Written by Leah and Shel
She didn't
really know how to reply to that, so she nodded acceptance and smiled.
"I think..." he nodded, "Yes, I think it'd be a good
idea if we started swimming again, or perhaps something."
"Alright.
I'll be right there. I want to tie my hair back first."
He looked at her, his eyes roaming downward, then
back up to her face. "I can't really be going anywhere at the moment.
You're kind of sitting on me, Fen."
"Oh right.
Well, who's fault is that?" She grinned a bit, her fingers idly playing
with the smaller hairs on the base of his neck.
His eyes travelled to the branches of the trees overhead
as he 'thought' about it. "Hm....."
She just
kept teasing at the back of his neck as he thought about it.
"The wind's fault."
He tightened his arms around her. "At risk of sounding
like Mikhail Jaksuun - you be my blanket."
She chuckled
softly and hugged him back, pressing a kiss to his cheek.
He chuckled.
"ALright,
I'll get up." She slid from his lap and swung her legs off of his before
rising to go look for a hair tie to braid her hair back with.
He pouted slightly, but then noticed a slight problem
and used her distraction of tying her hair back to dive off the bow.
She turned
around at the sound of the splash, her hair half braided by the time he'd
disappeared. Finishing her braid and binding it off, she moved to the edge
of the skiff to look for him in the water.
Hobbie stayed beneath for quite a
few minutes before coming up for air, something held triumphantly in his
hand.
"What
is it?"
He adjusted his hold and let the light glint off it.
She frowned
and knelt on the side of the skiff, her thick braid falling over her shoulder
to dangle the end into the water. "How could you see that thing? It's
so dark down there."
"Call it instinct. The way debris is littered on
the shore, I knew there would be something interesting down there.. it
was just a matter of fiding it."
She held
her hand out for it. "Can I see?"
He hauled back and tossed it up to her.
Reaching
up, she caught it and brought it down to look at. It took a VERY long
moment before she wrinkled her nose in a frown. "Huh. I'm not sure, but
I think it's part of a really big shell/"
"Right," he grinned and taking a breath ducked beneath
the waves again.
She inspected
the piece of shell that Hobbie had found, admiring the smooth surface and
near gem-like shape.
After a minute or so, Hobbie reappeared with a smile.
"Fen!"
"What?"
she looked up, curious as to what he found now.
"Catch!" he threw something round and shiny at her.
The shell
in one hand, she caught the new item in the other. "What is it?"
"Kilanter Pearl."
"Hey,
neat!" She turned it over between her fingers, admiring the way the light
glittered on the surface, changing the hint of colors subtley. "This is
absolutely gorgeous!"
He simply tread water and watched the sunlight behind
her/
"I'm glad you like it, Fen," he said wth a smile.
Adding
the pearl to the shell in her hand, she smiled lovingly down at him, readjusting
so her legs dangled over the side of the skiff into the water. "I'm glad
you found them. They're very pretty."
The cold water was definitely helping. "You coming
in?"
"Yeah,
just a sec." She carefully set the shell and pearl where they wouldn't
fall overboard again before slipping slowly into the water, letting out
a relaxed sigh. "We need to do this more often."
"You'll have to remind me to, but I wouldn't mind
that."
She slowly
swam closer to him, her body warmth radiating against his despite the cool
water. "I'm hoping that we can make breaks like this a more regular thing
so I won't have to remind you."
"Can't change a Ralltiiri Tiger's stripes."
"You're
not a Ralltiiri Tiger, love. You're Derek Klivian. There is a huge difference.
The frist being you aren't covered in fur."
"Well, fur aside - I'm pretty set in my ways, Fen."
"Alright.
It's up to you. I just think it will make you a better CO to get out
once in a while." She shrugged a bit before ducking beneath the surface
and swimming down below him to resurface behind him a few feet off.
he turned around, "You're n ot getting away from me
that easy, Fen!" he dove beneath the water.
She squealed
a bit excitedly and dove under as well, changing her direction toward the
cove.
They met quickly, and Hobbie kissed her beneath the
waves as he kicked them to the surface.
He kicked
them to the surface as she steered them to slightly more shallow water.
Shallow enough that about a foot beneath them was solid ground, though
it was at something of a steep angle, but it just made her feel more at
ease.
As they did so, he moved just further enough that
he could touch, holding her in his arms as his mouth claimed hers.
Fen clung to Hobbie for stability agianst
the current, her arms wrapped around his shoulders and her legs slowly moving
to embrace his waist. All she could think about in this moment, this moment
of empassioned kisses, was how much
she loved
him and had never known it.
"Fen," he breathed her name like a prayer. "I
love you more than the moon loves the stars," he told her quietly. "I still
don't know how it happened, but," he shook his head at his loss for words,
and gently lowered his lip to hers.
She shivered
in his arms, her only reply to his profession was to momentarilly tighten
her embrace around him and return the kiss fully.
Again, the kisses trailed until he was suckling gently
on her earlobe, one hand resting on the othr side of her neck, as the other
held hers in his own... against his heart.
Her thumb
twitched in time with his heartbeat, strong and steady, though faster than
normal. "Derek...." she sighed, his name music in her ears as his passion
stoked a fire in her soul she had sworn was quenched long ago.
"Hm?" he questioned in response as his attentions
moved to the base of her neck.
"I love
you. I don't know how else to say it. I love you." Liberation! That's
what that flying feeling was. Liberation from a self inflicted prison.
His heart sang as she spoke those words, and wordlessly
he moved back slightly to look at her as he kissed the hand he held gently.
"Hun?"
she asked very softly, her nose slowly rubbing against his.
He raised an eyebrow, "Yes?"
"Nothing."
She leaned back just enough to place a small kiss to the tip of his nose.
He pouted slightly, "That was mean."
he spoke softly.
"Mean?
I just wanted to hear your voice."
He lay down beside her, gathering her into his arms
as he planted a small kiss on her forehead, "yes. Mean. I thought you
were going to say something."
Curling
her body against his, she revelled in the way her body fit perfectly against
his. "Well, I was, but I thought it would be redundant since I had just
said it a moment before." She smoothed her fingers over the little curly
hairs
that grew from his chest, tracing shapes over his skin.
His hand whooshed up and down from shoulder to hip
and back again, "Alright, then."
"How
did you ever find this place anyway? I really like it here." She leaned
up on an elbow to look over the sun washed Hobbie slowly drying on the artificial
beach.
"I needed to get away one time," his eyes darken slightly.
Not with passion, but with deep sadness. "I found it then. It's sort
of.. well, my t hinking place - when I've time to get away from the base."
She pretended
not to see the brief glimpse of sadness that colored his eyes, opting instead
to soften her smile. "Thank you for sharing it with me."
He smiled softly and brushed gentle calloused fingers
against her cheek.
Water gently lapped at their ankles.
Shifting
again, she moved to lay half atop him, half on the beach. "Hobbie?"
"Yes, Fen?"
"Do you
think this is going to change things a lot? I mean, at work, on duty,
that sort of stuff."
"Why should it?" one hand was trailing along her back
now, idly. comfortably.
"Unintentional
favortism," she replied softly. "I just don't want anyone to feel resentment..."
She stopped and shook her head. "Forget I said it. I'm worrying over
things that don't apply. I'm not one of your pilots, so I
guess
it'll be alright."
He chuckled, "Don't worry about it."
"Besides, worrying is MY job, remember?"
"No where
in either of our job descriptions does it say that I'm not allowed to worry,
or that you get to do all the worrying. If that were true, who would worry
about you?" She interrupted each word of the last sentence with a
soft
trail of kisses she wound up from his chest to his neck, chin and finally
lips.
[[[[[NOOKIE]]]]]]
She nuzzled the bridge of her nose against his neck,
softly kissing that place that she'd bitten a
bit harder than she'd meant to. 'I love you so
much, Hobbie,' she whispered breathily
In response he captured her lips in his own gently
A brief, soft kiss before she smiled more unsuredly
this time. She wasn't sure if she was ready to
ask him this, or if now was even the best time for
it. So instead she smiled more brightly and
cuddled against him for a while.
However, Hobbie isn't that oblivious. He caught the
questioning glance, and after cuddling with her he asked softly, as one
hand trailed along her side, "What is it on your mind?"
'Just thoughts. Nothing important.' She lifted
her head from his shoulder, green eyes of normal
hue smiling adoringly to his blue. 'Though I have
one thing to say about all of that. Wow.'
"My sentiments exactly," he smiled softly.
She touched her lips to his again, though not a
full fledged kiss. *Ah shavit, Fen! Just ask him
already. You know you want to!* Damn that inner
monologue berating her again. 'Hobbie?'
"Yes, Fen?"
His thumb brushed her cheek.
She studied his eyes a moment before hesitantly
putting voice to her query. 'Did you really
mean it when you had asked me to marry you?'
"Yes, Fen. I don't say things I don't mean."
'Well, I know that, but I mean, did you mean it
because you love me, or because of my current
situation?' she hated to prhase it like that, but
how else could she?
"Fen, it is because I love you - and has nothing to
do with your... 'situation'," he said the word with distaste.
"Granted, my timing could have been better," he shrugged.
"However, I love you, Fen. And I *mean* that. Again, I ask you...
Will you marry me?" he spoke softly to her, his thumb
gently brushing her cheek the entire time.
This time, unlike last time, the question rose gooseflesh
on her naked body and brought a
grin to her face. Just after her divorce, she had
told herself that she had no interest in marriage,
not again. But Hobbie.... she sighed a happy breath
and nodded. 'Yes.'
He laughed happily, triumphantly before kissing her
to show his great pleasure with her response.
She had to pinch herself, just to make sure today
was in fact, real. Afterall, hadn't they just had
the greatest sex in both of their lives, and now
he had broken through her resolution of no more
marriages?
When he released her, he smiled. "I promise to ask
again, more appropriately, as soon as I am able to, Fen."
'What was wrong with that proposal? I thought it
was perfect.'
"I should have taken you out to dinner, then dancing....
then gotten on my knee at a suitably embarrassing moment and pulled out
a ring," he winked at her.
She smiled amusedly at him a moment as her mind
worked. 'I have a better idea,' she finally
declared before seperating herself from him. Kneeling
in the sand, she pulled a hair from her head
and too his hand to tie it around his finger. 'Derek
Klivian, I love you more than anything I've
ever felt before. Will you marry me?' And if he
didn't like that, she had another idea.
He chuckled, "Gladly, Fen." He shook his head and
laughed.
'Damn right,' she nodded firmly before tackling
him with a big hug.
He hugged her tightly, cuddling her against himself.
"Hmm... How about that skinnydipping you suggested this morning?"
'Oh that's right. We're nude. I'd totally forgotten.'
He chuckled.
Hobbie picked up Feni, and carried
her back into the water before dropping her uncerimoniously.
She let
out a cry in protest before she hit the water. "Hey!"
He laughed and waited until she resurfaced before
splashing her then diving beneath the water.
She dove back under to swim after him, chasing
after the cream colored blur inthe dark water that was all too easily identifiable
as Hobbie.
He darted about, changing directions as though this
were his natural habitat, before darting lower beneath her to lift her
to the surface.
Taking
a deep breath, she laughed and looked down at him, crooking a finger for
him to join her above the surface.
He did so, his eyes twinkling with secret laughter.
As soon
as he was treading with her, she grabbed the back of his neck and kissed
him fiercely. After, her eyes dark and glittering, she pushed him back
down and swam toward the skiff.
Silently, he resurfaced and took a deep breath before
darting toward her beneath the waves. He grabbed her ankle, and pulled
her down.
Good
thing she had just taken a good breath too as she found herself beneath
the surface with a strong hand around her foot. She turned and smiled at
him, her braid floating toward the surface.
He winked at her, grabbing her by the waist and pulling
her with him to the surface. He allowed her to take a breath before claiming
yet another kiss from her.
She wrapped
her legs around his waist and her arms around his shoulders, her nose touching
his as she just floated and grinned.
He winked at her, nuzling her nose with his.
"Hey
Hobbs?"
"Hm?
"
"When?"
"How about as soon as possible?" he smiled.
"How
soon is that?"
He thought for a moment, "Well.... how soon do you
want it to be?"
"Well,
what are our schedules like?"
He thought a moment, then sighed as his face fell.
"There are some things I need to get done, but... who's to say we can't
just go get married when we've got another free day?"
how about... three days from now, this weekend?
She felt
a bout of giddy giggles creeping up on her, filling her chest with that
floating joy. "What do you have to get done first?"
"Well, maybe not necessarily first...."
His eyes twinkled, "We could go right now. Either
find a justice here, or run to the Venture and have Booster do it for us."
Her brows
flicked up a bit. "Now?" She didn't see it as a bad idea, knowing what
a pain in the arse it is to plan a wedding, set it up, deal with all that
stress....not something she wanted to repeat.
"Why not? Sure, my Mom'll probably kill me, but she'll
get over it."
"Maybe
we should take a few days off and go to Ralltiir? Have it there?"
"Tibrin. We could, but we'd have to wait a few days
first... I do have responsibilities here, however odious they be."
"There
went spontenaity," she teased, trying to look disappointed, though it hardly
worked. "How long will it take you to get things done?"
"At least a day."
He paused, "Maybe two."
"Can
I help you get it all done faster?"
"Or is
there anyhting I can do to get us ready?"
"You sure you don't wanna just run off and do it now?"
he raised an eyebrow.
"What
about your mother?"
"Well... if we leave right now, we can get there,
have a quick wedding, and then come back by tomorrow noon?"
She blinked
a few times before a little smile touched her features. "Really?"
"yeah. well, early afternoon. but that's if we stay
for an hour or so...."
"It's
up to you, love. I think it would make your mother happy to at least be
there." As much as she and her father had fought, Fen missed him, even
wished he were alive to see how happy she was now.
His eyes twinkled, "Then what are we waiting for?"
he maneuvred them to the skiff and lifted her up to sit on the edge while
he climbed aboard. 'Oh, wait," he dove back off again and
quickly swam to the shore to pick up their swimssuits.
She chuckled
softly as she swung her legs up onto the skiff and got it ready to leave.
He soon returned, tossing the swmsuits up onto the
deck before pulling himself up and setting their course back to shore.
When
he set the course in, she got dressed again and tucked the shell and pearl
into a pocket. She had an idea for these.
Then he himself dressed as they sped to shore. They
got there much more quickly this time, as time was certainly of the essence.
Within an hour they were back to base. "Is there anything you need, or
shall we just go?"
"I need
a change of clothes. We certainly can't get married in wet bathingsuits,
can we?"
"Alright, you go do that, I'll go con a small transport
out of control."
"Need
me to swing by your place and get anything?"
"Sure, just a change of clothes's fine."
He planted a quick kiss on her lips before jogging
off to control.
Twenty minutes later, Hobbie jogged to Feni's quarters
and knocked on the door.
She was
stuffing a small bag with the clothes she'd grabbed from his place and
from hers. She'd grabbed a nicer change of clothes, not his dress uniform,
but a blue shirt with raised collar and matching pants and she was folding
up
a dress
she had to match fairly well, in a lighter shade of blue. The silk of
her dress matched his eyes in the bright sunlight, but that hadn't been
the reason she'd bought it. It had been on sale at the time and made her
look so
curvatious
that Rafe had insisted she buy it. Man...a dress ower three years old
that she'd never worn.
When she didn't answer, he tapped in the override,
and was mildly miffed her door hadn't been locked. He stepped in, "Ready?"
She zipped
the bag shut and slung it over her shoulder. "Very."
He smiled and moved to take the bag from her, "Then
let's get on our way," he winked. "Daylight's burning."
She handed
off the bag, but only because it freed her hands to chase him out of the
room making pincer moves for his tush. "Yes it is!"
"Gaah!" he jogged ahead of her, then grabbed one of
her hands in his own as they rushed to the landers bay to the recovery
ship he'd conned out of Control. It was swift enough
to get them there and back, and was fully fueled.
"I got
shotgun!" she called over her shoulder when she'd left his side to dart
up the already lowered ramp, hoping to get the start up roling along faster.
He chuckled and darted up, slamming the hatch shut
and dashing to the cockpit to continue things. It wasn't long before they
were up and away from Coruscant, heading for Tibrin.
Hobbie sat back, "It'll be about two hours, I think."
"That's
not too long at all," she replied as she turned to sit sideways in the copilot
seat, her knees hooked over the arm rest, feet bobbing.
"Nope, it isn't." He tilted his head as he looked
at her, "Ever been to Tibrin?"
"Never.
Believe it or not, I don't have the travel opportunities in my work that
you do."
He chuckled, "Well, it's pretty much all water."
"Sounds
perfect for you, hun." She winked playfully.
He half chuckled. "Well, I didn't grow up there...
Mom moved there with Aunt Calliena after..." his voice broke off. "Anyhow,
we'll be there in about two hours."
She didn't
press him on his redirection of thoughts, wishing every moment from now
on until tomorrow to be nothing but joyful. If she could help it anyway.
"Thirtsy or anything?"
"No, Actually, I t hink I'm waterlogged."
REally
hun? You?"
He stood and stretched, "It might be a good idea to
catch some rest on the way there.... "
He chuckled, "Yes, me.
Besides, on the trip back it'll take longer. Space
routes are weird that way, and I plan on sleeping then too... well ,mostly,"
he winked as he patted her shoulder and headed back t
o the med-section where pallets for EV's were kept.
She rose
to follow him from the cockpit, her hands sliding around his waist to hold
him from behind. "I suppose I can understand that, though I'm not sure
I can rest. I'm too excited."
He chuckled, "Me too... which is WHY I can rest.
Call it survival reflex. Whenever adrenaline runs before a mission, I
find it easy to rest in the cockpit or wherever while I'm waiting for the
real deal."
"Well
I think that's where we differ. While y'all pilots were resting up before
a mission, I was hard at work making sure everything is in top order."
He turned and kissed her forehead, "And we're all
quite thankful."
"Well,
I just have extra motivation now to perfect sheild generators." She leaned
her head back to sneak a soft kiss before letting him go. "Get some rest,
I'll be there shortly, I want to check my messages." She'd set them to
forward
to the ship they were taking, having retrieved them from limbo during start
up.
"You do that," he winked at her and moved to lie down
on a pallet. Within moments, he was fast asleep.
She kissed
his forehead as he slept before checking ehr messages from teh cockpit
so not to disturb him.
