GENESIS

"Expelled from Paradise."

Dingo looked up at the non-sequitur, finger pausing in its task of tracing patterns on his lover's bare skin. He quirked a curious brow. "Hmm?"

Angela pushed up on an elbow and turned her head to look at him. "That's what I told Frontier Setter when we were breaking out of DEVA. That now I knew what Adam and Eve felt like when they were expelled from Paradise."

"So, in this scenario, I'm Adam?" he asked, amused. If they were Adam and Eve they were seriously failing at the "be fruitful and multiply" command. Though not for lack of practice. He suspected DEVA had left that function out of their "material bodies". It wasn't as though they considered it useful. At any rate, it was a good thing they weren't actually the only man and woman on earth or the human race (as a physical species) would be doomed.

"Except you rejected paradise from the start," Angela teased. "I thought you were crazy back then."

"I am crazy," Dingo retorted with a chuckle.

Angela only smiled and lowered herself back to lie flat on the bed, stomach cushioned against the sheets and arms crossed to protect her breasts from a painful squashing. Her eyes flitted closed as his fingers resumed their feather-light paths across her flesh and she sighed, clearly pleased.

It was a sound Dingo would never get tired of hearing. Of causing. It seemed to him he'd done a good job of showing her the benefits of this physical world. Though, even now, years after her "expulsion" as she'd just called it, she still complained at times about the limits of her physical body. Now that she brought it up he wondered if a part of her still regretted it. But then, she'd made the choice in the end, and she wasn't the sort to regret a decision once it had been made. She'd been kicked out of DEVA, but it wasn't as though she hadn't had other options.

"Did you consider it?" he asked quietly. Angela hummed in sleepy question. "Going with Frontier Setter to explore the cosmos?" he clarified. It wasn't important, he told himself, he was just curious. And that tugging sensation, that little twinge of discomfort, it was just heartburn. Sandworm chili did that to a man, especially when eaten as a late night snack.

Angela's eyes flitted open once more. "Did you?"

Dingo shook his head. Much as he'd liked Frontier Setter, Earth was his home. He couldn't abandon it. "But it was different for you. You hated the physical world."

"Oh, there were some parts I liked." She lowered her lashes at him seductively.

Dingo chuckled and leaned in to place a kiss to her spine. "Flattering as that thought is, I know you weren't entertaining it at the time."

Angela carded her fingers through his hair and he leaned into the pleasant touch. She seemed to be considering him and he waited patiently. "The answer is no," she said at length. "I didn't consider accepting his offer."

"Why not?"

Angela shrugged, but it seemed to him it was less an indication that she didn't know as that she wasn't sure how to say it.

"I was so afraid you would say yes," he confessed. She tilted her head at him, confused. "Not now. It doesn't matter now. But then. When he said he was waiting for your answer. Everything stopped for me. My heartbeat, my breath. It was like I was frozen just for a moment." He chuckled. "It was pretty stupid, actually. I could have got shot."

She ignored his attempt at humor. "Why would I have gone with him?" she asked, genuinely curious.

Now it was his turn to shrug. "You seemed pretty confused why I would want to stay. Something about a 'meat prison'." He gave her a small grin.

"Did I call it that?" she mused. She rolled onto her side to face him, though her focus seemed more on whatever memories she was searching than on him.

She had once, not that he was going to remind her that it was a direct quote.

"There might also have been some whining about how barren and miserable it was down here." That was paraphrasing, but he mostly did it to get a rise, and was pleased when she used the hand not supporting the weight of her head to give him a light shove. He rocked back with a chuckle and she returned his affable grin.

They lapsed into a comfortable, contemplative silence, and Dingo thought he might just have started drifting back to sleep when her quiet voice broke the stillness.

"I guess . . . I guess if I had to continue my life in an unknown world . . ." she trailed off and waited until he met her frank gaze. "I guess I wanted to do it with someone I trusted."

The words awed him, just a little. He rolled toward her, prompting her to drop over onto her back so that he could balance above her, and caught her mouth in a passionate kiss. When he finally pulled away he rested his forehead against hers. "I love you," he whispered.

She smiled up at him, hand raising to pet the side of his face. "I love you too."

He kissed her again, but then a thought occurred to him, prompting him to pull back once more, ignoring her frustrated groan.

"How did you know?"

"Know what"

"That Frontier Setter offered to take me with him?"

Angela smiled. "Well, of course he would. The two of you got along so well."

They shared a gentle smile and Angela attempted to coax him back into another kiss, but he had one more question.

"So, what brought all this up anyway?"

"Hmm?"

"The expulsion thing. Adam and Eve. All that. What made you remember it now?"

This time, when she guided his chin downward, he allowed her to capture his lips. She was thorough, and warm, and this was his favorite pastime, so she'd almost driven the open question from his mind entirely when at last she pulled back just enough to whisper against his lips: "Because I was wrong. This is paradise."

Dingo grinned as their lips met once more. Yeah, he had to agree with her there. This was definitely his kind of paradise, and he wasn't going to let anyone or anything kick them out of it.

A/N: So . . . after a long absence I have returned. Sorry about that, I totally forgot I had two finished fics sitting on my hard drive that I never posted. Not to worry though, I just re-watched the movie and, once again, had a flood of inspiration and new ideas. I swear, the chemistry between these characters is perfect. This is actually a new fic I was inspired to write over the weekend. I've got one more that I've completed a rough draft on, and then I still have the two I didn't post last year, and a few other ideas simmering on the back burner, so I'll be posting at least a few more one-shots to this collection in the next few weeks. Thanks to everyone who has read, followed, favorited and reviewed! You guys rock.

reenas-as