Always a Bridesmaid...

Posted on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 3:11am by Lieutenant John Sandoval & Lieutenant JG Aeryn Jameson
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:48pm

Mission: Death in Paradise
Location: Aeryn's Quarters
Timeline: After the Reception

John was always moved by weddings. Even before getting married himself, he thought it was beautiful when two people agreed to commit to each other. Even though his own marriage wasn’t an exclusive one, he still found the idea of two people agreeing to stand beside each other no matter the cost beautiful.

Lately, however, such thoughts were causing him confusion. Not about the wedding he just witnessed, which was beautiful, but because he was beginning to see the imperfections of his own situation. He was having the time of his life with Aeryn. She was beautiful, friendly, fun to be around. And yes, the sex was fantastic. The two complemented each other incredibly well. While his wife, even though she was perfectly okay with this arrangement, wasn’t by his side.

He was increasingly confused every time he called home. Every time he spent the night with Aeryn.

He wasn’t about to ruin Krysia’s day, or even her week, with talks of his marital confusion. But he would need to talk with her eventually. In the meantime, he would simply need to enjoy his time on Pandora. He wasn’t doing anything wrong.

So he buried his sense of confusion as he walked down the corridor to Aeryn’s quarters. The instant her cabin door opened, he took her by the waist, moved her inside, pushed her against the wall, and kissed her deeply. He had been waiting to kiss her all night, but didn’t want to ruin her makeup. But now the wedding was over, and James and Krysia weren’t the only ones going to enjoy the night.

Aeryn had been feeling just as confused about her feelings for John. If he wasn’t a married man she’d be talking about marriage right now, but as it stood she was just his mistress. As he’d walked through the door and pushed her to the wall she’d returned his kiss, deeply and passionately. She wasn’t about to start hiding her feelings from him, if anything she was going to let out everything she felt for him and give him the best night of his life.

John felt the fire with which she was returning his kiss. This wasn’t the same as before. This was stronger. When their kiss broke, John smiled. “I don’t want to do anything to damage that dress of yours.”

Aeryn took a few moments to carefully slip out of her dress. “There...now you don’t have to worry about damaging it!” She immediately wrapped her arms back around him, her kiss was passionate and almost urgent as though she expected him to be dragged away at any moment.

Taken up by their feelings, John did his best to guide them toward Aeryn’s bed. The area was still festooned with material from their bridal preparations earlier. Traces of flowers, hair products, and makeup containers were all over every surface. But the bed remained clear. As they moved, he started removing the shirt of his dress uniform, eager to reach the same level of undress as she. When he started to struggle, he broke their frenzied kiss. “Give me a hand?”

"Not a problem" Aeryn quickly and nimbly removed his shirt and started to reach for his belt. It didn't take long before his trousers were strewn across the floor as she reached for his final layer to join them.

John couldn’t keep his hands off her as she began working his final article of clothing. He lacked the adjectives for their romance, for it burned so hot and bright as to defy anything he’d experienced.

Free of the last of his clothes, he pushed Aeryn onto the bed and followed her, resuming their enchanting affair.

As they got deeper into their love making Aeryn let herself go, allowing the mental barriers of her mind completely down, as she let herself blend with the man who’d come to mean more to her than life itself. The feeling of their minds and souls blending with one another was one she’d never experienced to such intensity before.

John suddenly became acutely aware of not only his own feelings, his own pleasure, but also Aeryn’s. He looked her in the eyes and knew precisely what she was feeling. Knowing exactly how she felt for him in that moment, as well as the physical sensations she was feeling in their lovemaking, pushed John’s heart even further towards Aeryn’s. Though he entered her quarters very confused about his emotions, he knew in that moment that he had fallen in love.

< Sometime Later >

Aeryn lay in John's arms breathing heavily from their love making. She couldn't help but feel sad inside that she would never be the woman that would be at John's side if he was ever reassigned. He'd go back to Katherine and she'd have to say goodbye and it saddened her that he'd eventually leave her but she couldn't let her feelings show.

John was breathing heavily as well, exhausted not just from their past exertion but also from the wedding. He was utterly content with Aeryn in his arms, but he had this nagging feeling that something was wrong. He couldn’t put his finger on it. He couldn’t even figure out how he knew. But he did.

“Aeryn?” he asked. “Is everything okay?”

"Why do you..." Aeryn lifted her head, the moment her eyes met his the feelings she'd been trying to keep hidden came to the surface and she buried her head in his chest to cry.

"Aeryn!" John exclaimed as he held her tight. "What's wrong? I sensed that there was something on your mind but I didn't think it was that bad."

Lifting her head Aeryn wiped her eyes as she looked at him. "John I...I love you!!" She wiped the tears that ran down her face. "No matter how I try and pretend that I don't care about being your other woman....I do care!! One day there's going to come a call from Starfleet that takes you away from me!!!" More tears streamed down her face. "You'll always have Katherine! I'll never have you!!"

John held her tight and looked back into her eyes. "We all go where we're told, Aeryn. Even if we were married, we might be assigned to different places. I've seen it happen. That's the life we chose. And I've been trying to straighten out my own feelings, but the truth is I'm falling for you as well. But just because I also love my wife doesn't mean I can't love you, too. I've learned that about myself some years ago."

Aeryn nodded but inside she felt like she was tied up in knots. She wanted John but not to share and she knew how wrong it was to feel that way. "John I...." She paused. "I love you with all my heart. I've never felt for anyone how I do for you! If I had to give up my career to be with you I would."

"I would never want for you to do that," John said firmly. "Your career is important. I'm not trying to say your feelings aren't, but understand that this is a lot of pressure. I didn't want Katherine to give up her career and I'll be honest, part of what drew me to her is the passion for what she does. I know you have similar feelings. I don't know how I know but I can sense it somehow. You're a Medical Doctor and occasional Counselor. This life is important to you. Damn it, how do I know that?!"

Aeryn sat up her eyes wide as she looked at John. "You're....bonded with me!" She moved to lay in his arms again. "It's only something I've heard of before, it's only supposed to happen to those that you're willing to be with for life!"

John smiled at Aeryn and pulled himself into a seated position in her bed. “I’ve heard of this, but I don’t know much about it. What does this mean exactly?”

"It means...that you'll be able to sense things from me. You'll feel my emotions, we'll feel each other's emotions. There's so much more to it but I don't know how to explain!" She closed her eyes for a moment. Can you hear my thoughts?

His eyes opened wide. He had heard something! It sounded like Aeryn's voice in his head. He tried to return the call. I think so? Can you hear mine?

Aeryn's eyes widened in surprise. "Yes I heard you!!" Her smile shone as she looked at him. "This is.... Amazing!! Considering you're not a telepath I still heard you and you heard me too?"

"I've heard of it happening," John said. "I told you about Katherine's boyfriend? She bonded with him. They've been seeing each other a lot longer than we have though."

Aeryn's heart sank again at the mention of Katherine's name. She didn't mean to feel like she did but she couldn't help it.

Sensing her feelings shift, John gently touched Aeryn's cheek. "Can I try something?" Sensing a positive reaction, he leaned in to kiss her. When he pulled his lips off, he smiled. "I think I felt it from your point of view as well as mine."

Aeryn smiled. "I could get used to this feeling of always having you with me, even when we're apart we'll feel each other and I like that."

"And we wouldn't need to worry so much about each other, like what happened on Paradise with Rochester." Though he didn’t want to think or speak ill of the dead, he was certain she felt his heart twist in anger at the memory of the man who put them both at risk. "I'll always know you're safe, and when you're not, I'll know when to act."

"Were you that worried about me?" She looked at John in a way that almost appeared like she was looking into his very soul. "You're still angry with Rochester for taking me with him?"

"I don't think I can ever not be angry with him," John admitted. "What he did was unforgivable for anyone wearing the uniform. And it wasn't just what he did to you, but what he did to me and Emmanuelle, both on the station and afterwards. Not that he’s in the picture anymore.” He looked back to Aeryn's eyes. "And of course I was that worried." He gave her a wry smile. "Or did I not adequately communicate that in sickbay that afternoon?"

"Oh you did!" She slid her arms around John's neck as she looked into his eyes. "You most definitely did!!" She gently leant forward letting their lips meet in a firm and passionate kiss.

As they embraced, John rolled Aeryn onto her back and then rolled on top of her. "I had another idea," he whispered into her ear as he broke the kiss.

"Oh and what would that be?" She smiled warmly knowing very well what but it was all part of the fun.

Rather than say anything, John simply began, and as he did so, he understood the strength of their bond, and how everything between them was changed forever.

OFF