The BLTS Archive - Release by Tatterdemallion (samanthawagley@yahoo.com) --- Hi, I got inspired after reading the current post on illianaghemor and decided to write this little ficlet. Feedback is so yummy, btw ;). Disclaimer: Not mine. --- He slid beneath the water until only his eyes remained above the steaming swish-swirl. Heat, aching, stinging, reminding, seeped into each cut, each welt coursing over his body in a pattern that wasn't a pattern but had a meaning nonetheless. His bruises still felt like hands upon his flesh and nothing in the universe had ever felt as real as those crushed blossoms of purple and red painted over his hips. Part of him shied away from it, curled up in his mind, numb, hiding. The part that said he shouldn't enjoy it when someone hurt him, shouldn't feel like everything within him was being released with each slow, shallow slice upon his skin. Rejoicing in blood with pants and dizzying rushes perhaps shouldn't be part of a doctor's personality. But he really wasn't worried about it. There was nothing sexual in surgery. He stayed beneath the water line, breathing through his nose, eyes closed and aware of the steam wetly clinging to his lashes, feeling conflicted about how the water was now soothing, instead of underscoring, his pain. It would mean he'd have to go back for more. The cycle would begin again. The thought made his lips and his stomach curl. He just wished Garak's hands were warmer. --- The End