Surprises

They stopped at the door to his quarters. Hibiki opened it, and started to lead her inside.

Dita held him back. "I read about another old tradition, and I would like us to try it."

"Okay, what is it?"

"After the wedding the husband, that would be you, picks up his new wife, me, and carries her through the door of their home. Will you do that for me?"

He thought for a few seconds, then nodded. "All right, let's try. How do we do it?"

She turned and put her left arm around his neck. "Put your arm across my back. Lower, I think. There. Now, reach down and put your other arm behind my knees. Like that. Now, try picking me up!"

He was off balance, and had to put her back down hastily. He shifted his feet, tried again, and found that it wasn't hard at all. He smiled and carried her through the door, careful not to bump her against the edges. She reached out and closed it, then put that arm around him too and pulled herself tight against him.

Dita felt something deep and primal in her respond. He was her man, and he was strong. He would take care of her, and keep her safe. She felt safe.

Hibiki understood now what she had meant by him being her whole universe when her memories returned because in this moment, she was his. She felt soft and warm and wonderful and precious, and he knew he would do anything for her.

The moment passed, for both of them. He carefully set her on her feet. They kissed without consciously deciding to. They felt no pressure, no tension, no demands. After a while she pulled back and smiled at him, a little apologetically. "Sorry, love. My feet hurt."

He instantly became Concerned Husband. "Let's sit down."

They sat on his bunk. Dita unzipped her boots and tried to take one off as he watched uncertainly. After a short time she stopped and turned toward him. "Um, Hibiki? These boots might have been a mistake. I think my feet swelled up a little bit. Will you help me take these things off?"

Presented with a practical problem to solve, his confidence returned. He knelt in front of her and pulled cautiously on a boot, but it didn't budge. He pulled harder, and twisted a little. Still no progress. Dita made a small growling noise, planted her other foot on his chest and pulled. The boot started to slip out of his hands, he gripped tighter by reflex, it broke loose and he fell backward.

Dita looked down at him lying on his back and laughed. "Well, that's one!"

She took her stocking off as he put the boot aside and sat up. This time he braced himself and held on tight from the start. He set it beside the other one as she took off the stocking. Her feet did look a little red, and pinched. He knew what to do about that. He picked up one of her feet and started working it between his hands. She stretched and wiggled her toes.

"Aaaaahhhhhh, that feels wonderful." Her expression melted to a smile of pure bliss. "Could you keep doing that? I'll promote you to Admiral. I'll make you King of Taraak. Anything." She turned her foot and pushed against his hands.

He took the hint and rubbed under her heel. "I don't need to be King of Taraak. Just tell me you're happy."

"Oooooooohhh. Husband of mine, I'm the happiest girl in the galaxy. Just don't stop."

Guided by her movements, accompanied by ecstatic moans and sighs, he soothed away the effects of an evening in too-tight boots. He felt profound satisfaction in making her feel good, even with something as simple as relieving her sore feet. He moved up to her legs and found that her skin was just as smooth and soft as Barnette's. She closed her eyes and made encouraging sounds as he slowly worked his way past her knees but when his fingers reached the edge of her skirt, he stopped.

Dita didn't want him to stop. Her whole body seemed to hunger for his touch. She slowly opened her eyes and smiled at him. "Mmmmmm, is something wrong?"

"Uh, no, um…"

She decided he needed a little help. "Feeling uncomfortable? Or, you think I am?"

"Uhhh, some of both?"

She was still smiling. "If you do something I'm not comfortable with, I'll let you know. Don't be afraid to touch me. I'm your wife. I love you. I want you to touch me." She chuckled. "Or are you just getting tired of doing all the work? Would you like me to touch you?"

He mumbled again.

"There aren't any rules, love. We can do anything we want. What do you want to do?"

He gazed up at her, ardent but hesitant. There were so many things he wanted to do, but this was her first time. If he did the wrong thing, made some stupid mistake…

She sighed. "In some ways, it's harder not having any rules. We're free, but with nothing to guide us we can be a little lost. Is that it?"

"Yeah, sort of. Except I've, uh, well, I…"

"You've had sex already, with Barnette. I know." She giggled. "Everybody knows." She was suddenly serious. "I'm not jealous about you and Barnette. I can't be. Not now. She's not just your wife, she's our wife."

Hibiki looked embarrassed. "That's great, but, I meant, um, Barnette and I, we, uh, kind of made everything up, too. We didn't, uh…"

"Oh! I get it." She giggled again. "You didn't do any of the assigned reading, just went ahead and did the, ah, homework. I did all the reading and missed out on the homework." She pouted cutely and shifted to a sulky, little-girl voice. "My study partner was being a butt-head."

Now he looked guilty. "Oh, Dita…"

She smiled and switched her voice back to normal. "It's okay now. My husband got rid of the butt-head. I haven't seen him since I got back."

His guilty look faded. "It's just— it's our first time. Your first time. I want it to be perfect."

She looked at him thoughtfully for a few seconds. "Then, do I have to be perfect too?"

Hibiki was startled. "Huh? Uh, no, of course not." He hadn't considered that.

"What about you and Barnette? Was your first time perfect?"

He flashed back to that night. Their first kiss in the observation deck, before he fucked it up. Their second one right here on his bunk, where he'd done better. All the things they'd done after that, and all the things neither of them had known. Several words came to mind: confused, anxious, fumbling…wondrous, magical…but 'perfect' was not one of them. "Um, no, not really."

She put her hands on his, where they rested just above her knees, and asked softly, "Do you love each other less because your first time wasn't perfect?"

He was startled again. "No!" They were both intimately aware of her hands on his, and his on her.

"Then does it matter? I think trying to be perfect, worrying about it, would spoil the occasion. For both of us."

Hibiki thought that over. She was probably right.

Dita was thinking, too. "Is it because you didn't do the reading? Do you think I'll be disappointed if you don't Know Everything There Is To Know About Sex?"

He didn't answer; he didn't want to say yes, but couldn't deny it.

"Do you want to make love to me?"

He had an answer for that one, all right. "Yes! More than anything."

"Well, good." She squeezed his hands against her legs. "I want to make love to you, more than anything." She chuckled. "Barnette didn't say to be perfect. I think we should take her advice — be good to each other, take our time, and enjoy ourselves. Whatever happens, I won't be disappointed with you."

He looked relieved, if still a bit uncertain.

"I don't care if you don't know everything. Neither do I." She smiled again, whimsically. "You know more than me about, ah, practical application. We'll find out together. I think it'll be fun. And if we make a few mistakes the first time, well, I guess we'll just have to try again."

He looked up at her with wonder. Once again, with a few simple words, she made their problems disappear — or made him see that there had never been any problem. "You're right, Dita. Everything will be fine if we just remember that. So, what would you like to do now?"

Dita smiled down at him. "Help me take these clothes off? I'm not used to them and a few things are hard to reach." She giggled. "You did such a good job with my boots."

"Dita, I, uh…"

She grinned wickedly. "You don't have to run your hands all over my body, afterward. If you don't want to."

This time his response was even less articulate.

Her smile grew. "What was that? 'Meep?' That's a new word. Does it mean you want to? Or you don't?"

Somehow they both got to their feet. She guided his hands behind her back to the first fastening of her top, told him how to open it. He got it on the second try. Her hands weren't idle; she unbuckled the belt of his uniform tunic and found that it was attached to a strap holding either a large knife or a very short sword just below his left shoulder. There was no obvious way to remove either one, but she unbuttoned three large buttons and found that it all came off together. Hibiki had her top undone, and they both took them off. He raised his hands over his head so she could pull off his black turtleneck shirt.

His eyes were drawn to her bra, and hers to the bruises and scabs on his right shoulder. "Oh, Hibiki, you're hurt."

His face felt hot as he stammered, "No, it, um, it's, it's nothing. Forget it."

She touched the spot, and ran her fingertips over it. "It doesn't look like 'nothing' to me. What happened to you, love?"

He tried desperately to think of a way out of this, but she was looking at him with such anxious concern that he knew she wouldn't stop until she got an answer. And he just couldn't start their marriage by lying to his wife. His face heated up even more, and he was still stammering. "Uh, yeah, that, um, that's…" He chuckled nervously and said in a small voice, "Barnette bit me."

"WHAT?!" Dita looked surprised, and confused, and her hand went to the left side of her neck. Then she frowned.

He said hastily, "It was an accident! She didn't mean to!" Her grim expression had started to remind him of yesterday, when she wiped out most of an enemy fleet.

Her frown faded, but she still looked confused, and concerned. "How could she bite you by accident?" She clearly wasn't going to let this go.

"W-w-we were…having sex." He was sure his face was as red as some of those vegetables Dita had served him, long ago. He hoped, he wished, that she could be satisfied with that answer.

She still looked confused, and now a little suspicious. "I read a lot about sex, but I must have missed that part." Nope. Not satisfied.

He heard Barnette's voice again. Tell her everything. Dita's voice. Tell me everything. Maybe his wives were both right. He let out a resigned sigh. "We were in her room. She said sound carries a lot there, so we had to be quiet. We, ah, we had sex, and she had to, to cover her mouth, because she was…making sounds." His face was burning up, and Dita was starting to show signs of understanding and embarrassment herself. He finished, "She put her mouth there, and then she had a really big, um…orgasm," he said the word as quickly as possible and rushed on, "and she said she was sorry, but she was a little out of control."

Now Dita's face was red. She'd heard about something of the sort, at that. She'd have to talk to their wife, and find out more. Maybe she'd find out more on her own, tonight. She looked at her husband's face, brightly embarrassed and perturbed, and started laughing. He looked relieved, but still uncomfortable. She put her arms around him and said reassuringly, "It's okay, love. It's something that happened while I was gone, and it's covered under our agreement from this afternoon. I can't hold a grudge about it." She held his eyes seriously. "Besides, I don't ever want to resent you and Barnette for making love."

He returned her embrace. "Thank you, Dita." His face was beginning to fade back to normal. "I love you."

She held him tighter. "I love you too, Hibiki." She giggled. "That must be why we got married."

Their mood was lightening up now, and he chuckled. "I knew there was something."

"Mmmm." She gazed into his eyes again. "I can see it was hard for you to tell me that, but I'm glad you did."

He nodded. "Barnette told me we have to always be honest with each other."

"Our wife is a very smart woman."

He smiled. "I noticed that. She set me straight about a lot of things." He chuckled. "So did you. You told me to not hide things."

Dita let go of him and rubbed her fingers over the bite-mark. "Maybe you can give me a really big orgasm!" She giggled. "I'll try not to bite you."

"Well, we don't have to be quiet. Everybody knows what we're doing in here anyway."

She gave him another wicked smile. "Do you think I'll make…sounds?"

"I don't know." He truly didn't have any idea. "I just know Barnette does."

Dita rubbed the mark again. "And she bites." She glanced up at him with another giggle. "Barnette bit you, and I slapped you. What a couple of violent bitches you married! I wonder how long you'll survive."

He laughed with her. "Hey, those were both…unique circumstances. I'm sure it won't happen again."

"I hope not." She grinned. "But look at our record so far!" She tilted her head with an amused expression and asked, "Weren't we doing something, before we got side-tracked?" They were suddenly, acutely aware that they were standing beside his bunk, close together and half naked. She smiled, moved his hand to the tie of her skirt and started on his pants. She'd gone with a simple bow knot and her skirt dropped off in seconds. Hibiki felt his pants start to slide down, grabbed at them hastily, then stopped and laughed. They both did. He bent down, pulled off his own boots and socks, and got out of the pants.

When he stood up she stepped forward and put her arms around him. He started to do the same, then with a sly grin slid his hands down her back and gently squeezed her rump. She made a kind of startled squeak and got an impulse to push him away. The man-thing had done something very much like this to her, but… She had expected to feel that fear and revulsion again, but her new husband's touch felt completely different. A thrill ran up her spine, and instead she moaned and leaned against him. She pressed against his hardened organ, and it felt good. "Ohhh, that's nice," she sighed. She kissed him, and nothing else mattered for a while. When the kiss ended she drew back a little and said in a low voice, "Let's…continue."

"Okay, Dita." She had borrowed a light pink bra this afternoon, but it didn't look much like any of Barnette's and there was no fastening he could see.

She giggled as he looked at it, baffled. "It's got two little hooks in the back. You have to kind of push them together and let them pop apart. Here, reach behind me," she guided his hands, "and they're right in the middle."

He followed her directions, found what had to be the fasteners, and started working at them. He had to stand very close to her, and his fingers felt big and clumsy as he fumbled with the tiny things. He started to growl a little, until she smiled and gave him a quick kiss. He felt one of them let go, then the other one, and he stepped back and slipped the straps off her shoulders. She looked into his eyes, still smiling, as he slid them down her arms.

When the man-thing ripped her blouse open, tore off her bra and crudely groped at her, she had felt disgusted, almost sick. Hibiki was caring, and gentle, and feeling him undress her was immensely exciting. She felt a rush of heat all through her body when he took off her bra. He hesitated, and she said softly, "Why are you stopping, love?" She reached for his hands and placed them on her waist. "Don't you want to take them off me?"

He swallowed nervously, hooked his thumbs into the waistband and slowly pulled her panties down. She smiled at him encouragingly, he took a knee and slid them down to her ankles and she stepped out of them. He bashfully avoided looking 'there' as he stood back up.

She noticed. "You can look at me, Hibiki. I want you to look at me. You can look at me anywhere, touch me anywhere." She put her hands on his shorts. "Will you let me take these off?"

"S-sure, Dita." he stammered.

She knelt in front of him, pulled his shorts down, helped him step out of them and remained there, looking at him. "I've never seen that before."

He laughed, a little tense. "You tried, though! You kept following me into the head, and I had to keep throwing you out."

She chuckled. "I guess I was kind of a pest sometimes." She looked up into his eyes. "But you ran away all the time. I had to do something."

"I'll never run away from you again…Dita my love." His voice was low, and a little rough.

She smiled joyously. "That makes me very happy, Hibiki my love." She returned her attention to his…privates. She'd heard a lot of words for this part of a man, back on Gunzo, and found even more in the old records. Maybe she'd try a few of them, later. She reached out, and he gasped as she wrapped her hand around it. She looked up again. "Is this okay?"

"It's…haahhaahhh…it feels great, Dita." He was breathing hard and couldn't look away from her.

She looked down again, brought up her other hand, and he moaned as she squeezed and stroked, feeling every bit of him curiously. She gazed up at him again and grinned. "You're definitely 'stimulated' now!"

He laughed as she took her hands away, rose up, stepped back and stood with her feet a little apart, smiling. "I promised to show you all of me today. Look at me, love. Do you like what you see?"

He took his time, admiring his new wife. He couldn't avoid comparing her to Barnette; she was a little taller, a little slimmer, her breasts were shaped differently, her nipples smaller and pinker, her eyes a much lighter blue, her hair bright red instead of green…everywhere. She was just as gorgeous, in a different way. And there was more to her, more to both of his wives. They were warriors, ace Dread pilots, bold and smart and fierce. They were amazing.

She looked him over, too. He might not be as 'dreamy' as those video actor phonies on Gunzo, the women she'd worked with might not gush and swoon over him, but she found him entirely pleasing to her eyes. They would have scorned the scars he wore here and there, the traces of grease under his fingernails, the marks of his efforts to protect the Nirvana, and her friends, which endeared him to her all the more. He looked tough, fit and capable, ready to stand by her side and face…anything.

He found his voice. "You…you're beautiful, Dita. More than I ever imagined."

She grinned impishly. "Why, Hibiki! Have you been imagining me with my clothes off? You naughty boy!"

His face burned again. "What? Um, I, uh—"

She burst out laughing. "Oh, you should see the look on your face! I'm just teasing you, love. I don't mind, at all. Not if it's you." She tilted her head down and looked up at him. "Now you don't have to imagine me. You can take my clothes off, any time you want."

He nodded, unable to say anything, or look away.

She smiled. "You look very good to me, love. I tried imagining you, too. Of course, you had a big advantage. You've seen Barnette."

She raised her head again and gave him a stern look. "What do you think of her?"

He instantly felt guilty about comparing his wives, but — he couldn't help it! "Barnette's beautiful, too," he said cautiously.

Her smile returned. "I'm teasing you again. I shouldn't. Not about that. I'll never make you choose." She stepped forward and put her arms around him. "I think Barnette's beautiful, and I love her, but I don't feel this way about her."

For the first time there was nothing between their bodies, and she was certain that what she felt was 'desire' and 'arousal'. His was obvious, and she enjoyed the feel of it against her skin, encouraging her to explore further. She kissed him again, slipped her tongue into his mouth and felt his come into hers, and that was even better. The kiss broke apart as they stumbled back and sat on the bunk. They both paused, breathless.

Dita lifted his hand to her lips and kissed his fingers. "Will you touch me, love? Like you did last night? I want to feel that again. I want to feel…everything." She placed his hand on her breast and moaned as he squeezed her. "Ohhhh, Hibiki, that's good. I wanted to do this last night, I wanted it so much! But we'd've had to stop, and I don't think I could have."

"We don't have to stop tonight," he murmured.

She moaned again. "You'd better not." She sunk her fingers into his hair and pulled his head down. He put his mouth over her nipple and applied everything he'd learned from Barnette, and she gasped and shivered and giggled. After a time she took his member into her hand and said breathlessly, "I'm ready, love."

He helped her turn and lie on the bunk, then positioned himself over her. She reached down and guided him to her, smiled up at him and whispered, "Oh, yes."

Hibiki pushed into her slowly, taking care to make her first time as easy as he could. Dita moaned rapturously as she felt the man she loved fill her, felt heat and pleasure spread all through her body. She gasped, "So this is…making love. Ohhhh, Hibiki. This is…better than anything." Her back arched, and they both cried out in delight. He moved, and she moved with him. She'd been uncertain at first, but it seemed that her body knew what to do.

He'd been right; his wives were very different. Where Barnette tended to be insistent, even demanding, Dita's style was more inviting, welcoming…playful. She had her own ways of letting him know what she wanted, what she needed. She had 'done the reading' three years ago, had spent those years on a planet where men and women lived together, and learned still more during her research that morning. She knew things that had not occurred to him or Barnette, and they shared in the discoveries. She made sounds, too, lots of them. They both did.

Their passion rose, until she gave strident voice to her ecstasy as waves of pleasure roared through her body and 'orgasm' ceased to be just a meaningless word. She felt his, too, within her, and that made it even better.

Their lovemaking might not be 'perfect' but they didn't care at all.

Dita felt him start to move and clasped her arms around him. "Don't go. Stay in me."

How to tell her this? "It doesn't really…work that way."

She'd heard about that, too. Sure enough, she could feel him shrink inside her and slip away, and he turned and lay by her side. She whispered, "Oh, Hibiki. I feel…" She couldn't complete the thought. She couldn't find any words…big enough. Strong enough, to support what she felt. She finally gave up on words and squeezed herself tight against him.

He agreed with her completely. He'd been trying for longer, and hadn't found words either. Even the extraordinarily articulate Barnette had found herself at a loss, had reluctantly given up trying.

It didn't matter. They both understood.

This is what he gave Barnette, before I came back. No wonder she saw me as her enemy! She thought I was taking him away from her, made herself half-crazy out of fear that she would never make love to him again, never feel this again. I won't ever do that to her, or give her cause to worry that I would.

A few minutes later Dita squirmed and twisted, seeking a more comfortable position. Her elbow hit the wall. "Ow. Barnette's right, this bunk is too small."

Hibiki smiled. "I thought it was fine, a while ago."

She laughed. "A while ago I wouldn't have cared if it was half this size. Now, though," She giggled. "I'm mashed against the wall, and you're falling out."

He chuckled. "We'll try to find something better, tomorrow."

She closed her eyes. "Mmmmm. Tomorrow. Together. And all the days after that."

He held her tight. "Always, Dita. Always."

They were quiet for a time.

"Hibiki? You asked me this morning, if my dreams had come true. They have."

"All of them?"

"Well not all all. Some of them can't come true right now. Destroying what's left of the Harvesters, bringing peace to the galaxy, getting our own home, raising a family…those will take a little longer."

"Wow. You said you had big dreams."

She ran her fingers down his arm and slipped them between his.

"Yesterday I was lost and alone. I didn't even know who I was! Now I'm home, with my friends. I'm married to you, we just made love for the first time, and it was incredible. We're going to make love again in a little while. And there's Barnette. Yesterday she wasn't a part of my dreams. Now she's in all of them." She squeezed his hand. "What about your dreams?"

He squeezed back. "My only dream was finding you. For three years, that was all I lived for."

She chuckled. "Finding me? That's all? Not hold me in your arms, and kiss me, and make love to me? Marry me, and spend our lives together? Just find me, and say, 'There, that's done'?"

"Uh, no, of course not!" He sounded a little confused. "But, none of that mattered if I didn't find you."

She kissed him. "I know what you meant. I'm teasing you again."

"Oh."

He thought for a minute. "You're my dream now, Dita. You and Barnette are the only dream I need. As long as we're together, it's come true."

"Oh, Hibiki, love," she whispered. "You make me so happy." There were tears in her eyes. After a while, she giggled. "So, how long have you been imagining me with my clothes off?"

He protested, "Dita…"

"All right, I'm teasing you." She rubbed her cheek against his neck. "I love teasing you. And I've got three years worth to catch up on, so watch out!"

"Oh, no…"

She kissed his ear. "I think you like it, too. You just like to complain about it."

He groaned. "I'm doomed."

She got a little more serious. "You didn't have to imagine me. I would have taken my clothes off for you, a long time ago. I wanted to make love to you back then, before they took me away."

"I, uh, figured that out. After it was too late, of course. I thought about it again, today. It probably wouldn't have ended well. Remember, that was the old me, old Head-Up-Ass Hibiki. If we had…I probably would have hurt you, and made you cry. Again. I'd regret that more than anything we didn't do."

"I think you would have done better than that." She sighed. "But then the memories would have been taken from me."

He held her close. "Don't think about that. It's over. Everything's all right now."

She smiled. "You're right. We're together, and they're not going to break our marriage apart. Barnette's idea really paid off."

"After you thought of the marriage in the first place." He chuckled. "And got her to agree. And solved the problems we had. And tonight…"

He lay lost in thought for a few seconds. "How do you do it, Dita? Only see what's important, and ignore the rest?"

"What do you mean?"

He tried again. "What Barnette said, tonight. About you showing us how simple things should be."

She looked pensive. "I don't know. I guess I just don't understand 'the rest'. It doesn't make sense to me."

He smiled. "I'm not so sure you're the one who doesn't understand."

"What do you mean?" She sounded a bit suspicious — as if he might be making fun of her.

"You seem to keep finding the right answers, while the rest of us worry about stuff that doesn't matter. Does that make us the smart ones?"

Dita thought about it for a few seconds, then smiled and kissed him. He kissed back, passing on a few more things Barnette had taught him. She proved to be a quick learner. The kiss ended and they lay quietly for a few minutes, just enjoying the moment.

Hibiki turned, sat up beside her and caressed her forehead with his fingertips. He moved down to her temples and cheeks, then started working them into the sides and back of her neck, avoiding the bruises. She looked up at him curiously. "What are you doing, love?"

He grinned down at her. "You said I could run my hands all over you. Is that still okay?"

She gave him a lazy smile. "Oh. Oh, yes. That sounds lovely. Mmmmm, that feels good."

He dug his fingers into her shoulders. "If I start to…to do anything you don't like, tell me and I'll stop."

She looked up at him, still smiling. "I'm sure you won't."

He hadn't really massaged Barnette from the front, but he didn't want Dita to turn over. He wanted to see her face, and her eyes, and… well, he would just have to do this a little differently. Her body felt much like his green-haired wife's, layers of muscle under her wonderfully soft, smooth skin. He worked his way down each arm to her fingers. She felt twinges as he went around the bruises on her left arm, but they were a trifling distraction and she ignored them. He couldn't get to her back, so he put his hands around her waist and massaged as far as he could, then continued down her legs, accompanied by her soft sounds of pleasure, and finished by rubbing her feet again.

Dita sighed contentedly. "You never told me you knew how to give massages."

"I don't, really. Barnette showed me how, and I…practiced on her, twice. That's it."

"Oh. Well, I guess you're a really fast learner."

"I'm glad you liked it." He sat near the middle of the bunk.

"I love it," she said happily. "You're a man of hidden talents." She gave him an inviting smile. "Do you have any more…talents I should know about?"

Strawberries, he thought, but they didn't have any and he wasn't about to run around trying to find some now. He returned her smile. "Maybe one or two." Did Barnette's massage cream count?

She started to say something, then stopped herself and substituted, "I guess we shouldn't try to do everything all at once." Her smile turned impish. "We can save a few things for later; we've got the rest of our lives, to do anything we want."

"Anything?" he echoed, and slid his hand up to her breasts.

She took a deep breath and moaned softly. "Mmmm, good," she murmured.

He stroked and caressed, smiling at her, and finally asked her, bashfully, "Are they, umm…"

"Bigger than you remember?" She giggled as his expression grew still more uncomfortable. "Yup. Three years worth. I think this is about as big as they're going to get, though." She giggled again. "Jura's got nothing to worry about."

"They're just right," he said hastily, and found that he had no idea what else to say.

Dita smiled, and put her hand around his member again. "You've grown, too. At least, I think it's bigger. You never let me see you, before."

"Uhhh…yeah, you're right…" He ran out of words again, and squeezed her breast.

"Ahhhh…" she breathed. "That's the first place you touched me like this."

"I didn't mean to. Not then. I was…" He still wasn't sure what he'd been thinking.

"You were treating me like a woman you're in love with." Her voice was low and arousing again. "I could feel that. I felt a lot of things when you touched me last night."

"I thought you'd be pissed."

"It was a surprise." She chuckled. "A really good one, but not at the best time."

"How about now?" he asked with a sly smile.

She moaned again. "I'll be pissed if you stop."

He didn't stop. He caressed her with his hands, then his lips and tongue. She moaned and squirmed and shivered under his attentions. This was unlike anything she'd ever felt before this night. He moved up to her neck, staying away from the bruises, and she was surprised again at the feelings coursing through her. She cried out, "Mister Alien!" — who would have thought her ear would be so sensitive to his tongue?

At last he reached her lips and Dita responded fervently to the long kiss, catching his tongue with hers. Last night's kiss had been a marvelous revelation; knowing what to expect made this one even better. She could feel that her technique had improved, too. Hibiki was moaning right along with her.

All too soon they had to catch their breath, gazing into each other's eyes. Dita looked down, then smiled up at him. "Oh, my. Hibiki, love, are we going to make some more of our dreams come true?"

He smiled back, and slid up onto the bunk, and she took him in again with glad cries. The now-familiar sensations caught hold of her again, waves of intense pleasure that carried her to the peak, and over. She coasted down, feeling warm and satisfied, holding tight to her husband.

A few minutes later Hibiki sat up and started getting dressed. Dita reached up and stroked her fingers down his back. "Going somewhere, love?"

He looked down at her and smiled. "I had an idea. I think you'll like it. I should be back in fifteen or twenty minutes."

"What is it?"

He grinned. "I'm not going to tell you. This time I get to tease you. How does it feel?"

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Meanie." She pouted prettily, but he just kept dressing. "Oh, all right," she acquiesced. "Kiss me first."

He did.

Hibiki knocked on her door. "Barnette?"

No response.

He knocked harder. "Barnette? You awake?"

This time he heard, "Uuuhhh. Hibiki?"

"Yup, it's me."

"Whaaa…what are you doing here?"

"Can I come in?"

"Oh, of course. Come on in."

He opened the door and stepped inside, closed it. The lights were on their lowest setting; he turned them up until he could see her clearly. She had raised herself up on one elbow, her hair was tousled, and the blanket had slipped down, revealing that she wasn't wearing a bra. He had an instant flashback to his first sight of her, the night before last. He decided that she looked just as beautiful tonight. He walked over and sat on her bed.

She was still looking up at him. "Why are you here? You're supposed to be with Dita."

"We both agreed it was just wrong for you to spend your wedding night all alone. I'm here to keep you company."

She smiled. "Dear Dita," she said fondly. Then she gave him a very different smile. "You'd better be here to do a lot more than keep me company."

He smiled back. "Whatever my wife wants."

She reached up, pulled him down, and kissed him long and passionately. Then she pushed him back up and started tugging at his shirt. "Your wife wants those clothes off her husband."

"Yes, dear," he said meekly, but with a big smile, unbuttoning his shirt.

Barnette pulled the blanket aside, showing him that she had no panties on, either. It would appear that she slept in nothing at all; he hadn't thought about the matter before. She watched him with anticipation, took a deep breath and pushed her breasts out, enticing him further. He finished undressing, sat on her bed again and ran his hands over her body. 'Foreplay' was another word unknown on Taraak, but he was beginning to understand the basic principle, that sex was better for both of them if they built up to it slowly. His wife's hands did exciting things to him in return; she had taught him, after all.

With a mischievous grin, he bent down and whispered in her ear, "Strawberries?"

She shivered as his question brought their last night together powerfully to mind. With one hand she squeezed him, with the other she hauled him in for another long kiss. When it ended she was breathing hard and pulling at him insistently. "Get your ass into this bed, now," she commanded.

He obeyed quickly, his grin even wider. "They warned us about you women back on Taraak, but they never said you were this scary."

There was a lot more to Barnette than he'd known. He'd found Dita to be quite a bit more…enthusiastic about their lovemaking than Barnette had been. Now he found out why. All their previous encounters had been, to a certain extent, secretive, subdued, almost furtive. He never knew how much she'd been holding back, to avoid discovery. Today they had proclaimed their love to the universe and they had nothing to hide. Now, for the first time, she felt free to let it all out. Tonight she completely let go, gave herself fully, exuberant and unrestrained. She moaned and cried out, laughed and called his name. She became all of herself, a Barnette she had never shown him before. In a way, they got to have their first time all over again. If this wasn't another supernova, it was close.

They relaxed, holding each other. After a while Barnette looked at him speculatively. "So, how was Dita?"

"She's great," he replied without thinking, then amended hastily, "Um, I, I, mean, she's, uh, really happy."

"I know what you meant," she reprimanded him lightheartedly. When he continued to look worried she relented, kissed him and said, "It's all right, dear. You can say our wife is good in bed, and it won't bother me. Actually, it confirms something I've been thinking about for the last few hours."

He jumped on a chance to shift the subject, even a little. "What is it?"

She shook her head slightly. "I'm still thinking it over. When I'm done, I'll tell you both. For now, it's not important."

Hibiki eyed her for a few more seconds, then made an uncertain sound. She smiled and squeezed herself against him, and he smiled back.

Several minutes later he sat up and reached for his clothes. "Will you come with me? I've got a surprise for you."

She opened her eyes and smiled at him. "Another surprise? Okay. I loved the first one."

They dressed and left her room. As she closed the door, she asked, "What is it?"

"Well, now, if I told you it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?"

He took her hand and walked with her, up almost a dozen levels into the men's part of the ship, and stopped in front of his room. "First, Dita showed me an old tradition. Hold still."

He put her left arm around his neck, positioned his arm behind her back, reached down and picked her up. It was easy, this time.

"Oh! Hibiki!" She threw her other arm around him and clung tight.

Carrying Barnette didn't feel quite the same as carrying Dita, but he felt the same way about her.

Finding that he held her securely, she relaxed. "You could have warned me!"

He grinned at her. "Yeah, but it wouldn't have been as much fun. Could you get the door?"

She reached out and opened it. He carried her through carefully, and she closed it again. The lights were low. Much of the floor was taken up by a thick stack of cargo padding with a sheet over it and Dita sprawled naked in the middle, sound asleep. "You said you wanted a big bed."

"So I did." She reached up and kissed him. "Thank you. I love this surprise, too."

He set her back on her feet.

"Wow. I never felt anything like that before. It felt really good."

"It felt good to me, too."

She looked down at their peacefully sleeping wife again. "How could I have ever wanted to hurt Dita? She never deserved the things I did to her, the things I tried to do. I'm so ashamed of it all."

He put his other arm around her. "We all forgave each other already. She doesn't want you to go on feeling guilty about things you can't change, and neither do I. She told me we can't go back, undo the things we've done, only do better. Besides, everything's all right now. She's happy with the way it all worked out, we both are."

Barnette smiled at him. "You've got a point. Everything we did brought us to now, and I wouldn't change this now for anything."

He let go of her, knelt on the pads, leaned over and kissed Dita. "Dita. Wake up." She shifted slightly, but that was all. He kissed her again, longer. "Wake up, sleepyhead."

This time she turned her head and raised one hand. "Mmmmm. Mister Alien? Come back to bed, love."

He took her hand and pulled lightly. "Wake up. Barnette's here."

She twisted and stretched luxuriantly, then opened her eyes and looked up with a sleepy smile. "Hi, Barnette. Look what our husband made for us. It's wonnnnnderful. Isn't he clever?"

Barnette sat beside him. "Yes, he is. I'm glad we married him."

He smiled at both of them. "It's…kind of a wedding present for all of us. Until we can get a real bed."

Dita waved her hand at them. "Come to bed, you two. I'm getting lonely. You were right, Barnette, I don't want to sleep alone."

They looked at each other, then started to undress, helping each other a little. They were too tired for more than occasional, lingering touches.

Dita continued, "You were right about Hibiki, too, he does know how to make a girl happy. And about taking it slow. It was wonderful! And the second time was even better. Then he said he had an idea, and he came back with some girls from the supply department and a bunch of pads. We thanked them, he started piling these up, and I helped, and pretty soon it was all done. And then, well, of course we had to try it out!"

She touched her fingers to her forehead in a lazy, mock salute. "Lieutenant Liebely reports that our husband's new bed works just great! It's a lot better than the bunk. You don't have to worry about falling out or hitting the wall." She stopped for a long yawn. "The third time was even better than the first two. Then I told him it wasn't fair for you to be all alone, and I guess I kind of fell asleep. I'm a little tired."

They finished undressing, and Barnette said, "We all are, dear. Especially Hibiki." She grinned mischievously. "Four times, plus running all over the ship and carrying us both through the door. It's a wonder he can still move."

Dita slid over to make room for them. "Oh, he carried you through the door too? Didn't that feel good?"

He'd stuck a folded piece of padding under the sheet at the far end of their makeshift bed to form a pillow. They spread another sheet and a light blanket over themselves. Barnette snuggled up on his right side, Dita on his left. They both closed their eyes and sighed contentedly. He shifted a little to get comfortable, then closed his. He decided that he was entirely in favor of marriage.