Drake stood to attention wondering just what had ignited the legendary and very scary fury of Ivanova. She looked calm and unruffled until you were caught by those burning azure eyes. She had exited from the alcove after him and had stood silently staring at him since.

When Mulani had completed her tasks and cautiously left the area, she slowly moved into his personal space.

"Tell me Mr Drake," she hissed, "Just who informed you that you were to be MY executive officer?"

"Noone told me Captain. But I am the next senior in rank, so I assumed…"

"First thing to get straight Drake is that Assumptions will get you killed," she interrupted loudly. "Second thing is, that today this ships ExO is arriving with President Sheridan, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was a Ranger."

Drake winced, but Ivanova hadn't finished her rant yet, with each word her voice grew in volume and intensity.

"Thirdly…and make sure you remember this. I have only ever had ONE FIRST OFFICER and you Drake don't come close to him."

She looked at the shocked young man infront of her and recalled the face he had pulled at the mention of the Rangers.

"Now that that has been said, and hopefully taken in, what's your problem with the Rangers?"

Drake felt as if he had just been blasted by a blizzard while being buck-naked. He had no idea what to say to this amazon, but she stood there impatiently waiting for his reply.

"Well they are not trained soldiers like us, are they Captain?" he replied trying not to inflame her even more.

He failed miserably.

Susan's eyes narrowed how dare this jerk try to label her, as being the same as him. She had just been about to blister his ears, when a very familiar voice intervened.

"Quite rightWe are not soldiers. We are Warriors."

Ivanova felt her heart freeze, then start pounding at double time at the very first utterance from that never to be forgotten voice.

Oh my god its him. It's him. Its him….

Drake scowled at the speaker intending to repudiate that outrageous statement. But then he noticed the flush to Ivanovas face and decided to stay silent for now.

Slowly as if coming out of a trance she turned to see if it truly was him and not some weird hallucination.

There he stood in full Ranger uniform with the aid of crutches, and a little pale even for him. But everything else looked just the same. From his silky black mane and his intense jade eyes, right down to his goofy grin. No doubt to cover his nervousness

"Captain, are you alright? Do you need anything?" Drake finally enquired, but it was just background noise to Ivanova as she focused on that beloved face once more.

"President Sheridan sent me to find you," he stated quietly as he moved toward her. "Hope you don't mind me dropping in like this unannounced. Terrible rude I know…" Marcus babbled on, wondering if this was a ghastly mistake and how much physical damage she would do to him.

Suddenly Captain Susan Ivanova of the ISA ship Excalibur woke up.

That is Ranger Marcus Cole standing there, alive and well, only a few meters away—so what the hell are you doing standing here? You asked for the dream and got the real thing. NOW MOVE.

With an extremely predatory look in her eyes, she consumed the distance until she stood infront of this unique man who was watching her warily.

"Marcus shut the hell up—and just kiss me."

It was a tie as to which of the two men were more shocked by her urgent request. But it was Marcus who recovered first and with a quiet, "As you wish," kissed his beautiful Ivanova with all the longing and love in his heart.

Susan was rather shocked by her actions too. She had perfected her ice queen image on B5 so long ago, and Marcus passing had only solidified the ice. So when she received her second command on the Warlock class ship, the Valkyrie her reputation had reached there before her.

Then a strange thing occurred, she found herself talking to her crew, not the way she had done with John and Michael. But she got to know them pretty well over their fourteen month tour together, and she found that the ice was starting to melt.

That was also the time when the dreams had started. Yeah, she had dre4ams about Marcus before, but these were so vivid and real. In the dreams they visited places she had never been before with him always at her side, but silent. Even when they eventually made love it was in silence. She found out that she needed that voice, she needed him.She had finally admitted to Delenn at that time, that she had loved him…but had been bound by her own fears.

Now, here today she had everything, and she really didn't care that Drake was standing there gawking.

She didn't give a toss that her private life would now be fodder for the gossip mill.

All she cared about was wrapped up in her arms; all she cared about was him.

She held his body tight to hers afraid that he would fade away, like he did when she woke up. This was their first kiss; their first long overdue kiss and they were soon lost in it.

Lost in the whirlwind of feelings, both emotional and physical that scooped them up and didn't want to let go.

oh my, please don't go away again… I want you… I need you…always…your part of me…and boy can you kiss. Oh WOW!

Bloody hell!…she is so hot.Damn these bloody sticks… I want to hold her…but I don't want to fall on my ass…What does this mean?…Oh cripes! Where's a four poster when you need one?

Lt Commander Drake stood, forgotten by the other two. He was mortified, this was not the conduct of an Earthforce Captain, and with a Ranger too.

Who is he? Maybe he's just her lover and will go when we leave. But I hadn't heard any rumours about her having one. Scuttlebutt has her as the original Ice Queen. They obviously haven't seen anything like this.

"Susan," Marcus muttered reluctantly a short while later against her now swollen lips.

"Susan…Sheridan and Eiverson will be waiting. Much as I wish otherwise…"

"Damn it! Okay Ranger…duty wins..This time," she said huskily pulling herself away from his warm body. She straightened her detested uniform jacket and smoothed back her hair, in an attempt to calm herself down.

I should be kicking your sorry ass all over this ship, you and that rat Sheridan. But Im just so happy to have you back. No doubt well have our share of screaming matches about this later,. Were both to voatile for arguments not to occur. But NUTS. If he can do that to me with just his mouth, I am in serious trouble when he can use his hands and….Oh hell don't go there or we will never meet with Sheridan.

"Of course my lady," he whispered smiling into her burning azure eyes. This reunion was going much better than he had imagined it would. But there was still a long way to go. But that kiss had to mean something, didn't it?

Ivanova looked closely at him seeing the thoughts and emotions chase each other.

"We have a lot to discuss, you know that don't you?" At his nod, she quietly asked, "Are you ready for that?"

Marcus returned her stare with an intense one of his own as he replied, "Yes, I'm ready. What about you?"

Why aren't you screaming at me, or ripping into me with that Ivanova sarcasm

Ivanova smiled and raised and eyebrow as she replied softly.

"Its going to be a very involved discussion…might even take a lifetime or two to finish it properly. Don't you think?"

Confused you didn't I . you expected a wildcat spitting nails and found a reasonabley calm Ivanova. Don't worry Ranger the wildcats still there. Im just not willing to waste anymore time or energy denying the truth. But belive me we will Talk later. Bet on it!

Marcus felt like some one had just clubbed him over the head with a two by four.

"Are you sure Susan…Don't rush into this…I can wait…"

"But I cant…I've waited to damn long for you, for us as it is…and I am very sure." She insisted as her hand softly caressed his cheek.

Oh man! Thank you Valen. Thank you Kosh. Thank you Delenn. Thank you Lillian..

His handsome face lit up from the happiness bubbling up inside of him. He had never imagined that she would react this way. He had envisioned her shouting and snarling before doing him some bodily injury. But so far no visits to the Medical facility.

"Hey! Ivanova to Cole. Where'd you go?"

"I was wondering where the medlab was…and should I introduce myself there, before we talk," he answered half jokingly.

Ivanova rolled her eyes, but didn't get the chance to reply as Drake decided it was way past time to intervene.

"Captain…President Sheridan IS waiting," he announced loudly to get their attention.

Marcus sent her a look that basically said who is this jerk talking to?

Susan couldn't help but smile, it was so good to have him back, and to be honest she really didn't really care how it had been achieved. But they would talk about that later. For now there was Drake to deal with; a job for her first officer. For if Sheridan had anyone else in mind he could just forget it.

Marcus saw the gleam of pure mischief come into his loves eyes and took a very deep breath, preparing himself for whatever she was about to do.

I've missed this so much. Go get him love.

He watched as Ivanovas eyes turned glacial, before she turned to face the jerk,. He knew that expression really well.

Ivanova quietly replied to the waiting man, "I am quite aware of that MR DRAKE…while you are here though, I may as well introduce you to MY first officerRanger Marcus Cole."

Marcus felt his poor heart pump every cc of blood through his system at double time.

Shes accepted me as her XO…no, her first officer. God I love this woman.

Marcus closely turned his focus the man infront of him; he knew much about him from the files that Sheridan had somehow procured for him. The mans face at present was a picture, he had obviously tagged him as just Ivanovas lover, some one who would disappear when the ship left. And the fact that he was a Ranger was really upsetting him…big time.

This could lead to problems if its not dealt with right now.

He glanced at Ivanova and received a slight nod, as she took a step back and let him take care of the situation his way.

"I know all about you Lt Commander Drake from your EA records…nice work," Cole began in a pleasant tone, noting the surprise on the mans face that he, a Ranger would have access to those files. "But you comment earlier and the look on your face right now, tells me that you have a problem with Rangers. I am really good with problems, never found one yet I couldn't beat," he continued in a substantially cooler tone than before.

He moved himself forward, right into Drakes personal space.They were just about the same height so they were now eye to eye.

"So I shall deal with this one fast, once and for all. I do not give a damn what you think of me personally, BUT I am the second in command of this vessel, and my orders will be carried out to MY satisfaction. Is that clear Commander?"

"Yes sir," Drake replied in a rather subdued voice.

"Also you can let it be known, that if I catch anyone trying to undermine my authority or hampering the assigned tasks of the other Rangers…Yes Drake there are six other Rangers on board…Deal with it…If I do find any crap like that going on, you can be damn sure that I will borrow Captain Ivanovas airlock and the perpetrators will learn first hand how to dance in a vacuum. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" he finished with a yell any drill sergeant would be proud of.

Drake had grown paler as Cole had continued. He had looked into those intense green eyes and knew in his heart that this man would have no problem carrying out his threats.

Drake forced himself to stand to attention and snapped out, "Yessir."

Marcus had to force down the laugh that trembled on his lips when he heard Ivanovas rather inelegant snort to that.

"Fine, then I will se you tomorrow 0700hrs in my office to go over everything. Until then return to your assigned duties Commander…Dismissed."

Drake marched away…very quickly.

When Drake had disappeared from sight Marcus turned to face his now smiling Captain and enquired with a serious face. "Was that what the Captain required?"

Ivanova laughed out loud. "That and more. But Marcus why did some bits sound so familiar?" she asked in a puzzled tone.

Marcus began to laugh too, as they started to walk down the empty corridor.

"It was from one of Captain Sheridans, I filed it away for future use. Altered it a little bit here and there…but it seemed to do the job. Don't you think?"

Susan looked at him in total amazement then said, "What I think Cole is that you are still the Ultimate pain in the Ass, but your mine now. Welcome aboard Marcus Cole, first officer of the ISA Excalibur.

At this she gave him a quick peck on the cheek, then continued, " Now lets go and see what the other pain has in store for us."

"SUSAN IVANOVA! I am shocked at you, talking about our beloved President like that."

"Yeah yeah, Come on you bloody pest." She replied with a bright grin on her face.

One that not many people would have recognised, but then she hadn't been this happy in years.