Ch. 4 - First Dance
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"And here is your charming companion! Returned to you safe and sound!" Paulo Alves, the Brazilian Secretary of Defense, beamed as he handed Kara off to Danny, and she acknowledged a bit of relief at being done with the obligatory dance. Keeping a serene expression and trying to discreetly avoid being fondled while dancing with highly-placed governmental officials was always exhausting. Still, that was the point of the evening's festivities. To see and be seen. To give the Brazilian government an opportunity to show off the Americans from the Nathan James and celebrate the signing of a historic trade agreement designed to cement the relationship between the two largest economies in the Western Hemisphere. The agreement had been done beforehand, of course, Kara and Danny's participation in the last few days of meetings merely a formality. But that distinction seemed to be of no importance to the organizers of tonight's festivities, or most of the participants.
Alves turned to his wife. "My dear?"
As they left, Danny glanced at Kara, gesturing to the dance floor. "Shall we?"
Lord she had been dreading this moment. To be back in Danny's arms. Surrounded by him. Their bodies moving as one.
Warmth. Safety. Comfort.
Everything she desired - with a man who wasn't hers.
But there was little choice. This was the arranged signal with Cooper's informant, a fact that made Kara regret leaving the planning to Sasha. Still, what objection could she have given? Sasha's plan was brilliant in its simplicity. Danny and Kara would take the floor for two dances, giving their contact plenty of time to get into position, before heading to the restrooms. While Kara freshened up, Danny would wait outside, playing the dutiful and considerate escort. The exchange of information would be done via a handshake. A slight of hand that would appear no different than dozens of other interactions tonight, just another citizen who recognized the American visitor from the news and wanted to shake his hand.
Kara wove her way through the crowd, not trusting her voice as Danny escorted her onto the dance floor. The brush of his hand against the exposed skin of her back branding her with each movement, and she hated the way her body betrayed her, greedily craving even the most innocent of touches.
His mouth crushing hers.
Her bare back against the cold wall.
His hands buried in her hair.
Her legs wrapped around his waist.
His cock buried deep inside her.
Her nipples hardened under her dress and Kara prayed that it wasn't visible through the light fabric. The dress had been chosen by Alisha, of course. The shimmering midnight fabric fell to her feet in an elegant drape, covering Kara completely until she turned, exposing how the dress dipped from her shoulders to the small of her back. It's sexy without being inappropriate. Alisha had said. Subtle but not dowdy, with just a hint of skin. Her friend had insisted. The perfect dress for a diplomatic event. And, as she prepared for this event, Kara had agreed. She looked exactly the part of the staid Navy Captain dressed for an official event.
Then Kara stepped into the hall and realized that, consciously or not, she picked this dress for him. Danny's eyes scorched her as they travelled down her body, taking in every detail from her simple silver earrings to her matching strappy heels. When he finally finished his perusal, he had said nothing, but the smile that curved his lips told her everything that she needed to know.
Now, however, Kara was cursing the gown's long sleeves and full-length skirt, feeling more bedraggled than sexy. Her normally stick-straight hair was curling around her face, clumped to her neck, the thick humidity exposing some long dormant wave. She could only hope that her dress was not similarly rumpled. Danny, she noticed, gave no indication that he was bothered by the temperature, his tux as smooth and unwrinkled as it had been when he knocked on her door hours earlier. Still, he looked different, somehow, in a tuxedo rather than his uniform. Younger, more relaxed, more like the carefree Danny of old.
As they reached the edge of the dance floor, Danny drew Kara towards him. Close but not to close, the perfect gentleman. One hand came to rest on the small of her back and the other folded around hers before he twirled them into a waltz. Their bodies moved together effortless, as though they had done this a million times.
xxxxx
"I have to go," Kara said quietly, checking her watch. They were in Danny's cabin playing cards while Frankie was off somewhere with Halsey. A step too far, she knew, being here alone with the door closed. But they hadn't crossed the line. Not yet.
"Already?" Danny sighed.
"Shift in thirty minutes," she replied.
He stood with her, watching as she straightened her uniform and smoothed back her hair. It wouldn't do to leave looking anything less than perfect. "I forgot how boring it is to be shipside."
Kara laughed. "Perhaps for you. The rest of us have jobs."
He raised an eyebrow. "And, what, pray tell is there to do in CIC as we cruise through the Arctic on our way to find Santa Claus?"
She leaned in, beckoning him closer, as though about to tell him a secret. "Sometimes I make the guys figure out the difference between a whale and a porpoise."
Danny gave a bark of laughter, and she abruptly realized how close their faces were. As thought he had just made the same observation, his laughter faded, eyes dropping to her lips. "It sounds challenging."
"It is."
She could feel his breath on her face, see the pulse in his jaw as it moved, lips curling into that devastating smile. "How about a kiss for luck then?"
She knew what she needed to do. Leave, walk away, stop the madness now before it was too late. But she couldn't bring herself to say no. "I can't resist that smile."
The words barely unintelligible as she closed the last millimeter, crossing the line between friends and lovers, and changed their lives forever.
xxxxx
"You've been avoiding me," Danny murmured, his voice pitched for her ears only.
She couldn't suppress a shiver, although she kept her gaze firmly fixed just over his shoulder. "We've been together every minute of the last two days, Danny."
"Sitting three feet apart at a conference table listening to the President drone on does not count as spending time together," Danny replied, drawing her closer, until she was forced to either look up or lean against him. After a moment's hesitation, Kara chose the latter, her eyes drifting closed. "And I meant on the James."
"I was busy. Part of being the Captain." She intended for the words to be firm, ending the conversation. But they came through mumbled against his tuxedo. She fought the urge to relax, to sink into him, the sensations overwhelming.
The rumble of his chest as he laughed.
The steady sound of his heart under her ear.
His arms holding her just a touch too close.
"You managed to keep me busy as well. So much for the easy tour playing cards that Slattery promised," Danny replied. "You scheduled trainings every day."
"What? I thought you set those up," Kara replied, looked up. She honestly had been surprised, albeit pleased, by how seriously Danny took the temporary assignment. During the twelve days it took to sail from Mayport to Rio de Janeiro, Danny had divided the VBSS teams into two groups, and promised the one who earned the most wins a night out on the town when they got home, creating the best sort of friendly rivalry. The VBSS teams were in good shape before, but now they were even better. Kara had even wondered...well, Danny obviously hadn't set out to impress her if he thought the trainings were mandatory. She sighed. "Carlton."
"That asshole's probably laughing himself sick right now." Danny grumbled.
Still, he didn't sound too annoyed, twirling her to avoid a collision with a slightly drunk official who Kara recognized but couldn't identify. She returned to a safer topic. "So President Lemos wasn't winning you over, then?"
"Hardly," Danny snorted. His thumb began moving, stroking her arm, sending fissions of electricity through Kara. He's engaged, she reminded herself. This is all for show. It's not real. Hell, Danny was probably unaware of what he was doing, an unconscious habit. "Perhaps if Lemos worked as hard on addressing the country's critical housing shortage and the spiraling crime rate as he does on entertaining, he wouldn't need to host this type of party as a distraction."
"You aren't in favor of the trade deal?" Kara asked, curious now.
"No, it's a good deal. No doubt driven partly by other considerations," he admitted, not needing to explain what those considerations were. Looking the other way when Vargas was spirited out of Brazil was likely only the first favor that the United States would call in. "But Lemos is ignoring significant social issues that are going to blow up in his face eventually. He's burying his head in the sand again and hoping it works."
The last was barely more than a whisper. Kara understood. Lemos was no worse than most politicians but his behavior during the Red Flu, barricading himself in his mountain mansion while the people in the town around him died and then the few survivors starved, did him few favors. His connections might have pushed him into his current role, but whether those connections were good enough to keep him there was a different question.
"I always enjoyed talking to you about international politics." Kara smiled as the music transitioned to a different, slightly up-tempo song. "Guess I finally have an answer to that question."
He glanced down, eyes locked on hers. "What question?"
"Turns out that you can dance."
xxxxx
"What's your routine?" she asked, before clarifying. "After a tour."
Danny considered the question as he continued cleaning his equipment. "I always call the parents, first, to make sure they know that I'm alive. Then a real shower with decent soap. Frankie and I like to order beer and wings. Although the food here hasn't been as bad as usual."
"Bacon's a godsend," Kara agreed. "So, no booty-call from the port?"
"I already have the only number that I'll be calling." He winked at her, before leaning forward to steal a brief kiss, having already determined the surveillance camera's blind spots and positioned them to take full advantage. "How about you? Anything you need to do?"
"First I always check on Debbie." Kara bit her lip. She never knew from trip to trip what shape she would find her mother in. One time the woman would be passed out on the couch, and Kara would spend her first night home dumping out bottles of booze and calling different rehab centers. Another time Debbie would be so focused on whatever hobby she was currently pursuing that Kara barely saw her.
Danny looked as though he might say something further, then changed tact. "Any plans for your second night?"
"None."
He smiled slowly, eyes flickering to her lips. "Then let's make some."
She glanced at him through her lashes. "Are you asking me on a date, Lieutenant Green?"
"I am, Lieutenant Foster. You and me. Dinner. Maybe some dancing."
"You dance?" Kara asked, skeptical.
He grinned, before stealing another kiss, teeth nibbling on her bottom lip until she wished that they were somewhere far, far more private. "Guess you'll just have to find out for yourself."
xxxxx
Danny's eyes darkened, mouth curving into that devastating smile, and she knew that he remembered too. "Have I mentioned how much I like this dress?"
The low, sensual rumble of his voice sent a shot of electricity directly to her core, and she barely suppressed a moan. "Thank you. You don't look so bad yourself."
That couldn't be her voice, so sultry, so provocative. Kara tore her gaze away, allowing her head to rest on his shoulder. Two dances. That's all this was. Two dances and then they would be done. Leaving her aching for more.
She could hear the tinge of sadness in his voice when he spoke. "We never did go on that date, did we?"
"No," she whispered. "We didn't."
They continued in silence, and Kara tried to memorize every moment.
The warmth of his torso.
The curve of his jaw.
The confidence with which he moved across the floor.
The dance lasted a day, and a second, but finally the music slowed, and then stopped. The moment - their moment - disappearing. Kara braced herself, looking up. "That was the second dance."
He paused, as though he was as reluctant to move on as she, and then nodded. "Showtime."
Kara took a step back. "Restrooms?"
"Indeed."
Kara took her time in the facilities, washing her hands thoroughly and then pausing to fix her lipstick. She stared at her reflection, almost not recognizing the woman who stared back. Despite her rumpled dress and slightly smeared make-up, her cheeks were flushed, her eyes glowing. Like a woman in love. Kara thrust her hands under the cool water, ignoring how they shook, trying to slow the racing of her heart.
It was just a cover.
An op.
She couldn't forget that.
None of it was real.
Unable to delay longer, Kara exited the restrooms, her eyes going immediately to Danny. Memorizing the sight of him so apparently relaxed, casually conversing with those around him. He looked up, smiling, immediately excusing himself and heading in her direction as though they truly were here together, and he wasn't merely her assigned escort. Her stomach roiling, Kara understood how he and Cooper managed to convince an entire town of some absurd holiday tale. The way Danny was looking at her right now...
She felt like the only woman in the world.
Kara smiled as he approached, hoping that her lips didn't look as brittle as they felt. "Shall we mingle, Commander?"
Danny raised an eyebrow, his forehead wrinkling, and she though he might object. But then he nodded, hand tightening on her arm. "Those are our orders. Lead on, Captain."
She expected them to separate, for Danny to work one side of the room, while she focused on the opposite. After all, while they had achieved their primary goal, their secondary task for the evening remained. Meet and greet. See and be seen. Sell their damn cover, as Cooper would say. But as the evening passed, Danny remained firmly by her side. Although Kara spun around the dancefloor with a dozen different men, Danny was there each time the music ended, pulling her arm through his almost proprietarily. And even as Kara smiled and talked and laughed, she found her eyes straying frequently to the man by her side. Struggling to focus on anything or anyone except for him. By the time the evening wound down enough for them to make their excuses, she was on fire, burning with the desire to touch him. To smooth down his jacket. To brush her hand along his cheek. To lean against his side.
Just like those old days on the Nathan James.
The trip to the fourth floor was silent. Upon reaching her assigned room, Danny entered first, as he had done every night of their stay, to check for threats as well as surveillance gear. Kara lingered in the doorway for a moment, giving him time to complete the task. But, instead of retreating to his own room through the connecting door as she was expecting, Danny reached past Kara to close her door. When he turned, he was close enough to touch, and she could feel the invisible cord drawing them together. His head dipped, his eyes dropping to her lips, his hand reaching towards her in an achingly familiar gesture, and she wanted nothing more than to let what was about to happen, happen, but...
"Stop!"
Kara thrust her hand against his chest, putting a millimeter of space between them despite every molecule in her body screaming in protest. After all, she wasn't the one who was attached. She wasn't doing anything wrong. But even as her brain shouted rationalizations at her, Kara knew that this would only make things worse. More complications. More pain. More guilt.
And they both carried far too much guilt already.
xxxxx
Danny was sitting against the bulkhead, arms wrapped around his knees, head back, and even in the dark she could see the anguish in his eyes.
"I was so focused on proving myself, on showing them all that I knew what I was doing. Cosseti wasn't ready. I knew he wasn't ready. I should never have let him go. And now he's dead." His voice was rough from tears. Mourning the loss of a teammate he never had the chance to get to know. Dead too quickly.
Kara slid to the floor next to him, resting her head on his shoulder, knowing that nothing - nothing - she said would make this better. Danny had once described a mission as hours of planning followed by moments of terror, but Kara knew that was only the first part. The second part was the worst. That was when you second guessed every decision you made, every action that you took. Trying to convince yourself that there was nothing you could have done differently, but never believing it. Knowing that one insignificant, minor change could have resulted in a completely different outcome.
One where nobody died.
"Blame Ruskov. This is on him."
"I wish that I could."
And then Kara did the only thing that she could do. She climbed onto Danny's lap, wrapping herself around him, giving him everything she could, knowing that it wasn't enough. That it would never be enough.
That he would never stop blaming himself.
xxxxx
"That isn't who I am." Kara took a deep breath, forcing herself to take a step back. "That isn't who you are. You have a wonderful woman waiting for you at home, Danny. I won't mess that up for you."
Her hand was on the doorknob when he spoke.
"We aren't seeing each other anymore."
The words were so soft that Kara wasn't sure she had heard him correctly. "What?"
"Laura and I broke up. Before the Nathan James left Mayport."
She didn't turn, not sure that she could look at him, certain that he could hear the beating of her heart. Kara hadn't heard even a whisper of gossip about the breakup, certainly unusual for Carlton. But then, hadn't she deliberately been avoiding any mention of Danny? "I'm sorry. Laura was a good woman."
"She was." He paused, and when he spoke again, his voice was raw. "But I wasn't in love with her and she knew it."
Her eyes shot to him, needing to see his face, to make sure that this was really happening. "What? But..."
Danny gave her a look. One that she recognized all too well. The one he used on junior officers who were exhibiting what he deemed extreme stupidity. She used to laugh at him when he ranted, telling him that he was too tough on people, but Danny was not one to suffer a fool. "Nothing has changed, Kara."
xxxxx
She squeezed onto the bunk, no easy task given that Danny filled ninety percent of the space. Pushing at his t-shirt, allowing her mouth to ghost across his stomach. Feeling the leap of his flesh under her fingers.
"When is Tex back?" She reached for his waistband, batting away the hands that attempted to stop her.
"Doctor Scott said no sex..." Danny's breathing was already ragged, but he shifted so that she was pinned against him, unable to move.
"That's not what we're doing." She couldn't change what happened. She couldn't bring back Frankie or Smith or Berchem or...or the baby. But she could give him this. She could help him forget, just for a minute.
"Kara." His hand caught her chin, drawing her up, not letting her look away. "I love you, Kara. Nothing is going to change that."
Tears pouring down her face she wrapped her arms around him, their mouths colliding in an uncoordinated clash of teeth and tongues that should have been painful but somehow wasn't. Danny shifted, twisting until they were lying side by side on the thin bunk, his leg thrown over her, pinning her between him and the wall. As their frenzy calmed, Danny reached out, wiping away her tears with rough thumbs. "Did you hear me? Nothing is going to change how I feel, Kara. Nothing."
"I love you too."
xxxxx
Kara froze, staring at Danny's face, certain that she had misunderstood. That he didn't mean what she thought he meant But his gaze never wavered.
"I never stopped loving you, Kara. Never. I don't think I ever could."
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A/N - okay, so we all know that this was coming, right? Because, I mean, WOULD I EVER NOT GET THESE TWO TOGETHER? (Well, except for that one time. But that doesn't really count, right? I mean, it was only once ... and Danny was dead...and it probably won't happen again...darn plot ideas...lol.) Laura was always going to get the shaft. Poor woman. I actually kind of like her... Until next time. xoxo - tmtcltb
A/N 2 - pretty sure I have some Tomsha fans here. If you are, and you haven't done so already, go read everything by Aspect. She's new to the board but her stuff is awesome. You can thank me later. :)