Hi Everyone. I'm so sorry for the long absence. Been away with work and not had much chance to write. Got leave coming up so will hopefully get some more chapters out in the next month. PLease keep reading and enjoy.
Kara squeezed into her trousers, she sucked in her stomach as she pulled the waistband close. She wasn't fat but they definitely were not going to fit for much longer. She managed to get the button through the hole and then breathed out, trying to relax, the waistband dug in. She looked in the bathroom mirror, it didn't look as bad as it felt.
"Sorry, baby, sorry," she mutter, rubbing her lower abdomen. This was probably going to be the last time she had to wear these trousers. She was getting ready for the Inaugural Ball. It had been an odd but mostly great 24 hours.
After they'd danced and finally relaxed around each other, they'd made out, like teenagers. There was no rush, not like onboard where the threat of being discovered was real. Danny had made a huge effort and spoilt her. The picnic had been amazing and they'd chatted about trivial stuff, Kara had laughed so much. It was like every meeting they'd had onboard but better. There was no one around to listen in or watch them. Danny had done a jokey strip tease for her, she'd sat on the bed and laughed as he'd shimmied his shirt off. She could really take the time to appreciate how attractive she found him, look at him without wondering if she'd held her gaze on him too long or if anyone else had seen her. She'd encouraged him to have a drink, it had taken a while because felt it was unfair on her considering she couldn't but she'd told him that nine months was a long time to wait for his next drink. It was little things like this that she still had to discover, she had no idea what he drank. Was it beer? Did he like wine or spirits? In the end he sank a bottle of red wine, relaxing him further and his tipsy demeanour just made Kara laugh even more.
Kara had no complaints about the sex either, Kara blamed the hormones for her craving for sex and Danny had obliged – several times and orgasmically delivered everytime. She'd drifted off into a very restful slumber. She'd woken disorientated as Danny sat bolt upright in bed, shouting, he was covered in sweat and not really awake. She'd reached out to wake him but his eyes snapped open and the shouting stopped. There was just silence as he stared into the darkness and his breathing started to slow, back to normal. Eventually Kara reached out and place her hand on his back and he startled just slightly and looked at her, his eyes suddenly becoming "Danny" again as if he'd forgotten she was there.
"Are you ok?" Kara asked concerned. He smiled at her, his eyes crinkled and Kara knew what he was doing, he was using that smile she couldn't resist.
"It's nothing. I'm better now that you're here." He murmured as he leaed across and stated to nuzzle into her neck. She pulled her head away and he just looked up at her, his eyes playful. He reached up and played with her hair.
"Danny," she said seriously.
"It's ok," he reassured her, "It just happens sometimes but it's ok. I don't usually have this to help get me back to sleep." He leaned back into her and pulled her back down into the bed, she laughed at how ticklish his kisses felt on her neck and she felt herself being pulled back the romantic night.
Kara had slipped out that morning to get some fresh coffee for Danny, something she knew he would enjoy. As she crept out of the room she'd looked back over at him, he lay in the bed on his front, his arms out stretched across the bed, the definition of his back and shoulder muscles clear. She'd never thought of herself as a lusty kind of person before but seeing that gave her a little thrill. As she made her way down to the dining room she hoped that people wouldn't stare too much. It had been their first proper night together and she thought she might get some teasing comments or smirks from the other crew members. She didn't think too many people knew about the current room allocation but still she expected something from either Tex or the XO. She walked into the dining hall and hardly anyone looked up at her, it was very quiet, she suspected that most people were taking advantage of being on leave and enjoying a lazy morning in bed.
She was just pouring coffee into a cup when Tex appeared by her side, he held out a mug for refill and she obliged. He smiled at her,
"Hey Kara," Kara detected nothing but softness in his voice, no knowing smile or wink.
"Hi." She responded.
"Did you sleep ok?" he asked and she nodded.
"You?" she asked,
"Oh yeah, it's great to have a double bed to stretch out in, even if it is the pull out sofa bed."
"I thought you had a room to yourself." Kara said, confused.
"Yeah but Kathleen is sharing with me. She's a bit clingy. I let her have the proper bed. Might seem weird to people that we're sharing."
"She's been through a lot." Kara acknowledge
"Yeah but there's still a part of her that's young still." He smiled sadly. "How did Danny sleep?" he asked, almost too innocently and Kara as searched his face, Tex suddenly started to search for something on the table so Kara couldn't see his eyes.
"He slept…." She confirmed, then she took a deep breath, "Are the dreams normal?" she asked levelly, finally Tex looked at her, his gaze locked with hers. He did a slow nod with his head, chewing his lip.
"Normal for Danny." He eventually said and Kara felt her heart sink just a little bit. It hadn't been a one off.
"They're not every night," he told her, "it depend what else is going on. If he's got things on his mind it can be worse, when life is settled he doesn't do it as much."
Kara wondered when the last time life had been settled, for her things hadn't felt settled since the Russians open fire on them in the Arctic and it had all kicked off. She knew though that Danny had a wider field of experience of combat though so maybe he had a higher stress threshold. However, yesterday there hadn't been any combat type stress, so what had made Danny dream….. Kara thought, it dawned on her, maybe it was her. Maybe she'd caused Danny to have his dreams, after all they'd had that disagreement about which side of the bed they slept on. She knew he had still felt uncomfortable with the decision when they'd gone to bed.
"Do I…." she started and Tex looked at her, an eyebrow raised and she stopped, "Doesn't matter." She trailed off.
"Talk to him," he advised her softly before taking a sip of his coffee. "I'd best go, got to get Kathleen a Danish." He tapped her on the shoulder and walked off to the food table.
Talk to him, she could do that. She chewed the inside of her cheek, when does one bring up that sort of thing? How does one even start, with "Hey Danny, what was so horrific that you now dream about it?" or "Hey Danny, do I stress you out so much that you have nightmares?" Kara rolled her eyes at her internal dialogue, maybe she'd just park the subject until Danny brought it up.
She mulled it over as she wandered back to the room. She opened the door as quietly as she could, but she needn't have worried about waking Danny, there he was sat at the table, wearing only a towel around his waist, his Heckler and Koch hand gun in pieces, laid out for cleaning. He whistled along to the Aerosmith playing in the background, as he oiled the working parts. He looked at her when she walked in, his smile lighting up his face and Kara couldn't help but smile back. It made her feel tingly inside that she could make him smile like that.
"I'm almost done," he said motioning to the dismantled weapon on the table. "Wasn't sure how long you were going to be gone."
Kara ran her fingers lightly through his hair and put his coffee down.
"Ooh, thanks." He said, stopping long enough to take a sip. She sat down in the chair next to Danny. As Danny started to snap the parts back together, Kara took a deep breath."
"Danny?" she hesitantly asked and Danny didn't look up from his pistol.
"Yep," he acknowledged, distractedly.
Kara swallowed hard, "About last night, do you need to talk to someone?"
Danny dragged his attention away from his weapon and looked at her, his face genuinely inquisitive as if he had no idea to what she was referring to.
"About?" he enquired.
Kara felt this had become awkward and cringed at how she'd created this situation.
"The dreams?" she ventured slowly.
To her surprised, his eyes crinkled and he half laughed.
"Oh that, no, don't worry about it." He said lightly, leaving Kara feeling slightly off balance. Standing up from the table, he kissed the top of her hair as if to reassure her. Then he cocked the Heckler and Koch and fired off the action, making sure it worked, the whole process second nature, Kara heard the click of the safety going on. Kara looked at him, concerned at how quickly he'd brushed off her question and he smiled at her, his eyes melting her anxiety, she could drown in those brown eyes.
"Shower time" he told her, pulling her up from the chair, "Ms Foster, you are wearing far too many clothes and you are very dirty"
And that had been their morning, that was how that discussion had gone. There was a knock on the bathroom door and Kara came back to the moment.
"Sweetheart, you've been in there a while." Danny voice came through the door, a hint of concern noticeable.
"Oh, yeah, I'm done." She unlocked the door and found Danny leaning against the door frame.
"Why did you just get changed out here? I've seen you naked before." His eyes showed bemusement.
"I didn't want you to see the moment that I couldn't fasten my trousers anymore." She admitted, with an embarrassed smile. He pulled her into big hug.
"You look fantastic."
"You have to say that, you made me this way." She muttered into his chest.
"True, I played my part but honestly, you look fantastic. After tonight, you won't have to wear these trousers again, until after Been is born." He told her, keeping her wrapped in his arms.
"Yep, just a few more hours and then I can wear elasticated waistbands," she breathed out with relief at that idea, which was a mistake as the waistband suddenly felt tighter.
Danny let go and made his way into the bathroom and got out his shaving kit. It was a proper kit, a bar and brush that Kara knew he only saved for a decent shave, clearly the Inaugural Ball was a special occasion. It was weird how Kara knew this was his posh shaving kit but didn't know other, bigger things.
"Do you know what I'm not going to do for a week after tonight?"
Kara shook her head,
"I'm not going to shave, I'm going to have stubble."
"You'll look good with stubble." She told him nd went off to finish getting ready for the ball.
