===== Deck2, USS Chimera ====== The door had barely slid open enough before Rangi stepped inside and reached up to embrace the figure standing in front of her. Hugging him closely and pressing her face to his, she gave his cheek a quick kiss, looked into his eyes for a second, kissed his lips equally as quickly and stood back, radiating happiness from every pore. "Good morning!" she said "Are you ready?" She beamed a smile at him. "Guess what!!" she instructed, her eyes shining with delight. "Morning pretty" Shane replied with a warm smile on his lips. During the Kzenti mission there was virtually no free time to spend with his beloved and this two weeks of R&R were an ideal time to forget about the Starfleet and all the ship's business. "You look very pretty today" he said still smiling, "You booked a shuttle for us for the next days?" he asked innocently. He knew of course that the chances were small, but well ... it wasnt a bad idea at all! She tilted her head sideways and looking at him from the corner of her eye replied. "Commander!...this is Starbase Bragg...you know all the shuttles are 'bugged' !!" She stood in front of him and the smile remained in her eyes as she told him : "I havent got a shuttle...but I 'have' reserved a room..overlooking the harbour ring. It's waiting for us...if that appeals to you." Shane glanced at Rangi and he tried to conceal a wide smile. "Well, I have to think about it ..." he started to say in a slow speed. Seeing the expression that was about to appear in Rangi's face he added fastly: "if we ever have to return back to the ship I mean ...." and now smiled openly. "Thats a very good idea my love, lets hope that Bragg Ops wont disturb us with things, like the last time while renting a room on a station". He smiled with a bit of mischief in his eyes: "Lets tell Chimera ops to expect us in a week then?" "A whole week?" she asked innocently " ..thats seven days.....and nights.......mmmm.....well...." she pretended to consider it but couldnt hide the happiness she felt. It bubbled over in a peel of laughter and she hugged him tightly. "This time there wont 'be' any distractions. Lets 'disappear'...after all...this place deals in secrets doesnt it?" Shane smiled again and shrugged his shoulders: "Well, I think on a regular station we could disappear easily, but this is an SSF nest ... and I dont think that there is any place out of control of the SSF ops, but lets try it." He sighed: "Both of us just need to be here tomorrow moring at 9 am, Bretam will come on board and I have to hand the command back to him and you as my AXO need to be there as well." Rangi nodded."I know....there's always a call on your time..our time" She smiled. "Until then, lets enjoy the time we have." ===== 5 Minutes later, SB Bragg ===== Shane could not hide his amusement of the transporter chief's facial expression when seeing the ACO and the AXO leaving the station hand-in-hand. Of course, it was a public secret that the two of them we involved, but still it was not a common thing to see them both in casual clothes hand-in-hand. "I had a wonderful surprise this morning." she told him...go on...guess what it was" Slowly walking along the large promenade of Bragg Shane shrugged his shoulders: "Hmmm ... I dont know Rangi, its not a promotion cause I would know it as well, it can be either some family or friend coming or " he eyed Rangi for a moment: "you arent ... are you?" Lets face it ... there WAS a trace of shock in his eyes. She looked at him, puzzled by the half question. "I'm not....?.....oh......NO...no I'm not!" she answered decidedly and mirrored the small smile he gave her a second or so later. They walked on along the promenade. Rangi looked at the floor, concious of a whole host of feelings at his question. She glanced at him quickly, seeing that he too looked down to the ground. A faint frown appeared between her clear grey/blue eyes. Studying the marble effect floor as they continued to walk, she was aware that the expression of relief now on his face was not exactly what she had wanted. She pushed the unformed thoughts to the back of her mind, this was ,after all, a time for relaxation and freedom from the constraints of command. Looking at him again she said: "I had a call from Dad...he's here...on the base." Although she appeared and sounded happy, there was the faintest, tiniest flattening of her mood. Shane was really relieved. Like every young man having an relationship with a woman he was quite afraid about things like mariagge and children. One thing was beeing in love with a beautifull woman ... an another beeing a maried man with two little babies. For a short moment he wondered about what was he afraid about ... he loved Rangi very much, she was a wonderfull woman ... but still the feeling 'inherited' into all man made him a bit uneasy. Shane was maybe a good starfleet officer, but in relations and especialy dealing with woman he was a 'greenhorn' so he havent noticed the tiny change in Rangi's mood. Not realising the IMMENSE importance of the point, he forgot about it very soon. Noding to Rangi he replied: "Ah ... your father. Its a great thing that you can see him again. Do you think he would be interested in a dinner with both of us?" ===== End of log ===== LtCmdr. Rangi Summers CMO USS Chimera & Cmdr. Shane Guzman XO USS Chimera