Date:         Thu, 6 Apr 1995 12:23:25 EDT
Reply-To:     "If 'Love is for poets,' then let me be poetic..."
              <MACLEOD@TEMPLEVM.BITNET>
Sender:       Highlander TV show stories <HLFIC-L@PSUVM.PSU.EDU>
Comments:     Resent-From: "If 'Love is for poets,' then let me be poetic..."
              <MACLEOD @TEMPLEVM>
Comments:     Originally-From: "If 'Love is for poets,' then let me be
              poetic..." <MACLEOD @TEMPLEVM>
From:         "If 'Love is for poets,' then let me be poetic..."
              <MACLEOD@TEMPLEVM.BITNET>
Subject:      The Night Is Still Young 1 of 1  (Director's Cut)  ;)

Disclaimer: The following story is an interlude chapter in the MacKenzie
"saga," sort of an epilogue for Battle of Evermore and also a prologue for
Red Rain, the next installment (4 of 5 total installments, the first being
Descendants to the Prize and Behind Blue Eyes).  Copies, if you can't get
them from the archives, are available upon request, but be patient.  :)

Warning: The following also contains quite explicit sex and the usual
trimmings associated with it, so if you don't go for that kind of stuff
you can skip this one-parter.  Likewise, if you happen to be under whatever
minimum age is in your neck of the woods, skip it and delete it.  :)

_______________________________________________________________________________
*******************************************************************************
*********************** H  I  G  H  L  A  N  D  E  R **************************
*******************************************************************************
******************** The   Night   Is   Still   Young *************************
*******************************************************************************
_______________________________________________________________________________
Continuing the Story of Brian MacKenzie and David Macleod...
by Brian Procopio
Copyright 1995, Kaos Pictures, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
_______________________________________________________________________________

    "I'm young enough to still see the passionate boy that I used to be,
        but I'm old enough to say I got a good look at the other side...
     I know we gotta work real hard, maybe even for the rest of our lives,
        but right now I just want to take what I can get tonight...
     While the night is still young...
        I want to keep making love to you..."

_______________________________________________________________________________

      Brian closed his eyes again, the music sweeping his awareness of the
outside world away with it, all of his attention focused on the woman before
him, the smooth silk of her wedding gown sliding beneath his fingers as his
hands ran down her sides, still trying to take in the fact that this image of
perfection in a five foot two frame was now his wife forever.  Laurana's breath
blew softly on his face and he opened his eyes again, seeing such a depth of
emotion in the deep brown irises gazing lovingly back up at him, such a pure
reflection of his own feelings.  Her lips silently mouthed out the words, "I
love you," moments before he bent to kiss them, his soul opening deeper than
ever before in the tender tounch...
     It seemed a matter of mere moments before the young DJ behind the
speakers announced the last song, a series of images and brief snippets of
conversations lost in a haze of emotion.  Most of the guests were out on
the crowed dance floor, partners in arm, swaying slowly to the music as
Peter Gabriel's voice sang out, cutting through a dozen hushed conversations
between mortals and immortals, some knowing the secret shared by so many
tonight and others associating the random comments of centuries past to the
alcohol.  Laurana rested her head on his chest, feeling the beat of his
heart thump deeply under the bass of the song, her hands tight around his neck,
her body pressed firmly to his as they rocked slowly to the chorus of "In Your
Eyes."  MacKenzie let his eyes scan through the crowd, making eye contact
with some, just acknowledging the presence of others.  Duncan and Amanda,
pressed almost as tightly as himself and his love, clung tightly to each
other, both feeling the loss of too many friends in the few months past,
both finding a brief respite from the pain of reality in each others grasp.
Duncan had come arrayed in full Macleod dress, kilt and all, and had become
almost the center of attention to all.  Almost all...
      Then came the other two Macleods, both courting mortal dance partners,
Connor swaying with the full security and confidence of someone who's been
courting casually for centuries and David, with a date of a local friend
from college, with the awkward confusion of a beginning relationship, unsure
of just how far the friendship would go before deeper feelings surfaced and
still reeling from the blows of his last debacle, the pain of telling another
his deepest secret of his own immortality and then being rejected.  Brian
smiled in his direction, giving his pupil a slight nod that caused him to
blush several shades, thinking his teacher was granting an approval of his
choice in dates.  He'd come around, Brian decided.  It was the Macleod in
him.
      Then there was Ritchie and Michele.  The two seemed to hit it off just
so.  Maybe it was the wild streak that he knew Ritchie had in him and he had
heard about in Michele.  Either way they made an interesting couple, although
it still seemed odd to have Ritchie arrayed in a tux, it just looked... odd,
somehow.  MacKenzie chuckled a bit as he realized he probably looked rather
similar to the young red-head, his age of three hundred plus trapped neatly
in a twenty year old body.  He had the age and experience up on Ritchie Ryan,
though, the slight motions that come only after long experience in conserving
movements and energy.  In him, it was a combination of martial training of
so many styles as well as the experience of war...
      War.  Was it only so short of a time ago that he fought for so long?
The endless nightmare of combat missions when life or death for so many was
determined merely by how quietly one moved.  For so many centuries that was
his life, fighting whenever, whereever, however.  Too many times heartbreak
would lead him to it, the ceaseless press of mercenary battles.
      No, not exactly mercenary, not always, he corrected himself.  Not for
the past hundred years or so when he realized just how much he loved this
country, possibly even as much as his beloved Scotland, but he'd never tell
Duncan or Connor that.  The spirit, the drive, it was all too easy to become
infused with it since those early days of the revolution.  And so he had
fought in times of war and trained in times of peace.  Occaisionally, in the
rare quiet and happy moments, he plied the ways of the actor on the stage
again, returning to his roots from time to time, but for too much of his life
he was a warrior first.  Not anymore, he told himself as he caressed Laurana's
cheek warmly, not anymore...

*******************************************************************************

      "Joe, you're worse than a ten-year old!"  Brian chastised playfully as
he helped Dawson into the car.
      "Sorry, Brian, it's just that a split Quickening is an extremely rare
occurrance for us *and* you.." continued the bearded Watcher.
      "Joe, when I get back I'll come see you, and then you can ask me all the
questions you want, ok?"  Brian answered the older-looking gentleman ernestly.
      "*All* the questions?" retorted Dawson with a smirk and a wink.
      "Get outta here ya bum," chuckled MacKenzie as he began to back away from
the late model indescript automobile.  Perfect for a Watcher, his espionage-
trained instincts told him, you would never notice it on the road behind you.
      "MacKenzie,"  Dawson stated as he grabbed ahold of Brian's hand just
leaving the windowsill.  "Good luck.  You guys look good together, I've thought
so for a long time..."
      "Thanks, Joe," returned the immortal with a happy smile.  "Thanks for
coming, it means alot to have new friends who know the secret."
      He watched the car scoot down the driveway smoothly, exiting onto the
road and turning towards the airport.  That reminded him to check his watch,
they'd have to be leaving soon themselves in order to catch their flight.  He
turned around to face both Connor and David who walked towards him from the
coat room in the inner lobby, each with a trenchcoat slung over one arm, Con-
nor's a light beige and David's a solid black.  The more he saw Dave with his
kinsmen the more he saw the Macleod in him, even though both Connor and Duncan
were a good few inches taller than him.
      "Mac..." began the youngest of the Macleods as he stepped up to his
mentor, offering his hand to him.
      Brian grabbed the hand and pulled, clasping his one-time student and
later friend firmly in a hug.  "Dave."  He broke the contact and stepped back,
his hand still clasped around David's shoulder.
      "Well... congrats and all, Mac, and, well, you know..." Dave smiled
sheepishly.
      "Yeah, I know..." Brian returned with a nod, his emotions still lost
in a haze somewhere off around the words, "I do."
      "Listen, Brian," Connor broke in with a hearty smirk and a hand on Mac-
Kenzie's shoulder.  "Dave and I have been talking a bit and I think he might
head up to  Boston  after the semester's over, spend the summer and such..."
      "Yeah, sounds good you two.  Catch up on the clan history, right?"  Brian
grinned at his first teacher.
      "Yes like the history of how to handle a good double Scotch..."

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

      ...by Connor Macleod, esteemed patron immortal of pubs and bars in the
Old World and the New,"  Brian laughed heartily as he swallowed another mouth-
ful of his drink.  Whoa.. have to take it easy there, he decided as the room
twirled about along several axises all of a sudden.
      Connor snorted, "Looks like it would be educational reading for *you*,
Brian."  He stared at him intently, trying to force back a grin.  "What's a
matter, getting out of practice in your old age?"
      Brian's resolve failed as a lopsided smirk worked it's way onto Connor's
face, and the two collapsed in laughter on the countertop, Brian's stray hand
whipping out and upsetting a bowl of pretzels immensely, spilling its salty
contents across the bar and onto the floor, which, of course, the pair found
immensely amusing all the while.
      "What's with them, Sammie?" asked a portly gentleman at the opposite end
of the bar moments before he chugged another gulp of his beer down.
      The bartender leaned over on one elbow, glancing back in Connor and
Brian's direction as he whispered confidentially into his customer's ear.  "Now
see the older one?  That's Connor, he's a quasi-regular and he's quite certain
that he was born a few hundred years ago in Scotland if you believe that one.."
He chuckled, knocking loose a few strands from his bad toupee in the process.
      "Uh oh, looks like the mortals are asking a few questions," snickered
Brian quietly as he stared back at the odd looks from the people at the end
of the bar.
      "Um, well we better go then shouldn't we?"  Connor collapsed into a fit
of giddy laughter, his eyes clenched shut and leaking tears.
      Brian shook his head, the very image of his esteemed mentor completely
smashed still hard to believe.  He didn't really want to find a mirror himself,
he decided thoughtfully-- well, as thoughtfully as possible under the circum-
stances.  He brought his legs off of the bar stool and attempted to gain a
measure of stability before hauling Connor to two legs and a firm grip on the
rail along the bar.  "Up ya go, Macleod!"
      As the two staggered towards the front door the conversation at the other
end of the bar continued unabated as a professor-esque looking man with a
moustache and a postal worker's uniform rambled on.  "Well actually, Sammie,
there were some fairy folk living in Scotland at the time, it's quite possible,
according to the ancient Celts, that some might have mated with human women and
the resulting offspring would be immortal..."
      "Now come on, Cliff, who in their right mind would want to sleep with a
fairy?"  the middle-aged bartender retorted.
      "Diane,"  commented the overweight barstool abuser on the end as he
slammed back the last gulp of the foamy brew with a chuckle...

_______________________________________________________________________________

      "Yeah, this is a nice place you've got here, Connor, you always had an
eye for finding them,"  Brian remarked as he scanned the apartment loft with a
yawn.  The decor was mostly light in color, soft pastels and beiges accentuated
by the bright sun streaming in through the wide French windows looking out onto
the city of Boston.  "I don't know though, it just seems..."
      "Not me?"  Connor guessed as he drank another gulp of his coffee, one
cream, one sugar.
      Brian nodded as he sipped at his hot chocolate testingly.  Damn, but that
was hot.  "Yeah, not you... that's probably it.  What happened, did you behead
an interior decorator?"  he smirked.
      "Heh-heh-heh,"  Connor chuckled, his eyes crinkling slightly in amuse-
ment.  "No, I fell in love with one."
      Brian spit a fine stream of chocolate clear across the light tan walls in
an aborted swallow of liquid.  "You *what*?"  he stammered.
      Connor smiled heartily at his longtime friend.  "You know, man, woman,
love, that sort of thing..."
      "But when?  I mean, it's only been a few months and all..."  Brian began
to reason.
      "MmHmmm..." Connor nodded, smiling still.
      "Well, I mean.. congratulations I guess, wow..."  Brian remarked.
      "Her name is Cynthia, she's a decorator out in Los Angelos most of the
time but she lives here when she's not on assignment.  I met her at a party in
New York not long before I left there.  Ah, god she's beautiful..."  Connor
smiled wistfully at MacKenzie, who chuckled warmly, the aftereffects of the
night of drinking forgotten momentarily.
      "Look at you, Connor, you're like a schoolboy!"  Brian laughed.  "All
warm inside and in love.  *Love*!!!  I never thought I'd hear you say the word
again."
      "These things happen, Brian.  Sometimes only once, sometimes twice if
you're lucky, but they happen, and you have to hold on as tight as you can
when they do..."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

      "...and never let go when you know she's the *one*," Connor finished as
Cynthia-- Cindy, Brian corrected himself, came up beside him and slipped her
arm around his waist.
      "Don't worry, Connor,"  MacKenzie gazed wistfully off into the distance
to see Laurana and Amanda giggling playfully as they walked through the lobby.
"I won't.  Now get the hell outta here, you damned Macleod!"
      "I'm still older than you, MacKenzie!"  Connor smirked.
      "Yes, but I'm still better,"  Brian retorted with a smile as he waved
Connor and his fiancee off.  "So.."  he commented as he turned to face his
student.  "You're off to travel with the almighty one, are you?"
      "Well, as soon as the semester ends and all..." David commented.
      Brian nodded in acknowledgement as David walked over to his date's
waiting car.  "Maybe he can teach you how to drive!" he called out to his
student who chuckled in return.  "I'll call, ok?"
      "Damned right you'll call.  I wouldn't want to find out the two of you
found *another* ancient pair of immortals to mess with,"  David smirked,
the lights of the doorway reflecting with a glimmer from the two earrings in
his left ear.  Brian shook his head as he turned to see who was left, and was
greeted by his wife's warm smile in return, with Duncan, Amanda, Ritchie, and
Michele in tow.
      "Duncan..." Brian commented as he clasped his friend's forearm in his
own, holding tightly.  "Hang in there, ok?  We'll be back around in a few
months..."
      "I will," Duncan winked in return.  He turned and gave the bride a
soft kiss on the cheek before walking out.
      Amanda leaned over and planted a kiss on Brian's cheek wetly.  "Hey,
watch it," he retorted as he wrapped his arms around Laurana's waist tightly.
"You wouldn't want Laura here to think there was something going on between
us two..."
      Amanda slipped a hand around and goosed MacKenzie as she winked with
a giggle, "Of course not, Cherie..."
      "I'd have to behead you both," smirked Laurana as she poked Amanda in
the ribs before shoving her off.  "Watch after *that* one," she pointed in
Duncan's direction.
      "Well, Mac, thanks for inviting me...," clamored Ritchie as he grabbed
MacKenzie's hand in a firm handshake.
      "Hey, Ritchie, no problems at all, glad to see the two of you could
make it," commented Brian nearly from rote repition.
      "Drop us a line when you get back to touring on the racing circuit,
Ritchie, we'll try to stop by and watch," smiled Laurana.
      "Great, so now I have to deal with performance anxiety too..." Ritchie
shook his head as he walked down to the waiting car with a wave.
      Laurana slumped exhaustedly against her husband.  "Are they all gone?"
she questioned as she wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on his
arm.
      "I don't sense any more of them..."  Brian smirked as he wrapped an arm
around her shoulder, squeezing gently.
      "Well go check for any mortal stragglers then while I go and get changed
for the flight!" she poked him firmly in the center of his plaid cumberbun
in the colors of the clan MacKenzie.
      "You sure you don't need any help?" he winked suggestively.
      Laurana replied by playfully ruffling his hair with her lace-clad
fingers.  "Oh yes I'm sure.  We'd never make the flight otherwise..."

_______________________________________________________________________________

      Fifteen minutes and one of the quickest room by room scans through the
century old MacKenzie mansion, followed by a speedy change of clothes, later,
Brian half-trotted, half-stumbled down the circular staircase to answer the
chiming door bell.  A finely dressed older gentleman stood there, their
driver, with the 1938 silver Mercendes Benz parked just in front of the door.
      "Laur-," Brian began to call as he turned about, just in time to see
his newlywed wife walk into the room, clad in a comfortable-looking pair of
tight-fitting jeans and his warm MacKenzie tartan flannel, her sword case slung
over one shoulder casually.
      "You called?" she smiled impishly at him.
      Mackenzie nodded in return and looked around briefly at the surrounding
entrance hall.  "Well, we're all set, the bags are in the car already, right?"
      "Of course, sir," the stately grey-haired man replied stocily.
      "After you, then, love..." Brian bowed towards the door.
      "Why thank you, kind sir,"  Laurana returned with a grin, slinging her
case off of her shoulder and onto Brian's outstretched arm before heading out
the door.
      As soon as the engine of the automobile sprung to life Laurana nearly
pounced on him, going from coy smile to full-throated assault in the space of
half a heart-beat.  MacKenzie returned the kiss just as passionately, feeling
the heat of her body pressed tightly against his and pulling her closer still.
The space of a few mere heartbeats filled the time between the beginning of the
kiss and the breaking of the embrace as the brakes of the German automobile
squeaked cleanly to a halt in front of the international departures gate.  She
smiled seductively as her finger played slowly across his lips.  "Soon," she
whispered.

_______________________________________________________________________________

      Nearly three-quarters of an hour later the massive Concorde took flight
over the lights of the nighttime city, which faded quickly into the murky
blackness as the craft swung out over the waters of the Atlantic.  MacKenzie
sat comfortably as could be possible in an airplane, with a pillow over the
armrest of the chair and Laurana leaning back, partially against it and par-
tially against his chest, his arm wrapped tight around her midsection, his
chin resting lightly atop her straight auburn hair.
      He felt more than heard her breath, the gentle rise and fall of her
chest that pushed lightly against his forearms, the motion slipping him quite
quickly along the path to unconciousness.  He tried yet again to wipe the smile
off of his face that had been, he believed, totally permanent ever since seeing
her in all of her radience as she walked down the aisle towards him, but failed
as she released a soft sigh in the midst of her exhausted sleep.  He leaned
back a bit further into the chair as he pulled the wool blanket a bit further
around them, settling down for a minor recharge of his batteries, he decided...

_______________________________________________________________________________

      The soft press of Laurana's full lips roused Brian from his slumber in a
matter of moments, her fingers curling the hair at the nape of his neck as she
leaned backwards into the kiss.  He inhaled slightly, filling his senses with
the intoxicating scent of her hair as he began to probe intently with his
toungue.
      Brian allowed his fingers to trail down the length of her body, sliding
up and down the sides of her body in agonizing slowness, feeling the heat
burning just beneath the seemingly flimsy fabric in between.  Laurana turned
slightly in her seat to face him a little more directly, sucking in a lingering
fashion upon his lower lip as her hands pressed firmly upon his chest. He broke
the kiss momentarily as he regained his awareness of exactly where they were,
his eyes scanning the seats of the aircraft, looking for signs of life but
finding none, the passengers, as to be expected on a red eye flight, were all
tucked away and sleeping soundly.
      "What, you don't think I would've checked before waking you like that?"
she whispered with a slight giggle.
      He trailed the second knuckle of his finger lightly along her cheek, "If
I didn't know you the way I do I might have said no."  He winked quickly at her
with a slight smirk on his features.
      "Ach, you dammed Scot, why do you torture me so?" she began to chuckle,
but was cut off by the fierce press of his lips on hers.  After an eternity
long minute she pulled away with a gasp for breath.
      "Shhhh...," Mackenzie placed his finger on her lips as he stared at her
with his light blue eyes.  "Not another word..." he whispered as he began to
kisses her lightly upon the neck.
      As the press of his lips continued Laura rolled her head back, exposing
more of her neckline to the gentle touch.  The Scot craned his own neck around
in his teasing touch, kissing her right along the hollow of her throat as his
finger played lightly down from her lips and trailed down, caressing lightly
around her earlobe before trailing down to her shoulder.  She moaned softly
under the touch, loosing her tenuous hold on the reality of the situation
with the teasing lightness of the feel.  MacKenzie's hand slipped down along
her collarbone, slipping underneath the half-opened flannel shirt she had on
and rubbing softly along the smooth silk of her bra, cupping her breast firmly
in his hand.
      "Oh those damnable hands of yours..." she breathed inaudibly as Brian
nibbled lightly on her earlobes.  Her body arched to meet his hands as his
thumb teased firmly across her nipple, springing it to life in an instant.  He
covered her mouth with his own to stifle her escaping moan as his fingers
caressed her to a firmness that was almost painful to the touch, but there
was nothing she wanted more than the touch at that moment.  A shiver ran up her
spine as his kisses lightly covered her neckline, the last vestiges of common
decency forcing her to scan the surrounding seats of the luxury plane and,
seeing no movement, no voyuer's eyes, she suck deeper into her seat, leaning
fully back into its contours as MacKenzie's hands played across hers.
      Brian's mouth slipped further down along her breastbone.  "Jesus, Bri, I
never would have known you were... flexible," she whispered with a chuckle that
was cut off suddenly by the feel of his fingers sliding along her waistline,
sneaking quickly under the folds of her shirt and running warmly back and forth
along her abdomen.  At the same time his lips raced upwards again to meet hers
in a liplocked embrace again, pushing her deeper in her seat with the intensity
of the action.
      Brian's eyes caught hers, trapping them in his sapphire gaze as his hand
slid down along her upper thigh.  Laurana felt her breath get caught in her
throat as his fingers trailed lightly up her inner thigh then pressed firmly
downwards again to her kneecap before teasing up her leg again.  MacKenzie
repeated the action innumerable times, coming closer and closer to the center
of the heat emanating from her each time and darting away faster all the while.
A moan escaped her lips as his hand cupped her completely, his fingers pressing
firmly down on her as they rubbed her slowly through the material of her jeans.
Her eyes squeezed tightly shut as he continued his slow minstrations, his mouth
sucking intently on her neck all the while.
      "Oh god you feel so perfect...," Brian whispered as his hands clutched at
the zipper of her jeans, finally getting enough of a grip to slip it down.
Laurana wiggled slightly to ease herself a little more from the constricting
garment.
      "Ahhh...," she whispered as his fingers rubbed lightly over the silk
of her panties.  "I'm not perfect..."
      "For me you are," he smiled at her lovingly as he kissed her cheek
lightly, then returned his lips to her collarbone.  Her retort was cut off
as her body arched up to meet his probing fingers as they snuck under the
last garments between them, rubbing firmly across her clit as they rubbed the
length of her glistening lips, lubricating his fingers with her own wetness.
The agonizing caress continued unabated as she squirmed under the touch,
teh continual sliding back and forth.  One of her hands found her own nipple
and teased herself as her other hand clutched desperately at the armrest,
nearly molding the hard plastic with the intenseness of her grip.
      "Ohhh those damnable hands....," she whispered, the final words coming
out more in an exasperated and high-pitched sigh as his fingers entered into
her.  MacKenzie's toungue probed her as his fingers did the same, the beating
of her heart throbbing intently in her ears, her muscles clenching and
unclenching in time with it, pulling Brian's fingers deeper into her with each
pulse.  Her breath came in short, ragged gasps as his fingers formed a steady
rythmn, driving deep into her wetness with each beat.
      "Ahh, lass....," Brian whispered into her ear as he nibbled softly on her
earlobe, his fingers varying the pattern slightly every now and then, playing
to the sides occaisionally, rubbing up against her clit with every slickened
motion.  Laurana fairly swooned in the seat, her breath all but gone, just a
high-pitched gasp every few seconds as her body trembled on the verge of her
orgasm.  She broke the contact of their lips involuntarily as her body tight-
ened into the caress of his fingers as they curled upwards to hit her most
sensitive regions at the same time that the heel of his palm ground down upon
her sensitive clit.  A sharp cry escaped her lips as she felt herself slip
over the peak, the orgasm capturing all her soul and essence in one blast wave
of passion, MacKenzie's digits still probing her lightly, teasing intently,
letting her feel the beginnings of her second even before she was fully down
from her first.
      He slipped his digits from her dripping wetness and brought them to her
lips, she opened her eyes to gaze at him as she seductively brought each of his
fingers into her mouth, sucking them intently, the very taste of her own
juices spurring her on.  He pulled them reluctantly from her mouth and brought
them down along her breasts again, assuring that her tender nipples were not
going to lose their hardness anytime soon.  She curled one arm around the back
of his head, her fingers playing through his hair as his fingers slid down into
her again, bringing her to her orgasm quicker this time, knowing exactly the
right places to press against to only build up the energy rushing through her
body.  After bringing her down from her last peak he drew her closely into his
arms and held her tightly to him, letting her lick his wet fingers and then
kissing her deeply, the taste of her filling his senses completely....

_______________________________________________________________________________

      The British Airways stewardess walked down the aisle casually yet with
perfect balance and poise from one too many long flights on her feet, turning
reading lights off over the heads of some passengers, tucking a blanket around
others.  She reached a couple resting peacefully at the end of the aisle, the
dark-haired young man resting with a contented look on his face, his arms tight
around his... hmmm, girlfriend, she asumed.  They appeared a little too young
to be married.  "How's everything, sir?," she questioned rotely.
      "Never better," he smiled before his eyes closed, drifting off into
unconciousness peacefully.

_______________________________________________________________________________

    "Rock and Roll music was the only thing I ever gave a damn about,
         There was something always missing but I never used to wonder why...
     Now I know you're the one who's gonna make things right again,
         And I may lose the battle but you've given me the will to try...
     While the Night Is Still Young....
         I wanna try to make your world brand new....."

_______________________________________________________________________________

      Laurana giggled irrepresibly as Brian's fingers tickled her sides again
and he lifted her up into his arms.  She nearly squealed as her horzion took
a 90 degree shift.  "HEY!" she laughed.  "What on god's name are you doing?"
      "Just obeying the customs, love,"  MacKenzie smirked.  "It's my duty to
carry you over the threshold on your wedding night."
      "Morning is more like it," she snorted.
      "Hey... let's continue to escape that reality a bit more, hmm?"  Brian
brought his lips to hers and kissed her deeply.
      "mmMMMmmmm..." she moaned into his kiss.  "That works..."
      Brian twisted to carry her through the door of the home, a strange mix-
ture of old and new.  Overall, it looked like an ancient ancestral home, his
to be specific, that had been purchased and refurbished by an eclectic million-
aire.  Of course, that was exactly the look he was trying to go for.  Once
inside the doorway she nudged him.  "Put me down," she ordered him.
      As he complied he inquired why.  Laurana answered him with her actions
as she slammed the door shut behind him and pressed him to the wall with her
body, pinning him there with her kiss.  "mm... oh," he answered her.
      She ground her hips against his instinctively as she leaned over and
grabbed his earlobe lightly between her teeth.  "I want you, MacKenzie... now,"
she whispered as she stared deeply into his eyes, seeing the same fire she
felt inside reflected there.  "Do you want me?" she asked as she raked her
nails down his chest, coming to rest on the buckle of his belt.
      Brian's mouth opened and shut several times too many before he answered
her with an inaudible, "yes."
      "Well...," she whispered as she leaned over and purred softly in his
ear, her fingers tracing lines along his waist.  "You'll have to catch me
first..."  With a bolt she raced up the stairs behind her, MacKenzie hot in
tow at her heels.  Through room after room she slipped before she opened a wide
set of double doors into a wide and spacious bedroom, several candles flut-
tering in the opening as they sat arrayed around a massive four-poster antique
bed.  "Ohhh...," she whispered a half-second before MacKenzie's arms circled
her waist and pulled her to him.
      "You like?" he questioned as he pulled her hair back and began to kiss
the back of her neck.
      She craned backwards into the touch with a "yes."  MacKenzie's hands
caressed lightly as they played down her chest, squeezing firmly along her
breasts.  She turned to face him and pulled his shirt off before pressing her
lips up to his as she turned her attention to his belt, tossing it haphazrdly
over her shoulder.  Brian's eyes clenched shut tightly as she lightly ran her
fingernails over the crotch of his jeans, teasing playfully down the length of
his erection. "I'm glad to see you aren't suffering from jet lag...," she
murmured as she eyed him intently.
      Brian smiled intently back as he took the first button of her shirt in
his fingers and began to work it open.
      "One.. Two... threee... four.... five.....," she breathed silently with
each button as it came undone.  He ran his hands up underneath the straps of
her bra, caressing lightly over her shoulders and reaching back to unclasp the
lingere.  Laurana's hands pulled her hair upwards as she smiled her most
seductve of smiles at her lover as his hands cupped over each nipple.  He
pressed her backwards with his touch several steps until she felt the satin of
teh sheets behind her.  His hands slipped around, one on her ass, kneading
tightly as his other circled her back, lowering her softly to the sheets.  He
reached downwards and unfastened her jeans again, sliding them over her hips
slowly, lovingly, his eyes never leaving her form as he took in its beauty
inch by inch.  She reached up and undid his own jeans with a firm yank on his
zipper, and he slithered out of them before climbing into the bed with her.
      Laurana moaned loudly as his body pressed against hers, not a single
inch existing where they did not meet.  Her hips bucked instinctively up
to meet his as their lips met, the intensity pressing her deep into the
soft pillow behind her, it's coolness contrasting rapidly with the heat
of the contact.  The friction of their skin alone teased her nipples to
life, and she tweaked firmly on each of his with her fingers, causing him to
shudder uncontrollably.  She reached a hand around and ran her nails up his
back, causing his tenuous grip on control to nearly snap in two, and he began
to massage the sensitive areas of her neck with his mouth, his fingers rubbing
firmly against her moistened panties, grinding against her...
      "Now...," she whispered as she caught his eyes, the look of love on his
face tempered only by the all-too real sensation of his need pressing against
her , straining to break free from its cloth prison.  His fingers  hooked under
the material of her panties, sliding it over her hips and down her legs as he
lowered his lips to her, trailing a series of light kisses along her inner
thigh.  Her body trembled as his toungue licked lightly across her clit,
teasingly soft in its quick motion.  MacKenzie circled the center of her
pleasure zones in deft motions, causing her to writh to and fro against him,
her legs circling his face as her muscles clenched to his probing toungue.
     As the tension built to the point of orgasm MacKenzie stoped his actions,
rising up to her mouth to catch her in a kiss more intense then any she had
felt in her entire life as his body rocked against hers.  She slipped her hands
down and slid his shorts off him and grasping the him by the base as she looked
intently into his eyes, rubbing the head of his member along the soaked length
of her lips, moistening it even as his own pre-come seeped out and mixed with
her own juices.  "So...," she whispered, "are you gonna make an honest woman
out of me or not?"
      Brian felt his muscles clench and tighten as they reacted to her touch,
needing several second before he was able to respond.  "What's a matter," she
grinned impishly, "having trouble breathing Brian dear?"
      He leaned close in to her ear and whispered, "Aye lass... just a bit..."
      She smiled at him and took his lip into her mouth, lingering a bit
before releasing it and whispering, "Good, lord, I'd be worried if you
weren't..."  She ground her hips upwards with a quick motion and gasped as
he entered fully into her.  God, she thought, it had been so long, so much
wanting, waiting, dreaming, fantasizing about this moment and now, finally,
it had come and she was making love to MacKenzie at last.  Her body reacted to
his every touch as their hips moved as one, grinding back and forth intently
to a rythmn of their own making.
      The sound, no... feel.. of Laurana's heartbeat pulsed strongly though
him, beating through her breasts crushed so tightly to his chest and also
through her inner walls, throbbing incessantly with the flow of her blood,
the hunger, the desire burning in the motion they created together.  "Oh my
god you're so beautiful...," he whispered under his breath as he looked into
the eyes of his wife, feeling her body begin to quiver inside, the perfect fit
that felt like a glove beginning to slide easier as the slick wetness of her
orgasm began, pulling him in  powerfully to her with one massive clenching
of her inner muscles, her legs circled around him squeezing tightly around him
and sending him to his release as well, flooding her entirely in the most
intense orgasm he had ever experienced.  He continued for several moments,
working her down slowly from her peak, stretching it out, extending the moment
indefinately as he slumped exhaustedly against her, letting the warmth spill
between them as he held her tight to him.
      He rolled over slightly to his side, clutching her tight to him.  Laurana
rested her head on her husband's chest as she snuggled closer to him, a warm
glow seeming to spread outwards at their every touch, allowing her to forget
the centuries past, the constant presence of the Game.  Allowing her, for once,
to feel hope again...
      "I love you...," he whispered for millionth time that day alone, it
seemed, but meaning it with all of his soul each and every time.  The words
were the last she heard before slipping peacefully into unconciousness,
ending the long night of waiting at long last.....


                   _______________________________
                          for my artist...
                           love always,
                              brian
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