A/N 1: Somehow I got stuck on the idea of Wash and Taylor playing strip poker and how they would get into the situation where they would want to play it. This is my solution to that question.
The first day of Wash and Taylor's wildlife-imposed vacation passed pleasantly enough. However, that might have been because it was only a few hours until night descended upon them and restlessness had yet to set in.
The few hours that they did spend before sleeping were spent communicating with Terra Nova about their absence and what protocols to follow. Even while far away from the colony, they still had work to do.
Wash made dinner and Taylor went about doing paperwork. It was very much like any night in the colony except they were confined to the concrete walls of the outpost.
The second day was a little less pleasant. They were both early risers and were accustomed to working out in the early mornings. While the outpost was decent sized, it was no means large enough for them to run in or spar. Instead they settled for a light workout of core muscles which ended up frustrating them both because they didn't exert enough energy to have a "real" workout.
After showering and checking in with Terra Nova, they both sat around the outpost for all of 5 minutes before they realized that they had nothing to do.
Absolutely NOTHING to do. Terra Nova was taken care of, the Carno was still lurking outside, and the outpost was running in top condition. There was no emergency to run off to or problem to be solved.
That's when Wash spotted a dust bunny under the table. Dust bunnies were not to be tolerated in the military and Wash had been taught to seek out and destroy them. So that's what she did.
She climbed under the table and began to sweep the floor with her hands.
"What are you doing?" Taylor asked.
"Cleaning," she answered.
"Want a hand?" he asked bored out of his mind.
"Sure," Wash answered.
So Taylor set about cleaning out the cabinets and wiping them down. Then Wash cleaned the tiny bathroom. Next came the bedrooms and the living area. No corner was left untouched.
The entire outpost was finished as dinner rolled around and the interior of the building sparkled from their hard work.
"What the hell are we going to do tomorrow if we can't leave?" asked Taylor as they sat down for dinner.
"I think we may have to call back-up if the Carno doesn't disappear by the morning. I can't stand another day in this confined space," she answered.
"I agree," he said and they ate the rest of their meal in comfortable silence.
The third day brought about a terrible case of cabin fever.
Wash had only ever felt this frustrated at one other point in her life and that had been when she was recovering from her wounds from Somalia. While she wasn't claustrophobic by any means, she hated being confined to a single place. She was used to roaming the huge colony as she pleased.
Taylor was used to roaming free as well and they made an interesting pair stalking back and forth in the outpost. It was the only outlet for their cabin fever.
After 30 minutes of pacing, they literally ran into each other full force. An accident by all means, the incident lead to an all out shouting match about how the other need to watch where they were going. It ended with them growling at each other and retreating to the opposite sides of the outpost.
Another 30 minutes passed before Wash gave up her pacing, sat at the table, and planted her head against it.
"Giving up?" Taylor asked.
"Yes," Wash answered. "I'm giving up on living."
"I didn't mean living. I meant the pacing," Taylor said as he turned back around.
"I know what you meant. I was giving you a bad time. Not like I have anything else to do," she said back.
"I'm giving up too," he said as sat down across from her. "Do you think the Carno has left yet?"
His question was promptly followed by a loud thump against the outer fence of the outpost.
"Nope," she answered him with a smirk. She returned her head back to the table.
He began to drum his fingers against the table.
"Stop that," she said sharply.
"No," he snapped back, "you could take your head off the table like an adult."
"How is that we've spent a good 10 plus years working together and until this point I've never wanted to hurt you more?" She asked.
"It's because you love me so much," he teased back.
"I don't love you," she threw back "I tolerate you."
"That's a lot of toleration to stick around for more than 10 years," he baited.
"I only have so much toleration because they pay me to," she bantered back.
"Ooh, nice one," he said.
"Thank you," Wash said.
Now that the argument was over, he returned to drumming his fingers against the table.
"What do you want to do? The rescue team won't be here for another 8 hours," he asked.
"I found a deck of cards yesterday while we were cleaning," she said. "We could play a couple of hands?"
"Sounds fun," he said as she got up to retrieve the cards.
"What do you want to play?" She asked as she shuffled the deck.
"Want to start out easy?" He asked. "Go Fish?"
"Sure, why not," she answered. "I haven't played that in years."
Wash proceeded to deal out five cards to both Taylor and herself. As she laid the deck of cards on the table, Taylor grabbed the stack and spread them out on the table.
"What are you doing?" Wash asked.
"Making a pond. How else are you supposed to play Go Fish?" He asked.
"Of course you would want to play it like a 5 year old," she said.
"Afraid to lose Wash?" He asked with a challenge in his voice.
"Of course not. No matter what game we play, I'll always win," she said confidently.
"We'll see about that," he said.
They traded wins back and forth until the fifth hand when Wash became bored of the easy game.
"Let's move onto something harder," she said.
"What you thinking?" asked Taylor.
"Rummy?" she suggested.
"Which type? 500? Gin? Canasta? Dummy rummy?" he asked.
"Dummy rummy?" she asked confused.
"Yeah, I'm not sure what it is but it sounded fun," he said.
"500 is the one I know how to play," she said.
"Sounds good," he said as he dealt the cards. Wash kept track of their growing scores on her plex. The final round left Wash in the lead by 20.
"I'm going to beat you Wash," Taylor said with an air of confidence.
"I really don't think so sir," Wash said with just as much confidence and a smirk.
The last hand ended up being a long ordeal and left Wash with 3 cards in hand with Taylor having 2. It played out with Wash slapping down the out card and a triumphant shout leaving her mouth.
"Damn it," Taylor grumbled and laid down his 2 remaining cards on the table.
"Told you sir," she said as she folded her arms over her chest. Her mouth threatened to break out into a smile. "Name the next game sir," she said in a smart-ass tone.
"Poker," he said like he knew she something she didn't.
"5 card draw? 7 card stud? Ace? Pineapple? Texas Hold'Em?" she asked.
"Strip poker," he said with all the daring in the world.
"Really? You sure about that sir?" she asked.
"You're not chicken are you Wash?" he teased.
"Have I ever been?" she challenged back.
"No Wash. I've seen you do some pretty daring stuff," he said.
"Deal 'em Taylor," she said.
Two hands in and she had lost both of her boots. Taylor lost the third hand and Wash teased him.
"Time to add to the pile sir," Wash baited.
"Pile?" he said with mocking. "You've only lost your boots. Two boots do not make a pile."
"Well, make it a pile," she said. Taylor only smugly smiled at her. He proceed to whip his skin tight black t-shirt over his head to reveal his muscular, tanned chest. Wash was able to maintain her composure and keep her eyes locked with his.
"Ready for the next hand Wash?" he asked as placed his shirt with her boots. He then purposefully flexed his biceps as he crossed his arms.
"Deal 'em Taylor," she demanded and he did just that.
He passed out more cards and they both ended up discarding a few. Upon laying down their respective hands, Wash was the clear loser. Instead of taking the easy way out and dropping a sock in the pile, she began to unzip her pants. He had wanted a pile and he was going to get one.
If Taylor was surprised, he hid it very well. But Wash sure as hell didn't make it easy to stay calm. She stood up after unzipping and wiggled her hips just enough to draw Taylor's eyes down from her face to where her hands were pushing down the fatigues.
"You know Wash I've only played strip poker with one other person," Taylor said.
"Really?" She asked as she toed out of the cuffs of the pants.
"Yes, Ayani," he answered.
That made her pause before bending down to pick up her pants and add them to the pile.
"Who won?" She asked innocently.
"We both did," he said with the most devious smirk she had ever witnessed.
Four more hands and further banter, Wash was down both socks while Taylor had lost his boots. The Carno could still be heard harassing the perimeter fence every handful of minutes.
Taylor laid down another winning hand and grinned devilishly. Wash had only 3 clothing options left to discard. Her shirt, her bra, or underwear.
Internally, Wash was sweating. Not having pants was easy. But now she needed to choose carefully which piece of clothing to remove. The simple choice was the tank top because she'd essentially be in a bikini. Or she could take her bra off underneath her tank top which was long enough that if she were to cover herself if she were to lose her underwear in another round.
Her choice made, she slipped her arms into her tank, removed the straps from her shoulders, popped the clasp open, pulled the bra out of the arm hole, and threw it into the pile.
"Impressive Wash!" Taylor whistled wolfishly.
As the bra fluttered to the ground, they both heard a sonic cannon discharge outside.
"Looks like backup is here," Taylor said. "Guess that's the end of the game."
"Sadly," Wash said glumly.
"Maybe we can pick it up later?" Taylor asked with a glimmer of hope.
Wash looked at Taylor slightly stunned. While they had always been close, he had never given any indication of being sexually attracted to her. In the past, she used to have a crush on him but she had eventually outgrown it and settled into a great friendship.
"Yes, definitely," she said with a smile.
"Good, good," he said. "We should probably get dressed before the backup team comes in."
At that exact moment, the outer door opened and Shannon walked into the common room to see Wash and Taylor sitting there in their skivvies.
"Looks like I interrupted something," Shannon said in a outright teasing manner.
"Get lost Shannon," Wash said as she picked up her pants to put them back on.
"Just a friendly game of poker," Taylor said joyfully.
"Well, dressed and let's get going before the Carno comes back. I think something is wrong with it by the way it was acting. Even more aggressive than normal," Shannon said before he stepped outside to give them some privacy.
"You're a good player Wash," Taylor said while he put his shirt back on.
"You're not bad yourself sir," she said as she laced up her boots.
"Want to bet Shannon gives us a bad time the entire way back to the colony?" He asked putting his boots on.
"Oh that's a guarantee," she said grabbing both of their bags. "I had fun by the way."
"Me too," he said with a sly grin.
With that they left the outpost for the colony and another round of poker.
A/N 2: I wrote this three years ago and never published it for some reason. Better late than never.