They've gotten much, much closer, but still need to think a few things through before they really become one...

Besides, we don't really want them to leave just yet, do we?

Chapter 10 - Twogether

They lay there for a long time, waiting for hearts and lungs to calm. Finn's stomach suddenly growled so loud that both of them jumped. Raising his head from where it lay on her shoulder Finn looked laughingly at his amused lover.

"Guess you're not the only thing I'm hungry for." He joked.

She laughed and pushed at him, her face pulled down in a mock pout. "Fine, fine, go ahead, find other pleasures. But you'll see, won't be long before you'll be crawling back to me on your hands and feet, begging me to take you in."

Finn laughed heartily and then took the tip of her charming nose between his forefinger and thumb. Giving it a tiny tweak he lowered his voice and claimed "Hah, my little beauty, it is you who will whine and cry out for me, hungering to be filled with more than just bread and water. You can't live without me and you know it." He smirked, raising and lowering his eyebrows rapidly.

She retaliated by reaching back and giving him a hard pinch on his rump. Finn yelped and rolled off of her, yelling that he was being attacked and would no-one save him. Finding the first thing she could she threw one of her boots at him, which he quickly caught.

"Oh ho, giving me the boot are you? Well, I know when I'm not wanted." With a yell he ran out of the cave and jumped over the edge. Piper scrambled to her feet and raced to the entrance, half expecting to see him crumpled on the ground after breaking his leg or neck after doing such a fool headed stunt. Instead she caught just a glimpse of his bare back side as he plunged into the grove of skyquats.

"You silly idiot, there's skyquat bushes right here, remember?" she yelled after him.

Finn's blond head poked back out of the bushes, his face morose. "Oops. I did forget. Guess I was too caught up in the moment. Got to admit though, that was a pretty impressive feat." He grinned winningly.

Years ago she would have dismissed him, pointed out how stupid that was and when was he ever going to show some sense. Now she grinned right back at him, her whole body infused with joy at the antics of her silly, nutty, impulsive, gorgeous young man.

"Hey toss me the water bottle, might as well make the trip useful." He called up. She turned and quickly located the bottle and started to throw it at him. Her face quirked into an impish look and drawing back her arm she threw the bottle way over his head.

"Heyyyy!!!" he exclaimed.

She giggled and stuck her thumbs into her ears, waggling the fingers back and forth. She stuck out her tongue and made a blbbbllllting noise. Finn stood up straight and put his hands on his hips, his face set in a stern expression. "Well we'll just see about that, little missy. You wait till I get back and give you what's coming to you."

She called after him, "I certainly hope so!!"

He turned and grinned back at her over his shoulder, crossing the stream on his way to pick up the errant water bottle.

Man is this really Piper? I've never known her to be this silly. I know she can joke and play around, but it's like more than just her clothes came off. If I didn't know better, I'd swear she was a totally different person. As conceited as I can be sometimes I sure would like to think it was all me doing this to her. But not to put too fine of a point on it, what else could it be?

He suddenly came to a halt as a horrifying thought occurred to him. What if this wasn't really Piper? What if her brain had gotten scrambled in the crash and this was somebody else, a part of her that had taken over. And what if the real Piper came back? She'd throw more than a boot at him.

And yet, his brain hadn't gotten scrambled. At least as far as he knew. And his feelings had changed toward her, finding that he felt way more for her than he realized he could. He had slowly over the last few days began to see in her more than he admitted. She too had shown signs of becoming conscious of him in a whole new way. She hadn't just turned and jumped him out of the blue.

And so this could really be real, she really could find him to be adorable and funny and amazing and handsome and desirable and..

And everything he had ever told himself he was. Only this was different. Wayyy different. This wasn't just an affirming of his ego, no sir. This was uplifting and honest and heart wrenchingly sincere. She loved him with her heart and mind and soul. Finn stood shocked to the very core of his being as he felt something deep inside him unwind. The frenetic spring he had kept coiled inside him loosened. Stunned, he knew he'd been given something he hadn't even known he'd needed. Pure love. Not adoration. Not some bubble headed girl mouthing complements, pretending to like him for whatever reason. A real live person, with thoughts of her own and a mind of her own and a will of her own that for a miraculous reality had tied them to his. Finn didn't know whether to shout his thanks up to the sky or get on his knees and cry. He settled for picking up the water bottle and walking back to where that beautiful, wondrous person was waiting. For him.

Piper watched him walk over to where she had playfully tossed the bottle and admired his slim lithe form. He'd never be muscle bound, having the physiology that would always be on the thin side, but she didn't mind. His chest may not be large, but was tight and firm, the muscles in his back, arms and thighs strong and he really did have a cute little butt. And his other parts were just right, too. She sighed with pleasure and turned back to survey the inside of their shelter. The floor was strewn with their cast off clothes, tossed willy-nilly here and there. Shaking her head she gave in to her organizational self and began to straighten up. She gathered each set of clothes and folded them neatly, placing them in two piles side by side, standing their weapons over each. Turning she scattered the ashes of the now dead fire and laid the foundation for a fresh blaze. Easily starting it with a quick blast, she walked over to the nearby fruit bushes and picked a half dozen. Returning to the fire she sat down and arranged the food on a small semi circle. Just as she finished she heard him climbing back up and looked just in time to see first one, then the other hand grip the edge. She giggled as his head popped up, the top of the bottle held in his clenched teeth. Catching her eye he grinned good-naturedly. He easily rolled up and over, stood and brushed himself off.

He walked over to where she sat and plopped down beside her. He started to pick up a skyquat but was stopped when her hand gripped his wrist with firm yet gentle pressure. She removed the fruit and took a bite. Finn looked into a pair of playful eyes and watched with interest as she stuck the piece just far enough out of her mouth and bent forward a little. Finn's own eyes lit up with answering glee and he leaned forward, opening his mouth and took the bite from her. He chewed and swallowed as she took another bite and held it again out to him. This time he pressed his lips against hers as he took the offering. Slowly the fruit disappeared bit by bit. When there was no more she wordlessly handed him another fruit, at which he then took a bite and held it to her. The only thing that touched each time was the feathery soft brushing of lips and the gentle air of breath. As they passed the morsel from one to the other they memorized each other's irises, gazing deeply into sparkling eyes. It took a long time to consume the six skyquats, but they were in no hurry. Finishing they took the left over cores and tossed them over the edge. Finn reached out his arm and put it around her waist, pulling her close. She nestled against him and laid her head on his shoulder. The sat for a long time just enjoying each other's closeness.

Piper didn't want to disturb the level of comfort, but her sense of responsibility nagged and poked at her until she had to give in. She heaved a sigh and shifted a little in his arms. Finn caught her mood and looked down at her with concern.

"What is it babe, something wrong?"

"Nooo… not wrong in the sense of the word, just…" She swallowed. "Oh, Finn, what are we going to do?"

"Oh."

They sat in silence, each one trying to find a solution to a troubling situation.

"Basically Finn, it comes down to two things. Do we tell them or not? Do we let them know up front or wait until they guess it?" She straightened enough to look up at him. "Honestly, I don't know how I'll be able to hide the way I feel about you. They may not know right away how seriously committed to each other we are, but they'll notice something. How much they'll figure out is anybody's guess."

Finn stared unseeingly out the entrance. "Right… If we tell them up front, then we go through the whole convincing thing, yes it's really true, yes she loves me, yes I love her too, get used to us kissing, blah blah blah. Plus we have to deal with the whole change of the makeup of the team. Like you said, things will change, but just by how much?" He frowned and shook his head.

"But if we don't tell them," He continued. "then we run the risk of being discovered. You're right, no way I can hide the way I feel about you either, and it's gonna be reeeaaal hard standing close to you and not be able to touch you, show you how I feel. Not that I don't know you know how I feel, but we wouldn't even be able to give a comforting hug, let alone hold hands, never mind kissing."

Finn sighed and Piper nodded morosely.

"Which would mean sneaking around." She suggested half heartedly.

"Yeah, but how many times can you and I clean the storeroom or for you to need my help in the lab? And it's not like we can go out on recon missions, cause you and I do that alllll the time." He said sarcastically. "So that leaves sneaking into each other's rooms at night and can you imagine how awkward THAT will be when we get caught? Yeah, that'd work, alright."

Piper growled in frustration, knowing there was no way they'd be able to keep away from each other. And as big as the Condor was, there really weren't many areas that were private. Their rooms and the bathroom were about it and the way those were laid out, they were too close for comfort to the others. Either they would have to be incredibly quiet or find some impossible reason to go off together. That might work once or twice, but every few hours? Each and every day? No, they'd not be suspected at all.

"So we tell them." She stated.

Finn made a noncommittal noise and shrugged.

"Don't you want people to know about us?" She asked, pulling from him and giving him a hard look.

Finn's eyes went wide. "No, I mean yes, I mean….." He stopped and gathered himself, starting over. He reached for her and laid his arm comfortingly around her shoulder. "Of course I want people to know, I want the whole world to know, it's just – I guess I want this to be ours for a little while longer. Only you and me and nobody else. I want to put a giant 'keep out' sign up and forget the world exists for a while, just stay here and be together."

Seeing her relax, he continued. "And we will tell them, together. When the time is right. Trust me, I want to shout it out, but I'm just a little uncomfortable with blurting it out. Maybe that would be the right way, but it just doesn't seem like it." He gave her an appraising look. "After all, as far as the world is concerned, you and me would have been the last people on Atmos to fall in love together. We don't want to shock our friends into falling over dead." He laughed, Piper joining in.

Finn began to nod happily. "Yup. So the real question is not do we tell them, but when. Not right away, we don't want to throw them into a tizzy. But not too long or we'll both go nuts and end up flinging our clothes off in front of them and doing it on the command table."

They both snorted and giggled over that particular image.

"Can..can you imagine..the look on..Stork's face…" Finn choked out. "He'd be running around trying to find every disinfectant and repellent he could lay his hands on."

"And Junko! How long…do you..think it would take…for him to realize…what we were doing?" Finn gasped. "Oh my, the poor guy! I can see his face now, he'd be…scratching his head and wondering… why we were wrestling on the…the table…hooo haaaaa!!"

Piper grabbed at her ribs and laughed hysterically. "Can you hear him? 'Aerrow…that looks like fun, should we join them?' Waahh ah haha!!"

Finn lost it. He rolled around the floor in glee, drumming his fists into the floor, tears running down his face. They would recover composure only to look at each other and collapse into convulsions.

Finally Piper managed to regain her sanity. Finn crawled over to her, sat up and pulled her to him, his body shaking every so often. Piper turned to him with a look in her eye he knew well. It was the look she got when designing out one of her plans. He reached out a finger and placed it gently on her lips. Shaking his head he regarded her lovingly.

"No babe. We could discuss this for days and we're never going to be able to cover all contingencies. We'll just have to trust each other and know when the time is right. Things will work out right. You'll see. Trust your Finn, he knows."

Piper hesitated. There was a time when she would have dismissed his particular brand of thinking, his ability to let things be, to take them as they came. A part of her found the very prospect exceedingly scary, similar to taking a step into a dark chasm on the rumor that there was a safety net. And yet… he'd managed to survive up to now. And it wasn't as if she couldn't think things through on her own. Not that she'd initiate anything by herself, storms no. They were partners now; she would never go behind him or hide things from him. But he wasn't dumb (how could she have ever thought that) and she would share her ideas with him, build upon them with his own thoughts. She returned his look with one of her own, agreeing with him.

Finn totally grasped the gift he had just been given. She had not only agreed with him, but had suppressed her natural inclination to take charge, map out every pathway. For a second his mind flashed on his earlier theory of her being out of her mind. Dismissing it with a shake he grinned to himself. Boy, when she committed to something, it was complete, no questions asked.

Not that she's going to suddenly become this shrinking violet. I wouldn't want her to. I admire her fire, her stubbornness. And she's a heck of a lot smarter than you. She's got knowledge stored in that amazing brain you haven't got a clue about. So let her lecture you, you might even learn something for a change.

"I promise, we'll talk about this some more later. Cause I don't know about you, but there's a time for talking and then there's a time for doing. If you know what I mean.." He said - his voice lowering.

Piper looked at him brightly. "Absolutely!" she agreed. She stood up, avoiding him as he reached for her. She walked over to her pile of clothes and shook out her tunic. Speaking to him with her back turned, she made to put on her clothes. "We really need to get going, the day's getting late." She turned to him with her arms inside the shirt and gazed uncomprehendingly at his look of incredulous confusion.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"That's not… that's not what I meant!" Finn yelped.

Piper continued to look at him questioningly. "I don't understand, aren't your ready to leave?"

"No I'm not ready to leave, didn't we just say we wanted to stay here and be together and…" Finn pulled his breath in as he realized that she had pulled one over on him again. He was going to have a little trouble getting used to this new Piper. This was going to be fun.

Piper grinned wildly as she realized that he had seen through her. She loved to tease him and looked forward to doing so many more times. Dropping her shirt to the floor she turned back to him. And tried to side step as he launched himself at her. Growling he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her high. Piper rained quick, strengthless blows down upon his head and shoulders. He let her slide down and they regarded each other for a while, grins fading away as arousal deepened. He carried her back toward the fire, lay her down and stretched out beside her. They continued to look at each other, tracing every aspect of each other's face with their eyes. They'd dream of each other with no problem, see each other as easily as if standing next to them, hear their voices as if the speaker was right there.

As Finn drank her in, he was disturbed by a low, faraway growl. He suddenly realized that the bright sunshine had dulled. Bending forward enough to look out, he could see a small sliver of sky, dark with approaching storm clouds that fully banished any nagging idea of having to leave. After all they couldn't very well leave if it was going to rain, now could they? They shared a conspiratorial grin.

Piper glanced over her shoulder at the world framed by the entrance of the confines of their snug shelter but was aware that Finn was still gazing at her, his face contemplative. She felt the corners of her mouth lift and she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. She saw him lick his lips and she turned toward him. His eyes had darkened and the pupils enlarged as he intensely stared at her. As one they leaned together, mouths seeking and finding the target. They kissed gently, mouths barely open, pressing their lips together again and again, the tips of their tongues scarcely meeting. Their hands roamed over backs and shoulders, up and down arms and sides, cupped the back of necks and ran through hair. Fingers brushed and stroked ears, ribs, elbows and the small of backs. At one point Finn ran his hand down her arm and placed his palm against hers, fingers interlocking. They unhurriedly kissed for a long time as the sky turned darker still and the distant thunder grew closer.

Pulling his head back Finn looked at her for a long while, then he leaned back, drawing her with him. She lay on his chest and they began to kiss some more, a little deeper this time and their hands were not quite as gentle. He placed his hands on either side of her head and pulled her into a hard kiss, his tongue thrusting deep. It was her turn to moan with pleasure.

They jumped in alarm as a loud rumbling boom shook the cave. Both looked out the entrance to see the air had turned very dark. A spattering of rain came down briefly. Gusts of wind were beginning to blow into the cave, stirring the fire and scattering ashes.

Piper looked at Finn and smiled mischievously. "Wow, if you can do that with just a kiss, I can't wait for what will come next."

Finn chuckled and leered at her. "Just wait, little girl, gonna rock your socks off."

"Umm, Finn – they already are."

Finn looked at her slightly irritated face and frowned. "You know what I – wait a minute – why you…" he said as he caught the carefully hidden look of mirth in her eyes. He grabbed her about the waist and rolled her over, pinning her down. He quickly sought her ribs and began to tickle her. Piper squealed and tried to writhe out from under him, but he had too firm a grip, his legs tight around hers. She cried out sternly to stop and began to hit him with her fists, but she couldn't help but laugh.

Finn tickled her just enough to get her breathless, then sat up and held his hands over his head. "And the winner…OOOF" he exclaimed as she poked him sharply in each side.

"Moron." Many times in the past she had called him that, but never so endearingly.

Finn bent forward to kiss her. They began to make slow sweet love as the rain poured down.