Cottontail Chapter 1, an azur lane/碧蓝航线 fanfic

Part One – Bushes and Brambles

I stretch and yawn a little just as I hear a call of frustration from the secretarial office in a southern drawl, "Oh sugha honey iced tea!"

I tilt my head to the side and save the report I'd been working on before I get out from behind my desk and leave my office. As I open my office door, I see my secretary ship standing with one hand on her hip, her nose wrinkled a little, and the other hand running through her long blond hair. She closes her blue eyes and lets out a sigh before she bemoaned with that voice of hers, "Now where did that document go?"

I keep watching as she moves over to the floor and she got down on her hands and knees and started picking up various papers that had scattered across the floor. I leaned against the door frame and watched her for a moment before I asked, "Everything okay NC?"

"No, I'm right momicked! The wind blew in and scattered all these papers around while I grabbin' some sweet tea." She said in that southern drawl of hers.

I smirk to myself, having grown up with my mom who was from that very state; I found it extremely amusing to have a kansen under my command that spoke like she'd been raised down south. Pushing myself off the door frame I went over and started to help to collect the papers and I say to her, "No harm done NC, most of these could wait a day or two as it is."

She sighed and sat up on her stern and kept looking at the papers as she said to me, "It's not that the papers are important, one of 'em had somethin' I didn't want ya to see."

As I keep going through the papers I come across one that seems to be a request form, before I can fully read it I see her gloved hand dart across the top of it and she pulls it away while telling me, "Not that one."

I sit back on my rear and pick up another paper just as my eye catches the clock and I say to her, "It's almost seventeen hundred, let's just pack it in for the day."

"Well, that's mighty sweet of ya Captain Bellamy, but I can't have the maids toss some of this thinkin' I was just been sloppy." She says with a sweet smile to me before adding, "But I won't tell anyone that ya ducked out early."

I find myself smiling back as I say to her, "Now I can't let you stay behind to do the cleaning, if my mom knew I did that, she'd kick my ass."

North Carolina starts to giggle while picking up more papers and asks, "Your mama's from the south right?"

"She is, she grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina." I say to her the slight hint of southern drawl coming from me as I said that state.

"Careful Captain, keep that up an' you'll be talkin' like me before too long." She says with a wink.

I laugh and grab the last couple of papers as I say to her, "I can think of worse things."

I pass her the last of the documents before standing and offering her a hand, she takes it and says to me, "Thank ya kindly."

"Anytime NC, now, what do you say to packing it in early today?" I ask her.

She turns and leans over her desk to put the papers on it, under a paperweight as she says, "Just let me get this all buttoned up first."

I watch as she moves around the desk to save and shut down the computer before closing the windows before I move to the kitchenette and ask, "What time do you get into the office in the mornings?"

"Aroun' oh-seven-hundred, why?" I hear her ask.

"I'm setting the coffee maker, that's why." I call back as I put water into the back of the coffee maker.

"Now that's just bein' silly Captain, why would you set it for the weekend?" she laughs out.

"What do you mean, weekend?" I ask puzzled as I check my phone and see that it's Friday today.

"Oh bless your heart, Captain, you forgot it was Friday again?" she says with some mirth to her tone of voice, causing me to turn to see her with her arms folded under her bust and leaning against the doorway to the kitchenette.

I curse at myself before I ask, "So, how long were you going to let me make a fool of myself?"

She entered the kitchenette to pat the side of my cheek before winking at me and teasing, "I'm not sure yet."

I was about to follow up on that question but she turned and left the kitchenette and called from her office, "I'll see ya on Monday, Captain."

Once I heard the door close behind her I let out a groan and ran my hands down my face in frustration, I really liked NC, she was just my type. That's what was making this posting such a pain, I had the exact girl I'd been known to get myself over a barrel for working closely with me, every day.

One of the interesting quirks I'd found here is that sister ships might sound different from one another. Take North Carolina for example, she sounded like she was from the South, but her sister Washington sounded like she was from the Pacific North West. I wondered if this was a trait that had to do with their namesakes, but I had learned it wasn't something that was limited to just the Eagle union ships, even the Royal Navy ones had similar quirks. About the only two of that fleet, I could really tell the difference between were Edinburgh and Belfast, one sounding Scottish and the latter sounding Irish.

Leaning my forehead against the cabinet that contained the coffee I sigh out, "I wonder what NC thinks of me?"

When no answer came, I stopped prepping the coffee for the morning and headed to my quarters for the evening.

XXXX

During my weekend off, I went into the town that was set up for the kansen to get used to the idea of what it'd be like to live a life away from the base. As I made my way through the town, I spot two kansen in casual attire. One had long silver hair so that limited who it could be to just a couple of kansen on the base with that height. But the other had long blond hair and she was in a white sundress with a big white hat, but I got my answer as soon as I heard her speak with a southern drawl, "Oh come on Enty, it's a beautiful day an' we're already here. Besides I'm fixin' to do some shoppin' an' you could do with some more outfits, sweetie."

I slow my pace to listen in without actually listening in, I knew NC was close with her sister Washington, but if I had to pick out one kansen she would call a best friend, well I figured it would've been Enterprise. I hear Enterprise let out a sigh as she says, "Carol, I'm not letting you play dress up with me again. And we are going back to the lingerie shop , that pair I bought last time does nothing but ride up."

I watch as NC looks up and makes a big animated show as she agrees with a call of, "Fine."

It was interesting to see her in her off-hours, how she was outside the office, but it was what came next that made me tilt my head to the side as Enterprise asked, "So how are things going with Captain Bellamy?"

As the two of them keep walking, I see NC's shoulder slump a little before she leans her head against Enterprise's left shoulder and sighs out, "I'm gettin' nowhere with 'im. I even knocked papers all across the floor yesterday, got on all fours, an' let him look at my stern an' nothin'! Not even a remark about it."

That was when Enterprise sighed and asked her with a shrug, "How do you know the Captain even likes frames like ours?"

"You kiddin'? I know he looks whenever I give 'im a chance to look down my top." NC says as she stands upright again, resting her hands behind her head.

I blink a couple of times, I thought I'd been getting away with those looks, but knowing that she was leaving those gaps in purpose. Combining that with the fact that she just expressed interest in me that left me wondering just how to use that information, up ahead I heard Enterprise continue their conversation, "Carol, it's been a year of you trying to be subtle with it now, maybe he's not interested?"

"Oh hush now. I know he's not married, I know he's not seein' anyone, here or back on the mainland." NC said as her attention fully turned to Enterprise as she added, "He's a guy unless he's into other men being here would be frustratin' for him."

Well, she got that right; this base has been frustrating in that regard. I sigh to myself as I come to a stop as they turn into a store, looking up I see it's the undergarment place they were talking about. With an audible sigh this time I say, "Looks like I'm not going to get to overhear the rest of that conversation."

Oh well, best to get on with what I'd planned on doing anyway today.

XXXX

After I left the two of them at that store I went on and found that automated café, where I took a seat outside with a coffee and slice of lemon coffee cake. Leaning back in my chair I looked out over the water and tried to process what I learned today, that was when I picked up movement out of the corner of my eye. Turning to look in the direction of the motion, I see North Carolina sitting across from me, a fork in hand and she's got a piece of my coffee cake on the end of it as she asks, "What's got ya out here today, Captain?"

I blink a few times and she winks at me before putting the bite in her mouth and I ask, "I'm sorry?"

She swallows and laughs before patting my cheek as she says to me, "Oh sweetie, I saw ya walk past the lingerie shop."

I sip my coffee to buy some time before I say to her, "It's a nice day, so I decided to take it in before the rain rolls in tomorrow."

I watch as she leans back, her arms flopping down to her sides while her head goes over the back of the chair and she groans out, "Darn it, I had beach plans for tomorrow too."

With a raised eyebrow I ask her, "Yeah, like what?"

She sits upright again, eyeing me sideways as she says with a playful tone to her voice, "I'd just gotten this new bikini an' I was gonna do some sun bathin' to see if I could get a tan."

I can't help myself and I ask, "Yeah?"

She winks a blue eye at me as she says; "Now it's not as racy as some of the other girls might wear." She paused when she saw I was clearly starting to picture something in my mind and she leaned in to whisper, "Unless you'd want to see somethin' racy."

My cheeks got so hot when she suggested that and I start to choke on my coffee. After I pound my chest a couple of times, I turn the question on her, "Why, are you offering?"

Her cheeks went red while she picked up her drink and sipped on the straw, clearly buying time to respond and she said with a wink, "Wouldn't you like to know."

I can't overplay my hand right now; she doesn't know that I know what she thinks about me. After a moment I chose my words carefully as I shrug and say, "Fine, I'm sure St. Louis would be up for it."

Huh, that seemed to strike a nerve.

I see her nostrils flare a little as I said that and she gets up from the table, taking a bag and her drink with her as she says, kind of curtly, "Have a good weekend, Captain."

I tilt my head to the side and watch her walk away, part of me is feeling a little guilty for firing that shot. Yet at the same time, I'm also wondering why she didn't try to change my mind about it. As I go back to looking out at the water, I hear another voice speak to me, "Permission to speak freely, sir?"

I turn my attention back away from the water to see Enterprise standing there, her arms folded under her bust and I nod while I say to her, "If there's one thing I've figured out about this assignment, I can't stop any of you from speaking your minds."

She sighs and drops her arms to her sides before saying, "You're an idiot."

I sip more of my coffee and gesture to the chair that NC had been in as I ask, "Care to elaborate?"

"I know you heard me and Carol talking earlier today." She says, folding her arms under her bust again.

I sigh and hang my head as I ask, "If you knew, did she?"

Enterprise shakes her head as she says to me, "I love Carol, but she has her blind spots. And I don't mean being able to see her shoes some days."

I laugh, but the glare I get from Enterprise kills that, cold. Sitting against the back of my chair I sigh and nod before I say, "I know."

Enterprise takes her baseball cap off, running a hand through her hair and she asks me, "Look, what you tell me right now, will stay between us, alright?" she waited for me to nod and she asked that big question, "How do you feel about Carol?"

I rub the back of my head and sigh before I sip my coffee and ask her, "You want a really honest answer?" I wait and see her nod so I continue, "She's my type, and I'm interested. But I wasn't sure till today what she thought of me."

Enterprise pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs before she says, "Then why didn't you just act on that?"

"It isn't that easy, Enterprise." I say looking back out over the water.

"Why not?" she asks me and added, "It seems simple enough to me; she likes you. She's liked you for the last year, and has been trying to get you to look at her in a way that is beyond her being a subordinate."

I use the fork on the plate and take a piece of the coffee cake as I say to Enterprise, "Because, if I play that card, now, then I have to admit I was following you two by happenstance and listened in to the conversation you two were having."

That was when understanding seemed to dawn on Enterprise as she slowly nods her head and says, "That makes that knowledge forbidden fruit."

I tap the end of my nose while sipping some coffee before I say, "Now I could act on it, but if she knows how I know, she might feel embarrassed or violated that I listened in on a private conversation."

Enterprise leans forward, her nose wrinkling when she picks up the lemon from the coffee cake and she asks, "So, what are you going to do about it?"

With a shrug, I say to her, "I don't know."

Enterprise sighs and pushes herself off the table, bending to pick up her bag and say to me, "I'm not going to say anything to Carol. But Sir, you need to do something. If you're not going to act on it, let her know that, if you are, well get your stern in gear."

Leaning back I can't help but nod, she was right. There was no way around it, Enterprise was right, I have to act one way or another.

XXXX

It was late Sunday when I got a message from NC asking me, 'Hey Captain, are ya busy tonight?'

I looked out the window and sighed, I really wasn't. There wasn't anything good on to watch tonight and I didn't feel like having a frozen dinner for one, so I messaged her back saying, 'No, why?'

'Then you should come by the Eagle Union dorm, it's game night tonight an' we got a full spread.' She sent back almost immediately.

I give another look outside and shrug before grabbing a raincoat and umbrella and letting her know I was on my way.

XXXX

As I got there, I could see through one of the windows a group of the girls in the common room, laughing, clearly having a good time. With a nod to myself, I went up the stairs and knocked on the door, and waited for it to open.

The door opened and I saw a kansen with short fiery red hair, she looks up at me a little confused as she asks, "What brings you by Captain?"

I hear a table get bumped before I hear that southern drawl, "'Cause I invited 'im. He didn't have anythin' to do tonight."

Phoenix shrugs and steps back from the door just as NC comes into view, I tilt my head to the side as this is the first time I've seen her in a white camisole top and black yoga pants. Her blond hair was done up in a loose ponytail and she wore a grin on her face as she waved me in. Closing the door behind me, I take off my raincoat as she says, "Glad ya made it, I was a little worried you might've had to swim."

I smirk before asking, "So, what's the game going on right now?"

She shrugs and says, "I found this game in storage, it's called Twister, it's been a blast to play so far."

Oh hell.

I blink a couple of times as memories of awkwardness from my youth come back from playing that game as a young adult at coed parties. I clear my throat before I say, "I'm not sure that is an appropriate game I should play with you girls."

NC grins at me and touches her hair as she says, "I'm sure it'll be fine."

I sigh inwardly and let her lead me into the room where they have it set up. Looking around the room, I see Enterprise, Reno, Phoenix, and Bremerton as if reading my mind NC says, "Most of the others are in their apartments."

I watch as NC gets on the mat at one end, Reno is sitting with the spinner and the other three are eating from the collection of sandwiches and drinks. I was about to head over to the refreshments when Reno called out, "Get on the mat Captain! NC's the champion so far, you got to be a hero and take her down!"

I hang my head before taking off my socks and getting on the mat before the first spin.

XXXX

During the game, I and NC got into a very much compromised position. She was on all fours, with her right foot and right hand on green, her left foot and left hand on red. I had my feet on yellow and blue, with my left hand on blue, leaning over NC. From behind me, I heard Reno call out, "Okay Captain, left-hand green!"

Oh hell. The only green spot I could reach right now was past NC's right shoulder, I sigh inwardly and reach for it, my feet slip against the plastic and the two of us go crashing down to the ground. From this position, I got an idea of just how soft her curves are, but what both did and didn't surprise me was when she winked at me and whispered, "Well, ain't ya bein' a little forward?"

I could hear silence from the room so I whispered back to her, "NC did you girls plan this?"

She smirks a little and whispers "Maybe."

I push myself off of both her and the mat before walking over to the refreshment table and I spot some bourbon, tonight is going to need bourbon. To my left, Enterprise is standing there, a slight smirk on her lips, and she whispers to me, "Did you enjoy the, collision?"

I feel my cheeks get hot before I whisper back to her, "This was not what I was expecting for tonight."

Just as I pour some into a red cup and grab a sandwich, NC gets off the floor and says to me, "Come on, Captain, let me show ya aroun' here a bit."

I watch as NC pours herself a cup of bourbon before looking over her shoulder at me with a wink and motioning for me to follow. With a shrug, I follow her out the back door of the dorms and see that there is a porch swing that had been set up with a big blanket. But she walks right past it and leans on the railing of the covered porch, looking out at the rain and she says, "Can I ask ya, somethin' Captain?"

I mimic how she's leaning and sip some of my drink as I say to her, "Of course you can."

She brushes a hand through her hair and gives a weak smile before asking, "What kind of girl do ya like?" That made me raise an eyebrow and she took a deep breath before adding in, "'Cause I like ya an' I don't wanna be waistin' my time if I ain't what you're lookin' for."

Well, she actually put things out in the open. I buy myself a moment by taking a bite of the sandwich and sipping my drink before I say to her, "Honestly, you're just my type. And I've been trying to figure out if I should be thinking about seeing if there was something here."

Her cheeks went bright red before she sipped on her drink and then asked, "How long have ya been thinkin' that?"

I give a half laugh and smirk as I let her know, "Close to a year, having you as my secretary has been murder."

She hangs her head and laughs as she says, "Well ain't we a pair? I mean I've been wonderin' if I'd be interestin' to ya."

With a laugh of my own, I admit to her, "Truth is, yesterday I knew what you thought about me, but I was playing a game with you at the café."

She stopped laughing; snapping her attention to me and her cheeks went bright red as she asked, "How?"

I rub the back of my head as I say, "You and Enterprise were just ahead of me out shopping and she asked you how things were going."

Very few times have I ever seen NC speechless, this was one of those times. She downed her drink in one go before she went over to the swing and sat on it. As I turned to watch her sit there, she patted a spot beside her, I took the invitation. Just as I sat down she pulled the blanket around the two of us and she leaned in close and said, "Well, since ya knew then, let me make my intentions clear now."

I tilt my head to the side just as she tilts her head to the side and kisses me, deeply. It was a good kiss, just the right amount of firmness, the right amount of moistness. When it broke, she stroked my chin with her right index finger and said to me with a wink, "That was almost worth the wait."

I smile at her, but I feel a little conflicted as I ask, "So, as much as I'd really like to peruse this, how do we handle Monday?"

She looks thoughtful for a moment before offering out, "We take it one day at a time as a healthy relationship should? As for workin' together, well, I can be professional, can you?"

Under the blanket, I touch her left hand with my right one as I say, "I think I can manage that."

"Good." She says as she snuggles in against me and we listened to the rain that night.

XXXX

A/N: Chapter one done. I hope you enjoyed my take on North Carolina, I see her as a bit of a flirt, a bit flashier, and most importantly a good person. I also see her and Enterprise being really good friends, if only due to the real service histories of BB-55 and CV-6. My goal with this story is to show how their relationship develops in a healthy way, not rushing towards an end goal.