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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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2020-11-04
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1/1
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Dreams of Silence 3: Breakfast

Summary:

Summary: There's *always* a morning after ...
Rating: FRT
Series/sequel: Part three of "Dreams of Silence"
Disclaimer: Galen, John, the Excalibur, and all related names, places, and people belong to JMS and many other people. The story itself is mine.
Archiving: CDC, WWOBM, Selena's Galen Page, Lady May's Slash Archive, DM's Place, and the Crusade Fic Archive all have ongoing permission. Anyone else, please ask.
Warnings: This is a slash story, though nothing really happens in this one. Except a bit of angsting.
Notes: First and foremost, thanks to Antoinette for her expert beta'ing, comments, suggestions, motivations, and generally beating me over the head until I finished it. :)
Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated. This is my first planned out story of this scope, so any suggestions you have would be wonderful.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

The following notations are used throughout the series
Single brackets [] around text indicate personal thoughts.
Double brackets [[]] around words indicate telepathy.

Dreams of Silence 3:Breakfast
by Iocane

Returning to his ship, Galen looked around slowly. His and John's meal was still on the table, only half eaten. After removing his cloak, he moved to clear the table. The candle, which had been burning for hours, was the same height it had been when John had arrived. Galen moved it, still burning, off the table, setting it on a shelf.

Picking up the plates, he stepped around the table. His foot encountered something soft that he wasn't expecting. Putting the plates in a drawer where the ship would clean them, Galen bent to pick up the object.

John's jacket. When he'd dressed the young man, he'd forgotten the jacket he'd worn. Perhaps because it hadn't been in the bedroom with the rest of his clothes. Holding in his hands, Galen brought it to his face and inhaled deeply, smelling the traces of John that lingered on the black cloth.

Refusing to let go of the jacket, Galen finished cleaning with one hand. He walked into his bedroom and saw the bed in disarray. There was a dark spot on the sheet; a reminder of his seduction of John. Galen knew he should clean the sheets -- or space them. Instead, he decided to leave them for this night. Setting John's jacket on the bed, Galen stripped and lay on the covers. Gathering the jacket into a pillow, Galen slept, and dreamt of John.

----------------------

The sound of his morning alarm and the Excalibur's computer voice jarred John from a deep sleep. Sitting up, he noticed dimly that he was still dressed. [I must have been exhausted last night.] Looking down, he realized he wasn't in his uniform and the previous evening came back to him. Galen. Dinner with the technomage. Silence. A gift. Shielding from the voices. Accepting. A kiss. Galen's back. Implants. Naked. Galen. Silence. For a split second John dismissed the memories as a dream. A remarkably vivid dream, but still a dream. What was until he realized his jacket was missing.

Before John had time to think about it further, his alarm sounded again, telling him he had all of fifteen minutes to be in uniform on the bridge for his shift.

Resolutely, he pushed Galen and all his questions to the back of his mind as he raced to get ready for work.

------------

Gideon was sitting in his office, going over some paperwork, when he heard the door hiss open. He looked up, surprised to see Galen. A smirk played at his lips and he said "I've never known you to use the front door before." Something about Galen's entrance bothered him. Usually when the technomage had something to discuss, he either invited himself into Gideon's quarters, or announced it at a staff meeting.

"Very funny Matthew." Galen almost snapped. "As it happens, I'm here on somewhat official business."

"All right." Gideon sat back in his chair. "What's up?"

"It's in regards to Lieutenant Matheson."

Gideon leaned forward, resting his arms on his desk. "Go on." "As you no doubt know, telepaths of his kind are constantly bombarded by the everyday thoughts and emotions of those around him."

"I know. That's why I had the special shielding installed around his quarters."

"Yes. Unfortunately Matthew, it's not enough."

"It's the best there is."

"Wrong."

"Of course. You have something better." It was not a question.

Galen's lips quirked into an enigmatic smile. "Of course." he repeated.

"And you want to somehow help John out, is that it?" Gideon

"Lieutenant Matheson has already accepted my offer."

"Your offer? You mean you've spoken to him about this?"

"Of course. He accepted," The technomage paused and Gideon could have sworn the look on Galen's face was nostalgic. "But, since the Excalibur is, in the end, your ship, I thought I had better ask permission before modifying it."

"You didn't last time." Gideon's tone told Galen that he hadn't forgiven the technomage for commandeering his ship.

"Yes, Matthew, I did." Galen pointed out. "I just didn't tell you everything I planned to do with it."

"You have a habit of doing that."

Galen looked for a moment as though Gideon had hit a nerve. Hard. "Perhaps."

"What's going on Galen?" Gideon asked. "You're acting like something's troubling you."

"It's no concern of yours, Matthew." Galen's tone brooked no argument.

Before either man could say anything more, the door to Gideon's office opened and John Matheson stepped inside. He stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of Galen. Their eyes met, but neither moved or spoke. After a moment, Gideon cleared his throat conspicuously and John looked away from Galen's piercing blue eyes. Taking a deep breath, the young lieutenant spoke to his captain. "Captain, I'm sorry I was late this morning. I ..." his eyes flickered almost imperceptibly towards Galen. "I had a rough night and overslept."

Gideon looked from John to Galen, and back to John before replying. "It's all right John. Report to your station."

"Aye sir." John turned on his heel and left.

Gideon looked hard at his long time friend before speaking. "Care to explain that to me?"

"Explain what, Matthew?" Galen turned to face Gideon.

"That." He pointed in the direction John had fled. "Something just happened there."

"So it did." Galen said nothing else.

"Care to tell me *what*?"

"Frankly Matthew, I don't think it's any of your business." Galen said sharply.

"You're right. It probably isn't. But I'm willing to bet it has something to do with that shielding you mentioned, and that IS my business."

"Quite right. Back to the shielding. Before I can install it, I would like to have your permission to do so. It won't effect the rest of the ship in any way." His voice was suddenly light, as though the previous few minutes had never happened.

"All right. Do what you want." Gideon paused a moment, and stood. Leaning forward on his desk, he looked Galen square in the eye. "But I swear Galen, technomage or no, if you do anything to hurt John, even the slightest little bit, there isn't a force in the universe that could put what's left of you back together by the time I'm done with you."

Galen's response was a simple nod before exiting Gideon's office, the door hissing shut behind him.

On the bridge, the technomage paused, gazing for a moment at John. The lieutenant's back was towards him as John bent to study a terminal in front of him. Galen sensed that John knew he was there and was refusing to turn.

John could feel the other man's eyes boring into his back like two lasers. The images before his eyes meant nothing as he tried to ignore Galen, afraid to look him in the face. He'd barely made it out of Gideon's office in one piece as it was.

After staring at the screen for several moments, he felt someone nudge him cautiously. "He's gone." A young ensign told him. "Guy's scary, isn't he? Always in that cloak of his, comes and goes as he likes. And that so-called magic ..." The young man visibly shuddered. "Y'know, I heard-" He was cut off by Gideon calling Matheson into his office.

"Have a seat, John." Gideon noticed the nervousness of the other man as he sat. "As a Captain, I make it a policy not to interfere in the personal lives of those under me ..."

"I know that, sir."

"But in light of what I just saw a few moments ago ... I'm asking you John ... as a friend, not as your captain ... what happened?"

"I told you sir, I overslept ..." John wasn't sure what Gideon was asking.

"That's not what I mean ... What I'm asking about happened a few minutes ago, right here, in my office. You and Galen. I'm no telepath, but I didn't have to be to see something happen there."

"Captain ..."

"Please, John ... Hear me out. In all the years I've known you you've never been late. Not once. I was beginning to worry." He smiled briefly. When his second didn't return the gesture, he continued. "And now when you were late this morning, and came in here ... John, I've *never* seen you act that way around anyone. You were less nervous the last time Mr. Jones was here. That says to me that something happened between you and Galen. And Galen ... Until now I thought you could drop jump gate on his foot and he wouldn't flinch."

"Maybe something did happen." John took a deep breath. "But honestly sir, I don't see how it concerns you." He paused for a moment, making sure Gideon knew he wasn't going to discuss it. "I assume Galen mentioned the shielding."

"He did."

"Then that's all you need to know."

"If you say so John." Gideon's tone was one of helpless resignation.

"Now if you'll excuse me sir, I'd like to return to my post."

"Dismissed."

Gideon watched his friend leave his office. Sitting back, his paperwork was forgotten as he tried to think about what could have happened. A not-so-little voice kept reminding him that it really was none of his business. He studiously ignored it. Gideon felt that he knew both men fairly well, and he'd hoped he'd earned their trust. Galen's tightlippedness didn't bother him nearly as much as John's did. He was used to the technomage never giving a straight answer, if he gave one at all. John on the other hand ... He'd come to regard John almost as a son. Gideon had been one of the first to support the idea of telepaths in EarthForce, and had specifically requested that he be allowed to work with them. His request had been granted, since most captains didn't care to work with teeps if they could avoid it. There was still a lot of bad blood between EarthForce and telepaths, only one of the many telepath war reprocutions. Until now, John had always been honest and up front with him. He'd always answered directly any question he was asked. Staring at the far wall, Gideon continued to ponder the situation.

------------------------

Eight hours later, John Matheson's shift was over. Without a word to anyone, he bolted from the bridge, not even meeting Gideon's eye.

Sometime during the past eight hours, John had decided the only way to deal with Galen was to face him. Alone. Since he couldn't very well ask the technomage to his quarters, he had to go back to where it all began. Galen's ship. Turing the corner, he looked into the docking bay as the door slid open.

It was empty.

John released a shaky breath. He didn't know whether to be relieved that Galen was gone, or hurt that he had left without a word. John was no expert on emotions, he spent most of his time trying to avoid them. But instinctively he knew that what he felt for the technomage wasn't something that happened every day. Walking back to his quarters, his mind was filled with questions. Was it love? Maybe. Lust? John wasn't going to deny that lust played a significant part of it. Could John handle a relationship with a technomage? He didn't know. Did Galen even *want* a relationship, or had one night been enough for him? John feared the answer to that almost as much as he feared Galen himself.

Back in his quarters, John stripped and slid into bed, but the questions stayed with him. What if all Galen had wanted was sex? Would he want more? John knew he wouldn't be able to resist if Galen tried to seduce him again. He knew he would submit, willingly, to whatever Galen asked. That night with Galen was ten times more intense than anything he'd ever dreamt of. In one single night, Galen had fulfilled and exceeded almost every fantasy John had ever had. He knew that, no matter what happened, he would never be the same.

Finally forcing himself to relax, John fell into a deep sleep. That night he dreamed of Galen.

end

Notes:

This orphaned work was originally on Pejas WWOMB posted by author Iocane.
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