Lister had enjoyed sitting back and watching things unfold around the ship, he was amazed to see that neither Kryten nor Cat had noticed anything different about the relationship between Rimmer and Paige, but Lister hadn't failed to see the quick smiles, the endless touching and teasing and of course the times they both completely vanished together for hours at a time.

"Paige, could you pass me that folder please?" Rimmer asked, Lister watched them exchange another secret smile together, and then Paige walked over, their eyes locked together as they exchanged a shared smile, she put the folder directly into Rimmer's hand, her fingers brushing against his for that split second too long and more then more blushing and smiles.

"Damn this isn't the folder I wanted, I will be back in a few minutes" Rimmer smiled and strode out of the room confidently. Lister watched Paige quietly and quickly walk out several minutes later. "Unreal" he laughed and stared at Cat meaningfully but nothing reached the felines superstitious nature. Giving up Lister grabbed his magazine.

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Rimmer was waiting in another room three doors further down the corridor; he grabbed Paige as she ran in, and pushed her against a wall. Taking up his new favourite hobby, and apparently his new skill - Kissing. Paige was ravenous for him, something drove her wild when he held her, and in a few short days he had gone from a slightly awkward kisser in the beginning to a fully fledged demon. Spurred on Rimmer lifted her up in his arms, still pinned against the wall he smiled and kissed her again.

"Mmm Rimmer" she purred, half stroking, half pulling her fingers through his hair, he carried on kissing her neck gently with the correct about of nibbles and short bites.

"Don't" he growled, "You know that drives me crazy" he had never heard a woman say his name positively – not even his mother. To hear his name fall from her lips dripping with desire and need drove him crazy inside. "Come on, we have to get back." He whined, kissing her a few more times for good measure and hurrying quickly out of the room.

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Lister shook his head as they returned within minutes of each other, both looking flushed and Rimmer definitely hadn't checked his hair before entering the room, he looked at Cat who finally seemed to be twigging onto something and smiled behind his magazine, how had no body else noticed this? In all fairness Lister seeing the two of them kissing a few nights earlier had been a huge clue for him but their affection for each other had been obvious over these last two days.

"Ah Miss Paige ma'am glad to see you smiling again" Kryten walked in happily with a tray of refreshments "I wonder if you wouldn't mind helping me in the kitchen tonight – only you did mention helping me perfect my baked Alaska and I thought tonight would be… well … perfect" he grinned.

Lister stifled a laugh watching Rimmer and Paige share a quick panicked glance between each other, Rimmer's fingers gripped the folder tighter and Paige looked decidedly nervous.

"Oh" she began, "Well I …I was …I suppose …"

"Sorry Kryten not at all" Rimmer intervened, Lister watched his nostrils flare and his eyes look decidedly bigger than usual while he tried to think of an excuse, "Paige has offered to help me study for my next astro navigations exam and as you know once I draw up a revision timetable it cannot be changed"

Paige relaxed and smiled at Kryten, she pulled a face of agony as if she would rather do anything that help Rimmer but felt tied to her obligations yet Lister noted the little glint of joy in her eyes.

"Ah, okay – well maybe in three months time then" Kryten replied rather haughtily, "Unless you fail again, in which case god knows when the next time I shall see Paige or a Baked Alaska again".

"Don't say 'again' like it's a regular thing" Rimmer snarled, "I won't fail this time. Now why don't you get back to your work you stupid jumped up little trashcan" turning on his heel he stormed out of the room.

Lister watched Paige's eyes widen and laughed inwardly again – how had she seen Rimmer thorough complete rose tinted glasses? It was almost as if she hadn't seen any of his snarly little outbursts that happened on a daily basis; in fact he would go so far as to say Paige had no idea about the real Rimmer at all. This could be an interesting few weeks indeed.

Paige decided to let Rimmer cool off and sat staring at Lister for a while; she hadn't spent too much time with him and found there was no time like the present.

"Listerrrrrrrrrrrr" she whined in his ear, "Entertain me?"

"Huh?" Lister dropped his magazine, "what's up?"

"Well I am bored if I am honest, I need something fun to do before I go and help Rimmer with his revision and I don't think he is in the mood to do any of it right now. What do you do for fun around here?"

Lister stared at the ceiling and thought hard, "We er… we have a gym, a cinema, the library" he grinned and jumped to his feet, "But those are for the tourists, I take deep pleasure in the AR unit, the bar and winding Rimmer up so much that he is speechless"

"That's mean" Paige laughed, "Why do you hate him so much anyway?"

"Oh I don't think any of us hate him, I mean we did at first. Everyone did at first, Rimmer used to be such a whiny self obsessed little cretin and now I think we just see him as a whiny self obsessed cretin. He has definitely put on weight over the last year or so."

"Behave" Paige warned.

"The first Rimmer – before he died that is, was a tart. Really unlikeable, seriously pedantic and utterly useless at everything he attempted." Lister growled, "We used to share a bunk back then and he almost drove me to suicide on many occasions."

"What's so different now?" Paige asked, "He doesn't seem unlikeable"

"I don't know. I'm not sure anything has changed, we have just been through a lot together, most of the times he's a total coward and often exacerbates an already bad situation, but when I have needed him he has been there and he has even acted rather noble on more than one occasion. Not that I would ever admit to saying any of this of course but he's okay. Deep down. Deep deep down."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Paige cocked her head to one side and smiled at Lister questioningly.

"Just so you know what you are taking on, he can be a pain – but any hassle you have to put up with will most likely be worth it at the end."

"What do you mean by that?" Paige asked looking shocked.

Lister just winked and walked out of the room leaving Paige to stare at the empty table in front of her.

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A few hours later Paige walked to Rimmer's room and found him sat at a dimly lit table alone studying a book in front of him, he looked tense, frustrated and generally angry. She was beginning to wonder whether he attempting to cheer him up was a good idea but still the worst he could do is shout and insult her and then she could just throw him at a wall or something.

Rimmer saw her walk in and lean against the door frame, he managed a small smile in her direction then turned back to the book in front of him. He flicked a page idly and sighed. Paige walked over ordering the door to lock behind her and rested her hands on his shoulders, she spun him round thankful for wheelie chairs and smiled at him, kissing him gently on the mouth she undid the buttons of his jacket and slipped it over his shoulder leaving a thin t-shirt covering him. Rimmer just smiled in that little dazed way that he did which told her he was completely compliant of anything she was about to do, smiling back she kissed him on the forehead and spun his chair back facing the table. Leaning forward she kissed his neck and began to massage his shoulders slowly. "You okay?" she asked. Rimmer mumbled something incoherent as he enjoyed her hands working against his shoulders. Paige shook her head at how easy men were to please and set about kneading all the knots in his back until he lay face down and completely relaxed on the table in front of him.

"Rimmer – Earth to Rimmer!"

"Mennghhusu" Rimmer replied, still face down on the table.

Paige laughed and pushed him up, "Play with me" she ordered, jumping upon the desk and pulling him close to her.

"You are such a demanding little wench" Rimmer grinned pulling her onto his lap, "I don't know about going outside of the ship today hun, I am really tired. I don't feel too good."

"You don't feel good?" Paige held his face in her hands concerned, "How? What? Without being insensitive you can't be ill can you? Being a hologram and that?"

"I don't think so" Rimmer yawned, "I'm sure its nothing, I was considering having a nap before you came. It's just a headache and some chest pains. Like I say I am sure it's nothing – I'm dead anyway" he grinned kissing her nose.

"Okay. I will leave you to it" Paige made to rise from him but he held her close.

"I think I will go to sleep a lot faster if you are with me!" he whined, "Stay with me for a bit?"

Minutes later they had snuck off to another bedroom away from prying eyes or questions, Rimmer had the access codes to one of the officer's bedrooms which had a double bed as its main feature. Paige had convinced Holly to put a film on for them but by the time they had climbed into bed and cuddled and kissed Rimmer wrapped himself around her and fell straight asleep. Paige kissed his forehead and stroked his hair, not missing the irony that the first time her so called love god had actually got her into a bed the first this he did was fall fast asleep.

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Paige woke up suddenly in the night and blinked, something felt wrong – she knew it was late because all the lights were out and she couldn't hear a thing besides the dull drone of the ships engines. Turning to cuddle into Rimmer for some warmth she jumped to find him deathly cold.

"Rimmer?" she whispered. Silence.

"Lights" Paige cried, illuminating the room she pulled back the covers and screamed.