Snow White & The Shark

[Scribe]

Stardate: 06.04.2171.
SS VANGUARD

"Captain Mercer, so nice to meet you. I'm Lt. Roxanne Hart. You can call me Roxy, I don't stand much on ceremony especially when I'm new to the Vanguard. See I'm the new helm officer and I like to get familiarised with every aspect of the ship I'm on, after all we're apart of one happy Starfleet aren't we? Anyway, I was thinking that I could get a look at the Cage, I mean I know I can just go in there but it kind of seems rude for me to just show up. You know how territorial Sharks can be, at least that's what the biology books say. So if you're okay with it, I'll just go in there, ask a couple of questions and be out of everyone's hair before you even know I'm there."

Captain Jake Mercer could only respond with, "I need coffee."

"Way ahead of you Captain," Roxanne said producing a hot cup of coffee. "I asked around, I know hitting you up first thing in the morning in your office is a little bit too much. I took the liberty of speaking to Janice Clayton, who works with Dr. Cate Vedder, who scuttlebutt tells me is your girlfriend but never mind that. She told me that you're not a morning person so I checked the logs on the food dispenser in your quarters and know that you take your coffee, strong with half a sugar and low fat milk. Never figured sharks for worrying about things like that but hey...who am I to judge? Anyway, here you are. So can I take a look at the Cage?"

"RAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Jake shouted after his 2IC.

**

Too fucking early. In his own small office, Ray was nursing a cup of coffee and a headache (he was never drinking Andorian saki again). The hot shower this morning had gone a long way to ease the hangover but the headache wasn't quite gone. Usually, he could deal but right now there was a newb standing in front of him that required attention. Mostly because the bastard had made himself the centre of attention last night in some bar called 'Flakes'.

Ray didn't want to know. He eyed the private, James Addison and rubbed his face. "So..." he said, rubbing at temple. The headache wasn't that bad, especially now that he'd uploaded some caffeine. "The next time some idiot makes eyes at your girl, ignore him. You're a Shark, we're better than that." Yes... there went the headache..he loved the Chef's coffee.

That was.. until Jake bellowed for him in a way that made Private Addison here flinch.

Unaware that Jake had company in his office across the hall, Ray gave the kid in front of him a disgusted glare. "WHAT?!" he jokingly shouted back through the open door, ignoring Addison's going pale. "You're dismissed," he said, heading out the door. Covering the few steps to Jake's door, he paused in the threshold, eyeing the Starfleet officer sitting primly in the chair across from his boss. His gaze went to Jake, eyebrows up. "You paged me, sir?" He added the last bit of formality because they weren't alone.

Thank Christ Jake thought when Ray came into the room and stood up to introduce whatever her name was, when she did the same and spoke up first. "Lt. Reagan Rigby, also known as Ray." She smiled at him and extended her hand. "I'm Lt. Roxanne Harte but everyone calls me Roxy. It's so nice to meet you. Captain Houser has told me so much about you. I'm just telling Captain Mercer that as the helm officer and the newest member of the command crew, I wanted to familiarize myself with every aspect of the ship. I was hoping to get a tour of the Cage, but I didn't just want to barge in there because its Shark territory and I didn't want to step on any body's toes."

"You hear that," Jake remarked, needing to see Cate now for the headache that had suddenly come about. "Step on anyone's toes. I've got a thing...and I'm sure you can handle this." He said getting out of his chair to make a beeline to the doorway. "Lieutenant Harte, Lt. Rigby will be delighted to help you."

Delighted... what.. wait...what in the hell... Ray was about to react to being called Reagan when suddenly there seemed to be a time jump in the small room. There had to have been, because the time that had passed was way to short for this woman to say ALL those words.

"Delighted...right...." He glanced down and then to Jake, fixing him with a glare that said 'payback's a bitch, you pussy' before turning back to the lieutenant. Hand, Ray.. shake.. right. Belatedly, he shook her hand. What had she said? Shay had told her about him? Fuck, that meant he was screwed.. uh.. obliged to showing this girl around. "I'm sorry.. did you say you were new?"

"That's right," Roxanne said giving him a bright cheery smile, guaranteed to give you a happy or diffuse any volatile situation. "Just transferred in last week. I'm serious about learning everything there is to know on a starship but you guys seem to be the only gaps in my education. I mean I know sharks are territorial, at least that's what it says in National Geographic, but so far every time I ask, someone just scowls at me. I mean do I have to bring beer to get you guys to cooperate or what?" She smiled, meaning that more as a joke than a criticism.

Meanwhile, the thoughts that Roxanne didn't let out with the subtlety of a phase cannon was the fact that the shark in front of her was very cute. All these guys were cut like diamonds in a hard body, double click your mouse, kind of way but this guy...he was...really cute.

She had double barrel dimples that shined through even as she tripled the normal word output in each sentence. Ray frowned when he realized he was smiling back. Dammit. Clearing his throat, he forced himself to focus so that he and by proxy, the Sharks, didn't look like big, dumb knuckle draggers. "Beer helps," he finally replied, the corner of his mouth twitching in might have been a smile. "And pizza." Had Shay told him about a new person coming in? Not that she was required to but damn, a warning would have been nice. "I'm sorry.. what was your name again?"

"Roxanne Lorna Harte," she repeated herself, forgiving him because Sharks were...well not all that quick on their toes in the morning. "Lieutenant, new helm officer. Maybe we should get a coffee, I'm getting the sense that you Sharks are morning people. I got Captain Mercer his coffee with low fat milk. What do you think?" She asked, looking at him. So cute...but a little vague.

Get a.. everything registered suddenly, as if his brain decided to wake up. Helm officer. Shay had mentioned someone coming on board and she'd wanted Ray to play nice Shark because she had a good feeling about this one. Wait a second, she brought Jake coffee? With low-fat milk? In his brain, he had fat... "Coffee sounds good," he said, not mentioning he had a cup on his desk. Mostly because Shay was expecting him to take care of her so he could let that cup go cold. "We have a food replicator here in the Bay," he said.

"Excellent," she said in her usual cheery manner. "I don't drink coffee myself, makes me too jumpy and then I get on this talking jag and just won't shut up but then again," she said as she flowed him out of Captain Mercer's office, "I talk when I get nervous so don't mind me if I just go on and on. In fact you can tell me to be quiet because I know I can be annoying. Anyway, Captain Houser says that her Sharks are the best Sharks in the fleet so I guess if I'm going to learn procedure from anyone, its you guys right? Although I have to admit, Captain Mercer seems to be the grumpy type. I thought he was dating a doctor, should regular sex or something meant to iron out all those grouchy personality quirks?"

Eyeing her, Ray remembered that cartoon gag where someone is talking, another person covers their mouth and the person just keeps talking without missing a beat. "Everyone has their.. uh.. quirks," he said. "The Captain's a good Marine and a good officer," he started, when a basketball careened around the corner, bouncing hugely off the wall and then the next, like a pinball. "Watch it..." he said, yanking Lt. Harte back as he caught the ball, one handed. Lance Corporal Jacobs appeared just then, pulling up short when he saw Ray.

"Oh.. sorry, sir..."

"What did I tell you guys about basketball in the Cage?" Tossing the ball back, Ray looked down at Harte. "It's like herding cats sometimes..."

"Woah, amazing reflexes," she complimented, flashing him a grateful smile. "No way did I want to be hit on the face with one of those things. Have you ever seen the old archive tapes of the Brady Bunch where Marsha breaks her nose? I so don't want to go the bridge with a busted nose. Imagine if the Klingons contacted us at that moment and saw this face, all busted up. We could start a diplomatic incident. Anyway, I was thinking that I'd like a little more understanding on the power packs on your phase rifles. I understand that they're more powerful than our standard Starfleet munitions. Is it true that your phase rifles can punch a hole through duranium on continuous fire? That's seriously tough."

Letting that filter in, Ray found himself drawn out again by a full bore smile. Clearing his throat after a moment, because smiling at her like a dork would make his Bad-Ass-Shark license expire, he nodded. "Yeah, that's true," he replied, nodding, trying to ignore the little voice inside his head that was pulling a Beavis and going 'uhhh..huuuuh...Dimples is talking guns dude'. Plus, he was much more awake now, having come around fully when she mentioned Klingons. "The power packs are more powerful and yes, we've done that," he said. Sharks wouldn't be sharks if they didn't test out every rumour about their weapons. Granted, the marshmallow experiment hadn't gone quite as planned but they'd been able to scrub the sticky scorch marks off the bulkhead. "The power pack is actually infused with magnesium and chromium. Makes the plasma charge burn faster and hotter," he said, leading the way across the main area to the small galley the Sharks were graced with. No where near the size of the main one, it was more for self-service and the occasional Marine that could cook without setting off the alarms.

"So that would probably account for the extra shielding on the weapons," Roxanne nodded in understanding. "You need the additional housing so that the magnesium chromium reaction doesn't burn through the first layer of insulation to penetrate the external. Very clever. Although it would probably make the weapons lighter if you used some kind of inert type gas and negatively charge it, in between the layer of inner and outer housing so that the reaction is nullified before burn actually occurs in case of malfunction. Just a suggestion...oh you guys are cooking pancakes?" She declared, wandering off in search of the inviting smell.

Whoooaa. Beavis just fell over the couch.

Ray had actually stopped to stare at her when she walked off, only belatedly realizing that there was indeed a smell of pancakes. Catching up with her easily (his legs were longer), he entered the galley to find Sergeant Dannon at the stove. "Sergeant."

Looking up, Regina nodded, her stance tightening up out of conditioning. "Sir..." she said, glancing at the Fleeter with him. "Ma'am..."

"Sergeant Dannon, this is Lieutenant Harte, the helm officer," Ray said, introducing them.

"Hi there," Roxanne said in usual perkiness. "I'm Lt. Roxanne Harte. It's so nice to meet you. Those pancakes smell great. Do you have like strawberry topping or are you going with maple. I usually find that fresh creme works better with a sprinkling of icing sugar and maybe, a little bit of chocolate sauce. Or maybe that's a little too sweet for you guys I mean if Captain Mercer's on low fat milk then you probably just have it with lite butter or something."

Staring for a moment, Regina shifted her gaze to Ray, who made a discreet slicing motion at his throat that he turned into rubbing his chin when Roxanne's gaze shifted in his direction.

"Sergeant Dannon, ma'am," she said after a moment, bristling a little under being told what to do with her pancakes and suddenly wondering what the hell Fleet was doing in the Cage. "Actually, it's agave syrup," she said, indicating a small bottle with her last name written in bold letters across it.

"We were just coming for some coffee," Ray said immediately, trying to head Roxanne off at the pass.

"Agave syrup?" Roxanne declared. "From the Agave tequiliana plant. You get it from the core of the agave, called the pina. Is that processed by the food replicators or do you actually have access to the plant. It's supposed to be a healthy alternative to sugar and honey I understand and is apparently much sweeter. Definitely less polysaccharides and fructose sugar is always better than the other kind," she said suddenly finding herself standing next to the wall that was Reagan Rigby. "Are we able to look to look at some of the Tank? You know the Armoured Transport? I hear that you can drop the thing from twenty meters and it just bounces off the terrain and then keeps on going."

About to tell her that this was the real deal (her mama wouldn't have it any other way), Regina didn't get a chance to as the woman fired off more questions at Lt. Rigby. Deciding to let him handle her, she turned back to making her breakfast.

Tanks.. now they were talking about tanks? Right, snap to it Rigby. "Yeah, they can," he replied with a slight grin. "So.. you don't want something to drink?" he asked, indicating the replicator and their first reason for coming in here. "Look, why don't we stick to one thing at a time." Not that he thought she could. "Tanks or the Cage?" he asked, emphasizing the 'or'.

"Oh," she paused as she realised that she was firing on five different cylinders. "I'm doing it again aren't I? Yes to coffee," and thinking on it a second. "Yes to the Cage. I'm sorry about that, my brains just works that way, short attention span or maybe I'm just easily bored. There's a clinical term for it I think...oh yeah," she said beaming at him (oh too cute), "nuts."

He chuckled at that, not realizing (again) that he was smiling back in response to those double-barrel dimples until he caught Dannon eying him with amusement. Clearing his throat and sending the sergeant back to her pancakes with a glare, Ray (what, are you thirteen again??) shrugged that off. "Then you're probably in the right place," he replied, moving over to the replicator. "Coffee first, then the Cage." With any luck, most of the platoon wouldn't be there. Punching in his code and then the order for coffee, he turned back to her. "When do you have to be on duty?" Ray almost felt bad for asking, mostly because it wasn't out of concern for her making her schedule.

"Oh another two hours," Roxanne replied, eyes watching him as he moved to the replicator and drew breathe. Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to the go to that Zen place that Dr. Loki told her to go whenever she got hyper. Of course, after checking out hard Lt. Hard Body, that Zen place involved somewhere with suntan lotion and a ban on all clothing except briefs.

"Oh..." Ray nodded as the replicator happily hummed away. Two hours. Greeeaaat. He was going to kill Jake and then Shay. In a moment, two cups appeared, steaming away and he removed them from the tray. "Here. There's milk and creamer and stuff over there." He indicated a table at the other end of the room as he handed one off to her. "So any pressing questions.." He was going to regret saying that. "About the Cage that you want to know first?"

"How much lotion to put on," she replied, not thinking when he asked his question, still somewhere in the Zen place. She looked at him, realising he was talking. "Oh God, I mean no...uhm... ordinance. I wanted to know about ordinance. I mean I know Sharks have phase rifles but there is stuff on your supply manifests that I've never even heard of. I want to know how you use them." She said quickly taking the coffee and heading towards the table. Coffee...oh this was going to make her jittery.

Lotion? What the fuck....? A snort from Dannon's direction got his attention and Ray turned, finding her unnaturally absorbed in flipping her pancakes. "Well," he began, frowning. Lotion? Riiight. "It depends on the particular ordinance, actually. Did you have one in mind?" Suddenly, Ray had the feeling that she'd not only read the entire manifest but memorized them too.

Still blushing about the whole suntan lotion thing, she didn't meet his gaze although looking over his shoulder, (not an easy thing to do with her 5'5 frame) she saw Dannon's knowing smirk. Oh Peachy! Sipping coffee, hmmm tastes nice...needs cinnamon, she looked up at Lieutenant Hard....Rigby. "Concussion grenades, can you tell me more about them? I mean how much physical danger do they pose at close range? What's the timing like once you activate the trigger. Is there anyway of shutting it off?"

Weapons and ordinance, he could discuss like nobody's business and as Ray considered Roxanne's question, he saw something else. No one read that much.. or thought that much on ordinance unless they really wanted to know. Interesting and with that realization, Ray found himself reassessing the woman and what he knew. This wasn't a trip to the Sharks to kiss Shay's ass, not a get in good with Rigby thing so he'd put in a good word to the Captain. First of all, Ray hated that assumption. He only offered references like that to Shay if he truly thought the person deserved it. Second of all, this girl's mind moved light-years a minute so chances were, she'd already come up with the idea of learning about the Sharks before Shay could even bring the idea to light.

"Alright. There's no real way to shut a cog off once it's triggered. There's not enough time. You have to actually be the one priming it to be able to shut it off," Ray began, indicating a table towards the back of the room. "Here, sit," he said, tugging out a chair for her. "It's rare, but people can be killed by them. They have to be in really, really close proximity, like on top of it." Then it was just physics. Thinking on her other question, he frowned. "Mostly, it's used to stun anyone within a certain proximity but it can affect the inner ear enough to make a person feel concussed."

"Ouch," she flinched, her nose scrunching up as she took a sip of coffee again. "Wow this stuff just goes straight to your head doesn't it?" She looked up at him. "Is it possible to interrupt the timer mechanism with a low level phaser burst, detonated just within inches of the casing? You know, cause enough of a spike to disrupt the energy build up?" Roxanne asked, hazel eyes meeting his with inquiry.

One sip and it goes straight to her head?? For a moment, Ray entertained what she'd be like drunk, complete with images of table dancing and thongs... before he cleared his throat. Right. Concussion grenades. Sipping at the coffee, he continued. Anything to not think about thongs. "I don't know that we've ever tried that but shooting something always make it do something different than intended," he chuckled.

"You know what you could do," she declared, the light bulb almost appearing physically over her head to light up, like in one of those old cartoons. "You could find an empty cargo hold and try a field test, you know like a live fire exercise. Just to see what happens. Although you really to make sure someone knows what you're doing. I tried that once with one of those smoke grenades and it made a total mess and the engineering crew wouldn't speak to me for weeks. Those guys are so touchy."

Staring at her in amusement, Ray found himself laughing when she finished. "Yes they are and don't take it personally. The Chief Engineer still won't talk to me for having a fire fight in 'his' Engineering." Like he'd had a damn choice. "And I'll opt out of a live fire exercise right now." Not right after the ship was just recovering from standing off two Romulan war birds. "Anything else you want to know about concussion grenades?"

"Hmm....not at this time. Is that your heavy artillery or are there things that make a bigger boom when it gets off... I mean goes off." Where in the hell did that come from? "Anyway," she shook her head. "I don't have to see everything, though you guys have a pretty tough training regimen. I mean when I was on Gaia, I was at the Barn? Is that what its called and it doesn't look like Starfleet Security training."

"That's because it's not," Ray snorted as he sipped his coffee. Had she said 'gets off'? Shoving off that thought, he shrugged. "We've got heavier things. Daisy cutters, plasma cannons, Simtex, bunker busters.. you want a hole in it, we can put it there," he chuckled. "So you were part of the first class to do that crossover training? With Captain Rickman and Commander Lynch?"

"Oh yes," her face lit up. "It was so amazing. I mean, they should train all Starfleet people like that. There was a lot of swearing but that's okay, I've been on a boomer ship and when you're dad is captain, you get used to that sort of thing. I mean really, the first time, I ever lived on planet was when I joined the Academy. I wanted to fly a starship and there's no other way to do that. I mean I could have stayed a Boomer but things just move so slow over there and I wanted to see the galaxy." She realised she'd just told him her life story. "Sorry, coffee and me...so not good. Tried alcohol once, even worse. Took them weeks to get the graffiti off Archer Square that said 'No one does it like Boomers'. I was so sure I was going to turfed."

"You're.. a boomer?" Good god and no one had spaced her? Ray wasn't sure he could endure being stuck on a ship with a small crew with someone who just bled out at the mouth like she did. Still, it explained a WHOLE lot. Not the image (again!) of her in a thong and gyrating on top of the bar at the Beasts.. Christ...he needed to get laid. Clearing his throat again, Ray laughed. "Well if they didn't turf that corporal for doing that, they aren't going to can you," he chuckled. RUMINT had it that corporal and her friend had gotten up to some real shenanigans that night. "So the swearing bothers you?" This ship might be a problem for her then.

"Not really," she sipped coffee some more, watching him with a little smile. He had pretty eyes. "I'm just not very good at swearing. Someone said it was like listening Snow White trying to be bad. I don't get the reference myself. I guess I'm kind of hyper because on a Boomer ship, it pays to learn how to do everything. I mean if you're a small crew and someone gets hurt, you're really in a lot of trouble. So I can fly but I can also navigate and I also know some engineering. Security, not so good at. Although I think Captain Rickman almost fainted when I did okay in the sniper fire exercise. Oh! He came up with the Snow White thing."

Laughing, Ray could just see Derick saying that. "That's the Captain for you. He just doesn't do hyper." No wonder she was like she was, being that smart and stuck on a ship for months on end. All that energy, he supposed would have to be directed somewhere. "He's another good Marine, good people."

"Yes he is," Roxanne agreed. "I liked him and Lt. Commander Lynch. I hear they're...you know...together? Of course, seems that Starfleet women tend to like Sharks...most female officers I've met says that its in the water or something. Anyway, I don't normally drink any coffee, I'm mostly a hot cocoa kind of girl and I get drunk on beer. I'm so no fun at parties or too much fun at parties." She huffed out.

Again with the thongs and table dancing... he was going to have a damn heart attack. Forcing those images away, Ray decided a change of subject was in order. Before he said something that would get him court-martialled. "Oh," he managed, proud of himself for tamping down everything. "So you want to see the Cage now?"

"Okay, if you don't mind showing me. I know you probably have lots of things to do but I don't mind seeing just a little." She raked her eyes over him once and realised she didn't mind seeing it with him either. "And do you use the Starfleet Security firing range or do you guys have your own?"

"We share it," Ray replied, slightly confused. Did she just check him out? Snow White? Back on the subject, Marine. "Well, if you ask Security, it's theirs and they let us borrow it but honestly, it's ours. We let them use it when they aren't whining." He grinned at her to show he wasn't being serious.

Laughing, which always sounded like she was giggling, Roxanne shrugged off the obvious rib at Fleet. She was a Boomer and she knew what the Sharks called fleet was kinder than some of the things she'd heard when growing up. Lifting off her seat, she asked. "So do you do the small arms proficiency tests or does Starfleet do their own?"

"We do our own," Ray replied, leading the way out of the galley. Dannon had taken off with her pancakes, probably to go see that medic friend of hers so he set his cup in the sink with her dishes. He'd come back and get them later if no one else had. "Although, on occasion, we'll get a Starfleet person that wants to see if they can pass ours so we let them. Looks good on their CV," he said. "You've seen our main area, we call this the Bay," he told her, indicating all the mismatched, over-stuffed sofas and chairs. "We do movie nights and stuff, it's a good group."

"Oh that's cosy," she complimented. "We don't do that...Fleet I mean." It looked homely and reminded her of life on the Lorna Doone. There was a greater sense of connection there that the Sharks seemed to cultivate while Starfleet didn't even notice the importance off. "We should. So if I wanted to do small arms proficiency, I can just see you or Captain Mercer about it?"

She could but Ray had the feeling Jake would give it to him anyway. "Why don't you come see me," he said, hoping she would listen to that. Jake might space her if she caught him on the wrong day. Not really, but this was the kind of small stuff that he was supposed to take care of anyway. "Our quarters are down these two corridors," he said, pointing out the left and right passageway as he headed for the door. "The rest of our stuff is on this deck too. We don't like to be too far away from our toys," he joked.

She laughed and looked down the corridors to where the Sharks lived, "so do you get bunks to yourself or do you share. I know some of the juniors share but I always seem to get my own for some reason or usually have a roomie that gets reassigned. Its weird. So really, the cage is where you guys live, if it wasn't for missions, you wouldn't even come out of it."

Laughing, Ray shrugged. "Maybe," he replied, wondering if she even realized why a roommate would get reassigned. To say anything though would be cruel and he wasn't going to go there. "Captain Mercer and I get our own quarters, being the senior officers down here. The JO's bunk together but the senior enlisted get their own. The junior enlisted have to share. Two or three to a room that's not very big so it gets more than cosy," he chuckled, not going into how sometimes, such close quarters weren't good for adrenaline junkies who liked guns. Fights happened, despite all the access to work out equipment and other stuff.

"Yeah its just like being in Catholic school," Roxanne remarked. "Or so my mom says. All cooped up gets people a little crazy." She flashed him another smile, eyes moving over him in a subtly appreciative manner. "I got my own space but I think that's what command officers get. Hey I don't mind, I have the best job in the world where I have a big machine at my finger tips, making it go where I want. All that power and thrust, its enough to make a girl give up chocolate." She winked and continued walking up the hall, eager to see what came next, expecting him to follow.

The imagery that sprang up was....going to get his ass in trouble. Ray sighed, wondering if anyone had told her she needed to watch how and what she said. Probably a dozen times. Shaking his head, he sighed and followed after her, lest Roxanne Harte decide to turn on something in the Armoury.

This morning was going to be interesting.

[Scribe]

CHAPTER TWO: ENTER LOOTENANT HARDBODY

Dinner.

With the captain. Oh this was big. So very big. So did she dress up or wear a uniform. She shouldn't wear a uniform because Captain Houser said it was casual. Of course, what was casual varied. On some planets casual meant nude. Captain Houser probably didn't mean that. On other planets, you had to wear bells on your privates. Yes...bells. She didn't do bells and Captain Houser probably wouldn't take too kindly if someone showed up at her quarters dressed that way.

Taking a deep breath, Lt. Roxanne Harte told herself to calm down. This was doing her no good. Captain Houser had been awful nice to her since she came on board, where most commanders tried to run in the other direction owing to the all the ideas she had, Captain Houser actually listened. So she didn't want to annoy the woman or embarrass herself or do anything to damage the relationship they had. As it was, Houser was something of a role model to her, the perfect example of a Captain and the kind of woman Roxanne aspired to be.

After changing outfits about five times, Roxanne finally opted for simple. She put on rose print dress cotton dress, simple sandals and wore her hair down. Looking at herself in the mirror, she did not look extravagant nor did she feel over dressed. Casual. Sucking in her breath, Roxanne put her best feet forward and hoped she could get through the night without making a fool of herself.

In front of the captain, she wouldn't be able to bear it.


****

"She talks a light-year a minute," Ray popped a slice of carrot into his mouth, unconsciously waving the knife in his other hand around as he told his story. His attention was mostly on slicing up the freshly washed carrots on the counter in front of him into sticks. At least Shay wasn't serving those little tart things. Hard enough keeping his Shark honor when the newbs discovered who she was. Thankfully, she didn't do the pussy stuff that often. "I mean, she thinks at like... warp four and she's been down there four days out of the last week." Poor Mercer. Ray chuckled to himself as he scooped up the carrots to deposit them on a tray. Wait.. that tray was the one he'd bought her on Betazed a year back... "Are we having guests?"

"Ray.." Shay eyed her adopted son in wry exasperation from where she was checking something in the oven. "I've told you yes twice now," she chuckled, perfectly aware she hadn't said who as she swatted him across the back of his shaved head with an oven mitt and closed the oven door. People didn't often understand why she didn't just do replicators but cooking was something Shay enjoyed and didn't get to do often. "Sounds like she's serious then. What did you talk about?" The she in question was her new helm officer, a young woman that Shay found herself liking, despite a couple of performance evals that painted Roxane Harte to be kind of difficult. Moving to the small fridge in the kitchenette, she pulled out a small container and held it out. "Here, put this with the veggies."

"Got it..." Popping the lid off, Ray sniffed it out of habit.

"My fridge is nowhere near the sludge box that the Cage fridge is." Laughing at him, Shay snapped her fingers at the tray. "Put that in there and stop sniffing my food. What has she asked about?" Of course, Shay had a full list of what Lt. Harte wanted to know about the Sharks but Ray had started in on the woman the minute he walked in.

With a laugh, Ray placed the tub on the tray. "What doesn't she want to talk about?" He shook his head. "So far, it's the Cage, concussion grenades, the power packs on our rifles, our assault vehicles, the body armor, the radio system in our helmets and our first aid kits. She's got a better way for everything," he snorted, though without any real malice.

"Yeah, I noticed that," Shay replied, just as the chime to her quarters went off. "Go get that, would you?" she said, moving to the tray he'd finished. "I'll be in there in a minute."

"Uh.. sure..." Snagging up a dish towel, Ray was wiping his hands when he crossed the living area and hit the entry bar.

The door slid open and Ray's first thought was 'whoa, nice legs...' Very nice legs actually, that were toned and shown off nicely by the short skirt being worn by... "Lieutenant Harte?" he asked, actually not having recognized her at first.

Roxanne's eyes widened by the sight of Lt. Hard Body standing in front of him. Of course, Captain Houser would invite him. Why hasn't she considered that? Roxanne had attacked this dinner like a lion bringing down a gazelle in Savannah, how come she didn't even consider this?


"Hi!" She said after a moment. "Lt. Rigby, you're here. Of course, you'd be here. I just didn't expect that Captain Houser was having a family dinner and inviting but that's okay I mean, I don't mind. I just hope you don't mind me intruding. I mean I know I'm invited and all but its.. its... unexpected."

"No shit..." Fuck. Catching himself, Ray cleared his throat. "Uh.. I mean, yeah but you know, like you said. You're invited." Jake was going to have a fucking field day with this, that was Ray's first thought and his second was that Shay was dead. D-E-A-D. Granted, Roxy was a nice girl but wasn't four out of seven days enough? A little voice nagged at him. She's invited Grunt. Let the woman in and answer her questions. "Oh..." Stepping back, Ray motioned her inside. "Come on in and uh.. no, it's not intruding. You're not intruding," he finished, suddenly realizing he sounded like her.

"Oh thank goodness," she broke into a nervous smile and stepped in, looking about the Captain's quarters like she had stepped into another world. "I thought I might have been in the wrong place or worse yet, I got the wrong day. I certainly don't want to barge in on a family moment because that would terribly rude. I don't do rude well not intentionally anyway." Realising she was jabbering away because she was nervous, she shut up suddenly and observed him in normal clothes. "Hey you look different out of fatigues." Cuter than normal actually.

The thought 'so did she' surfaced in Ray's mind but he suppressed it, mostly because it would have involved further comment on what great legs she had. Still, Ray got the impression she was observing him like she did everything else, almost dissecting him. "Right..." Still a little blown back by the talking and then a stop to it so sudden, Ray thought the room was echoing, he only nodded. He keyed the door shut behind her, trying NOT to observe the fact that Starfleet uniforms, skirts or not, still couldn't do for the female body what that dress did.

"Hello, Lieutenant," Shay called from the kitchen, her voice going up a notch as she appeared in the entry way. "Ray, come and get this, would you?" she asked, holding up the tray in her hands. He looked a little dazed and needed something to do.

"Sure..." As he walked towards her, Ray made a face. What the fuck...?

An eyebrow went up, patented Shay Houser, and it said in no uncertain terms 'be nice to our guest and don't cuss at me'. "Have a seat, Lieutenant," she said, head canting to look past Ray. "Can I get you something to drink?"

A drink. "I'll have a glass of wine if you have it." Normally she did not like to drink because well drink and Roxanne didn't mix well but this was the Captain and she didn't want to seem like well... Snow White... by asking for water or hot chocolate. She'd be fine, she just had to make sure she didn't drink too much of the stuff. "Thank you for the invitation Captain, I didn't realise that Lt. Rigby would be here. I hope I'm not intruding." You already said that moron, she chided herself before sitting down, looking shyly in Rigby's direction.

"Not at all." Used to the female reaction around Ray, Shay only smiled. Harte didn't throw herself at him, which spoke volumes in her book. "Not at all," she advised. "How's a blush sound? A friend of mine has a vineyard on Gaia and it's from his very first harvest."


"That sounds fine," Roxanne replied, working very hard to keep verbal overload from switching into gear. Besides, Lt. Hard Body.. Rigby was here and she didn't want to embarrass herself when she was getting the opportunity to see him outside of the work environment.

Fuck wine. He wanted Jack Daniels. Mostly because Lieutenant Hot... HARTE there was well.. here. Granted, she was very sweet when you got past all that blabblab and the dimples and she sincerely wasn't kissing ass but.. but... why the hell did she have to have such great legs???

"Ray!"

"What?" Realizing he was standing there (and being rude), Ray shot a rather guilty glance at his mother and turned to Roxy, indicating the sofa. Come on Marine. Act like an officer. "Have a seat," he said, unconsciously shoving a sleeve up his arm. There was a tattoo there, about the size of a playing card, on the underside of his arm of an actual mako shark with a half-chewed boot sticking out of its mouth.


"Thank you," she said graciously, noticing the tattoo, well actually the well defined bicep at first (she eventually got to the tatoo). "Oh is that a Shark tattoo, like an official kind of tattoo that only Sharks use or is it just for the Vanguard sharks?"


"What? Oh..." Glancing down, Ray turned his arm up and the corner of his mouth went up in a prideful smile. "Vanguard Sharks. I wouldn't say any of them are .. official." He had another Shark-themed one, drawn by a friend. He'd had it done after Bobby was killed, as a memorial. That was on his calf though and hidden by his jeans. "So you getting along okay? Been here for a whole week now."


"I know...the time just flew by. I mean I've had the best time, familiarizing myself with the ship, learning everything there is to know about it and thank you so much for giving that tour of the Cage, I know I was a bit of a pain with all my questions but I want to know everything. My dad used to say to be a good officer, you had to learn everything, no matter how insignificant it is. I don't think Cook however appreciated my questions about whether or not protein conversion into food as a way to solving of food supply problem though." She shrugged. "So every Shark on every ship has a different one of those tattoos?" She was suddenly curious to know what they all looked like?


"Oh.." He must getting used to her, Ray thought. He actually got all of that. "Not everybody. Some don't believe in tattoos. Others have a lot more but if you have a Shark with more than one tattoo, he or she probably has one of a shark somewhere on them. I have two," he said, belatedly concluding maybe he shouldn't have gone there. "So are your folks still alive?" Nice save.


"Yes," she nodded. "They're doing a run somewhere in Beta Durani. The Lorna is hauling food supplies from Epsilon 4. Its a small run, takes about two weeks. Mom usually writes me and tells me where they're at. So you have another tattoo? Where is?" She inquired and then remembered herself. "Unless its somewhere you know embarrassing like on your... uhm nevermind."


Oh real smooth Roxy.


Dimples was turning the color of the roses on her dress. Okay, that was cute, Ray admitted to himself, smiling at her. "It's okay, it's not anywhere private," he replied, sitting up a bit. Canting one leg towards her, the leg closest, he tugged up the leg of his jeans to reveal the second tat. Another mako shark, in an armor vest this time and smiling, showing a full mouth of jagged teeth. She probably wouldn't see it from where she was, but the name tag on the vest said 'BOBBY'.

"Whose Bobby?" She asked looking up at him, delighted that he had shown it to her or allowing her to see it. It was like the other, cute but so was the leg but that was another story entirely.

"He was my best friend growing up," Ray replied, straightening out his pants leg. "We joined the MACO's together... he died when those Klingons hit Gaia a few years back." Rest In Peace, man. Unlike Ray, he'd gone enlisted, wanting to get into the action right away. He'd gotten it alright. "He'd drawn that and after he died, I had it done."

"Oh I'm sorry," her melted into sadness for him. She'd never lost anybody, not really. It was part of life on the Lorna Doone that people came and went but dying like that? No, she had been spared such sorrow. It made her feel grateful that she had been a Boomer kid. "I missed all that. I think I arrived at Starfleet Academy after the attack. That's really sweet that you did that though, that you wore it for him. Giving him a little bit of immortality even though he was gone."

Not having considered it quite like that, Ray smiled, deciding he liked the way she put it. "Thanks. He was a good guy."

"Here we go." Breezing back into the living area, Shay had two wine glasses in one hand and a cold, almost frosty beer in the other. "Here, Roxane," she said, handing off one of the wine glasses. "Ray's not house broken so he gets beer," she teased, sitting on the sofa where Ray was. "I have to make sure the chicken isn't burning in a minute but how are you getting along?" she asked Roxy. "I haven't had a real chance to sit down and talk to with you since you came on board."

"Oh he's been perfect," she exclaimed. Simply perfect. Dreamy as a matter of fact. Roxanne said with a perfectly straight face. "I'm fine, I'm sure annoying everybody with the thousand questions I have about everything. I do get that way, I just want to know how everything works? On a boomer ships, there was engineering, navigation, helm but here, there's so much more. Stellar cartography, encryption, communications, I could be doing this for the next few months. Although thanks to Lt. Rigby, I've covered off the Sharks and I think that I need to stay away from Captain Mercer for a bit, I'm sure he growled when I was there yesterday." She joked.

"He's not housebroken either," Shay retorted, chuckling. "He doesn't quite have the patience Ray does."

"I am sitting right here, you know." Giving her a hairy eye, Ray sipped at the beer.

"He doesn't like it when I talk about him in third person, either," Shay remarked, face perfectly smug before she winked at him.

"Funny," Ray rolled his eyes. "No, Captain Mercer was dealing with a situation yesterday." Namely, a Klingon named Worf but hey, he wasn't going to say anything.

"There is a lot to starships. Have you had a chance to speak with Doctor Martin yet?" Leaving Ray alone for now, Shay focused on Roxane. "I sent him a comm message to let him know you'd be around."

Heh. To warn him more than likely, Ray thought, staying silent and occupied with his beer.

"Well I thought I'd ask him if I could maybe spend a day with one of the junior members of staff because I know my way around sick bays so my questions would be just to find out where everything is. My mom was a ship's doctor and they get ornery if you ask them questions too much. Besides, Tyler Everett offered to show me around." She smiled.

"Your mother is a doctor? So was Ray's."

The beer paused midway and Ray's gaze shifted to Shay with a hint of 'what the hell?'. "She was a veterinarian," he said dryly said, wondering if Everett knew what he was getting into. That and he didn't want to discuss his parents or his sister with someone he didn't know that well, dimples or not. Wishing he could leave without pissing Shay off, Ray ran a hand over his head. "You know," he said, an idea arriving. "I'll go check the chicken, Shay. You sit here."

Getting to his feet without waiting for her answer, Ray stalked off to the kitchen.

Sensing some tension, Roxanne said nothing. Of course she'd read his personnel file and knew that he did not have any family left, that Captain Houser had adopted him. Instead, she watched him leave, disappointed that he was going but understanding that he did not wish comparisons made. Clearing her throat, she tried to propel them past dinner. "So we're having chicken? What kind?" She looked at Captain Houser, taking a sip of her wine and feeling it burst across her tongue with its tart taste.

Thankfully, someone remembered how to behave in front of others. Turning back to her, Shay smiled. "Alfredo so I hope that's okay," she said, feeling bad for the young woman. "And it's real chicken, bred on Gaia. Look, Ray's had a lot on his shoulders lately." That was putting it mildly. Ray needed a vacation. Also an understatement. "But back to you. I'd like to sit down with you at some point, soon, and talk about where you would like to go with your career. You're thinking officer of the line, right?"

"Yes," she said enthusiastically, taking the Captains lead on a change of subject. "I would like to have my starship someday." She said trying to restrain her answer although it was hard not to start gushing that Shay was her role model for this.

"Excellent. We need more women in our ranks," Shay smiled, settling gracefully back on the couch. "What I'd like you to do and not now, of course," she added with an inward smile because she could see Harte going to it. "Is a list of the steps you think you'll need to accomplish to get there." There were any number of lists out there, how-to steps but she had a reason for wanting Harte's version. A good officer was one who went outside the normal conventions assigned to them; who not just heard things but listened and formulated their own ideas. In short, this list would be a good way for Shay to evaluate just how well Harte could currently think on her feet. "Take a day or so on it and then send it to me." She had the feeling it would be in her inbox tomorrow morning. "I'll have my yeoman contact you and set up an appointment so we can discuss it, alright?"


*****

Once in the kitchen, Ray stood at the sink, hands white-knuckling the edge of it. Not too far up his ass to realize he was overly rude back there, he mentally kicked himself. What the hell was his problem? What.. a girl comes in to share your time with Mom and you flip? Grow the fuck up, Rigby.

He wasn't the petty type so why was he pissed??

The answer, which made him feel even guiltier was that he had no clue. Maybe it was Shay, she got on his nerves when she tried that matchmaker crap - he didn't need help in that department aside from the occasional 'hey, introduce me to your sister'.

Besides, a tiny voice said and Ray took a deep breath and let it out to focus. Remember? Roxane was actually very nice and had a contagious laugh, one that his mind categorized as nice also. She wasn't an ass kisser (remember Rigby? Grow up!). The way she talked, just as she thought, proved that. So this whole .. what had Rickman called her? Snow White? This whole Snow White thing wasn't a facade to get in good with Shay or anyone else and he kind of liked that she didn't have an attitude that said every man was out to get her, either into bed or harass her. And in their conversations, she was obviously quite smart. WAY smart actually and he did like how she seemed to absorb everything he said and didn't do the groupie 'that is SO cool' thing.

And.. Ray recalled the last but not least thing that was good about Roxane. Dimples. God love it, he liked dimples and he liked great legs and she had both. Did she wear the skirt uniforms that Starfleet had for their women? God he hoped so, that would be cool.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Ray ran a hand through his hair again. Rig, you're a Shark. Rickman would have your ass (Shay was going to have it anyway) for acting like this and more over, for not being apparently able to handle change and roll with things. Right. So get your ass back out there and act like a man, for god's sake.

Ray was half way towards the door when he remembered the other reason for coming back here. The chicken. Right.

*****

Pausing in the doorway, Ray heard Shay and Roxane laughing over something, which just ground the arrow into the wound even more. Okay. He was an ass. He'd have to make it up to them both and definitely apologize to Harte. Putting on a better face than the scowl he'd left with, Ray sauntered back into the living room. He was a Shark, dammit and needed to act like one. "About five more minutes for the chicken," he announced, claiming the empty chair as he shot Roxy a guilty glance.

"Oh, then I need to get the rest done." Rising to her feet, Shay gave him a shrewd once-over and waved off his offer of help. "No, I'll do it." The bug appeared removed from his ass so it was safe to leave him alone with humans. "It's just a salad and some bread anyway."

"Oh.. okay." Nodding, Ray eased back into his seat as Shay headed out of the room.

Being left alone with Lt. Hardbody didn't put Roxanne at ease and seeing him seating down in front of her, she reached for her wine and drained the last of it before setting down the glass and giving him a little smile. "This wine is nice. I don't usually drink at least not in front of the Captain but this is nice. If I start jabbering more nonsensically than usual, please do me a favour and cut me off or else I'm going to start saying all kinds of dumb things. Last thing I want to do is wake up tomorrow morning and find out that aside from a serious hangover I am now assigned to cleaning out the waste reclamation units." She teased out the nervous joke. God, he made her nervous. She couldn't figure if it was because he was the Captain's son, the fact that he was a Shark (they were always a little bit intense) or the fact that he just looked....dreamy. Probably the last one, she admitted guiltily but Roxanne knew her limitations. She was a notch over obsessive compulsive someone had told her once and she wasn't sure they were joking. Rigby was always so relaxed, so together. She was like one of those light beams that bounced around the wall when a kid was playing with a torch in the dark.

His eyes had widened when she downed the rest of the glass and again, (AGAIN?!), he found himself returning that cute, dimpled smile. "Shay would make sure you stopped before that happened," he chuckled. "It's when you go out drinking and get your self shit-faced that she has you hauled down there." Laughing at that, Ray shook his head. "I don't like getting those calls."

She laughed back nervously, needing something to do with her hands and satisfied herself with picking lint of the sofa she was sitting on. "So, uhm how's life down the cage, I mean everything going on as usual? Nothing...nothing interesting going on?" God, she sounded like such a dummy.

Watching her for a moment, Ray found himself even more appreciative of her sweet nature. God, he'd been an ass earlier. All that stumbling of hers, the nerves, was she just shy and all the talking was her way of getting past it? Maybe.. or was she shy because she knew how she was? His sense of honor went into overdrive on that, because that kind of self-doubt was no way to live and he wondered if she'd had a difficult childhood because of it. "Well, not really, although we're still trying to figure out how one of the newbies got his boot stuck in the john.. Uh.. toilet. His foot wasn't in it and he's not talking," Ray chuckled, draping an arm across the back of his chair, an idea suddenly hitting him. "You know, your idea the other day, about the power packs on our rifles and how they malfunction from time to time? That was a good one and the more I think on it, I'd like to try it."

"Really?" Roxanne's eyes lit up. "I mean I don't mean to tell you how to do thing but my mind's like that sometimes. I see things or ways of doing things like its just in front of me and before I know what I know what I'm doing, it just comes out of my mouth. I can't tell you how many times it gotten me into trouble. My mom says I'm just moving at a different wavelength to everyone else. I think its because I've got too much energy, maybe I need to take up a sport like racket ball or something. Something physical that keeps me from thinking too much. Any suggestions?" She asked. Sharks knew better than anyone about letting off steam.

Like a kid who figured out he just connected with a wild animal, Ray smiled at how happy she seemed, how her dimples went KABOOM. "There's a ton of stuff," he said with a shrug. "We've got the cargo bay set up for racquetball, tennis. Even football and rugby." Ka'ana was a scrum all by himself. "Uh... don't.. do you have any hobbies?" Contrary to popular belief, he had some that didn't involve weapons or sex. He'd been introduced to those hobbies because of energy and the need for an outlet.


"Not really," she shrugged. "We were always so busy on the Lorna. When you're a part of a crew like that, you're always needing to do something, help out somewhere. There was always something to do so if I had spare time, I'd read a lot. On the plus side, I gotta to see a lot of places."

"Ah, one up on me then." Mostly, when he got to 'see' places, it was during or after the place got shot to hell. Or they were places that would Roxy's parents would faint over the thought of knowing their daughter simply knew someone who went there. Like the Orion midget bar on Tau 9. "Sounds kind of like ship life during the Exodus," he said. "Sort of. They put everyone in a shift schedule so we'd keep busy, that kind of thing. Even the kids. Learned a lot about ships." Probably why he went Marines instead. "What was your favorite place?" The small talk was a little easier now, especially when she smiled. He liked those dimples.

"Oooh, that's hard," she said wrinkling her nose as she tried to select a particular place. "I liked Betazed, largely because when I was there, I could have whole conversations with people without having to say a word. They were able to just see what I was thinking without me having to say anything. It saved a lot of time." She laughed.

Laughing with her, Ray had admit that was pretty funny.

"Dinner's on!" Shay's voice rang out from the kitchen and Ray looked up, almost.. disappointed.

"That's us," he said, getting to his feet. This time, it wasn't to stalk off into the kitchen.

A few hours later, three glasses of wine past, Roxanne found herself walking the hallways with Lt. Dreamy. The alcohol had the opposite effect and instead of talking at warp speed, she was actually carrying on a conversation with some coherence. If it were possible for her to be drunk all the time, Roxanne might have found the way to manage her talkative nature.

"You didn't have to walk me back, Lieutenant Rick...hic...bee." She said.

An eyebrow went up and Ray smiled down at her. "You're on the way to my deck," he teased, chuckling. Was she drunk? This was certainly a turn around from the normal jabber-jabber. "Thanks for coming tonight. You've made an impression on Shay," he said honestly, hooking his thumbs into his jeans pockets.

"I did?" She broke into happy smile. "Oh she's so amazing." Roxanne gushed. "I mean there aren't that many female captains around but Captain Houser has to be the best. If I could even be half as good someday, I'll die happy."

Full bore dimples, sir, bearing down on our right flank!! Evasive action?

Hell no. Finding himself smiling back, out of pride over Shay and just because that smile was turning into his kryptonite, Ray nodded. "She's got brass balls and a steel bra, that's for damn sure. So, what's on your agenda for tomorrow? Oh, Shay said to remind you about a list? She said you'd know?"

"I have to...hic...go see Captain Houser to discuss my performance and career development. I'll be happy if she can just figure out some way to keep me from irritating everyone under the sun." She giggled.

She seemed to tilt slightly and Ray placed a steadying hand to help before he pulled it back. "You're not that irritating, you know. People just don't get you." He barely did but that was another story. "Don't worry about them anyway," he said with a shrug. "You be you, that's what Shay's about on this ship," he told her.

"Really?" She looked at him. "You're so sweet. You wouldn't think that about Sharks since Captain Mercer bites your head off everytime you ask him anything and Sarge Ka'ana kind of just growls....Dee's nice though."

"Dee is very nice." Sweet.. what was he, a gingerbread man? "And Captain Mercer, he's had a lot on his plate lately. He's good people. Ka... well, we think he eats dog biscuits for breakfast," Ray chuckled.

Roxanne laughed again, swaying a little when she took a step forward, reaching for a wall to stand up. "Next time, you should cut me off. I'm so no good with alcohol. Then again, not good with coffee either."

"You got it," Ray replied, with a kind of protective affection. Again, he reached out to catch her and let go once she was steady. "I think we're near your quarters right?" he asked.

"Uh huh," she giggled and held onto the wall as she reached down and removed her sandals. "Ohhhkay that's so much better. Now I"m..." she looked up at him. "Hey were you always this tall? You seem taller now or am I shorter? Course I am," she laughed, turning away from him to head down towards her door, slingbacks in her hand, "never mind no one is as tall as Lt. Hardbody." She smirked to herself, unaware that statement had actually left her lips.

Lieutenant... Ray stared at Roxy's back for a second, a weird look of amusement on his face. Only her tilting to one side again got him moving and his long legs caught with up her just in time. "Come on. I'll make sure you get into your room okay." Anyone else, any place else, that would have been prelude to getting laid but not this time. She -was- drunk, he was sure of it now and he wasn't going to take advantage of her like that.

"Oh I'm fine," she looked up at him as he came up along side of her, a happy smile on her face. Yep, he was dreamy. Of course, Roxanne knew better even in this condition to think a guy like Lt. Hard body would find someone like her remotely interesting. She pictured that his type of woman would be some Amazon, who could leap tall buildings in a single bound like Lt. Colonel McRae or something. Drunk or no, she knew when someone was out of her league. "I'm over there." She pointed to the second door along the corridor, from the end of the corridor.

Okay, because he wasn't a total Boy Scout, the corner of Ray's mouth tweaked upwards. "No, you're right here," he teased, indicating the spot she was standing in.

"What...." she paused a moment before breaking into a laugh. "Ha! You're funny too..." Roxanne smirked and continued walking.

That laugh was like a light shining into the dark, Ray thought as once again, he found himself not immune to it or her dimples. He hurried to catch up with her again, just as Roxanne reached her door. "Alright. You going to be okay from here?" he asked as she waved it open.

Reaching for the panel with one hand, while another braced against the wall, she looked over her shoulder and smiled, "Peachy keen Lootenant." She made an attempt to salute until it almost lost Roxanne her balance. "Oops, she giggled and stepped into her room before anything else.

Chuckling, Ray waited until the door slid shut before he turned away. She was cute, wasn't...

*THUMP*

That came from her room and Ray paused, looking back at the door as a muffled 'I'm okay!!!' drifted back to him. Laughing, Ray shook his head and kept going. Yeah. She was cute and very nice. Especially those dimples.