Encounters of the Passionate Kind: Forgiveness

Finally the conclusion of this longish story. First my thanks to Annie for the beta reading, to TexasAries for the wonderful manipulation that spawned this story.

Now to answer the question(s) that keep popping up. Will there be a sequel? Yes, I have two parts planned as a sequel to this. The one is going to be a lot shorter which is a small interlude with Buffy, Willow, Dawn, etc finding out about Xander and Cameron...I can't give you details as it's still in the vague working it out stage. The second will hopefully be a lot longer and will be a follow up to Cam and Xander and their meeting up again.

Second, people have expressed a lot of interest in various threads that are in the story, including how did Xander meet Lillith, who is Lillith, etc. As well as questions about how Cam could possibly be into such things. *smirks* Your questions will all be answered. *drum roll please* I have planned a multi part (4 to 6 parts) pre-story line that leads up to this one. No definitive time frame, as I'm working steadily on these parts, as well as the sequel parts as time allows and the muses cooperate. *sad sigh* These are both annoying elements as my life is rarely as simple or filled with free time as I'd like. That said, feedback is always welcome.





Epilogue Part One

Several Days Later…

Staring down at his lover, as he held him in his arms, Xander let the words bounce about his head, jaw dropping in shock.

Finally he managed to say something. “Are you serious? I could have sworn that you said you want me to mark you, Cam?”

“I did, Xander. I know that it can’t be anything too obvious, but there are a few things that we could go with. I know we haven’t been together for any length of time, to inspire such a bold request, but it just feels so right with you,” Cameron said slowly, looking up into the shocked brown eyes of his lover, letting his own eyes show the love that he felt.

“That’s one hell of a huge commitment, Cameron. We both have a lot of secrets that we can’t easily or readily share, without betraying promises that we’ve made. So how the hell would this work? It’s obvious that you aren’t going to just give up your job, and I can’t give up mine either. We’d be lucky to find any time at all to see one another.”

Cameron let out a soft sigh at that.

“Cam, it’s not that I don’t feel the same way, it’s just that it’s a huge commitment. I’m wary of making that kind of commitment. I’ve been burned in the past, and I don’t want to get burnt by rushing in here.”

“Don’t you feel the same way, sir,” Cam said, pouting ever so slightly and deciding to pull out the big guns, with being submissive. He’d noticed how much Xander had enjoyed it over the past few days.

Growling ever so slightly, Xander glared down at the older man, even as he tightened his grip on him. “Don’t even try and play that game, Cameron Mitchell, or else I’ll put you over my lap and give you a spanking you won’t soon forget. I will not be manipulated, by you or anyone else.”

Nodding slowly, Cameron didn’t bother to speak at all for a minute, just held still as his young lover held him tighter than usual. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to even try and manipulate you. I’m not like that.”

“I know,” Xander said a few seconds later after relaxing his grip. “I do trust you and I do feel a great deal for you. But I want to be sure, before I take that plunge.”

“But…” Cameron started to protest, before a pair of lips cut him off mid sentence.

“Xander…” and once more a kiss, deeper, longer, and more passionate than the previous cut off his protests.

“Now, I think that’s enough of the objections. I didn’t say I wouldn’t do what you are asking. I just need a little time to think about it. Can you accept that and live with it?”

Pouting, Cameron slowly nodded.

“Cam, put yourself in my spot for a minute. If it was me who had just proposed that you mark me as yours, after just a few days of mind-blowing sex, what would you say?”

Cameron closed his eyes for a minute as he thought about it. Slowly, with obvious reluctance he nodded. “I can understand your point of view, but it just feels so right. You said you feel it too.”

*****

Early the next day, after they had showered and had breakfast, Xander had laid out clothes for the two of them. He’d sat back and enjoyed the sight of Cameron’s frustration and growing state of flustering as he got dressed. Once his boy was finally dressed, he took his time and slowly got dressed as well. The outfits were designed to provide a fair indicator of their roles. He’d made some calls the night before to arrange things for today, once Cameron had fallen asleep.

“Pay attention, Boy. I am taking you out with me today, to take care of an errand or two. You are to do nothing and say nothing to embarrass me, or yourself. You are to act like you are mine in all ways. You’re going to have to trust me, as there is a purpose behind everything we will be doing today. You can save the questions, which I know you’ll have, for later once we are back here.”

Staring at his boy, he looked Cameron directly in the eyes. “I mean it, you have to do exactly what I tell you, and trust me completely. I’m putting both of us on the line here to give you some answers that you wouldn’t get other wise. I have to be sure that I can trust you completely. No hesitation, no uncertainty.”

“Yes, sir. Where are we going?”

“The first stop is to grant you what you asked for. The other stops will supplement that, and give you some partial answers to the questions that you have. I’ll also provide you what other answers I can, after we get back here, as to what I can share. Some I can’t tell you at all.”

*****

Parking in front of a fairly nondescript shop, Xander got out and waited for Cameron to follow. As his boy got out and took a position just slightly behind and to one side of him, he nodded to him, and led him into the shop.

“Master Night Hawk, we have the order prepared for you and your boy. Is there anything else we can do for you?”

“Not today,” Xander replied curtly. “I assume that every thing is ready, and we can get this done fairly quickly. I do have a number of things to take care of today.”

“Yes sir, the rooms to the back,” the sales girl replied. “Do you need me to show you?”

“No, I remember from the other one that I was at. Same lay out I take it?”

“Yes, sir. May I compliment you on your choice of boy. He’s very lovely.”

“Yes, he is, I’m also sure you can pass along word back amongst those who need to know, that he’s off limits. My displeasure will be very clearly felt if he is touched.”

Blanching at the clear cut warning in Xander’s words, she nodded. “He doesn’t yet know about that but I’ll be teaching him enough to ensure that he can keep himself safe.”

*****

Later that evening

“So can I ask you about all the various places that you dragged me today and the discussions you had with those…’people’?”

Slowly Xander nodded, and let out a soft sigh. It had been a fairly long day. After getting the piercing done, he’d taken Cameron with him on a whirlwind tour of a few top demon spots in the city, made the needful introductions, and presented the required warnings. Now it was time to fulfill his half of the promise from earlier today. To explain everything , or a good chunk of it, to Cameron.


“Fine, just let me go through with the story, I can’t share all of it, just the major high points, and try to keep an open mind. After all, if what I’ve heard rumored is true, it shouldn’t be that huge of a shock for you. Just hear me out, Cam, all right?”

With that said, Xander launched into a carefully edited version of the history of the world ala the Watcher’s Council of old. Hitting the main points, he carefully avoided going in to too much detail about the slayers, and relatively recent events. Mentioning a little bit of his own experiences, but avoiding naming names.

“So there you have it, Cam. Now you know, why I ‘showed’ you off and made it clear that you’re under my personal protection.”

“That’s insane. I mean, demons aren’t real. They can’t be,” Cameron insisted.

“Well then, Fly Boy, how would you explain all of the various folks that you met today? Not like we were expected, and I know you are at least as good as me at reading body language. So what’s your explanation then?”

Shaking his head, Cameron had to silently admit that Xander had a point there. Either who ever it was, was having a huge go at him or it was real. The reactions, and interactions had been too real to be just a show. “So demons and half demons and all the rest huh…so what exactly is your ‘job’ in relation to that? I mean it was fairly obvious that they’d heard of you and knew of your reputation.”

“I can’t tell you that part, as it’s not all of my story to tell. I do work for the reformed council, but those are things I can’t share. I would hope that you can trust me though. I didn’t have to let any of this out to you.”

Sighing, Cameron slowly nodded in resigned acceptance. “I can understand that, Xander. I’ve got my own secrets that I can’t reveal and you did share a lot with me that you didn’t have to. But why show me off like that and make it seem like I’m under your protection.”

“Two reasons, if I’m completely honest. First it’s an added protection for you personally. I don’t want to risk losing you at all. Second, there have been vague rumors and such floating about that hint at certain elements who are very unhappy that something called the ‘Ring of the False One’s’ is now in use. They feel that the foolish humans are putting more than themselves at risk and were planning on dealing with it. So this gives an added layer of protection to you and the project that you’re working on. I don’t know any details, and I don’t want to either. I just want to be sure you’re kept safe. That’s why I did this today.”

Epilogue Part Two

Setting the sack of groceries down on the counter, Cameron grabbed at the phone as it rang.

“Mitchell,” he answered quickly. Listening to the voice on the other end he nodded, once, twice and then a third time. “Understood, I’ll be there with in the hour. I just got back in and need a few minutes and I’ll head there directly. Yes, sir, understood.”

Hanging up the phone, Cameron sighed. Technically he, and the rest of SG1, still had a day left of leave time, but if you were told report to base immediately, you did just that.

Fortunately it would only take a few minutes to place the groceries away, and then he’d be on his way.

*****

Rapping on the door to General Landry’s office, Mitchell waited to be invited in, since the General was on the phone, and it was fairly apparent from his appearance he was growing rapidly annoyed with who ever it was on the other end.

Motioning for Mitchell to come in, he pointed at the door and nodded as Cameron shut it.

Pointing at the chairs in front of his desk, he motioned for Cameron to sit down.

“I understand that, but I do trust my people. Besides which, what the hell concern of it is theirs what they do off base. To me that sounds more like they are trying to create a problem than to solve any existing issues.”

Nodding as he listened to the reply, General Landry was clearly not satisfied with the response. “That’s fine then, as long as they are doing their job and not going outside of it there’s nothing I can do. But I do trust my people, as does General O’Neill. Since he was the one who selected the various personnel for the base, you can take it up with him. That’s fine.”

Hanging up the phone, Landry just shook his head slowly.

“Something wrong, sir,” Cameron asked, a sinking feeling in his gut.

“Just the usual, NID, is being annoying. They feel that they should be a part of everything and getting annoyed when they lose track of base personnel off base,” Landry said, giving Cam a pointed look at the last.

“I see, sir.”

“I don’t want to know, Mitchell. As far as I am concerned, I trust the various members of the SG teams. I haven’t had any reason not to, plus O’Neill trusts them as well. Other wise he wouldn’t have fought to have you brought on board.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Now, I called you in early to discuss several matters. Let me make one thing very clear in advance. This is beyond off the record, even so I don’t want to know any details. Am I clear?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Now, I trust that you have dealt with whatever issues you had that were pushing you over the top and had the rest of your team worried that you had a death wish?”

Slowly Cam nodded before speaking. “I have managed to deal with that problem. It’s not an issue any longer, sir.”

“Good. I trust that whoever it was that you met up with, understands the need for discretion?”

Gulping, Cam looked down at the floor, a blush rapidly flushing his neck and face. “Ah, yes, sir. The person understands that I work on a classified project, and that I can’t discuss it. That’s not an issue.”

“Good. I don’t want to see you get hurt, or compromised, Cameron. There’s far too much at stake, and if that were to happen, you would be left to sink or swim on your own. General O’Neill has already made it clear that he will do what he can for any and all of the SG teams and support personnel, but that if anyone deliberately jeopardized the program that they would be gone so fast their head would be spinning a year from the incident in question.”

“I understand, sir. The person in question has ah… run into NID, once or twice in the past. They also said that if they were stupid enough to bother them again, that it would be the last time they did so. I didn’t bother to ask for any details, but they did give me a name of a program that involved NID to look up. I felt that discretion was probably wise in that case.”

“Oh really,” Landry said, as if something about this was starting to make sudden sense. Pushing over a tablet and a pen to Cameron, he gestured at it. “Write down that name for me, please.”

Taking the tablet, Cameron quickly jotted the name down, and passed it back over to General Landry.

Reading the name, Landry stared at it for a moment. Looking up at Cameron he mouthed the name, not wanting to speak it out loud. At Cameron’s nod of acknowledgement, he just shook his head.

“You’re right. Forget that you ever heard that name and don’t look it up. I know exactly who and what they are. They are gone, and won’t be forgotten. Let’s just say that our friends got beaten royally and they deserved far worse.”

“Let’s just say that they were a cover group that went wrong. The panel that was convened to review and deal with the various members was a beyond black panel and at the time, I was one of the more junior members. That was a few years ago. You don’t want to know the details; I prefer not to even think about it.”

“I see…”

“No, you don’t, Mitchell. Trust me you don’t want to either. Just please tell me that it’s not the blonde that you’re involved with. Not that it’s any of my concern.”

“Ummm, no, sir. Actually the person’s got dark brown hair,” Cameron replied, puzzled, before he thought better of it.

“I see. Never mind, I don’t, and I don’t want to know. Go home, get some rest and I’ll see you and the rest of SG 1 at 1000 for your briefing.”

The End

Folks since you have been so patient the updated smutty version of Chapter 11 is in place finally. Also I do have several prequels and sequels in the works. As soon as I get a reasonable amount done in those, this will be moved into a formal series. Enjoy.