Under The Surface

TITLE: Under The Surface
AUTHOR: Trish Williams
EMAIL: bartricia_w@yahoo.com
CATEGORY: Hurt/Comfort, Missing Scenes
PAIRING: Daniel/Other
SPOILERS: Beneath The Surface, Window of Opportunity
SEASON / SEQUEL: Set during the 4th season.
RATING: NC-17
CONTENT WARNINGS: Adult situations, strong sexual content and explicit sex. Just a lovely PWP. It's nice not to have to write a plot sometimes.
SUMMARY: Daniel is stuck laboring in a power plant of an ice planet with no memory of who he is. Will his new 'friend' help or hinder the memories that haunt his dreams?
STATUS: Complete
ARCHIVING: Heliopolis 2, Miki's Stargate Shrine, all others please ask.
DISCLAIMER: Our God, MGM/UA, who art the owner of all things Stargate SG-1, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Showtime/Viacom's will be done, by Double Secret and Gekko Productions on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this fanfiction, which is my daily bread, and forgive me my trespasses as I twist thine stories into those that fulfill my fantasies. For thine characters are owned by you, and you have the power and the glory while I enjoy the fantasy for no pay or sexual favors, forever and ever, amen. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. This story may not be posted/archived elsewhere without the consent of the author.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This fic is a wedding present so it's a little bit of a pairing departure from what I'm used to doing, but I've definitely enjoyed the challenge. Just so you're not too confused by this fic, in the episode 'Beneath The Surface', Daniel has been 'printed' with the persona and memories of Karlin. Much thanks to Denise for helping me keep the POV's straight, and to Miki, whose editing expertise always helps me see the forest for the trees <G>. As always, constructive feedback is appreciated and will be rewarded with virtual chocolate. All flames will go into my virtual 'circular file'.

Karlin had a love-hate relationship with mornings.

Grasping the metal frame on one side he rolled himself out of the small bunk, groaning inaudibly as he did so. He took a few moments to collect his thoughts and completely make the transition to full consciousness. Ruffling his short hair sped up the transition. Something in his mind said he needed a hot, rich beverage to truly make the transition. Since such a thing was not available in this place, he resorted to ruffling his short hair in an effort to truly wake up.

The small spotlights attached to each of the bunks had come on a few moments ago, alerting all the workers that it was time to awaken and get ready for another day of fruitful labor. Karlin chose to ignore the lights and focus instead on the warmth coming from the fires burning in several shiny metal cylinders with latticework tops. There was one good thing about the mornings; a thing that made Karlin hurry to rub the sleep from his eyes, get up and make his way towards where breakfast was being served.

Karlin craned his neck around the line to focus on the woman serving the food. The concoction that served as breakfast was a bland, soupy mixture devoid of taste. Lunch was a bit better, dinner somewhat more palatable. But they were workers after all, so taste wasn't as much of a requirement as nutrition. They just needed enough nutrition to keep them going and producing energy that would one day allow them to transform the ice on the surface and live above ground. Though the food was bland he couldn't help but smile when he saw the person serving it this morning.

"Colleagues!" a voice from above shouted. "Your attention please!" Karlin recognized the voice as belonging to the plant supervisor, Brenna. He looked up to see the dark-haired woman on the metal catwalk outside of her office. She wore heavy brown garments similar to the ones he wore, except her jacket had more padding. "I am pleased to report that thanks to your hard work, we now have enough reserve energy to heat the greenhouses for the next two months. Special merit to the workers of section twenty three!"

Karlin pushed a clenched hand up in the air and cheered along with his fellow workers from Section 23. They had all been putting in extra effort and hours to produce more power when they had been told a potential shortfall could be disastrous. No power meant no heat for the greenhouses, for warmth or for providing the few creature comforts they and the other people of this world enjoyed.

Brenna continued, causing the cheers to settle down. "Let us use this not as an excuse to work less, but as motivation to work harder. Our world may be covered in ice but one day we will reclaim our place on the surface!"

"It is my honor to serve," Karlin said in a chorus along with everyone else. When Brenna turned to leave he focused his attention back on the woman serving breakfast. Eagerly awaiting his chance to tell her 'good morning', he watched as she spooned some of the white breakfast 'glop' into the bowl that a woman with short blond hair held out. It was obvious she did not care to serve this person.

"Kegan, how about some bread?" the blond haired woman asked.

"Sorry, just gave out the last piece." Kegan's tone was beyond sarcastic.

"Oh here we go. Every time," groaned an older man wearing a brown, snug-fitting cap on his head. Karlin recalled the man as being perpetually cranky.

"What is your problem?" demanded the blond haired woman, her blue eyes flashing with annoyance.

Kegan was unmovable. "I don't have a problem!" she snapped.

"And we don't have any bread!"

Karlin couldn't take anymore. Kegan was getting upset and he didn't like seeing her in distress like this. "Is there a problem here?" he politely demanded.

"Stay out of this," the older man snapped at him.

"Jona," Karlin lowered his voice to a polite warning tone. "There are other people waiting."

Jonah grabbed Kegan's arm angrily, causing her to screech in surprise. "Give her the damn bread!"

Instinctively, Karlin reacted. He grabbed Jona and pried his hands off of Kegan's arm. Unfortunately, that gave Jona enough time to get the leverage over Karlin that he needed to grab him and toss him over his shoulder and onto the floor. As his shoulders and left side hit the hard, cold floor, he told himself he should have seen this coming. As he prepared himself to fight Jona, he felt the man pulled off of him by someone he couldn't see.

"This is not right!" a loud, deep voice exclaimed as he pulled Jona off of Karlin and held him fast. "The two of you are friends, O'Neill!" he chastised Jona.

Karlin looked strangely at the dark-skinned, muscular man, who restrained Jona's struggling body. He recognized the man as Tor. What he couldn't figure out was why he called Jona by the name of O'Neill? Who was that? Perhaps Tor was just confused.

"Stay out of it!" Jona barked as he struggled against his captor.

"We are part of something called SG-1," Tor called out, determined to get through to Jona. "I am Teal'c. Do you not remember?"

SG-1? Karlin thought. What is that? And why is Tor calling himself 'Teal'c'?

While Karlin just looked at Tor like he was crazy, Jona was determined to get out of the stronghold the imposing man had on him. "Somebody get this guy off of me!?!" Jona yelled.

Two workers with the same muscular build as Tor came over swiftly and attempted to restrain him. Karlin couldn't help but be impressed that it took yet another worker to help restrain Teal'c fully and get him under some semblance of control.

"Get him upstairs," Brenna commanded.

"We don't belong here!" Tor yelled as he was dragged away. "You must remember! We must escape!" Karlin watched as he was taken away, his mind puzzled over what Tor had said.

Why don't we belong here? What is it that we have to remember? And why should we escape?

He wanted to ask him those very questions, but judging from what just happened, it was going to be awhile before he could.

"Brenna," Jona breathed heavily. "It is my honor to serve. I don't know that man."

"I know," Brenna assured. "Jona, don't worry. He's night sick." She looked over at Kegan and said, "Give Thera her bread."

Annoyed she had no choice but to comply, Kegan reached behind her and pulled out a long metal pan. She dropped it to the table with a resounding metal clang, causing the round cracker-shaped pieces of bread to bounce around before settling near the front of the pan.

"Get back to work," Brenna said flatly. The workers went about their business as if nothing had happened. Karlin would go about his business, but he definitely wouldn't act as if nothing had happened. Something had happened and he was determined to find out what it was.

"For you, Karlin," Kegan said as she held out a bowl filled with breakfast towards him.

Daniel took it with a grateful smile. "Thank you," he said.

"No," she gently corrected with a smile. "Thank you."

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

Karlin let out a contented sigh as Kegan's hands massaged the muscles in his lower back. He sat with his legs crossed on his small, lower bunk while Kegan sat behind him. Her legs straddled Karlin's back and draped on both sides of the bed, her bare toes flexing to and fro as she went about her work. He should have been a bit cold considering he wore no shirt, but the heat generated from Kegan's touch was all he needed to keep warm. That heat increased as she moved her hands up to massage his aching shoulders.

The sleeping area hadn't quite yet filled with those retiring for the evening. There wasn't much to do in the way of recreation after the evening meal. Most of the denizens were so tired from working, the only recreation they were interested in was anything that brought physical pleasure whether it be from a bottle, inhaled in the from of smoke, or with another person's body.

Kegan's body was the one that slept in the lower bed of the bunk next to his. Each morning she would rise early along with the workers responsible for preparing the morning meal. She would whisper a morning greeting into his ear accompanied by a light kiss on the forehead. Though he usually mumbled something he couldn't remember in response, that kind of contact from her made the mornings a bit more bearable than usual. Even in the midst of the grime of this place she was still beautiful to him, standing out like a lotus stuck in the muck of a riverbed.

She had been the one to take him under her wing when he'd first arrived. He wasn't one for social congregation and it became quickly apparent that he seemed 'different' from the other workers. No matter how friendly he was they all seemed to regard him with passing curiosity if at all. While others seemed to ignore him, Kegan took a genuine interest in being his friend and his well being. She had done such a good job of it that Karlin ignored how she had first come on to the large dark-skinned man who had tried to stop he and Jona from fighting this morning. He had made quick work of rebuffing her advances. Karlin didn't think that was very smart of him though he did not have the desire to ask why. This place was cold and physical contact would be desired more often than not. At least that's how he saw this place.

The problem was, he couldn't remember exactly when he had come to this place, or how he had gotten here. He knew he belonged here and had been working here for a while, but could remember little else. Then there were the dreams about the rippling pool of blue water held intact by a stone circle. Something told him he knew what it meant, but like a word at the tip of ones tongue, Karlin couldn't see what.

"Just don't let Jona toss you onto the floor like that again," Kegan told him as she blew gently into his hair. "I don't know if I can repair the damage as well with massages."

"I'm not complaining," Karlin said in earnest. "You have a healing touch."

"Thanks," she replied. "You should be thankful it wasn't Tor who did it to you."

"He said his name was... Ouch!" Karlin winced as long fingers pressed into the muscles of his shoulders. "Not so hard, please."

"Sorry, Karlin," Kegan apologized. "If I was doing this too hard you should have told me five minutes ago."

"That's because it didn't hurt that bad then."

"That's because you didn't want it to hurt."

"Okay, you got me on that one." Karlin smiled, his blue eyes sparkling at her. Her dark brown ones flashed at him as she motioned for him to get onto his stomach on the small bunk bed.

As he moved, Karlin noticed how his facial scruff scraped the pillow and how unsavory he was starting to smell. Hot water was at a premium here so they only got a chance to bathe and shave once a week. When he'd first arrived, the smell of the workers irritated him, but he'd grown used to it.

"Have I thanked you yet again for sticking up to Jona for me the way you did?" Kegan asked as she straddled his back and shifted her weight behind him. No one has ever done that for me before."

"Ever?"

Kegan shook her head. "Not that I can ever recall."

"Do you recall how I got here?" he asked.

Kegan stopped rubbing his back. "You're kidding, right?" she asked in a half-joking, half-serious tone. "Tell me you're kidding."

Karlin tried to figure out why he couldn't remember how or when he had arrived at the plant. That was something he should have known. So why didn't he? At the moment he wanted Kegan's touch more than he wanted the answer to his question so he said, "Yeah, yeah I guess I am."

He smiled as she resumed the work of pressing her thumbs into the small of his back and massaging with strokes radiating out towards his sides. It felt incredible and hedonistic. Though he wanted to rest in this feeling, he still could not shake his frustration of drawing a big, fat blank when it came to recalling how he'd gotten to the plant.

"Kegan," he mumbled into the scratchy blanket. "I need to know how" His sentence was brought to an abrupt halt when she placed a gentle kiss on the base of his spine, the contact causing all of his nerve endings to tingle.

"No more questions," she declared in a soft yet discernable whisper.

"For now," he decreed, causing Kegan to sigh in mock exasperation. He purred contentedly as she finished the last few strokes of the massage. Karlin couldn't help but look insufferably pleased as a passing male worker shot him an envious look.

Kegan got off of him and sat down on her bunk. "It's late and since I've got to serve the morning meal tomorrow that means I have to get up before you. I need a head start on my sleep."

"Are you going to withhold bread from Thera tomorrow?" he asked, rolling onto his right side. He propped himself up on one arm. "I don't see why you couldn't just give her some bread."

Kegan shook her head, knowing his complaint was in jest. "Karlin, you just don't understand how things work around here. No matter how much I try to teach you."

"So holding back on bread is normal?"

"Don't start with that again." She playfully punched him in the arm, causing him to collapse onto his back in mock pain. "But since I don't want Jona to toss you on your back again, I'll give Thera bread when she asks."

"If I get injured any further, maybe I'll get confined to my bed and you will have to wait on me hand and foot."

"You'd really like that, wouldn't you?" Kegan scoffed.

Karlin just batted his baby blues at her and tried his best to look innocent. He failed miserably.

Kegan kissed her fingers, pressed them to his lips and then slid under the scratchy brown blanket on her bed. Karlin watched as her eyelids fluttered on her creamy, dark brown face, all the while wondering if she had the same dreams that he did. Dreams he could not explain. It wasn't like a strange dream one night and nothing else, but it was always the same dream over and over; that metal incline leading up to a rippling blue pool of water encircled in dark gray stone.

When he finally drew up the courage to ask Kegan about her dreams, she had fallen asleep.

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

"These pumps regulate the overflow," Kegan lectured as she struck the pipe with a long metal wrench. The clanging sound it made fit right in with the din of the running machinery and the zapping sound of the welding going on in the immediate area. The air was swimming with steam and the sharp petroleum smell of engine grease and cleaning chemicals.

"Sometimes they get clogged and you have to... Karlin!"

He wasn't listening to her. His eyes were looking up, transfixed on Tor's imposing form as he stood near a metal railing. "Where's he been for five days?" he asked.

"Recovering from night sickness," she answered. "It's a strange thing."

Strange indeed. Something was different about the imposing man. None of the fiery determination to leave this place was there. He watched as Tor looked blankly at his surroundings before walking away. If night sickness did that, Karlin hoped to hell he never got it.

"There was this guy once a couple of years ago who tried to smash his way through one of those skylights." Kegan motioned up towards the only source of natural light in the plant.

Karlin looked up briefly. "Did he do it?"

"You would have known if he had," she replied directly. "This place would have been buried under ice and snow and you would have frozen to death along with everyone else."

"Right," he said, the foregone conclusion finally hitting him.

Kegan looked up toward the skylight to lift her spirits a bit, but instead saw something that grated her nerves. She let out an irritated breath as she saw Sam spend a few pensive moments outside of Brenna's office.

"There she goes!" Kegan sneered as she came down the ladder from her perched position. She settled in next to where Karlin stood cleaning the machine grease off a wrench with an old rag. He seemed distracted. "Why does Brenna listen to her?"

"I don't know," he said, looking at Sam as she strolled into Brenna's office with confidence. "She seems pretty smart." He hadn't spent a lot of time talking to Thera but when he did, she genuinely seemed interested in hearing his thoughts. She never made him feel like an outsider, but there was still something about her that intimidated him. Karlin didn't know if that was good or bad.

"She thinks she's better than the rest of us," Kegan declared with soft anger. Karlin watched as her dark brown eyes lit on Jona where he worked on a piece of machinery nearby. "They both do."

There definitely was something about Jona that made him stick out. It wasn't the persona that he was better than the rest of the workers. It was just that he preferred to do his job to the best of his ability without being bothered. He was also much more assertive about what he wanted, and Thera was the same way, so he figured that was probably what made Kegan think they had a superiority complex.

Superiority complex? Where have I heard that before?

Karlin shook it off. "Teal'c said we were friends." The sigh he heard from Kegan told him he'd said something wrong... again.

"His name's not Teal'c, it's Tor," she gently corrected as she briefly laid the back of her hand on his shoulder. The welcome touch calmed his rising anxiety. "Night sickness."

It's like cabin fever. Cabin fever?

"What's 'cabin fever'?" he asked Kegan.

"What's that?" she returned with an amused look.

"Nevermind. It was just something that popped into my head."

Kegan smiled and pointed at his right hand. "How's the wrist?"

"Better," he said. He had sprained his wrist two days ago when loosening a too-tight fastener on one of the machines.

"I told you to turn with your shoulder first, not your wrist. That initial few turns of those fasteners can really hurt you if you don't do it right."

"Is this the part where you tell me, 'I told you so?'"

Kegan smiled. "Yep."

"My shoulder is better though. Thanks to you."

"Well, I promise not to get you into any more situations where you have to stick up for me."

"I don't mind doing it," he said, trying not to blush. "We're friends, right? Friends help each other out."

Her smile was radiant. "Of course we are."

"And friends are honest with each other, right?"

"Okay," she sighed, tapping the wrench in her palm. "What's bothering you?"

"I realize this is none of my business, but I remember one of the nights when I first got here, you tried to come on to Tor... and... "

"That was before I met you," she interrupted, her hand briefly touching the side of his long past five-o-clock-shadow. Kegan snorted as she withdrew her hand. "Besides, he told me I was too skinny for him. The nerve. It's not my fault they don't give us much in the way of food in this place."

"That wasn't the real question I wanted to ask."

"Then what is it?"

"Do you have dreams you can't explain?"

"A few," she said. "I dream of walking across the surface of our world, seeing what it was like before it was buried under ice and snow, and how it feels and smells on the outside. And I dream of extra rations too."

"Who couldn't use extra rations in this place," he laughed. Kegan joined him in his laughter for a few moments.

"What do you dream about?" she asked.

"Strange places. It's like I've been to these places before and I just can't remember why."

Kegan frowned. "That's impossible. You've always lived on this world. Same as I have."

"If that's true," Karlin countered. "Why can't I remember if I have any family? Where's your family?"

Kegan spoke as if he should already know what she was talking about. "In one of the settlements near the plant. They're all located near the greenhouses."

"No, I didn't know that."

"Everyone knows that, Karlin."

"Don't you ever visit them?" he prompted, putting his hands on his hips. "Don't you want to?"

Kegan sighed and put her wrench in one of the loops in her utility belt. "I have work to do here," she told him, gently sliding the wrench he held out of his grip and did the same with it as she had with her own. "My work here provides the power to fuel the greenhouses and provide food and energy for them. Heck, maybe one day if we work hard enough, we'll generate enough energy to reclaim our planet like Brenna said last week. And if we can do that, we'll all be able to see our families and we'll never be separated from them again."

"I guess you're right," he acquiesced, sliding down to sit next to her. After a few moment of relishing the feeling of bodily contact, Karlin spoke aloud. "I wonder if your mother will like me."

Kegan pushed his shoulder with a finger and grinned. "I have a feeling that she would," she said, laying her head on his shoulder.

Karlin found himself grinning too.

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

Karlin found himself in an unfamiliar corridor. It was long, semi-circular and underground, almost like some of the passageways underneath the plant. Small pipes ran along the length of one wall, beckoning him to follow and see where they led. Karlin touched the pipes and walked down the hall, his mind trying desperately to figure out where he was and failing. There never seemed to be light more than five steps ahead of him. It was as if the path that lay ahead would only be revealed on a 'need to see' basis.

Strangely, there were no people around. Even underground, the plant still had workers milling about, working on machinery and checking pipe pressures. This place seemed completely deserted. Something, a feeling Karlin could not explain, told him he knew this place though he had never been here.

If I've never been here, then why am I'm walking like I know where I'm going?

He saw a doorway glowing in front of him. Looking behind him to see if anyone else was around, Karlin walked in cautiously.

"Is anyone here?" No one answered. Karlin asked again as he looked around the room and again no one answered. He decided to give up and inspect his surroundings more closely.

The room was full of bookshelves and strange items his eyes knew he had never seen before, but his mind said that he had. Several reference books were strewn across a desk cluttered with papers. Some of the papers had faint brown rings as if something had been accidentally imprinted upon them. In a far corner stood a tall ebony sculpture of a body with the head of a dog, holding a long spear, and next to that corner was a chalkboard filled with symbols Karlin had never seen before. Or had he?

Karlin slowly walked over to the chalkboard, drawn to it by a pull he could not explain or ignore. Upon reaching the pea-green slate, he let his fingers trace the symbols just a few millimeters away from the surface. His mind immediately began translating the symbols heard his mouth began to speak in a foreign tongue.

"Dommo waitus, westol motibilium... "

Once he started, Karlin couldn't stop himself. His fingers slid in the air over all of the symbols, hastily translating what they said. The language ceased feeling foreign and began to feel as natural for his lips to speak as it was for his native tongue. He did stumble across one symbol he couldn't quite translate. When he did so, his mind planted the suggestion that he look for the necessary reference. Karlin snapped his fingers and turned to get the book.

When he turned around, the office had disappeared and he found himself standing outside of a large gray steel door. The words written on it said, 'Level 28'. Karlin asked himself what Level 28 was and what did it mean? When his hand went into his pocket and pulled out small white card, he turned it over and saw it had a strip of black material across the top. His eyes looked to the side of the door and saw a strange contraption with a lengthwise section open. Not knowing why, but just knowing that he had to, he walked over, slid the card through the contraption. He jerked back in surprise when the heavy metal door began to slide upward at a slow crawl.

Karlin nearly choked when he saw what the door revealed.

The entire room was bathed in soft blue lightthe light emanating from a large stone ring set at the top of a metal ramp. It was the thing he had seen in his dreams numerous times, but could not understand why. The light called to him seductively, like the irresistible call of a mythological siren. Karlin took two steps towards the ramp before stopping. Something about this was and was not right. And when a familiar face walked past him, went up the ramp and turned towards him, he knew all was not right.

"Go ahead," Jona told him.

"Go where?"

"The other side." Jona's tone hinted Karlin should know of what he spoke.

He couldn't figure out why Jona would want him to go through that thing. And why was he in his dream?

"Karlin!" Kegan's voice warned. Karlin turned around to see her emerge from the shadows of the room. "Don't listen to him!"

Why? Why don't you want me to listen to him? What are you so afraid he will tell me?

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

Karlin woke suddenly, his eyes flying open as he sat up. Fortunately for him he barely missed knocking his head against the metal railing of the bunk above him and avoided what definitely would have been a nasty concussion. He could feel the cold sweat on his skin and the sound of his heart beating rapidly in his ears. As his breathing slowly returned to normal, he checked his surroundings to make sure he was where he was in reality instead of a dream. He collapsed back onto the makeshift pillow on his bed, his mind quickly trying to figure out why he'd had this dream yet again.

Unlike the rest of the workers in the barracks who were sleeping soundly, including Kegan, Karlin couldn't seem to find a way to get back to sleep. His dream tonight wasn't exactly the same as all the others. For one thing, Jona was in it. He hadn't been in them before. Why was that?

"Kegan," he whispered sharply. While the person sleeping on the opposite side of her stirred in response, she didn't. Karlin whispered her name again, this time leaning over and lowering his lips to her ear so she could hear him better.

"It can't be time to wake up," she mumbled sleepily. "Is it?"

"It isn't," Karlin assured. "But I really need to talk to you."

"About?"

"I had another strange dream."

"Maybe it was something you ate at evening meal." Her tone was wearily dismissive.

"I don't think so."

Kegan sighed as she sat up. "It's not good for you to be this worked up. We've got a long shift tomorrow and you need your rest."

"I can't rest," he said. "I just can't. Not until I know what's going on."

She slid over onto his bunk and ruffled his hair. "What's going is if you don't stop these dreams from upsetting you, you just might get night sickness. And I won't allow that to happen. You need to relax."

As hard as he tried, Karlin just couldn't do what she'd said.

She touched his face. "You're sweating," she remarked with deep concern. "Was it that bad a dream?"

"It couldn't have been too bad since you were in it. It was just... unsettling."

"Why?"

"I was in this place. A place I have a feeling I've been before. It was like... like I knew where I was going. I even started speaking in some strange language I'd never heard before. Not only could I speak it but"

Karlin's words dissolved into nothingness as he felt Kegan's soft, full lips press against his own. The close contact made his mind temporarily short-circuit and his body began to ascend the steps toward physical pleasure. Her kiss was comforting, full of concern yet something more lurked behind it; something he had suspected, but chose not to acknowledge for reasons he could not explain. For no other reason beside the fact that he wanted to, he slid a hand around the back of her head and began to kiss her back, his tongue parting her lips as he deepened the kiss. Karlin took his time experiencing the explosions going on in his being, relishing the feel of such close, intimate contact with a woman who had gone above and beyond the call of duty when it came to his welfare.

As much as he wanted to keep kissing her this way, his mind made one more attempt to get its question answered. "Kegan," he muttered against her lips. "About my dream..."

"Shhhh," she said softly, pressing a finger to his lips. "No more talk of dreams."

She pulled the blanket off of her bed and tucked it into the edges of the upper bunk of Karlin's bed so it hung around it like a privacy curtain. The only area left open was the section above his head that faced the wall. Light from a fire container burning nearby caused dark shadows to flicker off of the blanket and a warm glow to shimmer over Kegan's dark brown skin. The whole scenario brought back a memory to Karlin's mind; the memory of a roommate attempting the same maneuver in a place called collegewhatever that was.

Karlin lay back on his pillow in compliance with the silent command in Kegan's eyes. His eyes took in the sight of her; his mind more occupied with the anticipation of what was going to happen rather than what he had dreamed about. He slowly untied the binding that held her hair back, allowing her curly tresses to fall forward and frame her delicate features. His rough hands entangled in those curls and relished the softness. As he lost himself in the feel of her hair, Kegan's dark eyes regarded him strangely. It was as if they were asking what he saw that had him so captivated.

"Do you know how absolutely beautiful you are?" Karlin whispered.

"No."

"No?"

Kegan looked ashamed. "No man has ever told me that. At least not in this place."

"Well you are," Karlin assured as his blue eyes looked at her approvingly. "In the midst of all of this you are truly beautiful."

"You say that now."

Karlin turned them over so she was on her back, imprisoned by his body. "I'll always say that," he told her in earnest as he stroked her cheek. He repeated his words as he kissed her earlobe, enjoying the feel of Kegan's hands as they slid across his toned shoulders and reached around his neck.

They disrobed each other as they kissed passionately, their desire for each other heightened by the proximity of others sleeping nearby and only a thin layer of dark material to provide them with any semblance of privacy. The feel of their naked bodies pressing against each other, sliding across and over each other, brought a kind of solace and comfort Karlin knew he had known before but could not place.

His rough hands explored the terrain of her body while soft lips paid attention to the firm, dusky-tipped breasts that stood out on the landscape. Kegan moaned soundlessly as his expert tongue took its time in teasing her nipples in ways she had never felt before. He told himself that perhaps she had, but this was the first time she was feeling it with him, and that was all that mattered. The way her body shuddered as his lips worshipped her breasts made him smile devilishly in his mind.

"Karlin, please," she whispered urgently, her slim hips bucking against him.

"Not yet," he whispered back. "Let me pay you back for all you've done for me."

His fingers glided with deliberate purpose across the small, hardened peak of flesh that served as her pleasure center. Her breath came in ragged spurts as her hands grasped his shoulders with urgency. Wetness surged from her in a continuous stream, making Karlin lick his lips at the thought that after pleasing her, she would be primed for him to join with her the way he had envisioned. Piercing eyes the color of the crisp, blue sky in spring looked down upon Kegan as her face twisted into a mask of impending release. Her fingers dug into his shoulders as she climaxed, her lips speaking his name without sound over and over as the waves of pleasure washed through her.

Karlin gave her no time to recover. Bracing himself on his elbows, he slid into her and covered her mouth with his. They groaned in unison as he felt the wet warmth of her spasm around him to form the perfect fit. Being inside of her made Karlin feel as if he had entered heaven, and he could forget the dreams that kept haunting him. Strong, masculine hips began to rock against Kegan's body, the sensations coaxing an involuntary moan from her, which she immediately stifled. Karlin kissed her lips gently then slipped his tongue past her full lips to tangle with hers.

He wanted to go faster, to completely take advantage of the overwhelmingly pleasurable feeling of being buried within her, but he couldn't do so without waking the other workers. Gritting his teeth, he rocked her at a slow pace, trying not to make the bunk squeak too loudly or sway too much.

Karlin bit back the groan of climax that threatened to erupt from deep within his being. Instead he gnashed his teeth and buried his head in the crook of Kegan's neck, his hands clamping against her shoulders as he gave into the uncontrollable urge to thrust harder. The bunk only creaked with a slight noisea thing Karlin thanked a higher being for as he felt a sensation that was as much pain as it was pleasure. The force of his release brought her along for a second time, causing them to cling to each other for dear life as they plunged into the abyss of sexual gratification.

When Karlin's mind slipped into a post-coital slumber, he did not dream at all.

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

Karlin tried to keep his mind on the maintenance task he was performing, but his attention kept wandering. Between reminiscing about what happened between with Kegan last night, and the dream he had had too many times to just be a simple dream haunting him, he wasn't sure what to do. He just knew he had to do something.

"Kegan," Karlin looked around to see if anyone was within earshot. When he saw no one he continued. "I think we should talk."

"About what?" she asked, her full lips smiling as her dark eyes studied him. Karlin tried not to lose himself in those eyes and forget what he wanted to say.

"About what happened last night." Karlin checked to see if an adjacent pipe was cool to the touch before leaning on it.

Kegan looked amused, as if she'd had this conversation several times before he'd appeared in her life. "What's the problem? You seemed to enjoy it."

"Don't get me wrong, I did." Karlin backpedaled immediately, hoping he hadn't offended her. "That wasn't what I was talking about."

"Oh," she said, obviously relieved.

"I really, really enjoyed it," he said, giving her an intense look. "I hope you enjoyed it as well."

"I wouldn't be here talking to you if I didn't," she said. "Besides, we're friends, right? Friends get close to each other."

"Speaking of close, I" Karlin stopped speaking when he saw Tor out of the corner of his eye. The large, dark-skinned man was shoveling ore into one of the furnaces that generated steam for the plant. He did it with a deliberate purpose, as if he had been brought into this world for no other purpose. It was such a stark contrast from the behavior the man had exhibited last week; too stark a contrast in his opinion.

"Karlin," Kegan warned, seeing exactly what he was looking at. "Don't even think about it."

"I have to know!" he blurted out. "There is something going on. Something I have to get to the bottom of. So much doesn't make sense to me and I think talking to Tor will help me figure out if I'm on to something or just plain crazy."

Kegan sighed and shook her head. "Why do I put up with you, Karlin?" she asked, looking into his troubled blue eyes.

"Because I'm worth it."

Kegan got his meaning loud and clear, causing her to blush and smile at him. "Go," she said, dismissing him with a wave. "But I won't promise not to say, 'I told you so' when Tor acts like he doesn't know what you're talking about. You should leave him alone. Him, Jona and Thera. All of them."

"If I'm wrong, I give you permission to say, 'I told you so' for the rest of our days here." He pressed a palm to her cheek and watched her smile even wider.

"Go," she said, rubbing his arm before moving it away and interlacing her fingers of her hand with his.

Karlin held her hand for a few more moments before letting it go and walking over to where Tor was trying to break apart more ore with his shovel. Several men with the same build as Tor were near him doing the same thing. They were the ones with the muscular backs strong enough to break apart and feed the fuel to the furnaces. They also seemed to be the ones best able to handle the intense heat generated by the area, which was the reason why they were naked from the waist up. In return for this they also got the largest amount of rations and water brought to them at regular intervals. Karlin didn't think slaving away in this hot section of the plant was worth extra rations.

When Karlin got over to Tor, the muscular, dark-skinned man didn't even acknowledge his presence. A definite difference from last week considering how he was adamant about stopping Jona from fighting with him. Another definite difference was the large beige bandage wrapped around the man's midsection.

Karlin's curiosity was piqued. He picked up a piece of ore and asked, "What happened?"

"I was injured," Tor flatly replied.

"When?"

Tor let out an exasperated sigh as he shoveled more ore. "Why are you speaking to me?" Karlin moved closer to him even though Tor's body language said to stay away... far away.

"I just thought that err... since apparently we're friends from way back... I just thought that... " Karlin gestured to his own forehead. "What is that thing on your forehead?"

"A birthmark."

"A birthmark," Karlin repeated. "You'd think I'd remember something like that."

Tor's patience snapped. "I don't know you!"

"You said you did! Last week during morning line up."

"I wasn't here last week!"

Karlin knew he was dangerously close to getting thrown onto the floor again, and judging by the size of Tor it was going to hurt a hell of a lot more than when Jona had done it. He was so close, too close not to find out more about what was going on. If Tor decided to cream him it would have been worth it.

Using the most diplomatic tone of voice he could muster, he said, "You said we were friends and you said we had to escape and I'd really like an explanation."

"I said no such thing," Tor growled.

A few moments ticked away as the two men looked at each other in silence. They'd reached a stalemate, and Karlin realized he'd gone as far as he could without having some bodily damage inflicted on him.

"All right," he relented. "I'm obviously completely wrong about that."

"Yes," Tor growled in agreement. "Don't talk to me again."

"Yeah right," he muttered under his breath as he walked away. Tor had resumed shoveling, the metal sound of the tool hitting the ore serving as an audible reinforcement of the warning he'd given Karlin.

How could Tor have known something last week, and yet this week he acted as if nothing had happened? He had seemed so convicted of the knowledge that he and Jona were friends, and they were all part of something called SG-1. Tor had been so convinced that he had been willing to do anything to prevent he and Jona from fighting with each other. If it were truly nothing, why would he have acted that way in the first place?

He knew Kegan would toss out the 'night sickness' explanation again, but to Karlin that just didn't wash. Something was up and he could feel it in his bones. If he couldn't get Kegan to believe in him...

When he crouched down next to her, Kegan looked up at him as if she knew he was thinking about her. She looked visibly upset. "I told you to leave them alone," she chastised.

"He was there, Kegan," Karlin defended. "You heard him. Why would he deny that?"

"Night sickness affects your mind."

"That doesn't explain the dreams I've had," he pressed, pointing to himself to emphasize his point. "Something is wrong here, Kegan. Something's not... "

Kegan had had enough. "Karlin!" she snapped. "It's bad enough he named you as part of his delusion. Now if people hear you talking like this they're going to think you're night sick!"

"People?" Karlin asked accusingly.

"Not that I would ever," Kegan paused, obviously unsettled by what her accusation of night sickness insinuated. Her expression and her tone of voice quickly turned apologetic. "Karlin!"

Karlin shook his head. "No, of course not!" Then he shrugged his shoulders and laughed. "It's just a dream."

He tried to take solace in the feel of Kegan's hand as she patted his back reassuringly, but couldn't. Too many questions had too few answers and too many things didn't make sense. Tor's obvious flip-flop in personality proved something was wrong. Perhaps if he talked to Jona and told him his dream, maybe he could shed some light on the situation. Maybe even he was having the same dreams but didn't want to tell anyone for fear of being hauled off for night sickness 'treatment'.

Karlin had to know the truth, even if he had to risk Kegan's friendship to find out.

~ fin ~