The Three of Us

Part 19 - The Net

It was a burning building, and she was watching it, from outside. She was safe, and could not hear screaming or anything. It was just ... a building.

Lili felt a hand on her shoulder and turned, and it was Jay. "Let's get you out of here," he said softly. Compliant, she followed.

He led her to a garden where there was a brook. She knelt down to wash her hands and face in the water, seeing Jay's reflection as he was standing behind her. She splashed water on her face and then brushed it off, and the man standing behind her was Malcolm. She got up quickly, a little alarmed at the change. "I am here," he said.

There was a picnic blanket, and Jay was sitting there. Next to him was a cooler – Captain Archer's cooler, actually. The three of them sat together and Jay popped a Champagne cork as Malcolm took out a bowl of strawberries. There were other things, too, some of her favorite foods, like a container of tabbouleh and bars of dark bittersweet chocolate and roasted chestnuts and an herbed roasted turkey in the seemingly bottomless cooler.

She rooted around in it, finding a complete pineapple. She took it out and, with her bare hands, broke it into bite-sized pieces as the skin and the spiky parts blew away on the breeze. She gently fed Malcolm a round of pineapple, which he took from her eagerly, the juice dripping down the front of his shirt, which was not Starfleet regulation.

Then she rooted around again, finding a container of blueberries. She took them out and plunged her hands in, getting them bluish-purplish as she messed around. She found the most perfect blueberry, and fed it to Jay, who took it from her and smiled his same enigmatic half-smile. He was suddenly wearing just his tee and boxers.

The two of them broke off pieces of chocolate from the bars and fed them to her, and she could taste the chocolate as if she really was eating it, and it wasn't just a dream.

Then the dream jump cut and she was lying down, looking up at a sunny sky in the most beautiful shade of blue, with a few puffy white clouds for contrast but no threat of rain. There were kisses planted on each of her cheeks, and a hand held each of hers, thumbs caressing her fingers.

The dream cut again and it was beastly hot as the hands were all over her and, one at a time, they were on top of her, and then she was on top of them, seeing their faces as they moved together. She was hot and sweating, kissing and moaning, moving fast, feeling the tempo changing. Malcolm moved slowly, watching her for the changes, tying his movements to hers. Jay moved more forcefully, less expectedly, surprising her with his ravenousness.

She finally called out, louder, and incoherently. It was not a name, not a word, just a yawp.

And then she heard the alarm, and awoke.

"You, uh, you okay?" Jay asked, sitting up.

"Oh, uh, yeah, I am," Lili yawned a little. "Sorry the alarm's set so early."

"It's fine. I'm usually up close to now anyway, to get in an early workout."

"Oh, good. Uh, why don't you take the bathroom first and I'll get your jacket from the laundering unit."

"Thanks."

She got the jacket out and placed the lucky nickel back into its zippered pocket, making sure to zip it up again so that it wouldn't be lost. Jay got out quickly, his hair a bit matted down from having slept on it while it was still wet.

"I need to go to the galley, of course. Then you might want to have someone relieve you," she offered.

"Yeah, it's not a pretty sight," Jay admitted.