Rachel awoke to Tom nuzzling her neck. Which tickled. She rolled over, giggling.
"Tom!"
"What? It's time to get up."
She glanced at the clock.
"Not yet it isn't!"
"Yes, well, I was hoping…"
"You were, were you?" she said, reaching for him with a grin on her face. His eyes lit, and he kissed her before pulling away.
"Tom?" she asked, confused until she realized he was opening his nightstand drawer.
"Just a sec – " Then suddenly, he turned back to her. "We didn't – last night – we never – "
"It's okay, Tom. I have an implant, I got it before I went to the artic."
The relief on his face was palpable.
"Thank god." He said, moving back towards her. However, she drew away.
"Would that really be so terrible?" she said coolly, getting out of bed and heading to the bathroom.
"What?" he stopped, replaying their conversation in his head to figure out where he'd screwed up. He didn't work it out until she was on the other side of the closed bathroom door, and moved to follow her. "Rachel – no, it's not like that." He told the closed door. "I'm okay with it – I just would prefer to marry you first." He looked down at his feet. "I suppose I'm a bit old-fashioned like that."
The door opened slowly.
"You would marry me?"
"Well, yeah. Did you think this was just a fling? Do you really think I'm that kind of man?"
"No. I just…haven't thought that far ahead."
"That's fair. I haven't either. We haven't had much chance to." He cocked his head towards the bed, moving to sit down. "I didn't know you wanted kids."
"I…don't necessarily know that I do. I just…you looked so relieved. Like you wouldn't want me to have your child." She said, sitting next to him.
"Rachel, no. Any kid of ours would be amazing. Your brains, my good looks." She laughed, smacking him lightly. "No, if I looked relieved, I was probably having a flashback to my third year in the academy." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Darien and I had a pregnancy scare. I had another year at the academy, she had two more years of college. It was the worst time to have a baby – one or both of us would have had to drop out."
"Ah. That's understandable."
"So…if you wanted to…we could. But, like I said, I am old-fashioned enough to want to marry you first. I'd also like the chance to introduce you to the kids before that."
"When do they get here?"
"Tomorrow, actually."
"Have you told them about us?"
"I've talked to them about you, but not about us. They do remember you from Baltimore. Sam thinks you have magical powers, Ashley said you were 'alright'."
"Just 'alright'?"
"Hey, from her, that's high praise."
"But is that enough to let me into their family?"
"They'll come around. If it helps, Dad likes you."
"Yeah?"
"I mean, he is the one who helped me pull my head out of my ass when it came to you."
"Oh, this I need to hear."
"It was after that big fight we had, about Niels. He asked me why I was so angry with you. I couldn't answer him right away, but I eventually realized it had nothing to do with Niels and everything to do with you. How I could have lost you – and how much it would have hurt. And how once I figured it out, it was too late to do anything about it, thanks to the situation and the responsibilities of my position." He took her hand in his. "When you asked what I really wanted, I nearly died inside."
"Tom – " she said softly "I'm so sorry."
"I'm just glad you're here now. And Michener, as annoying as he can be sometimes, will forever have my gratitude for pardoning you."
"I suppose we do owe him that much." She admitted, relaxing and leaning against him for a long moment.
"We should send him a fruit basket." He said suddenly. She lifted her head to raise an eyebrow at him, but otherwise kept a straight face. "Okay, okay, I'll throw in a gift certificate too."
"You will, hmm? Where to?" she replied evenly.
"Macy's. I want my clothes back."
She cracked, giving in to the laughter.
"You are something else, you know that?" she said.
"Hush, you like it." He said, pulling her back against him and kissing the top of her head.
"You really think that Ashley and Sam will be okay with it?" she asked hesitantly.
"We'll work it out." He said. "They're children, which are surprisingly resilient."
"Speaking of kids, what are we doing with Mark?"
"Well, once he's all patched up, I was thinking we'd put him with the kids from the camp. We found some dorms for them, and we're finding them jobs. A few are serious about signing up for the Navy, but there's a few working for the various government entities already – gophers and whatnot."
"Uh, gophers? I though that was an animal."
"Slang term – they run errands, mostly fetching things. 'Go for this, go for that'. Go-fers."
"You yanks always did have a talent for mangling the queen's English."
"We're efficient is all. There's no need to insert random 'u's into words."
She opened her mouth to shoot back a witty retort, but was interrupted by the alarm. She sighed in irritation as she reached over to shut it off.
"You'd better have a proper cup of tea in this flat."
"Of course. What do you think I am, uncivilized? It's in the kitchen, next to the coffee. Come on, I'll show you."
