A New World

by Wesa

Series: War of the Worlds, The Equalizer, and The X-Files. Guest appearances in future parts from characters from Due South, The Man from UNCLE, and The Pretender; perhaps from others as the whim takes me.

Standard disclaimers apply. All characters belong to their various creators and the powers that be. Some of these characters belong to Chris Carter, Fox, and 10-13 Productions. I've just invited them over to play for a while, and I promise to send them home when the party's over. Others belong to Universal or Paramount, but it doesn't look like anyone is playing with them at the moment, so I'm going to let them stay as long as they want. Littlehawk belongs to Jan Harley. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jan, for your wonderful story. I hope you don't mind if he comes over to help chaperone the party; of course, he can come home whenever you need him. Tierney, Lainie, and Kira are mine; they live here.

Constructive criticism is welcomed.

By Wesa.

Kira murmured in her sleep and pressed her body closer against Paul's side; even though they had not yet had their marriage ceremony because of their group's forced march northward alongside the flooding brook, after their first night apart she had complained that she couldn't sleep without him. When he had invited her to join him, only half-seriously, she'd taken him at his word. Although he appreciated the extra warmth, he hadn't slept well since, far too aware of her slender body to relax that much.

Instead he spent much of the nights singing the songs that Littlehawk had taught him, silently of course, merely repeating the chants in his mind so as not to disturb the others' much-needed rest. Finally, exhausted, he dozed off with his nose buried in Kira's hair, and found himself back in the cave where they had sheltered from the blizzard, facing his clone across a raging fire. "Where have you been?" he asked.

"It's been a long time since you left us."

"Is Grandfather with you?"

"But John doesn't - oh. You mean they're going to die soon," Paul murmured softly. "And Mother?"

"She is with me here," Littlehawk replied. "She hasn't the strength to speak with you directly, but she has asked me to tell you that she is very proud of you, that she approves of your choice of a wife, and she is delighted with her grandchildren."

Paul rolled his eyes, but he smiled. "Tell her I'm glad she's happy, and to stop talking about her grandchildren in the present tense until after they're born," he reminded Littlehawk. "What happened on Earth?"

"Most people are dead," Littlehawk told him. "Many have died as a result of the impact; others, near death, have been taken by the Quo'Taarn as food and - There is no gentle way to say this, Darkeagle. They were butchered."

Paul closed his eyes in pain. "Those I sent ahead to South Carolina? Kasey? Stavrakos?"

"They live. They have also been seeded on this planet. Kasey will bear a child in less than a year," Littlehawk told him. "In fact she will live to bear many children."

Paul had a little difficulty accepting this. "With Stavrakos?"

"Jealous, my brother?" Littlehawk asked, with far more sympathy than he usually had for Paul's emotional foibles. "I share those memories, you know, as did the one the Morthren sent to the Cottage that night. He would have killed her without a qualm if we had not insisted that she take leave to visit her family. We were not in love with her, even then. Nor was she in love with us. It was sex and no more than that, and she drugged us to get it."

"Only because I was her commanding officer," Paul replied. "If it hadn't been for the difference in rank and the circumstances of the alien war, I would have asked her out long before that."

"You deceive yourself, Darkeagle," Littlehawk told him. "She was a soldier, like you. Instead of a penis, she had a tight vagina. She loved sex, and she wanted sex with us. She risked our career as well as hers to get us to fuck her."

"I wish you wouldn't talk about it as if we were both there," Paul muttered. "Anyway, neither of us have a career anymore. Should I try to find her?"

"Why? Kira is here. Kasey will be happy with the man whose children she will bear. Not Stavrakos, by the way, though they are in the same group." Littlehawk sat back with his arms crossed over his bare chest, looking smug. "She will enjoy teaching the Mountie about unconventional sex."

"You have sex on the brain," Paul chided the spirit.

Littlehawk chuckled. "I am not the one whose penis aches with need," he retorted.

Paul woke with a start, discovering that Kira's hand had drifted south in her sleep. He lifted his head and peered at her closed lids suspiciously, then sighed and lifted her hand away from his crotch.

"I think we need to speak to Father Kostmayer tonight when we make camp," she whispered.

"I think we'd better talk to him while we're walking," Paul retorted. "I have something better to do after we make camp. If you're ready ...?"

**********

"We think we've waited long enough, under the circumstances, Father Kostmayer," Paul told the priest. "We're not Catholic, but you'll perform the ceremony anyway, won't you?"

"You're the only priest around," Kira said. "It's not only for us, anyway."

"It's not?" Paul asked, startled.

"The whole group needs continuity," she explained. "We need to hold onto the ceremonies and traditions that we can, or else we risk the loss of our civilization. This is for the kids, for Samantha, Debi, and Michel, so that they will know that it's better to wait. Because they don't exactly have a lot of choice ahead of them."

Paul smiled at Nick. "I thought I was doing it for Kira," he said.

Kira snickered softly. "If you were doing it for me, I would have dragged you off into the bushes a week ago. Maybe you're doing it for our kids. The ones the spirits promised you."

Nick gave Paul a startled look. "Spirits?" he repeated questioningly.

Paul hesitated briefly, then explained, "I didn't always follow shamanistic tradition, Father, even though my grandfather tried to train me to follow him. But when the Morthren held me captive and cloned me, one of my clones remembered a lot more of what Grandfather said than I did. When it became apparent that there was no way to escape, I let him remind me of my childhood lessons, in order to have some way to stay sane. I never really expected it to work, but it did. I've had a lot more respect for the beliefs of my ancestors since then." He looked at Kira and linked his fingers with hers. "Of course, then Littlehawk led me to Kira through the storm."

"You can see them?" Nick asked.

"Only Littlehawk," Paul reassured him, "at least when I'm awake. I talk to my grandfather sometimes in my dreams. I haven't much talent for it, I guess, but they tell me that one of my grandsons will be a shaman such as our people have not seen since my great-grandfather."

Involuntarily Kira found her eyes drawn toward Debi, who walked with Norton and Eric. She was as tired as they all were, but with the resilience of youth she somehow still had the energy to laugh at the joke one of them had told her. She wondered why she felt it necessary to look at the girl every time Paul spoke of the grandson who would be shaman, and was grateful that Debi appeared to be pleased with the young man who was the only male in the group near her age. If she had thought she would have to compete with Debi for Paul ... but he was old enough to be her father. Kira smiled at the thought. Fifteen years her senior, Paul was almost old enough to be her own father. Almost, but not quite. Smiling, she touched his hand, and focussed again on what the two men were saying.

**********

They made camp that night on a dry hill above the slowly subsiding flood that had been their brook, building several fires to keep the whole group warm through the night. After Paul laid the wood for a fire a little distance from the others, he stood in the center of the night's camp and called for everyone else's attention, gesturing to Kira to join him. As he took her hand, he told the others, "As you know, Kira has consented to become my wife. Father Kostmayer has agreed to perform the wedding ceremony this evening."

Kira twisted her hand loose, startling him, and he looked at her questioningly. "I can't get married when I'm this dirty," she told him. "I have things to do. I have to have a bath."

Paul frowned, his eyes flicking down the hill to the floodwaters. "In that?" he asked. "No, Kira, you'd be swept away. I'd rather you were dirty."

She shook her head and pointed to a smaller creek that flowed into the larger stream. "I'll be fine," she assured him.

"We'll see to it, Colonel," Tierney said, as she and Trudy each took one of Kira's elbows and hustled her away. Lainie and Ginger smiled wryly at him and followed.

"I think tonight's meal may be a little delayed," Sydney told Mickey and Michel, then joined Suzanne and Debi. Dana called softly to Samantha and followed the others with the eight-year-old in tow.

Paul looked around at the other men. "Was it something I said?" he wondered helplessly.

Control chuckled. "Yeah," he replied. "'Wedding.'"

Harrison was looking at his friend critically. "You could use a bath yourself, Paul," he said.

"It's under control, Harrison," Kincaid said, taking Paul's left arm.

"Let's go, Colonel," Mickey said, catching hold of his right arm. "Come on, Michel."

"Enjoy it, Colonel," Norton advised as he, Harrison, and Father Nick fell in behind. "It's the closest thing you're going to get to a bachelor party." Laughing, the others followed as Paul, for the first time in his life, surrendered.

The creek water was cold, but it was strangely exhilarating to strip and wade into the water. Downstream, they could hear the women laughing softly, an occasional splash followed by a shriek punctuating their chatter. Paul listened, smiling.

"Gives a whole new meaning to the term 'bridal shower,' doesn't it, Colonel?" Mickey asked him. "Speaking of which - Ready, Kincaid?"

"For what?" Paul asked curiously.

Kincaid grinned at him evilly. "Groom-dunking," he said, and together he and Mickey ambushed the man about to be wed, dragging him into deeper water and pushing him under.

"Hey!" Paul spluttered, fighting his way back up to breathe.

They dunked him a second time. It was a mistake. Paul grabbed an ankle on either side and jerked, bringing both men down as he came up for another gulp of air. "Blackwood, is this your ide--" His question was cut off as he was dragged back under water.

Harrison, laughing, claimed innocence. "Not me, Paul," he replied. "I wish I had thought of it."

"You wanted a bath anyway, Colonel," Norton said easily. "You got one."

Sitting in water that came up to his chest, Paul looked at Kincaid. "Did he put you up to this?"

"What? Do you think Kostmayer and I can't decide on our own to half-drown you?" Kincaid wondered breathlessly.

Paul looked from one to the other of them. "Neither of you is that creative," he decided, getting to his feet. "Norton...?"

Norton held up his hands defensively, backing up as Paul advanced. "Now, Colonel... If you kill me, you're going to have to explain it to Debi and Suzanne --"

"Who said anything about killing you?" Paul asked with a grin. He stooped suddenly and sliced his hand through the surface of the water, sending a sheet of the icy liquid flying toward Norton, who yelped then, laughing, splashed him back. Before long everyone was soaked and dripping, but the water was too cold to stay in for long, so when they heard the women start back to their camp, the men dressed and followed.

It was like a conspiracy to keep him away from his bride. While most of the women fixed the evening meal and most of the men worked to set up the temporary shelters they erected each night, Kira's cousins had set her down to comb and braid her hair. But whenever Paul tried to approach, someone headed him off, either with a request for assistance, or with a suggestion regarding sleeping arrangements. Even at suppertime they were kept apart, as McCall and Suzanne drew Paul aside and, while they ate, gave him pointed suggestions for his behavior at bedtime.

"Why are you telling me this?" Paul wondered.

"Am I wrong in believing that you have never been married, Colonel?" McCall asked.

"Am I wrong in believing that Kira is still a virgin?" Suzanne asked almost at the same time.

Paul spluttered. "Is it any of your business?" he asked when he could speak coherently.

"He's never been married," Suzanne told McCall, who shook his head.

"I'll tell Kostmayer that we're going to go hunting tomorrow," he said softly, "if you want to explain to Dr. Blackwood that we're going to be delayed."

Suzanne sighed. "Not really, but if it looks like it was planned, I won't have to explain it to Debi," she replied.

"For crying out loud, what do you think I'm going to do to her?" Paul demanded, exasperation raising his voice just as a silence fell throughout the rest of the camp. The brief silence was broken by the laughter of nearly all the adults, while Paul felt his face burn, and Kira's face darkened as she looked at him across the central fire.

**********

"You may kiss the bride."

When Father Nick at last spoke the ritual words, Paul released Kira's hands, stroked his hands up her forearms past her elbows and gripped her upper arms gently. "Finally," he said in a voice just above a growl, meant only for her ears. He drew her close and fastened his mouth on hers, wrapping his arms firmly around her shoulders, oblivious to the shouts and cheers of approval from their friends and companions. Her hands slid up his chest and over his shoulders, around the back of his neck, controlling the duration of the kiss.

Eventually Harrison, who had stood with Paul as best man, cleared his throat. "You have to let her breathe, Paul," he said gently.

Reluctantly Kira let Paul draw back, opening her eyes to lock with his a moment before they turned to face the rest of the group. Behind them, Father Nick said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Paul Ironhorse."

Suddenly the newlyweds were being pelted with flowers and the seeds of the autumn-dried grasses that grew all around their campsite. Kira screeched and tried to shield herself from the small missiles, and suddenly found that she was being carried away by her new husband toward their isolated shelter, laughing all the way.

Finally out of range and in front of their shelter, Paul and Kira paused and kissed again before ducking out of sight under the slanted roof, which Paul had thoughtfully built facing away from the rest of the group's shelters. Beneath it, they sat on the woven mat on which they slept, and stared at each other.

"Well, we're legal now," Paul said at last.

Kira smiled. "Paul," she said softly, "we're rather outside the state's jurisdiction. We'd've been just as legal if we had stood up by the fire one night and said, 'Hey, everyone, we're moving in together, oh and hey, by the way, we're married now.' Marriage laws are what the relevant culture says they are."

"Well, my culture says there's just one thing newlyweds are supposed to do on their wedding night," Paul told her, "and it isn't talking. Come here." Kira smiled and moved into his arms. "Let me know if I go too fast for you," he murmured softly.

**********

"Why?" Debi asked. "I thought it was really important that we outrun winter. Isn't that what Harrison said?"

"Well, yes, I said that," Harrison admitted uncomfortably, "but we've gotten ahead of it temporarily, and we need to spend a day gathering food and processing hides."

Sitting beside Norton on the other side of the fire, Tierney murmured, "Not to mention that Kira probably won't be able to walk..."

Norton hushed her quickly, then assured her, "The Colonel won't hurt her."

Almost as if to belie his words, a noise suspiciously like a yelp came from the far shelter. All heads turned, and Debi asked, "What was that?"

**********

Kira's yelp of pain made Paul pause. "I'm sorry," he murmured, starting to withdraw.

"No!" she protested, clutching at him desperately. She gasped anxiously and tried to draw him closer, wrapping her legs around his hips. "Paul, please. I've waited for you so long."

"I don't want to hurt you," he said. "I was trying to be careful."

Kira caught his face in her hands. "It didn't hurt that much. It doesn't hurt anymore. I don't even know what I yelled about. Paul, please!" she sobbed softly.

"Shhh," he soothed her, dropping kisses all over her face until she turned her mouth up to meet his. He pressed his tongue between her lips, sealing her mouth with his as he thrust into her, filling her with his hard, aching flesh. The noises she made became whimpers of need and moans of pleasure as Paul found the completion he had sought for so many years. "I love you, Laughing Brook," he growled softly as he fought to retain control; he didn't want to leave her unsatisfied, especially this time, their first time, her first time. It wasn't easy; she was tight around his penis, and squirming.

"I love you," Kira gasped. "Paul - Darkeagle - I don't know how much longer I can stand this."

He stopped moving instantly, but his solicitous question was cut off by her demand.

*********

"OH GOD DON'T STOP!"

The cry from the newlyweds' shelter caused all eyes to turn that direction for a few seconds. Then Sydney checked to make sure Michel was asleep before coyly meeting Mickey's knowing gaze. On the far side of camp, Mulder checked on Samantha before his eyes slid past Dana to Lainie. Norton, about to fasten his lips upon Tierney's, chuckled instead. She grabbed the sides of his head and told him, "My cousin does have a way with words."

Suzanne studiously avoided looking at Debi, who blushed bright red. "Are they going to do that all night?" the girl squeaked in dismay.

"Probably not," Harrison told her, distracted by Dana's bright hair. "He is forty years old, after all. He's not a teenager anymore."

"Harrison!" Suzanne objected.