===== Shane's temporary quarters, Starbase 485 ===== There was a clatter from the bathroom as though something had fallen into a sink, which, indeed, it had. The singing, which had gone on for sometime stopped abruptly, then began again and gradually grew louder as the singer approached the bedroom door where it stopped once more. "Shane?...you havent planned anything for us today have you?" Rangi asked, reaching up to the towel that was wrapped around her hair. She tucked the end of it at the back so making a pink fluffy turban and smiled when Shane looked at her. Shane stood there wearing only his uniform trousers and smiled down at his beloved. He loved it when she was drying her hair in the towel-turban thing ... by some crazy thought it always reminded him of a dwarf hat from an ancient tale he was told long ago as a small child. He smiled wider and replied: "Nothing exceptional my lovely dwarf-woman, breakfast at the little Bolian place on the promenade and then maybe a walk in the arboretum." "That sounds lovely." she said happily and lifted her face to accept the one second touch of his lips on hers.She smiled up at him, then dropped her gaze to his muscular shoulders and chest. Seeing him raise an eyebrow, a dimple appeared in her chin as she suppressed a grin at his unasked question and walked past him towards the sofa. "So noone's going to summon you anywhere?" she asked a little too innocently. Shane looked at Rangi from the corner of his eye and asked a bit suspiciously: "Sure there are no duty tasks for me sheduled for today. The crew is well harboured on the station, there is no new ship for us waiting so we are free to do whatever we want. Why do you ask my love? "I thought there might be time for a bit of shopping." she replied, sitting down on the soft cushions and reaching up to unfasten the towel. "I literally have NOTHING to wear...well nothing decent anyway." The towel was pulled off and she pushed her wet hair back from her face. "Just one or two things..it shouldnt take long. Perhaps we could go after breakfast and visit the arboretum this afternoon." Shane scratched his head a bit before replying. He HATED shopping in general and shopping for clothes was the pure nightmare for him. Rangi will ask him about his opinion for dozens of clothes and he ALREADY knew that the reply: "You look very lovely" for the 20th time from 20 different clothes ISNT well accepted. Trouble was that Rangi INDEED looked lovely in anything ... but cause some reason she didnt believe it. Another trouble was that she was right ... she had NOTHING to wear besides the uniform and a few replicated pieces of clothing ... all her (Shane's as well) clothes stayed on the Chimera. Slowly he nodded: "Hmmm ... some little shopping might be a possibility ...." "Excellent!" she said beaming at him radiantly. She leaned forward and began to towel dry her hair, rubbing it briskly. "I dont need that much. " she told him in a slightly muffled voice. "Some shirts and a couple of pairs of jeans...one or two skirts... oh and a decent dress. " She sat up, still rubbing, the towel covering her face as she dried the top of her head. " Three sweaters should be enough to go on with...and shoes ofcourse...and I need a couple of jackets...but thats all." The towel was dropped across her knees and she shook her head, then pushing back the wild mass of hair which in some ways now resembled Shanes usual look, said mischieviously " And underwear of course....you could help to choose that" She looked at him, expecting to see a similar expression to her own on his face, but instead her smile froze then died. She stood up at once. "Sweetheart whats wrong?" she asked, full of concern, stepping on the wet towel which had fallen to the floor. "You look awfully pale...what is it?...are you ill?" Shane was listening to Rangi with a growing horror. {I dont need that much ... bleh ...} he thought, {jeans, skirts, dress, sweaters and whatever more!} His expression was like encountering a Borg Drone in his bed ... {That will take days!} he thought to his own disappointment. "Is that all you want?" he asked in a thin voice, "nothing more? I am sure there is at least one shop on this base we wont have a look inside ..." his voice sounded feeble. "Rangi my dear ... this will take an eternity to buy! Hours, maybe even days ... erm ... I am quite sure that ... hmmm ... Bretam mentioned some paperwork or something ...." Rangi standing before him, tilted her head to one side and sighed, her lips curling at the corners in amusment. "You know he didn't!" she said and moved to him, the smile breaking on her face. She linked her fingers behind his neck. "It wont take days." she said "...possibly hours but I promise...TWO at the most....and I meant what I said about you helping me choose...some things." She looked at him from beneath lowered lashes. "Hah" he said with a slight grin, "You thought you could keep me calm with the prospect of buying underwear, dont you? Its clear like a crystal ball ..." "You mean you have no interest in it?" she asked, feining surprise and laughed for a moment. "But there IS more to get." she said more seriously."You dont have anything either." Shane waved with his hand: "I'll take whats on sale in the first shop, dont need much really ... jeans or two, some shirts and thats it ..." "Shhhh.shh..shhh.shhhh." she murmured pressing her fingers against his lips. "Just leave it to me. I know what you need." She smiled up at him and knew that he would agree simply to please her.She touched the side of his face with her palm. "I know shopping is not something you like doing. " she said quietly "..but it IS necessary...you and I lost all our things, we need to replace them....and theres something else I wondered about....Scott mentioned a sort of art gallery here. He said it looked interesting. I wondered if there might be a copy of the picture." Rangi smiled as she saw his expression change, knowing that the thought of replacing his painting of a wizard and a wooden chest with little feet would appeal to him. Shane looked at Rangi with respect ... she knew what to use and when . He nodded: "Do you really think that we might find a picture of Ricewind on a small station like this? Really?". He shook his head slighty for a moment but then his eyes lit a bit up: "But well, space is small and this is a place more likely to sell pictures then we've been for the last year." "Exactly!" she said and took a step back."We'll find the place as soon as you and I have all we need...and then we can go for the walk?" Shane shook his head like in disbelief but a warm smile was on his lips: "Are you sure you didnt miss your real job? You should have become a diplomat of some kind ... with your ways to persuade, the Romulans would gladly give the Federation even Remus just to keep you away from them" he said. With a slight grin he said: "All right, two hours, but not a minute longer and then we go to arboretum." He looked at her and added: "We have to spare some energy for later ... dont we?" Rangi grinned. " You are SO transparant!" she said stepping back. "Is that a subtle way of saying you dont want to carry too many shopping bags?" She dissolved into a peel of laughter when he stepped forward, gathered her up in his arms and whispered something into her ear. "Really!!" she said in a tone of mock surprise. "Well...Let's think about that as we shop!" *** End Log *** Commander Shane Guzman XO USS Chimera & LtCmdr Rangi Summers 2XO/CMO USS Chimera