Postscripts from Jeraddo - Merrick/McRae/Rickman

[do]

NX-01 Enterprise
Orbiting Gaia
Stardate: 22.09.2170


When he served on Enterprise, Tom Merrick had always looked forward to returning to Gaia, but this time around, seeing the iridescent world that served as the new home of the human race filled him with a sense of gratitude like never before. Perhaps it was realising how close he had come to never seeing it again after he and Sloane McRae had been trapped in Dominion space for almost five days, following an ill-fated mission to aid the Bajoran Resistance. While Starfleet had taken every precaution to ensure the secrecy of the mission, unfortunately Minister Taya, who organised the thing, had not been so fortunate and the result was the destruction of the SS Potemkin, which left Tom and Sloane marooned in occupied territory. Further complicating the situation, the meeting organised by Taya had been infiltrated by a Founder, the masters of the Dominion.

Tom and Sloane had barely managed to elude capture and were forced to hide on the rustic moon of Jeraddo before help finally came in the form of the NX-01. Five days after they had been liberated from Dominion space, the Enterprise put into Gaia and they were finally home. Right now, there was only one thing on Tom Merrick's mind and that was getting home to his daughter, Lexie. He had no idea what she had been told during the five days he and Sloane were missing but he needed to see her, to let her know that her dad had come home to her safe and sound.

Of course, the trip home hadn't been all that unpleasant either with most of it spent with Sloane locked in the NX01’s guest quarters, in a marathon session of sex that had probably taken the paint of the walls by the levels of heat generated in the room. They had explored each other, enjoyed the moment while they could before they had to face the rest of the world with their relationship, not that the world hadn't already started to seep through the doors.

However, now that they were back in Gaia's orbit, Tom was like a racehorse at the starting gate, anxious to get to the planet so he could go home to his little girl. Standing impatiently at one of the NX's transporter pads, waiting for the okay to beam to the surface, Tom's mood was being stoked by the Fleeter telling he and Sloane, that they needed to wait for clearance.

"Clearance for bloody what?" he growled, glancing at Sloane for permission to kill this bloke if they weren't transported soon.

"From the Bridge, Sir," the young man replied, feeling a little intimidated by the MACO lieutenant colonel glaring at him intently.

Sloane eyed Merrick before her gaze touched on the Fleet officer, who only gave her a shrug in return. Okay. Turning on her heel, she stepped down the platform and activated the comm panel on the wall.

"Colonel McRae to Captain T'Pol," she said, trying to speed things up before Merrick shot someone. Giving a funny look to the Fleeter, she waited, guessing it would irk him some that she'd gone right above his damn head.

There was a a slight pause before there was a corresponding response. "What can I do for you, Colonel?"

"Just wanted to thank you again, Captain, for the ride and the hospitality of the Enterprise," Sloane said, really meaning it though her call was for something else. "We're waiting now to transport down and we're just wondering what's the delay..."

"No delay," T'Pol responded automatically. "We were merely waiting for notification from space dock, which we have now received. You are cleared for transport."

"Thank you, Captain." Sloane glared at the officer now giving her a satisfied look. Damn Starfleet red tape. "T'Pol, we need to catch up properly soon, alright?" the MACO Lieutenant Colonel broke protocol, as she often did.

"That would be most agreeable, Sloane," which was Vulcan for she'd love to.

Turning back to Merrick, Sloane quipped, "If Space Port now needs to clear everything, that means they won't beam us straight to your front lawn."

"Bugger," Tom growled at the young man, as if it was all his fault.

Sloane gave Merrick a grin before she turned back to the young officer. "Fire away, Lieutenant."

"Yes ma'am," the young Lieutenant replied, moving quickly to transport the two Sharks planetside, his face showing clearly that he believed it to be in his best interest to get Lieutenant Colonel Merrick off the Enterprise and away from himself as quickly as possible.

Tom gave Sloane a look of innocence, questioning if he had done something to offend the young man. "Was it something I said?" He almost winked.

Shaking her head, Sloane said, "At least you didn't draw your weapon..."

"Don't worry, it's on stun." Tom threw the young man a near malicious grin.

The Fleeter turned a shade pale and then stammered. "Engaging transporter now."

"Good on you," Sloane said, giving him a satisfied smirk. "Not sure I could hold him back much longer."

The boy turned even whiter before he activated the transporter and as the low hum of the transporter filled the room, Tom smiled with satisfaction as he saw the young man letting out a sigh of relief at their departure. Sometimes, it felt good to mess with Fleeters.

*

The shimmer that came with their molecules disassembling and reassembling faded out and gave way to their new surroundings.

"What the fuck?" Sloane muttered, staring at a mirror that showed her the reflection of a row of cubicles behind her that were - for some damn reason - bloody familiar.

"I'm going to kill that bloody kid," Tom growled, as he realised they were nowhere near home. Where the fuck were they? "Fleeters." He snorted, looking around. "This is charming. Where the fuck are we?" He stared at her.

"I think I know..." Sloane started to say, looking around as well, wishing there was a bloody window big enough to push Merrick out through. What was that bloody lieutenant thinking?

"Where," Tom gravitated towards the door and pushed it open.

"Tommy!" A decidedly low husky, if somewhat feminine voice cried out.

Oh fuck.

Tom found himself staring at the door leading into the Brasov Space Port Bar, a place he hadn't been to in about six months when he had fallen off the wagon and made a total arse out of himself. At the bar, a tall, shapely woman with big breasts, big hair and too much make up smiled at him and he had no idea who the hell she was.

"Tommy," she sauntered over and threw her arms around him. "It's been ages. You were going to call me, you bad boy."

Sloane followed him out of the ladies room, staying well clear of the tall dark-haired femme fatale. Just the way she uttered 'Tommy' grated on Sloane's nerves but it was so worth watching Merrick.

Tom looked over his shoulder, wearing an expression on his face that said clearly he had no idea who she was before turning back to her and trying hard to rack his brain for the memory. Something vague emerged out of the quagmire of that night in his head. "Melissa...?"

"No," she pulled back, huge lips puckering in disappointment. "Marvin."

Tom blinked. "Excuse me?"

Sloane chuckled out loud, a hand going to her mouth. "Marvin, Merrick." She approached, looking at the other woman up and down. "She... he is Marvin. Now, can we go home?"

"I'm all woman, honey," Marvin retorted in annoyance.

"And you didn't seem to mind that night, Tommy."

Oh, bloody hell. Tom was turning the same shade of colour that appeared on that Fleeter he terrorized a short time ago. "I have to go home now," he said holding his composure. "I'm with..her."

"Not sure about that..." Sloane let out.

"Sorry, Marvin. Nice meeting you." She started to steer Merrick around him/her to head for the front door. "Nice shade of red on your nails there."

Tom shot Sloane a glare as she made that comment and made no effort to protest when she hauled his ass out of there.

"Uhm... see you later...Marr..." he couldn't bring himself to say the name. His stomach was getting more hollow by the moment.

"If you ever want a real woman sometime, call me, Tommy." Marvin waved.

"Oh, Tommy," Sloane mimicked as she pushed the doors open and stepped out.

"We shall never speak of this again," Tom said through gritted teeth, thinking that all the arguments against drinking could now be summed up in one word - MARVIN.

"Oh, no-no-no. You won't get off that easy," Sloane retorted, giving him a glance. "Christ."

"I don't remember a bloody thing and I sure as fuck didn't..." His face screwed up into an expression of pure revulsion. "I'd remember that!"

"I remember you and her getting rather cosy that night, Tommy," Sloane said, unable to help herself. "You let her kiss that mouth of yours?" God, as funny as this was, Sloane wasn't too thrilled to think that he might have.

"No!" Tom burst out. "I wasn't kissing anyone that night. But her boobs looked so real..." he mused and then shook his head. "I didn't kiss anyone that night," he stated firmly. "I was too busy getting shit faced for that."

Sloane looked at him, feeling a slight twinge of guilt. "If you say so." She offered him her arm. "Come on."

"I never want to be called Tommy again," he said, taking her arm. "This is why I used to go drinking with Derick. He'd make sure I didn't pick up birds with boobs named..." he couldn't say it.

"Marvin. Not a bird, Merrick. Wannabe, yeah, but not a bird. I guess that shows how much you had drunk that night." She wasn't judging. She was just damn amused that a ladies' man such as him could have fallen for it at all. "At least it proves that you really didn't feel her up..."

"You're doing that on purpose." He gave her a look, making another face at the thought. "I'm going to kill that Fleeter."

"I'm not giving you his name so don't bother asking," Sloane said smartly.

"You know him?" Tom stared at her, eyes narrowed. "I wouldn't hurt... much."

She sort of knew him. She popped often enough on the NX to keep track of the crew. "There's no way he could have known so, if anything, it's your own fault for scaring the shit out of him."

"But it was fun." Tom smiled a little, wearing an expression common to little boys who had done something they knew they shouldn't. Yeah, as long as it wasn't something named MARVIN, Tom shuddered.

"It was," Sloane agreed, nodding slowly.

They were walking at a reasonable pace. Sloane knew that part of it was Merrick looking forward to see his daughter but some of it was probably wanting to put as much distance between he and Marvin.

Once they passed Starfleet Command and got closer to Earth Quarter, Sloane was wondering if they would be parting ways at Mayweather Bridge. Her home was on the other side of the river in Utopia Planetia and she didn't know what would Merrick want now.

It occurred to Tom, once he got over the fact that he might have hit on a bloke named Marvin (Christ!), that Sloane might not be heading in the same direction as he. "You're coming to the house, aren't you?" He asked her as Mayweather Bridge came into view and if she were going home to Utopia, they'd be parting company soon.

After the last five days on the NX, it felt like a physical blow to have to let her go, even if it was to her house. He did not like one damn bit how it felt.

"I..." She looked at him with a sheepish smile and sighed, deciding not to hide that she had been wondering about it. "I wouldn't want to intrude..." Truth was, she couldn't wait to see Lexie again, give her a big hug and smell her hair, but this should be the little girl's time with her daddy.

"Don't be silly." He took a step closer to her, an arm slid around her waist as he pulled her close. "You're part of the family, luv, you'd never intrude."

She appreciated his warmth and leaned into him. "You sure?" She didn't want to pressure him or Lexie. "I suppose it would look more out of place if I didn't stop by..." There she was over-thinking it again.

"I don't care what it looks like, luv." He held her in place. "I just want you with me and Lexie." Tom could see the anxiety she was trying to conceal, the fear that she might be perceived as intruding upon his happy home. "After the last week, letting you go is not something I want to deal with right now."

"Okay." She swallowed, thinking he might get the impression she didn't want to be there, wanted to back up or something. It wasn't that; she just didn't want to scare Lexie. It was all about Lexie. She leaned in and kissed him. She didn't really want to be away from him either.

For a few seconds, there was only her and Tom was revisited with images of how they had spent the last few days. He hadn't been this happy in a long time and Tom was almost afraid that if he let Sloane leave, he might not get her back again. It was dumb, he knew, but his feelings about Sloane McRae were seldom logical and came from a place of pure instinct.

"We'll be right, luv," he assured her when they had finally parted. "Besides, Lexie misses you as much as she misses me," he reminded her.

Giving Tom a happy smile, Sloane slipped her hand in his and started walking towards Earth Quarter again, towards home.


~~~~
MERRICK'S RESIDENCE
EARTH QUARTER

"Derick, you're gonna wear a hole in that carpet, white chocolate, sit down."

"I wish I could." The tall MACO shot the large black woman a look that telegraphed the stress of the entire last two weeks. Of having a little face look up at him and ask about her daddy... and more over, not knowing what to tell her. When Derick wasn't here, taking care of Lexie to give Meda a break, he was everywhere else. Trying to find news, cashing in what favours he could from a shady history or hell, even going to the Governor's house to try and persuade him to authorize a scouting mission. He'd even gone so far as to enlist Jay Mercer to go with him but Hayes hadn't approved it.

Tactically, Derick knew why he wasn't allowed but it didn't stop that sickening drop in his gut over knowing that someone had been left behind. And not just someone. Two someones, who next to Ren and Jules and Ellie, were Derick's best friends. It was almost as bad as not having an answer for a four year old wanting to know where Daddy was.

That had been the only change Lexie really saw. Other than Daddy not coming home, life went on as normal. Playdate with 'Wuke and Saun's' little sister, Serena. With Christopher and Ren. Meda had sagely suggested holding off on telling Lexie anything until there was news.

Derick had gone with that, not realizing why this time seemed so different from all the other times he'd had soldiers missing or Tom and/or Sloane was missing. Although, usually with a squad or battalion or something like that. Then one night last week, standing in Tom's kitchen, staring at a little bit of a thing just under three feet tall, with a stuffed rabbit under one arm, did 'it' dawn on him. With all the subtlety of a Xindi Mothership.

How did you tell a four year old that Daddy wasn't coming back? How the hell did a four year old recover from knowing that now both Mom and Dad were gone?? What if Lexie thought it was because of her? Derick had returned to Ellie's place sick to his stomach after Meda had relieved him.

And then.. five days ago, word had come that they had been found, that Tom and Sloane were safe. Safe and relatively healthy and on their way back. Given the condition in which they'd gone missing and the destruction of the Potemkin, Derick and Meda had again opted to not tell Lexie until Tom was actually back on Gaia.

Which two hours ago, Derick had been sent word that the Enterprise was entering orbit and Tom would be here ASAP. Which wasn't fast enough for the man who thought his friend was damn near invincible.

"Uncle Drick?"

Turning his attention at the sleepy call of his name, Derick smiled at Lexie. "Hey, bunny rabbit. What are you doing up?"

"I'm a shark not a bunny..." Lexie replied, just finishing the word before a yawn caught her.

"Even sharks need their sleep," Meda replied, getting to her feet as she nailed Derick with a look that said 'uh huh'.

Scooping Lexie up into his arms, Derick blew a raspberry on her cheek. "Alright. Shark. Let me see those teeth.. grrrr...." When she bared all her teeth in the most adorable way possible, he hugged her to him. "So why are you up?"

She shrugged thin shoulders. "I don't know."

*

After the whole drunken arse incident, Tom had decided that it was time to make some changes to his life. Alex was gone and the house which they had shared their life together was a constant reminder of her absence. Besides, the place had belonged to Alex before he met her and in the effort to let her go, he decided it was time to find something that didn't drive home everyday how much he missed her. Thus, Tom had put in a requisition for a another house in Earth Quarter largely so Lexie wouldn't feel too displaced and was assigned a decent place on the edge of it that had a fairly decent view of Cochrane Hills. Like all homes in Gaia, it was no luxury pad but it had the usual three bedrooms, a bit of garden he had the annoying duty of mowing (whenever he remembered) and space enough for a three year old going four, to run herself into exhaustion.

It was a few hours into evening when they finally arrived in Earth Quarter, the collection of homes, lighting their way through the windows as they walked down the quiet street. Public transport was a work in progress on Gaia and most people tended to walk since the colony hadn't been spread out that much owing to the low population. Still it was a nice night out, the two moons were out and after cooped up in a ship (or rather a room) for five days, it was nice to enjoy the space. The house he lived in waited patiently for his and Sloane's approach, the lights in the windows, like a beacon signalling them forth.

"Meda's probably been staying over," Tom remarked as they reached the fence.

Sloane tightened her grip on his hand without really noticing. "And Derick can't be far," she added, easily imagining the big guy going stir crazy.

Actually, Tom thought, as he glanced at the door as he opened the gate and let her through, Tom would be very surprised if Derick wasn't actually here already. He knew his friend's habits. And like Sloane was thinking, Tom guessed that Derick would be going fucking stir waiting for news. "He could be here," he remarked.

"Yeah," Sloane let out with an amused smile after watching Merrick come to the same conclusion like she could have seen the cogs in his head turn. "All in one go then, eh?" Meda would see it right away, Sloane was sure of it, and Derick, well, like a dog on a bone he would sniff it.

"You worried?" Tom paused and looked at her. In truth, he was more worried about Derick's reaction than he was Lexie. Kids were pretty resilient and Lexie adored Sloane anyway. The big bloke had said he was alright with it but there was no denying the situation was going to be awkward. Sure Derick had been with Ellie for nearly a year now but that didn't mean that wasn't some residual feelings left over for Sloane and no man handled seeing an ex-girlfriend with their best friend without some kind of reaction.

Okay maybe he was the one who was a little worried.

Sloane felt she had less to lose if this went awry. It was Tom's daughter, his nanny in there who could judge, his best friend... While she and Derick had been lovers for three years, they had called it quits and while she knew intimately how it could hurt to see the other with someone else, she couldn't afford to let him dictate who she would see. Besides, if it wasn't for Tom Merrick here and his daughter, chances were the funny and sometime awkward friendship she and Derick had slipped into would probably not exist. They would have moved on and stopped visiting each other. But they both gravitated around Tom and that somehow made them what they were now.

"I'm..." But Sloane didn't get a chance to answer.

Inside, unaware of who was coming up the walk, Derick held Lexie in both arms as he sat on the couch with her, back to the windows. Lexie though had full view and she practically squealed, wiggling fiercely out of Derick's arms. "Lex.. what..."

"DADDY!!!!!" she shrieked, rushing to the front door. Derick needed only two steps to open it for her and she ran outside, as fast as little legs could go. "DADDYDADDYDADDY!!!!!!!"

Standing at the door, Derick felt quite like Lexie did... although he knew it would be just disturbing for him to run down the sidewalk screaming "TOMTOMTOM". Just.. really disturbing. But there they were.. Tom and Sloane. In one piece. Thank god.

The discussion was tabled by a high-pitched cry that would have woken the dead (as well as abruptly ending numerous attempts to have midnight sex in the past) emanating from his four year old running out the door towards him. Forgetting Sloane for the minute, it only took two steps before he swept the little girl up in his arms and embraced her hard. "Hullo luv, what's all this noise then? You're going to scare the neighbours."

Sloane's heart contracted at witnessing Lexie's reaction to seeing her father again and then swelled when the pair hugged. God, how bad this trip could have gone constricted her throat. Her hand went to pat the child on the head as she stretched to see Rickman standing on the porch beyond. She waved rather lamely, feeling awful to have been the cause of such worry.

Practically hugging Tom's head, Lexie flashed the woman a smile and dropped her head to her daddy's shoulder and squeezed him tightly. "Auntie Ren says the neighbours have crabs," Lexie said with all the seriousness possible. "Daddy, did you bring me a present?"

Watching them, Derick found he couldn't identify the sensation that washed over him. He nodded at Sloane and finally pushed off the sill to join them down the walk. "I don't know about that Lex. He was on business, remember?" Giving Tom a pointed look to clue him in, Derick dropped an arm around Sloane's shoulders and kissed her head. "Glad to see you both in one piece," he said, free hand going to Tom's shoulder.

"Thanks mate, good to be back in one piece," he grinned at his best friend before regarding Lexie again.

"Not this time, luv," Tom said, kissing the girl on the forehead and wondering what the buggery hell was Orphan Annie teaching his kid. Just for that, the next time Christopher was here, Tom was going to teach the kid how to play pool. "I did bring Aunty Sloane with me though," he turned to Sloane.

An arm wrapped around Derick's waist automatically when he came to hug them and Sloane hugged him back in thanks. She was only realising how much

"That's right, Lexie. Been missing you like crazy. Thought I'd come and give you a squeeze and lots of kisses. You've been good?" Her eyes glanced to Derick's before going back to the little girl's face.

A sly glance went to Derick. "Yes."

That made Sloane smile and tickle the girl's ribs. "Of course you have."

Whenever his kid got shy usually meant that the neighbours dog's had been shaved with his razor. However, Tom was too happy to see Lexie to worry about it at the moment. "How about you give Sloane a hug?" He set her down, aware that Sloane was just as happy to see Lexie as he was.

"Come here." Sloane opened her arms to invite Lexie in.

Lexie didn't need to be told twice and she grabbed at Sloane's shirt, ready to crawl up the woman if she could.

"Oh, sweetie." Sloane pulled her up into a tight hug while the girl's legs went around her waist. "Big kisses," she whispered, kissing the girl's cheeks until she reached her neck and made her squealed.

"How are you doing?" Tom asked, seeing the worry in Derick's face.

"I'm a hell of a lot better now that you're back," he told Tom truthfully, making this a true MACO moment by yanking his friend to him for a one-armed, very male.. something like a hug.

"We're okay," Tom accepted the gesture and then pulled back, because blokes hugged for one or two seconds, any longer and it became too...MARVIN. "We had to lay low for a couple of days after the Potemkin was taken out but other than a run in with the Jems, we were lucky to avoid them for the most part."

When the boys started talking shop, Sloane started to move toward the house with Lexie still in her arms. "Come on, let's get you inside."

"Meda's inside, too... " Lexie said, arms tightening around Sloane's neck. She was quiet for a moment before lifting her head. "I'm glad you and Daddy came back. I was scared," she admitted quietly.

"Oh, honey." She kissed her cheek as they came into the house and Sloane spotted Meda, giving the woman a nod and a reassuring smile. "I'm sorry we scared you. We didn't mean to. Work.. you know, it's not always what you expect and this business trip just got a bit more complicated than we'd hoped. You had fun with Meda and Uncle Drick though, yeah?"

Tom's gaze shifted subtly in Sloane's direction as she headed inside with Lexie, the barest hint of a smile crossing his lips as he watched them go in. Yeah, her worries there were unfounded, he was convinced. Lexie loved Sloane too much to ever questioned the new place she had in their lives. Remembering he was talking to Derick, he returned his attention to his best friend again.

Tired, spent, Derick saw that look on his friend's face and turned, unconsciously expecting to see Alex.. because that's the only person Tom had ever spared such tenderness for. But there was no Alex. Only.. Sloane. Hello. An odd smile crossed his face before he turned back to Tom. He hadn't known the man for so long for nothing. Still, Sloane McRae... there was an odd little kick in his gut but... he pushed it back down. "Yeah, we heard about the Potemkin... glad you're back, man."

If Derick noticed anything, he didn't say it and Tom was certain he noticed. However, if Derick wasn't bringing it up, then Tom would leave it for the moment. "We need to review the training regimen as soon as I'm back on deck. After meeting those Jems face to face, we're looking at a whole new war mate. The one that gave him some broken ribs, did it without breaking a sweat. The buggers are strong and they're mean. They make Klingons look like pussies."

After settling Lexie down in the kitchen with a glass of warm milk, Sloane greeted Meda properly with a hug the woman returned like a bear.

"They're still outside?"

"Mmm-mmm," Meda replied, a look of disapproval on her face as she glanced to the front door.

Sloane rolled her eyes and went to stick her head back outside. "Yo, in here." She left no time for Merrick or Rickman to comment before she went back in.

"Hey.. you just got home. We'll talk training tomorrow," Derick said, half distracted by what he'd seen. Not.. in a bad way, just enough. About to say more when Sloane came out, he nodded to her and turned back to Tom.

"I need to get going. Tell Lex I said good night and.. " That feeling in his gut came back, only for a moment. "Sloane too." Derick clasped Tom's arm again and let it go as he turned to leave.

"Hey," Tom caught the look and said quietly, "We good?"

Not replying for a moment, Derick smiled at his friend. "Yeah. We're good." And brothers.. and in the end, blood spilled was just as important as blood shared.

Tom nodded, accepting on his word for now. Maybe, they would talk about this later, or maybe not. Either way, it was out there, best to let the big bloke process for now.

"See you tomorrow," Tom said finally.

"With bells on," Derick cracked, an old familiar reply. "Bright and early."

*

Uncertain how Sloane was going to take Derick's departure and, to tell the truth, Tom was still concerned despite the big bloke's reassurance, he walked into the house and heard voices emanating from the kitchen.

"Alright, Miss Thing, you just finish up your milk and your daddy will be in here in a minute to tuck you in. He's just having grown up talk with your Uncle Drick."

Tom shrugged, yeah that was one way to put it.

"Hullo," Tom entered, sweeping his gaze around the hen's party taking place in his kitchen. "Did I hear something about tucking someone into bed?" He smiled at Lexie.

Lexie beamed, the rest of her milk forgotten in her hand as she stood up to go wrap herself around her father's thighs. Both Meda and Sloane went for the glass before the girl could drop it and spill its content.

"Got it," Meda said, giving Sloane a wink.

"Thanks." Sloane stepped back, her gaze moving to Merrick and... Rickman, who wasn't there. She threw a questioning look at Daddy of the Year, wondering why his best mate hadn't come back in.

Tom caught the look of question in Sloane's eyes as he picked up Lexie. "Derick had to get going. He'll catch up with me in the morning," he answered, even though he suspected the response wasn't going to ease Sloane's anxieties any less.

O-kay. So, Derick knew? Tom had told him? But this wasn't the time to ask for more details. Not in front of Meda and certainly not in front of Lexie.

"But my kiss, Uncle Drick?" Lexie started saying, stretching over her father's shoulder to see the door. "He really gone?"

"Yeah, luv," Tom kept the light in his voice but in truth he was bothered. Of course, for the benefit of Miss Four, he kept it hidden as always. "But he did ask me to give you double kisses when I tucked you in, if that's alright with you that is." He smiled, glancing over her head to give Sloane a look.

Shit. Sloane could see it in his eyes. Worried and bothered. So Derick had really clued in as fast as Sloane thought he would, and now he needed some space... and if that was the case then it hadn't gone down as well as Tom had believed it would, Sloane surmised. She couldn't fault him for it. It was one thing to talk about the possibility... just words... and quite another to see it happening. She tried to hide a worried sigh, thinking that Derick and her really needed to have a talk and soon.

"Okay," Lexie let out with a pout, already pulling her dad out of the kitchen.

"I'm sure he'll catch up tomorrow," Meda told Lexie encouragingly. "You know Uncle Drick can't have a good day without your kisses." Before Tom could leave the room, she cleared her throat.

"I think I'm gonna head on home, if that's alright with y'all?"

"That's fine, Meda." Tom gave Lexie's nanny a grateful smile. "Thanks for being here, luv."

"Oh now, don't you mention it, Captain Morris." Meda winked, harkening back to the banter they use to trade whenever Tom had turned up at Alex's office without being announced.

Tom laughed. "Right. See you tomorrow."

"You take care now, Sloane," Meda said to the woman, mindful of the currents running through the place. Mm-hhmm.

"'Night, Meda." Sloane nodded, knowing in that moment that Meda had figured it out as well. God, were they that obvious? They were standing at least three metres apart.

Once she was gone, Tom looked down at Lexie. "I think it's time for you to go to bed, Milady." He lifted Lexie higher up over a shoulder and started towards the little girl's bedroom. "You want Auntie Sloane to help tuck you in?"

"Yes!!!" Lexie exclaimed. If Uncle Drick wasn't here, Auntie Sloane would do just as well. "Can I get a story?"

"I don't see why not," Tom replied, accustomed to the request.

"Can I get two?" She piped up immediately. "Auntie Sloane can read one too."

"Of course," Sloane chimed in as she started to follow the pair down the hallway. Leaning in the doorjamb, she watched Lexie jump into bed and then shimmy down the covers, pulling her teddies to her, not once taking her gaze off her father.

Once upon a time, Tom Merrick had believed he would have no idea what to do with a little girl and yet now as he tucked her in, made sure that Mervyn, Bunny, Sizzles and assorted nighttime companions were placed strategically around her (Thanks to Derick, Lexie called them her perimeter patrol), he couldn't imagine life without this little bundle of energy that was everything of value to him in this world. Picking up one of the books from the shelf next to her bed (he had to stop reading her field reports once she started understand words), Tom started to read, as he sat next to her on the bed.

Sloane crossed her arms and watched him, thinking back on how worried he'd been only a year and a half ago that he wouldn't be able to do this. Lexie nuzzled her teddies, a soft smile on her lips while she listened to the story, fighting sleep already trying to claim her.

Tom's voice had a lulling effect on Sloane too and she hid a yawn behind a hand as she listened to his slight accent, and she guessed she wouldn't have to read tonight. In fact, Tom didn't even get to the fifth page.

Once she was asleep, Tom and Sloane made a discreet withdrawal from the room, with him pulling the door close just enough to leave a crack of light from her night light to creep into the darkened hallway.

"Feel like a cuppa?" he asked Sloane as he headed back to the living room.

"Sure. Need help?" Sloane was going to go flop on his couch and then thought better of it. She wasn't sure how to bring the subject of Derick without stressing Tom anymore than he probably was so relaxing for now was out of the question.

"Not really," he replied, "but I could use the company." Tom met her gaze briefly before making his way into the kitchen. "Well, at least we've got one happy customer for the moment. Not sure about the big bloke though."

Sloane followed him into the kitchen and opened the fridge to get some milk out. While she was at it, she poked a bit in what was there, leftovers and whatnot. Meda always could cook a storm when she put her mind to it and Sloane guessed that with Merrick missing for that long, she would have used that to keep her mind on something.

"There's lasagne. You hungry?" Sloane asked instead of commenting on Derick leaving. She lifted her head, looking back at Tom over her shoulder. "I..." She didn't want to say, I told you so.

"I think he's alright," Tom remarked, talking more to himself than he was to her. "But it might take a bit of time before he's used to the idea." He hoped. "Sorry lasagne? Yeah... a bit of grub wouldn't be a bad thing." Tom was still thinking about Derick.

Sloane pulled the food out and warmed some up and got on with making the cuppa too seeing as Tom had just pretty much sat down and got lost in thought. It was fine; Sloane could be a bit like Meda.

A few minutes later, she placed a plate in front of him, cutlery and a full mug before she put some down for herself as well. "Penny for your thoughts?" Last time, she'd risked asking that, he had floored her with a megaton bomb. She wondered now what had exactly been said out there.

Tom realised that he had been silent for a good while without saying a word to her.

"Sorry, luv," he apologised, reaching for her hand across the table, threading his fingers through hers. "I expected this reaction from him but I guess how it sounds in your head and seeing it in reality are two different things. He said we're okay and I believe him but I think it's going to take time for him. I guess there was no getting around that."

Sloane gave him a small smile and squeezed his fingers. "I figured as much." She picked up her fork and started playing around with the food. "I think I might go talk to him..." She wasn't sure Tom would approve but hey, she and Derick had a past and it was rather different than this best mate relationship he had with him.

Tom stared at her. "Is that a good idea?" He honestly didn't know whether it was or not and wondered if she had some insight into his best friend that he didn't know. One thing Tom had learned since being married is that women had insights that men just didn't. "I mean if you think it's a good idea."

"I'm not sure." She shrugged, levelling her gaze with his. "But I could have told you he'd react this way. Knowing him, it's going to play with his damn sense of responsibility, to you as his friend, to me as... well, whatever we are now..." Sloane frowned.

"I guess I knew that too," Tom sighed. "I was hoping that it wouldn't be. He's my mate, I don't want to lose that but I want you in my life." He didn't add whatever the cost but the thought was there even if Tom couldn't face that possibility right now.

Sloane couldn't hide the worry and sadness from her eyes. She guessed Derick would come around, but that was only a guess. In the end, she was certain he would want to see her happy, even if that meant with his best friend.

"Look, I think he'll come around. Might take him longer than you thought, but..." She reached for Tom's chin, making a show of checking out both sides of his face. "He didn't deck you so that's a good sign. He's probably thinking on it, working it out. He... you didn't even have to tell him, did you?"

"No," he shook his head, taking comfort in her touch. "He read me pretty bloody well. We've known each other too long, I suppose, for either of us to hide anything from each other."

Tom thought back to that dumb, angry kid that Derick Rickman had been.

"You know, it's funny." He covered the hand on his face with his own. "When I had words to Hayes, Christ knows how long ago, about this kid spoiling for a fight at every turn, when God wanted him kicked out after his latest dust up, I didn't think saving him was going to save me too." He lifted his eyes to Sloane. "I hope you're right, I hope he comes around."

She'd known they were terribly close... and this just confirmed it to her. "If..." She didn't want to say it but if Derick didn't... "I don't want to be the one in the middle. If he can't deal with this, we're going to have to rethink..." Her hand slid along his cheek until she reached the back of his neck. God, would she really let him go? Push him away so things could be easier between the two mates? She bit her bottom lip, the 'us' refusing to pass her lips.

Tom stared at her. "No, Sloane," he said with a finality that surprised even him. "We're not going to rethink this. You're not in the middle of anything. He's been with Ellie for almost a year. Bloody hell, she's moved down to Gaia to be with him, for fuck sake. He's given us both every indication that he's moved on. His friendship means a bloody lot to me but I stood aside once for him, it's not happening again and if it comes down to me reminding him of that fact, then that's how it's going to be."

Blinking, Sloane pulled back a bit. "Okay." She wondered if Derick had any idea how far back this went, she knew she hadn't had a clue. "I'm..." She looked down at her plate. "I still think I'll talk to him. Hopefully won't fuck things up worse."

Tom was right. Derick had moved on. He had the girlfriend, he'd been fine with Mercer - or so he claimed - so he didn't really have any right to come and be prissy about this. But in the end, if he was, Sloane wasn't entirely sure that shutting him out of their lives would be an option for Tom. And it wouldn't be fair on Lexie.

"You should talk to him," Tom agreed. Maybe if Derick and Sloane cleared the air between them, it might help but Tom suspected, in the end, it was going to come down to him and Derick, deciding if this would cost a friendship. He suspected not but that didn't mean the transition into acceptance was going to be easy.

"Okay," she said again and started to force a bit of food into her mouth. And after she swallowed the first bite, she realised she was in fact damn hungry. Space travel just messed with your internal clock and their time on Jeraddo hadn't helped things any. "Mmm, this is good." She looked up, giving Tom a grin. "Come on, eat some." She nudged his hand with hers.

For the moment at least, Derick was forgotten. Until he spoke to Derick in the morning, there wasn't a lot he could do and he didn't want to mar their first night back on Gaia by things that could not be changed at this moment. Mood lifting a bit by the gentle nudge, he picked up his fork and started to eat. "Meda's a loud, scary bird but she can bloody cook," he said with a little smile.

"Yes, she can," Sloane agreed as she continued to dig in.


~~~~
MEANWHILE, IN ANOTHER PART OF GAIA...

With Gabe agreeing to baby-sit for an hour or two, Renee Richards Hayes left her home or rather the Governor's residence, which was really a house like every other in the colony, only saddled with a much fancier name. She honestly wondered what the purpose was on bestowing it such a title other than to make it more important than it really was. Whatever the reason, Ren had more important things to focus on right now as she made her way through the streets of Gaia. Telling Gabe that she needed a time out after being at home all day with two young children, Ren had left the Governor with the impression she was meeting up with some old friends at the Slain Beasts Tavern.

While most of that was truth, Ren omitted to tell Gabe that she was in actuality answering the call of her friend and former Shark comrade, Derick Rickman who sounded like he needed a friend when he had called earlier this evening to invite her for a drink. Normally, Derick didn't make such requests unless it was part of a group but Ren could tell by his voice that something was up. Not crucial, 'someone got hit by a skimmer, you need to sit down for this' kind of something but definitely something that warranted immediate attention. Pulling on her favourite pair of combat boots, a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, Ren looked nothing like the wife of the Governor, which suited her fine. When she walked into Beasts, she wanted to be Orphan Annie again or Den Mother, as those smart asses, Jazz and Lorio, used to call her.

Upon entering the establishment, Ren caught sight of Derick almost immediately and noted the expression on his face. It matched the somewhat disconnected voice she had spoken to earlier this evening. Something was definitely going on, she thought as she crossed the floor to the bar. A quick conversation with Fabien followed with Ren getting a bottle of Red Eye, before she was sauntering over to the booth where Gunny was sitting.

After all these years, that's who he was to her. Gunny Rickman. Ren doubted it would ever change.

"This seat taken?" She asked, sliding into the booth across the table from him.

"Nope." Such was Derick's state of mind that he didn't return some flippant remark or smartass comment. "Thanks for coming, Red." He held his beer up to her in salute and leaned back, putting his feet up on her seat. He was half-distracted, more than half actually and it showed in the downcast of his eyes. "Hayes give you any shit?"

"Nah," she shook her head. "I played the 'mother of his children' card," Ren joked with a small smile, her green eyes studying him closely. Whatever it was that left him appearing so… so… adrift, it was serious. She didn't like seeing him this way. It was out of balance with her universe when Gunny didn't know what to do. Being in control and always being able to get stuff done was how she saw him. "Gets me out of all kinds of stuff. What's up Gunny?" Ren asked, lifting her own beer to her lips to take a sip.

Derick didn't say anything for a moment, fiddling with the label on his beer bottle. Hell, he didn't know what was up. Well... Derick did know, what he didn't know was how he felt about it. "Tom and Sloane are back," he began, needing to go at his own pace.

"Gabe mentioned it," Ren replied automatically, thinking that such news should actually be the cause of celebration. Until five days ago, when the only intel they had was of the Potemkin's destruction and the fact that both Tom and Sloane were MIA, the friends left behind were worried sick. The decision to refuse authorisation of another mission into Dominion space had weighed heavily on Gabe's mind. As much as he wanted to, he had to think of the practicalities of such a request and only in private with her, had Ren understood how hard that decision had been on him to make. Fortunately, Sloane and Tom had been found, safe and he had been the first to tell her the news because secretly, he was relieved that they weren't just abandoned in enemy territory.

And yet, Derick's reaction was not one of joy and that puzzled Ren to no end. "You're not happy, are you?" She looked at him with confusion. Derick had been the most vocal proponent of a rescue mission into Dominion space. He had been the one who petitioned it to Gabe in the first place. So how could this be? It couldn't be because they were back, she would never believe that of Derick. No, it was something else. "What is it?" Ren asked, reaching across the table and grabbing his forearm in support, hoping her touch would make it easier to say.

Turning his hand up, he caught her arm and squeezed, eyes briefly settling on hers before they went back to nothing. Where to start? "I think they're together," he said simply, frowning. Whatever was in his gut twisted again and why? Hell, Derick didn't know. Had no claims over Sloane anymore. Even though he still loved her, that feeling had become more that of caring for a long time and very close friend.

"Together?" Ren stared back at Derick for a moment before it sunk in what he was talking about. Oh… together. "Are you sure?" she asked although, to tell the truth, the news didn't surprise her as much as it should. After that night when the Captain had gotten drunk at Brasov, Ren had wondered if there wasn't more to Tom and Sloane's relationship.

"No... not really." He let out a dry laugh. "I mean.. fuck, I don't know. I just.. he looks at her like he looked at Alex. You remember when they went to Risa?" Derick looked up at Ren finally. "You know how Risians are. They make the Randolph boys look like monks. One of them got into their heads that Tom and Sloane couldn't be just friends, right. Spiked a ..a cake. They did the deed on the way back. One thing or another and Sloane was with Mercer for a while." Nice guy, just.. crunchy. "Now.. " Derick frowned. "Now.. fuck if I know. He's my best friend and if she makes him happy... that's what counts. Right?" He looked back up to Ren, honestly, seriously needing her answer.

Ren took another sip of her beer watching Derick, listening without interruption as he poured out his heart to her. Only when he was done, did she speak. She didn't comment on the part about the Risians slipping the two an aphrodisiac because that was just a catalyst but there had been intimacy way before that, Ren was sure of it.

"This isn't exactly a new thing, Gunny," Ren spoke after a moment. "They've served together for fifteen years, there's bound to have been something between them long before it got to well.. this. Whatever this is. Did you and the Captain ever talk about that? I mean, we know how you felt about her but did you ever ask him how he felt about Sloane?"

Almost answering, Derick caught whatever he was going to say about Alex and paused. Had he? The answer sunk into his gut even deeper than the realization from earlier. Mostly because the answer was no. Jesus Christ. And all those years... If Derick could have physically shrunk, he would have. He tried to say something again.. and couldn't.

It didn't take a genius for Ren to realize that he hadn't. "I'm guessing that's a no." She squeezed his hand tighter. "Look, he should have said something." But then Ren reconsidered. Would he though? If Tom thought Derick was in love with Sloane, would the Captain have told his best friend he had feelings for her? No, she realized. He wouldn't. Tom Merrick held some things pretty close to his chest.

"I should have asked... but.. " Derick shook his head. How could he have known? He rubbed a hand through his closely-cropped hair, scrubbing the back of it. "I mean.. there was Alex and before that... " He shrugged, no closer to feeling any better and certainly no closer to explaining just why he felt this way. "I feel like shit now."

"Don't," she said comfortingly. "You couldn't have known and if he didn't choose to tell you then it's not you fault. I'm just saying that there was always something close between them and now it's… it's evolved. The question you have to ask yourself is whether or not you can live with it."

"I.. " Until Ren had verbalized the question, Derick hadn't had an answer. "I can." He nodded, a frown on his face. "Iwill. I know I don't want to lose him as a friend. We're tighter than that.. he's my best friend. Ever. Next to a certain red-head." He flashed Ren a tired grin, squeezing her hand and like someone given oxygen, Derick inhaled deeply and nodded again. As if saying that reminded him that their friendship ran deep, like blood itself and in the end, his friends deserved to be happy. Tom and Sloane especially and Derick knew he'd give his life for either of them. "I'll be okay." This time, he gave Ren a slight smile.

"I know you will," Ren said, returning his smile. "Think of it this way, two people you care about have found each other. You've got Ellie and you're happy with her, try to be happy for them. If you want my advice, I think you should talk to Sloane because, sure as hell, she'll be feeling just as awkward as you are about this. As for the Captain..." She met his gaze. "He'd do anything for you. If anything is worrying him about this thing between him and Sloane, I'd say this would be it."

"I will talk to her." If anything to tell her that he wanted her to be happy and if that was Tom, hell.. Derick was big enough to let it happen. "You're a good friend Ren and yeah, I am.. very happy with Ellie." He offered another smile, a little more this time. "I'd do anything for you, for both of them and, like I said, I'd rather have them happy then staying apart because of me. I couldn't be that selfish." He squeezed Ren's hand again.

"You're a good guy, Gunny," Ren said it in all earnestness. "I think we're lucky to have you as a friend and no, you could never be selfish. You've proven how much you care time and time again. I think you need to be honest with the Captain, tell him what's on your mind. Even if you think it will bother him, it's better that you both have it out than not say a word. Shark men are all the same that way." A faint smile crossed her lips. "You guys never find it easy to say what's in the heart. Sometimes, you need to."

"How'd you get so wise?" Smiling at her, Derick nodded."I will talk to him. Just.. not tonight. He's had enough crap lately but I will talk to him." Squeezing her hand, he finally let it go and finished off the last bit of his beer. With a sigh, he set the bottle on the table and leaned back. "So, Ellie's on Betazed, filming. Want to catch a game of pool?" he said, a moment before the irony hit him. He and Sloane, they had opened with a game of pool.. and now, he knew he could finally close that chapter.

"Sure." Ren smiled, recognising the nostalgia in his eyes when he asked the question and having heard the story about him and Sloane, some time ago, guessed what was in his head. "But," she added with a smirk. "If you think I'm going to climb over you after we kick each other's asses, I can tell you right now you missed that boat, Gunny." She winked before draining her bottle and slamming it on the table.

Smiling at her, Derick winked. "Kind of glad for that now," he said, getting to his feet and offering her a hand up. "You're happy with Gabe, right?" he asked, pulling her to her feet.

Taking his hand as he helped her out of the booth, Ren let him have a perfectly evil smile and replied, "Thrice, Gunny. Thrice."

"Just proves he is the Iron Colonel." Derick smirked back. "I think my heart would have stopped. C'mon. Rack 'em, Red. I bet you a night of babysitting, if you beat me."

Did he just offer babysitting??? And he'd made fairly serious decisions tonight, hadn't he?

Derick smiled... wondering just when had he grown up?

[do]

~~~~
BACK AT EARTH QUARTER
MERRICK'S RESIDENCE

Food eaten (some leftover Altarian flambé dessert included) and washing up done, Sloane was walking into the lounge while Tom went to check on Lexie.

Standing in front of the couch, Sloane was undecided. Should she stay or should she leave them to have a normal father-daughter morning? Part of her definitely couldn't see herself walk out that door tonight to go find an empty bed in a cold house, but her logical side told her it was probably the thing to do. She knew Tom would want her to stay - he'd made that much clear already - but that didn't mean it was the sensible thing to do. Besides, them deciding to give this a go didn't mean her moving in, did it? What did it mean exactly, Sloane wasn't sure... dating maybe? After the intense two weeks they'd just had, that almost sounded trite.

"Okay," she muttered to herself, grabbing the remote and kicking her boots off before she sat down. Middle of the couch or to one side? Sitting ramrod straight or slouching down? This was ridiculous. Turning the screen on, she brought up the local news feed and went with two-thirds of the way along and her legs brought up to her chest. All that with trying to look bloody nonchalant.

Hey, she never claimed to be a good actress.

Checking on Lexie after dinner, the little girl was very much fast asleep. Tom wasn't sure what she had been up to these past few days but she did seem tired if how quickly she fell asleep was any indication. Making sure that she was alright, Tom close the door behind him again, leaving just enough for her night light to be seen before making his way into the living room.

He was trying not to think about Derick, trying not to work himself into a lather at just how big a problem his best friend might have with this relationship with Sloane but Tom knew giving her up was not an option. Not after the last two weeks. He was head over heels and he knew it. And the fifteen years it had taken them to get to this point made it all the more sweeter. Tom did think that Derick would deal eventually but right now, there was no denying that it was an adjustment for all of them.

Returning to the living room, he paused a moment, he walked in as Sloane was doing something on his couch that was akin to fidgeting uncomfortably or trying to get comfortable. He hadn't worked out what. Taking cautious steps, in case he'd done something wrong and needed to do some fast talking, Tom stared at her and asked, "You right?"

Sloane turned her head so fast towards him that she killed any chance at appearing remotely relaxed. "Yes..."

What the hell was that about? Tom noted her sudden jerky movement. Deciding that it was safe to approach even if he wasn't certain what was going on, Tom lowered herself into the seat next to her, throwing his arm around her shoulders and asking, "What's up, luv? You look tense."

Rolling her eyes at her own stupidity, she leaned into him, already feeling the soothing effect his proximity had on her. "Just over-thinking, as usual..." If life was like the job, she'd be fine. She never second-guessed herself on the field; she just trusted herself, her training, her gut. Why couldn't she just go with her instincts on this too? "Lexie's good?"

"She's asleep," Tom nodded. "Looks like she's had a rough couple of days so seeing us back probably put her mind at ease a bit, allowed her to get a goodnight sleep." Allowing her to fit comfortably against him, he looked at her and asked, "What are you over thinking?" Alex used to do that too but for obvious reasons Tom wasn't voicing that observation.

"Aw, nothing... everything," she let out on a sigh before she met his gaze, which she felt on her face. She smiled deridingly. "Like where to sit, what you'd want... where to sleep. I'm an idiot."

"Ah," Tom understood once she got to the end of that somewhat stilted sentence. Kissing her on the forehead, he said gently, "You're not an idiot, luv, and I'd like you to stay here tonight with me. Just one more night where we can leave the wolf at the door and not think about things. Tomorrow, we'll figure out where we go from here."

Sloane studied his face carefully, his hazel eyes drawing her in and his words so what she needed to hear right now that she wondered how Alex could ever complain about his ways. He had so much more sense than Sloane would ever have. She leaned in and kissed him on the mouth, chaste and soft. "Okay."

Derick weighed heavily on them both, that much was obvious, but there was nothing they could do about that tonight.

With a smile, he pulled her towards him again, planting a soft kiss on her cheek that was devoid of the lust that was a staple of the last five days. For the moment, he was content to hold her, to enjoy the quiet that they had frankly earned after a week in enemy territory.

She seemed to unfold, letting go of her legs so they could stretch on the side of her, the ball of nerve finally unknotting. She stayed against him, moulding herself to his side, head finding a comfy spot just below his collarbone. "I think Hayes lost the battle," she said, talking about some bit of news that had scrolled by. "They're going to have those pink things up in Town Square."

"Nice," Tom grumbled as he thought of Archer Square painted pink. "Marvin will bloody love it." Bugger, he shouldn't have said that because now Tom was left with the image of the he/she who wanted him to call her/him/it...whatever.

"Marvin... you just can't get her out of your mind, can you? You called her Melissa that night... or Belinda. Can't remember." She smiled wickedly. "You were quite taken..."

"I was not," Tom said hotly. "I knew there was a good reason I couldn't bloody remember her name." He fumed at the thought he had been duped and then added, "You got to give them doc who gave her those boobs credit thought. They looked pretty bloody real. I mean..." He pulled the collar of Sloane's t-shirt and looked down. "There's not much difference between those fake ones and yours," he teased, preparing to be hit.

Sloane pulled away, swatting at his hands. "That's because we share the same doctor, you ass!" she deadpanned.

"No way, yours are real," Tom protested, laughing. "I didn't see any zipper marks where you'd put in the, you know... implants or water balloons."

Sloane chuckled. "Like you're some kind of authority and we can just trust you on that..." she teased. After all, he'd mistaken a man for a woman and his fake boobs for real ones.

"When I'm sober, I'm a perfect bloody judge of character and after this morning, I will never...ever..touch a drink again just to avoid making that mistake."

"Whatever motivates you, Tommy." She winked. "But I think my boobs are off limits for you for a while..."

"You're bloody kidding, right?" Tom looked at her in mock horror. "What would we have to talk about then?" He grinned.

"You better think of something," she retorted, eyes narrowing. "I won't have you insult them by comparing them to some cross-dresser's pair... and if it was only that, but no, you had to go and say there wasn't any difference. That hurt, that did..." She tried not to smile. "So yeah, no more boobs for you."

"But I get to play with the rest of you, right?" Tom tried not to smirk. "I mean I can live without the boobs, for awhile at least."

"Yeah, I guess you do," Sloane said, feigning interest in the news. If there was one thing she'd learned about Tom Merrick, it was that he was a boob man. She didn't know how long he'd actually manage with hers off-limits.

"Well, I can live with that." Tom grinned, reaching for her again. "If not we were going to have a bloody problem."

"Oh, really?" She raised an eyebrow, letting him pulling her close again. "Didn't get enough on the NX?"

Nuzzling her neck, he said in her ear, "Never get enough of you, luv." His lips moved up her neck, kissing, nibbling.

Christ, Sloane thought as goose bumps spread across her skin, a wave of warmth following close behind. A handful of strategically well-placed kisses and her damn body was his. "Nice to know..."

Mindful of the boob ban, Tom caressed her arm moving up the length of it before reaching long, slender fingers which he promptly lifted to his lips and planted soft kisses against the finger tips.

Smiling, Sloane watched him intently, feeling the feathered touch of his lips. Hard to reconcile this man with the MACO groundpounder she knew on the field.

The last five days, he had opportunity to study every part of her body and there wasn't an inch of it that Tom Merrick didn't love (boobs not withstanding). For a woman who was as MACO as they got, Sloane was surprisingly soft and Tom had enjoyed every moment discovering just how feminine she was under that tough Shark exterior. Returning his kisses to her neck again, he whispered in her ear, "How about we go to bed, luv?"

Sloane smiled again, her head tilting towards him in reflex to the tickling feeling his hot breath on skin created. "Okay." She nuzzled his neck and jaw until she found his mouth and kissed him. "Okay."

She felt butterflies in her stomach at the thought. This wasn't the house he had shared with Alex. It wasn't their bedroom, but it still felt a little strange to her nonetheless.

For a few minutes Tom was content to remain on the sofa while they indulged each other with heated kisses. He couldn't get enough of her even after almost two weeks alone, first on Jeraddo and then on the NX-01. Feeling light-headed by how good it was to breathe in her scent, to touch her skin and have her touch him, they stayed like that for a few moments longer before he pulled away and stood up, taking her hand to lead her into the bedroom following her heated consent.

Her hand in his, Sloane felt a connection, like an electrical current, and she barely noticed the walk to the bedroom. She just followed close, her body touching his as they moved and wishing there was already not a stitch of clothing between them. She wouldn't have been able to tell, but her breathing had already quickened and it was like she was waiting behind the starting line for the go signal, lust and need clear in her body language.

The instant the door closed behind them and Tom was careful to ensure that it was shut appropriately, he was on her, arms wrapping around her body, mouth searching for her lips, needing to feel the closeness of her against him once more. The last five days, he had lived and breathed her and now that they were back on Gaia, Tom didn't know he wanted that to end. Tomorrow was something he didn't want to think about yet but tonight, tonight was theirs.

"Shit, Tom," Sloane gasped, overwhelmed by his want and sudden grab for her. Melting against him, her mouth fusing to his, she found she was actually meeting him halfway, her own need eating at her until she was pawing off his clothes, seeking contact, skin on skin.

Just like before, Tom was tugging at her shirt, while simultaneously lifting his arms so that she could remove his own. They clawed at each other feverishly, competing in a race to see who could get the other naked first. When he stripped off her t-shirt and discarded it, Tom found her breasts, enclosing generous lips around one and kneading the other. He spared only a second to add, "No comparison. These are bloody perfect."

Sloane bit back a moan before her head cleared enough to pull on his ear. "Not so fast." She tugged until he groaned and his mouth left her nipple. "You're still in the doghouse regarding these," she explained, a wicked grin on her face. "Now take these damn pants off," she nearly growled.

Bugger, he forgot about that and straightened up. "You're a hard woman, luv," he complained before going back to her mouth, while at the same time obeying the order to remove his pants. Unfastening the buttons, he pushed down them down past his hips before kicking them off entirely.

Sloane kicked hers off seconds after him and, pulling back from another searing kiss, she took a few moments to look at him with hungry eyes. Oh, yes, she knew him. She'd mapped his entire body in the last few days, but it only stoked her need for him even more. Her hands found his shoulders and felt down his torso, teasing nipples as they went past, caressed his ribs almost in reverence, to come against the ripple of his abs. When she reached the soft trail of hair that led to his hardness, Sloane smiled softly before falling to her knees before him, her mouth leaving wet kisses from his left hip to the base of his cock.

Tom closed his eyes, savouring the sensation of her taking charge, appreciating her touch as she charted terrain she already knew so well. His abs clenched as he felt her warm breath against his stomach, knotting in anticipation. Jesus Christ on a crutch, how hard she made him was unbelievable. His fingers threaded her hair and Tom felt his breath catch when her tongue made contact with his cock. The anticipation he felt waiting for her mouth to do her worst was damn near maddening.

Her tongue travelled from base to tip before her mouth wrapped around the head briefly before letting him go with a pop. "What do you want?" she asked, voice husky and lower than usual, arousal colouring her eyes and tone.

Mesmerized by the journey her tongue took up and over his cock, Tom let out of a soft groan of pleasure that came to an abrupt halt when she released him and demanded that hungry question. The look in her eyes turned him on so much, that if she were the enemy, he would have told her anything she wanted to hear. As it was, he barely managed to squeeze out, "You tell me." He stared at her intently, mouth dry and cock harder than a nail, waiting for her mouth to deliver bliss again.

"I'd say you want me to give you head..." She licked him again with the flat of her tongue. "But the real question is," and she knew she'd get shot for this, "whether you'd prefer Marvin to do it..." There, that would just about do it for what he'd said earlier about her breasts.

Tom looked down and glared at her through narrowed eyes. "McRae, you're killing me AND the moment. Better give me something to get rid of the image you just put in my head or we're both going to be disappointed tonight."

"The only thing you deserve is a throttling," Sloane let out with a chuckle. "But I'm a reasonable woman. I'll at least give you your hard-on back."

"You're all heart, luv," he said, still finding it damn sexy to have her on her knees in front of him. Still painfully aware of her and how fucking fantastic she looked like that.

And it was true, that image had sapped some life out of him. Taking his cock into her mouth, Sloane applied herself at erasing all traces of that, coaxing it to its former glory. After all, it would be for her as much as for him. Her hands cupping his ass, her tongue lapped and her lips kissed and her mouth sucked, taking him deep every so often just to watch Tom's toes curling in the carpet.

"Oh Christ," he groaned, low from the bottom of his gut as he felt her throating him, until he had to fight to restrain himself through gritted teeth because he could get very vocal when she did this. Christ, the woman knew how to give amazing head. "Jesus, you feel so good," he said, stroking her hair, trying not to thrust forward into that welcome channel of heat.

Humming in response, Sloane's fingers dug in that gorgeously toned ass of his, letting him know it was alright to move a little, that she was willing to take it. Relaxing her throat, her mouth slid down on his cock again, relishing the feel of him, the shudders she felt go through his thighs.

Permission given, Tom let out a sigh as his hips began to move, following the rhythm of that incredible mouth. Jesus, in one week Tom had learned that Sloane may well give the greatest head in the galaxy. Or he could be seriously biased. Either way, he didn't care as long as she kept doing it.

"Oh yeah, baby," he grunted softly. "That's it, oh Christ, that's it."

God, it was intoxicating. He never held back with her and Sloane loved him for it. He wasn't ashamed of letting her know what he liked, how he liked it, and it only pleased her to oblige.

She moved with him, following his pattern, anticipating his jerky moves when she grazed him with her teeth lightly, and she went along for a while until she sensed he was damn close. While she would have loved for him to finish in her mouth, down her throat, Sloane had other plans. She slowed down, pulling him back from the edge as gently as she could, before she let him slip out of her mouth, looking up at his face.

Half senseless from what she did to to him, Tom met Sloane's eyes with a returning gaze of naked lust. Instead of lifting her off the floor, he shifted position and joined her on the floor, kneeling behind her as he wrapped an arm around her stomach and slid fingers between her legs, ensuring that gloriously tight passage was sufficiently whetted.

Oh shit. Just by the look in his eyes, Sloane knew she was in trouble. He was cranked up and she was going to pay for leaving him... well, hanging so to speak. When he joined her, grabbing her from behind, she couldn't help the low moan of appreciation leaving her unchecked. His fingers found her and she was more than ready. She'd been wet for him ever since he had whispered the word bed to her back in the lounge. Giving him head had only accentuated that. The inside of her thighs were probably slick as well. Holding her breath, she waited with much anticipation.

Jesus Christ on a crutch, Tom groaned when tentative exploration told him just how ready she was and that wanting rumble that came from her throat told him something else too, told him she wanted him to take her and hard. It was a primal call he was more than happy to answer as he placed his hands on her hips, let his cock lead the charge and bury himself into her waiting depths. She was so wet and slick that Tom's journey inside that taut passage seemed endless, until he was fully sheathed by her. And just to ensure that he was all the way in, Tom pulled at her hips, driving himself just a little deeper so he could feel the shockwaves travelling up his cock when he hit the end and couldn't go any further.

Sloane let out a groan, a long drawn out groan that ended on a hitchy breath as she brought her fist to her mouth to prevent herself from crying out loud. "Jesusfuckingchristyoufeelgood," she panted, pushing herself back on him like she could take any more.

"Yeah baby." He closed his eyes, barely able to form thought as he began to pump earnestly into that tight hot passage, his hands holding onto her hips, the muscles of his ass flexing with each thrust. So deep, she took him so damn deep, he thought to himself as his brow knotted and he proceeded to piston in and out of her like his whole life depended on it. The positioning made the strokes long, hard and intense. Until Tom's eyes were clamped shut, his teeth gritted to keep from coming too soon. "Oh baby, you feel so fucking good.." he whispered.

Gabbing hold of the edge of the bed, Sloane bunched up the covers and buried her face in them, her moans and groans better muffled that way, while her hands found better purchase for her to push back against his cock, meeting his hips on each inward thrusts. She loved this one, loved how it offered deeper penetration and long, amazing slides. "Fuck, cariad, yeah."

Arched back, she was already tightening around him, her pleasure building up quickly, as it always did in this position, and soon a sharp spark made her ground against him, missing her counterpoint, but it was so exquisite she bucked against him again twice and she was there, taut muscles milking him as she climaxed, her eyes nearly rolling back. "Merrick, fuck, Tom!" she cried out in the duvet, still moving her hips back and forth, not wanting it to end. He could keep her on this plateau until she turned into a shivering, quivering puddle of jelly if he wanted - not that she would ever tell him.

If Tom had presence of mind to think clearly, he would have realised that he had stumbled onto some great secret about Sloane McRae that left him pleasantly surprised. Their lovemaking to date had been brutally raw. It was all about pushing boundaries. Fuck, they'd been in handcuffs at one point but her reaction to the way she was being taken now, frankly left him astonished and thanking the almighty for this little piece of heaven. He loved fucking a woman this way because it allowed for deep penetration and gave him a sense of ownership that was very base and very male. That Sloane loved it as much, possibly even more, was like winning the bloody lottery.

Pumping into her, putting his back into it until the world became the sound of their flesh, meeting wetly together, Tom was pounding so relentless into Sloane, he could feel his balls slapping against her smooth skin. The sensation of that hiked up the experience to another notch if such a thing was possible. When she called his name in the midst of contracting that glorious sheathe around his cock so tightly it felt like a second skin, Tom almost cried out himself but managed to channel his own expressions of pleasure into a final, powerful thrust before he let go to came right along with her.

Emptying his seed deep in her core, Tom felt the scattered remains of his thoughts, scrambling together, trying to form words and only one seemed to fit as he planted a soft kiss on her cheek, his arm encircling her stomach to hold her close as they both remained there on their knees, shaking.

"Anwylyd," he whispered into her ear.

Like cariad, it meant beloved.

"Oh, baby," Sloane panted in surprise, weakly straightening up, trying to turn her head back to kiss him. The word from her own tongue, almost pronounced correctly but made all the more perfect uttered by him, pulled at her insides so sharply that had she not been so spent, he would have made her come again, right on the tail of her previous orgasm.

Lifting up just enough so the both of them could tumble into bed a mass of sweaty, tangled flesh, Tom completed the kiss she tried to deliver, spending a few seconds bringing closure to their lovemaking with a series of tender kisses. "I figured," he said softly, "if you were going to say nice words to me, I thought I'd better to do the same." He smiled, brushing the damp strands of her hair out of her eyes.

Sloane smiled in return before nuzzling his cheek and neck. Cariad. She knew she'd called him that in the throes of passion a few times, his relentlessness wrenching the term of endearment out of her, but she hadn't realised he'd noticed. It wasn't something she'd ever called anyone else. "Didn't know you were paying attention..." When the hell had he had a chance to look up its meaning?

Fuck, she was falling hard. And the way he'd just taken her, like he knew it was what she needed, the loss of control, yeah, to be taken, made his... he would totally own her. It felt good but it also scared the hell out of her.

"Oh, when I was able to think again," Tom smirked, pleased that the use of the word had effect. "I looked it up when we got back to the ship. You know while you were sleeping after I'd worn you out." He winked.

Always a smug bastard, she thought, grinning. "Thank you," she whispered, capturing his mouth, wondering if he had any idea how touched she was.

His expression sobered and he stared at her, no hint of smirking or teasing. "I won't give you up, Sloane, I can't. You're in my heart now."

Hell, and he was bloody barging in hers too. She swallowed, frowning, because this whole thing with Derick had potential to fuck things up so bad, and followed the lines of his face with her hand, wishing she could tell him everything would be alright. "I don't wish to give you up either, cariad." She tried to smile, but the whole weight of tomorrow had somehow found its way back to them, in this closed bedroom. "Anwylyd."

Hearing the word uttered back to him made him smile, made him happier than he had the right to be considering the uncertain situation with Derick. Pulling her close to him in an embrace, he kissed her forehead. "Let's not think about it tonight. It will be there in the morning."

"Yeah." Best to leave it till tomorrow when they could do something about it. She snuggled against him. "So, are we going to sleep now for a bit or what?"

Pulling the covers over them both, he pulled her close to him. "Yeah, for a bit. Can't promise I won't wake you up sometime tonight though." He met her tease with one of his own.

"Be my guest." She winked.


~~~~
HOURS LATER

The first thing that Lexie noted when she climbed out of bed that morning, was that daddy's door was closed. His door was never closed.

There might have been a time when it was closed but if there was, she didn't remember it. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, small hand still clutching Mervyn, the little girl padded across the floor, her feet too small to make sounds on the floorboards as she twisted the door knob and entered the room.

Daddy was still asleep. This too was strange because he was always awake before she was. Maybe being away for so many days working had made him tired. She got tired when she did a lot of things and slept until Meda woke her up. Moving silently along the bed, she could see daddy asleep and was about to climb into bed when she realised....

Tugging at the exposed arm, she leaned in close and asked, "Aunty Sloane, why are you sleeping in daddy's bed?"

Sloane cracked an eye open, fighting the panic that threatened to swallow her whole. This was exactly why she had thought best last night to go home. Jesus F-ing Christ. Why wasn't Tom bloody Ian Merrick handling this? Sloane took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Hi, kiddo. Slept well?" Sloane asked, raising her head from a tangle of sheet and pillow. Best response was to evade the question, if she could.

"Yes," she nodded, hair bobbing off her shoulders. "Can I have cookies?" she asked, seeing as to how daddy wasn't awake and she could get cookies out of Aunty Sloane because Aunty Sloane was sharing daddy's bed because hers must be broke or something.

"You hungry, huh?" Another question to deflect any promise of sweets for breakfast. She ruffled Lexie's hair. "Let's go see what we can find in the cupboard..."

Sloane started pushing the duvet away from her and stopped almost immediately, downright mortified. Fuck. She was naked as the day she was born and while she could spy bits of clothing here and there on the floor and chest of drawers, there was nothing there she could be comfortable with asking a four year old to pick up and bring to her. Putting on daddy's t-shirt seemed downright indecent.

She glanced at Tom next to her, a bit of elbow sticking out and a cheek with downright sexy eyelashes resting against it (okay, don't GO there) but other than that, the bugger was still snoring softly. Who had worn out whom, huh, fancy pants?

"Lexie, honey," Sloane spoke quietly. "Mind going to the kitchen to set the table? I'll be there in a tic..."

"Okay," Lexie nodded, oblivious to the clothing drama. "Can I have milk too?"

"Of course... and maybe some banana?" Sloane caressed the child's arm. "Go on. Who gets there last, gets to sniff Uncle Drick's sweaty socks!"

With that, Lexie threw herself out of the bedroom in a mad dash.

Crisis somewhat averted, Sloane let out a shuddering breath before she steeled herself for more. She turned to Tom again, wanting to kiss him good morning, but decided the bugger didn't deserve it.

Smiling to herself, she got up and proceeded to pick her clothes up on the way to the bathroom. Two minutes later, Sloane emerged with a fresher face if nothing else. Her mane had been tamed into a messy bun and her clothes were back on, in some form of order or other.

"How about cereals instead, huh? Brown or blue?" Sloane asked as she entered the kitchen, referring to the packaging like Lexie did.

Although somewhat puzzled by the whole Aunty Sloane in daddy's bed business, Lexie was happy to see her nonetheless. "Blue." She said climbing onto the chair at the kitchen table.

"Blue it is." While most of it came to Sloane naturally, a lot of it she had picked up from Alex and Meda, and looking at the semblance of table setting the girl had done in a couple of minutes, Sloane reminded herself to compliment Lexie. "Wow, look at that table! Well done, sweetie. I'll get the bowls, shall I?"

Spoons were joined by a full set of forks and knives from the kitchen drawer and her play plastic plates and cups. Lexie had even brought some of her toy fruit and vegs, carved in wood and painted in bright colours. Derick had brought that back for her from the market, Sloane remembered. Looking out the kitchen window for a second, lost in thought, Sloane hoped Der would come around.

"Here," she shook herself, bringing the milk and cereals to the table.

*

The first thing that Tom became aware of when he woke up that morning was that Sloane was gone. The warm place next to him felt uncomfortably empty as his arm sought her out and that alone was enough to rouse him from his slumber.

The second thing he noticed was what time. It was late. Not late for most people but usually past the time that Lexie was awake. Tom sat up immediately in his bed, looking around and noting that Sloane's clothes were gone and he could hear voices. Bugger. He had hoped to wake up before Lexie but the marathon sex he and Sloane had last night blew that plan right out of the water. Nearly jumping out of bed, he slipped on his boxers and pants before making his way out to the kitchen to greet the two most important women in his life.

"Good morning."

"Morning." Sloane looked up from Lexie's face, as the two had been in deep conversation about which teddy preferred the purple dress and why, and gave Tom a smile. She couldn't say it was the first time she'd woken up to him in some way in the morning, because that had happened a lot since Alex's passing and in an even more intimate manner the past two weeks, but this felt different. Drastically different, in fact. Sloane found she liked it. A lot.

"Joining us?"

Lexie turned to look at her dad with an air of disdain. "You sleep a lot," she said around a mouthful of cereals.

"Sorry, luv," Tom said, coming over to them both and leaning over to kiss Lexie on the forehead before automatically giving Sloane a little kiss on the cheek, almost out of reflex, before sitting down at the spare seat at the table. "Been working hard," he explained.

That had to be the understatement of the century.

Lexie watched the curious behaviour between daddy and Aunty Sloane with curiosity. "Aunty Sloane was sleeping in your bed," she pointed out dutifully.

Tom shot Sloane a look. Well, that answered how Lexie found them this morning.

"Oh." Tom straightened up, trying to think of how to explain. "Uhm... she was tired too." He almost winced at the explanation because it sucked that badly.

Sloane just looked at him, a little dumbfounded. That was it? She hoped he planned on talking to his daughter at some point because this would not cut it. Children had an uncanny ability to be totally oblivious to certain things yet totally clue into others.

"Oh." Lexie seemed to think on it. "I thought there was something wrong with her bed," she said with a shrug.

Sloane's eyebrow raised before she dipped her head, staring at her near empty bowl of cereal. There was some interesting Mandelbrot pattern there she couldn't miss.

Yeah, its not here, Tom thought silently and met Sloane's gaze, trying really hard not to smirk.

"Well...uhm..." Tom stuttered, trying to answer that statement. "No, there's nothing wrong with her bed. Aunty Sloane thought she'd visit us for a bit. You know like she does all the time..." except now she and daddy are doing the tumble like minxes in his bedroom. Try again, Tommy boy.

Oh. God. Sloane nearly groaned. You're so on your own there, mate. She went on with finishing her food before she could choke on it.

"Huh," Lexie shrugged, not understanding and deciding it was all too hard. "Are you taking me to school today?" She asked, moving onto subjects that she could understand.

Tom glanced at the clock on the wall. Bugger, he had to have her ready and out of the house in little under an hour. "Yeah, luv,"he nodded. "I'll take you."

"How's preschool been, Lexie?" Sloane said, once the subject moved to something less like a minefield. "I've seen you've done loads of drawings..." They peppered the place. Meda had been hanging them everywhere, most likely trying to keep the girl's mind on other things than where her dad was.

"We've been studying Vexcians," Lexie said brightly, pointing to a drawing on the wall that somewhat resembled one of the creatures that were native to Cochrane Hills. "Mrs. Henderson says I mustn't call them MULKS because Muther Fussign Lizard Kangaroos isn't very nice."

Tom was in the process of pouring himself coffee when he heard that and winced. "Did Derick teach you that, luv?"

"Uh huh..." she nodded before taking another spoon of cereal.

Sloane chuckled, despite trying not to. "Of course he did," she muttered, amused.

*

Leaving Sloane to get to her own home to clean up, Tom took Lexie to pre-school once the little girl was dressed and ready to go. As they walked along the familiar path to the Little Dolphins Play School at the far end of Earth Quarter, Tom noted his daughter's silence.

"Something wrong, luv?" Tom asked Miss Four, who seemed more pensive than normal and he wondered if his absolutely cock up at explaining things to her had only made things worse.

"Chris' Mommy and Daddy sleeps in the same bed," she spoke up.

Tom stiffened. "They do?" So much for avoiding this subject a little longer. Lexie had spent enough time at Ren's he supposed to have noted that.

"Uh huh," Lexie replied. "Did Mommy sleep in your bed?"

Tom sighed. "Yes, she did."

"How come Aunty Sloane slept in your bed? Only mommies are supposed to, right?"

Very logical, his child. She had to get that from Alex.

"Not always," he replied, deciding that if they were going to have this talk then so be it.

"She didn't before," Lexie pointed out, missing nothing.

"Things change," Tom replied, looking down at her, with her pony tails and lavender outfit that Sloane had bought her during that trip to Betazed.

"Why?" she asked.

"They just do," he answered honestly. "The thing is, luv, Sloane might be around more. She might sleep again."

Lexie was accustomed to that. "She does that already, daddy."

"She might sleep over again in my bed," Tom clarified.

"Oh," Lexie fell silent, considering. "Why?"

"Because, that's what grown-ups do sometimes."

Lexie absorbed it though she didn't quite understand exactly what this meant.

"How do you feel about that, luv?"

She shrugged her small shoulders. "I don't know." She looked ahead, thinking.

Tom left it at that for now, letting the child process. In that, she was very much like her godfather, Uncle Drick.


~~~~
PLANETIA UTOPIA QUARTER
MCRAE'S RESIDENCE

After he had left her at pre-school, Tom made his way to Utopia to see Sloane. After this morning, it was clear that they needed to have the talk they hadn't gotten around to last night. If nothing else, the morning had shown that this relationship of theirs would require adjustments to be made.

Sloane was pottering in her backyard when she spied Merrick walk on the other side of the side fence, making his way to the front of her house.

"Merrick," she called out before he disappeared completely. "I'm in the back!" Trying to save this stupid garden, she thought to herself. He had a determined look about him and she wondered what had happened since she'd left his place.

Upon hearing her call, Tom took the familiar path along side of the house which would take him to the little garden she had put so much time and effort into when she was planetside. He imagined two weeks away might have left it in something of a state and as he emerged into the little path of green she was trying to restore, he broke into a smile and remarked. "So," he asked. "How was your morning, Eve?"

"Don't make me tempt you with the apple, Adam," Sloane retorted, grinning, although it felt like she'd done that already. "Look at this," she said, sobering up as she pointed to a patch in the corner. "Lost about half of that..." She glanced at him. "You should have seen your girl finding me in her daddy's bed this morning." That's what was really on her mind; not her damn garden.

"Sorry," he winced, offering her a look of apology. "She did have a couple of questions though, on the way to school. I answered them as best I could but she's four so its anyone's guess how much of it she really understood."

"I hope you did a better job of it than at breakfast," she teased, though she really meant that. "What did she say?" Hell, what if she'd flat out told her father she didn't want to find Sloane in his bed again?

"I told her that you'd be sleeping over a bit more," Tom explained, "and that sometimes, it would be in my bed. Apparently, she's taken notes of what Hayes and Ren are doing at home, so I'm guessing she's clueing on to us being together, I suppose..." He couldn't be sure.

"She has?" Being compared to Ren and Gabe? Hell. "And she seemed okay with it?" Sloane studied his face, trying to see if he was trying to sugar-coat whatever his daughter might have said. "I guess we need to talk about all this." Sloane glanced at her house. As much as she and Merrick clicked, she wasn't sure she was prepared to move out... hell, she didn't even know if that was what he wanted.

"I think she knows that mothers and fathers share bedrooms, whether or not she's made that association with us, that's another story," Tom answered, lowering himself onto the steps leading to her back door. "I don't think we'll know whether she's okay with it until she sees it on a day to day basis."

"Speaking of day to day basis," Sloane started, dropping the pruner to the grass. She walked the few paces to crouch before him, gloved hands on his knees. "What do you want?"

Her blue eyes searched his hazel depths. "Us like we're a regular dating couple, me at your house all the time, just on weekends, two-three times a week? I..." She let out a nervous chuckled as she pulled her gloves off to throw them on the step next to him. "I'm open to what you need... what Lexie needs to make this work but just don't... I hope you're not thinking of asking me to move in." There, she'd said it.

Tom uttered a laugh. "No, not yet," he assured her. "I meant what I said back there on Jeraddo about taking our time, luv. You should have your own place and to tell the truth, it'd be easier if we can alternate a little. Get Lexie used to the idea of us being together. I want you to be a part of our lives but at a pace we both can handle. So maybe a regular dating couple with a sleepover a couple times a week?" Tom was in new territory here. With Alex, it had been simple because there was no Lexie. Not that he would change that for anything but a child did give one extra considerations. "How's that sit with you?"

"Sitting well..." She shook her head, smiling. "I remembered what you said on Jeraddo, but after this morning, I... hell." She smirked. "It was one hell of a wake up call and not one I thought I'd be facing on day one."

"You and me both," Tom replied, "Next time, it should be your place instead of mine I think." Still he had to admit, seeing Sloane there at the table with Lexie, it felt good. "Can't say it didn't look nice though. Even if it was a little too soon." Tom confessed.

"You slept through the worst of it," she said pointedly, squeezing his knees.

"Thank Christ for that," Tom grinned, reaching for her waist and pulling her closer to him. "So, luv, are we good?" he asked.

Sloane slid in between his thighs, her knees resting on the bottom step, and looked at him before giving him a kiss. "Depends..."

A brow arched. "Depends?" he asked, running fingers down her arms. "Depends on what?"

"You and Der have smoothed things over yet?"

"Not yet." Tom's cheerful expression darkened a little. "I'll catch up with him today. Thought I'd stop here first, see how you were doing."

"I'm good. We're good," she answered his question now that she knew he wouldn't wait too long to go talk to his best friend. "I was thinking of maybe catching him at the end of his shift. Once he's out of the firing range and all the weapons have been locked up," she quipped. "So let me know how you go, 'kay?" She leaned in for a kiss.

"I will," he said, savouring the kisses, finding it still somewhat surreal that fifteen years ago when he decided that she was worth giving up a swig from his bottle of scotch, that they would be in this place right now. "You sure you don't want to spend the night again?" he teased. "Maybe we'll have a better crack of explaining it to Lexie when she finds you tomorrow morning."

She gave him a killer stare. "Hell, no. Make this evening all about her and you. I don't want her to think I'm going to take you away or something. Besides, I've got a mountain of work to catch up on..."

"Fair enough," Tom agreed with that point. "Going to be tough going to bed without you though. Kind of got used to it the last two weeks." In fact, it was going be harder still waking up without her.

Sloane smiled at that. Soft Spot Merrick. Who would have thought? He was right though. Just thinking about it made her lean into him even more. "It'll be tough not seeing your snoring mug first thing in the morning, you're right," she teased. "But hey, call me if you can't fall asleep. We'll see what we can do about it then."

"Sounds good to me," he with a smile. "I guess I better go find the big bloke then. You're right about not leaving it too long."

"Well, I don't know about that but what I do know is that it's eating at us both so it sure as hell must be eating at him too. Go on then," she nudged him, pushing back up from her kneeling position.

"Right." Tom nodded, agreeing that this one thing they needed to resolve quickly as he stood up. "One thing though, I got a request from God, we have a meeting with him tomorrow. He wants a report."

Oh, Christ, that was true. "Yeah, I got the memo," Sloane quipped. "Was trying to forget about it."

Tom wasn't looking forward to this any more than he was looking forward to facing Derick. Of course, knowing Gabe, he could miss the obvious and not notice it either. "McRae, you don't think he'll notice anything do you?" She knew him better.

"He figured it out pretty damn quick for me and Der, right after that pool game marathon," Sloane said with a shrug. "That said, you've always had a way to mess with his head so if he gets some signals, he might chalk them down as just that." She remembered that meeting at the Barn very well, when Merrick had so easily led Hayes into believing he had a thing with her.

"Well I doubt it will be a problem anyway," Tom shrugged. "I mean the bloke's married for Christ sake."

"With two kids, I know." Sloane nodded. Then again, Derick was going steady too. "If anything he'll get paranoid that we had this thing going on the whole time," Sloane said, grinning. Nah, she wasn't really worried about how Gabe might take this. Not like she was for Derick. And besides, if Gabe freaked out a bit, she was certain Ren would set him straight.

"Oh, Jesus." Tom laughed, thinking on that day at the barn. "Christ, so he was easy to play back then."

"I think that's a privilege only you and I both have, Merrick."

"It took me a while to figure him out, I have to admit, but once I nailed it down," he met her gaze with a glimmer of amusement, "it wasn't all that hard at all."

"Come on," she said, still grinning, her hands looping around his belt. "You better get going before I drag you inside."

Yeah, he was delaying the inevitable. He had to go do this for the sake of his friendship with Derick. "Right, off I get then." He stepped away from the step and kissed her once more, as if it was giving him nerve.

"She'll be alright, remember? That's what you told me." She slapped his bum as she winked, trying to be encouraging.

"Since when do you listen to anything I have to say," he teased.

She chuckled. "Well, somebody's got to!"

Giving her a wink, Tom finally got going, leaving Sloane to her garden while he went to deal with someone that required almost as much care.

*

Leaving Sloane to her garden, Tom made a stop at his house first before heading out to find Derick. Getting into fatigues, he headed to where he knew the big bloke would be at this time of the day which was of course the Barn.

After two weeks away, Tom had missed the place terribly and after everything he and Sloane had seen in Dominion space; Tom felt the urgent need to restructure MACO training. Their enemy had gotten a lot bloody deadlier. However, first things first. Instead of going straight to his office, Tom instead went to see one Derick Rickman, best friend and comrade in arms, to air a few things out. Because even if Derick said everything was as fine, Tom like Sloane, was pretty certain it really wasn’t.

Derick’s abrupt departure was telling and any joy that Tom could have with Sloane in his life would be marred if that meant losing the friendship of someone who was closer to him than family.


~~~~
MEANWHILE, AT THE BARN

Maybe someone else wouldn't have slept well last night but Derick actually had, especially considering how he'd felt some four hours or so before. After two games of pool with Ren, he'd walked her back to the governor's 'residence' and headed home. He'd kept the walk back slow, pondering over Ren's very sage advice and upon returning, he'd been 'right', as both Tom and Sloane would say. Right as rain and ready to accept this new chapter in his life; in his friends lives. Maybe that pool game had been cathartic, the perfect way to close a chapter that had started in that very same room.

Upon returning home, he'd popped his head in to say hi to Jules, who was knee deep in work. Smiling at that, Derick had left him alone and sent Ellie a message to come back soon or he would need to start shaving his palms. Situation Normal.

This morning had been back to business, including handling a new batch of recruits that were still being visited by the Fuck Up Fairy.

"Alright. Newly tapped lance corporals," Derick said, eyeing the four that made up his 'Brat Pack'. In one hand, he held four padds, able to do that just because of the size of his hands. "Hartwood, Brook.. Thing One.. Thing Two..." he handed each a padd. "That's the squad listings for the new batch so get them sorted out and on the morning run. Pick your own route, I don't care as long as it's two miles. You've got plenty of time so don't worry about that. This is pretty much all we're doing this morning because this group can't seem to find their ass with a shovel. When they're done, get them back and into uniforms," he said, leaning back against his desk. Someone appeared at his officer door, catching Derick's attention. Looking up, he saw Tom standing there, without the usual smirk on his face. Giving his friend a nod and smile, Derick motioned him in and turned back to Frick, Frack, Frock and Fruke. "Any questions?"

"Maybe if they run while holding their ass, sir," Cori spoke up, a smile that cried 'I'm so innocent! NOT!' on her face. "They'll know how to find it..."

Next to her, Sean managed to capture the snort and looked down. At this stage, it was best not to look at one, even his girlfriend Mack because laughter would ensue.

Derick chuckled. "Well after today, if they don't get it together, I'll take your suggestion into consideration, Lance Corporal. Any other questions?"

"What's the capital of North Dakota?" Luke asked.

"There isn't one, smart arse," Tom snorted from the door. "It got blown to solar dust."

"Colonel." Luke glanced over his shoulder. "Good to see your, Sir."

"Pierre," Derick deadpanned, chuckling, waving them out of their office. "Get!"

Laughing, Cori grinned at Tom when she turned to leave. "Colonel! Glad to see you still in one… well built piece, sir!" she said, leading her friends out into the hall where a heartbeat later, Cori was clearly heard swatting someone. Hell, Derick didn't have to be out there to know it was Luke.

Shaking his head, Derick came off the desk, reaching a hand out to grab Tom's in greeting.

"So not much has changed in two weeks, I see. The kids are still pains in the bloody arses." Tom grinned, taking the hand offered to him, inwardly puzzled at the gesture however. "How you doing?" he asked, since that seemed to be the simplest way to get things out in the open.

"Good and yeah, they've been pains my ass so I'm doubly glad you're back," Derick offered with a wink, trying to ignore the rather pregnant air that filled the room suddenly.

"Welcome to my world." Tom offered his best friend a knowing look because this he had been waiting to say for years. "I keep getting flashbacks of you and Ren going at it," he said, pulling up a chair and sitting down. "Call it karma." He smirked.

Small talk was good, it felt normal. It didn't feel like there was a white elephant in the room.

"And like Ren would say, it's a bitch." Derick dropped into the chair near Tom, frowning as he remembered what Ren had asked him last night. "How are you doing?"

"Good." Tom nodded, meeting Derick's gaze. "Getting back into the swing of things after a week of hiding out in the bush of Jeraddo. You remember that moon, we had to clear some farmers from during the war? And then another week on the NX." Of course, neither experience had been bad, in fact on the Enterprise, neither he nor Sloane had come up for air. Probably not the time to be thinking about this, you dumb arse.

"I remember." A week of apparent decision making though really, Derick didn't fault Tom or Sloane for that. A noise out in the hall drew his attention and Derick reached over his desk, hitting the button to shut the door. Better do it anyway because if he read Tom right, there was some personal stuff on the horizon. And knowing Tom, he was probably having a hard time approaching whatever it was he wanted to talk about.

"Met up with Ren last night." Hell, if Tom was going to dance around him like this, Derick would just bring it up. Get the proverbial 'it' over with. "We had a good talk."

Figures, Tom thought silently. If Derick could talk to anyone about this, it would be Orphan Annie. "You did?" He tried to feign ignorance and then let out a sigh of resignation because it wasn't his way to be tip toe around anything. Fuck it. "Look, let's stop dancing around this like a bunch of Fleet pussies. Me and Sloane, we think… that is… she and me, we're.." he cursed struggling to find the right words. "We don't know where this thing between us is going but I think it could be good. I may be fucking too optimistic and this thing could crash and burn but I know how you felt about her once and I need to know you're going to be okay with this. Bugger, we both need to know."

Thankfully, Derick had that answer ready. "Yes," he said with a single nod, looking Tom in the eye. "I'm okay with it," he said and he was, having made his peace with Ren's help. He frowned slightly though and continued. "You are the best friend I've ever had and Sloane is.. a very good friend as well and..." He smiled this time, Tom's thing about 'we' registering. "Thanks for thinking about me, though. Seriously."

"Don't be daft," Tom snorted, looking at him as if he were mad to think otherwise. "Of course, I'd be thinking about you. I mean this whole thing came out of nowhere." Okay, maybe that was a bit of a lie. "Alright, maybe not nowhere, I mean the time never seemed to be right for me and Sloane, you know? When we first met and then that business on the Ganges, I did think about it but you know what a fucking mess I was back then, I didn't want to do that to her. I saw what my old man did to my mom; I wasn't putting her through that. And then later, it was just one thing after another so the time was never right for it. This is the first time, I think, we're in the right place at the right to make a go of it."

Letting him talk, Derick listened although part of him wondered what else had he missed about his friend over the years? "You know, Ren pointed that out.. but she also made me realize that I never asked you how you felt about her. I think I was more bothered by the fact I hadn't, and I didn't mean to cut out last night like that. Had to work through it, you know? But really... we're cool. She's .. a great lady."

Relieved that Derick was okay with this because Tom didn't want to even contemplate the ramifications if he wasn't, Derick's remark about asking made Tom stare at his friend. He remembered when Derick had first brought up his fascination with Sloane McRae and Tom recalled feeling a slight knot in his gut but then he dismissed it, thinking nothing could ever come of it. By the time Tom had learnt otherwise, Alex was in his life already and the sting was barely noticeable this time.

"I could have said how I felt but I didn't," Tom spoke after a minute. "That's not your fault, that's mine and in the end, it was better that things worked out they way they did. I wouldn't trade what I had with Alex or my little girl for anything. And I'm glad you're okay with this because I would have felt like a right bastard if you weren't."

Moving on from any lingering awkwardness, Tom broke into a smile and asked, "So, if you're alright about this and we're all good, how about you come over for some grub tonight? Lexie missed you last night."

Pausing for a second, Derick grinned. "As long as Sloane's cooking and you're not," he joked. "I'll be there." Just like he would always be there for Tom and for Sloane.

No matter what.

"You're out of luck, mate." Tom shook his head. "Just you, me and Lexie tonight. Sloane's got her stuff to deal with and we don't want to rush things." After his discussion with Sloane not long ago, the decision to take things at an easy pace for the sake of friends and for Lexie seemed like a good one.

Ah.. Derick chuckled. "I've survived this long on your cooking and Lexie likes it so yeah. I'll be there anyway."

"You bring the beer," Tom declared, breathing a little easier now that the air was cleared between them. "And I'll even do take out from Beasts, I think my kid's traumatized enough after today."

"Lex?" Derick shook his head. "Nah, I don't... " He stopped for a moment. "What happened? Today?" he asked, ready to terrorize who ever would need it had they messed with his LexieDexie.

"Nothing serious," Tom grumbled and wondered if he should tell Derick about this but supposed he better since it was all possible that Lexie might bring it up. "She found Sloane in my room this morning."

"Oh..." He paused. "Ohhhh.... " Derick eyed Tom. "She okay? Lexie...?"

"Oh, she's fine," Tom assured him, aware that Derick's love for his child almost rivalled his own. "I mean, I was asleep, she didn't see anything I'm going to have to take her to D'Tella about but she did want to know why Sloane was in daddy's bed, which made for interesting conversation when I took her to school."

"Ahh.. ok... " Taking Tom's word for it, Derick grinned. "Well, that was gonna happen at some point."

"I suppose, it's part of the reason why Sloane and I are taking this easy for a bit. I need to ease Lexie into this. It's one thing having Sloane around on a regular basis to, you know... what we've got now. Anyway," Tom said, shrugging the subject off because enough had been said for Derick to get the picture. "Tonight, just going to be a normal night with the old man and Uncle Drick."

"Awesome. I'll be there." Derick chuckled. "She's something else, you know.. Lexie. You've done a great job."

"She's her mother's kid," Tom replied automatically. Tom saw everything good in Lexie as Alex. He didn't know what his daughter got from him but he hoped for her sake, it wasn't very much. Alex was always the better person.

"Yeah, she's yours too. She didn't get 'bugger' from Alex." Derick smiled. "But you know.." he began seriously, before grinning. "You have a shitload of paperwork to catch up on and you're running the maggots for the next week."

"You're all bloody heart, mate," Tom grumbled, glad to be moving off the subject. "Man almost gets killed by the enemy only to be forced to do paperwork when he gets back. It's a rough life," he joked, standing up from the chair.

"I know.. I'm a bastard but Ellie's away filming so I had nothing to do," Derick chuckled. "And it kept me from shooting Thing One. Sit back down, we can go over everything here," he said, sitting up to grab the padds on the other side of his desk. "Here, first one… supply requisitions..."

[do]

~~~~
GRYPHON TACTICAL TRAINING OPERATIONS
AKA THE GROTTO

It must have been about 1400hrs when Sloane came up for air and decided to break for some lunch.

After a sandwich Sloane inhaled more than she bit through, she was leaning back in her chair with a cold drink when she decided to hail Merrick. Now that she wasn't concentrating on work, it left her mind wondering how exactly things had gone down this morning between he and Rickman.

"Yeah, Colonel McRae for Colonel Merrick. Could you patch me through, please?" she said after keying her comm.

*

Following his conversation with Derick, which had gone on remarkably well, Tom had decided to get back to work. There was a message from his highness, Governor Hayes, requesting a meeting with him and Sloane to get a report on the Jem'Hadar and more things in his in tray than he'd like to admit. Hating paperwork with a passion but having come to the realisation long ago that the best way to deal with it was to get the bloody thing done so he could focus on others, Tom found himself faced with a mountain of requisition orders, transfers requests, supply manifests and personnel reports that he wondered if the Jem would mind it terribly if he went back to Jeraddo and hid out.

In the middle of reading one of the files of a new recruit, he heard the communicator on his desk beeping and instinctively reached for it, not looking up from the padd. "Merrick here."

Already grinning like an idiot just for hearing his voice - two bloody words at that, and despite her concerns about Derick - Sloane said, "Hey, Merrick..." Time for a quickie? She would have added that too if she didn't know Starfleet monitored their comms up the yazoo.

Tom stopped what he was doing and broke into a smile. "Hullo, luv, how's your day?"

"Good... busy," Sloane said automatically while her mind tried to read his tone. He sounded fine... calm. Did everything go well with Derick after all? "How did it go?" she asked herself asked, knowing she didn't have to specify what it was, and then thought better of it. "Got a few minutes to meet up?" But she was already less anxious. She'd come to read Merrick pretty well over the years and if things had gone to clusterfuck this morning with Der, she would have picked up on it by now.

"I'm the boss, luv," Tom remarked with a smug smile. "I've always got a few minutes. What do you have in mind? And where do you want to have it?" There was just enough suggestion in his voice to give her a clue as to what he meant and keep any Fleeters monitoring the channels in the dark.

Sloane chuckled, not even surprised they were on the same page about that. Thing was, he'd the nerve to verbalise it and she hadn't. "I'd say in my Gryphon but I know how much you hate it..." she joked.

"Well, it will do in a pinch but I reckon we could meet at the Green unless you have something filthy in mind in which case, I'll have to commandeer a supply closet somewhere about," he teased.

"There's always something filthy on my mind, Colonel," she replied. "So which closet?"

Playing along, Tom leaned back into his chair. "Oh, I'm sure I'll find one around here. Depends on how much noise we're going to make, luv. You know you're a bit of a screamer." That will teach any bastard who was listening in.

"Merrick!" Sloane growled, wincing. Bastard. But the offer was tempting, but no. If they started that, they'd be at it for the rest of the afternoon. "The green. In ten."

Sniggering as he pictured her face in reaction to that statement, Tom answered gleefully. "Ten minutes, luv, I'll be there."

*

Sloane was waiting, slouched on a bench, head back and looking at the sky. No matter what, the blue of it was never quite what she remembered of Earth.

Citing that he was going for a bite to eat, Tom found himself walking across the Green a short time later, going to make his meeting with Sloane. As he walked beneath the afternoon sun, Tom felt better than he had in years. The conversation with Derick had gone well and he was going to meet his girl in the park, life was at this moment, pretty bloody good.

"Hey." She waved at Merrick when she saw him walk on by, a spring in his step. Okay, things must have really gone well this morning. A weight was lifting from her shoulders the closer Merrick got.

"Hullo, luv." He saw her on the bench and broke into a smile as he joined her on it. "How's your day been?"

"Unusual morning..." She smiled. "But nice. Now stop killing me with the suspense. How did it go with Der?"

"It went great," Tom said, the relief showing on his face. "Seems like he had a chat to Ren last night and she might have set him straight on a few things. Whatever she said, it seemed that he's alright with it. He wants us to be happy." He was still a little surprised by the ease of it but this time, he was willing to take Derick on his word.

"Oh, really?" Sloane could tell by his expression that he wasn't making this up but it was such a reversal from the night before... "She did? Hmm..." Thinking on it, she wondered what Ren could have said exactly. "Wow."

"Yeah, it seemed Ren asked Derick if he ever asked me how I felt about you," Tom replied, thinking on the conversation. "You know back then when he first became hooked on you. I think the question gave him something to think about." It certainly gave Tom something to consider as well. What would he have said if Derick had asked?

"But you didn't..." She looked at him, remembering that Derick's crush had started years ago, when he was still a sergeant. "You had a crush too?" Yes, he had told her that there might have been some feelings for her even back then but that he wouldn't have acted on them because of his love affair with the booze but surely he wasn't running around gushing about her... Sloane just couldn't see him do that. "I mean it's not like he would have known to ask... you told me you didn't dive in my lingerie..."

"Always had feelings for you, luv," he admitted. "Just back then I wasn't ready to do anything about it and once Derick let on how he felt about you, I just pushed it aside and didn't think on it anymore. I think it bothers him that it never occurred to him to ask, especially seeing how we've been mates for so long. In any case, if it helps him to accept us being together a little better, than I'm not sure I want to rock the boat so to speak." Yeah, he was being a bit of a bastard here but it was for the best.

"Hmmm." Sloane was flabbergasted and didn't know what else to say. She stared dead ahead for a while, not even looking at anything in particular, then she turned to Merrick. "What would you have said if he'd asked?"

"I'd told him the truth," Tom said honestly. "I used to think about us but once I heard about how he felt about you, I put it aside. After all, I wasn't in any shape to do anything about it." He couldn't lie to Derick about that.

Sloane ran a hand over her face, a little overwhelmed by how all their lives had woven themselves into each other's. "If you'd said something, he might have been the one to back off..." She might have never been with Derick, and maybe not even with Tom, because she knew Tom had this big belief he wasn't worthy. And Hayes, it didn't even bear mention. Things could have been so different.

"Good thing I shut it then, didn't I?" Tom replied, sliding an arm over her shoulders. "It wasn't the right time for us, luv, and things worked out better this way."

Oh, yes. Sloane couldn't agree more. She would never wish Merrick hadn't had Alex just like she was now able to not regret ever being with Derick. Even Jake had played a big part in who she was now. "We would have been very different people then..." she said quietly, moving closer to him and leaning in.

"You'd be sprogged up with a half a dozen kids, all getting into trouble, and I'd be a drunk who'd make your life and theirs miserable." It started off as a joke but didn't sound so funny after he said it. "It looks like, luv," he kissed her cheek gently as she nestled into the crook of his arm, "we're good to go now."

Wincing a little at the picture he painted, Sloane liked to think Tom might have sobered up anyway, but who knew? They had walked a certain path and still found each other at the end. "Looks like," she agreed, nodding. She felt at peace, even if there was still a sense of excitement bubbling in her belly. She didn't think that would settle any time soon. "You're against the idea of having your own footy team?"

"Not as much as I used to be," Tom replied, having thought about children after their near miss some time ago. When he'd found out about Alex's pregnancy, he had been terrified. However, four years down the track and his little girl the most important thing in his life, he knew fatherhood was something he could do. "Footy team, huh? I think we could manage. I was thinking squad really."


~~~~
A FEW HOURS LATER

Emerging from the Grotto, Sloane left the airfield that lay between Brasov and Starfleet Command proper and steered the skimmer towards the MACO training facility. The shadows were already long, the sun hanging low on the horizon. As busy as she'd been with catching up on a pile of work she'd barely made a dent in, she hoped she hadn't left it too late and that Derick still tended to leave around the same time he used to when they were still an item.

Jumping off the vehicle, she walked across the empty green, flags flapping in the wind high above, and went to wait by the double doors. If making Captain hadn't changed the Gunny's habits much, he would be coming out of that door in the next few minutes.

*

Just finishing up a message, Derick noticed the time and glanced out the window, where the shadows were already enveloping everything. Turning back to his padd, he signed off on the message and sent it, something to Tom about them having to get a tailor for the Tellurite uniforms. Usually, the Marines didn't bother with such luxuries, but Derick saw how ill-fitting any uniform was on the young alien. Ill-fitting meant issues, which combat and/or operations would only exacerbate.

Closing up the office, Derick headed out. Julian was having dinner with Celine and Ellie had left that morning for Betazed, a quick four week trip for meetings before she came back to Gaia. Smiling to himself, some idea about making 'back to Gaia' more permanent brewing in his head, Derick headed out. By himself for the night, Derick had already decided to hit the new place that had opened up for dinner. Galloway's Grill. Word among the Sharks, the Brats especially, had the place pretty good.

Sometimes, that was a dubious honour, considering Sharks could survive off MRE's.

As he exited the building, his sharp attention caught sight of Sloane. "Hey," Derick offered his former lover a warm smile, something few people saw.

Sloane turned her head away from the sun's golden glow on the trees in the distance and was hit by a memory when she saw Derick approach. His expression taking her back to a couple of years ago, when he was still her bashu. Feeling a little foolish, she returned the smile.

"Hey."

Sliding on his shades, Derick remained quiet, contemplating what to say next. What did you say to your ex girlfriend, who was now your friend and who was with your best friend?

"How's it going?" He hadn't much of a chance last night to speak to her but then that had been self-imposed, hadn't it, Marsrat? "You waiting for Tom? He left an hour ago to pick Lexie up," he offered congenially. A slight smile crossed Derick's face. He found it odd that now that they weren't seeing each other, meeting up outside the barracks was okay and not the big shush-shush it had been.

"No, actually. Was waiting for you." Sloane tried to deliver those words with none of the connotation they would have held not that long ago. "I know you have a dinner date with Lexie and her old man but I thought we could squeeze in a drink before that?" She and Derick hadn't caught up for a long time. Probably never since the break up, in fact, she realised. When they saw each other, it was always through Merrick and his daughter. Sloane felt it was time they did that for themselves, even if, once again, Tom was part of the equation of the why she really wanted to talk with her ex (well, ex-ex).

"Me?" Derick grinned at her, considering the request. Probably to discuss the current state of affairs, which.. he found he had no problem with. "Sure. Tom's not expecting me for another..." He checked his watch, free hand scrubbing through the shaved hair at the back of his neck. "Hour and a half." All of a sudden, Derick found himself a little tongue-tied, a state he was rarely in and didn't like. "Everything okay?" Maybe it was him putting up this awkward silence? Maybe.

All his mannerisms were still there, still hitting home for her... the way he rubbed his hair, looked down a certain way, canted his head without really noticing. He was still devilishly handsome and all that spoke to her. She didn't think it would ever go away, not after spending so much time with someone, getting so intimate and believing he was the one. But it stung a lot less, the loss, the failure, and she was left with that love for him, moved back somewhere, still strong in its own way but not as potent and not all-encompassing as it'd once been. It was almost... comforting.

Sloane recognised his tone and stance, he was getting a little uncomfortable and this wasn't what she wanted. "Everything's fine. Or so I'm told," she said, throwing him a smirk as she joined him and took his arm with hers. She didn't mould herself to his side like she would have once done, but instead held him like you did a good friend. "Want a ride? I got a skimmer..."

Derick held his arm in the proper way, as a gentleman would escort a lady as he smiled down at her. "Skimmer sounds good," he said. "And it's almost the weekend. You'll jinx me," he joked.

"Jinx you?" Sloane asked as they started walking, meeting his gaze. "What do you mean?" Was she taking too many liberties by taking his arm? Would she get him into trouble with Elena Rose?

Chuckling, Derick grinned at the sudden seriousness. "The Brats... the Randolph twins and those two girls from Acheron that they hang with," he laughed. "A month now and no calls from Security so I'm thinking this is going to be the weekend." Derick grinned, to show he really meant the quartet no ill intent. Really, it was Hartwood that could be trouble.. anything Mack got into was tempered by Sean Randolph and vice versa. He grinned again, at nothing in particular and squeezed his arm against his side, effectively squeezing her hand. "So how have you been?"

"Oh." Sloane thought back. She vaguely remembered the names, Tom or Derick mentioning that particular group of maggots at one time or another. Same old, same old. New recruits but same antics, or so it seemed. Life went on. She smiled, flexing her fingers on his arm in answer. "In trouble again," she quipped, referring to Jeraddo and getting lost in Dominion-occupied space for near a week. "But good," she added, figuring that wasn't what Derick had meant. "Sorry again for the worry we caused."

"The day you're not in trouble, I'll worry," Derick offered at first before turning serious. Derick shrugged a shoulder. "I'm glad you're both back, alive," he said sincerely. Even if the return saw more than one revelation that had stunned him momentarily.

It was her turn to grin now. They both had, somewhere, 'trouble' as a middle name and they knew it. And hell, that could be applied to Tom as well.

"Thanks. So... besides that side trip Merrick and I were forced to take and the triple shifts at babysitting that meant for you, how have you been?" Sloane asked, stopping next to the skimmer. With a wave of her hand, she offered him the driver's seat.

Taking the offer, Derick stopped only to let Sloane climb in first. Once he was in, the seat went back immediately to make up for his long legs. "So where do you want to go? Beasts? That new place, the Grill?" he said, starting up the skimmer. "And I'm.. doing good," Derick added, throwing her a sidelong grin. Very fine, actually.

"Good." It was hard to keep a straight face when it was so evident he knew why (at least in part) she had showed up at his work just as he was leaving. "Let's try the new place. Haven't had a chance to check it out yet."

"New place it is." Getting the skimmer in motion, Derick grinned over at her. "You look good, Sloane." Tom worked well on her and he was even more glad that he'd come to terms with what had transpired. "How's life with the Grifters?" he asked.

"Got a lot of catching up to do," Sloane replied, throwing him a glance. Two weeks' worth of paperwork and testing and meetings to reschedule, even if Cal had done his best at running things in her absence. "But it's good. You know how I prefer flying to being cooped up in a tin can." She was referring to her time on the NX, which she had had to go back to during the Xindi War. Her eyes went back to the outside, and once again it hit her that for a while she had thought she might not see Gaia again.

"You know, I don't usually think that way but there was a moment when I thought we might not make it back," she kind of blurted out. And that was the Derick Effect. Sloane had learned not to fight it but it surprised her now because it had been a while since she'd found herself alone with him long enough for that to happen. He always had a knack to get her to admit things, whether he was after them or not. "Sorry," she let out, looking at him again. "The Jem'Hadar were pretty impressive." And by that, she actually meant scary as shit, and that, without even touching on their Founders.

Glancing at her sidelong, Derick saw the same look on her face that he'd seen on Tom's when the Jems were mentioned. Not quite fear, impressed was more like it. Shocked. "That's what Tom says." He glanced at her again. "About the Jems, that is. And you don't usually think that way. Got to Tom too."

"Yeah." She knew but to hear Derick say Tom had admitted as much to him wasn't comforting. "If they came after us tomorrow, we wouldn't stand a chance," she summed up. "And those Founders... did he tell you they're shapeshifters?" Sloane knew all this would be classified for a time, at least until all the brass could get up to speed on the intel she and Merrick had gathered, but she'd be damned before she'd keep something like that from Rickman.

Oh he had. That alone had given Derick nightmares. "Yeah, he did. I think we need to find a way to tell who's who though. What if they've already infiltrated Gaia?" That was his worry. Shapeshifters were like the ultimate enemy.

"I know." She looked at him, briefly meeting his blue eyes, the subject of conversation making his gaze more intense than usual. "I figure they have... or the Federation at least. I don't know." She shrugged. "They just knew so much about us. They knew we were Sharks. I mean that alone isn't exactly broadcasted, is it? They knew of the MACOs... that we were now Starfleet bloody Marines..." She shuddered, a dim echo of what she'd felt back on Bajor, deep in that cave.

"Not exactly big news either." Derick nodded, reaching over out of habit and familiarity with all of Sloane's quirks and body language. He squeezed her arm this time though, not pulling her to him.

"They're barely into our space, Derick, and they would know that kind of detail?" She acknowledged his touch with a small smile, thanking him. Maybe she was wrong, but it struck her as odd. It had back on Bajor and it still did now. She sighed. They could also be very dedicated at gathering information. Who knew? "One Jem caught Tom... you know, like a backhand smack... sent him flying across the way like a rag doll." She shook her head, still not knowing how they would fight them. "There was one Founder there. It transformed as I touched it. I was grabbing it and it was like liquid. Weird as shit."

"Hey..." She didn't say it in so many words but he knew where she was going. Squeezing her arm, he gave her an encouraging look. "We'll find a way to take them on." Letting her go, as they were approaching the Grille, he positioned the skimmer and powered it down. "Tom and I have been going over what he learned and we're adapting our training."

"You have?" Sloane nodded in appreciation. Merrick wasn't wasting any time, which in this case wasn't a bad thing at all, except the fact it showed just how rattled he was. A feeling she knew all too well. "Good. Der... thanks. I'm sorry. I really wasn't inviting you for a drink to dump all this on you." Come to think of it, Sloane had no idea how she'd come to talk about this at all.

"I know." He smiled at her encouragingly. "I'm actually glad to hear you reiterating what Tom's told me. Just proves he's not crazy. He and I are going to go over some of that stuff tonight too. So don't be sorry. I have the feeling it's going to be par for the course over the next few weeks."

It was her turn to reach for his forearm to give it a squeeze. "Going in?" she suggested before stepping out of the skimmer.

"Yep. Right behind you." He climbed out and led the way in, waving to Hannah's dad behind the counter. "Come on, pick a seat," Derick told Sloane, eyes twinkling.

Sloane took a moment to look around, casing the new place as it were. Habits and all that. It was a nice joint. Looked like the diners from back on Earth. Friendly staff too, if she went by the smiles she was getting. Or maybe they were all aimed at the man beside her. Sloane grinned. "Booth?"

"Booth," he said, indicating for her to take the lead. "You know Rigby? Lieutenant on the Vanguard?" Derick asked, sliding into a seat across from her.

"Yeah," Sloane found herself saying, her brain accessing the information before she could even voluntarily think about it. "Mercer's XO..." She slid down along the seat and settled down. "Met him a few times." The SS Vanguard had a squad of Gryphon fighters so Sloane had popped around for training and assessments. Also to visit the Marine main man there, once upon a time. "This is his?"

"Oh..." Derick grinned. "No but rumour has it she..." He pointed to where Hannah could be seen through the open window. "Is..." he chuckled.

"Ah..." Sloane caught on. "Didn't know he had a girl." Not that she would. Hadn't been on the Vanguard in a while and besides, she and Rigby didn't really have that kind of rapport. He was friendly enough, but when she was onboard it was for the pilots and not the Marines. Except when she and Jake were an item. And even then, they'd been rather careful, though she knew his men had been teasing him about her. "So she owns the place?" Sloane suddenly found she felt for them.

"Yeah," Derick replied, nodding. "Started it up in the last.. few months, I think," he said, pausing only as the waitress came over and got their order. After she'd left, he smiled at Sloane. "Drinks are on me, alright?"

"Hey, it was my idea," she whinged but smiling at the same time. "I hope she and Rigby can make it work," she commented. The distance and long separation had made it very hard for Sloane and Jake. Not that she was complaining now but... Speaking of long distance relationships... "So, where's your woman? I thought she had resettled on Gaia..."

Ouch. "Well..." There wasn't anything he could say that Sloane wouldn't see right through. "Betazed and the Federation put travel restrictions in place with the siege of Bajor," he said. "She was on Betazed when they came down and they won't authorize her travel." So he hadn't seen her in a month or more. Derick met Sloane's eyes and looked away again, with a shrug.

"Shit, Der." Sloane reached for his hand automatically, giving it a squeeze. "I didn't know. I thought she was just away on a shoot... just meant to tease you..." Now, she felt like a right ass. "Hey, we could go get her out." And she wasn't even joking.

"Nah, she's happy doing what she does," Derick chuckled. "And don't.." His hand lifted from hers, to point at her. "Feel bad about it. Yeah?"

What was he saying? His Ellie wouldn't even come back if given a choice? "Okay," she said hesitantly with a slight nod. Maybe she should leave this one alone, being the ex-girlfriend and all. Still... they had looked so... in love.

The waitress chose that moment to bring over their drinks and Sloane found herself downing half her beer in one long gulp.

"Slow down now.. I get you drunk, he's going to kill me." Derick grinned, sipping at his own beer. "So.. what did you want to talk about?" Better to change the subject.

Sloane chuckled at that. "This is proof that it's been too long since we shared a drink." She could hold her liquor better than most and Rickman used to know that. Shit. What she wanted to talk about didn't seem appropriate now that she knew about his predicament with Elena Rose. "This and that," she replied vaguely, looking down at her beer. "Maybe it's not such a good idea now."

Derick raised an eyebrow and nudged her under the table with a boot. "Out with it, woman." He grinned. "Before you down the rest of that glass in one gulp," he teased.

She looked up at that, a grin spreading across her face. She'd always liked him calling her that. "Marsrat," she returned. "I guess you know why I asked you out... I mean..." She grinned again. "Look, we never really caught up since... well, you know. So there was that. And I wanted to know how you were, if you were happy..." With Ellie. Shit.

Uh huh. Derick only smiled at her. "Sloane..." he said finally, leaning forward on the table. "I am happy... my two best friends in the whole world are safe and sound. Whatever... you and Tom have..." he said. "As long as you're happy, I'm okay with it." Wasn't exactly answer to what she'd stumbled out but he had a clue.

"You are?" She studied his face, leaning in on her elbows. "Because yeah, that was the other reason. I know you guys talked earlier today but... well, after last night," She paused, lifting a hand. "Not that I blame you for your reaction. Shit, we didn't even see it coming..." She meant she and Merrick getting together. "You sure you're okay with me and Tom?" She ran a hand over her face before she met his eyes again. "Because the last thing we wanna do is hurt you."

Reaching across the table, Derick took both of Sloane's hands, squeezing them tightly as he smiled at her. "I know. And I can't tell you how much that means to me. I want you both happy, I wouldn't be much of a friend if I only thought about myself, would I?"

"No," she replied slowly. "But it's gotta be a little weird, yeah?" Hell. "When I stop and think about it, I think it's weird," she said honestly, point blank, like she'd learned to always do with him. She looked at their joined hands and smiled. It didn't hurt anymore and for that she was grateful.

"Well..." A smile tweaked Derick's features. "We probably won't be discussing your sex life.. that might get a little weird," he said, winking at her. "Look. Initially, yeah, I .. didn't accept it as well as I could have." What happened to the kid who beat shit up? He grinned at that and continued. "But that was just the initial.... realization. I got over it because I would never ask you or Tom NOT to be together because of me. Not when..." Derick squeezed her hands. "It's done you both good."

"As well as you could have?" she repeated his words, a little surprised. "Considering he's your best mate, not that I think you can't get over me or anything," she added quickly with a self-deprecating grin, "but I understand this bloke thing of never going for your mate's girl, be she ex or whatever, so I think you've taken it pretty well." She paused, allowing herself a little sigh, because, damn, this was all so new still, and different than the last week and a half because now they were back in the real world.

"Out of left field, huh?" She smiled, clasping his hands in return. "Does it really show?" That it had done them good? She was still fretting about the whole thing. She wanted Tom, she knew that. She had feelings for him, of course, some stemming from their open and easy friendship, but some that she had realised during the whole pregnancy thing. But for a lot, she was going out on a limb, taking a chance.

"I think so, if.. no offence, more on him than on you," he replied, being honest as usual. "You know after that thing with Infinity's and the reservation fuck up..." Very few people were allowed to see the worried look that he let show just now. "It was like he was on auto-pilot. You know, he laughed, he seemed the same to most people but I don't know. Something was off.. and whatever it was," Derick smiled at her. "It's back on now. And you... well, you've always been hot," he finished with a grin.

"Ah." Sloane smiled and blushed, even if (or because) the compliment came from Rickman. "But I know what you mean... he was going through the motions. And I noticed... I just didn't know what to do about it. Part of the reason for that is a little clearer now," she added with a small smile. "He didn't like Mercer," she explained. "Nothing personal it turned out..." No. Merrick had realised his feelings for her while she was with the man and, understandably, it had hurt him to see the pair together.

Derick chuckled, having heard more than his fair share of Tom's opinions about the man. "No, he didn't," he said, letting go of her hands to sit back. "And you're right, it wasn't personal," he grinned.

It had complicated things with Jake somewhat and it would be embarrassing for her next time she saw him. Jake had always said he felt like Merrick was trying to mark his territory and Sloane had thought him insane at the time. Turned out he had been right. She took another deep pull of her beer.

"Did you know?" She looked at him, wondering if he could have. Surely Tom wouldn't have confided in him but maybe Derick had picked up on it nonetheless.

"Well... in the last twenty four hours, some things have become incredibly clear," Derick replied. "Like hind sight... or that movie The Sixth Sense."

"Oh, yeah. But I meant before that... I just thought maybe you had picked up on it. Christ knows I didn't and that despite Jake telling me..." she let out.

"Oh... " He shrugged a shoulder. "There was something there, but you know Tom. He's not happy unless he's bitching like an old lady," Derick joked. "Seriously, I don't think he really disliked Mercer... now that I look back, it was mostly just Tom being pissy."

Sloane chuckled at that. Merrick did like to have a go at things and people. That was why it was so damn funny to see that now he was the man. But how he might have felt about Mercer or how he did now wasn't what this drink was about at any rate. "Yeah, he can be an old lady... and stubborn as hell." And a fucking prince charming too. "But he makes me happy." She gave Rickman a shy, wistful smile. It was silly really, telling him this. Her ex-ex. But he also happened to be a dear friend, and Tom's best mate so it was important he was comfortable with this.

Derick smiled, nodding once. "Good. That's what matters," he told her. "Don't worry about me, alright? I really am okay with this."

Her eyes flashed, the teasing side of her wondering just how much he meant that if they were to put it to the test. "We'll try and keep the groping down to a minimum in your presence..." she quipped.

"Please do," he smirked. "You get it on, I don't mind.. Tom?" Derick chuckled. "Now, that's weird..."

Sloane shook her head, smiling ear to ear. "The weirdest for me is why, after you two shared so many tails together, you'd find it weird to think of him getting it on with me."

"Well, to be honest..." Derick chuckled and gave her a rather sheepish look. "Back then, we were too drunk to care," he admitted and laughed. "Now that we're all grown up, it's a different story."

"Fair enough." She smiled, having expected as much. But while he apparently didn't mind the thought of her getting it on with someone else (bar Merrick), Sloane wasn't quite there yet for him. Seeing him around with Ellie was enough; she didn't need an image imprinted on her brain of them in bed together. So she would certainly not be the one to start messing with him by being lovey-dovey with Tom in front of him.

"Well, thank you for being okay with this," she said, her tone conveying relief and gratefulness as she flashed him another rather demure smile. She went for her beer to hold it up as a nod to him.

Taking the toast, Derick held his beer up as well, downing it before he set the bottle on the table. "Next to Jules, you and Tom are the closest thing to family I have left, Sloane. My pride isn't worth losing either of you."

Family. He was right. Not the type of family she thought they would have together but family all the same.

"Der..." Sloane hesitated because they had never really talked about it since they'd parted ways. "Ever figured out what when wrong?" She met his blue gaze with hers. "Between us, I mean. I'm..." Hell, she hoped Derick wouldn't think she was trying to rekindle anything while at the same time checking with him if it was okay she and Merrick saw each other. But she'd always been able to talk to him, once he'd broken through her defences.

"Things had felt so right, you know, and somehow..." She looked away for a moment, thinking on their past, before she turned back to him with a heavy sigh. "I guess I'm afraid of fucking things up with him. Jake and I..." Well, that hadn't lasted either so...

"I think when it's right, it's right, you can't fuck it up." Concentrating on the beer bottle for a moment, Derick sighed as well. "I think.. hell I don't know. Just one day, I turned around and we weren't talking. Weren't doing anything together." He frowned, looking much older than his actual years for a moment. "And with the war and my unit going to Bajor..." He shrugged one shoulder and shook his head. With a tired smile, Derick ran a hand through his hair, hating it when he didn't have the right things to say or know even what to do. "I should get going. Tom will send out the entire platoon if I don't show up on time," he cracked. "He'll whine and still won't let me call him my bitch..."

It struck her that Derick didn't really have a clue either, chalking it up, more or less, to life was life and shit happened. The Xindi War had been the kiss of death for many, but while she had expected to lose him to death itself, out there on a battlefield, or her while she was back on the NX, much like Alex, she had never anticipated how they had just... drifted apart. It was obvious to her now that neither had he. Looking up when he mentioned Tom, she shook herself and gave him a small smile for trying to lighten the mood with a joke.

"Sure. Thanks for coming with, for the chat." Sloane stood up and placed enough credits on the table to cover their drinks. "Want a lift?"

"Nah, I'm good," Derick replied, reaching out after a moment to sweep her into a hug. "Thanks. For caring..." he told her and planted a kiss on the top of her head.

Her arms went around him like they had done so many times before, her body recognising his, her hands settling on his back in spots she knew well. It was Derick and their embrace was unsurprisingly familiar yet different. They were different, she realised. At least a little... enough. She smiled wanly against his shoulder. This goodbye, it felt different too.

"Always." Bashu. She looked up at him, her hand pulling him down so she could kiss his cheek. "We still have each other's back, right?"

His knees bent just enough to allow the kiss and Derick looked down to meet her eyes. "Always," he offered solemnly and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Always."

Smiling, her hand squeezed his arm before she took a step back. "I hope you and Elena Rose will work things out. She seemed good to you," Sloane offered. "Say hi to Tom and Lexie for me, okay?"

"I will." Derick winked at Sloane and turned to leave, smiling to himself. As long as his friends were happy, all was right in the world.


~~~~
THE NEXT MORNING
GOVERNOR'S OFFICE

"Good morning, Celine," Lieutenant Colonel Sloane McRae said as she entered Governor Hayes' office. The pretty secretary, whom Sloane had gotten to know pretty well through Derick's brother Julian, seemed to be engrossed in her work despite the many horrendously bright Troll Man dolls adorning her desk. Wild hair sticking up, Sloane couldn't help the grin as she remembered Lexie comparing them to the Governor himself.

"Hi, Colonel McRae," Celine Sylvester greeted the Colonel pleasantly, genuinely pleased to see her after the harrowing week when they did not know whether or not the two had been lost with the Potemkin. Despite his stoic facade, Celine knew that Governor Hayes had been similarly distressed and it had been especially hard for him to turn down Derick Rickman's request for a rescue. "It's good to see you back."

"It's good to be back," Sloane replied. "How have things been?"

She was a little early just so she would have time for chit-chat. She did miss her interaction with the woman and Julian now that she wasn't at the Rickmans' house so much. And even though Sloane had now a comfortable friendship with Gabe, she didn't often come around the office and when she did, it was business and, more often than not, rushed. She did see her at Merrick's though, when Celine came babysitting, but again it was often just a short few words in-passing.

Speaking of Tom, he wouldn't be far behind since both had to report to Gabriel Loman Hayes this morning. She wondered how he had slept...

"Same as always," Celine answered cheerfully. "Now that you're back. We were pretty worried about you and Colonel Merrick after hearing about the Potemkin." Her eyes shifted to the Governor's door, indicating without saying the words that Hayes was similarly concerned even if he hadn't shown it.

"Don't know why, luv," Tom Merrick remarked with a grin. "You ought to know us Sharks are indestructible." He walked into the office, tossing Sloane a warm smile as he made eye contact with her.

Nearly rolling her eyes at Merrick's smarmy comment, Sloane turned to greet him. "Colonel Merrick."

Celine took a moment to scrutinize the look being exchanged by the two… detecting something between them, something she couldn't quite put her finger on. Nevertheless, with Colonel Merrick's arrival, Celine knew it was time to inform the Colonel that the attendees for his meeting had arrived.

"Governor Hayes." She activated the intercom. "Colonel McRae and Colonel Merrick are here."

Replying back on the com, Colonel Hayes sat before his microscreen and tapped back, "Send them in."

"You can go in now," Celine smiled at the two, aware that it wasn't wise to keep the Governor waiting with idle chit chat. She could catch up with the two after their meeting.

"Thanks." Sloane led the way into Hayes' office.

"Catch you later, luv," Tom winked at Celine, following Sloane into the room.

Standing upon having two of his men enter, Gabriel Loman Hayes rounded the desk, almost a smile to his lips upon seeing the two. "Nice of you two to return," the Iron Colonel offered.

"Hey, Gabe," Sloane went forward, pulling him into a hug, breaking protocol and dropping the pretence that she wasn't damn happy to see him and to be back. "Thanks for sending Enterprise."

"I figured you could use an old and familiar friend." With a wink at Merrick, Hayes returned the gesture. "Although you picked a lousy time to go AWOL on holiday."

Tom held back, allowing the two to have their moment, four years on and it was still MacHayes with those two, although the dynamic was completely different now, thanks to a certain redhead. Once Hayes and Sloane had parted, Tom found himself saying. "I'm grateful for the help Governor, but I'm not hugging you."

"Agreed."

Sloane pulled back and stood, waiting to be offered a seat. Glancing from Merrick to Hayes, things hadn't changed there between the two either.

Crossing his arms, standing like the stoic bastard he was, Gabriel smirked, "Tell me about your trip."

Rolling his eyes, Tom pulled out a chair for Sloane and replied, "Well it sucked arse, Governor, to put it succinctly. The only thing of value we got was intel."

"What did you two discover?"

Sloane took the seat with a grin, because she knew Tom would have a knee-jerk reaction to Hayes' manners or lack thereof. "We met the real bad guys behind the Jem'Hadar for one."

Gabriel sat on the edge of his desk, listening intently to them both, "Who?" The probe was light and very interested.

"They're called Founders," Tom answered, taking up the narrative. "They're shapeshifters but nothing like the Suliban. These blokes infiltrated the Bajoran Resistance with no trouble at all and they seem to know a lot about us. I'd almost certainly bet they've been watching us closely, possibly even among us. We're facing a whole different kind of enemy, Governor."

The eyes of the Iron Colonel narrowed and Hayes simply sat there, mind churning. "I assume you've sent me the file," he glanced at McRae. "Or will upon settling in."

"You should have it already," Sloane said. "Preliminary report was filed six days ago, with a final following that twelve hours later. I am sure T'Pol has forwarded this on..." Sloane glanced Merrick, wondering why the hell Hayes hadn't seen this already.

"Hmmm." Gabriel moved around to his side of the desk, pulling up his data padd. One quickly executed search and he shook his head. "I'm sure T'Pol would have as well. Have her send it again to Celine." He'd have to check on why technology was against him. That was the one, over many reports, he was looking forward to.

"Will do." Sloane shifted uncomfortably. "In fact, I'll do you one better," she added, pulling her own PADD out. "Here, grab a copy."

Tom said nothing as she handed Gabe the copy and thought to himself that there was so much that the report didn't cover, like how he'd almost got himself killed playing Prince Fucking Charming, how it ended with him telling Sloane that he loved her and with Sloane and him agreeing to make a go of it together. Those were things that would have interested the Governor, he was certain, but unfortunately had no place in a written report. Of course, Tom would leave the revelation of that morsel to Sloane to convey at a later date, in the usual MacHayes fashion.

A pleased smile, Gabriel activated the beam connectivity, hooked up the two, "Perfect." His eyes shifted from the transfer, to them, to the transfer. Complete. "Thanks." Hayes slid the unit back to it's rightful owner, leaning back in his seat. "What is the high level summary of the intel that you discovered? What plans can we conjecture they may consider and what is your gut telling you of the threat level?"

"Threat level? Extremely high. Not only did they know about the Starfleet Marines, they knew we used to be MACOs and they even referred to us as Sharks. In those terms." Sloane glanced at Merrick again. "My gut tells me that one of them shapeshifters," Sloane paused, unable to stamp on the shudder that ran up her spine. "That one of them is watching from within."

"Sonofabitch," Hayes cursed, glancing over at Merrick to hear his assessment.

"Yeah and the Jems are their elite. These fuckers were strong, Gabe. The one that kicked the shit out of me didn't even break a sweat. They're totally devoted to these Founders, it's more than loyalty, it was like worship. Oh, and of course, they don't have women in their military either. One of them was going to take a swipe to Sloane for just addressing their Founder."

"Loyal?" Gabriel was thoughtful for a moment, "or brainwashed?"

"Could be brainwashed, I guess." Sloane looked to Tom again. "But they seemed clear-headed to me. And, yeah, they don't like anyone to address the Founder except for them... them being the Jem'Hadar. Merrick got punched just for talking to the guy as well." One would think Tom liked getting hit.

"Yeah, gotta love that," Tom grumbled, rubbing his throat instinctively.

He nodded at Tom, not furthering the comment. Wanting the download for details in the report, Gabriel dismissed that instant gratification and left that thought process for now, switching gears. "Did you discover anything that we might be able to use to make distinctions of them against us? A behaviour. An allergy. A smell? Something along those lines?"

"You mean the Founders? If we could detect them when they're impersonating someone?" Sloane shook her head. "No. This thing, it was like liquid when it changed. Passed right through my arms and then tripped me. It was the oddest thing. Merrick thinks liquid could be their natural state..."

"When the Founder we saw changed shaped, it turned into a bipedal humanoid but its face, it was like it didn't have features, just rough efforts at one. You know when you draw something and just put dots for eyes and noses or something, approximations of what they should look like not actual features. My concern is that they don't just have the ability to turn into a person, they can turn into an object. They've got no musculature to speak of, at least none we've seen so for all we know the things could turn into a bloody table in a conference room for all we know."

"The truest of shifters," he thought back to childhood stories on the savannahs. Stating the obvious, Hayes sighed, "This is a greater game of cat and mouse. Knight to Bishop." He looked away from them, across the room as if that would assist in his resolution finding.

"Another thing keeps nagging at me..." Sloane turned to Merrick. "Did you notice their interest? In us, I mean? In the fact we were Sharks?" Her eyes back on Hayes, Sloane said, "It was like they were almost in awe or something. One of the Jems even commented that they'd been looking forward to meeting and fighting Klingons but when they realised what they had their paws on, well, Sharks would do just as well, if not better. It was weird."

"Well, the Founder did say the Jems respected warriors." Although how much of a show Tom put up for them was debatable since he got his arse kicked, once for talking to the Founder directly and the second time for trying to save Sloane from the Jems' backhand. "Though I don't think I put up much of a fight."

"I'm sure you did your best, Tom."

Gabriel thought about Sloane’s words as well, not expecting this new threat and dynamic. There was the reports to read and more learning for the Iron Colonel to absorb. He was troubled over the shifting threat. A person. An animal. A pencil… Archaic as that may sound to him, the phrase fit.

"Why don't you both get some rest, as I'm sure I'll have questions after taking this all in. Good job, both of you. Thank you for coming to me right after landing." Not that his soldiers had much choice, but even an old wolf like Hayes learned a few new tricks in time.

Tom wasn't sure about right after landing but it was close enough he supposed. They'd only got back the day before and Gabe was enough of a family man these days to understand the need to make that the first port of call before anything else. Christ, how the times had fucking changed.

"Well, it was mostly the bird." He shifted a look in Sloane's direction, one that barely concealed the affection he felt for her or the change in their relationship. "She got us out in one piece. All I did was piss the Jems off."

"Yeah, you're good at that," Sloane returned with a smile, meeting Merrick's eyes briefly.

Tom winked at her, doubting Gabe would notice anything. If he hadn't seen anything yet, Tom doubted that the Governor would notice now.

Standing up, Sloane faced Hayes again. "Well, thanks again for sending in the help. Let me know if you need anymore details," she told the Governor, meaning in relation to her and Merrick's reports. She grabbed her PADD from his desk and it went back to her belt.

"Thanks for the download and yes, you know I'll reach out if I need anything." Gabriel watched his two men and thought on the situation that had unfolded before him. Everyone on their feet, Hayes walked them to the door, his mind churning although over what was hard to say.

"Get some rest," he reminded again without further word or thought that was processing in his cranium. Like most things in his life, the Iron Colonel's grey matter was on overload.

"Will do. Catch up soon, Colonel." Sloane nodded and exited his office, sensing Merrick not far behind her.

"Celine, good to see you again." It was funny how a simple situation where you found yourself contemplating the real possibility of never going back home made you appreciate everyone around you all the more. "We need to meet up for an adult meal with Julian, what do you say?"

"Sound lovely." Celine smiled. "It's been a while since we've all caught up. It would be nice to have a dinner conversation that didn't involve microbes and new fauna discoveries."

"As long as the mayonnaise is replicated." Tom grinned as he emerged from the room. "Count me in." He winked.

[do]

*

Exiting Starfleet Command, Sloane itched to grab Tom's arm. They hadn't seen each other since their meeting at the Green the day before and those eighteen hours or so were the longest they'd been apart since leaving for Bajor two weeks ago. But they were both in uniform, coming out of an official meeting, so hell, Sloane wasn't sure what was allowed and what wasn't.

It felt like back at the beginning with Rickman, when they had needed to hide and sneak around, until the regulations had been changed to accommodate the need for the colony to... well, multiply. It could have been a little touchy with Mercer, but by the time Sloane had bumped into him again and they got together, he had transferred out of her direct chain of command. So that had been fine there too. With Merrick, they were both the same rank, were evolving in separate spheres, so, really, she shouldn't be worrying about it. At least, not where Starfleet were concerned. But that said, in the service, you didn't flaunt anything around until you were sure. Especially for a female officer. And while Sloane didn't have a tendency to throw herself into relationships willy-nilly (and this one felt anything but), they were being careful, mainly for Lexie, but for themselves as well. Then again, anyone who had been on Enterprise on their way back from the Denorios Belt would have seen there was something going on between them as they had shared quarters and had barely come up for air. But still, she had no desire to make the Ramblings or the rumour mill one week if they were going to call it quits a month later.

Aw, and fuck that. She was second-guessing them like she had on the NX.

Sloane reached out and slipped her hand in his.

Tom looked at her when she did that and broke into a little smirk, leaning over to kiss her on the cheek. "Well, that went well, didn't it?" And he didn't just mean the business with Gabe, who went through life oblivious and would probably get it they were together after he and Sloane had those dozen rugrats they were talking about. No, with Derick too and for the moment Lexie as well.

"It did," Sloane agreed with a nod. She hadn't quite believed it at first, after Tom had told her Derick was okay with it. She had figured Der had just said that to be nice, to do the right thing. But after her chat with him after work yesterday, she had no reservations left - at least concerning their friend's reaction to it all.

"How was your evening? You boys got back your usual antics once Lexie got to bed?"

"Yeah, women, porn, boobs, the usual." Tom grinned. Actually it was the two of them watching Amazon Women from Rigel with Elena Rose but somehow Tom wasn't going to go there with Sloane. He suspected he'd get hit. "What about you? Miss me terribly, I suppose."

Sloane smirked at that. "Didn't have time really... the NX is in so met with the guys at The Outpost and then slept like a baby." The first part was true but the last was a blatant lie, which she delivered with a straight face.

"So did I," he lied because unknowingly like her, Tom had gotten used to sharing her bed for the last week and the mornings woke him feeling the loss acutely. "So you went out pubbing..." he remarked and then asked, "Who are the guys?"

"You perved so I pubbed," she replied. "You know, the usual gang... Brennan, Garcia, Lindsay, Hawkins, McKenzie, stupid ass Kemper... oh, and even Tucker and Reed showed up for a bit." She squeezed his hand. "But I slept terribly," she admitted. "Entertained the idea of breaking into your house..."

"Now that would have been a surprise I could handle," Tom said, pulling his hand out of hers and wrapping his arm around her shoulders as they put more distance between them and Starfleet Command. "So, what are you doing tonight?" he asked, a suggestive gleam in his eyes.

Sloane regarded him for a moment before she stared in the distance. "I was more thinking along the lines of 'how late can you be in to work this morning'..."

"Luv," Tom grinned wickedly. "There's got to be some perks being company commander and having your best friend cover for you, lest he wishes me to reveal the story about how I found him one time with a librarian he thought would be a quiet shag."

Snorting, Sloane figured there were so many of those stories going around for Rickman that she would never get to hear them all. Thing was, she was pretty sure that applied to Merrick as well. "Speaking of your friend..." Sloane hesitated, not sure how to broach the subject, or if the guys had talked about it last night at all.

"Yeah?" Tom glanced at her, catching the slight pause. "Talk to me, luv? What about the big bloke?"

"His Elena Rose..." She turned her head so she could meet his gaze. "She's stuck on Betazed... they haven't seen each other in..." Well, too long. She had gotten that much from Derick at the Grill.

"I know he'd been having trouble catching up with her. I mean, it was always going to be a bit problematic. She's based mostly in Haven, works there and she's an important part of the propaganda machines. Keeps the natives busy to not think how shit everything is, I suppose. But I didn't think it had gotten that bad." Then again, before Jeraddo, he had been in a bit of fugue, hadn't he? He hadn't paid attention to much of anything except Lexie maybe. Fuck, he hadn't noticed and now felt like a real arse.

"They've grounded all space travel, from what he told me. I offered to go get her..." she let out, and knew Tom would catch that she hadn't been really kidding about it either. "But he turned me down... I don't know. It felt to me like he'd already given up... or maybe she has. I don't know her."

"She's alright," Tom replied but he didn't know her that well, only that Derick liked her... a lot. "But I don't get the sense that she'd give it up for him or if it was that serious. I mean they're happy together but that don't mean it's going to work out, is it?" Tom tried not to think about him and Sloane in those terms but they were starting off from a very difference place from Derick and Ellie.

"No, I suppose not..." It struck her as odd that Tom would say something like that. Derick had gone after a lot of tail but rarely turned serious about any of them. Sloane was one and Ellie the only other Sloane knew about. "You're a bit dismissive there, no?" She worried her bottom lip for a moment. "Distance sucks, that's for sure. But if she doesn't want to come back... I mean, even if she could, then maybe that's what he was trying to tell me and I didn't catch it." She sighed. "I nearly didn't touch on us when I found out. Seemed especially cruel to do so, you know?"

"I know," Tom answered and now felt a complete asshole for not realising that his best friend might be hurting because he was so wrapped in his own shit. "Maybe I'll catch up with him tonight after he finishes up at the Barn. See if he wants to talk, now that I've pulled my head out of my ass long enough to listen."

"You mean now that I've pulled it out for you..." she teased, leaning into him a little to soften the blow. "I thought he might have told you about it yesterday and you hadn't mentioned anything to me to protect my sensibilities or some shit like that." She glanced at his face. "I hope you weren't taking the mickey out of him all night about her..." Sloane winced at the thought.

"No, thank bloody Christ," Tom thought to himself, thinking on how great Derick had been about him and Sloane, that would have just made him feel like shit in light of what he had known. No, Tom had just been grateful that Derick had someone so it wouldn't feel so off for him to have Sloane given hers and Derick's history.

Oh, good, Sloane told herself. "He seemed alright though. I mean I believed him when he said he was okay with this - even after he'd mentioned their... predicament. And I promised him to keep the pashing in front of him down to a minimum," she joked, trying to lift the mood up a bit. She nudged Tom with her shoulder. "So... my place or yours? Unless you'd rather go check on the Marsrat..."

"I'll wait til after work or Marsrat will think I'm checking on him because you told me to," Tom answered seriously before kissing her hair as they walked. A few people raised their brows at the display but Tom's glower was enough to sent them running. Wasn't their fucking business anyway. "Besides, I can do with a bit of brunch sex." He grinned.

"Brunch sex?" Sloane snorted. "Where did you get that from?" She grinned.

"It's amazing what my mind comes up with when there's sex involved," Tom replied, perfect innocence on his face.

Sliding her arm around his waist, her hand went to cup his ass briefly. "So where to, Brunch guy?"

"Your place luv," he winked. "Unless you want a repeat of yesterday morning with Lexie."

"Oh, is she home? Thought she had those half days at kindy or is it just a couple of days a week?" Sloane would need to pay better attention to that kind of details. "My place then." She gave him a heated look that would have led anyone to believe she hadn't seen him in months.

"Well, it depends," Tom replied. "Once or twice a week she gets half days to keep up with Meda's schedule."

"Ah, fair enough. I better start keeping track a little," Sloane let out, a bit embarrassed as they headed for her place. It was funny because she'd been caring for Lexie, standing in for Meda when needed for long enough now and for some reason, because she was now sleeping with her old man, it felt different.

"Well, luv," he said as they continued to walk. "It's all a learning process for us, isn't it? Everything's going to be the same for most part but it will also be a little different." Giving her an affectionate smile, he added, "We're Sharks, we'll adapt."

Sloane smiled back, liking the way this felt... a simple walk, not caring what anyone thought. "I'm sure we will... so you had time to miss me at all last night?"

It was rather scary how much she had missed him, waking up even, a hand reaching for his body. Getting used to sharing a bed with him in a matter of days like that, it was crazy. And all that with them trying to take things slowly. It just proved that, no matter what, they didn't really control anything... their feelings, their need for each other.

"Every bloody minute," he answered automatically and it was true.

He hadn't felt like this since Alex and even now, there was a difference in the feelings for Sloane that was set apart from his wife. The same intensity but also different. When he fell for Alex, he had been a different man and her love had changed him, made him grow up in ways he never imagined he could. It might not have worked out with Sloane had he still been that man.

Perhaps, great loves didn't just come about because you met the right girl, maybe they came about because you were ready for them. Like two objections in constant motion, he and Sloane had never been in the same place and now that they were, they were objects finally at rest.

...