LOTS - CARA/KAHLAN

Like A Hammer

seven_3_oh (Amanda)

Title: like a hammer

Author: seven_3_oh (amanda)

Pairing: Cara/Kahlan

Fandom: legend of the seeker

Rating: PG–13

Word Count: 3,331

Summary: Set in Season Two of the television series, ‘Legend of the Seeker’ after Vengeance… given the opportunity to observe a Mord–Sith, What Would Kahlan do?

Disclaimer: “Legend of the Seeker”, its characters, and the situations depicted on the show are the property of ABC Studios, Disney, et all, as well as Terry Goodkind. This story cannot be sold or used for profit in any way. Copies of this story may be made for private use only and must include all disclaimers and copyright notices.

Author’s Note: just a little one off, came to me while listening to ‘Help, I’m alive’ by Metric

Date: 04.21.2010

Like A Hammer

seven_3_oh (Amanda)

“Have you ever noticed how long her eyelashes are?”

“Richard.”

“Or that she has that little freckle under her eye.”

“Richard.”

“Is it a freckle or is it a mole?”

“Richard.”

“And her eyebrows can be so soft looking; you know when she isn’t scowling at me.”

“Riiiiiccchhhaarrrdddd.” She pulled his name into a low hiss.

“Is it just me or is her leather um dipping down more than”–

“RICHARD!” Kahlan snapped.

“What?” He asked, leaning further back, no longer hovering over Cara.

“Just. Stop.” She sighed softly.

“I… I can’t help it; she has never been this still before.”

“Cara isn’t being still, she is unconscious.”

“Is there a difference? She looks… peaceful. And sort of delicate.”

She rolled her eyes before looking at him sternly. “You know I think you should be more concerned with the fact that the Sisters of the Dark are running away with the scroll that was pretty much the only way you had of finding out what to do with the Stone of Tears once we get it.”

“True. But like you said, fate will help guide us.” He smiled.

“Richard, I was merely being supportive. We need that scroll.”

“Well, we can’t go anywhere with her like that.” He motioned to the very still Mord–Sith who lay prone on the ground between the three of them. “Zedd can’t you do something?”

“This is not magic, Richard. It is a concussion. Cara will wake when it is time; it is too dangerous to attempt to bring her out of it any sooner.” Zedd explained, before standing and brushing some of the soft dirt from his hands.

“So, we make camp then?” Richard said, taking off his pack.

“Perhaps Kahlan is right, if we split up?” Zedd urged once he saw the imploring look in Kahlan’s eyes.

“I suppose.”

She set her hand on his shoulder, “Go Richard, we will catch up.”

* * * * *

She wasn’t sure exactly how much time had passed since Richard and Zedd had run off after the Sisters of the Dark. She had been comfortable in contemplation, her back against the tree, Cara’s heavy weight resting against her lap, and her head on her thigh. The practical side of her mind told her to moved about and set up camp, to begin a fire, but practical was forgotten. She had watched the sun move through the trees, and then as the shadows began to elongate and the song birds changed their tune, her vision blurred and she just fell back into her own mind, her own thoughts.

It had been easy not to care for this woman, to hate her on sight. Hate was always easier. But now? After all they had been through, all the times they had saved one another’s life on this quest? Now she felt the calm contentment of comfort. For all her bristling exterior, proved Cara did care about all of them. While her tone and words had a way of ruffling feathers and arguing ideologies, she was an indispensable part of their dynamic. Kahlan was confident that without Cara they would not have come as far as they had, nor would they manage to defeat the Keeper.

Her fingers ended up running through Cara’s hair, before Kahlan stopped herself, realizing what she had been doing. Why her hand had moved to her blonde hair, Kahlan didn’t know. She did know that if Cara had regained conscious at that point she would have been mortified. A showing of gentleness wouldn’t bode well. Not for Cara. After their adventure in the tomb Cara had been so quick to deny any and every semblance of feelings or humanity. Outwardly at least.

Cara remained unmoving.

Kahlan smiled, a small little thought arising in her mind, before it took root and blossomed fully into intent and she did the one thing she knew without a shadow of a doubt she would never be able to do if this woman were conscious.

Making the decision she lifted her hand from Cara’s flaxen hair.

Her fingers trembled, until her blue eyed glare stilled them.

Kahlan ran the tip of her finger down the proud forehead, down the straight line of her nose, slipping over the end, and then over the dimple between her nose and lips. Kahlan’s intent was to continue moving her finger over Cara’s lips, down her chin. But her finger stilled on top of Cara’s lips. They were smooth, full. Fuller than Kahlan’s own. And they felt cold.

She bent her head closer to Cara’s, holding her ear over the blonde’s nose, listening.

She sighed in relief at hearing the soft sound of breathing.

Gently she lifted a still hand, and wrapped her fingers around the wrist, amazed that something so strong could in effect be so small. Turning her wrist Kahlan set her finger on the light blue veins and stopped her own breathing. A hush fell over the forest, and she waited. One moment more, and there it was.

A rhythm; slow, steady.

Cara was fine. Just motionless.

She set Cara’s hand down, laying it just below her breasts. Knowingly and yet inadvertently Kahlan’s eyes locked on to the opening in the leather, seeing the slight rise and fall of her chest, noticing the soft curve of Cara’s breasts. Richard had been correct; the space between each side of her leather did seem to be getting wider.

She had never been given the chance to observe Cara so thoroughly before. All of Cara’s skin looked so velvety, supple; a thin sheath over hard muscles, and a tough shell.

“Have you ever noticed how long her eyelashes are?”

“Or that she has that little freckle under her eye.”

“And her eyebrows can be so soft looking; you know when she isn’t scowling at me.”

Soft.

Kahlan’s own pulse started to increase, steadily getting faster, until she was fairly sure she could see Cara’s body on her lap rocking with its throb.

No one was here, no one would ever know… so why shouldn’t she?

Just to know. To be able to say, not that she ever would, that she knew the delicate press of a woman’s full, luscious, beckoning…

Lips.

Kahlan turned her head away, her eyes slamming closed.

What was wrong with her?

Slowly she lifted her eye lids, and looked back down at Cara.

What if nothing was wrong with her?

Transfixed, feeling as though the blood in her veins was urging her on, Kahlan slipped out from under Cara, laying her flat on the ground. Her knuckles moved over the relaxed skin of Cara’s cheek, and she sighed with relief that she was still unconscious.

Kneeling beside Cara she felt the titillation of freedom, letting her eyes run over Cara’s body, really looking at her. Even in the fading light the arch of her hips, running with perfection into long legs. Lean stomach, curve of her breasts, wide expanse of fair skin, leading up to an extended neck. Staring Kahlan could see the throb of the vein in Cara’s neck.

Hesitantly she leaned over.

The pull of the unknown, the hum of curiosity persuading her to move.

As tenderly as she could, Kahlan lay on top of Cara. A small little noise filled her ears, and she realized with a flush of heat under her skin that the noise had been made by her. The unique sensation of feeling thighs against hers, breasts pressing urgently to her own, not a fleeting sensation, but one that seemed to last, that could last until she ended it.

It felt so different; she didn’t think she wanted to end it

Searching Cara’s face for any change, a spasm of movement, she saw none and settled completely on top if her. Just barely she could make out the curve of Cara’s eye lashes, how they almost touched the tops of her cheeks, being so long. She shifted slightly, just so she could touch them with her thumb. It was almost a tickling sensation.

Her heart was beating faster now, faster with nervousness, with fascination, and perhaps something else.

Kahlan swallowed, and her hair cascaded around her head, cloaking both her and Cara. Even if someone were to happen upon them now there was no way they could see that she was staring at Cara’s lips. No one would ever know if she were to just…

Slowly she lowered her lips, needing to brush them against Cara’s suddenly more than she needed to breathe.

Just a heart beat more and Kahlan would know what those lips felt like on hers.

“Confessor.”

“What?” Her hair and head flung back in shock.

She had been so close, before Cara’s low voice spoke. Kahlan felt a deep embarrassment detonate inside of her, and she just could not look down, could not see Cara’s reproachful expression.

“Why am I laying here, and why are you on top of me?”

“Oh!” Kahlan squeaked, even more horrified now. She had been so entrenched in the feeling of Cara’s skin that she had forgotten where she was. Her hip twitched, so she could roll off of the Mord–Sith.

But a strong arm went around her back stopping her escape. A hand pressed on her hip, stilling her.

“Just…explain.” Cara’s voice purred.

Why wasn’t she letting Kahlan move off of her? She was completely confident in the plan of ‘run away and hide’ right now. Hesitantly she looked back to the blonde, whose eyes were bright, clear, and interested in the answer to her question.

“You were knocked unconscious.”

“That explains my headache. Who hit me?”

“A tree.”

“A tree?”

“A tree.”

“And how did a tree manage to not only attack me, but knock me out?”

“I may have…”

“May have what Mother Confessor?”

“Pushed you.”

“Why on earth.” Cara closed her eyes. Kahlan could feel their breasts moving closer, as Cara took a deep breath. Slowly her eyes opened. “When I said.”

“Um. Yes. Well, we don’t need to.”

“All I said was.”

“We both know what you said.”

“What is the matter with you?”

“Nothing, nothing at all.”

“Kahlan? Your heart is beating so hard I can feel it in mine.”

She swallowed, knowing Cara didn’t mean for those words to sound how they did to Kahlan, that she did not know that for some reason they made her want to tremble.

“That doesn’t explain what was so wrong?”

“It was inappropriate.” Kahlan clarified.

“Nooooo. Inappropriate is hearing you and Richard through the very thin wall of that inn two weeks ago.”

“You heard that.”

“Mm. Yes. I. Did.” Cara’s purred as her hand on Kahlan’s hip moved up slightly to her side.

She felt a sting on the side of her neck, but ignored it. The heat of Cara’s hand on her was all she could feel.

“What was it you were about to do, as you lay here, on top of me, Kahlan?” Cara asked, finishing her question with a slow lick across her bottom lip, seeming to know that Kahlan’s eyes would be riveted there. Kahlan forced her eyes away from the now wet lips, and was captured by Cara’s eyes. The look in her eyes was the same one that Cara would get at the end of a good fight, when her chest would be heaving with the open mouthed panting, her body sizzling, her face flushed.

“You’re blushing.” Cara observed.

“It’s just warm, um. Here.”

“On top of me.” Cara said impassively, but she moved her hand slowly towards the small of Kahlan’s back.

“Yes?”

Another sharp feeling on the back of her thigh.

This sting made her eyes go round, as she whispered, “Blood flies.”

Cara’s eyes widened, and slowly she turned her head to look into the dark beside them.

“Long tailed or short?” Cara asked, referring to the one creature that used blood flies to hunt. The Gar.

Kahlan looked into the gloom, searching for a thicker shade of black, to make out the gar. It was easily taller than most men, and massive. She narrowed in on the movement of its tail, and then answered Cara. “Mm. Long I think.”

It stepped closer, and she could take a better look at it. Thick fur covered its massive body, and this chest and stomach glowed a glossy pink as it shuffled to the side, his face lifted to the air, mouth open as it sniffed. With its blood flies released Kahlan knew she had to keep still, that luckily a long tailed gar wasn’t the smartest creature. It’s rounded hears twitched as she felt another bite on her skin.

“Stop fidgeting.”

“I’m not.” She growled at Cara, but then her leg did twitch. With her being on top she was taking the brunt of the bites. More and more pricked at her exposed skin.

Her hand twitched, wanting to smash the fly that bit the side of her neck.

“Stop.”

Kahlan groaned in frustration. She wasn’t moving on purpose. Her mind felt like she was being eaten alive, and was acting out on its own.

The hand on her back pressed down, to get her attention. She looked at Cara. “Do you trust me?”

Kahlan nodded.

Cara’s hand went under her hair, alongside her neck, and then her fingers pressed into her muscles, and moved down.

What was she doing?

As her fingers settled at the junction of Kahlan’s neck and shoulder she felt a sharp pinch of pain. Then she felt nothing except her heart.

Her eyes went wide in shock.

She could feel her body, but she couldn’t move. Or speak.

Kahlan was frozen, and forced to endure what felt like hundreds of little provoking pricks as the flies attempted to get a rise out of her, so that she would thrash and be visible to the Gar. Her eyes stared hard at Cara, who gave her a look that seemed to be a cross between an apology and satisfaction.

Luckily the flies bored easily, and soon she did not feel the little pokes of pain.

The shriek of a startled rabbit filled the night air, turning to a scream before being replaced by the hideous sound of bones cracking. The sound of a Gar feeding off to her right continued for a moment, before she heard the drag of a tail, the bounding of its large feet on the ground. The snap of its wings opening filled the forest before a deep calm returned.

With the threat gone her eyes asked Cara why she wasn’t undoing whatever it was that she had done to make her unable to move.

Cara smiled slowly, her hand reaching to move Kahlan’s hair and expose her neck.

If she could have trembled she would have.

“You know by now that you cannot move. But I know you can still feel and think.” She paused, inspecting Kahlan’s eyes. “You can also give me that look. But until I release your nerve, here.” Her fingertip brushed along Kahlan’s skin. “You will be still.”

Kahlan wanted to blink. She couldn’t.

“Reversal of circumstances. So, Kahlan, what was it that you were doing to me when I was unconscious?”

Her heart started banging louder.

Her eyes shifted.

“If the increase of your heart rate is any indication.” Cara’s hand held back her hair, gathering it lightly in her fist. “I think I know exactly what you were doing.” She smirked up at her. “I don’t understand you. At all. You are distant, then close, and then you give me looks, and then you are completely enraptured with Richard, and then you do things like moan my name in your sleep.”

Kahlan was suddenly very very glad she could not move. Because she would have run away in complete embarrassment by now.

“You do know, of course, that if I do this…” Cara’s thumb moved down her cheek and over her lips, “you would know what it is like. You can satiate your curiosity while still claiming the purity of your heart. You could blame it all on me.”

Cara reached up; their lips were only separated by the width of a strand of hair. Kahlan could feel Cara’s breath on her skin; almost feel the warmth of her full lips.

Almost.

She could feel the tension in her own body, and certainly could feel it radiating from Cara’s body under her. The Mord–Sith’s eyes were hard, but her body was suddenly so yielding, making Kahlan feel as though she could just melt into her.

She wanted to know, needed to know.

Her mouth couldn’t move, her voice couldn’t reverberate the want she felt. Kahlan couldn’t even force their lips to meet. She was at the mercy of Cara.

The pain of released pressure radiated into the small of her back before running the length of her spine. She blinked, and because she could, did so again.

“But… I.” Her mouth gushed, as her arms tingled, and her legs twitched, the command of movement returning to them.

Cara regarded her for a moment. “It has been a long time since I felt a heart beating that fast and that chaotic. I am sorry, Kahlan. I didn’t mean to upset you.” Her brows furrowed.

Cara thought she had been afraid. That she didn’t want to know.

She was so close to something that perhaps she shouldn’t know, that she should never understand. Because what if she did know, and knowing wasn’t enough.

Cara lowered her hands from Kahlan, and shifted slightly, clearly indicating that she wouldn’t stop Kahlan from moving off of her.

“Don’t.” Kahlan whispered.

Cara raised her brow, and Kahlan’s heart thundered now. It was almost painful, how it slammed inside of her, knocking on her chest.

“I do want to know.” Kahlan confessed. “But what if?”

“What if?” Cara teased.

There were a thousand reason to not, and only one reason to.

Kahlan leaned closer, her eyes keeping a close connection to Cara’s. This time she spoke, her voice caressing the lips that parted below her.

“What if once I know, it changes everything?”

“Then everything changes.” Cara’s tone was intimately low. Kahlan felt the press of her thighs, the simple touch of a hand resting on her hip. She knew her body was shaking with the velocity of her thundering heart.

“Everything always does.” As she spoke her lips almost grazed Cara.

Almost.

“Kahlan?” Cara’s weighted sigh felt like a touch that moved across her entire body, inspiring her, almost coercing her to close the tiniest of spaces.

Her mouth opened slightly, lips forming Cara’s name, but without sound, her bottom lip brushed against its full counterpart so lightly the touch was like a tickle.

A palm pressed on her ribs.

The next stroke was firmer, but still just a passing touch, so light it could be denied.

But the feeling of Kahlan’s heart stopping could not.

Cara’s eyes, which had been looking at her so intently, fluttered, closed, her long lashes sighing. Now Kahlan could feel Cara’s heart, it was beating just as hard as hers had been, just as strong as hers started to again.

A thick calm settled on her shoulders, the weight pressing her that much closer, and Kahlan set her lips on Cara’s with purpose. A hundred thoughts were desecrated by the sensation of yielding and pliant lips pressing back. Amplified sensation moved through her bones as she pressed harder, slipping her tongue out slowly, needing one taste. Memories of Richard’s lips exploded into the back of her mind before being completely obliterated by the texture of Cara’s lips, the scent of her breath, the flavor of her mouth.

Kahlan’s hand went to Cara’s hair at the same instant Cara’s hand tightened on her back. The kiss of gently curiosity became more; it became insistent, as their lips moved together, with the same harmony and understanding that the two of them used in battle.

Kahlan did now know, and knowing wasn’t enough.

Everything would change.

t.e.