Second Sunrise [Justric & Lillian Thorne]

[Lillian Thorne]

The soft lights were a comfort, almost as comforting as the sounds of people leaving. The silence was a blessing and Prudence held onto Jacob tighter and felt the first of her tears slipping from the corners of her eyes. So much was going on in her head, worries and thoughts all spinning about in a manner that made her feel out of control and ready to lose what small grip she had on her emotions. She hadn’t felt this strange the last time, but then she’d been so disoriented and terrified that she hadn’t had the wherewithal to ponder her emotions. She would almost welcome that terror. There was a tight pain in her chest that felt familiar and she absently rubbed at it.

She kept her head resting against Jacob’s chest and looked about with just her eyes when he made his statement about them not being on the Moon. She hadn’t paid it any mind to the details of their surroundings but it seemed to her that things looked a good deal different than they had on the station. However, she couldn’t’ think of what that meant for them. Was it a good thing or a bad thing? She hadn’t any idea.

“Jacob, I…” now that she had him alone she couldn’t think of how to tell him all that troubled her. She lacked the words to express the nuances of her fears. But she had to explain so that she could get answers and hopefully some peace. Still, it felt strangely silly to be concerned with that when she’d just been reborn a second time and given a second chance with her love. She decided to focus on the immediate concern and simply settle down before broaching her concerns.

“Jacob. If we aren’t on the moon then where? Earth? Are we on earth?”

She dabbed at her damp eyes with the absorbent edge of her sleeve.

“Do you think Oberhall released that recording? Or that he released that model of me? I can’t think of how people would know what Iooked like otherwise. I… I am uncomfortable being famous, of strangers knowing about us the way they seem too. I just wanted a quiet life with you.”

She laughed, a little bitterly.

“Listen to me. I get a life with you. What right do I have to complain about the manner of it? Not once but twice I have been given a new chance and here I am complaining about the circumstances. You must be horrified.”

[Justric]

Jacob sighed and closed his eyes, feeling the comfortable warmth of having Prudence so close to him. "Horrified?" he puffed in exhaustion, "No, not really. Given everything that happened, I think you've got a right to complain. But you know what they say: third time's the charm."

He tried to muddle through his own thoughts, blurred with weariness and disorientation. "I don't know about the recordings, love. I'm not... I'm not comfortable with that recording of us making love floating out there either for all to see. But Yu seemed to indicate that Oberhall wouldn't be a problem for us anymore; if the playback was used as evidence of any sort, then I think it would have to be sealed by the courts and then erased. I think. I'm not thinking too clearly. As for your medical scans, I wouldn't worry. Even if used in a trial, the privacy around such records is legally secured for twenty years; they would have been shown only to medical experts for the purpose of making testimony, then archived with the rest of the Project reports and records. But the rest of it..."

Frowning, he reached up with a numbed hand to caress her hair, his fingers gently combing through the wet tresses that were starting to curl again. "Pru, she said Liddell extracted data from what was left of my iDesk. It held both my professional notes AND my personal diary." He coughed, his face flushing. "There were some rather... intimate... things in there. Now I'm wondering if he published any of it or just used it for notes or... Hell, I don't know. I guess I won't until we have a chance to sit down and talk with... whomever or read the book itself."

"Right now though... Can we just... lie here together for a bit longer? Just you and me in the darkness? At least we have right here, right now. Whatever's outside that window isn't going to change that, after all." Opening his eyes to glance down at her, Jacob kissed to top of her head. Smelling that wondrous scent of her hair again, he chuckled regretfully. "I'm naked, you're in a bathrobe and I wish every muscle in my body did not ache right now."

[Lillian Thorne]

His words reassured her, reasoned and calmly delivered. She relaxed into him, her body going soft against him. She wanted everything to be all right, she wanted to have her quiet life with Jacob and even if she didn’t get it, any life with him was worth it all. And just then, in the quiet of the room they could pretend there was no one but the two of them in the whole world.

She turned her head that she might brush a feather light kiss across his chest. She ached too but it wasn’t a new ache and somehow that made it better. She had seen the other side of that ache and it made enduring it easier. She remembered her last resurrection and how frightening and painful it had been. She’d been so lost in time that the confusion and fear had been the worst of it, but the pain had been significant. One of the things that had helped her recovered the most was the massages the medico’s had given her, easing newborn muscles and tendons into the new reality they existed in.

Quietly she lifted her head and looked around the gloom of the room. It didn’t take her long to find the bottle of nutritive oil that had been put out for just such a purpose. She kissed his chest again, right over his heart, right where he’d been shot and then slipped from the bed and padded quietly over to the tray that held it. She picked it up and grabbed a towel as well and was back by his side in an instant, sliding back onto the bed, her generous hip bumping his.

“Let me help you with your ache.” She said soothingly. “This was very helpful when I came back last time.”

She held up the bottle for him to see so he would know what she was about and then poured a generous amount in the palm of her hand. It had no scent nor color and it was perfectly slick and had something in it that helped ease what ache the massage itself did not tend to. She rubbed her hands together to bring it up to body temperature and then turning she picked up one of his long feet in her strong hands. She recalled that too light a touch was simply ticklish and used good firm pressure to rub the oil into his skin, the pressure deep enough to penetrate into aching muscles.

“It gets better, the ache isn’t forever.” she looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes soft and full of love. “and I will be here to help ease it in any way I can.”

[Justric]

Jacob grunted in animalistic relief as her fingers worked away the aches. He swore he could almost literally feel the lactic acid flowing from his muscles beneath Prudence's strong fingers. The warmth of her touch eased him, lulling him into a semi-concious state that gave his brain free reign to drift through thoughts and memories. Too much had happened too quickly for him to truly grasp it all. Jacob figured it was best just to let it all melt away beneath Prudence's ministrations.

"It's not over yet, Pru," he mumbled happily. "We'll get out of here... build that house... go swimming... get married..."

That notion struck him: Marriage. Jacob realized that with all they had been through, it was something that they had not actually discussed! He had assumed and she had seemed agreeable to the general idea... Yet even as physically weary and mentally foggy as he was, the lanky scientist not so dim as to realize there should be some formality to it. While he had no ring, it would be the words that were important.

He gently caught up one of her hands, his eyes opening half-lidded to gaze upon her freckled face. "Pru?" he murmured sleepily, "With everything... you know... I should have asked earlier. To make it official and... whatnot... So..." Jacob coughed to clear his throat, his hand tightening about hers. "Pru... Will you marry me?"

[Lillian Thorne]

She was working the muscles of his thighs when he began to speak, his words almost slurred by his near sleep state and she listened absently as she went about her work, loving the way her fingers slipped over his skin, the give of his flesh as she massaged deep to ease the aches. There was something so soothing about the work. Was it the work itself or that she was tending to the one she loved? She remembered how hard it was to stay awake in the beginning after her re-birth. She wasn’t certain why she’d shrugged it off so easily this time, perhaps it was something a body grew accustomed to. She hoped that she never really had a chance to find out. She liked that it allowed her to tend to him, to ease his discomfort. But then his words surprised her, pulled her back from her reverie.

Marriage, she had sort of assumed that they were to be wed. She’d given herself to him after all. While she had done so with no strings attached but with the understanding that was the way of these things in this time, she had also felt his clear affection and had assumed that even if their tie was not formal, that there was indeed a tie. In her heart and mind, she was already wed. But his words and his concern was sweet, so much so that she felt as if she could fall in love with him all over again.

She looked into his eyes, her cheeks plumping up in a sweet smile.

“Must we do so in that order? I think that swimming should certainly be prioritized.”

She laughed and squeezed his hand with her oil-slick one.

“Yes, Jacob.” She answered very simply, practically “I will be delighted and honored to marry you.”

[Justric]

Jacob smiled again and brought her hand to his lips for a soft kiss, ignoring the strange taste of the oils. "Oh, good," he sighed happily. "Although in all fairness, I should warn you... that as soon as I'm feeling better... gonna take advantage of you... 'less you want to take advantage of me first... that'd be okay, too... love... No baked beans at the reception, though..." And somewhere between one disconnected thought and the next, Jacob dropped off into an easy slumber.

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Outside the room and down the corridor, Yu paced furiously about her office. Clarence sat calmly in one of the low chairs set before her desk, his expression one of patience and firm authority. They had been at silent odds since leaving Jacob and Prudence to their rest, a silence that Clarence was waiting for Yu to pop. It had taken him a while to adjust to his new life, but watching Yu confirmed for him that human nature had not changed all the much in two hundred some-odd years. She still had some resentment over his control over the current project, but there wasn't much she could do about it. Clarence's parents had the forethought to not only cryogenically preserve their son's body, but to set up a 'death-trust'. With the compounded interest that accumulated over a couple of centuries, Clarence awoke as quite a wealthy man... even after taxes. Project Orpheus had been winding down with no further plans on additional revivifications. The Oberhall Incident (as it came to be known) saw to that. Once Clarence had acclimated enough to his new paradigm, he felt that he could not simply let a process that saved him be denied to others. And so came about his involvement. And his rather firm hand on the reigns.

Yu whipped about to face Clarence, nearly irate in the face of his passiveness. She opened her mouth to speak, only to find Clarence beating her to the punch. "We're not going over this again, Doctor. Yes, I know Jacob was your colleague and you feel a duty to bring him up to date. Yes, I know of Prudence's heart condition and you want to make sure she's okay. And, for Christ's sake, yes, I am aware you have additional medical concerns since she been revived twice and you have no idea how that might affect her body or that impossibly strong immune system of hers." Yu opened her mouth again to protest, only to again find Clarence cutting her off. "BUT... they are tired. I know we've talked about it, but I still don't think you get how mentally and emotionally exhausting revivification is. Right now, the thing those two need most is to be left alone. Especially since, from what you've told me, they both suffered rather traumatic deaths under stressful circumstances AND they had little enough privacy before that. Let them be, Doctor."

The temperamental woman gritted her teeth, forcing herself to fold her arms across her thin chest. "How does Singh put up with you?" she grated.

Clarence grinned back at her slyly. "She likes older men, I guess."

Yu grimaced. "You are not fooling me, Clarence. She has a good decade on you."

"Or I'm up two hundred years on her. All depends on how you look at it. Look, just give Jacob and Prudence the night to themselves. I know it defies all the medical-mystical-mumbo-jumbo, but they need this far more than nurses and doctors. Trust me."

[Lillian Thorne]

She smiled softly at his promise and offer, her cheeks still flushing from it. She was unused to talking about such matters and it flustered and delighted her. Before she sank fully into a fluster he abruptly shifted subjects and her eyebrows drew up. His comment about baked beans was puzzling enough that she drew back and chuckled. She tilted her head, about to ask him to clarify when she realized he had drifted off to sleep. She chuckled and with a sigh poured some more oil onto her hands and continued her massage, he would miss the pleasure of her touch but the benefits were more than just that she had been led to believe. So with the same care she finished his thighs and moved upward, finding quiet pleasure in aiding him as well as the simple pleasure of touching him and seeing that he was well and whole.

When she was finished she wiped down her hands, stretched to ease her own aches which were not inconsiderable and debated about what to do. She wasn’t particularly sleepy but the thought of heading out of the room and facing others held no appeal. She watched Jacob sleep for a few minutes, loving the way his face smoothed out in repose. He had so much life and sparkle to him, even when he was asleep. She thought about the book that had been written about them. It made her skin crawl, especially to think that some of Jacob’s private entries might have been used giving details she wasn’t comfortable with. Then there was the video. Even if it hadn’t been released if Liddell had seen it, which he might have, having been on the team, he may have worked some of the details of it into the book.

She felt anger welling up within her. She knew he probably hadn’t meant anything bad by it but she now had to live with the discomfort of it. Had he not known that they were being revived? If he hadn’t known then she supposed he might be more forgiven, but if he had known and had done so anyway she didn’t think she could ever forgive him. She bit her lip in anxiety. She felt out of the loop, lost. She needed information but wasn’t certain the best way to get it. She didn’t want to leave Jacob and ask someone, tracking down Yu for instance because Jacob should be with her when Yu explained. Plus there was a good chance Pru would miss much of what was said in any case. So that was out. But the book. That was something she could do.

She thought she’d seen something that looked like an i-desk over on one of the tables. She was chagrined to find that it was much smaller, and thinner than the one she’d been beginning to learn the use of. For a long moment she frowned at it, afraid to touch it lest she damage it. But one of the things she’d known how to do on this was to find books, Jacob and she had spent much time reading poetry in their spare time and she’d really enjoyed novels, especially mystery ones. Holding her breath she pushed the button she thought held the power symbol and waited as the device powered on. Everything looked different, things changed so fast these days but she was determined and practical. She carried the thing over to the bed, settling on it gingerly so as not to disturb Jacob and with patience managed to find the reading ap. She made a soft noise of triumph when she found Liddell’s book, reaching over the pat Jacob before curling on her side, her back and bottom pressing into him and began to read.

[Justric]

[U]A Second Sunrise[/U]. The title was, oddly enough, taken straight from an entry in Jacob's dairy. It said so much in the book's preface. This author's preamble, which also had a great deal of ramble in it, did stress that the following story was a fictional account of the life, death, rebirth and second death of the lovers. It was also rather sweetly dedicated to the memory of Doctor Jacob Cartwright ("...caught between the expectations of his profession and the affairs of the heart, choose to be human...") and Prudence Callaghan ("...could not have been greater of heart or kinder of spirit despite the multiple cruelties of fate and man..."). It was somewhat long-winded and disjointed opening, which, for anyone who ever spent more than 5 minutes talking to Liddel, was unsurprising. What was surprising was that a great deal of Liddel's observations of his time with Prudence were incredibly astute. The doddering professor may have been absent minded, but the preface implied that he was far more insightful than anyone had ever given him credit for.

What followed was a foreward, written by one Doctor Cobham. The doctor had been an outside consultant and had given testimony during the legal fallout that had followed. It gave caution that while the end results had been tragic, it had led to reforms in the scientific community. "Centuries of dealing with emotional and mental health issues, and we have been learned to be little better than our predecessors with their Bedlam freakshows and cold water shock therapies..."

The story itself was ...fantastic. That it was well written and interesting there was no doubt. The writing style was easy, the dialog lively and the prose continually engrossed the reader. It was also fantastic in that it was greatly exaggerated. More so, it came across as downright silly to anyone who actually knew the two protagonists in real life. Jacob was made out to be a kind hearted giant of a man, broad shouldered, physically active and intellectually intense; every speech or declaration attributed to him (while based on actual things he had said), gave the impression that he drawing a sword to hold on high in some dramatic fashion. Of Jacob having Heinberg-Mendell Syndrome, there was little mention. It was just a side note to explain why he did not have an implant, but that it never stopped or was a real hinderance to him. The book also played up heavily on his past as a prankster, inserting various stunts that (while funny) had never happened; it even went so far as to suggest that it was a prank he played on Oberhall that first started planted the seed of the latter's hatred.

Oberhall was transformed into something near unrecognizable. That he was the villain, there was not doubt. Liddell all but had him twirling a waxed mustache and cackling. But now the roots of the relationship between the two scientists actually went back to their college days, where they were the best of friends! Using literary freedom, Liddel had made the venial little man a good decade younger. The fictional duo had worked tirelessly on various projects, an inseparable team. Until McNaulty came along. McNaulty was portrayed as a hard battle-axe of a woman, an ancient Amazon matriarch. Her decision to promote Cartwright over Oberhall had stirred a great deal of resentment between the two friends.

The book then switched to Prudence's life, shown in an image of flashbacks. A dutiful daughter, but with a spirit that was as strong as her hair was red. Events in Ireland were alluded to, but never openly laid out. Her assault and subsequent rape and death were... action packed. The fictional Prudence had defiantly fought her assailants, killing one with a wooden water bucket before she was finally subdued. Great care was given to the idea that the men, being of a barbarous past age, were greater of size and strength than contemporary humans. Yet for all the creative license that had been applied to the scene, the thoughts Liddell had attributed to Prudence in her final moments before death were scarily on the mark...

Skip back to the future. McNaulty had passed away, Jacob had assumed the mantle of leadership, he and Oberhall had fallen out with one another, and he was recovering from heartbreak after his lover had terminated their personal relationship... one Doctor Zhan Yu.

The tale of Prudence's revivification read like some sort of mad scientist's tale, with arcs of electricity and the throwing of switches and Jacob shouting defiance in the face of death. Oberhall arrived before anyone else, just in time to see Jacob cradling Prudence in his arms after pulling her from the tank. The seeds of resentment grew into a rage of envy at the sight of the beautiful woman, so unlike any other woman of their time. It was the sight of Prudence that had cemented Oberhall's hatred of Jacob... and his lust for Prudence.

The time flew by with each turn of the page, until Jacob stirred besides Prudence. He stretched, half feeling his joints snap into place. Fighting off the drowsiness, he half rolled over towards the warmth he automatically assumed was Prudence. Eyes still closed, his arm snaked over her hip and around her waist to spoon against her. "God, I'm starving," he yawned sleepily. "Forgot about that part... nutrients in the bio-agent only go so far." Dimly aware that Prudence seemed pre-occupied with something, Jacob cracked open one eye. Curiosity got the better of him. "What's that, Pru?"

[Lillian Thorne]

Prudence stared at the last page of the book on the idesk, her mind whirling with what she read. There was much that had been in it, but there was even more that was no. It was woven together so skillfully that she was pretty sure that unless you had been there, it would be impossible to pick out the fiction from the fact. What’s more, even having lived it, even wanting to hate the book and what it represented, what it took from her, she couldn’t. It was a very good read, entertaining and gripping. Even knowing that she was supposed to be the heroine she found herself sucked in and rooting for the couple, for her and Jacob. It was silly and sad all at once. She was grateful that any intimacy that had been written into the book was alluded to and not written out. It made the whole thing easier to accept. So many of her objections had been stilled by a simple reading so when she felt Jacob’s arm snake around her she felt a thousand times lighter than when he’d gone to sleep.

She rolled over and curled her body into him. Kissing him on the shoulder on the swell of muscle that she hoped was feeling better after her ministrations. Laying her cheek where she’d kissed, she hugged him, throwing her leg over the back of his thigh and sighing in contentment.

“I read Liddell’s book while you slept.” She said simply still feeling a little strange about that. It was hard to reconcile the writing that had so captured her with the rambling, if sweet older man whom she knew.

“It was surprisingly good, very engaging. And if I hadn’t known it was about me I would have been surprised to find myself in it every so often. There’s some truth, just enough and it is mixed with a good amount of fiction and blended so well I almost want to believe it. But he was discrete and kept any of the really private parts out. So I won’t have a hard time looking him in the eyes if I see him again.”

She kissed him again, higher up on his shoulder and liking the taste of that she began to kiss her way up to his neck, speaking in between kisses. She was alive, he was alive, why had she been worrying about a book? There were better things to be concerned with.

“You should read it when you have the chance. We maybe should have a dramatic reading aloud sometime, it might be fun.”

She reached the spot below his hear and kissed it, her breath tickling along his neck, the laughter in her voice light and ready to burst forth.

[Justric]

Jacob found himself waking up more with each sensation. Had still been groggy when Prudence had thrown one leg over his. The first kiss, made him smile and close his eyes. The next couple of kissing reminded him that his body still ached and how nice it was just to lie there and be kissed. Once she found her way to his neck however, his body reminded him that he could rest at any time and that there were far more pressing matters at hand. The hand he had slid about her waist drew her closer to him, his interest in pressing those matters to her plainly evidence beneath the sheets. Letting out a long slow breath, he let that hand start to caress her hip and upper thigh.

Some cold, logical part of his brain was arguing with him that this was hardly the best time and place. Someone could walk in at any moment! Not to mention they had just been through an incredible intense experience: the attempted escape, their deaths, the trauma of revivification. They needed time to rest! Time to let things-

The thought was fairly drowned in a flood of emotion and hormones. Unbidden, the image of Prudence on all fours before him back in the maintenance tunnel, smiling back over her should at him, blossomed in his mind.

As she continued her ministrations, Jacob coughed delicately. His eyes opened to half-lidded. "Why, Prudence Callaghan. I think you're trying to take advantage of me..."