**We've Got Tonight, Bob Segar**
As Danny trudged back through snow that was quickly turning to slush, he struggled with his feelings about Michener. He'd let his annoyance with the man fuel him while he searched the town, but now that his anger had deflated, he was exhausted through to his bones. He glanced at his watch and saw that it was already 3 AM. He'd been awakened at 3 AM the night before he left for this trip, but he doubted he'd wake up nearly as satisfied in a few hours. They weren't planning to get on the road until 0900 tomorrow but it wasn't like he could sleep 'til 0845 and show up expecting everyone to be organized and ready to go.
It seemed like leaving Kara got harder every time he had to do it. The night before they had left for Chicago, Chandler had hosted the team for the evening meal in the wardroom. Everyone else had been in high spirits about the good work they were doing. Wolf had practically glowed at the prospect of getting some news about Australia from the Canadian delegation. Burk regaled Miller with stories about growing up in Chicago, even though he admitted he'd be shocked to find any of his family alive there. Even Granderson came out of her shell a little, challenging Val on her knowledge of Motown music, which it turned out was something (he was pretty sure it was the only thing) the two women shared in common. Kara sat beside him, laughing and joking with everyone, even though he knew she was uncomfortable in the formal dress blues she had spent two hours altering the night before. It had kind of hurt actually, to feel so glum and see that the very person he was sad to leave didn't seem to have a care in the world.
He really wished he could tell her she was right, about Michener and their work, and everything. Instead he had to settle for reliving that last conversation.
He'd woken around 3 AM. At first he wasn't sure what woke him. As he often did when he became suddenly alert, he measured his breathing and kept his eyes closed, just in case there was a threat lurking. He listened intently to the sounds of the hotel room. Kara was beginning to get up a few times a night to use the bathroom, but just then she was curled up beside him with her strategically positioned pillows holding her on her side. Halsey was laying across the doorway to the bedroom, puffing away quietly in his sleep so he was sure whatever woke him wasn't anything worth worrying about. He tried to relax his mind by reveling in the warmth of her body pressed against his side and tried to memorize the feel of it. It might only be a two week trip, but he was sure it was going to feel like forever. What if once they were apart she realized that she could have this baby all alone and didn't really need him? What if she was happier when he was away? If Slattery's wife had given up on waiting for him to be home when they had three kids together, it could happen to anyone. No, he tamped down his insecurity with the feel of her warm skin against his side and her breaths fanning over his bare arm. There were a lot of things to be unsure of now, but he assured himself that Kara wasn't one of them.
As he began to drift off to sleep again, his arm began to develop a damp itch where she rested on it. He smiled to himself, thinking she was so soundly asleep that she was drooling only to be proven wrong when a loud sniff broke the silence. "Kara?" He wrapped his other arm around her and hugged her from behind. "What's the matter."
She didn't answer at first but he could feel from the tension in her body that she was indeed awake and hearing him. Finally with a sigh she rolled his way a little. "I was doing my crying now. You know, so I wouldn't do it down at the parking lot tomorrow."
"What?" he was sure he'd heard her wrong. For one thing, he'd never known anyone who could fight their emotions the way she could. And secondly, why would she be crying?
She was attempting to roll over but the six pillows stacked around her made it difficult and her soft voice was alternately muffled and clear as she pulled them out and tossed them on the floor. "You know, to get myself ready. If I get it all out now, I'll come to terms, and tomorrow I'll be professional about this. I have to do it. I cry at the drop of a hat these days. Yesterday a 10 month old toilet paper ad at the bus stop on the corner set me off!"
Danny reached for her again and pulled her close. He would have liked to pull her onto his chest but between her taut belly and sore breasts it wouldn't have worked so he settled for laying side by side. He ran a thumb over the silky skin over one cheek bone, clearing away her tears. "You should cry when and where you want to. No one would think anything other than that you're a deeply caring person."
She nodded and turned her face into his hand. "I know. But I didn't want you to go away thinking I was sad. If you hadn't woken up, you would have seen me wave you off with a smile and probably felt better about the whole thing." She sniffed adorably. "Now you'll be worried and distracted and that's exactly counter to my purposes.
"Counter to your purposes?"
"I want you to come home alive, duh. The fewer the distractions the better, I think." The hand in the small of his back, pulling him tighter against where their legs were scissored together was distraction enough he thought.
"No matter what, coming home alive will be on the top of my list. It always is, but even more so now that I have you and Flutter." He punctuated his words with gentle kisses to her forehead, eyelids, and the tip of her nose. "Can I confess something to you before I go?"
"Mhum." Her small hands began slowly running up and down his back, tumbling over the bumps of his spine, a move he knew that she knew he loved.
"I was briefly worried that you didn't care that I was going away last night at dinner. You seemed so cheerful and relaxed and I was ready to cry in my soup." He felt foolish now, but the strange sort of jealous moroseness had been pretty intense at the time.
He ducked his head as she laughed softly, causing their joined cores to slide against each other in soft invitation. He hoped she knew the need she was building in him because sex had been an iffy thing lately between her nausea and tender breasts, not to mention the mood swings and sleep interruptions. Her breath caught a little as she felt him growing hard against her and he smiled into the dark. Ah-ha! she knew.
"Only briefly worried? What stopped you from worrying too much?"
"This." He rocked into her a little, very slowly and deliberately. "I was going to wake you up in a few hours and remind you what you like about me."
She laughed heartily that time, her husky voice egging him on. "That's not the only thing I like about you, but yeah, I'll take that reminder to tide me over. Just remember though, this has to last two weeks so it ought to be epic." Her hands had slid all the way to his shoulders now and she pulled him in for the first of many searing kisses that morning. "I'll need some reassurances that you're too spent to even think about another woman for two weeks."
"You mean like that leggy blond who's always dropping cans of vegetables on the ground and then bending to pick them up when I walk by the market?
She pinched him hard. "Ha ha. It could be a dreamy few weeks for me too. I heard from Miss Kitty that some men really dig pregnant women." She sighed when he began undoing the buttons on her nightshirt one at a time so he could kiss the space in between. "Plus, I'll be here with her and the guy in the mayor's office who always leaves his jacket unzipped over his tight fitting t-shirt. That guy has it going on. You know, he might even be able to take you in a fight. Do you think your memory you can compete with that?"
He slid his own hands into the waistband of her pajama pants to grip her hips firmly and pull himself into her. "If that's a challenge, I accept."
