Chapter 23

"I love it!" Mac admitted and then before she even realized that she was about to say more, she blurted out, "And I love you too!"

It seemed like everything stopped in that moment. AJ certainly did and Mac thought her heart might have too as she took in the stunned look on his face. "AJ, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have said anything. I know it's too soon!"

"Hush," he told her placing a finger over her lips. "It's not too soon at all. I was just wondering how I got so lucky. To find an amazing woman like you, and then to have her love me in return."

"In return?" she asked with wonderment filling her eyes.

"I love you too Sarah! I had planned to wait to tell you, but there doesn't seem to be a need for that now."

"Why were you going to wait?"

"I wanted to give you time to discover the kind of lifestyle change that would be in store for you when we were married."

"Married?!" Mac felt like one of those parrot birds that repeated back everything it heard, but she didn't know how to stop.

"I want you to be my wife Sarah, but that would mean leaving this ship and taking on a high profile political lifestyle."

"You don't think I could do that?" she asked, hurt at the thought he might not consider her 'good enough'.

"No. I know you could do it, I just didn't know if you'd want to!"

"I want to be with you no matter where we are," she declared.

"Then in that case will you do me the honor of being my wife Sarah?"

"Yes! Oh yes!"

Mac pulled him forward into a kiss. Both grinned at the other and AJ asked, "Shall we consummate our engagement?"

"Oh please!" she sighed.

Mac marveled at his strength and stamina. All she could do was hold on as they made love. Each time her face was even with his, she couldn't resist planting a kiss on him. Sometimes it would be on his lips, but his forehead and the tip of his nose received their share of attention too.

She couldn't help but giggle at the vexed look on his face each time she kissed his nose. He started to turn his head each time he suspected that was where her kiss would land and that only made her more determined to target him there. One particularly persistent attempt almost unseated her and they both started laughing as AJ suggested it might be safer for them to continue on the blanket.

They had just left the water, both glowingly naked and hand in hand, when the holideck doors swooshed open.

To say that they were surprised at the intrusion would have been a gross understatement, but no more so than their uninvited guest was to find the two of them unashamedly naked, obviously having just made love. Ever the gentleman, AJ stepped in front of Mac to shield her from view even though he made no move to cover himself.

Mac and their intruder spoke at the same time:

She demanded, "What the hell is the meaning of this Vic?!"

As Victor Galindez told AJ, "Don't bother covering her. I've seen her naked before."

"What do you want Galindez?" AJ questioned, ignoring what the younger man had said.

Vic stepped forward and the holodeck door finally swooshed closed behind him. Luckily it was the middle of the day and most of the crew was on duty or they could have had an audience at the open doors. "I saw Mac had reserved the holideck and brought tomorrow's duty roster for her to okay. There have been some changes and she always wants to keep up on things."

To be continued…..