck.” Sheridan let himself down onto his elbows so he could take Michael’s face in both hands, smiling joyously.

“God, you’re the fantastic fuck, Michael,” he breathed. “Talking to me like that, the way you’ve been acting all these months. Damn you make me crazy.” He kissed Garibaldi again, and then, all in a rush, he pulled back and his cock slipped out. Michael gasped and moaned at the loss, but felt his heart start to pound hard when John settled between his legs, looking interestedly at his swollen cock. “Ahh, you didn’t come,” Sheridan murmured, grinning. “Good.”

“John, what’re you — ” A tongue flicked out to dab softly at the underside of the head of his cock, and lightning shot into his toes. “Oh, fuck, John…”

“Yeah, good,” Sheridan rumbled, and suddenly the tongue was a flurry of light, delicate licks up and down the shaft. Garibaldi exhaled shudderingly.

“Johhhnnnnnn…” The tongue flickered into the hole at the tip, and for an instant he thought he would come right then, and then it faded softly, making him writhe. Sheridan’s hands took hold of his hips to keep him still. Sheridan moved a little, shifting on the bed, and then warm, wet lips took his cockhead in, tongue drawing quick, hot circles on the tip. “Ohhhhhh dammit don’t stop ahhhhhhh…” That tonguetip in the hole again, flickering, probing, so hot. “Fuck you’re making me come John oh yeah making me commmmmmaaaaAAAHHHHH!”

Michael’s cock filled his mouth with hot come, making him swallow quickly to take more. Sheridan hummed deep in his chest, loving this thick cock in his mouth, just like his dream, and the long, hard surges just kept pulsing, and he swallowed again, rumbling pleasurably.

It seemed to go on forever, his cock letting fly, John’s mouth around it, impossibly good. John swallowed every drop, even sucked the last of it out of him, tongue probing gently into the hole for a last taste. Then John let him go, and his cock flopped onto his belly stiffly.

“Damn, you come a lot,” John muttered, grinning.

“Only…when I’m…really…turned on…” Michael panted, looking at him, astonished. “God damn, John…that was so…oh, I never had anything like that.”

“Good,” Sheridan murmured, still smiling. He moved up on the bed to kiss Garibaldi’s throat. “Good. I’m glad you liked it.”

“Oh, fucking understatement of the decade,” Garibaldi moaned. Sheridan rolled onto his back tiredly, heaving a great sigh. After a moment, he craned his head back to look at something on the wall and started to laugh. “You laughin’ at my duck?” Garibaldi asked him teasingly.

“You have to admit his expression is perfect for what we just did,” Sheridan chuckled. Garibaldi glanced up at the black poster. It was Daffy’s head, eyes wide, mouth open in a silent scream, with sweat droplets flying away from his head. Garibaldi laughed.

“I guess it is.”

“Oh, man,” Sheridan sighed. “That was so fucking good. I should’ve done it sooner. But I…I didn’t know how to ask, I guess. Hell, I don’t know.”

“Sooner wouldn’t necessarily have been better,” Garibaldi said, rolling onto his stomach to rest his chin on folded arms, watching John calmly. “I told you; I wasn’t ready. I’ve been thinking about this…about you, for a long time. If I’d been ready before, I would’ve said something. Somehow.”

“It was what you wanted, then?” Sheridan asked, looking over at him. “I kind of…got in over my head…I think…”

“Yeah, John, it was incredible. Exactly what I wanted. More than I’d hoped for, really.” He shivered suddenly. “Shit, I didn’t know you wanted my cock like that…” He saw Sheridan swallow.

“I dreamed about you the other night,” he said quietly. “The night after…after I asked you onto the bed with me and Susan. She was sucking me and you were sitting up by my shoulders, just kissing me. I was fondling you…finally couldn’t take it and I had to have your cock in my mouth. Yeah, Michael, I love your cock.”

“Then you plan on doing more things to it, I hope,” Garibaldi grinned.

“Oh, count on it,” Sheridan said.

“You want to stay here tonight?” Garibaldi asked him. “I’d love to have you in the shower with me.” He said it wickedly, and Sheridan purred.

“Wouldn’t say no for the world.”

****

Garibaldi lay propped up on his side, watching Sheridan sleep. There was a relaxed serenity on Sheridan’s face, not too much unlike the look he had gotten when Garibaldi had surprised him on the baseball field. He glanced at the clock. It would be time for them to get up and go on duty soon.

He shifted closer to Sheridan in the bed and rubbed one hand over John’s bare shoulder, relishing the relaxed musculature and softly haired chest. When Garibaldi leaned down to nuzzle a kiss into his neck, he stirred, purring quietly.

“Time to get up and run the station, Captain,” Garibaldi murmured. Sheridan growled irritably.

“God, it’s not time already, is it?” he mumbled.

“‘Fraid it is,” Garibaldi said, pushing his mouth through Sheridan’s soft hair. Sheridan hummed more agreeably this time, and finally rolled over to rub his eyes.

“Urrmmmm, I haven’t slept that well in days,” he said. He opened his eyes, and the first thing that focused in his vision was Daffy’s head up on the wall. He broke into a guffaw and Garibaldi sighed tolerantly.

“You wanna shower first?” Garibaldi asked. “Or do you wanna just lie here and laugh at my duck?” Giggling, Sheridan rolled out of the bed to stand up and stretch nakedly.

“Sure,” Sheridan said, rubbing both hands back through his hair. He got about three steps before Garibaldi came up behind him in a sensuous bearhug, and they were very nearly late for duty.

****

Ivanova watched Sheridan saunter casually around the upper deck for about the fifth time that hour.

Sheridan had definitely caught something. Had stalked, chased, pounced and got it in his teeth. Now he was parading around just looking for a chance to tell Ivanova about it, whatever it was. She sensed it in all the pauses in their business chatter, saw it in the way he hesitated when walking by her in C&C. At one point their discussion had turned personal, and he had been about to speak when his link interrupted him.

The whole day went like that — Sheridan on the verge of telling her something that made his whole being light up with joy, and then being interrupted by _something_. Finally he just quit trying, exasperated, and much later, when she had a break, she found him in his office.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” she said with a faint smile. Sheridan looked up from his desk, baffled.

“I did?” he said, looking a little worried that he might have given an order and then completely forgotten about it.

“You’ve been trying to tell me something all day,” she said. “So, I’ve got a break and I told the staff that anyone who bothers you in the next twenty minutes will become an involuntary organ donor.”

Sheridan breathed a laugh. That joy peeked out again, hesitant, gentle.

“God, I — ” He smiled. “Now that I’ve got the chance, I don’t quite know how to say it.”

“You can be blunt with me, remember?” Ivanova reminded him with a grin, alluding to the much starker nature of their lovemaking sometimes, especially when Sheridan got loud.

“Yeah,” he said, glancing down, oddly shy. Then he looked back up. “I was with Michael last night,” he said quietly, eyes shining. Ivanova grinned.

“You mean ‘with’ in the Biblical sense?” she asked. Sheridan nodded.

“Oh, and how,” he sighed. She leaned forward eagerly, arms folded.

“So how is he?” she wondered. Sheridan smiled shyly again, a little surprised by her interest, somewhat aroused by it as well.

“Oh, he’s the sweetest fuck,” Sheridan whispered, putting his hands together at his mouth.

“Sweeter than me?” Ivanova said, one eyebrow quirked.

“Susan — ”

“I’m teasing, John,” she said, grinning. Then she looked a little embarrassed. “Is, uh, is he as big as I remember from three days ago?” Sheridan just nodded. The gesture had an interesting emotional tenor, not quite arrogance, not quite pride.

“Hung like a bull,” Sheridan said in a low voice. “And I don’t know about you, but just the thought of it makes my mouth water.”

“Huh, you and me both,” Ivanova muttered.

“Mm?” Sheridan said and she raised her eyes to him again. Intrigue and mischief touched his face briefly, turning up the corner of his mouth. Then he looked a little dismayed, too. “You’re not jealous…are you?” he asked quietly. Ivanova looked startled.

“Jealous?” she repeated. “No, I don’t think so. Besides, I’d have a lot of nerve being jealous and then turning to you asking if you’ll share him with me.” She swallowed her sudden temerity, looking shocked to have just blurted it out like that. Sheridan’s grin widened.

“Why Commander,” he said. “How brazen of you.”

“Shut up,” she muttered. “I feel like such a tramp.” Sheridan burst out laughing.

“God, what does that make _me_?” he exclaimed.

“Horny?” she ventured, then laughed. “I think that goes without saying, though.”

“I didn’t think you were really that attracted to Michael,” Sheridan said, wondering how the observation would be received. They didn’t really speak directly of that aspect of their relationship.

“I wasn’t,” she said. “I mean, Michael’s always been my friend. A really close friend. When the three of us got together the first time, I wasn’t turned off. But I wasn’t really that interested in him sexually, either.”

“So what changed?” Sheridan wondered, genuinely curious.

“Everything,” Ivanova said weakly. She shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable to be talking about it. “He’s just…closer. To me. To us. I feel more for him than I did. I love him, I guess. The same way I love you.”

They stared at each other for a long moment, Sheridan softly looking like his joy might spill over into the world. Then he got up and moved around his desk to embrace her, holding her to him fiercely. She put her arms around him. “I love you, John,” she said quietly. “It terrifies me to say it. It always does. Seems like everybody I love dies so I figure as long as I don’t say it out loud they won’t go away.” She was silent for a moment in his arms, breathing slowly.

“It’s all right for you to love me,” Sheridan murmured. “It’s all right for you to love Michael. You know…Michael loves you, too. He told me last night.” He felt more than heard Susan’s soft breath of amazement and then she backed away from him to meet his eyes.

“Really?” she said. She swallowed and glanced away again, gaze tracing across the bottom of the gray triangle on the right breast of his black uniform. “Guess lots of things have changed in the past three years.”

“More than I ever thought just in these past five months,” Sheridan said softly, touching her cheek. “I think about that first time a lot, when we had to do it in front of the Lumati Ambassador. How bold you were to just start undressing me like that, God.” He grinned. Ivanova breathed a laugh, a little embarrassed.

“After getting a taste of you, I couldn’t just go on pretending like it hadn’t happened,” she muttered. “Not when I would look at you across the deck in C&C and remember the heat in your eyes when I stuck my hands down your pants…and how hard you already were.” Sheridan touched her lips lightly. She wasn’t even aware of how she looked just then. He grinned.

“You only got a glimpse of Michael’s cock, didn’t you?” he said, startling her. “When you drew back from me.” She nodded after a moment.

“Yeah, I…didn’t get as good a look as I wanted…” Sheridan chuckled.

“We should get you a closer look, then. Much closer.” She hummed softly, still not looking at him, but the sound was one of soft relish. “I’ve got an idea.”

“Oh, do tell,” Ivanova murmured. Sheridan grinned.

****

When Garibaldi came off duty it was almost nineteen hundred. He was tired and sweaty. A busy day today, running around all over the station overseeing a dozen petty little disturbances. A quieter day than they had sometimes, but certainly not a lazy one. He wasn’t sure what he liked better; the times he spent all day dealing with bar fights and pickpockets, or the days he spent doing absolutely nothing until a Psi Cop walked into his office wanting something. He shuddered. That had only been the beginning of Bester giving him the heebie jeebies.

The comm panel on the wall was blinking at him that he had messages. He went over to it, shrugged wearily out of his uniform jacket.

“Play messages,” he said.

“You have one message from John Sheridan,” the computer said. It flickered to display Sheridan, with his office as the background. He didn’t looked like the Captain in that moment, in spite of his uniform. It was John who was talking to him.

“Hope you get this in time to do anything about it,” Sheridan said. “If you get this message before twenty hundred, Susan and I would like to have you tonight — ” Garibaldi shivered; oh, such smoldering heat in that voice. ” — and not as a bystander. As your commanding officers, though, we have orders for you. You will shower, change clothes but not wear shoes. Wear a shirt that has snaps on it. When we arrive at twenty hundred you will be kneeling on the bed waiting for us, facing the doorway. When this message ends, link in and tell me whether or not this is a good night to do this. Use the regular code.” He moved as if to terminate the recording, then paused. “Oh, and we’ll bring the blindfold.” A glimmer of wickedness in Sheridan’s eyes before the recording ended and the screen blacked briefly before returning to a main menu display.

Garibaldi was shaking. He took an involuntary step back from the viewer. His cock was like a steel rod in his trousers. He lifted his link to his mouth, suddenly ready to face another full day.

“Garibaldi to Sheridan.”

“Sheridan.”

“We’ve got a green light, Captain,” he said, keeping his voice even, as if talking about some kind of confidential security project the Captain might have given him. Sheridan’s reply was just as casual.

“Roger that, Chief.” And the link went silent again.

Garibaldi couldn’t get his clothes off fast enough as he headed for the shower.

****

Garibaldi came out of the shower, fumbling for a towel and standing in the middle of the bathroom drying himself off, rubbing his face soothingly into the soft towel. What was it about this that made his mind rage distantly, gibbering in terror and excitement and joy? There had been other times…other…

He caught the doorframe with his hand as he tried to make it into the bedroom. He was shaking violently, adrenaline and shock flaming in him. Christ, oh, Jesus Christ. Sheridan’s face in that message…so much like the way Sheridan had looked at him three days ago when he and Susan had come to him here and invited him onto the bed. That hungry look in fiery, sapphire eyes, Susan’s own gray eyes on him like a wolf for the barest instant when she’d pulled away from John after they had both climaxed. He’d seen something in her face in that moment, something that made the hair on his neck stand up.

And the way Sheridan had worded it…”Susan and I would like to have you tonight, and not as a bystander.” They didn’t want him to watch, didn’t want him to remain in the shadows, or even at the edge of the bed like before. He was instructed to wait in the middle of the bed for them, to be the center of attention in this, whatever it was going to be. And a blindfold..? His trembling almost wouldn’t let him reach the bed at all. He climbed onto the covers, breathing quiveringly and thinking about what he would wear. A shirt with snaps… He swallowed hard and closed his eyes for a moment. No, don’t think about it too much. You’ll go mad that way…

In a flurry of insane motion, he scrambled off the bed again to get dressed the way he’d been told to. Shit, even thinking about _that_… Boxers, socks, trousers, belt. What shirt? He went through a half a dozen before picking one. He put it on and fastened it, tucking the tails into his trousers. Why was he so sure that it was going to be Ivanova who pulled them out again? He shuddered, able to imagine her hands on him, lightly tickling his sides as she undressed him. His cock swelled tightly in his pants, trembling as it became erect and started to ache. His mind flashed back to John flicking his tongue across the shaft, and a spark of electricity in his groin made him twitch. His hard penis shivered again, straining.

“Fuck, they’re not even here yet and I’m going nuts,” he mumbled, going back to the bed to kneel on it. They’d arrive in another few minutes, and he closed his eyes, trying to calm himself. His heart pounded in his chest, deafening him even in the silence of his own head. He sighed softly, clenching his hands to keep them away from his groin.

When the doorchime sounded a few minutes later, he started violently. He rubbed his sweating palms on his thighs.

“Yeah, enter.” He heard the outer door open, then close. Soft booted feet on the carpet approaching the bedroom, and then Sheridan appeared in the doorway. He stood with that cool, hard-eyed look, in black trousers and a deep, blood-red shirt with a small coppery pattern on it. Just a breath later, Ivanova appeared from behind him, walking into the bedroom as John just stood there. She kept her gaze on Garibaldi as she turned to walk in front of Sheridan, gray predation in her eyes. She licked her mouth lightly and Garibaldi let out a slow breath. They reminded him of nothing so much as the alpha pair in a pack of arctic wolves; one just looking, still, the other pacing softly, both of them with eyes like razors. His cock shivered.

Sheridan took something out of his pocket, a length of black fabric folded in on itself. He opened it out in his hands, smoothing it with an odd caress.

“Put this on,” he said, tossing the blindfold onto the bed right between Garibaldi’s knees.

Sheridan was conscious of Ivanova’s restlessness. He knew what she wanted, knew what burned in her chest and belly, what made her lick her lips when she saw Garibaldi kneeling on the bed, exactly as he had been instructed, waiting for them. The nervousness and excitement on his face, in his entire posture, made everything flame sweetly for Sheridan. He took the blindfold out of his pocket and threw it into Garibaldi’s lap, telling him what to do with it. The man flinched almost imperceptibly and hesitated for only an instant before reaching out to take the black cloth and tie it around his head, covering his eyes. He was visibly trembling, obviously having to concentrate to get the thing tied properly. Sheridan grinned viciously, watching Susan pace the floor quietly. There was an enormous bulge in Garibaldi’s trousers, stiffly outlined by the soft fabric. Susan couldn’t take her eyes off of it.

“Make sure you can’t see a thing,” Sheridan told Garibaldi in a low voice. Garibaldi swallowed hard. “Peeking isn’t allowed.”

“Blind as a bat,” Garibaldi muttered. “Promise.”

//Yes,// Sheridan thought. //And like a bat, your sweetest knowledge of the world now will be what you hear.// And the other senses were definitely not to be ignored, oh, indeed not.

Almost as soon as he reassured Sheridan of his blindness, Garibaldi heard both of them suddenly move toward him on the floor. He tensed, and the mattress dipped from two directions. One presence was very close on his left, and moved up to him quietly. He swallowed hard, and jerked as a soft touch connected with his jaw, stroking down his throat. Ivanova. He shuddered, unconsciously lifting his chin to let her touch his neck.

The other weight on the bed, Sheridan, moved in, a little more thoughtfully, consideringly. They were both silent as cats on the hunt, and when two strong hands closed on his shoulders, Garibaldi knew he wouldn’t have had the nerve to allow them here tonight if he had known in advance how intense and wrenching this was going to be. He couldn’t keep calm, shivering with each intake of breath, his cock so hard and so big he couldn’t believe his trousers could hold it. Truth be known, it was a strain, everything tight, his heart racing…

“Do you trust me, Michael?” came Sheridan’s low, hoarse voice. The question, paradoxically, made his heart leap with terror.

“Yeah, John,” he whispered, swallowing. Two more hands touched him, opening his shirt one snap at a time, making him start.

“And me, Michael?” It was Ivanova’s husky voice this time, rich with…something. A desire. A need. A sound escaped him as she pulled his shirt open to bare his chest, and touched one of his nipples lightly.

“Fuck,” he whispered, so softly. “Yeah, I trust you, Susan. Have to don’t I?” He giggled soundlessly, his anxiety and arousal and pleasure rising in him like an unbearable pressure from inside his belly, coming out of his throat in a soft laugh. His left nipple was pinched hard, suddenly, and he gasped, strangling on his own laughter. His cock jerked at the flash of heat.

“Yeah,” Susan whispered back to him. “You do.” The adrenaline flush from his nipple spread outward slowly, like cold water, leaving a delicious tingling behind it.

“Oh, fuck,” he whispered.

Sheridan held Garibaldi’s shoulders as Ivanova opened his shirt. Garibaldi’s eyes were covered, but so much expression came from the rest of his face. His half-open mouth, telling deeply of wonder and anticipation and fear — oh, delicious fear! Sheridan felt his own cock pulse gently in his pants, responding. Ivanova touched a nipple on Garibaldi’s furred chest, and his head moved restlessly, tongue coming to the front of his teeth for an instant before he closed his mouth to swallow.

“Fuck,” he said, in a voice that was very small and very amazed. “Yeah, I trust you, Susan…” He laughed, almost hysterically, a quiet, breathless giggle that Sheridan understood very well. The sound of a man on the verge of being out of control and loving it so. Then Susan had pinched his nipple and Sheridan had seen his cock flare in his trousers. Oh, he was so ready…

Garibaldi felt Susan’s hand withdraw, and both of them shifted on the bed slightly, John to the side but not letting go of his shoulders. The masculine strength of those hands kept him anchored, gave him a place to rest against while Susan made him want to withdraw in on himself in an orgy of quivering bliss. A sensation of warmth near his chest made him hold perfectly still, and he felt soft breath across his breastbone, through the coarse hair. It was Susan…oh, God, it was –

Something wet and hot and flickering settled on his nipple, the one that had been pinched. Her mouth oh her tongue oh God licking him sucking on him. He moaned torturously, leaning his head back, a high, desperate sound. Another warm presence of breath at his side, against his cheek — John — and he was being slowly, luxuriously kissed on the jaw, the neck, his earlobe sucked on tightly. He was panting, hardly able to breathe at all, and then someone’s hand lightly brushed over the straining, swollen hardness in his pants. It must have been Susan’s — Christ, he didn’t think it was possible for him to get any harder…

“Susannnn,” he moaned, “John, dammit please…please please please please…” He couldn’t believe he had said both of those names in one breath, that they were both here, doing this, pleasuring him, driving him insane with lust. His hips moved suddenly of their own volition, buttocks clenching in a reflexive need to move, to fuck, trying to get closer to Susan’s hand where she delicately outlined his cock, her touch feather light. She wouldn’t let him make the contact stronger; just kept moving her hand to torment him, delicate, sweet. Ripples of sensation, going hot and then cold in waves, radiated out from where she was sucking and teasing his nipple. “Please God you’re driving me crazy dammit I’ll come in my pants if you keep doing thaaaaatohhhh.”

“No you won’t,” came Susan’s rough voice. “And that’s the worst part.” She chuckled, an infinitely evil, lecherous noise. “I can drive you to the brink, but not over. Higher and higher — ” Garibaldi gave a trembling, loud moan of sweet pain and lust.

“Fuck, I’ll get you back for this, Susan,” he groaned. “I’ll get you…back…” John growled close to his ear, sending fire into his cock.

“Time to pay the piper,” he hissed, and Garibaldi felt himself pulled around by John’s powerful grip, pushed down onto his back. Sheridan’s weight on his shoulders kept him down. Then he felt hands fumbling at his belt. The added pair of hands was such a strange sensation, even more now than before, and he bucked. His trousers were opened; he heard more than felt the zipper go down.

“Oh yeah Susan please oh God yeah do it…do me…”

Ivanova waited impatiently while John got Michael down on his back. He was so gorgeous. They both were. Michael quivering and anxious and horny, so horny. She hadn’t believed the size of his cock at first, rock hard in his pants when she had stroked between his legs. As the truth of it settled into her belly like molten steel, she knew she had to have it. That cock was hers, woe to anyone who got in the way.

And Michael, on the edge of wildness yet allowing the torture he was being subjected to…_that_ made John’s eyes flame. She’d been fascinated to see it, his white-knuckled grip on Garibaldi’s shoulders, kissing his neck and jaw slowly, licking with such relish. Garibaldi couldn’t see John’s face, but she could. His mouth was open, as if to devour something, his expression afire with an absolute, blazing ecstasy almost like rage. The kind of emotion that you didn’t interfere with or were annihilated.

Now Michael was being held down by that emotion, the muscles in John’s back bunched where his dark red shirt pulled tight across his shoulders. John was trembling too; Michael must be able to feel it. The legs and hips beneath her writhed and bucked as she dragged his pants off, his voice murmuring to her, begging, pleading. She saw John’s own flanks quiver, like a nervous stallion’s.

“Hold still,” John growled. The voice was pure threat, hot and low. Susan felt a shudder of her own ripple up her spine.

“Trying to, dammit,” Michael whimpered. “Can’t…it’s so…God I want it…Susan please please please…” His trousers and boxers were off and she dumped them over the side of the bed, taking a moment to rub her hands up his legs and admire his ruddy cock. She exhaled unsteadily, a sigh of admiration and eagerness. He was very big, but not so much so that it was impossible to do anything with. It was a delicious sort of big, that made her imagine hot, milky semen shooting out of it, Michael’s voice howling. It was incredibly hard, too, straining in its own skin, veins standing out up the shaft. Thick and long…possibly too big for one person to handle, and that was the idea here tonight. Michael bucked tensely as she leaned down to breathe her way up his thigh, trying to be still, his buttocks clenched tight. “Fuck me, Susan,” he whispered hoarsely. “Suck on me, lick me, _anything_ _something_ oh please dammit I can’t take thissss — ” His voice strangled as she breathed over his testicles, flicked her tongue out lightly to touch them. “Aaaaahhhhh…” She thought he would pass out when she ran her tongue up the length of the shaft. It flared out to meet her mouth, trembling, head swollen darkly. It had a prominent crest, and she drew her tongue around the perimeter of that ridge. Michael swore savagely.

“John,” she murmured. A pause, and the quivering stallion shifted on the bed after delivering an admonishment to Michael.

“Stay put.” John came and bent down low on the bed, his hand settling on the top of Michael’s other thigh, gaze taking in the length of Michael’s cock with hungry silence. She met his eyes for a moment, seeing some kind of furious, magnificent truth about him in his sapphire gaze before he moved to nuzzle his mouth into Michael’s testicles, licking them slowly.

“OH, fuck _me_!” Michael howled. “God dammit John! YEAH!”

Susan felt for John’s hand, and he clenched it tight, waiting for her silent signal. She squeezed hard –

As one, Susan’s mouth engulfed the shaft of his cock and John’s mouth took his balls completely in, an enormous, mind-blowing instant of being _consumed_. He bucked hard, unable to control it, unable to stop.

“Ahh! Ahh! AAAHHHYEEEEAAAAAHHH!!!” He didn’t come — not yet oh Jesus! — It was more intense in itself than any orgasm he’d ever had…more violent than any teasing, any blinding, swift masturbation he’d ever done on himself. He forgot who he was, forgot everything except who _they_ were, two mouths on him, eager, luscious, so wet… “Oh God dammit John…Susan…please please please PLEASE — ” John pulled away from him suddenly, hand clawing down his belly in a flare of pain.

“Beg, Michael,” John snarled at him. “Beg for it. Come on. Can’t have it unless you beg.” His balls ached for more of John’s mouth, quivering, sweat covering him, pooling in the hollow below his breastbone.

“Please John,” he groaned, then whispered. “Please John suck me. Suck on my balls, lemme feel your tongue on ‘em. John, you’re so good, please do it, please, God, your mouth makes me crazy — ” It was enough; John sucked his balls in again lavishly, stroking them with his hot tongue. But Michael didn’t stop pleading. “Yeah just like that John oh fuck Susan you’re gonna make me come…I can feel it…it’s gonna be so big…”

There was a growl from John, and a sudden shift of weight on the bed. The delicious mouth left his balls again and he moaned. Then it was on the shaft, with Susan, both of them trying to take his cock. John made a savage noise, almost of surprised pain, and there was briefly only one mouth on him. He realized abruptly what was going on — they were _fighting_ over him, each wanting to taste him when he came. Oh, holy God…

Ivanova had had to grab Sheridan by the hair to get him to stop getting in her way. Michael’s cock was _hers_ right now, by God, and John was not going to take that away from her. John snarled at her, startled, and she understood the depth of his need. He didn’t want to usurp, just to share.

“Share?” she panted to him, offering a compromise. Sheridan held her eyes briefly, then nodded, licking his lips, and they went back to it, taking turns sucking on the head, rubbing a tongue around the crest, while Michael whimpered and bucked. They had to both hold him down, and John laughed low in his throat.

Susan was taking her turn sucking on Michael’s testicles — she would never have dreamed he was so sensitive there. They were big, like his cock, and she believed John’s story suddenly about how much he came. John’s hand touched her shoulder, pulling on her, and she realized that Michael was close, gulping for breath, incoherent. And John wanted her to have the first taste of him. She felt a flash of deep affection for John, and moved to take her place as John withdrew but stayed close, breathing across Michael’s belly.

“Come on, Michael,” John rumbled. It was a soft chant, urging, and Susan felt it in her own body like pulses of warmth. “Come on, that’s it, come on Michael — ”

“Susan oh Jesus gonna come in your mouth,” Michael gasped suddenly. “Gonna come oh yeah take it..!” The first surge hit the back of her throat hard, salty and male. It was quickly followed by a long, rich spurt during which Michael yelled like nothing she’d ever heard, exuberant and wild. Then more and more, hard, pulsing, filling her mouth with heat. She took all she could hold, gulping some of it down, and drew back swiftly to let John have his fill.

John’s mouth instantly replaced hers, hungry, and he moved on the bed to get into a position facing Michael’s legs, sucking greedily as Michael bucked and howled. She watched John swallow, then again, his face baring such naked relish, his eyes half closed in concentration.

Garibaldi wasn’t entirely sure when the orgasm ended. For that matter he wasn’t sure when it had started either. It had been one huge, long, drawn out sweetness from the moment they’d come into his quarters tonight. Someone’s hand was slowly, gently stroking his hair. He felt like a solid pool of sweat, panting and weary.

“Like that?” came Susan soft whisper close to his ear. He fought down a giggle, didn’t entirely succeed.

“Oh yeah. Hell yeah.” His voice came out a broken whimper. “God damn it…”

“Shh,” she said quietly. He sensed something secretive in her suddenly, and curiosity flared in him. He realized that John seemed to have vanished from his senses, except that he could smell… “I’m going to take your blindfold off,” Susan murmured. “You’ve got to see this.”

She pulled the black cloth over his head, and he blinked, then sat up at her urging. He started to rub his eyes, and froze.

There was a panther in the room with them. Panting softly, bent over to keep one hand clenched into the bedcovers, John had moved to the other side of the bed. His trousers were open and he had the other hand inside them, moving urgently, slowly. A low growl came out of him, and didn’t stop. He raised his head to meet their eyes, and rose up on his knees arrogantly, inviting the attention. There was nothing civilized in his face, nothing but a man’s pure sexual pride and hedonism in the blue eyes, in the lips drawn back from canines that should have been so much sharper.

Michael started to move, but Susan’s hand on his shoulder stopped him.

“Just watch,” she said in a strained voice. “Let’s just…watch him.” Garibaldi realized she was trembling, her hands clenched. She half-glanced at him. “Michael…would you…”

“You want me to do something for you?” he finished softly, smiling. “I’m kind of sweaty…”

“Don’t care,” she sighed as he reached around her front to unbutton her blouse. “Just get these clothes off me.” John was excruciatingly aware of them; it was plain in his eyes. He gave a soft laugh as Michael helped Susan get her trousers off, and suddenly John was the only one so conspicuously clothed. He didn’t seem much concerned about it, though, his shirt open, trousers and briefs pushed down around his knees so he could fondle himself.

Susan had pushed herself back against Michael, and he shifted his legs to put them around hers. She didn’t seem turned off by his sweatiness. In fact, she leaned her head back on his shoulder and kissed his damp neck, then licked slightly. “You taste good,” she murmured. “In more places than one.” He was holding her arms, smiling.

“What would you like?” he asked softly. She took his hand from her arm and put it down between her legs. She was extremely wet, and pushed against him when he stroked a finger lightly over her clitoris.

“Please, Michael,” she groaned. “Don’t pick now to become shy on me.” He pushed two fingers into her suddenly, making her gasp deeply. John laughed wickedly from where he knelt, kneading his cock. “Oh, do it Michael, yessss…” His thumb took up the stroking of her button and she writhed. “Fuck YEAH!” she yelled. John was thrusting gently into his own hand now, gripping his cock tightly, watching them.

Garibaldi met Sheridan’s eyes and then jerked his chin slightly in a ‘come here’ gesture. Sheridan raised both eyebrows questioningly, but suddenly seemed to get the idea. Michael knew he had guessed right when Susan tensed in his arms.

“John, what are you — ” Michael’s fingers distracted her and she groaned desperately.

“You want him to come on you?” Michael murmured in her ear. She bucked against his hand, gasping. “Want him to come for you? Just for you? Huh? Wanna watch him let go on you, on my hand with my fingers in you?”

A long, snarling flood of guttural Russian told him he had nailed it, and John laughed, gasping.

“Hell yeah, she does,” John said, astonished and determined. “And God would I love to.”

“Go on, John, do it for her,” Michael hissed. That panther in John’s eyes, every line of his body, a snarling beast that began to moan as Susan watched him, riveted.

“Oh baugh, da, pazhalsta,” Susan groaned, leaning her head back briefly to kiss Michael’s neck again.

“Look at me,” John commanded in a growl, and Susan had to obey, drawn by the hypnotic voice.

“Can’t hold on,” she warned, gasping, “Michael, Jesus — ”

“I can’t either,” John groaned. He held her eyes fiercely. “Etau dlyah vas, Suzotchka,” he whispered. The words inflamed her.

“Yeah, John…pazhalsta…do it…” Michael’s stroking thumb, and fingers deep inside her, made John’s eyes even sweeter when he groaned her name, his musculature standing out strikingly for an instant, and his trembling cock poured white heat over Michael’s hand where it covered her, splash after splash, on her thighs, on her sex, her belly. She watched, savoring, so close it was like a river of flame. Michael hummed softly, clearly enjoying it. “Baugh,” she groaned. “Baugh, ya prihaudht…prihaudhtdaaa tyehpyehr, Johnnnn!” Michael chuckled softly against her neck, his hand like fire in her sex.

“Hurmm, Suzotchka,” he murmured, and she screamed. John moved in like lightning to bite her throat as she leaned back, making her yell choke. She swore violently, half in Russian, half in Interlac. Then Sheridan drowned her howl with a kiss, covering her mouth feverishly to taste her, one hand on her shoulder, the other gripped hard around Michael’s hand where he had two fingers plunged into her sex. Sheridan was helping, adding his thumb to Michael’s on her clitoris, pushing another finger inside to join Michael’s two. She tore her mouth away from John’s with a full-throated roar and John howled a laugh, loving this, loving Michael’s shock and delight.

They all toppled down on the bed, Michael on his back with Susan on top of him. John followed, keeping his hand in place through the fierce, trembling grip of her sex as her orgasm ran its full course. She was mumbling in Russian, breathless, as the trailing end of the flood passed her by and they were all hot and panting on the bed.

“Come on, love,” Sheridan gasped, pulling on Susan gently. “Get off of poor Michael. We’ll suffocate him.” Michael was laughing wildly. He helped Susan up and she sat there, dazed, her head in both hands, still whispering in Russian. She reached for Michael suddenly, taking his face in her hands.

“Michael,” she said softly. More Russian tumbled out, whispering, fierce, the same words over and over.

“Susan, I don’t understand,” Michael murmured, holding her hands to his face.

“It means ‘I love you,’” John said quietly from beside him. Garibaldi glanced at him, wide-eyed, saw John’s quiet grace, the half-smile on his mouth. So he took Susan in his arms, hugged her.

“I love you, too, Susan, oh God.”

Sheridan didn’t bother to translate the rest — what she had been saying when she sat up. He only caught parts of it, but what he understood made him shiver: //…love both of you, can hardly stand it…didn’t know I could scream like that and then scream some more…too much to hold…so good…//

And Michael just held her like that for a long time, rocking her gently as shes sobbed into his shoulder, overwhelmed. They slept together that night, all of them in the bed in a comforting, warm tangle. Susan whispered sometimes in the night, in soft Russian.

“I love you.”

End Story IV

 

Threeway – 1/1 (Sheridan/Ivanova/Garibaldi) – Way III

Ξ May 12th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Babylon 5, Fanfic, Way Series |

"Threeway"
Part 1/1
Story III in the "Way" Series
Copyright (C) 1996 by A. Manley Huff
<ahaight@earthlink.net>

This story is not in any way intended to infringe on copyrights held by J. 
Michael Straczynski, Babylonian Productions Inc., or Time Warner 
Productions.  This story may be distributed only with prior permission of 
the author, and may not be posted to any archive, ftp site, or web page 
without the written permission of the author.  This story is distributed 
for the individual personal entertainment of persons over 21, and is not 
subject to purchase or sale by anyone.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

	Sheridan awoke gently to the darkened familiarity of his own 
bedroom.  He glanced over at the clock.  Ah, he loved off-duty days.  
Smiling, he stretched in the bed, and next to him, Ivanova shifted 
sleepily.  He growled quietly, moving closer to her.  He tended to sleep 
nude, and last night she had worn silken pajamas.
	She was so beautiful, laying on her side, relaxed and content.  She 
had driven him almost mad the night before, sucking and teasing his 
nipples, with her other hand on his cock, stroking him.  His orgasm had 
been fiery and bright, edged with surprise -- it had been so quick, gods, 
he hadn't known he could be drawn to an orgasm so swiftly.  He'd made 
something of a mess on himself, and she had tasted it lightly.  The 
memory made him shiver hotly -- that was something else he had found 
unexpectedly erotic; her licking at the semen on his belly and chest.
	He wanted her right now, his cock hard between his thighs, his 
body pressed up against her back where she slept.  She moved again 
restlessly as if sensing his hunger even in her sleep.  He reached down to 
push her pajama bottoms down away from her hips, sliding his hand 
over her flank to move the blue silken tunic and bare her gorgeous, 
smooth rump and upper legs.  She moaned softly in response to the 
touch and arched her back against him.  The movement brought his cock 
in contact with her buttocks and she groaned again.  The feral reaction 
made Sheridan's belly flame, and he lifted her leg in a firm, desperate 
grip to spread her open so he could penetrate her from behind.  She was 
just wet enough, and gasped hard when he sheathed himself in her, his 
other hand on her shoulder to brace himself.  He bucked sharply, 
reflexively, to bury himself all the way, and Ivanova cried out his name.
	That made the rest of his control break, and in another heartbeat 
he was plunging himself into her, grunting deep in his chest, his fine 
mouth pulled back in a silent snarl of ferocity and blind lust.  She 
reached back to put a hand on his hip, stroking him appreciatively, not 
fully awake but certainly no longer sleeping with this magnificent, hot, 
growling man fucking her.  It was a little difficult for him to keep the 
angle of entry, and he spent each panting breath adjusting himself, 
muscles contracted, sweat running down his back.  But difficult or not, 
he wasn't going to give it up, his hand tight around her thigh, half-bent 
over her side, bucking against her rump.  She was groaning sensuously, 
writhing against him.
	It was a hell of a thing to wake up to, Sheridan's scent in her nose, 
his hands pulling her pajama bottoms off and then holding her in a 
strong man's grip as a stiff, sweet cock entered her awkwardly, boldly.  
He could indeed be a bold man sometimes, and it was something Ivanova 
relished about him.  He was truly as gentle and as compassionate a man 
as he seemed, and he was also as fierce and as ruthless.  Something else 
lay below that, though, a strength that fed the rest of his personality, his 
soul.  A strength that made him the kind of man who would do this 
without asking, without worrying about whether or not he was violating 
her.  It was a strength in trust, in security, of knowing that the 
permission was granted even in moments when she could not answer.  
And she knew he would never force it on her when it wasn't wanted.  And 
oh, gods, could he fuck...
	She cried out again when he held her tighter.  His hand on her leg, 
his other on her shoulder...it would almost certainly bruise.  But it felt 
good, his maleness brought against her in a way her primal self 
understood; power.
	"John," she begged.  "Fuck me hard, as hard as you can...please, 
oh my God..."  His voice rose savagely, grunting, panting, sometimes 
half-words, thoughts that escaped his throat only partially formed 
because of the primacy of the encompassing pleasure he felt.
	"Su...Susan, ah, damn, I'm coming, _oh_ -- "  Ivanova had been 
with men who went still during their orgasms, who froze in some kind of 
motionless savoring.  She had never felt any real enjoyment of that.  She 
preferred Sheridan's way, which was to become immersed in the 
movement, in the fucking itself, harder, rougher, slamming against her, 
his testicles slapping the backs of her legs.  His voice ripped into the 
room in a drawn-out yell followed by short, snarling cries.  She had been 
very close but didn't expect to actually orgasm.  But something now in 
the sound of Sheridan's rough voice, the open, blatant, sexual revelry in 
it -- the sensation of him letting go inside her in long, hard surges -- 
brought her to the edge suddenly.
	Sheridan felt her twist in his embrace and she cried out wildly, 
surprised and delighted.  "Coming for me, huh?" he gasped as his own 
orgasm began to fade.  He thrust his still-hard cock into her forcefully as 
her sex tightened deliciously and then began to pulse, gripping him over 
and over.  He laughed.  "Yeah, ah!  God, I love watching you come..."  He 
held her until she calmed, going limp on her side, panting.  He went still, 
keeping his cock halfway inside her.
	"God damn it, John," she gasped, out of breath.  "That sure beats 
the hell out of the computer wake-up call."
	"Uuurrrrrmmmm," he rumbled, leaning down to kiss her shoulder. 
 "I hope you liked that as much as I did."
	"I couldn't say for sure," she replied.  "Do it again so I can get 
another data point."  Sheridan withdrew from her, laughing, and pulled 
her down onto her back to kiss her.

****

	"Foul.  Ball."
	"Shit," Garibaldi muttered, getting ready for the next pitch from the 
machine.  He swung and the bat cracked.  He knew as soon as he heard 
it that it was a good hit.  The ball went arcing away off to the right into 
right field, its path quite noticeably curving.
	"Home.  Run.  One hundred thirty yards, average velocity: one 
hundred four miles per hour."  Another pitch, and again he swung.  It 
sounded off when he hit it, and the curve was much more pronounced 
this time.  "Foul.  Ball."
	"Goddamn coriolis force," Garibaldi muttered, stepping back off of 
the plate so the machine would wait instead of pitching again.
	He had noticed the bruise on Ivanova's neck.  She was hiding it 
well, and it wasn't especially dark, but when he saw it in the right 
overhead light, it was definitely a bite mark.  The sight of it made him 
shiver -- he hadn't expected that Sheridan would be the type to do that.  
But he had watched it happen when they'd made love last week, the day 
Franklin had seen them in the labyrinth.  It had been inflaming, and he 
had caught them on the securcam making love twice more during the 
days that followed.  He suspected they did it more often than 
that...something about the way they looked at each other when he could 
observe them.
	He wondered if she had bruises from the other night, too.  
Sheridan had bitten her rather hard on her ribs and belly, and she had 
loved it, yelling his name and laughing before he moved quickly between 
her legs and fucked her properly.
	Garibaldi sighed, letting the end of the bat drop to the grass with a 
thump.  Damn, that was one thing for sure.  Sheridan was a fantastic, 
masculine lover, and Ivanova was a wild, uninhibited lioness.  And they 
seemed to love being with each other.  It wasn't just sex for mutual 
convenience (the sort of thing Garibaldi had seen before in Earthforce).  It 
was genuine sexual magnetism, a fantastic pleasure in the other's body.  
Franklin had been right.  They _were_ like wild minks.
	He'd been spying on them with the securcam fairly consistently for 
some time, but hadn't yet had any luck in catching them at it anywhere 
else.  He suspected they did, from Franklin's initial report.  But damned 
if Garibaldi could be at the right place at the right time.  He practically 
haunted the labyrinth in his off-time, ears straining for some sound of 
them.
	He was waiting for his moment.  He knew that an opportunity 
would present itself sooner or later, and he intended to be ready for it.  
He stepped up to the plate, and the machine pitched.

****

	His chance, ironically, came later that day.  He was in Earhart's, 
leaning against the bar and surveying the room casually, in his 
"undercover Security Chief" mode.  His glance fell on Sheridan, who was 
sitting in the back at a table by himself.  Garibaldi knew pining when he 
saw it.  He smirked to himself and grabbed his drink off the bar to head 
over.  This could be the right time to poke his way into the ever-so-
delectable relationship Sheridan and Ivanova seemed to be having.
	"Hey, Captain."
	Sheridan looked up at him.  That vague, hangdog look hovered in 
his eyes as Garibaldi sat down.
	"Hi," Sheridan sighed.  Garibaldi studied him for a minute to make 
sure he was just wistful and not upset.  If he and Ivanova were having 
problems already, Garibaldi was definitely not stepping into the middle of 
it.
	"Something wrong?" Garibaldi asked.
	"What?  Oh," Sheridan said.  "No.  Nothing wrong, exactly.  I'm 
just...a little distracted."
	"This wouldn't have anything to do with Ivanova, would it?" 
Garibaldi asked.  Sheridan's drink stopped halfway to his mouth, and 
then he recovered to sip from it.  /Gotcha,/ Garibaldi thought.
	"Why would you think that?" Sheridan asked.  It would have been 
a perfect deadpan except for his hesitation.  Garibaldi shrugged slightly 
but lowered his voice.
	"A little bird told me you guys were seen smooching in the 
labyrinth last week.  Well, smooching wasn't the word they used."  He 
shook his head, the corners of his eyes crinkling with amusement.  "Man, 
I wish I coulda seen that."
	"Why?" Sheridan said, a little grouchily.  "Do you have a thing for 
watching people fool around?"  Garibaldi's mouth twitched and the words 
came out of his mouth before he could stop them.
	"Actually, yeah.  I do."  He took another swallow of his cranberry 
juice to avoid having to qualify that remark.  He hadn't intended to be so 
blunt.  Not so soon.  Not so _anything_.  /Jesus, I'm off to a great start,/ 
he thought wryly.  The two men stared at each other for a long moment.  
Finally, Garibaldi broke the silence.  "So you _were_ smooching in the 
labyrinth."
	"We were not," Sheridan said petulantly, "_smooching_."  He visibly 
searched his mind for something more dignified.  "We were...being 
intimate."  He clenched his jaw as if to say he was sticking by that story 
no matter how dumb it sounded.
	"Not the most private place for the Captain and Commander of B5 
to be...intimate," Garibaldi mused, deliberately imitating Sheridan's 
inflection.  Sheridan glanced down into his drink.
	"Yeah, well.  Some people don't mind being watched as much as 
other people do."  Garibaldi felt a cold shock in the pit of his stomach.  
He couldn't possibly be so lucky...could he?
	"Is that right?" he murmured.  Sheridan raised his eyes and they 
stared at each other for another long moment.  Garibaldi kept his face 
calm, seeing the truth in Sheridan's eyes.  He wondered if Ivanova knew. 
 He had known in advance about the Lumati Ambassador's clandestine 
meeting with Sheridan and Ivanova in Sheridan's quarters, and had 
suspected the nature of that meeting from Ivanova's description of the 
previous incident with the Lumati.  But he had only come in on them as 
they entered Sheridan's bedroom, and had missed whatever conversation 
they might have had prior.
	"Yeah," Sheridan muttered.  "And how common can that be, huh?" 
 He laughed warily.
	"More common than we think, I guess," Garibaldi said.  He traced 
lines in the condensation on the table for a moment.  "You think those 
two kinds of people ever find each other?"  Sheridan gazed back at him 
shrewdly.  The look was oddly open in spite of the cunning.  It made 
Garibaldi nervous.
	"If they do, I'll bet it's by accident," Sheridan replied dryly.  "Over 
drinks."  Garibaldi willed himself not to choke on his drink.  How had 
Sheridan gotten the upper hand in this conversation?
	"And there's usually a third party involved who doesn't go for 
either," he said.
	"Usually," Sheridan said.  He still had that cagey expression, like a 
lion cautiously watching prey from a distance.
	"Do you think people like that can be persuaded?" Garibaldi 
wondered.
	"Maybe," Sheridan said, his mouth quirking.  "Who wants to know, 
Michael?"  He emphasized the name curiously.  Garibaldi stared at him, 
a little shocked and not at all prepared to have the discussion become so 
direct.  He glanced away from their table and returned a careful gaze to 
Sheridan, who suddenly made him feel a chill up his back with that still, 
gray-eyed look.
	"If you ever feel like letting someone in," Garibaldi said bluntly, 
seriously.  "I want in."
	"Oh?" Sheridan mused, arching one eyebrow much too casually.  
"How bad?"  Garibaldi's mouth tightened and Sheridan grinned 
unexpectedly.  "Bad," he deduced.  Garibaldi rubbed one hand over his 
mouth nervously and folded his arms.
	"Just keep it in mind, huh?" he said tightly.  Sheridan was 
grinning like a Cheshire cat.
	"I will," he said.  Garibaldi got up suddenly and left, looking a little 
persecuted.  "Well," Sheridan muttered to himself.  "I'll be damned."

****

	Ivanova found Sheridan lying flat on his back on one of the stone 
benches in the labyrinth.  They had gotten into a habit of meeting here.
	"You look entirely too comfortable," she said, looming over him.  He 
gazed up at her as her eyes traced a path down his body to his groin.  
She pursed her lips.  "And that looks tempting."
	"Ha ha," Sheridan said, sitting up.  "You know, just when I thought 
this place wasn't going to get any weirder, it did."
	"Oh?  When was this?"
	"Today.  I was in Earhart's and Garibaldi comes over to sit with me. 
 We had the damndest conversation.  It took me a minute to figure out 
what he was asking me.  He knows about us, which should come as no 
surprise, not really.  He's Garibaldi, after all.  He knows about things 
before they even happen.  But you know what he wants?  He wants to 
watch you and me.  He's a voyeur, just like that blasted Ambassador."  
His grin was a bit of a surprise to Ivanova, who might have expected 
annoyance from him when faced with this revelation.
	"You're kidding," she said with a smile.  Sheridan shook his head, 
still grinning.
	"No.  It was the most circumspect conversation I've had with 
anyone since the last time I talked to Earthforce brass.  But it was clear 
what he was asking."
	"So...what?" she said finally.  "I sense a proposition in there 
somewhere."  Sheridan sobered slightly.
	"I wondered if...you might be willing to allow it.  To allow him, I 
mean.  He didn't let it show but he wants it bad.  I do, too.  I think I 
would really like him to be there.  You've known him longer than I have, 
and I trust him enough.  Do you?  Do you think you would be able to 
have a relationship like that with him or would it be too personal?"
	"I don't know," Ivanova murmured doubtfully.  "In a way it was 
easier with the Lumati because I didn't know him.  I didn't have to worry 
about what he thought of me personally, and I didn't have to look at him 
the next day.  Or the day after."
	"That's funny," Sheridan said, looking down at his hands.  "I was 
thinking the whole time how much better it would have been if we had 
been watched by someone we knew.  Someone we trusted and liked.  
With the Lumati it was hard for me to relax because he was a stranger."  
Ivanova's expression altered as she suddenly understood.
	"You want someone you can show yourself off to," she said.  
Sheridan looked faintly trapped, then he nodded mutely.  He looked 
away.
	"It's strange.  This all started off so superficially and I find myself 
in the position of exposing my most personal sexual needs to you.  I 
didn't really even do that with Anna."  He went silent when he realized he 
was committing a major no-no; talking about his previous relationships.  
But Ivanova only nodded.
	"I know what you mean," she murmured.  "I suppose it's because 
we've gone so long with those needs unmet.  Desperation."  Sheridan 
laughed nervously.
	"Yeah.  God."
	"Damn, it feels good, though," Ivanova whispered, staring at the 
ground, then raising her eyes to look at him.  The hunger in his eyes 
made her groin throb suddenly.  God, it was so raw in him sometimes, as 
plain on his face as what she felt in her own belly.  She wondered if hers 
were as visible.
	"Well," Sheridan said, finally dropping his eyes.  "Would you think 
about it at least?"
	"I already have," she said, and he looked up again.  The expectation 
-- the hope -- in his eyes wrenched her.  "I'm willing to try.  I think I trust 
Michael enough.  The question is...how do we tell him?  How do we do 
this?"  Sheridan's grin was startlingly lecherous.
	"We can play hardball," he said.  "Michael's the submissive type; I 
could tell from our conversation."  That got another wide-eyed look from 
Ivanova.
	"Why that little..." she muttered, amazed.
	"Yeah," Sheridan said with a shit-eating grin.  "Isn't that 
something?"
	Suddenly someone appeared from behind a hedge at the end of the 
dirt path.  It was Garibaldi.  He froze as if not expecting to find them, yet 
somehow hoping he would.
	"Uh," he said.  "Sorry, I was just -- "
	"Mr. Garibaldi," Ivanova said.  "We were just talking about you."
	"You were?" he said.  He swallowed nervously, but came closer to 
them.  Whatever this conversation turned into, he was not going to let 
everyone in the labyrinth hear it.  "What's up?"
	"You, hopefully," Ivanova muttered with a fleeting grin.  Garibaldi 
felt like he'd been punched in the stomach when he realized what she 
meant.  He looked at Sheridan, and met the cool, leonine predation he 
had seen in Earhart's -- only tenfold.  The Captain was sitting up, 
straddling the stone bench, watching him with his chin raised slightly in 
a calculating expression.
	"You wanted in?" Sheridan said.  "You're in."
	"We _are_ talking about the same thing, aren't we?" Garibaldi 
asked warily.  Sheridan grinned.
	"If we're not, then I'd love to know what we _were_ talking about in 
Earhart's."  The gray eyes were like nothing Garibaldi had ever seen on 
him.
	"We wouldn't do this for just anybody, Michael," Ivanova said, and 
he looked at her.  Her stare welded him to the ground.  "I especially 
wouldn't.  But I'm willing to give it a shot."
	"I...thanks," Garibaldi managed.  He kept his voice very quiet, 
having trouble holding their eyes.  Such intense stares from both of 
them...  "Really, you don't know what it means to me."  Sheridan 
hummed softly, making him jump.
	"I think I do," Sheridan said in a low voice.  "Shall we get started?  
My quarters, I think."  Garibaldi felt a shudder flash through him at 
Sheridan's tone of voice.
	"What...now?" he said.  Sheridan stood up from the bench and 
came toward him.  He wanted to back away but didn't dare, and 
Sheridan came to stand very close, eyes like talons.
	"Now, Michael," Sheridan growled.  "Now move."  Heart pounding, 
Garibaldi let himself be pushed gently down the path, and he walked out 
of the labyrinth with Sheridan and Ivanova behind him like fire at his 
back.  He quivered.

****

	"I think we have to clarify exactly what you're up to here," Ivanova 
said to Garibaldi when the door closed on them in Sheridan's quarters.  
Garibaldi looked remarkably innocent.
	"Me?" he said.  "I'm really not up to anything.  Honest."  He 
swallowed.  "Captain -- "
	"John," Sheridan said, not loudly but it cut into the room like a 
guillotine.  "It's John."  He gave that half-grin Garibaldi had seen so 
many times, and in that moment it made him look dangerous.  "Michael," 
he added in a sultry tone.  A ripple of heat washed up Garibaldi's spine.  
"You said you wanted to watch.  You like to watch people make love?"  It 
was a faintly teasing question, but Garibaldi also heard anticipation in it. 
 He stood straight, hands in his pockets, determined to meet these two 
lions with equal strength.
	"Yeah," he said, his voice low and resolute.  It held an edge of a 
challenge.  "I like to watch people make love."  Sheridan's mouth moved 
in another smile, a less conscious one this time.  /Am I getting to you, 
John Sheridan?/ Garibaldi wondered wickedly.  /There's a terrific 
hedonist under there somewhere.../
	"Good," Sheridan said roughly.  "Because I like to be watched when 
I make love."
	"I don't really do this regularly you know," Garibaldi murmured, 
careful not to say anything that would make them think he spied on 
people, least of all them for the past three years.  "Not face to face like 
this.  I'm, uh, a little nervous."
	"So am I," Ivanova admitted.  She knew what Sheridan was doing, 
even though she had never seen this side of him before.  It was similar in 
many ways to their professional relationship: Sheridan the hard Captain, 
Ivanova the more accommodating Commander.  She knew Sheridan 
needed to play this role so dominating because it gave him pleasure, but 
it would scare Garibaldi off if they weren't careful.  She needed to ease 
them both into it.  She and Garibaldi looked at each other for a moment, 
and then Garibaldi sighed.
	"Look, um, I didn't want to embarrass you," he said.  "You must 
think I'm nuts.  Maybe you think John's nuts, too.  Really, it's no big 
deal; I'll just go and we can pretend this never happened -- "  He had 
started to turn away but Ivanova held his arm.
	"Michael," she said.  "It's really sensitive of you to be so willing to 
let this go for my sake when it's so obvious how much you want it."  
Garibaldi met her eyes, swallowing hard.
	"Susan -- "
	"I trust you," she said quietly.  "If there's anybody I would do this 
for, it's you.  So stop apologizing and tell us what you want to see."
	"What _I_ want to see?" Garibaldi exclaimed.  "Jesus, I just..."  He 
swallowed again at Sheridan's still, pantherous look.  "I just want to 
watch," he murmured.  "Really.  It doesn't matter what you do.  Whatever 
you like to do, I'll like.  Just pretend I'm not even here...and...do 
whatever you want."
	"I can hardly think where to begin," Sheridan murmured, moving 
up behind Ivanova to stroke her hair back against her neck.  Garibaldi 
knew that look in Sheridan's eyes from his securcam spying -- Sheridan 
was hot for it.  He wondered how much of that was due to his presence, 
and suppressed a quiver at the idea.  Ivanova seemed hesitant at 
Sheridan's overture, but Sheridan was not going to let that stop him.  
Sheridan embraced her from behind and bit her neck lightly.  "Come on," 
he murmured and coaxed her back into the bedroom.
	Garibaldi followed at a wary distance.  He had become invisible, 
neither addressed nor regarded by either of them.  But he knew a crucial 
difference in each of them with respect to it.  Ivanova would truly try to 
pretend he wasn't there.  Sheridan would be all too aware of it, deriving 
pleasure from the observation as Garibaldi derived pleasure from 
observing.
	They went back to the bed, and Garibaldi paused in the shadowed 
doorway, leaning against the jamb with his hands in his pockets.  
Sheridan was going all out, taking his own clothes off swiftly and 
obviously extremely randy, holding Ivanova to him and kissing and biting 
her.  She was letting him take her clothes off, getting more and more 
oblivious by the moment as Sheridan aroused her and her self-
consciousness was less and less forefront in her mind.
	Garibaldi leaned his head sideways against the doorframe, sighing 
softly.  He couldn't believe this was happening...in the room with them, 
watching them make love to each other, hearing Ivanova groan -- his gut 
clenched -- watching Sheridan put his hand between her legs and touch 
her.  Seeing Ivanova's erotic surprise when Sheridan pushed two fingers 
into her and began to fuck her with his hand.  Garibaldi swallowed hard, 
trying not to move for fear of distracting Ivanova.  They already had him 
hot, as hot as he had ever gotten from just watching them on the 
securcam.  Then Sheridan looked over at him, met his eyes pointedly 
with a heated look, and gestured with his chin toward the chair that 
rested against the wall away from the bed.
	Garibaldi obeyed the silent command -- it _was_ a command, in 
spite of Sheridan's nudity and obvious preoccupation.  He wondered as 
he sank into the chair quietly if it truly was preoccupation.  How much 
did Sheridan get out of this as opposed to being alone with Ivanova?  God 
only knew.  Garibaldi put one hand over his mouth, elbow on the chair 
arm.  They were both so delicious, so fantastically erotic; Sheridan more 
so than he had expected even from watching him on the securcam.  
There was a magnetism being in his presence, a dominance that was 
palpable even from where he sat in the shadows, gently slouched in the 
cushioned chair.  And Ivanova, oh, God, she was like a panther herself, 
surrendering without meekness to Sheridan's lead in the lovemaking.  
Sheridan was kneeling on the bed, facing Garibaldi, and Ivanova sat in 
front of him, playing with his nipples and making him groan.  Every time 
Sheridan made a sound, Garibaldi's cock twitched.
	And then Sheridan whispered something in Ivanova's ear that 
made her kiss him hard on the mouth and bite him on the throat.  
Garibaldi burned to know what it was.  He shifted a little in the chair, his 
groin aching, and reached down discreetly to adjust his cock in his 
trousers.  It wanted out.  He wanted to touch himself, stroke himself to 
relieve the hard urge that bore down on him.  But he couldn't do that 
here.  He was only here to watch, and really it was a greater prize than 
he had ever expected in his life to possess.  So he sighed tensely and 
kept his hand on his thigh near his stiff erection, caressing the edge of it 
idly with his thumb.  That soothed the ache a little, but when Ivanova 
moved to climb onto Sheridan's lap, he had to cover his cock in a firm 
squeeze to soothe the painful lust that flooded him.  Oh, Jesus, they 
were going to --
	He saw Sheridan's cock go in, saw Sheridan react to it, head 
thrown back in a hard groan, hands holding Ivanova's gorgeous ass 
tightly.  Ivanova suppressed her own cry to a strangled hiss, her nails 
clawing lightly over Sheridan's shoulders, across his chest, teasing his 
nipples again along the way.  Garibaldi made a soft moan of his own, 
which he quickly squelched in his throat, hand slowly but firmly rubbing 
the bulge in his groin.  Sheridan was fucking her slowly, voluptuously, 
and she rode him like a tiger in heat, his hands on her buttocks to hold 
her on his lap.  Sheridan grunted savagely through his teeth, and raised 
his head away from Ivanova's throat to meet Garibaldi's eyes.  His 
expression was fully open to Garibaldi in that moment, hot lust in his 
eyes, mouth partway open, completely sharing himself, flaunting himself, 
for Garibaldi's witness.
	It was both a terror and a thrill to be really seen in that instant by 
Sheridan's animal heart.  Garibaldi had never been allowed to actually be 
in the same room with anyone before, and found that it heightened the 
intensity of the experience exquisitely.  He tried to open himself to 
Sheridan in return, meeting his eyes, purposely not moving his hand 
away from his groin even though he was still kneading his cock through 
his trousers.  Sheridan bared teeth in a fierce grin of acknowledgement 
before kissing his way up Ivanova's throat, and Garibaldi felt a delicious 
chill ripple down into his toes.  Damn, they were incredible...
	He almost lost it when she started groaning -- low, feral sounds of 
something huge building inside her.  He saw Sheridan realize it, 
understanding how powerful her orgasm was going to be, and -- damn!  
Sheridan was already close, fighting to hold back so she could have that 
intense climax.  Garibaldi could see it in his eyes, the feverish, tight-
lipped determination, sweat trickling down the side of his face and 
throat, perspiration glistening on both of them.  He met Garibaldi's eyes 
again, then looked away quickly, struggling to keep his own climax at 
bay until Ivanova could have hers.  Garibaldi swallowed hard -- Sheridan 
was too aroused by looking at him, knowing he was there.  Sheridan had 
to keep his gaze averted to stop from coming!  Oh, God.  Garibaldi 
suppressed another moan, holding tightly to his cock, not daring to rub 
or he'd come himself.
	"You want something else?" Sheridan whispered roughly to 
Ivanova.  She shook her head, grunting.
	"No, uhrr...just...keep doing that, oh yeah John..."
	"I'm close," Sheridan gasped.  "I don't know if I can -- "
	"You're doing great," she shushed him.  "Just...don't...stop."  She 
was riding him tensely, holding his shoulders, and her grunting 
hardened like iron, sharp exclamations coming from her throat.  
"Oh...yeah...oh...John, ah!...ah!...God!"
	"Susan, I can't -- !" Sheridan yelled.  "I can't hold it, oh, Jesus!"
	"Come on, John," she purred, taking one hand away from his 
shoulder to touch his face, stroking a finger into his open, panting 
mouth, "come onnnn...ahahhhhh!"  She started to howl and Sheridan 
gave a shout of joy and release.  Their voices mixed, a delicious point and 
counterpoint of raw, unintelligible cries.  Garibaldi raised his head 
unconsciously, his body drawn taut in the chair and drinking in every 
second, every breath, of the private ritual being shown to him.  To _him_! 
 This was not through a camera, with no one knowing he was there.  It 
was for him personally, for his pleasure.  He had always thought he got a 
thrill out of spying unseen and unknown, but this was sweeter because it 
was John and Susan doing it just for him.
	He forced himself to take his hand away from his crotch as they 
began to relax, the orgasm having passed them by hotly.  Sheridan was 
drawing deep breaths, holding Ivanova to him, nuzzling her sweat-damp 
neck.  He whispered something breathless and fierce to her, and she 
heaved a strangled laugh.
	"Let me off," Garibaldi heard her say.  "I gotta go to the bathroom." 
 Sheridan pretended to be indignant and let her climb off of him and 
disappear into the lavatory.  When the door shut, Garibaldi was alone 
with Sheridan, who knelt on the bed wearily, wiping sweat from his face 
and sighing deeply.  Then Sheridan looked up to meet his eyes again, 
once again making Garibaldi visible with the attention.
	"You should see the way you look," Sheridan murmured, his voice 
a warm echo of the sultry tone he had used earlier.  He smiled faintly.  
"Something in your eyes even though you don't move or speak.  When I 
saw it the first time I almost thought I was looking at someone else.  But 
it's so you -- I can't believe I could imagine that anyone but you would 
look that way."  Garibaldi only returned the stare, and the two men just 
gazed at each other for a long moment.  "So what do you think of 
Ivanova?" Sheridan asked finally.  Garibaldi made a gesture with both 
hands, as if reaching to grab something in midair.
	"She's so..."
	"Uninhibited?" Sheridan ventured.
	"Muscular," Garibaldi said bluntly.  "Christ, and so are you.  It's 
kinda embarrassing."  Sheridan chuckled.  Ivanova came out of the 
bathroom, looking a little more self-conscious now and moving to reclaim 
her clothes matter-of-factly.  She picked up the mood and grinned.
	"This is a guy thing, right?" she said.  "I gotta go to bed anyway; I'm 
bushed.  Especially after that," she said, looking pointedly at Sheridan, 
who looked faintly smug.  With enough of her clothes back on that she 
was decent, she carried her uniform jacket and started to leave.  To 
Garibaldi's surprise, she stopped in front of him.  "I hope you liked that," 
she said, her voice filled with the kind of sincere compassion and 
concern he had come to know from her as a friend.  He was oddly 
touched that that friendship still existed so deeply, even after this.
	"Yeah, I -- "  He swallowed.  "I really did.  It was incredible."  She 
touched his face gently and he took her hand.  "Susan...thanks."
	"You're welcome," she said.  "Actually it was kind of fun.  We 
should do it again."  She left without forcing him to come up with a reply 
to that, which was just as well since he was still stunned speechless even 
after the outer door of Sheridan's quarters closed and the two men were 
alone again.
	"I actually didn't know if she would warm up to this or not," 
Sheridan admitted after a moment, and Garibaldi looked back to him.  "I 
kind of pushed her into it."  Garibaldi grunted.
	"I really doubt that she can be pushed into doing anything," he 
said.  Sheridan sighed and stretched himself out on the bed on his 
stomach, raised up on his elbows.  He was still nude.
	"You might be right.  Maybe she had a secret curiosity about it and 
took the opportunity to indulge it.  One thing I do know: she only did this 
because it's you.  She wouldn't even have considered it with anyone 
else."
	"Yeah, I...kind of got that impression," Garibaldi said.  "I didn't 
realize she trusted me that much."
	"This was more intense for you than you expected, wasn't it?" 
Sheridan said.  He had a handsome body, Garibaldi reflected.  His prone 
position made his shoulders and rump stand out.
	"Yeah," Garibaldi admitted.  He rubbed his palms on his thighs.  
"Damn, you guys are _so_ hot.  I can't believe you got _me_ so hot."
	"I'd be pretty insulted if I thought I could have sex in front of 
someone and not turn them on," Sheridan said.  Garibaldi laughed.
	"I guess that would be pretty insulting."  He adjusted his cock 
again through his trousers.  It was still hard, and Sheridan's eyes flicked 
down to it briefly.
	"Do you, uh, want to -- "
	"Later," Garibaldi said, and Sheridan nodded, looking faintly 
curious.
	"You said for us to do whatever we wanted," Sheridan said.  "That 
you'd enjoy anything we enjoyed.  But isn't there something you'd like to 
see?  You've got to have special turn-ons."  He grinned winningly, not the 
predatory grin Garibaldi had seen before.  Garibaldi relaxed a little.
	"I dunno," he said.  "That's kind of a weird question.  Sort of like 
'do you want your coffee in a white or a blue cup?'"  Sheridan's smile 
became mischievous.
	"Don't try to make me think you would've been equally aroused by 
anything we did," he said.  "Damn, I can think of a dozen things right off 
that you must feel differently about.  What about..."  He fished at 
random.  "From behind?  Huh?"  Garibaldi's eyes widened.  "We could 
fuck like beasts.  Or we could see how hot she can get from me teasing 
her with my cock.  Or she could suck me off."  He looked wistful.  "She's 
really good at that."  Garibaldi gave an inflamed, heavy sigh.
	"God, yeah," he muttered.  "I love it when she goes down on you.  
It's like it's the only thing she's lived for until that moment, and you 
holler like nothing I ever heard."  Sheridan cocked his head, thinking 
back.
	"Michael," he said, one eyebrow raised, "we didn't do that this time. 
 And unless I have multiple personalities, this was the first time you've 
ever watched us make love."
	There was a long pause.
	"Whups," Garibaldi said.  Sheridan's brow furrowed suddenly.  
Garibaldi.  The Security Chief.  He shifted on the bed to turn around and 
look up into the corner of the room, where the securcam rested silently.  
Then he turned back to Garibaldi, just as thoughtfully.
	"You sneaky sonovabitch," Sheridan drawled, his mouth twisting in 
a half-admiring, half-flabbergasted grin.  "You've been spying on us using 
the securcams and doctoring the override log."  Garibaldi had the good 
grace to look a little sheepish.
	"Yeah," he admitted.
	"How long has this been going on?" Sheridan wondered.  Garibaldi 
started counting on his fingers.
	"Um...four six seven...um.  As long as you've been on the station, I 
think."
	"_Both_ of us?"
	"Yeah."  He shifted in the chair uneasily.  Then he got up suddenly, 
aware of the dark look in Sheridan's eyes even though the man was not 
openly angry.  "Why don't we just forget it.  I should've known better 
than to think I could keep it a secret anyway."  He went toward the door, 
wanting to just get away from everything, from the mess he had made of 
this.
	"I didn't tell you you could leave," Sheridan said sharply.  Garibaldi 
froze in the doorway.  That was the Earthforce Captain's voice.  He 
turned halfway to look at Sheridan reluctantly.  "Sit down," Sheridan 
said in a hard voice, pointing to the chair with his chin.  Garibaldi 
shuddered, half in fear and half in arousal.  Odd, that.  But it was the 
dominance he heard; that was what touched him hotly.  He went back to 
sit down uncomfortably, forcing himself to meet Sheridan's fierce stare.
	"Just...just don't tell Susan, okay?"  His eyebrows knitted together. 
 "Please?"  Sheridan had gotten that dangerous, cagey look again.  The 
long pause made Garibaldi's gut clench.  Damn, this was _very_ bad.  
First he spies on the Captain and the Commander, then he spies on both 
of them.  Ivanova was obviously not wild about being watched and she 
_hated_ people seeing her vulnerable in the first place.  And now 
Sheridan had figured out that this had been going on, and God only 
knew what kind of jealous, protective reaction _that_ would provoke.  
"She'll kill me.  She might kill you, too, hell.  I'm serious, John -- "
	"I won't tell her," Sheridan said, "if you give me copies."  Garibaldi's 
jaw dropped.
	"_Copies_?" he said.
	"Yeah," Sheridan said.  He pointed a finger.  "I want back copies, 
too."
	"Hell, you got a _deal_," Garibaldi blurted, leaning forward in the 
chair.  Sheridan laughed outright.
	"You thought I was gonna kill you, didn't you?" he said.  "If she 
ever finds out..."
	"But she's not going to find out," Garibaldi said firmly, arching one 
eyebrow.  "_Is_ she?"
	"Not from my mouth," Sheridan said.
	"If you're not angry, why did you...when I was going to leave..."  
Garibaldi went silent, unable to express his confusion.
	"I couldn't let you leave thinking you had messed this up," 
Sheridan said seriously.  "And I had to have time to think about it.  This 
is important to you, isn't it?  More than you want to admit."  Garibaldi 
shifted restlessly, rubbing his palms on his legs again.
	"Yeah," he said finally, his own voice very serious in that moment.  
"More than I want to admit."
	"Why?" Sheridan asked gently.
	"Because it's Susan.  Because it's you."  He hesitated.  "Because 
you're...doing this for _me_ and not someone else."  He shrugged slightly, 
but there was nothing casual about the gesture.  "Because I need it."  
Sheridan nodded as if he understood perfectly.  Maybe he did.
	"Wait a second," he said.  "You said you've been watching us since 
we came aboard the station."
	"Pretty much," Garibaldi agreed.
	"But Susan and I have only been having sex for the past couple of 
weeks.  Did you watch us before that?"
	"Well...yeah," Garibaldi said, not sure where Sheridan was going 
with this.
	"I don't know about Susan, but my sex life was pretty uneventful 
until very recently," Sheridan mused.
	"To you, maybe," Garibaldi said.  "Personally I love watching you 
play with yourself."  Something dry in his tone of voice made Sheridan 
chuckle.
	"Really?" he said.  "I'm flattered, I guess.  What about, uh..."  
Garibaldi raised a finger.
	"That I can't say, at least as far as who she's had sex with.  Which 
is to say, nobody, as far as I know.  But I don't watch her 24 hours a day, 
so who knows."
	"But by herself..?" Sheridan said hopefully.
	"By herself she makes you want to claw at the walls.  She's so hot 
she makes _your_ jerkoff sessions look like a golf tournament."
	"And you think I'm pretty good," Sheridan said dryly.  Garibaldi's 
answer surprised him.
	"Hell yeah," he said.  "I love watching you.  You don't seem to even 
care where you are half the time.  I've seen you come off-duty, in full 
uniform, and you make it about five steps into the room before you've got 
both hands down your pants.  Leaning against the doorway, on the sofa, 
on the floor on your knees.  Damn, John, you're hornier than I am."  
Sheridan was grinning.  "What?"
	"You haven't seen me in the shower," Sheridan said.  "I love doing 
it in the shower."  He paused, still grinning.  "And I was just trying to 
picture you masturbating."
	"You love it, don't you?" Garibaldi muttered, amused.  "The idea 
that I've been watching you all this time."
	"In fact I wish I had known," Sheridan replied with a sigh and a 
faint smile.  There had been something interesting in Garibaldi's 
expression when he had mentioned trying to picture Garibaldi 
masturbating.
	"That would've turned you on more, wouldn't it?" Garibaldi said, 
almost to himself.  Sheridan didn't answer, but he didn't have to.  "Pretty 
weird...you like to be watched and I like to watch you."
	"Pretty weird," Sheridan echoed, putting his chin down on his 
folded arms, gazing across the intervening space calmly but with an 
intensity that Garibaldi felt in his belly like a spear.
	"I should, uh, get going," Garibaldi murmured, standing up.  
Sheridan only watched him.  "You probably want to get to bed...or 
something."
	"Or something," Sheridan replied mischievously.  "And you 
probably want to attend to some, ah, other private business."  His eyes 
rested on Garibaldi's groin very briefly, and Garibaldi felt that hot shiver 
creep up his spine again.  "Goodnight, Michael."
	"Goodnight, John," he said seriously, and left.

End Story III

 

This Time, Their Way – 1/1 (Sheridan/Ivanova, Garibaldi) – Way II

Ξ May 12th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Babylon 5, Fanfic, Way Series |

"This Time, Their Way"
Part 1/1
Story II in the "Way" Series
Copyright (C) 1996 by A. Manley Huff
<ahaight@earthlink.net>

This story is not in any way intended to infringe on copyrights held by J. 
Michael Straczynski, Babylonian Productions Inc., or Time Warner 
Productions.  This story may be distributed only with prior permission of 
the author, and may not be posted to any archive, ftp site, or web page 
without the written permission of the author.  This story is distributed 
for the individual personal entertainment of persons over 21, and is not 
subject to purchase or sale by anyone.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

        She was looking at him again.
        Sheridan glanced away, trying to look like he was busy doing 
something.  The truth was he _did_ have things to do and had been 
completely unable to concentrate for the past two hours.  It was a bloody 
miracle someone didn't have anything genuinely more pressing than 
routine station duties -- any diplomatic requirements would have gone 
embarrassingly awry given his state of mind.  And now it seemed like 
every time he looked up, Ivanova was looking at him.
        It had been five days since they had performed for the Lumati 
Ambassador, having sex in front of him to satisfy the deal with the 
Lumati civilization.  At some point during that initially awkward event, 
they had begun doing it for themselves rather than for the Lumati, or 
anyone else.  Once the demands of the agreement had been met, the 
Ambassador had gone and he and Ivanova had returned to their normal 
working relationship.
        Five days.  Five tortured, exciting, heart-stopping days.  He 
dreamed about her, about making love to her again, doing it right this 
time.  Their duties caused them to sometimes stand close to each other 
in studying a console, conferring on a command decision, examining a 
schedule.  Those moments sent his pulse racing, their occasional 
inadvertent physical contacts like a brand on his flesh.  Sometimes she 
glanced at him when that happened, but he saw nothing in her 
expression beyond a brief acknowledgement of the touch.  If he hadn't 
actually been there, he would never have suspected she had had wild sex 
with him the week before.  He sighed, still gazing down at the console of 
his station in C&C, not seeing it for the eighteenth time.
        Ivanova stared down at her own monitor, touching a control to 
clear another ship for docking inside the station.  It was a struggle to 
concentrate on what she was doing.  She envied Sheridan, who looked 
like he was getting a great deal more done than she was.  Nothing 
showed in his demeanor from the magnificent sex they had had five days 
ago.  He was professional, mild, friendly, and businesslike.  She 
sometimes held his eyes, trying to see deeper into his mind, but he only 
looked away when she did that.  It frustrated her.  But there was 
something, a soft hesitance when they accidentally brushed against each 
other while moving around in C&C.  It was so subtle that for a while she 
thought it was her imagination.  But he was definitely reacting.  All right, 
so he reacted.  So?  What did that mean?  Just that he remembered what 
they had done, liked it, and was now a little nervous in her presence.  
She already knew that, and it was to be expected.  It would probably go 
away with time.  She sighed.  Damn, he was gorgeous.  She'd always 
known it; who wouldn't?  But now she had memories of him with an 
expression of utter rapture on those handsome features.  Damn. 

        They went off duty at the same time, and they both deliberately 
refused to act as though they didn't want to get on the same elevator 
together.  As a result, the elevator door closed, requested a destination, 
and they found themselves standing beside each other, alone, as they 
elevator thrummed along.
        Ivanova avoided looking at him, trying to pretend this was a 
perfectly ordinary casual situation.  She could hear him breathing; it 
quivered slightly.  Then she heard him swallow and he cleared his throat.
        "Uh," he said, looking down at the metal floor.  "Would you like to 
go for a walk?"  She glanced at him.  Whatever he saw in her face, it 
made him swallow again.
        "Sure," she said, her voice surprising her by being hoarse.  She 
looked away and Sheridan directed the elevator to the level in the 
station's core where the hedge maze was.

****

        They walked in silence for some minutes, going deeper into the 
green labyrinth.  Finally Ivanova spoke.
        "I think we do need to talk," she said.
        "Yeah," Sheridan murmured.
        "The problem is I don't really know what it is we need to talk 
about," she sighed.
        "Is it, um, difficult for you to keep seeing me in a professional 
atmosphere because of what we did?" he asked.  Ivanova paused for a 
moment, then shook her head.
        "No," she said finally.  "It's not that.  I don't respect you any less."  
She looked sideways at him as they walked, worry on her face.  "I don't 
ever want you to think that."
        "But?" Sheridan said, touching her arm to stop her and they 
paused on the dirt path.  She turned to face him, looking into his face 
searchingly, as if simultaneously fascinated and anxious.
        "Every time you stand close to me, and I can smell you, I 
remember.  I catch you looking at me and I remember the way you looked 
at me when I told you I wanted you to fuck my brains out, the way you 
yelled when you came."
        "And you want me to do it again," Sheridan said in a low voice.
        "You don't know how much," she replied, matching his tone.  
Sheridan stepped closer to her, trying to control his quivering breaths.  
She met his eyes steadily.
        "It's all I've thought about for five days," he murmured.  "I think I 
do know."
        They embraced, almost carefully, to sate the urge to kiss that had 
held them in a fiery grasp since the afternoon they had spent with the 
Lumati Ambassador watching.  It was tentative at first, but the ache for 
it that sat like lead in their stomachs made it unbearable to hold back 
and the kiss deepened savagely.
        Sheridan hummed in his throat, pleased, savoring the taste of her 
mouth.  She had both hands on his lower back, caressing him under the 
uniform vest.  He grunted when she dug one hand into his pants, 
stroking over his firm buttocks.  He broke the kiss with a laugh.
        "You just love to grab my butt, don't you?" he grinned.  She was 
holding onto him greedily, pressed close to his body.
        "You think I can keep my hands off a butt like this once I know I'm 
allowed to grab it?" she wondered mischievously.
        "I won't stop you," he said.  "At least, not out here.  You do that 
while we're in C&C and you're a dead woman."  They both laughed.
        "So you're saying you like being grabbed and fondled like a sex 
object?" she said, arching one eyebrow at him.
        "You're damn right I do," Sheridan said.  He kissed her again, 
letting his own hands roam for the sheer, base pleasure of it.  She made 
a sound into his mouth.  It was pure relish, and Sheridan laughed again, 
pulling back to kiss down her neck, under her jaw.  "God, it feels so good 
to be so close to someone," he murmured.  "To touch and hold."
        "I know," she sighed.  She raised her chin to let the fire of his 
mouth play deliciously with her throat.

        This was the last thing Franklin expected to find in the labyrinth -- 
or anywhere for that matter.  He had originally investigated the sound of 
bawdy conversation, not believing his ears when he thought he 
recognized the voices.  His curiosity got the better of him and he took a 
peek around the edge of a hedge wall.
        Holy cow.  It _was_ the Captain and Commander Ivanova.  He 
pulled back to hide again, wondering if he had seen what he thought he 
had seen.  He looked again.  Sheridan and Ivanova were holding each 
other in a sensuous embrace.  Her face was raised to the sky, her eyes 
closed in stark pleasure.  Sheridan was kissing her neck and jaw slowly, 
obviously savoring it, loving the smell and taste of her.  Franklin started 
when Sheridan growled erotically -- it was the sort of noise one didn't 
ever expect to hear out of a man like Sheridan.  Franklin ducked behind 
the hedge again, and closed his own eyes for a moment to take a deep 
breath.  The raw desire in both of them reminded him of his own forced 
celibacy.  He knew he had to tell somebody about this or he was going to 
burst.

        "Have you always smelled this good and I just never noticed?" 
Sheridan murmured into Ivanova's ear.  They were on one of the stone 
benches in the hedge maze, Sheridan sitting behind her to hold her 
possessively.  He was still trembling gently, like he had when they 
started kissing some time ago.  Each breath he let out quivered softly 
against her neck.  She could hardly blame him the nervousness, the 
excitement.  His presence was intoxicating, maleness surrounding her, 
satisfying so many internal urges.
        "How should I know?" she replied, lifting her chin where she had 
her head turned slightly so Sheridan could nuzzle under her jaw.  He 
was very warm, his chest firmly against her back, his arms around her 
middle.  "It could just be raging hormones."
        "Mine or yours?" he wondered.
        "I can't tell," she said, leaning her head back onto his shoulder.  It 
was a gesture of surrender to him, an acknowledgement of his power to 
affect her.  Sheridan felt a cool ripple of desire in his belly in response to 
it.  "You smell good, too."  He hummed quietly and rubbed his cheek 
against her neck.  She sighed deeply.  "I ever tell you I love your voice?"  
He grunted, amused, the sound like velvet sand in his throat.
        "No, can't say you did," he said.  "I ever tell you I love the way you 
laugh?"  He didn't know if he should elaborate beyond that.  Her laugh 
warmed any room, made any terrible situation a little easier to bear.  It 
made his gut unclench no matter how bad things were, and he could 
relax for just a moment.  And she did smell marvelous.  There was 
something like herbal soap, very faint, and whatever it was she washed 
her hair with.  That, and the scent of her body, and nothing else.  He 
took her earlobe in his mouth in a moment of impulsive weakness, 
drawn to it as something else he could mouth.
        "Hmm," she said, whether in reply to his question or his caress of 
her, he couldn't tell.
        "Everything's still so new," he murmured.  "I remember so much 
from last week, but there was a lot left undone, a lot about you I didn't 
get to explore."
        "A lot left unsaid," Ivanova muttered under her breath.
        "You had your mouth full part of the time," Sheridan said, savoring 
the memory of her sucking on his cock.  She had been so good at it...
        "You don't know the half of it," she said wryly.  She could 
practically feel the curiosity that flamed in him.
        "Urm?" he said, biting her lightly on the side of the throat.
        "I almost regret that we finished what we did with intercourse," she 
said in a low voice close to his cheek.  He could feel it vibrate in her 
shoulder where he nuzzled her.  "I wanted to keep sucking on you."  
Sheridan let out a rough breath of surprise and interest.
        "Really," he said in that brushed suede voice.  "Sometimes I wish 
you had, too.  Then again..."
        "What?" she asked.  He made another sound, this one coming 
across as embarrassed.
        "It gets to me," he admitted.  "It _really_ gets to me..."
        "Hrm.  You mean you get even louder?" she said, amused, a little 
astonished.
        "Louder.  Rougher.  You name it, it happens."  She was silent for a 
moment.  The idea of him being out of control at her provocation gave her 
a delicious chill.
        "So why are we still sitting here when I could have you down on 
your back too incoherent to put two phonemes together?" she asked.
        "Oh, that."  Sheridan hummed softly, pressing his chin into her 
neck gently.  "I was thinking we could do it out here."
        "Very funny," she said, getting up and grabbing Sheridan by the 
front of his uniform.  He purred expectantly as she dragged him out of 
the labyrinth.

****

        Garibaldi jerked in surprise as someone came around from behind 
him to slide into the empty seat next to him at the bar.  It was Franklin, 
looking a little wild-eyed and secretive.  He leaned close to Garibaldi, 
who, out of habit, leaned toward him to keep their conversation private.
        "Michael, you are _never_ going to guess what I just saw," Franklin 
said in a fierce whisper.  Garibaldi's eyebrow twitched.  This had to be 
something to get Stephen all in a lather.
        "What?" he said, nursing his glass of kiwi juice.  Franklin glanced 
behind him, looking to see if anyone was near.  No one was, but he 
lowered his voice anyway.
        "I was in the labyrinth, in the arboretum," he said.  "I'm walking 
along, and I hear a couple of people talking, right?  It's a pretty raunchy 
conversation -- not that that's unusual in the labyrinth -- but I can't 
believe it sounds like who I think it is, so I go and _look_."  He flinched 
when the bartender arrived.  He ordered a gin and tonic irritably and 
when she left he resumed his story.  "You know who I see playing 
nookie?  Sheridan and Ivanova."
        "Oh yeah?" Garibaldi said.  Now that _was_ interesting.  He 
privately expected that the show he had gotten last week was a one-time 
performance, given the nature of the motive for its occurrence.  He 
wondered briefly if maybe this had been going on before the Lumati 
Ambassador had come to Babylon 5, but he didn't think so.  He peeked 
in on Sheridan and Ivanova fairly regularly and until five days ago hadn't 
gotten anything more interesting than masturbation.  Which, admittedly, 
could be pretty hot when it was Ivanova.  But to think that the two of 
them had continued some kind of intimacy _after_ the Ambassador had 
gone, well, the only obvious conclusion was that they had liked it.  
Garibaldi grinned.  "Were they any good?" he asked.  Franklin looked at 
him like he was out of his mind.
        "What kind of a question is that?" he blurted, then lowered his 
voice again.  "You don't even look that surprised."  Garibaldi shrugged.
        "At least somebody around here's getting some, and I think they 
make a good couple.  Don't you?"  Franklin groaned.
        "Jeez, Michael," he muttered.  "Don't remind me of what I'm not 
getting.  They were going at it like wild minks."
        "Come on, Stephen," Garibaldi said.  "I like some good sex gossip 
now and then.  Even if it is two people above me in the chain of 
command.  Like horny minks, huh?"
        "Wild minks," Franklin corrected under his breath, "and I don't 
know about you, but I'm sure as hell not going to get caught trying to spy 
on them.  Susan would gouge my spleen out and feed it to me."
        "Where were they in the labyrinth?" Garibaldi asked.
        "South side," Franklin said.  "Just past the three-way fork."  He 
stared for a minute.  "You're not really going to -- "
        "Hell if I'm not," Garibaldi said, getting up from his chair.  He 
downed the last of his drink and clapped Franklin on the shoulder.  "If I 
don't wind up in medlab later, you'll know it went well."

****

        They wound up back at Ivanova's quarters, and she had her hand 
down the front of his pants almost before the door closed.
        "I always said you had guts," Sheridan breathed as she fondled 
him with one hand and worked on the fastener of his pants with the 
other.  "But I didn't think it was like _this_."  His erection from before in 
the labyrinth had started to go down, and now it was back again, 
swelling tightly in her hand.  He put both hands on her shoulders, letting 
himself just experience the sweetness of her fingers rubbing him.  "Oh, 
God..."
        "You haven't seen anything yet," she promised in a low voice.  She 
got his trousers open and led him by his cock into the bedroom.  Coaxing 
him onto the bed on his knees, he didn't have time to so much as take 
his boots off before she pulled his trousers down enough to bare him for 
her mouth, and she leaned down to engulf him completely.  His voice 
blazed into the room, astonished and lustful.
        "God, oh my God," he moaned.  "Oh, please..."  He was already 
getting overheated in his clothes, and struggled out of his uniform vest 
and jacket, tossing them on the floor with a growl.
        Ivanova was aware of him trying to get out of his clothes, aware of 
his panting, quivering breaths.  She held onto his legs, curling her hands 
under his thighs while she pleasured him with her mouth.  She had him 
in the middle of the bed, groaning, making no secret of his delight.  She 
heard him go silent to swallow hard, heard him unbuttoning his shirt 
feverishly.  It went onto the floor with a soft hiss from his throat as he 
threw it fiercely to join his other clothes.  His hands touched hers on his 
thighs, the grip strong.  
        He leaned back, sitting on his heels, his knees spread wide for her. 
 Her dark hair spilled across his lap.  Her tongue knew no hesitance, 
none of the cool reserve she displayed on duty.  His pleasure was honest; 
he felt it rise in his chest like a bubble of fire and leave him in a savage 
groan.  He couldn't keep back other sounds, didn't want to.  It felt so 
good to speak, to howl, to purr.  He surprised himself by laughing 
joyfully, the sound breaking harshly into a yell of ecstasy when she 
tongued the hole at the tip of his cock.
        "God damn," he exclaimed.  "I don't know where you learned to do 
that, but -- "  She rendered him speechless again with a soft scrape of 
teeth along the shaft and he groaned wildly.  Then she broke away 
suddenly and began to kiss and nip up his belly and chest, holding his 
flanks and sliding closer to him.  She devoured one nipple in a hard, 
sucking kiss, and he shuddered violently.  "Jesus," he moaned.  He 
looked down at what she was doing, and couldn't resist pulling her away 
to kiss her fiercely.  She grunted, surprised, but kissed him back eagerly. 
 He started taking her clothes off, dragging her jacket and vest off and 
working swiftly at the buttons on her shirt.  They had a bit of a fight over 
who got to take the other's trousers off first, and wound up laughing and 
naked in a tangle on the bed.  "Oh, God, you're fantastic," Sheridan 
murmured, biting her throat lightly.  She purred.
        "Hard," she grunted.  "Do it hard."
        "It'll show," he said.
        "Do it anyway."
        Sheridan felt an instant's worth of astonishment, then a flood of 
pride and mastery, before taking her throat in his mouth for a savage 
bite.  She snarled through her teeth and clawed his back.  The fiery 
touch made his cock twitch and he wanted her tongue there again 
desperately.
        "Suck me again," he whispered, drawing back from her neck to 
look at her.  She was panting hard.  "Please, Susan..."  She grinned and 
turned around under him on the bed.
        "You only have to ask," she said, and closed her mouth around 
him hungrily, holding his thighs.  On his hands and knees, Sheridan 
groaned painfully.  It was so delicious, so warm and wet and electric.  He 
swore again, more rudely this time, and Ivanova laughed, licking up the 
shaft of his cock.  His thighs quivered where she touched him, holding 
back the urge to push into her mouth.  He was grunting, muttering 
under his breath in panting ecstasy, when the need to get his cock into 
her became too strong and he pulled her away from him to get her down 
on the bed on her back.  She didn't resist, but when he was about to 
plunge into her, his eyes feverish, she spoke.  "Do you really want to fuck 
me, John?" she asked.  "Or do you want to find out what it feels like for 
me to suck you to a climax?  You can hardly stand it now.  Hell, I think I 
could make you forget your own name."
        He hesitated for a long, trembling moment, one of his hands 
gripped into her wrist to hold it down to the bed, the other on her thigh 
to hold her open for him.  Then, tight-lipped, without a word or a sound, 
he sat back and spread himself out on the bed, his eyes silently begging 
her.  It was a more naked plea than any words would have been, and 
Ivanova swallowed a groan of her own as she rose up off the bed and 
draped herself across his chest and belly, facing down across his groin to 
take him in her mouth again.
        "_Ahah_," Sheridan gasped.  He reflexively laid a hand across her 
back, and the fingers of her right hand reached back to trail across his 
nipple, then tease it.  Sheridan leaned back into the bed, arching his 
back.  "Ahhhrrrrrr, God, Susan...oh, yeahhh."  This position made all the 
difference, and Sheridan bucked eagerly into her mouth, groaning loudly.
        Sheridan rubbed her back delightedly, gazing across strong 
shoulders and flanks.  He realized in a moment of shocked wickedness 
that there were other parts of her within easy reach.  With his left hand 
he reached out to stroke over her muscular buttocks, then swiftly drove 
his hand under her to find her sex.  She flinched, groaning, opening her 
legs for him.  He pushed one finger into her -- God, she was wet -- and 
she bucked back against his hand.  She broke away from sucking his 
cock.
        "Yeah, do it," she gasped, and almost bit down on him when he 
rammed a second finger into her tightness as she engulfed his cock 
again.
        "Hell if I won't fuck you," Sheridan growled, gasping around the 
jolts of lightning that Susan's mouth sent through him.  She was 
writhing around his fingers, her sex clenching them tightly.  He laughed 
and moved a third finger into place.  He wondered if it were too much, 
but knew she would let him know if it were.  She rumbled and clawed his 
ribs with her other hand as he nudged it in firmly, but the rippling grip 
around his fingers only intensified.  "Like that, damn you?" he laughed.  
"Ha!  Oh, _God_, you are fantastic...Ah!  Owwwrrrrrrrryyeahhh..."
        He started off carefully, spreading her open around his fingers, 
moving slowly, but she groaned fiercely when he hesitated.  So, he took 
her in earnest, thrusting into her wetly, marveling at her raw pleasure in 
it.  She sucked on him so sweetly he was sure he should have come a 
dozen times by now, but she was more talented than that, God damn it... 
 She was grunting herself now, unable to do much more than that for 
having her tongue wrapped around his cock.  But the sound of it sent 
flickers of heat up Sheridan's back, making him laugh roughly.
        "Yeah, come on Susan," he gasped.  "Come on.  You want to come 
as bad as I do, don't you?  Damn, I can feel it in the way you move, 
aahhh."  He had discovered a way to move his fingers that made her 
whimper -- an astonishing sound!  She had stopped writhing quite so 
much and was tense instead, muscles contracted, her sex quivering 
around his fingers.  Coherency was eluding him, as well.  "Damn it, 
you're going to make me come.  Susan, oh, yeah...please...it's so fucking 
good...suck me, come on, suck my cock."  She was groaning louder, a 
sound of desperation in it.  Her sex trembled achingly, and he could feel 
her racing heartbeat there.  "Yeah, that's it, Susan, come on.  You're 
close, come on, let me make you come, that's it -- Yeah, there you go!  
Come on!  Ahh!  Ahh, oh GOD!"
        They came together, Sheridan screaming wildly into the room, 
Ivanova groaning as savagely as she dared with his cock jetting 
ferociously into her throat.  She gulped it down eagerly, relishing the 
taste of him, the sound of him howling and speaking incoherently.  His 
fingers inside her were like fire, the most delicious, animal feeling she 
had ever known up till this moment.
        "God damn," Sheridan groaned.  "Oh, God damn."  He started to 
laugh, full-throated and joyful.  "Oh, Susan!  Susan..."  He drew her up 
from where she licked gently at his softening penis, and kissed her 
deeply.

****

        Garibaldi moaned softly.  He was leaning back in the chair in his 
quarters, parked in front of the terminal display where the securcam had 
once again been his eye into Ivanova's bedroom.  His shirt was torn open, 
thick semen cooling on his chest and belly.  His trousers were in equal 
disarray after he had decided halfway through watching them that he 
couldn't bear to just watch.  It was too tempting, burning too hot in his 
groin to make him fumble with his belt and get his boxer shorts out of 
the way so he could touch himself.
        "Christ," he muttered, half grinning.  "This is too much.  I gotta 
find a way to get involved in this."

****

        "Well?  What do you think?"
        Franklin looked at the dark bruise on Ivanova's neck, probing it 
lightly with one hand.  She flinched.
        "Well," he said, with deadpan medical seriousness.  "I can't make it 
go away completely but I might be able to speed the healing so it isn't as 
noticeable."
        "Fine," she said shortly.  She held still, not meeting his eyes, as he 
injected her throat at the edge of the purplish mark.
        "Do I want to know how you got that?" he asked casually, a hint of 
teasing in his voice.  She met his gaze with a cool-eyed stare.
        "You're the doctor," she said.  "You figure it out."  When she left, 
Franklin let out a heavy sigh.  He knew he was going to have to tell 
Garibaldi about this.  He just couldn't resist.  Sheridan and Ivanova.  
And a pretty vicious Sheridan by the look of it, too.  He sighed wistfully.
        "I hope Garibaldi gets some thrills out of this," he muttered to 
himself.  "Since I sure as hell am not.  Oh, well."

        That night, Garibaldi began to plan his stalking.

End Story II

 

Next Time, My Way – 1/1 (Sheridan/Ivanova) – Way I

Ξ May 12th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Babylon 5, Fanfic, Way Series |

"Next Time, My Way"
Part 1/1
Story I in the "Way" Series
Copyright (C) 1996 by A. Manley Haight

This story is not in any way intended to infringe on copyrights held by J. 
Michael Straczynski, Babylonian Productions Inc., or Time Warner 
Productions.  This story may be distributed only with prior permission of 
the author, and may not be posted to any archive, ftp site, or web page 
without the written permission of the author.  This story is distributed 
for the individual personal entertainment of persons over 21, and is not 
subject to purchase or sale by anyone.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

	Once having declared independence from the Earth Alliance, it was 
up to Babylon 5 to find its own allies.  The Minbari and the Vorlons were 
definitely good initial partners.  But if they were to successfully prosecute 
the war against the Shadows, they needed everything, every ship, every 
gun, every soldier they could possibly bring to bear.
	Trolling through the League of Nonaligned Worlds had been very 
productive, many of them signing on with Babylon 5 in a treaty of 
mutual protection and assistance after the Vorlons had finally made 
their move and decimated a Shadow fleet.
	There was one race with whom their first contact had been 
favorable, and whom they had yet to contact about the Babylon 5 treaty; 
the Lumati.  It had been Ivanova who, reluctantly, had been willing to 
make the peculiar sacrifice of having sex with the Lumati Ambassador to 
satisfy his culture's requirements for sealing a deal.  Considering the fact 
that contact with the Lumati culture had been virtually nonexistent prior 
to that negotiation, Ivanova had been able to take advantage of the 
Ambassador's ignorance, and had faked the sex by doing the only thing 
she could think of; making a total fool of herself and hoping it was loud 
and confusing enough to pull the wool over the Lumati's eyes.  And after 
he'd gone she laughed herself silly.
	So, they had contacted the Lumati again, hoping to win them as 
allies.  The Lumati said little beyond being willing to meet for 
negotiations, and once again, Sheridan had chosen Ivanova to represent 
Babylon 5's interests.  Ivanova had gone into this willingly, fully aware of 
how valuable the Lumati could be in their war against the Shadows; they 
had considerable resources that were not dependent upon other races, 
and a large fleet of ships that stood a good chance of being effective 
against the Shadow's minions, if not the Shadow cruisers themselves.
	But the pall of her previous meeting with the Lumati Ambassador 
gave her a chill.  The Ambassador had given her a parting gift -- a 
bizarre, yellow ringlike object with little dangly chains on it -- and a note 
with his hopeful promise: "Next time, my way."
	Well, this was "next time," and Ivanova gritted her teeth in 
anticipation of what a successful negotiation would mean.  This time the 
sex would be as the Ambassador indicated, and what in the nine hells 
that could be was anybody's guess.  She tried to look upon it as a new 
and interesting experience.  Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.  Perhaps the 
Ambassador's idea of a good time was getting drunk and playing ping 
pong.
	The real answer was even more appalling than she had expected.

	"He wants to _what_?" Sheridan exclaimed.  Ivanova sighed, glad 
she had insisted on briefing the Captain in his office rather than out in 
public in C&C.
	"He wants to watch while I have sex with someone else," she said.  
"Actually the way he put it was 'with another of your own kind.'"
	"Voyeurism," Sheridan muttered.  He looked up at her, his 
expression hopeful.  "I don't suppose you're a closet exhibitionist."  She 
looked a little miffed.  "Well, great.  So who are you supposed to have sex 
with?  Do you get to pick?"
	"Not exactly," Ivanova said.  "And that's the other part you're gonna 
love.  He says it has to be you."
	"_Me_?" Sheridan blurted, his mouth hanging open.  "Wha -- 
_Why_?"
	"You're the commander of the station," Ivanova shrugged.  "I'm the 
second in command.  It's us the Lumati are making the deal with.  To 
have anyone else involved would be a grave insult to them and we can't 
afford that, especially not at this stage in the negotiations."
	"You mean we have to...you and me...while he _watches_?" 
Sheridan said.  He got up from his desk and started pacing the floor.  
"Oh, man.  Do we need their help that badly?"
	"Yes, we do," she said.  Then her mouth quirked.  "What, don't you 
think I'm sexy?"  Sheridan muttered under his breath as he turned to 
pace across the room.
	"Oh, don't get me started on all this," he groused.  "The entire thing 
is a total mind-blower; the Shadows, the Vorlons, Draal, Psi-Corps, the 
Rangers.  I guess it only makes sense to have some totally pointless sex 
somewhere in the middle."
	"That's the best part," she said.  "This isn't totally pointless.  We'll 
be sealing a deal with another race in the war against the Shadows."
	"Yeah, yeah," Sheridan growled, still pacing like a nervous tiger.  
"Pressing our suit in the war against the bad guys.  It's still pointless 
sex."
	"Better get used to it," Ivanova said.  "The Ambassador expects us 
in two hours.  Your quarters."  Sheridan stopped in his tracks and stared 
at her.
	"Holy -- "
	"Yes, sir," she agreed.  "I suggest you go now and get your quarters 
ready for...us.  Or whatever it is you do before you, uh..."  Sheridan 
straightened, looking peeved.
	"That'll be all, Commander," he said through his teeth.
	"Yes, sir," she sighed, turning around to leave and let him stew.

						****

	Sheridan started when the door chimed.  He swallowed hard.
	"Come."  He sighed inwardly.  //Oh, brilliant choice of words.//  
The door opened.  It was Ivanova.  The door closed behind her with a 
rushing whirr.
	"The Ambassador will be along any minute," she said without 
preamble.  She stood half at attention even though she was not in a 
formal command situation, and had not been called on the carpet.  She 
was in full uniform, long black vest draped over her smartly.  It really 
was a sharp looking outfit Delenn had devised.  Sheridan wondered 
briefly if it was his imagination that Ivanova looked better in it than he 
did.
	"At ease, will you?" he said.  Her mouth twitched.  "Susan, I'm 
jumpy enough without you trying to salute me every five seconds."  She 
slumped a little, dropping her gaze to the floor with a heavy sigh.
	"This is nuts," she muttered.
	"Yeah, it is," Sheridan said.  He went over to a chair and plopped 
down.  "Maybe we'd better talk about it before we have to leap in with our 
eyes shut."  He gestured and she hesitated.  "Susan."  She glanced up at 
him, startled by the firm, exasperated tone.  "I can't give you orders in a 
situation like this.  That would be a gross abuse of my authority.  We 
have to be friends volunteering for the greater good in the war.  Please sit 
down."
	She acquiesced after a moment, taking up the middle of the couch, 
watching him.
	"So," she said.  "Where are we going to..."
	"I was thinking, uh, the bedroom," Sheridan said a little guiltily; he 
had spent the past two hours making sure everything was perfect 
without making it _look_ like he had spent two hours at it.  He had 
changed the bedsheets twice and -- muttering to himself -- added an 
extra bath towel in the lavatory.  "Since that's...more comfortable.  
Unless, um, you think the sofa or the floor -- "
	"The bed's fine," she said, a little too quickly.
	"Yeah."  There was a brief silence, during which they avoided each 
other's eyes.  "Well," Sheridan ventured finally.  "It could be worse."
	"Oh?" she said, raising both eyebrows.
	"At least one of us isn't modest about being watched by somebody 
else," he murmured.  He glanced up with embarrassed reluctance to see 
Ivanova's incredulous look.  The incredulity gave way gently to wicked 
amusement.
	"You mean...you like it when somebody watches you..."  She trailed 
off, fishing for him to fill in the rest.  Sheridan cleared his throat 
nervously.
	"That's why I asked you before if you were anything of an 
exhibitionist.  I figured as long as the Lumati Ambassador was going to 
insist on watching you have sex with somebody, you might as well take 
all the advantages you can get."  He hesitated.  "That was before I found 
out it was going to be _me_."
	"Oh, I don't know; I can think of worse people to be stuck with," 
Ivanova said.  She fully realized what she had said and they stared at 
each other for a moment before laughing together.  The laughter made 
Sheridan's stomach unclench a little, and reassured him that Ivanova 
didn't object to the Ambassador's request in principle, not entirely.  It 
was that she was embarrassed that it was _him_.
	"Thanks," Sheridan said.  "I think."
	"You're so cute when you're shy, you know," Ivanova told him, 
grinning.  "It makes you look like a little puppy dog."
	"Oh, a puppy dog, huh?" Sheridan said in mock indignation.  "We'll 
see about that."
	"Ohh, that sounded a lot like a threat," Ivanova said dangerously.
	"Guess we'll find out, won't we?" Sheridan replied, and he 
swallowed hard.  Ivanova's smile faded slightly to that anxious look she 
had worn earlier.
	"Yeah, I...guess we will."
	"Do you think we could get away with faking it, like you did 
before?" he wondered.  She shrugged.
	"I don't know.  I don't think it would be wise to try.  The first time it 
was obvious the Ambassador was ignorant about human sexual 
behavior.  But when I spoke to him today, he seemed to know a lot more 
about us.  He didn't say anything about the previous incident, but if we 
try to fake it again and we get caught, it'll be no treaty, maybe forever.  
We can't take that risk.  Not for the sake of our own modesty."
	"Our own modesty," Sheridan muttered.  "Damn.  This really 
shouldn't be a big deal, should it?  I mean, it's not like you and I hate 
each other, and...and..."
	"And you think I'm sexy and I think you are, too?" she said.  
Sheridan looked a little taken aback, but he didn't correct her.  "Yeah, 
you don't have to say it."
	"Well...we don't have to enjoy it," he said.  At her raised eyebrow he 
amended.  "The Ambassador won't be able to tell.  If we have to fake how 
much we like it, he won't know the difference.  Jesus, this is too weird.  
It's like...with my sister or something."
	"Don't think of me as your sister, John," Ivanova said.  "Cousin 
maybe.  Less inbred that way."  Sheridan put his face in his hands, 
groaning.
	"Oh, jeez."
	The door chimed.
	"Ditto," Ivanova muttered.  They glanced at each other, then both 
stood to face the door.
	"Enter," Sheridan said.  //That word's not too much better, come 
to think of it.//  The door opened with a whirr and the Lumati 
Ambassador entered, all dignity and business, not at all like someone 
come to a peep show.  Well, perhaps in a way it was business to him, 
considering the Lumati culture.  Businesslike --except for the little yellow 
ringlike thing with little dangly chains on it that the Ambassador was 
wearing perched on his head like a beanie.  Ivanova's mouth quirked.
	//Well, that's one question answered,// she thought.  Then again, 
for all they knew, this wasn't part of his culture at all and he was playing 
on _their_ ignorance to get his jollies.  One way or the other, somebody 
was being taken for a ride.  All in the name of interstellar alliances.
	"I am ready," the Ambassador said.
	//At least one of us is,// Sheridan thought, but he did not allow 
his trepidation to show outwardly.
	"So are we," Sheridan said.  "It's customary for humans to perform 
sexual acts in the sleeping quarters, usually on the bed."
	"That is acceptable," the Ambassador said.  "Whatever is normal for 
your people."  Sheridan deliberately bit back his reply to _that_.
	"The bedroom is this way," he said, gesturing, and the Ambassador 
took the indicated lead to precede Sheridan and Ivanova into Sheridan's 
bedroom.  "Would you prefer to sit down?"
	"Yes, thank you," the Lumati replied.  Sheridan had anticipated 
this, and the Ambassador took his own initiative in appropriating the 
only chair in the room; one that Sheridan had placed away from the bed 
but facing it, in a part of the room where the light did not reach too 
strongly.  He hoped it would afford him and Ivanova some marginal 
privacy.  The Lumati did not seem to object, settling his formal robes 
around him.  "You may begin," he said finally.
	Sheridan turned around to find Ivanova standing quite close to 
him beside the bed.  Her expression suggested nothing beyond 
acceptance and mild curiosity.  He hoped he looked as composed.  She 
met his gaze for only a moment before reaching up to his collar to begin 
opening his uniform jacket.  He cleared his throat.
	"Uh..."
	"Shut up," she muttered, startling him.  "We have to start 
somewhere."  She flashed him a smile as unexpected as her blunt 
command a moment ago.  "Or were you planning on doing this in full 
dress uniform?"  She realized he was trembling, and knew it was because 
of her alone; he had as much admitted he didn't care that the Lumati 
was watching them, maybe even that it was pleasurable to him.  She 
kept her voice low as she spoke to him.  "Hey, John, it's okay.  Like you 
said, we don't _have_ to like this.  Just relax."
	Sheridan knew he should do something back, and couldn't bring 
himself to just start removing her clothes the way she was doing to him.  
He sighed quiveringly.  Chalk one up to Ivanova's brass nerve.  He did 
the only other thing he could think of that wasn't overly intimate; 
unbraiding her hair.  He reached over her shoulders to find the leather 
band holding the ponytail together and worked at it with his fingers.
	Ivanova let her breath out carefully as a warm flush spread up her 
chest as Sheridan's arms settled on her shoulders.  She could smell him 
when he was this close, a scent of warm masculinity, like distant wood 
smoke and aftershave.  His hands worked deftly at her hair, separating 
the strands and combing it out softly with his fingers.  He seemed to be 
enjoying it, still trembling but not moving quickly or anxiously.  Was he 
worried about looking like a fool in front of her?  The thought brought a 
wave of compassion; he should know by now she couldn't think of him as 
a fool, not at this stage in their friendship.
	He wasn't meeting her eyes, but she saw him swallow hard when 
she got his jacket open all the way and began touching his chest through 
the snowy white uniform shirt.  She was curious, and let that curiosity 
guide her hands, finding the outline of his musculature, the warmth of 
his body.  She reached for the buttons to begin undoing his shirt, and 
discovered that she was trembling, too.  He said nothing, did not object 
or question, as she opened the shirt to bare his chest, rubbing one hand 
into his clothes to stroke across his hairless flesh.  His carefully inhaled 
breath caught ever so slightly when she brushed a finger experimentally 
across one of his nipples.  She returned to it gently, teasing it until it 
grew erect beneath her fingertip.  Sheridan's hands came up to hold her 
arms, but he did not pull away from her.  His eyes still downcast, he 
swallowed around a soft groan, startling himself by making the sound.  
She added her other hand to his chest, caressing both of his nipples, 
then making him flinch by pinching lightly.  It sent a flash of lightning to 
his groin and he moaned.
	"John," she said, "it's okay for you to look at me."  Her tone of voice 
made him raise his eyes to her face to see her half-grinning at him, 
somewhere between playful and fascinated.  "I'm not going to hurt you," 
she reassured him.  "You're not going to hurt me, either.  Take my jacket 
off.  Come on."
	Her fingers on his nipples were taking away his sanity with blazes 
of heat in his belly and groin.  He forced himself to obey, a little shocked 
that she had aroused him so easily.  His hands worked shakily at her 
uniform jacket and vest, pushing them away from her shoulders when he 
got the fasteners undone.  The insistent pulse in his groin made him 
aware of how long it had been since he had had sex with anyone.  
"What's the matter?" she asked him in a low, mischievous voice.  "That 
feel good?"  He nodded vigorously, his breaths quick and shallow.  His 
stare was a strange rapture; gentle amazement and wonder.  "What is 
it?"  He grinned fleetingly.
	"I just never really looked at you like this before," he murmured.  
"Especially not with you -- "  She pinched him again and he twitched in 
ecstasy, his eyes closing for a moment.  " -- doing that," he sighed.  This 
was incredible.  She was his friend.  They were _friends_, for God's sake. 
 And even in a situation where they were compelled to act like this for the 
sake of a treaty, she aroused him so easily he wondered that he had 
never before felt the urge to approach her sexually.  Surely with that 
much chemistry between them, as much fire as she made him feel now 
with her hands on him...
	She was undoing his belt buckle.  Oh, God.  "Susan," he groaned.  
One of her hands touched his face.  It was not a reassuring or friendly 
gesture; it was pure sensuality, her palm across his whiskered cheek.  
Her smile was gone, replaced by a calm, heated look in her eyes.  Her 
hand stroked forward to the edge of his mouth, her fingers across his 
lips.  He reacted without thinking, opening his mouth to take two of her 
fingers inside, sucking on them briefly before letting her take them back, 
drawing them over his tongue before moving that hand down to join the 
other at the waist.  "Oh, Jesus, Susan," he whispered as she opened his 
black trousers and, in a heartbeat, dug both hands down into his groin 
to find his erect cock and engulf it in her grasp.
	His knees almost buckled, his hands closing tightly on her 
shoulders.  Strangely, he didn't feel an urge to close his eyes or look 
away from her.  Instead he held her heated stare with his own as his 
breath left him in a groaning sigh of relief and delight.  The sound 
quivered in his throat even as he made it and he clenched his jaw to keep 
from crying out.
	"Like that, John?" she whispered seriously.  He licked his lips to 
moisten them and leaned his head forward to touch his forehead to hers, 
shuddering.  Her hands were obscene, kneading his cock, holding his 
testicles firmly against his body, rubbing them until he thought he could 
come from that alone.  She knew what she was doing, by God.  Just 
when he thought he had reached a tolerance, she would use both hands 
to stroke the full length of him again, and a ripple of fire would flare up 
his spine.
	She knew the answer to her question from the very fact that he did 
not reply, instead shifting his face to touch his mouth to her forehead, 
then kissing her there sensuously.  His breaths trembled between quiet 
groans that he could not suppress.  Finally he had to speak.
	"Can I..?"  He moved his mouth gently down her cheek.  "Please..."
	"Of course," she breathed, amazed he would even ask at this point. 
 "I'm flattered."  He kissed her passionately, taking her breath from her 
as she fondled him, her hands buried in his trousers.
	"My God, Susan, you're beautiful," he whispered fiercely when he 
let her mouth go.  There was something feral in his voice, not so gentle as 
his words would suggest.  It was lust, pure and intense.  She knew it for 
what it was and welcomed it wholeheartedly.
	"So are you," she said, looking into his eyes soberly.  Her voice was 
like velvet over a blade, every word penetrating him.  "It's all right for you 
to touch me."  His hands cupped her face in a moment of sweet pleasure 
as she kept stroking his cock.  He touched her mouth lightly and she 
kissed his fingers, much the way he had done to her.  The sight of her 
sucking on his fingertips, the feel of her tongue, while she stared into his 
eyes, sent another ripple of flame up his back, then down to settle in his 
belly like hot lead.  Without asking her, without her suggestion, he began 
to unbutton her own smooth, white shirt.  She lifted her chin slightly to 
let him, and she was a marvel under his hands, quivering once as he slid 
the fabric away from her shoulders to bare a remarkable, smooth 
musculature.
	She withdrew her hands from his trousers after a moment, causing 
him to moan softly at the loss.  She removed her outer uniform jacket 
completely, leaving her tunic on but open.  Sliding onto the bed next to 
them, she sat on the edge and pulled him around to stand facing her.  
His trousers open, she made him stand directly in front of her, and she 
dragged his pants and underwear down around his knees.  It was when 
she leaned forward and kissed the shaft of his penis that he fully realized 
what she was doing.  He leaned his head back for a moment in pure, 
inward astonishment, then looked back down at her where she licked 
delicately at the base of his cock, holding onto his thighs to keep him 
close.  The sensation was like wet fire at the contact point.  The thought 
of the Lumati Ambassador watching them only made it more intense.
	"Susan," he managed, trying to make his words intelligible.  He 
wanted to groan, to just let go and howl and yell his pleasure.  "Susan, 
you don't have to do this..."  She withdrew just enough to look up at him.
	"I know," she said, and took the whole shaft of his cock in her 
mouth to suck on it lavishly.  He couldn't help it; he cried out in surprise 
and delight.
	"Oh, Christ," he gasped.  "Oh, God, that's good."
	He smelled marvelous, so male and earthy.  Clean flesh and soft 
hair tickling her nose.  She loved doing this to a man, hearing him 
respond, feeling him enjoy it.  She loved his cock in her mouth, its 
hardness, knowing that his feelings toward her had made it so.  It was a 
selfish, indulgent act on her part, no matter what John might think of it. 
 She did this because she wanted to and for no other reason.  When she 
took his entire cock in her mouth, he cried out, and she felt a rush of 
pride and pleasure that she had made him feel good enough to make the 
sound when it was obvious before that he was fighting back making 
noise.  So he liked to be vocal.  She let out a breath of amusement as she 
sucked on him.  That could be a lot of fun.  She would see how vocal he 
could be.  She tongued the hole at the tip, curious.  He shuddered and 
groaned, pushing himself deeper into her mouth.  His hands were on her 
shoulders, kneading, massaging them, trying to express some of the 
intense appreciation he felt.
	It was all Sheridan could do to remain standing.  Susan's hands 
were caressing his legs, her palms stroking down to the top of his calves 
and back up, gently rubbing the edges of his muscles.  It felt good 
beyond just sexually, and he let himself savor it as much as he could 
while reminding himself that they were doing this primarily to satisfy the 
Lumati's cultural requirements for a contract.  It was definitely one of the 
more exciting ways he had heard of to seal a negotiation.  When Susan 
touched his buttocks, he started, feeling a wash of indignation.  Then he 
laughed roughly, amazed at himself.
	//God damn it, she's giving me head and I have the time to be 
surprised when she grabs my ass?  What's wrong with me?//  He was 
glad she didn't stop to ask him why he had laughed, and the chuckle 
trailed off into a soft rumble in his chest.  He suppressed it before it 
became louder, as it wanted to.  That was one thing he didn't have to do 
for the Lumati.  That was private.
	Ivanova sensed the reluctance in John's voice, wondered at it.  
Maybe he resented having to perform, rather than being watched by 
someone of his choosing, whom he trusted and had some emotional 
relationship with.  Maybe he was still uneasy with her.  It wasn't a lack of 
magnetism between them; that was apparent enough from the heat in 
his eyes and the groans he struggled to repress.
	She was about to pull away to ask him when he withdrew himself, 
gently sliding his cock from between her lips to look down at her.  His 
expression was a curious mixture of hunger, amazement and 
nervousness.  He moved to kick his trousers off, then climbed onto the 
bed with her.  She scooted back to give him room, and he settled in close 
to her.  With both trembling hands, he held her face, his cock stiff 
between his thighs and a delicate worry in his handsome features.  He 
touched his forehead to hers gently.
	"Susan," he whispered.  He didn't want to be overheard by the 
Ambassador sitting a few feet away.  "When we started this it was 
because we had to.  But I'm doing it now because I want you.  If that's 
not okay, I won't go through with this, treaty or no treaty.  I'm not going 
to make you do this."
	She turned her head to kiss his palm sensuously, making another 
flare of heat rush up his spine.  His cock twitched achingly at the look in 
her gray eyes.
	"Jesus Christ, John," she murmured.  "You have to be blind and 
deaf to ask me that."  She leaned forward to devour his mouth wetly, just 
long enough to make her tongue felt.  He didn't want to let her pull back. 
 "I want you to fuck my brains out.  Don't you dare say no."  She pushed 
his white shirt all the way off of his shoulders, coaxing him to remove it.  
Then she shrugged out of her own shirt, tossing the brassiere with it off 
the bed.  He was already unbuckling her trousers, knowing the 
mechanism easily and she sat back to let him drag them off.  The look on 
his face was pure desire, unconscious and unguarded.  It was, for a 
moment, odd to see it considering who he was and who she was.  But the 
sight of such longing in him made her groin ache, and when they were 
both finally naked, he moved back toward her on his knees, getting very 
close with one of his knees between her thighs.
	"Hell, I love this," Sheridan said breathlessly, his voice unsteady.  
She could hear how raw it was, an unthinking statement uttered as he 
thought it without any censorship or mediation.  Even better, he didn't 
look as though he regretted saying it.
	"So what are you waiting for?" Ivanova wondered hoarsely, kissing 
him again, hard.  Sheridan growled and embraced her, not concerned in 
that moment with getting his cock into her, but reveling in her warm 
nakedness against his body, caressing her back, her shoulders, rubbing 
his hands over her muscular rump.  He kissed down her neck, across 
her shoulder, toppling them onto the bed with him on top.  She purred 
as he pressed his weight on her, rubbing his cock on the inside of her 
thigh.
	//God, she's so beautiful,// he thought as he considered biting 
her throat and then didn't after realizing that would leave a visible mark. 
 He didn't really want to have to explain this to anyone else on the 
command staff.  Another growl rose in his own throat and he kissed her 
breast luxuriously to keep the sound quiet in his chest.
	"You keep holding back making noise," she said.  His tongue traced 
a soft path across her collarbone as her legs wrapped around him.  He 
moaned again before trusting himself to reply.
	"I tend to be really vocal," he murmured close to her ear, then 
taking the lobe into his mouth to suck lightly.  "I can get pretty loud."
	"Don't hold back on my account," she said.  "I'd love to think I 
turned you on that much."
	"Oh, Jesus, Susan," he moaned into her soft hair at her neck.  "I 
don't think I've ever been this horny in my life."  She reached down to 
grab his hips, pulling him to her.
	"So fuck me," she growled, arching up against him, trying to reach 
his mouth with hers.  She couldn't quite make it, but the effort made 
Sheridan's gut clench deliciously.  He reached back to hold her strong 
thighs as she locked her ankles around his.  He didn't silence his voice 
this time, grunting softly with the delirious and magnificent strain of 
supporting himself, touching her, finding her sex with the head of his 
cock.  He felt her wetness envelop the tip in heat.  She swore softly, her 
breath light on his face, and he pushed into her in a smooth, unbroken 
thrust until he felt resistance.  Susan craned her head back, her breath 
leaving her in a sharp, rough groan, her hands clenching into his 
buttocks.	
	Sheridan watched her, fascinated, aching as much to see her 
respond to him as anything else that drove him now.  Her head moved to 
one side, eyes closed, an expression of absolute, total relish on her face.  
He rolled his hips, pulling himself out a little and then pushing again 
deep.  Susan's mouth opened in a silent gasp, and he touched her lips 
with one free hand, drawn to do it by the invitation in her face.  When he 
touched, her eyes opened, finding his with such fierceness and desire it 
made his cock swell tightly.  She sucked on his fingers again, more with 
her tongue this time, and it sent a ripple of heat up his thighs and into 
his belly.  He shoved hard into her, inflamed, and her voice broke into 
the room sharply in a cry of surprise.
	"Susan," he rumbled, hearing his own amazement and lust.
	"Come on, John," she rasped.  Her eyes closed briefly, then opened 
again to impale him with her own wanting.  "Please.  Do it."  He hardly 
needed to will it to make it happen; his body knew this rhythm so well.  
He started to move, slowly, voluptuously, savoring it, savoring her as she 
held onto him with delirious pleasure in every curve of her body.
	She got lost in the delight of it, the hot tension of John's cock 
buried in her, every stroke like white flame.  It answered an ache in her 
sex, an intense, carnal longing to be fucked like this.  He was _good_.  
She groaned without thinking, submerged in the pleasure of his body, 
his soft grunting close to her ear.  Oh, God, he was going to make her --
	"John," she groaned.  "John, I'm -- "  Sheridan drew back a little to 
watch her as she pulled taut beneath him, every muscle clenched like 
steel in an orgasm so sudden and enormous even she had not seen it 
coming.  For an instant it was a silent storm in her eyes, and then she 
threw her head back and yelled to raise the hackles on his neck.  He 
hadn't known she was so strong; she held onto him tightly, quivering 
with the effort.  Her sex pulsed around his cock like a vise, trembling.  
He could only watch, enraptured, delighted that he had brought her to 
this feeling and honored that she would be able to show it to him so 
fully.
	She came back to an awareness of him looking down at her, her 
breath leaving in a shivering exhale and she relaxed almost as completely 
as she had tensed.  Her eyes opened, strangely clear and vulnerable.
	"That looked like it was fantastic," he murmured.  She laughed, 
and he felt the spasms around his cock.
	"It was unexpected," she muttered.  She embraced him again.  
"And you're not done."  Sheridan smiled faintly, halfway glancing at the 
Lumati Ambassador.
	"I could be," he suggested quietly.  If she wanted to stop now, he 
was willing.  Ivanova smirked.
	"But you're not," she said.  "Come on, John.  You want to.  You 
need it.  I'd like to see what you look like when you come."
	"You're evil incarnate," Sheridan groaned when she clenched her 
sex around him.  "And you're right."  He began to move again, for himself 
purely, writhing gently, then faster as the urge drove him like claws in 
his gut.  His voice reached her ears as a soft, soft growl.  It rose in 
volume as his thrusting intensified.  For a few breaths it broke off and he 
was grunting low in his throat.  Then he shook his head with a rasping 
hiss of pleasure and thirst, something feral in his voice.  He bucked 
against her hard, his own muscles standing out with the effort of 
satisfying this delicious urge.
	"Come on, John," she whispered.  "You want to yell.  Do it."  He 
barked a laugh, choked on the breath, then let out a howl of joy.
	"Oh, yes," he exclaimed.  "Oh, _God_!"  He'd show that Lumati 
bastard what humans did when they were wild in bed.  And he'd show 
Susan how uninhibited he could be, how much she turned him on.
	She'd never known he could be like this.  His voice was like 
hammered silver, crying out in ecstasy, an enthusiasm just in being 
vocal.  Moments of sweetness so sharp she heard it in his delicate groan, 
relief bright and hungry in a yell that was clear and resonant like wind.  
What the Lumati thought of it was impossible to tell, but Susan loved it, 
awed and enchanted by his honesty.
	Then he started _talking_.  Half-intelligible phrases, then just 
words, raw and unthinking.  It sent a chill up her back and she gave up 
trying to understand what he was saying; the truth was in his voice, the 
emotional nakedness in his groans and whimpers.
	"Yeah, John," she whispered.  "Come on."  He swore at her, making 
her laugh softly.  Then she felt him shudder, and something marginally 
sensical came from his throat.
	"Susan," he groaned, "Susan, oh, I'm coming, I'm -- "  And the yell 
that tore out of him was like nothing she'd ever heard, as if something 
ripped free in a blaze of ecstasy and pain.  He followed it with another 
howl, his cock pulsing deep inside her.  He shook himself all over as the 
climax receded, and started to laugh joyfully.  "Oh, God, that was 
incredible," he said, burying his face in Susan's neck and hugging her to 
him tightly.  She returned the embrace, grinning.  They both let out a 
deep sigh of contentment.
	After about a half a minute, the Lumati Ambassador spoke.
	"Is it over?" he asked.  There was something odd in his voice, as if 
he were mildly surprised.  Sheridan chuckled, and brought himself to 
look over at the Ambassador.
	"Yes," Sheridan sighed.  He was afraid for a minute he was going to 
have to get up to show the Ambassador out, but the Lumati stood, 
rearranging his robes carefully.
	"Then I will return to my ship.  Our pact is sealed.  You may expect 
two Lumati heavy fighters to arrive within ten standard days to begin 
fulfilling our part of guarding Babylon 5."  Without saying anything more, 
he turned and left.  Sheridan heard the outer door of his quarters open, 
then close.  They were alone.  He looked down at Susan.
	"Well, I think that went pretty well," he said.
	"Yeah," she said.  One of her hands was still on his buttocks, 
stroking slowly.
	"I suppose we can stop now," he said.  They gazed at each other for 
a long moment.
	"I suppose," she said, her mouth quirking.  He just kissed her 
again, rumbling softly in satisfaction.

	Garibaldi leaned back in his chair, tossing another piece of 
popcorn into the air and catching it in his mouth adroitly.  Sheridan had 
a nice butt, he had to admit.  He reached out to adjust the aperture of 
accrual on the security camera.  It gave a very nice picture of the inside 
of Sheridan's bedroom, where he had watched the entire incident with 
Commander Ivanova and the Lumati Ambassador unfold.
	For it was, of course, perfectly logical that the residences of the 
station's prime targets -- the command staff -- would be monitored by 
station security.  It was also perfectly logical for those cameras to have a 
privacy lockout to give the command staff some privacy.  And, it was 
perfectly logical for there to be a security override for that privacy 
lockout.  And, well, Garibaldi was the Security Chief of Babylon 5.  He 
was also a voyeur.
	"Sheridan," he muttered to himself with a grin.  "You dog."
End Story I