"I don't normally catch you alone these days."

She nodded absently and stayed focused on her work, only looking up when Simmons-san sat down in the chair opposite. She was smiling, though the expression seemed as equally mischievous as friendly. "So where is he?"

"Where is who?"

"La Fllaga. Every time I've seen you he's been somewhere around."

Murrue declined to answer. Most of her crew were the same, curious about the amount of time she and the blonde pilot spent together, but they'd been careful to not give them any ammunition - what they had and what they did was their business and theirs alone. He tells me he doesn't care how many people know he loves me, and when it comes down to it neither do I, I suppose. But not here. Tapping her papers together she leaned back in her chair. In a way. she'd expected this. With the war having been quiet for the last five or six weeks the crews of the three ships had started to relax a little, looking for ways to entertain themselves, and she suspected that there was quite a lot of chatter about shipboard romances.

"Everyone knows."

"Knows what?"

"About you two. No matter how well you try to hide it, some people are always going to notice."

"I don't see why they should have to."

Simmons-san grinned. "No need to get all defensive. No-one's judging you. Didn't I say you had to take happiness where you found it?"

"Well, yes, but.." She sighed. "I'd rather people didn't gossip."

"Human nature. And you know, no-one I've heard talking about it has a problem with it."

"That's not the point."

"Don't worry so much. Gossip's only that."

Murrue crinkled her nose but nodded. "You're right, I know." It wasn't as though she could prevent it - any effort on her part to deny their relationship would only increase the gossip and hurt Mwu....and he'd been hurt enough. "You don't strike me as a gossipmonger."

"I'm not. I just listen. And I came here because I thought La Fllaga would be hanging around. He owes me one."

"So do I."

Simmons-san held up a hand. "Whoa there. You don't owe me anything. To you, it was a favour."

"But not to him?"

She laughed. "It's fun watching him squirm. Were you able to talk to your family okay?"

"Oh yes. Thank you."

"Thank him, not me. It was his idea. He was very insistent that we try everything, no matter how long it'd take him to pay us all back."

Murrue smiled, thin fingers laced together. One of the things that had attracted her to Mwu, one of the things she loved most about him, was his kindness. He hid it (or tried to) under bravado, acted like a typical pilot around everyone else, but she knew. "That's just the way he is."

"Yes, I'm beginning to see that."

"Do me one more favour, okay? Don't tease him."

Erica grinned, taking a sip of the coffee the captain had made. She was a nice girl, kind-natured and friendly...and boy, was she tough. She's perfect. Just what I'm looking for. "Tell me something. Do you have any idea what you want to do when all this is over?"

"When what's over?"

"This," She waved a hand. "The war."

"I don't know. I never really thought about it."

"How come?"

A little smile. "It feels like tempting fate. I try to not even think about what could happen tomorrow."

The older woman made a face. "But that's not living. That's just existing."

"It's sensible. I'd love to be able to plan for tomorrow, to plan for after the war, but.."

"But you might die? Yes, you might." She took another sip of her drink. "But then again, you might not."

"I know that. I'm just being realistic."

"A bit ruthlessly so. Try imagining for once. Think you'd like to come back to Orb with us?"

"I'd like that a lot."

Erica rolled her eyes. "Right, we've established that. Anything else? What about La Fllaga?"

The captain blushed faintly. "Of course, I want him to come too. He deserves it more than I do."

"Find a nice place, settle down?"

Her colour deepened. "Maybe not right away. Maybe a few more dates, see how things go.."

"Oh? I thought things were pretty serious now?"

"Did you?" She poked through the bundles of paper on her desk. "I don't remember telling anyone that."

"No, you didn't. But the colour you went tells me pretty much everything I need to know."

She smiled a little. "I'd just like to try a normal relationship. See if we're really suited."

"You don't think that you are?"

"I think that we might be, yes. But it'd still be nice to be able to act like a normal couple."

"You have a point there. So okay, you both go home and date. What about work?"

The captain frowned slightly. "I don't know. I guess I could find work as a mechanic.." Noting Erica's surprise she smiled. "I wasn't meant to be captain." She waved a hand around her. "I worked on this ship at Heliopolis, and I helped build Strike and the other suits."

"You're an engineer?" At the younger woman's nod she grinned. "You can come work for me when Morgenroete's rebuilt. So can he if he likes - I'll be needing some new test pilots."

"That's very kind of you."

"Actually, it's pretty mercenary of me. I've been keeping an eye on some of this crew to see whether they'd fit in back at the facility, and you were first on my list."

"Ah, so that's the reason for the visit."

"Partly, and partly that I hoped I'd learn something about you and your pilot. But hey, one out of two isn't bad."

The captain laughed. "No, it isn't."

"She wants us to what?"

"Come work for her when Morgenroete's rebuilt. Apparently she's been eyeing up some of this crew with a mind to poaching them when the war's over."

"And that includes us?" Standing up in Strike's cockpit he rested his elbows on the maintenance gantry where she was sitting. "She did say she was interested in you, mostly 'cause you're a great leader. M'not sure why she'd be bothered about me."

"She says she'll need new test pilots."

He pulled a face. "I don't wanna work for her. She's scary."

"No, she isn't. She's a very kind person. She knows we'd both need somewhere to go."

"I guess we would. I never really thought about it."

Murrue smiled. "Neither did I. Probably for the same reasons you didn't."

"It's kinda nice, though. To think about. Who knows, maybe we can.." His voice trailed off as he saw her expression. "Sorry."

"No, it's alright."

He sighed, then smiled, reaching out to catch her around the waist and tug her into the cockpit with him, sitting down with her on his lap. "Don't worry. I won't talk about it if you don't want me to. Here, maybe you can help me." He tapped the diagnostic panel. "Since you built this bucket of bolts."

"Don't you call it that." She patted the panel gently. "It's alright. He didn't mean it."

"You're fond of it, huh?"

"Course I am. Which is why I want you to take care of it. And yourself."

"Fond of me too?"

She pinked. "You know I am."

"Good." He kissed her cheek. "Now, where am I going wrong with this? One of the pedals is a bit stiff."

"You haven't been eating in here, have you?"

"Course not." He looked mildly offended. "The Morgenroete guys cleaned it up real well when they rebuilt it, and when I have been eating it's been with you."

"What do you mean 'when' you've been eating?"

Mwu immediately pretended he hadn't heard her, poking at a few of the buttons on his seat.

"Mwu."

He fidgeted, but said nothing.

"Fine." She made as though to climb off his lap but he held onto her.

"Alright, so I've been grabbing sandwiches on the go a lot. No law against it."

"No, there isn't, but you're going to make yourself ill. When we're done here, we'll go to the cafeteria."

"Okay, okay. How come you asked, anyway?"

"Because something might have gotten caught under there. But if you haven't been eating in here it might just be a case of it needing oiling. You need to check the pedals and all the connections behind the panel at least once a week - they'd have taught you as much at the Academy."

"They did. But with planes and mobile armours. Stuff like Strike wasn't around back then. Big learning curve."

"I suppose there would be. Well, apart from the pedal is there anything else wrong?"

"It's pilot's dumb?"

She patted his hand. "No, he isn't. But he does need someone to keep an eye on him."

"Would his captain do that?"

"Yes, she would."

He hadn't realised how hungry he was. She'd brought some of those kebabs (they'd been such a hit with the crew they'd become part of the menu) and they sat together on the sofa in their room sharing the food. She'd brought both chili and yogurt sauce, not knowing which he'd prefer, but she seemed to like the chili, managing to get a smear of it on her chin.

"I'm not kissing that off."

"I didn't ask you to." She reached for a napkin and delicately dabbed away the sauce before continuing to eat. "I didn't realise how good these tasted."

"They taste better with that on," He gestured to the bottle of yogurt sauce.

"That stuff doesn't taste of anything."

He huffed, adding more of the yogurt to his kebab and pretending he didn't hear her laughing. "Don't know if I could have a girlfriend who likes chili."

"Oh, don't be silly." Finishing her food she settled back on the sofa, taking a sip of her tea. "I'm not squabbling with you over what kind of sauce I have on a kebab."

"But," he mumbled around his last mouthful of kebab, "I can't kiss you when you taste like that."

She giggled, setting down her tea on the little table. "It's not as if it's really spicy or anything. And if I do eat it I'll eat something else before I kiss you. Sound fair?"

"I guess. Do you think you taste like it now?"

"I doubt it. I didn't have much."

"Let's try it. C'mere." He tugged her onto his lap and caught her lips in a kiss, pulling a face at the faint taste of chili. Murrue for her part rolled her eyes and kissed him properly, then almost fell off the sofa when there was a knock at the door. Hastily straightening out her ruffled clothing she pushed him into the bathroom, hiding his plate under her desk.

"Yes?"

It turned out to be a junior technician with some papers for her to sign. From his hiding place in the tiny bathroom he listened to the brief conversation, not able to hide a grin as the kid stuttered and tripped over his words. He wasn't the only one to have noticed Murrue's beauty - her smile could light up any room she was in, and the kid must have gotten a full blast of it. She gets all embarrassed when I tease her about people having crushes on her. It's really cute. Leaning against the wall he glanced over at the washstand. Over the last couple of weeks he'd gradually moved what possessions he had into her room, a couple of uniforms, a pair of Morgenroete overalls, and a collection of personal items he'd bought in Orb to replace what he'd left in Alaska - a hairbrush, toothbrush and toothpaste, shampoo, that sort of thing. These sat on a shelf above the washstand beside hers, and without really knowing it he smiled. It was comforting, almost. Domestic.

"You can come out now."

Pressing the control to open the door he peeked out. Murrue was back on the sofa with her tea, smiling gently. "You didn't mind hiding, did you?"

He smiled himself. "One day, I hope I won't have to." Wandering over he flopped down on the sofa, stretching out with his head on her lap. She brushed fingers over his face and through his hair, giggling when he kissed her hand. One day they wouldn't have to hide anything. That was what he wanted when all this was over. For them to just be like any other couple. I don't know if stuff will work out the way I want - the way we want - but I have to hope it will. And if something happens to threaten her life, well.. He reached up and ran his own hand over her face, smile growing when she closed her eyes. I'll protect you. No matter what.

"Did you make that kid blush?"

She crinkled her nose. "He said he'd been running."

"In this gravity? That's an achievement."

"It wasn't me."

He laughed. "Course it was. Half the kids in that hangar bay have crushes on you."

Murrue blushed. "They do not."

"Sure they do. Can't say I blame 'em."

She crossed her arms, grumbling softly much to his amusement. It was fun to tease her - she was adorable when she was cross. Raising his arms he tickled her ribs, almost being tipped onto the floor when she wriggled to try and escape, annoyance replaced with laughter. "That's my girl."

"Jerk."

"I'm a jerk, am I? That's not very nice. Anyone would think you didn't like me."

She smiled. "Well, you are a jerk sometimes. Especially when you tickle me."

"Ah, you like it. Who else would you let tickle you?"

"You're lucky I let you."

"Am I really? How would you stop me?" He made as though to tickle her again but she kissed him, laughing into the exchange as he forgot all about the tickling and instead wound his arms around her waist. When they broke for air he shook his head with a fond grin. "Cheater."

"That's not cheating. It's being resourceful."

"If you say so."

Not that he minded.

( Lol, rambling.

please read and review! )