Chapter 7

I was finding myself in a deep sleep. One that was filled with a dream of Princess and myself in a peaceful setting. We were on our porch and, the neighborhood was filled with the laughter of kids playing. Just as I was about to lean in and give her a kiss, I felt the sting of a blinding light burning my eyes. For an instant, I felt my body stiffen as if I had been captured by the enemy, then I relaxed as I remembered where I was and who was rooming with me.

Shielding my eyes from the strong light I mumbled to my roommate. "Turn off the light, Prin…"

With a little too much perk in her voice for my taste she replied. "I can't."

Not wanting to cause any arguments so early in the morning I tried to keep my voice as level as I could. Still I couldn't for the life of me figure out why she couldn't flip a damn switch. "Why the hell not?" I grumbled below my breath.

"It's the suns. They're both up, and you should be too." she commented in a little to smug of a voice.

Now feeling the effects of the alcohol on top of the snowball fight I now understood why that type of behavior wasn't approved for our line of duty. Would it stop me from doing it, probably not, but would it slow me up? Most unfortunately so. Grumbling and grunting as I tried to locate the nearest clock I tried to avoid the suns light. Upon finding it, the sun blinded my eyes. "Ow… what time is it, anyhow?"

Not even appearing to notice my agony, or maybe just enjoying it a little to much she replies with the same perkiness "Eight o'clock. The lifts open in an hour."

Somehow an hour didn't seem like it would be long enough to recoup from this feeling. Turning over I tried to wish it all away "Ugh… too early… let's go back to sleep…"

"You can if you want, but I want to be on the mountain when the lifts open. I'm not missing the best skiing of the day because you stayed up too late drinking at the bar."

The tone in her voice had changed from perky to a tad condescending. As I tried to turn to face her again, I groaned at the suns persistence in burning my eyes. "How did you know?"

"I know you, Jason." she said. "Sometimes, I think I know you better than anyone."

The way she said that she knew me better then anyone brought a sudden chill down my back. She spoke it as if she could see right through me and with the realization that I was totally naked below the covers only made me wonder what more she knew.

"Okay, okay, I'll get up…" I finally sat up but I allowed the sheets to fall whatever way they wanted. They only revealed the top portion or my body, but I do know that Princess didn't avert her eyes any.

It took me a few seconds of sitting upright to allow my eyes and body to adjust, but when they did it was well worth it. In front of me was a beautiful woman in a dusky lavender one-piece ski-suit. Oh man did it show all the right curves, along with bringing out the beauty in her face. I felt myself start to blush as my body responded to the sight in front of me. "Wow… Prin… When did you become a hot ski bunny?"

I couldn't tell if she notice the change in the covers on my lap as she replied with a wide grin, but I really didn't care. "When I asked the Chief to have the lab make me a ski outfit. You like?"

When she started to twirl in front of me I pictured the two of us at a fancy ball somewhere, dancing as if we were the only couple there. I felt my 'hidden' urges grow stronger as I gazed upon her with a look of lust "Definitely… Just seeing you like that makes me want to hit the slopes with you right now."

She stopped twirling and seemed to smile as she said "Well, then, you had better get ready, hadn't you?"

A few moments later she added "Jason… you and Mark… you worked out your problems last night, didn't you?"

Trying to get my mind back on the task at hand, and out of the gutter, I rubbed my face a little to hard."Yeah. We won't be arguing today. For at least the first hour or so…" I winked at her knowing that a truce couldn't last all day let alone a lifetime.

She sighed as she replied "You, men!" and then did something that totally caught me off guard. Picking up a pillow she threw it with a bit of force, at that time the war was on!

Striking back, I took the pillow that I used as a back rest, and swung it full force. That seemed to be the best hit I could get in without getting up so I grabbed her by the arm when she went for a counter-attack. I thought that I had her pinned rather well with my strength and all but she managed to slip out from under me. When she went to gain the advantage of being on top I felt her hand slide across my bare ass and lightly run across the area below my abs. It was during this time that I dropped all my guards and let myself be captured by her.

I wasn't sure if she realized what happened, or if it was the exertion of a good pillow fight that made us both lie there breathing heavy. Either way, I was happy! Looking over at her, I saw the redness of her cheeks, and sent an unspoken challenge her way.

Her eyes seemed to be searching for an answer, and it almost seemed like I had won until she tried to jump out of the bed. "Eight-thirty! Jason, we need to get downstairs if we want to have any breakfast!" Pushing herself the rest of the way up from the bed she headed towards the door.

As she reached for the door handle I bombarded her with another pillow, commenting as it struck "I know… you just don't want to admit defeat." I so wanted to stop her before she left the room. To try and make her see that there would be nothing wrong with her and I hooking up. Somehow I knew that it was her feelings for our commander that stopped her from doing what both of us know we want. How will I ever get her to see that.

She threatened me with her own pillow as she stepped out into the hallway."Stuff it, Jason! I'm going to get downstairs and grab some food. Do you think you can manage to meet me before nine am?"

"Yeah." I grinned. "I'll be there."

"I'm going to hold you to that!" she promised as she finally closed the door.

I slowly got out of bed and finished stretching my arms and legs out. I couldn't help but to wish that Princess would forget something and have to return at this moment. Seeing how that wasn't going to happen, I made my way into the bathroom and turned on the cold water. The hot water would just have to wait till the end.

Finishing with my shower I did a few extra touches to my normal routine and started towards the cafe. Upon entering I heard Princess calmly talking to Mark.

"Oh, it's not all for me." She explained. "I figured Jason would want something when he came down."

I smiled at the thought of her considering my hunger and duly noted the expression on Marks face with his comment "Oh."

I approached the table as if I hadn't even noticed the tone in Marks voice and happily replied to Princess as I snatched some food off of her plate. "You were right about that. I'm starving! Thanks Prin!"

It was then that Mark tried his best to be civil with me, guess he finally realized who actually had the upper hand the night before. "Good morning, Jason. Did you get much sleep?"

Still I couldn't help but to want to rub salt in the wound, only I tried to keep my promise to Princess. "A couple of hours. It's all I needed. Especially with this hot ski bunny waking me up."

A smile seemed to spread across her face as she giggled. "I thought we established that it was the suns that woke you up?"

It was as if the two of us were reliving the pillow fight and the conversation that had ensued afterward. It was only for a second but when our attention had returned to Mark, we could both see the frustration in his eyes.

Again Princess felt the need to intervene "Look, Mark. Jason said that you two worked out your issues last night."

He took his glare off of me for a second and turned his full attention to Princess "Yeah, we did."

"Good. Then I won't have to play referee again on the slopes this morning?" She chided him.

"No." He shot me a look that any normal person might misread but I knew it too well. This battle was far from over. "We'll behave ourselves. Won't we, Jason?"

I wanted him to know that I acknowledged his look and challange, but I also wanted to keep it from Princess. For once it seemed as if I had the winning hand and I wasn't about to lose it over more fighting. So as playfully as I could I winked at him and replied. "As far as you know…"