The story takes place before Back to Mars. This is AU, in which Carbine comes to Earth and Throttle can't miss the chance to ask her out. Throttle/Carbine. Just fluff. Rated PG-13 to be on the safe side.

Disclaimer: I don't own Biker Mice, which is really sad.

A/N: I was surprised to find out that there are so few Throttle/Carbine fanfics and as I think Carbine is a brilliant woman, I had to write this as a little tribute to this pairing. Come on, people, Carbine deserves more love!

And many thanks to my beta Schursch :)

...

A special day

This day was special. All around people were going about their usual routines and, all in all, nothing gave away the suggestion that this day was far from ordinary. But this day was special.

Carbine knew it the moment she saw a bouquet of flowers which Throttle had just handed over to her.

"Hey", he said with a smile. "Happy Birthday".

At first she was at a loss for words. She was a general and a soldier, she knew how to fight and give orders and keep calm and collected when everything inside her was screaming in pain. What she didn't know was how to react to something like that. In all her life no one had ever given her flowers before, not even Throttle, not even when they were young. People on Mars didn't have a luxury of picking up flowers for a present, what with Martian flora damaged so badly. But as they were on Earth now, Throttle figured, Carbine deserved her share in that wonderful Earthian tradition.

She took the flowers awkwardly and breathed in their fragrant scent.

"Thanks", she said, because she didn't know what else to say.

"Say, would you like to go for a ride?" said Throttle after a short pause, watching Carbine holding the flowers as delicately as she could as though they were extremely fragile. "I could show you the city, you know, make you familiar with the surroundings. Just you and me. What do you say?"

"Wait, are you asking me out on a date?" it dawned on her almost as soon as he said it.

"Yeah", Throttle chuckled and ran his fingers through his hair. "You see right through me".

Carbine hesitated. If Throttle hadn't brought up the subject, she would keep quiet about her birthday as she did all these years, pretending that it never happened. The years had passed though, regardless of her desire to ignore it as she threw her life away at war. That seemed unfair, but life was never fair anyway.

But, being given the opportunity such as this...

"I'm not sure this is a good time for it", she said doubtfully. "There's still the war going on. We can't let our guard down".

"I know", Throttle said seriously. "But today's a special day. And now that you're on Earth and we have the chance, I want to lift the worries off your shoulders. Take a day off from the war. Just today, you and me. That's not much, but that's what I want to give you. One day without any worries at all".

And Carbine gave up.

"Ok", she said. "But just for today".

Throttle nodded. "Yes, of course. The Earth isn't all holiday either".

They waved at Vinnie, Modo and Charley who reassured them for the third time that they would manage by themselves just fine and see to it that Chi-town wasn't destroyed during their leaders' absence, and rode off.

Throttle showed Carbine the city as he promised, although it was more along the lines of "getting familiar with the surroundings" rather than actual sightseeing (except for the main "tourist attraction", namely, Limburger's tower which they couldn't leave out). He showed her all the ins and outs as the streets of Chicago flashed before their eyes. It felt almost like a race, Carbine thought, as she tried to keep up with Throttle which definitely was not an easy task to do. She was a pretty good rider, but not as good as Throttle, and besides, his bike was really something else and he indeed knew the city pretty much as the palm of his own hand.

But of course he wasn't planning on exhausting his girlfriend from the start. There was so much more on his mind. And before Carbine knew it, they were inside one of the city's parks.

"That's the place I really wanted you to see", said Throttle and Carbine knew why.

It was green. Everywhere they looked, it was green. For Carbine, it was a little part of heaven and a sight that she had never thought she would see on her own planet.

Throttle took her to the farthest corner of the park, away from other people's eyes, where they finally managed to take their helmets off and sat under a tree to share a quick lunch of what Throttle snatched from home.

Carbine raised her head and let the wind caress her face. The scent of flowers and grass was everywhere. It was so peaceful it seemed almost unreal.

"The Earth is so beautiful", she said finally. "I wish Mars would become like this one day".

"It will", said Throttle. "I'm sure it will".

Carbine didn't reply. She sighed and rested her head on Throttle's shoulder and they sat like that in silence for a while.

He knew what she was thinking about. She felt uneasy about all this. She couldn't rest until the war was over. It almost felt like a crime. It felt wrong to be happy while there was a war going on. It was like they didn't have the right to be happy as long as their people were suffering.

Throttle was wrong though. Carbine wasn't thinking about Mars. Perhaps for the first time since she arrived on Earth, she wasn't thinking about Mars or her people. For once she allowed herself to think about one particular mouse - the one that was sitting beside her. It had been so long since she last could allow herself to spend time with him like this. Come to think about it, they didn't have the chance to spend such peaceful time together since the war had started and now it seemed like the war had been going on forever.

And God, she missed him so much. She didn't realize it at first. Since they'd met on Earth she was trying to build up a wall between them, because, well, she had a mission and couldn't allow any distractions - or that, at least, was what she told herself. She hadn't seen him for a long time and there had been some misunderstanding at first, so in a way she was scared to let her feelings for Throttle take over her. She tried to distance herself from him so that her emotions wouldn't get in the way.

But he decided for her in the end, like he always did, and she was glad of that now. Because, truth to be told, it hurt so much to think that they might never be together again. They were so far now from when they first met and fell in love with each other, it started to feel like another life. Like it wasn't real. That's why she needed to keep physical contact and feel his warm fur touching hers. Only then she could believe that he's there and he's real.

She must have dozed off, because Throttle gently touched her on the shoulder to indicate that it was time for them to move on and for a moment she couldn't understand where she was.

"It's sunset", said Throttle. "Come on, you don't want to miss it, do you?"

He's really trying to turn this day into a fairy-tale, Carbine thought. And he's so darn good at it.

The sunset on Earth was so different from that on Mars. And here, in the park, it was truly beautiful. She thought she could just stand there and watch it forever. But it wasn't long till the shadows gathered around and then Carbine turned to Throttle.

"Well, I think it's time for us to go back, eh?"

"Um, actually, you know what?" he said and suddenly looked uncertain. "Charley told me her parents went away for a holiday and left her to look after their empty apartment. She offered to leave supper for us there so that we could use the place for the night... Um, if you want to."

"Oh really? So that wasn't just about showing me the city?"

"No hiding anything from you, babe", Throttle sounded a bit embarrassed. Perhaps he should've told Carbine right from the start that he had plans for the night as well.

He was so cute she almost laughed. She was starting to forget why she loved him.

She knocked on his forehead. "Hey, I don't mind, you crafty tempter. Lead on".

It was already dark when they reached Charley's parents' apartment. Once they were inside, Throttle drew all the curtains and switched on the lights. Now they could allow themselves a little privacy.

Throttle shuffled in the fridge and laid down the table. He gestured to Carbine to make him company and she lowered herself on the chair at the other side of the table.

"With all that running around we didn't have a chance to talk properly", said Throttle. "Tell me how the things are back on Mars".

It wasn't a story that could be told in a few words, Carbine admitted. Quite a long time passed since the three biker mice had disappeared from their home planet and quite a lot of stuff happened. But after a while Carbine noticed that Throttle wasn't actually listening. He was watching her instead, his head resting in the palm of his hand, and smiling in a dreamy way.

"What?"

"Nothing. I just haven't seen you for quite a while".

Carbine examined him for a moment or two. Then she reached across the table and took Throttle's shades off his nose.

"I want to see your eyes too", she said.

He blinked a few times and then smiled at her.

"You're beautiful".

"Yeah, right. Especially after gathering all the road dust of Chicago on my fur", Carbine said ironically, trying to hide the fact that she loved getting his compliments.

But Throttle completely ignored her remark.

"Yes. You're still beautiful", he reached out and covered her hand with his.

He said it with such frankness that the only thing that was left for Carbine was to grab the man and kiss him.

She coughed and stood up.

"I'm going to the shower. Bless me, finally, a decent shower with hot water and no queue! That's the best thing I've had in years!" with that, she retreated to the bathroom. She needed a little time to collect herself. She knew if she'd kissed him, she wouldn't be able to stop and if she were to spend night with Throttle, she wanted to do it like a civilized person, that's why she needed a shower.

The sound of water, however, helped her to regain herself. Whatever happened, it was all for the best.

She stepped out of the shower and reached for her clothes, but then smiled and just wrapped her towel around her body and left the bathroom.

Throttle had already unfolded the sofa and now was lying on one side of it, his feet on the floor, breathing soundly. Carbine left her clothes in a heap on one of the chairs and prodded his leg with her toe.

"Sleeping already?"

Throttle opened his eyes and smiled at her.

"You look good in a towel", he said approvingly. "You should wear it more often".

"Shut up", she kicked him slightly again. "Your turn to take a shower".

Throttle hummed something to himself, rose from the bed and disappeared behind the door to the bathroom.

When he was back, he found Carbine watching some human movie on TV with an amused look on her face.

"Humans got such a strange imagination", she said and switched off the TV before he could see what she was watching. Then she patted the place on the bed next to her, which Throttle willingly took. There was no point to keep back now. He pulled her closer, letting her towel slide down and their fur brush as he kissed her tenderly. She closed her eyes and kissed him back and found it a bit hard to breathe as her heart raced in her chest. All those feelings for Throttle she had tried to suppress for years, because it hurt so much even to think about him, were now released and it was a bit overwhelming. She was finally able to let go of the strain and the heartache she felt for such a long time she became unaware it was still there... And the darkness behind her eyes cracked and shattered into millions of sharp sparkling pieces.

Throttle kissed her face and it was salty with tears.

"Are you crying, Carbine?"

She touched her cheek and looked at her wet fingers. "I am", she said as though she wasn't realizing it. "I don't know why. It's just... I love you".

Throttle hugged her tighter and cradled her in his arms.

"I always will".

Much later they were lying in bed, cuddling to each other, and Carbine was stroking the fur on Throttle's chest. This day - her birthday - proved to be really special and although it meant she got a bit older, at least now she could hope to have a future with a man she loved. That was something worth living for.

~12.08.11 – 29.08.11