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Incarceration
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Title: Incarceration
Author: Venom_69
Disclaimer: I don't own these people.
Date: 1-9-2002

~*+*~

The smell was the first thing that hit me. The putrid stench that rose off
the ground to meet my disgusted nose made me wonder how the people could
stand it, but I guess they had other things to be concerned about.

After being led through an intricate maze of tunnels, we were disarmed and
roughly pushed into a small cell and I was grateful that they'd kept us
together. Obviously they weren't used to people trying to escape, they don't
see us as much of a threat without anything but the clothes we have on.

I pace like a caged tiger for a few minutes. I'm not so big on enclosed
spaces. I wouldn't call it claustrophobia, I'm not quite that bad, but I do
get a little nervous.

Glancing around at my team mates, I notice that they are all surveying the
walls of our cell, no doubt looking for an escape route. I wish them luck, I
think there's Naqaduah in the walls, so we won't get through them anytime
soon. Call me pessimistic. The only other opening in the room is the tiny
window on the door.

"You okay?" The Colonel asks me, placing a gentle hand on my arm to stop my
pacing.

"Yeah." I breathe, running my hand through my tousled hair.

"We'll get out of here." He tells me, and I can't help but smile glumly at
his small attempt at reassuring me.

"Yes sir." I reply, and the door to our cell opens and we all instinctively
move to the back of the room, leaning against the wall.

Daniel cradles his injured- most probably broken- arm to his chest. When we
were captured, one of the guards backhanded me and Daniel, sending him
flying into a tree. The way he was hit made his body spiral towards the
trunk, breaking his arm. I was lucky, but I can feel the bruise forming on
my left cheek. It stings, but I'll live.

Whoever captured us aren't Jaffa, their very unorthodox as far as Jaffa go,
and they don't have any of the tell-tale signs of being God worshipers. And
they don't have pouches in their stomachs, their midriff baring shirts tell
us that much.

Surprisingly they spoke English, but their weapons were primitive in
comparison to our P-90's but still enough to do some serious damage if they
wanted to. There doesn't appear to be any form of hierarchy with them, but
one man seems to be some sort of leader, and it's him that steps towards us,
standing in front of five other Teal'c sized men.

"You." He points to Daniel. "Come with us." He orders and my peripheral
vision shows my friend looking around at us nervously.

"I don't think so." The Colonel replies sarcastically and the man slaps his
cheek. I briefly wonder where he got his combat training from, I could hit
better than this moron.

"Now." The man orders and grabs Daniel's arm, thankfully his un-injured one.
His other arm is swollen and looks very sore. Daniel reluctantly let's
himself be led away and before we have anytime to react, they've all left
and the door has been shut and locked after them.

I wonder exactly what they'll do to him, but I'm smart enough to have a fair
idea about what's going on. I feel myself wince as a scream is heard, the
noise echoing off the walls.

It's Daniel's scream, I can tell.

The Colonel punches a wall as another scream bounces off the walls, the
sound loud enough to reach us. He goes to hit the wall again and I grab his
arm.

Turning to look alternately at my face and the hand that was holding his
arm. "We might need that hand to help get us out of here, sir." I explain,
my voice low.

Whatever happened to the people who thought that we were God's? That, I
could live with.

About half an hour goes by with me pacing and the Colonel muttering sweet
nothings to himself. None of us speak, until Teal'c breaks the silence.
"They are returning." He informs us and we all move back to the wall.

The door is flung open and Daniel is thrown in, crumpling to the floor like
nothing more than a rag doll, tears in his eyes. The Colonel is taken next,
his threats of maiming them silenced by the promise of killing one of us if
he doesn't go quietly.

The moment the door is closed, I rush to my friend's side, Teal'c directly
behind me. I cradle his head in my lap, making a mental list of his
injuries.

He has a long cut from his eye to his mouth, but it doesn't seem too deep,
his arm is twisted at a strange angle and I think they may have done more
damage than his run-in with the tree. His jacket is gone and his shirt is
ripped in a few places, baring some blood stained skin. I pull the black
material up to reveal a few cuts along his stomach, but they're not very
deep either, which is a good thing.

"Where's Jack'?" He mutters incoherently, his voice slurred with pain.

"Gone to get you some coffee and morphine." I lie, using the hem of my shirt
to stroke away some of the blood that's seeped out of the cut on his face

Daniel smiles before passing out from the pain. I take the opportunity to
move his damaged arm from it's prone position, back to the way he had it
before he was taken. It he wakes up before the Colonel returns, then I'll
ask him what they wanted to know.

At the very least the Colonel hasn't screamed yet.

He doesn't wake again, and Teal'c silently picks him up and moves him to a
corner of the room, standing guard over his friend. I contemplate moving
over to him and resuming the position that I was in, but the door opens
again and the Colonel is thrown in, landing partly on top of me.

The man debates which one of us to take next, but sees it as too much of an
effort to get the Colonel off me, and gestures for Teal'c to follow him.
When he refuses, the man points his staff, which has a very long arrow
attached, at me and Teal'c understands what he means and goes without
protest.

The limp body of my CO rests over my legs, his face buried in my crotch.
Under different circumstance I might like this, but I have to move him and
calculate his injuries.

I turn him over as he groans and opens his eyes to look at me. He has the
same cut on his cheek that Daniel does and his jacket is missing too.
Although his shirt is worse that Daniel's but there isn't any blood
underneath.

"Hey Carter." He moans, pulling himself up into a sitting position to lean
against the wall.

"Hey Colonel. I thought you were going to stop boxing with Teal'c." I smile,
my small attempt at humour is obviously appreciated.

"Yeah well, you know me." He shrugs.

I move over to sit next to him against the wall and he leans on me. "Are you
okay?" I ask.

"Scream." He tells me.

I turn, confused. "Sir?" I ask.

"When they take you, scream." He elaborates and I cringe at the thought. I
know that they're going to take me, I can see it coming.

"Scream?" I repeat.

"Can I be honest with you?"

"Always." I nod.

"They'll cut your cheek. From here." He touches below my eye. "To here." He
touches the top of my mouth. "And all they want to hear is you scream." He
tells me, suddenly staring at me, lost in thought.

"Yes sir." I reply, silently hoping that they'll stop whatever they plan to
do to me if I scream.

The Colonel and I don't speak again, but we silently agree to move over to
Daniel's side and watch over him. I wonder about his statement, I didn't
hear him scream while he was gone, but maybe it just wasn't as loud as
Daniel's.

I can't tell how long Teal'c was gone for, I think I dozed off for a little
while. But my eyes snap open when the door opens and Teal'c is pushed in,
the same cut on his cheek and a few around his serpent tattoo.

Then they take me.

~*+*~

They cut my cheek, like the Colonel said they would, and it hurt. But they
were considerate enough not to cut my bruised cheek. I scream like the
Colonel told me too, and they laugh. They actually stand back and laugh as
the blood trickles down my cheek.

I expect them to return me to the cell, my jacket was removed before they
tied my hands up above my head with Naqaduah enhanced restraints. They're
restricting and if I move around too much then my body'll swing.

Instead of returning me to the rest of my team, the leader pulls out a very
large knife, with dried blood on it. My friend's dried blood. He pulls my
shirt out of my pants and brings the knife to my throat. "I could slit your
throat." He grins, pressing the knife into my flesh a little harder.

He trails the knife down my throat and hooks it under my shirt, tugging a
little and I hear the material rip and I feel the blade barely touching my
stomach as it rips my shirt straight down the middle. He cuts the sleeves
and pulls the shredded black material out of the way to leave me clad in my
black bra and combat pants.

Smiling at me, he cuts across the top of my breasts, the blade piercing my
skin as more blood seeps out of the wounds. These cut's are deeper than the
one's we all got on our cheeks. Shame I don't have any antiseptic handy, the
lacerations that he makes on my chest will more than likely become infected
without treatment. A few deep cuts on my stomach complete the picture and I
can't hold back the whimper as the knife comes dangerously close to my belt.


I once saw an episode of Oprah where they talked about survivors of female
genital mutilation and the knife resting at my belt is making me recall what
all of the victim's went through, in great detail. Oh, God.

Suddenly, he throws the knife to the ground and as he turns back to me, his
fist connects with my face and the bruise that was forming has no doubt just
become ten times worse. He steps back from me and lands a hard blow to my
stomach, this time with his leg.

My head snaps to the left as he punches me a few more times, including a few
more blows to my stomach which now has blood flowing freely from the wounds
which he's managed to open even further with his feet. A few hits with a
thick piece of timber to my stomach and behind my knees later and his grin
is huge now.

The restraints are let loose and I fall to the ground, my bruised legs
unable to support my weight at the moment. The leader leaves the room and
two guards come up to me and each take turns at punching me, before they
drag me back to the cell. They didn't try to rape me, so I'm thankful for
small mercies.

I try to take in my surroundings, maybe familiarise myself with the tunnel
in the hopes of escape, but the blows to my eyes are blurring my vision as I
fight the losing battle with unconsciousness.

I'm unceremoniously dumped into the cell and they leave without taking any
of my friends. "Jesus Carter." The Colonel breathes, crawling over to me.
"Hey." He whispers, cradling my head in his lap, wiping back my fringe from
my face.

"Hi." I murmur. "How's Daniel?" I ask, turning my neck to try and get a
better look at my friend.

"He'll be alright. Teal'c is looking out for him. You want my shirt?" He
offers and I suddenly remember that I only have my bra on.

Before I have the opportunity to reply, the door opens and a tray is placed
on the floor. From what I can see it's water and gruel, much like the crap
we were given on Caldor's planet.

The door closes again and the colonel goes over to the tray, bringing it
back. "Hors d'oeuvres?" He quips and I smile. He passes two bowl's to Teal'c
and then hands him two cups of water for them.

Daniel moans a little and rolls over, his eyes flying open as he rolls onto
his arm. The pain is enough to bring him out of unconsciousness. He and
Teal'c begin to eat in silence and the colonel rips off a part of his shirt
and dips it in the water.

"It'll sting." He warns and I nod, gritting my teeth as he wipes my
lacerations, cleaning off as much of the blood as he can.

~*+*~

"Trust you to want to catch Z's on the job." The Colonel jokes, stroking my
forehead rhythmically.

"'M 'wake." I mutter.

I open my eyes to look up into his concerned brown one's. "Have a nice nap
Major?" He quips.

"Yes sir." I nod, wincing slightly as my headache worsens in protest at the
action. He helps me to sit up to rest in between his outstretched legs,
leaning against his bare chest. "Your shirt?" I question.

"We used it to clean up everyone's wounds. Teal'c offered to give you his,
but we thought that we should try and keep junior out of sight. And space
monkey's was in threads too." He shrugs.

"Where are they?" I ask, looking around the empty cell. I wonder if they've
both been taken together this time.

"In another cell. They were both taken away and I saw them being tossed into
another room about three door's down." He replies, gently playing with my
hair.

"Are we going to get out of here?" I ask, resting my head on his shoulder.

"Yes." He answers, without missing a beat.

"Good. I'd kill for a bath at the moment." I laugh, the action sending a
shooting pain through my stomach.

"If we get out of here, you and I can share my Jacuzzi, deal?"

"Deal." I smile and clutch my ribs as another, stronger, wave of pain
shoot's through me.

"You have a few broken ribs." He explains.

"Figured that." I mutter through gritted teeth.

"Sleep Carter." He orders.

"I thought that you said I was sleeping on the job." I smile.

He drops a kiss onto the top of my head. "Smart ass." He mutters and I close
my eyes, safe in his warm embrace.

~*+*~

"Chocolate." I sigh.

"Hockey." He replies in turn.

Near as I can tell, we've been here for almost two and a half months. The
days are routine now, we don't get breakfast- and I'd kill for some bacon at
the moment-, a guard takes Jack around ten, Earth time, and he comes back
after an hour or so and then they take me. It's the same thing every time,
they re-open the cut's on my body, occasionally adding more to the
collection. They throw a few punches and I'm sure that my face is black,
blue and purple by now. I think the cut's on my chest are infected, and I'm
pretty sure that there is some moss or fungi growing in there, they sting
and itch like crazy. Jack threatened to tie my hands together if I didn't
stop scratching.

Occasionally screams echo through the corridors and bounce off the walls.
They aren't Teal'c or Daniel's. At least, I don't think they are. I hope
not, for their sakes.

We haven't seen Daniel or Teal'c in a few weeks. Last I saw of them was
Daniel and that was only because my torture session coincided with his one
day. We didn't speak but I silently asked if he and Teal'c were okay, and he
silently replied that they were coping. He silently asked about Jack and I,
and I replied in kind.

Yes, it's Jack now. Calling each other Carter and Sir seems stupid, since we
only have each other to rely on. We usually make lists of the things that we
miss to pass the time, but we talk. A lot, but never about any of the people
we left behind.

I must admit, there are a few things that I'm thankful for. Like Jolinar,
for example. I'm very glad that she screwed up my body chemistry, one more
thing that I don't have to be concerned about. I doubt that Thaley, the male
leader of this place, would have a stock of tampons around here.

They haven't come for Jack yet today, I doubt they've forgotten, despite the
fact that there must be hundreds of other souls to torture in this place.
Thaley likes to keep to his schedule, I've noticed that. Food is never given
to us at the same time each day, sometimes not at all, but we're beaten at
the same time every single day.

I wrap my arms around Jack's waist, careful of both our wounds. He replies
in kind and I rest my head on his shoulder and listen as footsteps come
closer and closer to our cell.

The door opens with unusual anger only seconds later and Thaley orders us to
both follow him. Which we do without a word.

Once, just after SG-1 was taken, Jack protested very loudly about being
taken away and we tried to escape, but we failed and they beat him twice as
hard for the aggravation we caused. So we didn't try it again. Our strength
is slowly being drained, blood loss and lack of food aren't helping our
situation in the slightest. And I'm slightly concerned about hypothermia.

We follow the leader, his guards behind us. I take a glance through the
small window that leads to the other half of SG-1's cell, and I see two
people.

Two *women* to be precise.

Where are my friends? Were they killed? Did all of the beatings finally take
them out? Were they hit in the head and the trauma caused a death that we
have all secretly prayed for at some point or another?

I don't have time to ponder my questions as we're thrown into our 'regular'
beating room. They tie us together this time, our arms raised above our
heads and bound together.

And then they start to beat us.

~*+*~

I groan, and open my eyes. It's pitch black, as usual, but I just see the
outline of Jack on the other side of the cell, un-moving. I don't remember
much about what happened. Something about us paying for our friends escape.

Escape?

Daniel and Teal'c got out of here? Part of me is hurt that they didn't come
for us, but most of me is elated that they got out of here, they'll come
back. And bring re-enforcements to get Jack and I out of this hell hole.

Jack? I crawl over to him, using my arms to drag my limp body, the cold
ground tearing at my already bleeding stomach. I reach him and collapse, my
head next to his.

Before the world goes blank, I send a silent plea to Daniel and Teal'c to
hurry up, I don't know how long either of us can stand this existence.

~*+*~

I let my eyes flutter open, reluctantly.

The light hit's me, burning my retina's and I shut my eyes tightly, trying
to protect them against the blinding light. I don't understand. Whether I'm
just confused, delirious or disorientated, none of which would be a first, I
don't know.

I bring my hand up to cover my eyes, tentatively opening them, weary of the
brightness that surrounds me. I'm not in the cell anymore, that much is
clear, it's too clean, and I'm in a bed. I don't even think I'm on that
planet anymore.

Looking around frantically, I ignore the pain that my eyes feel from the
light. Where am I? Where's Jack? It's almost time for my beating, if my body
clock is what it used to be. Where the hell is Jack?

"You're awake." A voice comments, walking into the room. I don't look at
her, that only makes the beatings worse, but her voice is gentle and caring.
Probably another damn trick.

A hand reaches out to touch my shoulder, and it's too small to be Jack's. I
have to get out of here so that I can find him, I need him. Doing the only
thing I can think of, I turn my head as the hand relaxes a little. I open my
mouth and sink my teeth into the flesh, not releasing my teeth until I taste
blood in my mouth.

"Sam!" The voice cries and I roughly push it's owner out of the way, getting
off the bed and running to the door.

I navigate my way through the corridor's, trying to find Jack. Everything is
different here. There are still people in rooms, but the doors are open and
they aren't battered and bruised. They're in clean clothes, and after
quickly looking down at myself, I notice that I am too. I spent God knows
how long in nothing but my pants and bra, they took our boots away months
ago.

Running past an empty room, I give a startled cry as my arm is grasped,
pulling me inside. A hand clamps down over my mouth, while the other now
holds my waist. I struggle against my captor, but the last ounce of strength
I have, which could quite possibly be nothing more than adrenaline, is
quickly dissipating.

"It's me." My captor whispers and I stop struggling, realising who it is
that's holding me.

The hand comes away from my face, and joins the one around my waist. "Jack."
I whisper, my voice shaky.

"In the flesh." He chuckles.

We pull apart and resume our embrace on the floor. The dirt and dreadful
smell of the small room is comforting, a constant that we are now used to.

"Did they come for you?" I ask, not needing to elaborate any further. We
don't speak of the beatings, we stopped doing that a while ago, our time
together is cherished and the bad things that they do shouldn't invade our
time.

"No. You?"

"No." I shake my head against his chest, and feel that he also has clothes
on. It's the same, white gown that whoever captured us this time gave us.
"It was so bright." I whisper, relishing the chance to be held by him in the
dark, as usual.

"I know, Sammy, I know." He murmurs, stroking my hair, which is getting
longer. His fingers stop their caress in my hair and I look up at him,
confused. "It's clean." He tells me in amazement.

I finger my hair, unable to remember if it was ever a colour other than
reddish-brown. He's right, it feels silky, no dirt or dried blood that I
have become so used to. I touch his head. "So is yours." I return and he
follows my lead and touches his own head.

"Wonder why." He comments absently, returning his fingers to my scalp.

"Maybe they want to sell us." I shrug. It wouldn't exactly be unheard of in
this place. I've seen prisoners, dragged from their cells. And I've heard
the guards telling them that they were being sold to the highest bidder. If
they keep Jack and I together, then I don't care.

"Sleep Sammy." He whispers against my hair, and I close my eyes.

~*+*~

"I don't understand it sir, she just lashed out." A voice says, it's the
same voice that was with me before. I stay in Jack's embrace, my eyes
closed. They don't need to know that I'm awake yet.

"Should we call Makenzie?" Another voice, a male one, asks.

"I don't know sir. The only thing that I can say for certain is that
separating them would be a very bad idea. You saw what Major Carter did to
my hand, and Colonel O'Neill tried to hurt one of the nurse's and then
himself. The only words I've heard either of them speak are each other's
name. They're dependant on each other, sir, and separating them would be a
very big mistake." The woman says. I almost regret biting her, she seems
content to let me be with Jack, and that's always a bonus.

"Agreed Doctor." The man returns.

"Sammy." Jack breaths against my neck, dropping a kiss on it as he's done
every morning for as long as I can remember.

"Colonel O'Neill?" The man asks, walking around to face us. My eyes remain
open, but I'm squinting a little, the light is still way too bright.

We both stare blankly at him. He doesn't look like Thaley, but he does
appear to be some form of leader, the woman called him 'sir.' He's short and
is wearing a blue uniform, and he has a large stomach.

"Major Carter." He nods at me and I continue to stare at him. Why hasn't he
taken Jack yet? They always do, no one ever stands beside our bed and looks
at us. And there's compassion in his eyes. What the hell is going on? What
are they playing at?

He reaches out to touch my arm and Jack's hand flies out and grasps his
wrist, a move that I didn't expect from him, and we can read each other
pretty well. "No. Don't hurt her, no more." Jack pleads.

I look at his hand, which is still holding to other man's and I notice that
Jack isn't trying to hurt the man, he's just trying to stop them from taking
me. Which he knows will earn him a beating worse than usual.

"Jack, I'm not going to hurt her, none of us are." The man assures. I think
I know him, his face is familiar. Hose? Homer? Hammer? Hammond? Hammond!

"Hammond." I whisper and the man pulls his hand away from Jack's grasp and
looks down at me.

"Yes." He nods. "That's me."

"Please, no more." I whisper, tears streaming down my face. Jack holds me
tightly as I cry, his rising chest a comfort to me.

"Sam, we're not going to hurt you. We're here to help you." He tells me and
I look at him, hope coursing through me, but wary in case of another trick.
It wouldn't be the first. Hallucinagenic's were slipped into our water, that
much I'm sure of.

Another man comes up behind him, his arm in plaster. "Daniel." I whisper,
recognising him instantly. The cut on his cheek seems to be healing alright,
although his face is still a multitude of colours, he looks well.

"Hey Sam." He smiles and sit's down in the chair by the bed. "Jack." He
nods.

"Arm?" I question.

"Broken." He sighs. "But Janet says that it'll heal nicely."

"Janet?" I ask.

The woman, who's hand I viciously bit, walks over to stand behind Daniel,
keeping a fair distance from me, understandably of course. "Hey." She
greets, wary that I'll 'lash out' again.

"Your hand?" I ask, concerned.

"It will be fine. That's quite a set of fangs you've got there." She smiles.
I don't return it.

The room lapses into an uncomfortable silence and I concentrate on Jack's
warm breath, tickling my neck.

~*+*~

We sit together, huddled on the bed as he speaks to us. Daniel said that
this man's name is Makenzie, and he was trying to help us 'deal' with what
happened.

I haven't seen Teal'c yet, apparently, according to Daniel, his symbiont was
badly injured and he needs time to heal. Jack won't speak to anyone but
Daniel or I. Since the day, almost two weeks ago, when I saw Janet and
Hammond, I haven't spoken to anyone apart from Jack or Daniel.

Makenzie is talking about something, but neither of us are listening to him.
"Major Carter!" He snaps, annoyed, he's been here for an hour and neither of
us have even bothered to look at him. I turn my head from it's study of
Jack's cheek to face him. "I *said* is there anything you wish to discuss."

His harsh tone is enough to make me flinch and go as stiff as a board,
Thaley used that tone on numerous occasions. Jack feels it and turns to face
the man who he thinks has hurt me. "Leave her alone." He growls.

"I am trying to help." He replies, slightly calmer.

Jack narrow's his eyes. "Don't you dare hurt her!" He shouts and Makenzie
gets up and walks out of the room, quite obviously disturbed by Jack's
outburst.

I can hear Janet and Makenzie talking just outside our door. "It's
fascinating!" He exclaims. "It's like they're dependant on each other,
almost like an addiction! We could learn so much from observing them and I
think that given time, we could make some major breakthroughs in our
psychological understanding of the human. . ." He stops, Janet's voice
interrupting his.

"You son of a bitch!" She shouts. "Those people in there are my *friend's*,
not lab rat's for you to study! They need *help*, not someone who wants to
watch their interactions, their *pain* and take notes for the sake of
science. If you can't do the job you were asked to, then *I* will!" She
cries, walking into our room, surprisingly calm for a woman who was
screaming at a colleague not half of a minute ago.

Jack and I briefly glance at each other, and turn back to her. "Thank you."
We whisper in unison.

"I just want what's best for you guy's. I want you to get better." She
sighs, slumping into the chair.

"Teal'c?" Jack asks.

Janet masks her surprise at hearing him speak alone, and focuses on
answering the question. "He'll be alright. Junior is taking care of him, and
he should be back on his feet in a week or two." She smiles. "He sends his
best wishes, and hopes that he can see you soon."

"How did we get here?" Jack and I both ask. It was a question that had been
bothering me, obviously it had crossed Jack's mind too.

"Daniel and Teal'c came back a month ago, but were so badly injured that
they collapsed in the 'Gate room. They were unconscious for almost two
weeks. When Teal'c came to, he told us where you were, and how to get there.
The General re-called every unit the SGC has and, from what little I've been
told, they all went in gun's ablazing. They brought you two out of there and
we brought you to the AF hospital. You guy's both woke up about four days
after you were brought here, bailed on us, we found you in the janitor's
closet and you know the rest." She shrugs, knowing that we can pretty much
fill in the blanks. We both nod, we do understand.

Sharing a brief, silent, conversation with Jack, we turn back to Janet and
proceed to tell her everything that happened on P9S-881, watching as her
eyes go wide in a mixture of horror and shock.

~*+*~

"What are we going to do today?" Jack asks me, tracing lazy patterns on my
back. I shrug and lean up to briefly kiss him.

We were released from the Air Force Academy Hospital almost a month ago,
despite Doctor Makenzies protests. He claimed that we weren't 'emotionally
ready' yet, and in a way, much as I hate to admit it, he was right. Then
again, Janet wouldn't have allowed us to leave if she didn't think we were
ready.

She had kept both of our houses spotless for the months we were away, and we
were both very grateful. I moved out of my house, and into Jack's. We do
everything together at the moment, I don't think either of us can stand to
be alone anymore, and we were so reliant on each other while we were
incarcerated, I guess it's only natural that we stick together now.

The scars that we obtained are a constant reminder, but we've learnt to
adapt to them, like everything else. The world seemed like a very scary
place a month ago, but with Jack beside me, I'll get though it. And I'll
help him through it too.

Jack's hand stops tracing the irregular patterns on my bare back and rolls
so that I'm pinned beneath him.

I guess I know what I'll be doing today. And besides, we have a Jacuzzi to
visit later.

~*+*~

The end.

I speak my mind, that's why I don't say much.