7.
Half-asleep, Scotty rolled over on the massive bed, automatically reaching, hungry for more of Heather's warmth. When his hand landed on a cool sheet, he squinted open one eye, then the other, and sat up, blinking. He'd barely had time to wonder where she'd got to than she appeared from the bathroom, tying up the halter-neck on a white sundress that clung to her in all the right places. Normally, Scotty would have slavered over the choice of outfit, but today…
"What the hell have ye put that on for, lass? We've got till lunchtime, day after tomorrow, all to ourselves. Not that ye don't look bonnier than an Easter parade, but I know ye look even better naked." He lay down again and held out a hand. "Take it off, darlin' and come back to bed."
She smiled and shook her head, tucking a stray lock of blonde hair behind an ear as she went to the chest of drawers at the foot of the bed. "Scotty, we can't spend the entire three days having sex!"
He was baffled. "Why not?"
Heather giggled, while she pulled his black uniform t-shirt and pants out of a drawer and threw them onto the bed. "Well, for one thing, I'll get sore! Especially if we keep doing it in the sand like we did yesterday – you have no idea the places that stuff can find its way into."
Scotty grinned. "Ye could come over here and show me?"
She turned and put her hands on her hips. "Or you could put those on and we could go shopping."
"Shopping!" He sat bolt upright and ran a hand back through his hair, shaking his head in disbelief. "Are ye mad, woman? Ye want to take me shopping?"
"Aw, come on, Scotty, it'd only be for couple of hours! I always go shopping on shore leave – pick up some souvenirs, some local produce, meet a few locals." Her voice had that wheedling tone his sister always used when she wanted him to give her a ride into Aberdeen. That had always been 'just a couple of hours' too. It never was. His skepticism must have shown on his face, because Heather leaned over the bed, kissed him, and lowered her voice to a breathy whisper, "We'll be back here by lunchtime, I promise. And I'll be… ever so grateful."
Scotty scowled, realizing that he'd get no sex this morning whether they went shopping or not. "How grateful?"
Heather sat down on the bed and looked him in the eye. "How grateful would you like me to be?"
"Well, I'll have to give the details some thought," he said, his head already buzzing with ideas, "But since I'm having to cut back on the quantity, ye'll have to make it up to me with extra quality and variety."
She smirked. "You're outrageous, Mr. Scott."
He picked up the t-shirt and pants. "So are you, Ms. Weiss – thank God!"
"I can't believe I'm doing this!" Scotty muttered, as he and Heather made their way through the crowded open-air market on the Big Island. There seemed to be an endless number of colorfully-awned stalls, arranged in a grid pattern that Heather was doggedly exploring on a row-by-row basis.
When they'd beamed in to the island's transporter terminal, she'd pointed him at the Tourist Information shop and told him to buy subspace postcards, while she went off to buy him shorts and flip-flops. He'd changed in the Gents, dropped his uniform into the bag the shorts had come in, and was judged fit to be seen on the streets. Now, he was trailing after Heather as she ricocheted from stall to stall, gasping over the color of a fabric here, exclaiming over the price of a hideous souvenir there, and generally giving the impression that she was having fun.
"So what do you usually do on shore leave then?" Heather asked, as she stuffed a WaterWorld GlowGlobe into one of the bags he had somehow ended up carrying, "Assuming that you don't always have your very own Botanic Sciences Ensign on hand to have sex with?"
"Right now, I don't have my very own Botanic Sciences Ensign on hand to have sex with," he pointed out, "Because we're standing in the middle of the biggest tourist-trap tat market on the planet – possibly in the entire quadrant. But to answer your question – " She had started walking again and he strolled after, trying to ignore the noise of the traders' call-horns, the jostling crowds, and the smell of whatever it was they were cooking on the next stall over. "- if ye weren't with me, I'd have likely found a decent bar and had a few drinks."
She glanced over her shoulder. "That's it? Just… sit in a bar, drinking?"
"Aye - till I find a nice lass to have sex with."
Heather shook her head, laughing. "Why did I even ask? You're a red-blooded male, what else would you be doing on shore leave?"
"Well, maybe now you've given me the taste for it, I'll go shopping next time."
"Really?" For a moment she actually looked as though she believed him.
Scotty shook his head. "No. Not really. Can we go back to the beach now? We've been here for hours!"
"One hour and ten minutes." She lifted her arm to show him her wrist-chrono.
"That's broken. Must be. I'll take a look at it for ye when we get back to the ship."
There was a slight thinning of the crowd as they reached a cross-way, and Heather stopped, turned, and put a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry. You really are bored out of your skull aren't you?"
"What gave it away?"
She took one of the bags from him and looped the straps over her shoulder. "We'll get to the end of this row, okay? Then we'll go."
"Aye, alright, but it might be better if we split up. I'll take a parallel course down the next row over and meet you on the corner at the top end."
"But why…?"
Scotty jerked his chin in the direction they'd been heading. "Because Tal'ia and Lieutenant Svenson are right over there."
"Oh, ppsshh!" She said, waving her hand dismissively. "I wouldn't worry about them."
Heather took another bag from Scotty, then laced her fingers through his and gave him a peck on the lips. "And anyway," she finished, "I'm tired of sneaking around."
"No more hiding?"
"No more hiding," she confirmed.
Scotty's face broke into a wide grin. He couldn't resist the sudden urge to shop. He started to pull Heather down the row of stalls. "Where are we going?" He heard her ask as they squeezed through another crush of tourists. He ignored the question, leading her past more stalls until he found the one he wanted. A vendor selling jewelry.
"I want to buy ye something to remember this trip. Pick something," he told her, gesturing to the tables and glass cases filled with jewels and precious metals from all over the galaxy. Heather tried to argue with him, telling him it wasn't necessary but Scotty shut her down.
"If I want to buy something for my girl, I'll buy her something. I just thought she might like to have some input," he insisted.
"I'm your girl?" Heather asked skeptically.
Scotty rolled his eyes and recounted, pressing a finger to his chin. "Well, let's see….over the last few weeks…..we've slept together countless times…we're on shore leave together…I let you drag me out of bed and put clothes on to go shopping…..I'm trying to buy you jewelry, which by the way I think it's very odd that ye'd even resist that considering all the other things ye've bought today…." He held the bags up that he'd been carrying to prove his point. "So aye, I think that makes ye my girl."
Heather looked at him, her blue eyes glittering. She didn't seem sure of what to say. Scotty wondered if he had moved things a little too quickly for her. And then she smiled.
Scotty pressed a kiss to her hand. "Now pick something, lass so we can go home and you can show me how ever so grateful you really are."
Heather seemed to go for the bracelets. After looking at necklaces, rings, earrings, and just about everything else the vendor had to offer she kept coming back to a thin, silver linked bracelet with small, blue and green polished gems set between the links. Scotty and the vendor haggled over the price and finally made a deal. He paid the man and happily clasped it around Heather's wrist.
"There!" He said with finality, "Ye've got something to remember me by."
Heather reached her arms around his neck, knocking him with her bags and said between a few sweet kisses, "I don't think I could ever forget you or this trip. No matter how hard I might try."