Sunlight fell on Princess' eyelids and gently woke her. Startled for a moment, she suddenly remembered where she was. Sighing happily, she snuggled under the covers and next to Jason. Sleepily, he pulled her close. A noise came from his throat.
"Mmmmm…" It was a contented sound.
Princess checked the time. It was still early. Good. She didn't want Keyop or the Chief knowing where she'd spent the night. On a Saturday morning she did expect not to see either of them before 10 am.
In her mind she replayed the events of the night before. While she still regretted losing the game to Jason, she didn't regret staying with him. It had been an incredible… and eye-opening… experience.
She wondered what would happen now. Was last night the just the result of curiosity? Or was it something more? More importantly, did she want it to be more? After a couple of minutes of contemplation, she decided she did.
So how should she go about it? How could she let Jason know that she wanted this new… closeness… to continue?
Carefully, she wriggled around until she was facing him. He mumbled in his sleep.
She leaned over and kissed his eyelids, one after the other.
Almost immediately, they popped open.
"You're still here…" Jason said groggily. "I thought it was all a dream."
"Not at all, Sunshine." she whispered playfully.
"No regrets then?" he asked.
"No regrets." she confirmed.
"I'm glad." Jason smiled. "You know, Prin… I was thinking… you're the person I'd most like to go with me to see the Dirty Name Five."
"After all…" he confessed, "You're the reason I got the tickets in the first place."
Princess squealed and threw her arms around his neck. But unlike the night before, this time she understood what that did to the Condor.
"Oh, Jase! You are so sweet!" she laughed.
"Shhhh…. don't tell anyone!" he whispered. "The Condor has to have a certain reputation, you know."
Princess giggled. "Your secret is safe with me."
"So… uh… what do you think the Chief would say about…" Jason kissed Princess softly, "this?"
Princess' mood sobered instantly.
"You know the answer to that, Jase. We're not supposed to…"
"But are you going to let that stop you?" Jason asked. He waited anxiously for her response.
"Of course not." she said simply. "But I do think that we need to be… discrete."
"Not bad…" Jason grinned, appreciating her new devious streak. "What did you have in mind?"
"Hmmm…" Princess mused. "How about… decoys?"
"Decoys?" Jason asked, "What kind of decoys?"
"Well, you know how Mark basically ignores me?" she asked.
"Yeah." growled Jason. His eyes flared when she mentioned the Eagle's name.
"Well… I could pretend that I didn't notice." Princess suggested. "If it seemed that I had a crush on him, no one would ever think I was mad about you."
Jason's heart beat faster. "Mad about me, huh?" he gulped.
"Yes…." she breathed. "And since Mark is so dutiful he would never think of disobeying the Chief's orders."
"Well, it's not a bad plan…" Jason said, "But it needs another decoy."
"Oh?" Princess raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Yeah." Jason was warming up to this. "I could pretend to fall in love with every unattainable woman we meet. You know, Spectrans, double agents, robots…"
"I love it!" Princess exclaimed. She pressed closer to him.
"And I love you."
The words popped out of his mouth before he knew what he was saying. Princess' mouth fell open.
"You do?" she whispered.
"God, yes!" Jason said fervently. "I think I've loved you since the first moment I saw you."
Princess felt a rush of liquid warmth inside of her at his words. She smiled at the Condor.
"Well then, I guess I'll just have to love you right back." she said, just before she kissed him.
It was at least thirty minutes before they broke apart.
"Uh… I think it's that time again." said Jason.
"What time?" asked Princess.
"Time for something to give." he muttered.
"Oh." replied a blushing Princess. "Okay."
Reluctantly Jason got out of the bed. He looked back to see her lying under his covers, smiling, her lips bruised with his kisses.
Damn, he was turned on.
He padded off to the bathroom. He rushed through the basic necessities, eager to return to his Swan.
His Swan. That had a nice ring to it.
But upon opening the door he found her fully dressed, emerald eyes snapping with rage.
Heck, she looked hot when she was angry too.
"What the hell is this?" she cried, waving something under his nose.
He looked, and his heart dropped. Princess was holding a copy of Army Fighter.
To be precise, his copy of Army Fighter.
"I found this under your bed!" Princess spat. "What exactly are you trying to pull, Jason?"
"I…" he decided to come clean. "I've been playing it for a couple of months. On that TV over there." He nodded toward the corner of his room.
"You set me up… didn't you?" hissed Princess, her eyes flashing.
"Yeah…" drawled Jason, "I couldn't think of any other way for you to give me a chance."
"What?" asked Princess, confused.
"Well you were so hung up on Mark for awhile, and you never even gave me a second glance. And then you buried yourself in that damn game…" he shook his head, "I wanted to pull your head out of it to look around…"
"To look at you." Princess said. She didn't seem quite so angry anymore.
"I didn't want to take advantage of you. That was never my intention." Jason said, "But I did want you to see me… in a different light."
"Well…" Princess said, in a decent imitation of Jason's mocking drawl, "I guess since you're going to take me to the concert and all, I could forgive you."
"I was hoping you would." Jason smirked.
"But you'd better watch it, Mister!" Princess warned. "One more wrong move, and I'll blow your head off…" she mimed blowing smoke off of a pistol, and winked.
"Oh, but Princess… your naughty ways are such a bad influence… I don't know if I can help myself…" he said, pulling her toward him.
She didn't resist.
"All the same," she said slowly, "there are no more secrets between us, Jase. Ever."
"No more secrets." he agreed, as he lowered his mouth to hers. "No more games."
And at that moment he knew… there never would be.
Just the game they would play together, to keep their secret from the world.