The taxi pulled up to the hotel in which Jareth had booked their suite and Sarah had called last night to reconfirm their reservation and that they would be arriving tonight.

"Po'so ka'ni to isiti' rio?" Duncan asked as Sarah opened the door of the cab.

"De'ka." The cab driver responded.

Duncan removed his wallet from his pocket and handed over the money."Efharisto'." He said with a smile as he exited the cab and looked at Sarah.

"You didn't tell me you speak Greek." She chided.

Duncan picked up two of the bags while she took the other and took her free hand in his own. "There's a lot of things you don't tell me." He remarked as they walked through the main doors of the Hot Grande Bretagne in the Syntagma Square section of Athens. Sarah followed him over to the desk where he checked them in. "Kalispe'ra," he said with a warm smile one his face to the woman standing behind the desk. "Kra'tisi, MacLeod."

"Nai," she smiled, "signo'mi." She walked a small bit away from him to type on her computer and check for their reservation, soon he was signing in and taking the key from her hand. "Ekato' dekatri'a." She smiled.

"Efharisto' poli." Duncan returned and then turned his attentions back to Sarah. "We're in suite 113." He told her. Duncan looked at the almost sad expression on her face. "You wish I wouldn't do that, don't you?"

"Maybe." She confessed. "Someone has to know what they're saying." She tried to laugh and smile. It should be me.

Duncan took her hand and lead Sarah through the grand lobby, past the flowing water fountain and to the elevator. "Have you stayed here before?" She asked the doors shut, he seemed so sure of where he was going.

"Yes," he confessed and looked down at her, "it was a long time ago."

"Oh," was all she said as the elevator continued its ascent. She shouldn't be jealous and she shouldn't be angry but she was. The look in his eyes told her that he not only stayed here before, but he had rather fond memories of the place as well.

Duncan slipped the key into the door of the suite they were going to share (at Jareth's expense) and lead her inside. Sarah looked around at the large comfortable room and noted that much like Sarah's old rooms, it was divided into three sections, the bedroom, sitting area and bathroom. The large windows in the sitting area overlooked the sleeping city. "It's beautiful." She remarked as she set the suitcase down by the sofa. "Everyone is asleep." Sarah said quietly as she made her way to the window and stared out.

"And you're not tired?" Duncan asked as he came and stood behind her to gaze out upon the twinkling lights of the city below them. "It's only about seven-thirty our time. You didn't eat on the plane, are you hungry?"

At his query Sarah realized that yes she was hungry, in fact she was ravenous. But it was two thirty in the morning, where would they get something to eat. She looked behind her to see Duncan picking up what looked to her to be a menu which rested by the telephone.

"What would you like?" He asked as he opened it and noted it was written completely in Greek, he did not hand it to her. "Room service is twenty-four hours here."

"Don't suppose I can get a burger and fries here?" She asked hopefully.

"You can get that anywhere. Try something else." Duncan encouraged. "Suvlaki, maybe? A Gyro?"

"Suvlaki." She said and then stretched as she yawned. Riding in the airplane had been more tiring than she had thought it would be but she was not tired enough to sleep. "You order, I'm going to run a bath." Sarah stooped to retrieve her suitcase, she tossed it onto the couch and unzipped it. She took from it a shoe box size container and opened it. Carefully she took the pillar and square candles from inside it as well as the incense she had brought with her. Duncan watched as she took an armful of them into the bedroom and another smaller armload to the bathroom. "Something wrong?" Sarah asked as she noticed that he had not moved from where he stood.

"Got plans?" He asked with a small smile on his face. "What are you doing?"

"Maybe a few plans." Sarah walked away and began to draw a bath in a tub that was built for two. She lit the candles which she had placed around the tub and on the counter, then lit the red amber incense as she stripped off her clothes. Sarah added scented salts to the steaming water and swished it around with her hand, she heard Duncan's muffled voice coming through the door and knew he was ordering their dinner. When she was sure that she heard the phone hang up, Sarah walked from the bathroom to the sitting room where he was without a stitch of clothing on her body. Slowly she made her way over to him and unbuttoned the shirt which he wore. Duncan made no move to be away from her. The shirt slid from his body and Sarah's hand slid to the button on his black jeans.

Duncan's hand stopped her from going further. "What are you doing?" He asked as tilted her face to look at him. Bright sparkling does eyes raised to meet his own.

"You need a bath too." Sarah whispered. "Come with me." Without hassle Sarah lead him into the bath. Duncan stripped the remainder of his clothes from his body himself and slid into the tub when she asked him too. Sarah knelt on the floor by the side of the large porcelain tub and began to wash him. She took the ice bucket and filled it with the warm bathwater, slowly she let it pour over the top of his head, down his back in long flowing waves.

"Aren't you getting in?" Duncan asked as the water flowed over him. At his request he watched Sarah rise and step into the bathtub. She settled herself in behind him, wrapping her legs around his waist and pulling him so close to her that his back rested against her bare breasts and the soft mound of her womanhood was pressed into the small of his back. Duncan felt himself stiffen in the water and did not try to hide it from her. He heard a small click from behind him and soon the scents of rosemary and jasmine were filling the room as Sarah began to wash his hair. Her long strong fingers massaged his scalp and sides of his head, making his body feel relaxed and light. Flowing warm water washed over the top of his head and flowed down his back as she rinsed the soap from his hair. Duncan stretched his long body in the oversized tub, feeling himself become surrounded by the water's warm touch and Sarah's.

While she gently kissed the top of his wet head, Sarah reached for the soap and wash cloth and began to swab his neck with it. Duncan's eyes closed as he settled back against her further. Slowly she moved the soapy cloth down to his shoulders and then over his arms to his chest. She watched as the soap bubbles were caught in the hair there, they linger for a while before bursting, Sarah dropped the cloth into the water and began to wash him with her bare hands. They slid effortlessly over and around his soap covered body.

The warm water washed over him, small waves created by the movement of Sarah's body behind him, Duncan felt himself relax further and tried to pull himself back from the haze he was falling into. He should be talking to her. He should be questioning her. He should be listening to her. Duncan was doing none of those things. Once they had touched down in Greece and he met the man Sarah called Brother, everything just seemed so damn inevitable. There was nothing he could to stop what was about to happen. Truth was he didn't want to. Nor did he care to analyze it further, thought he knew in his mind that he should question it, look at it, turn it over and over before taking the last step and committing totally to Sarah as her husband and Champion. A thought gently eased its way into his mind and gave itself voice. "Are you pushing me?"

Sarah continued to bathe him, "No, husband." She whispered in his ear as her slippery soap covered hands circled on his flat stomach. "You're still drained from this afternoon, that's all."

Duncan laid the side of his head against her soft moist breast, without thinking, he tenderly took her nipple into his mouth. It hardened almost instantly and he heard Sarah take in a sudden breath of air. Finger tips which had been caressing his stomach with such caring a moment ago, tightened briefly as her nails sunk into his skin, then released and continued washing him again. Duncan rolled his tongue around the nipple in his mouth slowly before letting it go. "But I felt good before we got off the plane, now I'm tired again." Duncan complained lightly as he rested his head against her bare breast with the exotic scent of the red amber incense and fragrance of Sarah's candles began to fill his mind. He wasn't tired, not really, what was he? Duncan did feel as though he could sleep but knew it wasn't necessary to do so. A large breath exhaled itself from his lungs as he felt the water begin to carry his body to weightlessness. Duncan always felt this way when he laid in her arms, as though he never did have a care in the world and he never would. He could just right there with her forever, allowing the rest of the world to pass them by unnoticed, holding her in his arms while she held him, eyes closed, mind floating freely away to wherever it wished to wander. To lay right here with her like this for all eternity would be more reward than he could possibly ask for. Warm lips brushed themselves against his cheek, as nimble fingers circled themselves lower, down below the waterline.

Sarah did not wish to talk to him now, she only wanted to hold him like this for the entire night. She gazed at him in the flickering glow of the candles reflected in her wide trusting eyes. She smiled shyly at him as she reached a soap covered hand to his chest and lay it upon his heart and ran the other through his wet hair. Sarah kissed his lips sweetly with her own as she parted them with her moist tongue and slid it into his mouth. Duncan wrapped his free hand around her wet naked body and brought her close to him as he answered her kiss. Fire ran wild through her body as he pulled her in close, she felt the hardness of him against her thigh. Tonight she would let him go much further than she had in nights past, but still not to completion, but she would not let him sleep unsatisfied either. This time, somehow, Sarah vowed that when she did please him, she would do it correctly and he would not walk away nor be angry with her after. No, this night, when she swallowed him down, Duncan would smile and tell her that he loved her. As if he had heard her thoughts and disagreed with them, Duncan eased himself away from her.

Something inside of him seemed to awaken with a jerk. There were questions to ask."The headache this afternoon, is that like the ones that got you hooked?"

"Yes," she confessed, "I haven't had them in almost two years. They used to be so awful." Sarah shook her head softly, her hair fell across her shoulder to cover one breast from his view. "Just like today."

"What stopped them?" He asked as he pulled her in close to him and rested her head over his heart as they sat in the warm water. "Other than the pain killers, I mean. What stopped them for good?"

"I don't know that either." She shook her head against his chest. "And I'm not sure of what started them." That wasn't true at all. Sarah knew full well what had started them. What she didn't know was how to stop them.

"When did they start?"

"I don't know, when I was seventeen, I guess. My parents took me to doctors and all they ever said was they were migraines. I've researched migraines over the years and that's not what they were...or are." Now it was Sarah's turn to begin feeling as though she were floating weightless in time and space, safe in the warmth of the water and the strength of his arms. "What about you? Are you sure you're all right? I didn't want to take so much from you."

"I don't feel quite myself, but I feel all right." Duncan kissed the top of head and held her snugly in his arms. "Take all you need, whenever you need it. I am still strong, I know that's what you're worried about."

While that certainly was one thing she was worried about, it wasn't everything. Sarah listened closely to the sound of his heart beat, it was solid and healthy, she was glad for that. Now was not the time for him to be weak, not with the dawn so quickly on her way. For the first time in her life, Sarah did not want tomorrow to come. If she had the power within her, she would have frozen time for all eons to come right there. Safely locked away in his arms throughout time.

The dawn would come and after it the moon. Unsure of wether or not Duncan would meet her Father tomorrow night, though she would do her best to ease His temper when the moment came, Sarah felt it best to try and prepare Duncan for what might come before the moon rose again. "Phobos frightened you, didn't he?" Sarah asked in a low calm voice, as she laid back in the water bringing him with her so that he laid on his side, his head once again rested over her heart. One hand found it's way under his arm and across his chest to bring him and hold him as close to her as she could. "I'm sorry about that."

"Are all of her relatives like that?" Duncan asked without thinking. After the words escaped his mouth, his mind rolled them around and around. Had he just referred to as being another person? Actually spoken it? Was he coming to the point where he could accept what was happening to and around him? The whole truth of it? Duncan felt Sarah chuckle beneath him, soon the feeling of her soaped hands was once again spreading itself down the length of his thigh which rose out of the water.

"Not all," She whispered, "I imagine you like Eros?"

"Cupid?" He asked lightly, "A little cherub in charge of making people fall in love. He was Aphrodite's son."

"Yes," her floating hand slid itself toward the inside of his muscled thigh. "He is. He is also Ares' son." She reminded him. "Onya's brother..." Sarah stopped with the words which would finish that though hanging on her lips and was glad his eyes did not meet hers in that moment. "He's not the little cherub the Romans' and Christians turned him into. Eros is quite handsome, with beautiful golden wings upon his back."

Now Duncan did turn his body in the bath so that he could look at her, he searched his own memory banks as he searched her eyes. Sarah was right, what he could remember about Greek mythology Ares and Aphrodite had many children together. They had had a torrid love affair while she was still married to another God whose name escaped him at the moment, but he did remember the God had been a blacksmith. Eros son of Ares? How could that have happened? Even with Aphrodite for a mother, how could Ares' fire have escaped his son? Duncan realized it had not, it had simply chosen another form of expression. What was love if it was not fire? "She loved Him."

"Madly." Sarah said with a bright smile and wide eyes. "She still does. Theirs is a love that has stood throughout time, and hardships unnumbered. Through battles and infidelities. Through the wrath of the other Gods and Their own frailties. She has loved Him and He Her."

In that moment as she spoke so lovingly of her Father and his Lover, Duncan could plainly see that Sarah wished very much to be a product of that union and not of Ares and Psyche. "Through infidelities?" He asked softly. "Psyche?"

Sarah cast her eyes away from his stare as she attempted to rise. "The water grows cold." Duncan sat up and placed his hands on her upper arms, keeping her where she was. "We will speak more of this." She reassured him.

"Yes, we will." Duncan agreed softly as he took the ice bucket from the floor beside the tub and began to fill it with the cooling bath water. With his other hand he turned the faucet so that hot water flowed in to warm it. "We are not finished here." He raised the bucket over her head and slowly allowed it to flow from the container down over the top of her head to wash over the rest of her. Sarah's eyes closed softly for a moment but soon opened and again she tried to rise. "Sit." He commanded in an easy tone. "Let me."

Sarah settled herself back into the water as Duncan straddled himself over her, if this was to be their last night together she wanted to remember him this way. So willing to do for her when she could do for herself. So willing to give back to her that which she freely gave to him. Doing just as he had promised on the night before they were married, never taking from her always sharing with her. The water flowed over her once again, Duncan's strong hand lifted the heavy heap of wet hair away from her back over her shoulder so that he could better wet it. The water which had been cooling a moment ago, now warmed by her feet and slowly crept it's way up toward her knees. Duncan held her hair up and away from her body as he poured the water over here once again and then rested the bucket outside the tub. He filled with palm of his hand with the shampoo Sarah had made and brought with her, he worked his way from the top of her head, down her long fiery tresses the the small of her back steadily massage her scalp as he went.

"He was right," Duncan said softly as he began to rinse the soap from her hair, "it is beautiful." The water flowed down her back and over her delicate face, Duncan did not know if he had ever seen her so relaxed and peaceful as she was now, other than when she was asleep by his side. To him, she radiated beauty and love, he thought that she might just float out of the water and hover above him like an angel. If Eros could be son to Ares and be honored and loved, maybe Onya could also. Duncan swabbed her slim body with the soapy cloth, allowing it to glide from her neck, down her shoulders and arms, to her small waist and well-curved thighs. He lifted each leg gently from the water as he washed it and then brought the cloth slowly up to her flat stomach. Duncan stopped there for a while, circling the cloth around and around until her stomach was white with thick lather, his eyes drinking in all that lay before him. He lay the cloth on the floor and washed her breasts with his own soap covered hands. Sarah moaned lightly at his touch, he watched as she gently bit down on her lower lip. Her eyes fluttered open to look up at him as she reached up to wrap her arms around his back and pull him down to her. Sarah kissed him passionately as their slippery bodies lay together in the warmth of the water, her hands grabbing thick masses of dark wet hair, the excitement of his hardness which lay between her legs shot through her and she thrust her hips forward against it.

"Do you want me?" Duncan whispered, his breath hot against her cheek.

"Yes," Sarah moaned with desire and then turned her eyes away from him.

There was a sharp rapping at the door. "Room Service," called a voice in broken English.

"Tell him to leave it at the door," she said to him.

Duncan looked down at her, the feel of her body beneath him driving him mad with desire. The wantoness in her voice was betrayed by the haze which fell over her eyes. Duncan rose and wrapped a towel around his waist as he climbed out of the bath tub. Sarah's hand grasped desperately at his own, he glanced down at her as he set both feet on the floor. "Come on, it's time to eat." Duncan said quietly.

"Please," Sarah said softly, as she watched him release his hand from her hold and turn away from her again.

"There's more to talk about." He said as he held a towel out to her.

"And when we are done talking?" Sarah asked quietly as she wrapped the towel around her body and began to drain the bath tub. Why was he walking away again? What was she doing wrong? All she wanted was to feel him next to her.

"You're not ready. Stop trying to rush it." Duncan kissed her cheek and left her alone in the bathroom while he took care of the man at the door.

"But I am." Sarah whispered quietly to herself as he shut the door. The reflection in the mirror caught her eye and Sarah turned to look at the woman who stared back at her. In the darkened bathroom, flickering with the glow of candle light, her eyes stared into the those of the reflection. Didn't she treat him well enough? Wasn't she pretty enough? What was she doing wrong? Why did her own husband seem to find her so unsuitable?

Was that going to be James' last jab from the grave? Would she find now, for all of those years, he had been right? James had always told her that no man would ever love her. Men would come and men would go, they would fuck her and use her and then toss her aside while they went off on their merry little way with their merry little lives, never once looking back to inspect the damage they left in their wake. What if what he had said the night of the thunderstorm at her altar was true? That whatever her husband felt for her was not love but pity?

Sarah reached out to touch the cold glass and watched as the woman on the otherside did the same. While it was true that she was unsure if she was going to go through with the complete act of love making tonight, Sarah wanted to be closer than they had been in nights past. Time was short, and tomorrow night when she again offered herself to him she would be ready and she would want him. If he turned his back and walked away? Then what?

With a heart heavy with sorrow and longing, Sarah blew out the candles, gathered them up in her arms and left the bathroom to find Duncan in the sitting area, a white terry cloth bathrobe wrapped around him and waiting for her. She walked past him with a slight smile but said nothing as she went to the bedroom and placed the candles around the room. She lit them so that their light added to the glow of the candles already burning brightly around the bed and then slid into a bathrobe which matched Duncan's.

"Angry with me?" Duncan asked as she came and sat at the table with him.

"Of course not," Sarah whispered while her eyes were averted from his. She vowed to put the moment away and not to allow it to intrude further into the night. Sarah's eyes scanned the table to notice that there were three serving plates. "What did you order?"

Duncan uncovered his own dish, "Lamb," he said quietly as he reached for the plate in front of her, "Your Sulvalki. And, " he reached to the third plate which sat away from both of them and uncovered it. "Burger and fries, in case you don't like it." He smiled wide for her.

Sarah's heart forgave him for walking away yet again. Duncan did not seem to pity her at all. This simple gesture on his part, certainly showed her that. Even if he didn't love her, he did care about her and he did know her. Sarah picked up the pita bread sandwich stuffed with lamb, beef, lettuce, sour cream, onions, mushroom and black olives and brought it to her lips. "Very good," she commented as she wiped her lips with the napkin.

"Good," Duncan picked up the remote control and flicked on the television. He clicked through channel after channel, all in Greek of course and Sarah did not understand a word of it.

"Don't they get American TV here?" She asked as she took another bite. "I hear you can get it all over the world."

Duncan laughed. "Yep," he said, "just about anywhere you go, you can find out what's going on on General Hospital or catch ancient re-runs of Dallas." Duncan chuckled.

"And a Big Mac, fries and a Coke." She reminded him with a smile.

"Yes, those too." He laughed and sighed at the same time, "America's contribution to the world." Finally he came upon an English speaking channel and put the remote down, it looked to him like a broadcast of CNN News, when the announcer came on and said that Larry King was up next, he knew he was right. Duncan took the glass which rested empty in front of her and filled it full of clear liquid that Sarah, at first, thought was water. Then she brought it to her nose and smelled the licorice scent and her nose ruffled. "Uzo," he said, "can't have a Greek meal without it." Sarah did not raise the glass further. "Go on, try it. You don't have to drink more if you don't like it."

Sarah raised the glass and took a sip, cold fire burned a licorice taste in her mouth. "It's alcohol." She said and Duncan laughed heartily.

"Yes, it's booze." He agreed. :"Do you like it?"

She took another sip. "It will take a little getting used to. We don't drink normally drink licorice."

"It's anise." He corrected her lightly. Duncan raised and then downed his own glass. "Go on, take another sip." Was he trying to get her drunk again? He supposed he might be. She was so willing to talk to him when she tipsy. If she were drunk and tried to make another move on him, he would have a better excuse to say no.

Sarah did as he asked and finished the clear liquid in her glass only to watch him refill it again. She didn't want another taste of it, it was nasty and she still had the taste of it in her mouth. But she drank it down anyway and when he tried to fill it again, she lightly covered it with her hand to signal that she did not want anymore.

They sat and ate, and caught up on what had happened back home today. When their meal was finished, Sarah realized the Greek alcohol was stronger than she had anticipated, her head felt light and her knees weak. She was halfway on her way to being stone cold drunk already. Sarah rose from her place at the table and began collecting their dirty dishes and glasses,which she placed on the cart they had arrived full and clean upon, quietly she pushed it to the door and then left it outside for the maid to come and take away during the rest of the night.

"Someone would have cleaned that up tomorrow, while we're out." Duncan reminded her as he took her hand.

"I know, back home that someone would have been me." She reminded him. "Just trying to make their job a little easier."

"Always looking out for someone else, aren't you?"

"I guess," she whispered as she grasped his hand firmly in her own and then lead him to the bedroom where all of her candles burned brightly around the bed and the rest of the room. "It's been a long flight," Sarah said quietly, "why don't you lay down and I'll massage your back."

Duncan gazed around the room at all the flickering candles and thought himself to be in some type of ritual or religious setting with the way they were set around the room and the smell of the freshly burning incense coming to him, filling his mind with wandering thoughts. From the looks of the room, she was not keeping secret the thoughts she had on her mind. Was she going to try and seduce him tonight? Would he let her? He didn't know, but he knew that the back rub sounded good and Duncan laid himself down on the bed.

Sarah tugged at the robe he wore, "Take this off." She said lightly.

"But it's chilly in here." He protested.

"I'll keep you warm. Take it off." She whispered as she left his side and returned with a small bottle of lavender/chamomile oil. Her eyes smiled as they took in the sight of him lying naked on the bed in front of her. Quietly she sat on the bed by his side and removed her wedding ring, she laid it next to his arm as she filled the palm of her hand with the scented oil. Sarah began to rub the back of his neck with her small strong hands. Her fingers tripped over the leather cord of the necklace he wore, she would have to rid him of that as well.

Duncan began to relax and to lose himself to the soft scents of the room and her touch. Agile oily hands slid across his shoulders and down his arms in a gentle efflourage movement, they slid back up his arms, met at the middle of his shoulder blades and then moved to caress his entire back in an satiny caress. Duncan had to admit that he did love it when she did this for him, her hands slithering over his tired muscles in the evenings, locked away together in their bedroom, was nothing short of heavenly. It wasn't long before Duncan's mind drifted back to the relaxed peaceful state it had achieved in the bathtub.

Sarah watched as his muscles relaxed and listened as his breathing came in long slow shallow breaths. His mahogany eyes were closed as his head rested on the pillow. She thought of how handsome he was and of how much she was going to miss him as she allowed her hands to explore the small of his back. Her fingertips slid over a knotted muscled and Duncan moaned lightly, she stopped there and kneaded it until once again it lay flat and relaxed inside his body. Tenderly, Sarah's nervous fingers worked their way down to his tight buttocks. Duncan's back arched slightly as she touched upon it and then began to knead the large muscles there in her hands. Although there was nothing sexual in the movement of her hands, both of their bodies began to ignite as she rubbed him. Sarah decided not to linger to long there, she did not want him aroused just yet, she moved her hands to below his buttocks and to the tops of his thighs. The muscles there were hard and strong and Sarah kneaded them well one at a time with both of her small hands trying to wrap around just one of them and not making it. As she looked at the strength in his thigh and her hands trying to grasp around it, she thought that his thigh as probably bigger than her waist. Skillfully her hands massaged the thick muscles there and then moved on to the rest of his legs, all the way down to his feet and to massage each toe individually.

With an aching heart she began to make her way back up the muscular body which she loved so much and invoked such longing in her. Lightly her fingers danced over his slick olive skin. She drew a deep breath as she his shoulders in her hands once again. With her nimble right hand, she deftly untied the knot of the leather cord while still massaging his neck with her left. Duncan never even noticed when the cord fell away from his shoulders. Sarah took thick hanfulls of it in her hands as she kneaded the area between his shoulders for a last time, they slid through her oiled hands to rest once again in their rightful place, she picked them up again and again, feeling the energy rise between them. Energy which a moment ago had been like a soft kiss in the rain, now beginning to turn in on itself. Beginning to feed off itself and to grow, in her minds eye she could see the small misty blue strands escaping her finger tips and easing their way into his flesh. Duncan's chest expanded as he drew in a deep breath and his head shifted on the pillow. Sarah bent over him to nuzzle her cheek against his head.

Quietly she rolled him over onto his back. The talisman was clear on the bed once his body had moved, with a sly hand, Sarah pushed it onto the floor before he could open his eyes and see it. She poured a small amount of the oil into the palm of her hands and rubbed them together to warm it before she touched them to his neck, the strong muscles there tightened for a moment and then relaxed under the soft touch of her fingers. Shrewdly they glided from his neck down to the broad chest which she adored so much, it held his heart and hers. Duncan's eyes rolled open as her hands moved over his heart. He gazed up at her through hazy tranquil eyes. Sarah smiled down at him.

"What are you doing?" Duncan asked with some effort.

"Showing you that I love you." Sarah whispered as she undid the sash of her robe. As it fell open over her, she descended her bare breasts upon his oiled chest and rubbed them against him.

"I know you love me." He whispered back as he encircled his arms around her. The gentle caress of her small firm breasts against him made him hard again. Her lips closed around the nape of his neck and suckled him there. "Sarah," he whispered passionately as he held her tighter, his hands running over the length of the terry cloth robe which kept the smoothness of her skin from his touch. Small, exotically scented hands, rose and ran through his hair, gently they pushed his head further to the side so that her mouth could get a better hold. Maybe this time it was right. Maybe this time he would not walk away. With a deft agile touch, Duncan slid her arms from the robe and pushed it to the floor where it covered his part of the talisman. Sarah lay atop of him, her delicate body gently rocking as she suckled his neck. Duncan let his hands begin explore her in a way that he had held back for to long.

Duncan's touch on the small of her back cause Sarah to breath harder and cuddle against him further. "Touch me," she pleaded in a soft whisper. More additive than any drug she had ever been on, she craved him, to be close to him, near him in anyway that he would allow. Strong hands on the curve of her buttocks now, "Yes," she whispered, "please, touch me."

Sultry passion rose swiftly inside of him at the sound of her words, the sinewy muscles of his fingers open and closed around the soft flesh of Sarah's tight buttocks. Never had she asked him to touch her, in all the times they had been intimate, not once she did ask for anything. "Touch me," she whispered softly in his ear, her breath hot against his neck. Duncan's more than willing hands bent to her will, rapaciously they ran over her soft white skin as she continued to suckle his neck. To the feel of his skin upon hers, Sarah ground her body into his hardness which lay against the flat of her stomach. Sarah slid a small oiled hand between his stomach and hardness, she cupped it in the palm of her hand and held it closer against the smooth warmth of her belly.. Gentle kisses began to descend from the nape of his neck to his shoulders, down his chest, to the flat of his stomach.

Duncan grasped her arms as he opened his eyes. "No, don't." He whispered to her as he shook his head.

"Don't you like it?" She asked in a hushed voice as her wide questioning eyes stared at him.

"There isn't a man alive who doesn't like it." He returned as his thumbs began to gently circle the small muscles of her upper arm.

Sarah cast her eyes away from him, "Don't I do it correctly?" She brought her eyes back to meet him searching for the answer once the question had been asked. "Show me how you like it and I will do it." A small well oiled hand stroked the harness which lay between it and the soft flesh of her lower stomach. "Whatever you want, Duncan. I'll do it."

Duncan's stomach turned as he laid there staring into wide eyes which were begging him for an answer. A large hand ran itself through her wet auburn hair. As he stared deeper into her doe eyes he saw something else there, something which made his stomach want to heave again. Sarah was serious, all he had to do was tell her what he wanted and she would do it. In this moment, she would bent herself to his will, in whatever position he wanted her to do it in. Duncan's eyes cast themselves away from hers unable to only look at that particular temptation any longer. "I don't think you like it." Came his quiet muddled accent as he returned his gaze to meet hers.

"I love you," She whispered as she tried to descend again. Duncan held her firm in his grasp.

"I know. You don't have to prove it." Suddenly, more than anything, Duncan wanted to know just who had told her otherwise. She had come close to giving him an answer on the plane this morning, the Devil, she had said. Were he to ask her now, he did not believe he would get an answer, not one which was the whole truth. Images of Sarah laying next to him in their bed back in Covington began to flood through his mind. Her nightmares. The way her arms pushed themselves so deeply into the pillows, lips pressed tightly together, head moving from side to side. Duncan could almost see the man over her, holding her down with his knees while he sat on her chest and tried to shove his cock in her mouth. That was not an image which had come to him through one of the Visions she had shared with him. The man who sodimized her in California had forced her to give him oral sex as well, but he had not done in that manner. He had made Sarah get down on her knees in front of him, that was a visual Duncan would never get out of his mind. The sight of the man grabbing and twisting her hair around his fist while he slapped her cross the face with other, telling her that if she bit him he'd kill her. Duncan felt a mighty shiver run through his body.

"Don't think about that." Sarah whispered to him. "Stop. You are not him. He is not you." She laid her head on his stomach, his still hard cock lay between her firm breasts.

"You don't know the things I've done."

"I know them all." Sarah raised her head to gaze upon him and she smiled shyly in the glow of the candles which surrounded them. "I know everything about you. What you've done. How it weighs on your mind. The sorrow it lays on your heart. That is why you and he are not the same. He will never feel regret or sorrow."

For a split second Duncan wondered how that could be. Never had they spoken of such things. Sarah had been inside of his mind more than once, she must have seen it there. But Sarah never told him anything of what she saw inside of him, neither good nor bad. Nothing. How long had she known? Possibly since the night before their Handfasting. She had probed him deeply twice on the night her Immortality was released, once in the cottage where she'd made him dance to her tune and toss away his sword. Once in the main house. Sarah had viciously ripped through his mind then, ruthlessly exploring every thing she could find. Although Duncan had not been able to see what she was seeing, he had felt it. Felt images come to him, they danced just out of his line of sight.

If she had known his own dark secret even then, why had she married him?

The answer which returned to the question sickened him.

Because, that part of you is what she knows.

"Who was he, Sarah?" He asked in a clear but undemanding whisper.

Sarah silently began to recoil from his grasp, she did not like the tone in his voice nor the look in his eyes. There was more to his question then just the words. Sarah decided to hold her tongue, if he wanted an answer then he would ask a more direct question.

"Answer me," Duncan's voice began to take on a slightly demanding tone as he watched Sarah bend her head again. "Who taught you so much about what it is you're supposed to do? Who you're supposed to be?" Her arms tensed in his grip, he tightened his own in return forcing to stay on top of him and answer. "You were giving good blow jobs before Jareth, but yet you're still a virgin. Tell me how that happens. Tell me why you always stop there. Who was he? Who is the Devil, Sarah?"

Sarah's mouth dropped open as the muscles in her arms relaxed, almost gave out from under her and then tensed as hard as nails. "What did you say?" Came her hurt and confused voice.

"On the plane, don't you remember? I asked you then, you said the Devil showed you how to do those wonderful things." Duncan reminded her in a cool tone. Darkness began to descend around him but he knew that soon all around him would be brilliantly lit in an electric purple glow. Something inside of Sarah turned or yawned, maybe it even screamed, whatever it had done, it had flipped the switch on the Connection between them. Sarah was open to him, he could more than just see the answers reflected in her eyes, he could see them in mind. Images, like a slideshow, flashed by. Not much of it made any sense, a TV, a VCR, an old basement. But Sarah was afraid of all of those things. "If you can't tell me, then show me his face."

"Why?" She whispered harshly as she searched herself for the Connection box, Duncan was already standing there, guarding it. Making sure she would not throw the switch back. How did he get there so quickly? "It's ancient history. It means noting." Sarah's voice was nothing more than an angry hiss.

"It means a great deal." Duncan countered as he held her firmly by the upper arms. "Tell me."

Flames burning in her eyes, very cleary and very slowly, Sarah said. "It don't mean nothin'." She began to slither down him once again. "Just enjoy the benefits of my experience, that's all you have to do."

Once more his grasp caught her. "Determined little thing, aren't you?" He smiled as he shook his head. "I said no." Sarah wriggled inside his grasp this time trying to continue her descent. "You expect me to listen when you say no. I expect the same."

Well, if he was going to put it that way. Fine. Let him lay there frustrated. Sarah rolled off him and lay on her side with her back to him.

"Sarah," he whispered from his side of the bed, "don't be angry." Duncan reached out a strong hand to caress her back, the skin there still dampened by the wetness of her hair. "It means everything, why don't you see that? What harm can come from sharing this with me?"

"Why shouldn't I be angry, Champion?" The voice was Sarah's but the words clearly belonged to Onya. "You say that I am not ready, but it is you who turns me away yet again. When I persist, you use my own frailties against me and say it is for my own good."

Though his breath turned ice in his lungs, Duncan continued to rub Sarah's back in a slow gentle movement. "I'm just following your advice."

Sarah jerked her body quickly away from his touch. "That is not what she meant when she said you should be more aggressive."

Slowly Duncan reached his hand out again. "What did she mean?"

Sarah groaned loudly as she roughly flipped over to face him. "Why do you insist upon remaining ignorant? What is it you can't let go of?" She huffed. "You were not chosen simply on the basis of your nobility, Champion."

"Why was I chosen?" Duncan asked in a strong voice. It was hard to tell wether the woman next to him was Sarah or Onya, her words were that of the latter but her eyes were still Sarah's. There was no faded haze in them.

"Somewhere inside of you lives Ares' fire. You don't like to admit to that, do you Champion?" She said quickly. "No. Shhh." She raised a long finger to her lips. "But He's in there. Isn't He...Warrior?" Sarah's firm breasts began to heave under the thin blanket as she reached out a hand to touch his face.

"Be more aggressive?" Duncan asked through tight lips as he felt her knee riding the length of his upper thigh causing him to stiffen further.

"Yes," she whispered.

(Because it's what she knows)

Cold fingers seized the inside of his chest as his hand seized the length of her hair. "I can't do that,"

"Try," she dared.

"No." Duncan lay back on the soft bed in the room lit only by the glow of the candles around them, he felt Sarah's hand softly pawing at his chest and her heartbeat against side, gentle cooing sounds coming from her throat as she nestled her head against him. The strong heart beating so easily inside his chest suddenly skipped a beat as he began to feel something dark crawling around inside himself.

Sarah raised her head to look at him. "What's wrong? Don't you..." Her low voice trailed off as she settled her head on his bare chest once again, no loner wanting the answer to the question.

Duncan drew in a deep breath as he held her tight and then exhaled as he squeezed her shoulders for added reassurance. "Everything's fine. Sleep now. It's late." Sarah cuddled in so close to him that Duncan would have sworn she was trying to crawl inside of him.

"Are you angry?" Sarah asked in a shy frightened whisper.

"Why would I be angry?" Duncan asked as he looked down at the top of her head. A sudden coldness struck his heart.

"Because I..." her voice trailed off but she heaved in a deep breath and forced herself to go on, if she was only going to have this night and the next with him, she wanted everything to be right. Wanted to love him the right way. "I ask so much of you." She whispered so low that Duncan could barely hear it.

"Sometimes, you don't ask enough of me." Duncan asked more sharply then he had wanted but he statement took him by surprise.

"I love you," she whispered. "I just want you to be happy with me. I want to be whatever it is you want."

Duncan sat up and pushed her off of him. "I want you." Came his stern voice as he reached for the lamp and flicked on the light. "I can't do this anymore, Sarah. You're either going to trust me or you're not, which is it?"

"I trust you." Sarah stammered as she righted herself in the bed, bringing the blanket around her bare bosom. Now he was angry, what had she done now?

No, you don't." Duncan groused. "You hide things from me all the time. I want to see you, the real you, that's who I want to be with. Not whoever it is you think I want. You told me nothing about Jareth. You refuse to talk to me about the night you were raped. And now, when I know it's true, you not only won't give me answer as to who started all of that but you try and ignore the question as well!" Duncan's frustrated expression turned into one of dawning contempt.

"What fucking difference does it make?" Sarah asked as she sat there with him, her ass aching and throbbing beneath her, the wetness still dripping down her legs and the pounding in her head growing louder. "It's the past...it's over..it's dead. Remember?" The phantom axe came down upon her head in a vicious blow. Slender hands stuffed themselves under her bare buttocks to keep from clawing at the sides of her head.

"It's the past but it's not dead and it's not over." Duncan rose from the bed and hastility tossed the robe over his naked body. "If you can't see the difference, I can't stay here anymore."

"No!" Sarah cried as he turned to leave the room. Delicate finger tips turned into razor sharp talons as they snatched out for his arm and sank deep through the terry cloth material of the robe into his skin. "No." She whispered as he turned around.

Duncan grabbed her slender hand and brutally removed her hold from his arm he shoved her hand downward and away from him. "Don't touch me." He hissed at her.

Sarah's face shattered as she shrank away from him, her body shook as she gathered the sheet around herself. Wide eyes which had looked at him with such open trust only a few moments ago now darted around the room and did not rise to meet his gaze, they looked everywhere, anywhere, but there. The axe came down with another savage swing as she continued to back away from him.

Duncan's heart wailed as he drew a heavy hand across his face. "Sarah, I'm sorry," he stammered. "I didn't mean it like that." That was partly true, he had not meant it to come out as harshly as it had but he did not want her to touch him in this moment either. Worst of all, he hadn't needed to say it at all, he could have simply turned his back and continued walking away from her. Instead, the words which he knew would hurt her most, gave life to themselves and fell from his lips before he even knew they were there.

"Go," she scoffed at him, "go on." Sarah reached out and grabbed a lit pillar candle on the night stand, she heaved it at him. "Get the fuck out!"

A strong arm batted the lit candle away in mid-air. Hot wax spewed forth as the candle turned end over end. Duncan wanted to grab her, shake her hard and wake her up. What was wrong with her? Why didn't she understand that he was only concerned for her? She never understood that..never. He did not want their love making to end this way, but what else was there to do? Duncan turned his back on her and left the bedroom.

Sarah sprang from the bed and slammed the door shut as she locked it behind him. Trembling fingers rummaged through the contents of the small suitcase she had brought with her, they searched every corner of it until they finally seized upon the gold pill box. Sarah nearly tore the small hinges off of it as she opened it and grabbed for three of the white pills inside, she shoved them down her throat and swallowed dry as she sprinted for the small bathroom adjoining the bedroom and water. A full cold glass of the clear liquid slid down her throat in one large gulp, Sarah poured another and drank it more slowly as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. "You're a weak, stupid bitch." She said to it, "an ugly old whore." Sarah heaved the glass at the mirror scant inches in front of her face. The mirror shattered, the glass flew across the small washroom. Sarah's face was sliced by it's flying shards, they embedded themselves in her naked body. She stepped back as the first of it hit her, her bare feet fell upon shards on the floor, they ripped through the skin there and embedded large chunks of themselves in the soles of her tiny feet.

"Sarah!" Duncan cried from outside the bedroom door as he heard the glass shatter inside. "Sarah!" His fists pounded on the heavy wood. Duncan cast his full weight against the door and the cheap hotel room lock, it gave under the first blow and he stumbled inside. He dashed into the small washroom to see the littered glass shining everywhere on the floor, it was covered with large splotches of blood. Sarah was wildly jumping around the shards, he didn't know if she was trying to escape their grasp or if she was purposefully stomping on them. The glass below her feet was slick with her blood, Sarah slipped and crashed to the glass covered floor. Her body slithered there for a moment, she tried to rise and fell down again. Sarah began to grunt and then to growl as she tried to free herself from the grasp of the shards of mirror. "Stop! Stop it!" Duncan shouted at her as he tried to find a way around the glass to get to her. Quickly he pushed the shards out of his path with the side of his foot and bent to pick her up. As he lifted her up in his arms, shards embedded in her legs and back bit through the robe he wore and sunk into his skin, blood poured from his arms and soaked the white material. "Lay still," he commanded in a sharp whisper. "It's all right, I've got you now."

Duncan laid her on the bed, Sarah had glass in her face, her hair, shards of it jutted from her arms and stomach. He tried to find some way to lay her down and not cause them to bite more deeply into her and found none. Quickly he began to pick the shards from her. Sarah did not move and she did not cry out, she lay there rasping for breath, eyes wide open and starring off into space. Her blood soaked the sheets as the glass was freed from the fresh wounds. As he worked, he waited and he watched, but Sarah continued to bleed. Most of her wounds were minor, the soles of her feet were another matter. In her harried terror filled rush to free herself from the washroom, she had stomped all over the broken glass. Sharp jagged shards had embedded themselves deep there, blood poured freely from those wounds to pool on the bed sheet and run down the mattress and puddle on the carpet below. They were too deep for his finger tips to grasp. Duncan saw her suitcase open in the corner and dashed over to it hoping to find a pair of tweezers in there, finding none he returned to the side of the bed, and began picking shards of broken mirror from her flesh with his finger tips.

"This is going to hurt...a lot." Duncan warned her as he took one bloodied foot into his hand and applied a great amount of pressure just beneath one of the embedded shards, Sarah cried out as it rose back through her skin. Duncan lowered his head, grabbed it with his teeth and ripped it from the flesh there, he spat it out and continued on with the shards. The hot salty taste of her blood invaded his mouth time and again, it stained his tongue and his teeth a crimson hue.

As the glass was torn from her flesh, Sarah lay still and very glad that she had gobbled down three of the Roxicette's. The pain in her head was not gone but it was dulling a bit, however, she could no longer feel her body at all and that was very good in this moment, very good indeed. She could feel the harsh amount of pressure Duncan was applying to her feet and even the glass as it ripped free of her, but there was no sensation of pain associated with it at all.

When the last of the shards had been removed from her feet Duncan came and sat at her side as he wiped the blood away from his chin with the back of his hand. Were she mortal he would tend those wounds, but she was not. Sarah was like him, he knew it, it felt it. Where the hell was the quickening? Why wasn't she healing? Duncan reached out a blood covered hand and laid it on the side of her face, she was hot. Just as hot as she had been earlier in the day. White pallid face stared back at him. "What have you done?" Duncan whispered to her.

"Hurts. It hurts." Sarah huffed as her small breasts heaved up and down with the short rasping breaths coming to her.

"What hurts?" He settled himself carefully on the bed next to her.

"You want to know what I can't tell." Her eyes shifted to look up at him. "I love you. Why isn't that enough?" She reached a blood covered hand out for his. "I want to be rid of it, Duncan." Sarah confessed quietly, "I want to." She rasped again. "But, I..." Sarah brought her other hand up to her throat as her eyes welled with tears, she brought it to the base of her throat and up to her mouth over and over. "I...can't. The words..." she repeated the motion to show him they just would not escape her lips no matter how hard she tried. "Too ugly." Sarah's body tensed as the small hand which laid gently on top of his clamped down hard.

Duncan looked down at her quickly to see the small amber acrs of her Quickening beginning to hurriedly go about their work. He heaved a great sigh of relief at their welcome sight. Quietly he sat there with her and stroked her hair while her wounds healed themselves, if only it were that easy to heal all of her wounds he thought as he stared down at her. Soon the body which lay spread out before was once again smooth and whole. Only the smatterings of the drying blood on her skin remained. He gazed down into dark eyes which were wide and trusting, but they were also filling with a distant haze. "That why you take these?" Duncan whispered as he brought the pill box from his pocket.

Sarah tried to right herself in the bed and failed miserably. Immortal or not, she had taken too many pills after all. With greater effort Sarah tried again, once again she failed. She looked up to see Duncan looking down at her with a mixture of concern and anger on his face. His warm hands descended on her waist and brought her upward to rest more comfortably against the pillows. Helplessly she watched as he rose and left her side, Sarah lay on the blood soaked bed alone. Where had he gone? What was he doing? She tried to raise herself again and for her effort was rewarded with a wave of nausea, she fell back breathless against the pillows. Too many pills, she couldn't feel her body anymore, her head felt light, everything was spinning around and around.

Duncan returned to the room with a towel and the ice bucket full of warm water. He said nothing to her as he sat next to her again and began to wash the blood from her alabaster skin, he did not stop until he had cleansed her entire body from its nightmarish sight. Sarah's eyes closed and her breathing slowed to the touch of his hand. "Why did you break the mirror?" He asked in a gentle voice as he put the bloodied towel on the floor and the ice bucket on the night stand.

"Ugly." She said softly. "Don't want to look anymore."

"What's ugly?" Duncan brushed the hair away from her face, her eyes were still closed, there was some color in her cheeks but not nearly as much as was normal for her.

"Ugly," she repeated in that same low whisper, "ugly.......whore."

Duncan slid closer to her and brought her to rest in his arms. "Whore," he whispered back. "You?"

Sarah cringed at the question. "Yes,"

"No," he held her tighter. "Never." He whispered against her hair. "No." Sarah shuttered against him as her breathing picked up pace and came once again in low rasping gasps. "Believe me, I'm your husband and I love you. Believe me." Strong hands ran themselves gently through her hair. "I don't know who told you such a thing, but they were wrong. They lied to you."

Sarah's logical, sane, rational mind, the one that begged her to hold her tongue time and again, was sleeping deeply in the grip of the roxicette. Freed by it's constraints, Sarah's long held back subconscious opened itself up to Duncan MacLeod. "Blackness lives in the souls of all men."

For the second, or was it the third, time that day Duncan found himself walking a tight rope. It was so wrong to take advantage of her this way, he should content himself with the fact that there were things she did not want him to know and leave it there. But he could not. He needed to know these things and deep inside of him, he knew, she needed to be rid of them. To give them voice and set them free. "Does it?"

"Yes."

"Is it in me?" Duncan reached behind himself and turned off the bedroom light so that once again all was lit by the shimmering glow of the candles.

"All men." She whispered. "All women are whores who call to the blackness, entice it, arouse it, tease it, then bend to its will." Sarah trembled violently in his arms. "Please,' she whispered, "no more questions."

The devil...the devil...the devil...

Sarah raised a slender finger to her lips, "Shhh," she let the air rush out harshly. "Don't talk of such things." The breath in her lungs once again started to come in fearful rasps. Her spinning head began to throb once again.

Duncan watched her chest heave up and down, each time it rose and fell, he felt the Connection ignite further. Fear, why was it fear which lit it up so brightly for him? Always her fear opened her to him, always it showed him hazy images of her life and her soul. Never did they come in clear enough for him actually identify much of anything, but the feelings they brought him. They were caustic, made his head reel viciously as his heart grew cold. In the back of his mind, way way back there in the darkest cob web filled corners there was a whispering. Closing his eyes while he held tightly to Sarah, Duncan strained to hear the words.

The devil...the devil...the devil...and

the whispering echoing words stopped there and yet they did not. A tape stuck on a continuous never-ending loop, the words echoed over and over but never completed the full thought.

Sarah curled up into a ball with her back to him inside his hold, she brought her knees up to rest tightly under her chin as she began to shake.

Bright pain burst forth in her mind.

The pressure building, near to bursting now. Sarah was sure this time her body really would explode from the weight of it all. Wouldn't anything make it stop?

The devil...the devil..the devil...AND.

Slender hands bent into talons as they reached up and raked their sharp nails across her face. Duncan tried to pull them away from her own flesh before they could inflict further damage. Sarah was stronger than he had thought, arms rail stiff and ungiving fought his own as he summoned the force in himself to first pry her hands away and then thrust them onto the bed. There he held them firmly while Sarah gasped for air.

Be more aggressive, Onya told him. Well, he had been damn aggressive tonight and look what it had gotten both of them. Duncan could see he was going to have a hard time keeping sight of the line between simple encroachment and an all out invasion.

Within a few moments Duncan realized that Sarah had already cried herself to sleep. He stroked her drying hair as he held her gently in his arms and listened to the low deep pattern of her breathing. Duncan reached down and gently took her sleeping hand in his own as he sighed and lay deeper into the pillows.

There was pain rooted deep inside her soul. How many fathoms it reached he had no idea, but he knew it was deeper than any ocean on earth. Why should he be the one to show her pleasure when part of him was so much better suited to doing what the others had done? Duncan shoved that thought away, the Darkness within him was gone, it was never going to call to him again and he would never let it touch Sarah if it did.

Still, as he lay there in the candle it bedroom holding his sleeping wife and wiping the last of the tears from his mahogany eyes, he wondered about the monumental task that had been set before him.. Some how he had to get her to look at what happened to her, get her to stop pushing it away and pushing it down. Learn to control it if she didn't, eventually, it would eat her alive. It had already been allowed to gorge itself on far too much of her soul. Duncan had no idea of how she'd held on this long, nor did he have any idea of what kept her pushing forward? He remembered the night in the diner when Sarah had told him that her life wasn't worth much. Duncan knew then that she had not meant to say it but that she had meant it. For so many months now he had tried to make those words go away, put it down to a slip of the tongue. Anything but the honest truth. But it was the truth, she didn't believe her life was worth anything. He had to make her see that it was worth something, if not to her, then to him.

Eos, the Dawn, was beginning to make her way up over the horizon, Duncan could see the very first glimmers of her light off in the distance as he gazed out the window. Morning faster then he had wanted, he wished he could make it go away.

Duncan rose silently from the bed, slipping Sarah comfortably to the other side. He blew out the candles in the room one by one, watching as the soft glow of their light died and the dawn outside his window was reborn. When he climbed back into the bed to cuddle with his wife, he closed his eyes and eventually fell into a light but very uneasy sleep.