3
Once they got into the city, the team split into two groups; Jean and Reed in one and Archer and Trip in the other. Sextus stayed on Trip's shoulder, happily playing with the man's hair, looking around at everything with great interest and giving the occasional chirp. After walking around for a while and looking in various shops, Archer and Trip found themselves outside a small cantina. They'd seen people gathering together and moving towards the center of town and were eager to find out what it was all about.
Jean and Reed had followed a group which joined the dancing at what appeared to be a town festival. They stood at the edge of the area where the dancers were for some time, studying the steps and moves of the dance, and after a while she nudged him with her elbow. "Do you think we could join in?"
"I'm not sure," he looked around at the dancers and then at the crowd. "It seems that anyone is welcome to dance, but I certainly don't know the steps."
She nodded and smiled. "Nor do I. We'll watch them for a few minutes to try and learn, and then we'll see if we can join in. If we get stuck during the dance, we could always just start waltzing."
He laughed shortly and shook his head. "You really are quite insane."
She kept smiling and started studying the dancers more carefully. "But I'm sure you mean that as a compliment."
"Oh, of course." She glanced over at him and saw that his eyes were twinkling.
When the current song ended some dancers left the center of the circle and others came to the middle. Taking this as their cue, Jean and Reed joined hands and stepped into the center. They looked around quickly to see how the other pairs started. It seemed that the women held part of their skirt and their partner's left hand in their right hand. The woman's free hand went on the back of the man's neck, and the man's right hand held the woman's waist.
The steps weren't too hard to follow but every so often they would do a step from a waltz or some other dance just for fun. After a while they were swept up in the music and the dancing, and a couple of times they almost forgot what they were really doing there.
At one point in the song some of the dancers switched partners. Others pairs stayed together and Jean didn't want to switch, so when a Chalderean man and his partner came up to them Jean hissed in Reed's ear. "Don't let go of me." He nodded very slightly and held onto her waist more tightly.
"Terribly sorry, but we're not ready to exchange partners." The man nodded and he and his partner continued dancing together.
Jean shifted her hand in his very slightly to give him an affectionate squeeze. "Thanks."
He nodded again and loosened his hold on her waist slightly. "Anytime, Ensign. Shall we keep dancing?"
"Until the song ends. Maybe longer."
Suddenly, the men all lifted their female dance partners up into the air and did a full three-sixty turn before setting the women down on their feet again. Fortunately Reed was only a split second behind the rest of the men in the lifting so they didn't stand out very much. When he put her down again she was practically beaming and he smiled knowingly at her.
"Having fun, ensign?"
She laughed quietly "Yes sir, I am. Sir, did you see how the dance ends?"
Reed cleared his throat a bit uncomfortably and nodded. "I did."
She shook her head and gave him a reassuring half-smile. "Don't worry, sir. I'll behave if you will."
"Good." He noticeably relaxed after that and before too long they were enjoying themselves again. Sometime later they heard a familiar theme in the song.
"Isn't this what they played a little while before that lifting move?"
Jean nodded. "I think you're right. Get ready..."
This time Reed was perfectly in time with the rest of the men, lifting and turning and then setting Jean down again, and again she looked positively thrilled afterwards.
Reed softy cleared his throat. "I believe we have an audience." Reed nodded over Jean's shoulder, indicating that she should turn, but then he decided to swing her around as part of the dance. They spun around and she looked over his shoulder. She saw Captain Archer and Commander Tucker standing in the ring of spectators around the dance floor with looks of supreme amusement on their faces.
"Well, we should give them something to watch, don't you think?"
She grinned evilly at Reed and he nodded in agreement, taking the cue to try a few steps before he dipped her. They danced until the song ended, throwing in fancy turns and dips every once in a while and then stopping along with the rest of the dancers as the music slowed.
All of the pairs moved closer together as the music became softer and slower. The partners inclined their heads towards each other and leaned in for a kiss. True to her word, Jean simply pressed her lips to Reed's for a second and then broke away to curtsey to him as he bowed to her, blushing slightly.
As they pulled apart a look of recognition washed over Jean's face and she exclaimed softly "I remember you!"
Ever since survival training she'd associated a feeling of familiarity with Reed but she hadn't been able to place it. Now, all it took was a polite peck to bring the memory rushing back.
Five years earlier they had flirted and kissed in a bar in Kent where she and a small group of friends had been performing; she'd been attracted to him and he to her and they'd ended up sitting together talking for almost two hours. She smiled at the memory but knew that Reed probably didn't remember that night, and she had no intention of reminding him. He was a quiet guy and he'd only just started to come out of his shell around her. Learning about what happened in that bar years ago would only send him right back into his self-inflicted seclusion. She didn't want that to happen.
Reed looked at her, puzzled and more than a little surprised. "Ensign?"
"During survival training I mentioned that you seemed awfully familiar and you said that I seemed familiar too, but neither one of us could say why. I just remembered the reason why."
"Well?" He looked so eager to know the reason behind the familiarity, so honestly curious that she couldn't resist messing with him just a little. I won't tell him, but that doesn't mean I can't tease him.
She shook her head, still holding one of his hands in hers and smiling as she led him off of the dance floor. "You're not ready to know. Not yet."
It was his turn to shake his head. "Minx."
They left the dance floor as the next song began and went over to their officers who were grinning in a very confused sort of way.
Archer shook his head, looking incredibly amused by the whole thing. He cleared his throat and tried to wipe the smile from his face. It didn't work. "So you like being lifted, Ensign?"
She shrugged but couldn't manage to stop grinning. "What can I say sir? I just love flying."
Trip stepped forward, making a small bow and smiling hugely. "May I have this dance?"
"If you don't mind, Commander, I'd like to get some actual exploring done today."
Trip turned to Archer and nodded reluctantly. "Aye, Cap'n."
As they walked away from the crowd, Jean fell back a few steps so she could talk to Trip and so she could coo at Sextus, who was still perched on Trip's shoulder. However, the creature has curled up and appeared to be napping, and she didn't want to disturb it. She touched Trip's arm gently. "If the dancing's still going on when we come back this way I'd be happy to dance with you."
He grinned and thanked her, then nodded towards Reed. "You'd better get back to your dancing partner, you don't want him to get lonely." He teased her gently and earned himself a not so gentle nudge in the ribs.
She picked up the pace and caught up with Reed in a few short strides. He noticed her at his elbow and smiled, holding his arm out for her to take. The courtly gesture made her smile. He really was an old-fashioned guy, when you got right down to it, and she found his gentlemanly ways very endearing. "Did you miss me, sir?"
"Horribly." He gave her a sideways look as she took his arm. "What was that all about?"
Reed was looking from her to Trip quizzically and she sighed, not wanting to go into any details. "There's a bit of a history there, but nothing ever happened between us. I'll tell you about it later if you're interested."
He looked at her warily and then glanced briefly at Commander Tucker, trying to not think about it. Two of his colleagues, an officer and his friend ... it didn't bear thinking about.
"I'll pass on that."
The away team spread out in two different directions in their pairs, observing people and scanning them surreptitiously. Jean gradually moved away from Reed after slipping her arm out of his. A peculiar building near an alleyway caught her interest and she decided to investigate. She'd only been taking scans for a minute when two dark shapes appeared out of the shadows and rushed towards her. One clamped a hand over her mouth so she couldn't yell for help and the other threw her over his shoulder and made to carry her off.
She struggled but the men were strong and they held her firmly. Desperate to be heard, she bit down hard on the hand covering her mouth and blindly grabbed at the first thing her hand fell on, which happened to be part of Reed's shirt, and called out to him. "Help me sir!"
In the darkness he could just barely make out her panicked expression as a pair of shadowy figures grabbed at her and dragged her off down an alleyway. He called to the other officers as he ran after her around a corner. "Captain! Commander!"
Archer and Trip followed him as he ran down the alleyway and then disappeared into the darkness.