Title: Heat Wave
Author: Meg Brown, aka Andromeda Valentine
Fandom: Mutant X
Pairing: Emma DeLauro/Shalimar Fox
Rating: NC-17
Status: New; complete (5/22/05)
Archive: The FSAC DD05 site only until 7/1/05. After that, feel free to ask.
Feedback: Yes, please!!
E-mail address for feedback: andromeda.valentine@gmail.com
Series/Sequel: None
Other Websites: Crimson Redd - http://www.angelfire.com/goth/crimsonredd
Disclaimers: Still not mine, unfortunately - still Tribune's... I'm only borrowing 'em for my own nefarious purposes.

Summary: Lack of working air-conditioning at a safe house makes things interesting for Emma...

Notes: Written for the FSAC DD05. An older idea the girls were fond of that finally got put to good use.

Warnings: None.

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The fever breaks...
Cool rain is falling on our bed...
The time is come...
The hunger's longing to be fed...

-Lori Yates, The Hunger

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

To say that Emma DeLauro was thoroughly miserable would be an understatement. To say that she was hot, sticky, tired, and near homicidal from the combination of the three, however, would not.

She and Shalimar had been stuck at a safe house in the middle of nowhere for over two weeks. It would have been lovely if the air conditioning hadn't been broken down and impossible to repair anytime soon.

Emma had fought the urge to scream and throw things when Adam had informed them that, due to the hornets' nest their latest mission has stirred up, they would have to keep a low profile and hide out at the safe house until it was clear to come get them. When that might be, he couldn't yet say.

Simply staying put and trying to beat the rising temperatures, ironically enough, had so far proven as dangerous as any mission. Emma, restless in her boredom, had managed to give herself heat stroke within days of their arrival at the safe house, and had been saved from it only by Shal's quick use of her first aid training.

Then, mere days later, Emma had gone for a swim in the nearby lake - only to discover she was apparently horribly allergic to something in it. The only up side to her misery then had been that it kept her mind off the ever-present heat, however briefly.

Now, having learned her lesson, she focused instead on staying cool and well-hydrated, spending her time reading or attempting to sleep when she wasn't in the shower under a spray of never-quite-cool-enough water.

She'd come to the conclusion early on that her boredom would likely kill her before the heat did. It was not in her nature to do nothing, and the enforced idleness only added to the bad mood her inability to sleep properly in the heat was causing.

To add insult to injury, Shalimar seemed completely unphased by the heat. If anything, she seemed to bask in it, responding to it on some primal level.

Which, truth be told, was almost as troubling as the heat or boredom.

To judge by the intense hits Emma was getting off the Feral with ever-increasing frequency, Shal was cycling back into heat - and it looked as if Emma would be the sole person in her vicinity during the worst of it.

It wasn't so much that Emma was unused to the random lust-filled thoughts about her best friend that kept popping into her head - she'd had her fair share of those - it was more that it was increasingly difficult to tell which of them were her own and which were the result of Shal's unconscious projecting.

Emma was left in a rather embarrassing predicament - her body responding to the constant influx of mental images and raw pheromones even as her mind fought to keep a rein on her libido to avoid doing anything she or Shal might later regret.

It added a razor-keen edge to her discomfort and frustration that a sadist would have envied, and that she felt helpless to correct.

She knew, all things considered, that it was pointless to hope that Shal wouldn't notice her predicament, or that the Feral would keep from teasing her mercilessly (one way or another) if she ever picked up on the fact that it had driven Emma so far as to take matters into her own hands, so to speak.

It was a humiliation - and potentially bad situation - she would rather avoid at the moment, however much part of her insisted that it wouldn't mind terribly if Shal did start teasing.

Then, as if to accentuate the situation, a storm front rolled in, heavy and threatening, and just *lowered* there, day after day, as it added to the already oppressive heat and humidity.

Emma would have given anything for the relief it promised from the weather as the never-ending tension ratcheted up notch by notch.

It finally came down to a waiting game to see who gave in first, and Emma's constant strategic retreats in the face of Shal's rather blatant pressure quickly reminded her that one should never try and outdo a Feral for tenacity or endurance.

It was Shal who finally broke the stalemate, though not by surrendering.

Emma had been deep in yet another erotic dream - whether hers or Shalimar's she couldn't have said - losing herself in the feel, however imagined, of Shal's hands on her body. She'd known she'd likely wake up before actually reaching climax - just like every other night they'd been here - but she never quit hoping.

This time, though, she'd held on to the dream as long as possible, and could have cried with relief when she woke to the last faint aftershocks of an orgasm. It wasn't until several seconds later that the fog lifted enough to realize something was slightly off.

She went to move and discovered that her hands and feet had been securely tethered to the bed frame as she slept. Only one person she knew of could pull that off without waking her up - and no enemy of Mutant X's would bother to use silk scarves instead of rope.

As if sensing Emma's thoughts, Shal stepped into Emma's field of vision, her Feral eyes glowing slightly in the semidarkness. "Hey there, Sleeping Beauty. I was wondering when you'd wake up - that was some dream you were having."

Emma, suddenly very conscious that she'd gone to sleep stark naked, tried to look unconcerned as she rolled her eyes. "Funny, Shal. Game over - let me up."

Shal smiled back at her. "Not until I'm through with you - though I don't think you'll mind so much then."

She sat beside Emma on the bed. "I'll let you up if you really want me to. But," she added, sliding a hand over Emma's breast, "I think you'd enjoy this more - if you're willing to trust me."

The words hovered there between them as they watched each other. Emma normally wouldn't hesitate to trust Shal with anything, and the Feral knew it.

"This is different, Shal." Emma finally conceded. "I don't want to do this if it's just another round to you in this stupid game we've been playing. Our friendship means too much."

Shal placed a hand on Emma's cheek. "This is not a game, Emma - it's me getting tired of all the damn dancing around we're doing. Trust me - please?"

Shal's entire being seemed focused on those three little words, urging Emma to trust her and impatient to put an end to all the confusion and crossed signals between them. It cut through Emma's resistance like nothing else could have.

Not quite daring to even breathe lest she break the sudden silence that had fallen all around them, Emma closed her eyes and relaxed into her bonds. She turned her face up to Shal's, eyes still primly closed, and waited.

The kiss was sweet at first, then grew increasingly demanding until they were forced to part for breath. Emma opened her eyes to stare at Shal - her Feral eyes had never ceased to fascinate the redhead - and decided that she could definitely do this.

She'd spent weeks fighting the heat - had cringed at the thought of added body heat from anyone getting too near her - but now, heat seemingly forgotten, the damp warmth of Shal's mouth clamped around first one nipple then the other was somehow *exactly* what she wanted.

So much so that she whimpered as Shal suddenly pulled away, making the Feral grin. "Patience, you. Just be still - I'll be right back."

It seemed like forever until Shal returned, though Emma knew it was likely only a moment or two between her leaving and reappearing at the bedside. The blonde looked down at Emma, obviously pleased with herself, and ordered her to close her eyes.

Emma found that the simple act of laying there bound, eyes closed, sent the tension spiraling even tighter as she struggled not to fidget or open her eyes despite the insistence of her twanging nerves.

Finally, she heard Shal move and felt the blonde settle onto the bed beside her. A gasp was torn out of her as something wet and freezing cold slid across her collarbone and down between her breasts.

Ice, she realized with a happy shiver. Somehow, she should have expected as much.

It was the perfect counterpoint to the hot, wet kisses Shal was trailing all over her body, but then Shal popped a piece of ice into her mouth, and Emma was sure she'd die of the shifting sensations of heat and cold as the Feral worked her way down Emma's stomach.

An icy tongue flicked against her clit as two cold, cold fingers slid inside her, and Emma arched up off the bed with a moan, pulling against her bonds. She knew she was close to the edge and couldn't hold on long - the coldness was just too much after weeks of intense heat.

Shal withdrew just as Emma stood a hair's breadth from her release, and the redhead made some tiny little mewl of protest. The blonde let her stew a moment, chuckling in amusement.

Then Shal moved back in for the kill, and Emma never knew what hit her - the chunk of ice on Shal's tongue flicked across her clit just as the ice in Shal's fingers slid inside her, and the frenetic pace Shal set with both sent Emma literally screaming over the edge.

Unable to keep her shields in place, the psychic projection of Emma's orgasm spilled out of her and caught Shal dead-on, sending the Feral tumbling just as loudly after her. The last thing either of them heard before dropping into a blissful stupor was the low rumble of thunder in the distance.

When Emma woke in the morning, it was pouring down rain and thundering to wake the dead. The cool breeze that had sprung up raised goose bumps all across her bare skin, and she smiled as she snuggled closer to Shal.

The Feral, still asleep, nonetheless let her hands start roaming, and Emma grinned to herself as she decided to repay her for the earlier awakening.

Grabbing the scarves that they'd barely remembered to extricate her from before falling dead asleep, Emma quietly moved to secure them around Shal's hands and feet, smiling as she waited for the Feral to wake up.

If this was all it had taken to break the heat wave, they really should have done it sooner...