THE SCIENCE OF LOVE

PART SIX:

"Sid?" Brianna asked as she sat beside him on the couch. "Why am I not hungry?"

Damn! Perhaps he should have deleted the memory of the peaches. "After being sick so long,

my dear, it takes a while to get one's appetite back."

"Are you not hungry?"

"You have satisfied me, my darling. I have no need for sustenance beyond you."  He hadn't thought about the need to explain to her at some point that she would never require food.

"Would you like to go running?" he suggested in a valiant attempt to change the topic. "You mentioned it earlier."

"Is there some where we can run? I do not remember what is outside this place."

"Where would you like to run?"

"I have a choice?"

"Preferably in this world." He grinned, then added, "Though extraterrestrial is probably not out of the question at this juncture."

"Oh, somewhere...green. With big hills. I want to run up hills."

He smiled. "Your wish is my command."  If it happens to be something I desire as well, that is.

They changed into more appropriate outfits, then taking her hand, they moved together... somehow...through something nameless...with no need of warp technology...and within seconds were standing side by side in a Swiss valley in the foothills of the Alps.

"Ready?" he asked brightly.

"It's beautiful, Sid. Absolutely beautiful!"  She took off down a rough cow path, her hair

blowing free behind her.

He watched a moment, appreciating the lines of her body, the grace of her movement, then dashed to catch up with her. She leapt over a fairly large boulder then stopped abruptly on the other side. "How did I do that?" she asked, puzzled.

"Joy," he said. "Sheer joy of  running."

She laughed. "You may be right. I...I...feel just...wonderful!" She spun around, her arms outstretched, her chin tipped to the sky. Then she paused and looked at him, her head cocked. "It's got to be more than that, Sid. You know it does."

He shrugged. "Vitamins and things. I made sure you got lots of stuff that's good for your body while you were ill."

"Is that it?"

"What else could it be?" he smiled.

"I've never felt this strong in my life," she added. "And I was not a weakling in the first place."

"Very true," he agreed. "But do you like it? That's what's important. Do you like it?"

"I do like it," she grinned happily. "I love being outdoors, being free to run." She eyed him. "Think you can catch me?" She was off again, scooting easily up a very steep incline.

He allowed her a head start, thinking he would easily catch up to her, but it took more effort than he'd imagined. She was so nearly his equal now in physical ability that the head start had been all she needed to keep a bit ahead of him. At the top, she stopped, waiting the few seconds

it took him to get where she was. "Slowpoke," she teased.

It was the first time he'd ever been bested in speed. It took him a moment to decide if he were displeased about that. But looking at her as she was, golden and strong in the mountain air, all he wanted was to take her right there in the small, high meadow.  "Brianna...," he said, his

hand moving to the zipper of her jogging top.

She knew instantly what he wanted.  "Sid," she replied, thinking of making him catch her despite suddenly wanting him as much as he obviously did her.

He read it in her eyes. "No," he said. "Don't."

"All right, Sid," she grinned and lunged for him, knocking him flat on his back then plopping astride him.

He was startled, but quickly recovered. No woman had ever done such a thing to him. The corners of his mouth twitching in a small smile, he flipped his body, sending her sprawling on her backside. Now he was on top, his eyes riveted on her face. This was different. He liked different. His hands pinned her wrists to the tall grass. She licked her lips, arched her back

and he went sailing backwards over her knees. Laughing, she rolled atop him, but he was too quick this time and rolled with her, not paying attention to how close they'd come to the edge

of the meadow.

Right over the end of it they went, arms and legs tangled, rolling over and over and over until they were halfway down the long slope before they stopped. It was there he unzipped her, there with the yellow wildflowers framing her hair. His counterpart. She truly was his counterpart.
All he had to do was get her used to the capabilities of her new body. She'd grow to like them, grow to accept them, grow to...require them. Then it would be all right. Then she could know that she was like him and it would be all right.

Later, much later, they lay side by side watching the sun begin to sink behind a distant peak. "Can we go to the island?" she suddenly asked.

He leaned up on one elbow. "You want to go back to the island?"

"Most of my memories seem centered there for some reason," she mused. "It seems more like home to me than any place I can think of."

He plucked a long-stemmed flower, twirling it for a moment between his thumb and a finger, then leaned toward her, tracing the small yellow petals down the line of her collar bone, on down around her breast.

"Don't do that," she said softly.

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Because you're making me want to do...this."  She slid a bare arm around his neck, pulling his head down to hers. "There is no one to save you," she whispered, her lips brushing his.

"Do I need saving?"

"Ummm hmmm," she murmured.

He was enthralled. She never tired. Like him, she never tired. And she wanted him. Like he wanted her. She wanted him. So they loved again, and again, and yet again. There was simply

no need to stop. 

Sometime in the night, he took them to the island.  They were lying in the alpine grass, then they were lying in the sand, the thin leading edge of the far reach of the surf curling foamily about their feet.

"Home," he said.

She lifted her head enough to see the outlines of palms against the moonlight. "Home," she agreed. "But no peaches."

"I'm not hungry."

"Neither am I," she murmured, taking his lower lip gently between her teeth.

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