Hey All!

thanks for all the enthusiastic support for this story and be sure to share it with your friends.

Khalthar: Thanks for Being a beta reader for me.

NothereNorthere: true to what you said. it's allways about Yautja males with human females but never the other way round. there should be more pairings M/human and F/yautja.

Anyway, in this chapter Alaric and Ja'anya wake up to a new morning and thier bond grows more deeper.

Chapter 6- A new beginning.

Ja'anya clicked her mandibles, and shifted in her sleep while she dreamt. She was dreaming of her childhood, and the time when her father was still alive. She fondly dreamed of how he would take her to various botanical gardens to play catch, or see the different wild animals in their individual pens. She really loved it when he would carry her on his shoulders so that she pick a piece of fruit from one of the trees. To her, those had been the special days. It had truly broken her heart when he died, but she still had her mother who both loved her, and provided for her. She eventually got over the loss, thanks to her mother's huntress training. The meditation involved helped to ease her heartache and pain.

Ja'anya sleepily opened one eye when she heard a cough. She could hear a heart beating a firm solid rhythm beneath her head. The beat was slow and relaxed, but strong and steady. The soothing sound was almost like a lullaby to a small child in the embrace of its mother. It was reassuring and comforting. Ja'anya felt strongly tempted to fall back asleep. The first thing she saw when her vision came into focus was her hand. Then, she noticed that she was clasping Alaric's hand with her own.

She had been resting her head on Alaric's chest, and holding his hand in her sleep!

'Oh my!' She thought in shock.

She felt her dreadlocks parting and she felt Alaric's hand cup the back of her head gently. She couldn't stop herself purring softly as she felt his soft touch. She turned her head, still purring and she saw him, awake and watching her. To her relief, he didn't look upset or offended by any of this. He just had a neutral look on his face that slowly turned into a smirk. Ja'anya on the other hand blushed deeply.

"Have a nice sleep?" Alaric asked casually with his eyes shining in the dim starlight.

"Yes." Ja'anya answered.

"Good! I'm glad considering that mess you went through yesterday."

"How long have you been awake?"

"Only just woke up. You looked peaceful and content though; so I decided to let you sleep." Alaric gestured to her hand clasping his.

Ja'anya looked at her hand and gingerly unclasped her hand from Alaric's. She sat up in bed and the sheets fell from her back. Alaric caught sight of her bare chest but he didn't react to it. Ja'anya, from the look in her violet eyes, was slightly embarrassed by these events.

"I apologize about that." She said, moving to get out of bed.

She turned her back when Alaric sat up and placed a hand on her shoulder. She stopped as she felt his hand on her shoulder. She felt his touch, his reassuring gentle grasp on her shoulder.

"It's okay." He assured her. "You needed comfort and, well, I didn't want to disturb you last night."

She was touched by his words, and she raised a hand and clasped his. "Thank you." She said sincerely.

As she got up, the lights flickered on, and she reached for a gown in her wardrobe. Alaric got off the opposite side, bending down and rubbing his neck. He then got up and stretched, making a few joints pop.

"That's much better." He said to himself.

He watched as Ja'anya went about making the bed, folding the sheets back into place. He stepped in to help her, cleaning up his side. Ja'anya couldn't help but give a small smile at him, and she couldn't help but giggle when she heard a rumbling coming from Alaric's stomach.

Alaric looked at his gut.

"Shut up." He ordered his stomach in a comical fashion.

He was answered by a laugh from Ja'anya, followed by an answering rumble coming from her stomach. Ja'anya held her abdomen and clicked her mandibles.

"Looks like some of us are hungry." Alaric said, tying his hair back.

"It seems that way." Ja'anya confirmed.

Alaric walked out of the bedroom and headed towards the kitchen. Ja'anya followed him there and she saw Alaric stop and stare while looking at the kitchen unit. He could see that there was a stove-top cooking unit, a circular sink, and the numerous sliding doors of the storage units. Ja'anya came up behind him.

"What would you like?" She asked curiously.

Alaric thought for a second before he turned to Ja'anya.

"Surprise me." He said. "I wouldn't know the first thing about Yautja cooking."

"It's not that hard." Ja'anya told him "Here, I'll show you."

She went up to one storage unit and opened it. The unit revealed itself to be a refrigeration system and she pulled out something. It sort of resembled an armadillo except it was a reptile rather then a mammal. It was roughly a meter in length and it had rather nasty looking clawed paws and a club like tail. She placed it on a table near her and Alaric recognized the meal in question.

"You caught a pygmy ankylosaur." Alaric said, looking at it. "Very high in protein. That is, if you can manage to crack the shell."

Ja'anya smiled at his enthusiasm.

"My first one." She told him. "The number of times my blows just bounced off it was amazing."

She picked a knife from an over hanging rack and she started to judge where to start cutting it. Now, because this was the first one she ever caught, she didn't have any idea where to start. This animal is protected by a hard segmented carapace that proved resistant to blades. Alaric watched her make the attempt as she first started at its head. Then, when that failed, she tried to go from its tail.

Alaric stayed her hand and she looked at him questioningly.

"Here, let me show you. There's a method to cleaning these things." He told her easily.

He took hold of her hand and guided her to the small gap between the reptile's head and shoulders. He deftly guided the tip of the knife in. Ja'anya would have been lying if she said she didn't enjoy the close contact. She liked how he guided her hands to the right location. He had the hands of warrior yet there was a softer, caring side to them.

"Right here." Alaric indicated, letting go of Ja'anya's hand. "Now, just smack the butt of the knife with your palm."

"Are you sure?" Ja'anya asked. "My knife isn't going to bounce back at me?"

"Positive." Alaric assured her with a smile as he steeped back to watch her.

Ja'anya decided to go for it. She brought her free hand back and smacked the butt of the knife. Instantly, the shell went popping off of the dead reptile with a loud crack, sending it flying into the air and clattering to the floor some distance away. Ja'anya was surprised at that as Alaric picked the carapace from the floor, flipped it over and showed her the inner shell.

"See here?" Alaric said, pointing to a honeycomb network of bone in alignment with the animal's spine. "The bone here is connected to the animal's spinal column and is designed to absorb impact." He then thumped one of the other plates to demonstrate his point. "But, get a knife under there, in the right spot and it's like shelling a shellfish."

Ja'anya was again impressed by his knowledge.

'Warrior, hunter, survivalist,' She thought with admiration. 'Hard to believe he's not a Yautja.'

De-shelling the meal was both productive and fun, watching the carapace segments spin in the air. Alaric was catching them deftly, and even went so far as to catch one on his head to Ja'anya's amusement. Now they had to prepare the meat. Ja'anya let Alaric do the gutting and she watched closely as he flipped the carcass on its back, deftly opened up its chest cavity and removed all the interior organs. He sorted out what could be used for later and what was offal. Living off the land for over a year had taught him a great many lessons, such as how to make the best use of the resources available. He severed the stomach and then chucked it into the sink without even looking in that direction.

"Clean that out later." He muttered as he resumed working. "Where are those shells?"

Ja'anya handed him the shell segments and he took them before arranging them. He had now separated the heart, lungs, kidneys, and liver into a shell each while he kept all the offal in a pile. Now all he had to do was behead the thing. He looked at his blood covered hands and he turned to Ja'anya, who had clean hands because she had not done any of the bloody work.

He grinned. "Care to do the honors?" He asked her, gesturing to the head.

Ja'anya enthusiastically nodded and hurried off to get one of his axes. She came back with a hand axe and Alaric positioned her aim to the target and adjusted her grip.

"Gently." Alaric told her as he stepped back. "Don't want to reduce the table to kindling."

Ja'anya gripped the axe carefully as she slowly got the feel of it. Then she carefully brought the axe down. The axe went into the neck with a nice solid hit and the head went rolling off the table before bouncing on the deck. There was something oddly satisfying about watching a head roll because of one's own effort.

"Very nice." Alaric said, going to the sink to wash his hands.

Ja'anya went about cutting the animal up while Alaric busied himself in dealing with the stomach. He pinched the intestinal entrance of the stomach shut with one hand and grabbed the stomach with the other. He then squeezed the stomach, to get rid of whatever the reptile had been eating before its death.

"Urgh!" Alaric said with disgust. "What the hell has this thing been eating?"

Ja'anya turned around to see what Alaric was complaining about and immediately wished that she hadn't. Hanging from the esophagus opening was a gelatinous, putrid mass of unidentifiable matter. The smell coming from it was horrendously awful. It was a combination of bad fungal rot and decaying plant matter. With one big squeeze, a great big mass of the stuff plummeted into sink as one big gelatinous mass. The smell was overpowering and it was truly repulsive just to look at.

"Oh, for the love of god!" Alaric cursed fervently. "It's moving!"

Ja'anya went pale green as she tried not to throw up. She muttered something in Yautja as she watched Alaric pick up the offending matter. Ja'anya gestured to a hatch which she opened and Alaric threw the revolting mass through the hatch. Ja'anya sealed it up the moment the mass was in.

"That was absolutely minging!" Alaric was able to say now that he could breathe clearly.

"Minging?" Ja'anya wheezed in question as she was hitting a button.

A whoosh sound was heard as whatever that mass was vented into space.

"Repulsive." Alaric explained, furiously scrubbing his hands under the running water.

After that unpleasant experience, breakfast was already on the way as the ankylosaur legs was now roasting over open flames. The rest of the animal was back in the ice box. Alaric had thoroughly cleansed the stomach, the reptile's organs, and was now finely chopping those organs into mincemeat with his axe. Ja'anya had changed into more suitable clothing and was preparing some fruits as she watched him at work.

"What are you making?" She finally asked when curiosity got the best of her.

"Haggis." Alaric replied while grabbing a handful of mince and stuffing it into the stomach.

"Haggis?"

"A Scottish dish. Animal stomach filled with its organs, and then baked or boiled depending on preference."

"Sounds appetizing." She answered as she began salivating from the mere thought of such a dish.

"It is. When you're out there in the wild, make every piece from a kill count."

Alaric checked on the cooking meat to see if it was ready. The smell coming from it was like roasting pork. The meat had turned a golden brown and was looking delectable. He resumed working on the haggis, finishing the stuffing before he sealed off both ends with a needle and thread. He juggled the finished haggis in his hand like a sportsman would with a ball. He saw the amputated tail from the ankylosaur next to him. He was reminded of the time when he last ate ankylosaur, how a pack of scavenger dinosaurs had attacked him and the way he'd used the tail as a makeshift club. It was amusing watching those lizards scamper away when they realized there was no dinner for them that night.

"Breakfast is made." He announced as he was placing it back on the table.

He looked at the roasting meat, taking one leg off the flames before slicing a slither of meat off. The meat was fully cooked and tender.

"Hey Ja'anya." He called.

Ja'anya looked up from cutting the fruit. Alaric brought the piece of cooked meat to Ja'anya and offered it to her.

"Get this down you." He said.

Ja'anya took the piece and bit into it, not expecting what ankylosaur tasted like. She chewed for a moment before biting more meat. She found that it had a full, juicy texture and had something of a sweet aftertaste.

"This is great." Ja'anya managed to say after she finished that test piece. "Blotting out whatever it was eating from my mind, this is quite nice."

Alaric handed her the rest of the meat before walking back to the stove to get his piece. He also grabbed some of the shell segments to use as makeshift plates, after washing them before hand. He walked back over and handed Ja'anya one of the shells. She placed her meat into the shell and placed it on the table as Alaric sat down next to her.

"Bon appetite." He said with a grin before taking a bite from his own piece.

Ja'anya, as she ate hers, noticed that his face had started to grow coarse stubble. If there was one thing that she thought was strange about Alaric, it was that he didn't seem to have much body hair. From what she had seen of his exposed body, only his head had any hair. She came to the conclusion that he must shave his body regularly.

Unable to resist her curiosity, she held out a hand to his face and felt the side of his cheek. Alaric stopped whatever he was doing when Ja'anya touched him. She moved the back of her fingers around his cheek, feeling the stubble scrape her skin. Alaric just sat there as he felt her feel his cheek, not moving an inch and staring off into space.

He woke up to the feeling of his cheek being caressed. He looked up from the pillow and saw his wife smiling. He smiled as he placed his hand on her cheek. Then he heard soft footsteps pattering into their room, lifting his head and seeing his son running up to them. His son jumped on the bed and cuddled up to his father.

"Alaric?" Ja'anya asked, concerned when she saw that he wasn't reacting.

Alaric blinked and turned to Ja'anya.

"Alaric?" She asked again with a touch more urgency.

Alaric took a breath.

"Sorry." He said, his voice calm. "Memory flashback."

He resumed eating his piece of meat. Ja'anya watched him with concern and slight puzzlement from his sudden change in mood.

'Was he just thinking about his mate?' She thought suddenly.

"Alaric, are you alright?" Ja'anya asked, concerned.

Alaric wiped his mouth and coughed into his hand.

"Blasted flashbacks keep coming back whenever they feel like it." Alaric said, wiping his hands on a cloth. "Disadvantage of a good memory, don't know what will set them off." He turned to her. "That out of the way, had a feel of my cheek?" He asked.

"Yes, I'm sorry about that." Ja'anya apologized.

Alaric chuckled. "Yeah well, I never really shave as my facial hair never really grows." he said, scratching his face. "It only gets to the stubble that you're seeing now. In fact, not much body hair grows either. Do you want me to shave?"

Ja'anya shook her head. "No." She replied grinning. "Personally, I think it suits you. I was just seeing what it felt like."

"Feels like a coarse brush doesn't it?" Alaric said.

Ja'anya brushed her hand on his cheek again before curving her fingers round his chin. She felt the growing hair scratch her skin.

"Yes, it does." Ja'anya confirmed.

"That's nothing. If you can get it coarse enough you can actually light a match with your face." Alaric added.

Ja'anya sat up in attention.

"Is that really possible?" She asked in surprise.

"Yes." Alaric confirmed before chuckling. "The first time I tried was when someone from my Spec Ops team needed a light. I struck the match on my jaw, forgetting I had flammable powder on my face from the mission. You can guess what happened next."

Ja'anya imagined seeing Alaric's head engulfed in a fireball with him flinching in surprise.

"That wasn't a smart thing to do was it?" Ja'anya said, chuckling.

"Stupid but funny." Alaric stated, chuckling with her. "My head went up in a fireball and when the smoke cleared, I was standing there, face black, my hair smoking and my eyes as wide as saucers. I remember my comrade standing there in shock and staring at me and all I said to him, with lit match in hand, was 'Well, do you want a light or not?'."

"And what did he do?"

"He just lit his cigarette and said 'Kid, do yourself a favor and don't ever smoke'." Alaric finished.

They spent the rest of the morning eating the ankylosaur and talking to each other. The boundaries between their respected species were slowly starting to lower as they began to understand each other. Ja'anya saw that Alaric was actually much more laid back and sociable as they talked. It was a stark contrast to his usual more serious and independent side. She thought that he must a difficult person to get open himself up to people, what with his background.

Alaric quickly found that he was second guessing himself as he listened to Ja'anya talking about her life. Since he was a child, he had always thought of her race as nothing more then bloodthirsty and murdering raiders; not that such ideas weren't without justification. But now he learned that those were just the bad outcasts of her race. He learned that her people were not all that different from many of the human warrior cultures. Ja'anya herself appeared to be a loving, brave, and compassionate huntress with a cheerful and optimistic personality.

He would have been seriously lying to himself if he said he didn't enjoy her company.

"One thing I've been meaning to ask," Ja'anya said, pointing to Alaric's tags. "I saw an emblem of some kind on the back."

Alaric finished eating a piece of fruit before answering.

"My tags?" He asked. "Oh, right."

He took on tag in his hands and flipped it over. The emblem on the back was in the shape of a broadsword with wings. Underneath the emblem was a phrase embossed in english: WHO DARES, WINS.

"This is the emblem of the British SAS." he explained.

"SAS" Ja'anya asked.

"Special Air Service." Alaric clarified. "I spent a few years training with them, the tags are a souvenir. A very interesting group of soldiers, possibly the best Spec Ops on earth." He chuckled. "Should be because my mother was SAS." He said. "Too bad my initials were AFM."

"AFM?" Ja'anya asked. "What does that mean?"

Alaric smirked.

"Absolute Fucking Maniac!" He told her, chuckling. "My comrades nicknamed me that for obvious reasons."

Ja'anya laughed at that statement.

"Yes, you do get a bit crazy if you're pushed far enough." She said stating the obvious. "But what do the words mean?"

Alaric looked at his tags.

"Personally, I think it relates to how the SAS take on the most dangerous assignments and always come out on top." Alaric said. "In a sense, I think it suits a Slayer perfectly."

They finished eating their breakfast before Alaric got up, picking up his shell plate before offering a hand to Ja'anya. She clasped his hand and he pulled her up before he walked over to the sink. Ja'anya watched as he cleaned up after himself, wiping the knives they used and his axe clean. Ja'anya saw how he carefully handled his axe. That and the other two were all he had of the father he had never met. Ja'anya couldn't help be feel sorry for him about that. At least she still had a parent.

"Well, I'm going to train for a few hours." Alaric said, walking off to get his other axes. "Feeling good for a match?"

Ja'anya smiled as he moved into the sparring area. He picked up his axes and he felt Ja'anya behind him. He could hear a rather pleased purr escape from her mouth.

"I'll be right back." Ja'anya said, heading off to her room.