Dr Mags turned the volume back up and Jeffrey, Rebecca, Dan, Dr Mags, and Sarah all danced in one big circle with their arms around each other rocking back and forth.
Beckett whispered, “You okay?”
Luna nodded, “I didn’t realize how many people are orphaned. How sad they were. I guess I never thought about it.”
Beckett nodded solemnly. “I’m an orphan.”
Luna looked at him in surprise. “You are? Oh.” She looked down at her fingers. “I never asked. I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay, on land, most people you meet are. The Deep Flu, the one about eighteen years ago, took millions of people. So I guess I’m used to everyone being an orphan. It is what it is.”
Luna’s looked toward the group, singing a loud drunken song. Her eyes misted as she watched. “Oh.”
Beckett asked, “Luna, are you an orphan?”
She closed her eyes and nodded.
Beckett watched the side of her face. “I’m sorry that you are.”
Luna bit down on her lips, holding a cry inside. “I guess in the scheme of things it’s not that big a deal.”
“It is a big deal. It’s a very big deal. Thank you for telling me.”
The singing group finished their song. Dan slurred, “I gotsta head to bunks, coming baby?”
Sarah laughed, “Someone has to help you so you don’t get lost.” She threw her arms around Dan and they stumbled giggling to the bunk room.
Rebecca said, “G’night everyone.” She hiccuped again. “Dang blast it, that’s the third time tonight.”
Luna said, “My friend Xylo used to say you have to get hiccups three times before you’re done.”
Rebecca held up three fingers, lost focus, and slurred, “Magic number — going to bed.” She followed Dan and Sarah down to the bunks.
Jeffrey ducked his head. “I have to get to those dishes. It’ll probably only take me about two hours. Mind if I take the music down to keep me company?”
Beckett said, “Go for it.” Jeffrey grabbed the music and left for the galley.
Luna and Beckett drew their attention up to the starry sky. Luna said, “These people are really great.”
“I agree. without them I would have never found you — twice.”
Luna reached for his hand, raised it to her lips, and kissed him on the knuckle.
Beckett rolled on his side in his deck chair facing her. “I need to say something, and um, can you hear me out?”
Luna said, “That seems serious.”
“It is. I love you. It might not be logical because we just met, but I do. I know our future isn’t going to be easy, but whose is these days? But I’m willing to do the work. Maybe that’s the logical side of it, we have much to learn about each other, but I’m here, I’m not going anywhere.”
Luna watched him silently, her dark eyes reflecting the starry sky.
“My offer, that we live in my mountain house, that is always there. But I don’t want you to come unless you want to. You don’t owe me anything. If you said to me, Beckett, I can’t — we would figure that out. And if you can’t — with me, that’s okay. I will get you back to Sky. You don’t need to do this out of gratitude or indebtedness or anything.”
Luna let go of his hand and turned to her side facing him and smiled, curling her hands up under her face. “How would you get me back to Sky?”
Beckett said, “I don’t know, um—”
“I’m just asking what the plan would be.”
“I guess I would rent a boat.”
“You would sea captain a ship to take me back to Sky simply because I said, ‘I can’t?’”
Beckett nodded solemnly.
Luna shook her head and smiled at him sweetly. “Well, there, my love, it is, the best part about you — you jump, a quality that I happen to adore. If some hot, tattooed, dimpled, sweet-talking Stiffneck is going to put out his hand and say, ‘jump with me,’ I have no response but, ‘absolutely.’” She grinned, “But you probably won’t hear it because of my splash.”
He said, “You understand that I don’t jump literally, right?”
“Oh, I’ve seen you jump, literally.”
“I thought we established that was a belly flop.”
“It’s the splash that is important, not the style. And you splashed epically.”
“It’s a lot easier to jump when I don’t think about it first.”
“Exactly. Stop thinking, my Beckett, don’t try to logic all over this. We’re going to live in your mountain house. Because you asked. Because you said we. Because it means something all this finding. Plus I love you, how could I not. That’s why.”
Beckett said, “God, I want you.” He crawled from his deck chair across to Luna’s, bit by bit, nudging her onto her back, spreading her legs, laying down on her, kissing her —
The door to the steps opened and Sarah stepped out, “Beckett! Luna! Oops!” She covered her eyes and tipsily approached them feeling with her other hand. “So sorry to interrupt. Dan made me come tell you that you should use the Zodiac if you um, want to sleep somewhere, um for privashy, ‘kay?”
Luna giggled in Beckett’s ear.
Sarah said, “Take it from us, the deck chairs suck, we’ve tried ‘em all.”
Beckett asked, “The Zodiac’s not wet?”
Sarah said, “Dan is relentleshly hopeful, so he towels it down every day — in case.”
Beckett laughed. “I thought that was one of his chores.”
Sarah turned away, “I gotta go pass out, have fun kids.” She stumbled away.
Beckett looked down into Luna’s eyes, “Want to get more comfortable?”
Luna said, “Splash.”
Chapter 24
Beckett led Luna by the hand to the Zodiac. It was situated on a lower deck near the front of the ship, and was dark, mostly, one bulb near the ground glowed for safety, but it was directional. Beckett shoved it with his foot to point in the other direction. Luna slithered over the big inflatable side and dropped to the bottom of the boat. “Cushy!”
Beckett climbed over and climbed on top of her, causing her to float up and down as he moved and shifted. They crashed into each other so he scooped his arms around her back and held her close until their rhythm matched. They stilled and the air stilled and the boat, and they looked into each other’s eyes and kissed and kissed.
Beckett concentrated on the side of her neck. Luna moaned and looked up at the stars. “The sky is beautiful tonight.”
He kissed her throat and her chin and her lips. “It is.”
She said, “You didn’t even look.”
He said, “You look.” While she looked up, he searched her eyes. “There, now I’ve seen.”
He kissed back down her neck to her shoulders and down and pulled up her shirt and fondled there for a moment. She ran her fingers around on the back of his head, holding him close, closer, closest. He rose on his knees over her and pulled his shirt off over his head.
She watched appreciatively as his arms stretched and his chest expanded. Then she raised her arms waiting, so he pulled hers off too. He climbed back on top of her body and ran his hands up and down her side and her front. “I’m sorry about the bandages.”
“That’s okay.”
She ran her hands down his bare back and into the top of his shorts and pushed them down while her tongue flitted inside of his lips, teasing him. He tried to catch her mouth, her lips then groaned. “I want to stay here and play and take my time but I—”
She shoved the back of his shorts down again and teased, “You want me?”
“Yeah,” He shook his head, “I can’t wait.”
She kissed him really slowly looking into his eyes. “Take off my pants.”
He yanked at her pants and pulled them to her ankles and barely off one leg. Shimmying his own off, he lowered himself back down.
She bit his lip and said, “Go.”
_________________
Later they were still and wrapped
around each other. Beckett asked, “Am I crushing you?”
She said, “No, don’t move — stay just like this.” He kissed her in the soft hair in front of her ear.
Her hands ran softly down his back, up and down, memorizing his form, the hard and soft, his breaths and small vibrations. She held tighter, wanting him still, more, longer. She repeated, “Don’t go.”
“I’m here.” His breath was hot on her neck, she inhaled it in.
Chapter 25
Hours later Beckett’s eyes opened suddenly. It would be dawn soon and they were naked in the Zodiac. He had rolled off Luna but still had an arm and a leg across her body. He whispered, “Luna? Wake up.”
She started awake, gave a frightened look around, then settled on Beckett’s smile. “Hey Beckett.”
“Hey. We have to get up, go to the bunk room. There’s a bunk there for you.”
She said, “I guess staying here isn’t acceptable?”
“My pale ass is shining up at the bridge — probably not.”
They struggled up in the Zodiac, hunted for their clothes in the dark, and dressed giggling. Then Beckett led her by the hand to the bunks, showing her a bed at the end of the hall. Across from Jeffrey.
He pantomimed where the bathroom was, and returned to his bunk for his grandmother’s quilt, unfolded it, and covered her. He knelt beside her bunk and kissed her. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
She nodded and he walked away.
Luna stared up at the ceiling made of Dr Mag’s bunk, three feet above her head. The boat shifted and rocked and the engine rumbled and she was warm and comfortable enough, but also alone. She looked around at the shadows surrounding her. People, sleeping, on the water. Familiar, but also different and she couldn’t — she turned to her side and flipped to her other side, then her back and stared at the ceiling some more. She looked at the corners, closer, the ceiling bowing down, she could feel it dropping, pressing. Her heart raced. She pulled the blanket to her mouth and tried to close her —
“Luna?”
She jerked her eyes open. Beckett was kneeling beside her bunk. “I can’t sleep,” he whispered. “Can you?”
She shook her head.
“You want to go sit on deck chairs?”
She nodded gratefully and followed Beckett back up the stairs.
Chapter 26
The next morning Beckett and Luna greeted them all as they appeared, hung-over, in the galley. Dan was ecstatic that coffee had already been made. He poured a mug and joked, “This is what this ship needs, someone to wake up and make coffee for everyone.”
Beckett mumbled, “Your job.”
“A man can dream.” He appraised Beckett, who was smiling, full dimples showing. “You’re grinning like a recently sexed schoolboy, apologies Luna for my bluntness, I guess you had a good night in my Zodiac, Army?”
“I had a good night.” Beckett passed Dan the sugar for his coffee and a spoon. “Last I checked that Zodiac belongs to the ship.”
Dan grinned. “True that, I just borrow it. When there’s a need.” Sarah clambered down the stairs. Dan said, “Isn’t that right baby? When there’s a need?”
“Jeez honey, you talking about sex again? You’re incorrigible.”
Dan pouted. “Army started it. Look at him, all smiles. He had sex last night. You can see it all over his face, apologies again Luna.” Then he pouted. “Why didn’t I?”
Sarah gave his shoulder a playful slap, “You were too drunk last night and you know it.” She wrapped her arms around his head and he nestled into her chest. She whispered to Luna, “Don’t mind him.”
Luna said, “Oh I don’t mind. Someone had some mind-blowing sex in the Zodiac last night. As my friend Sky would say, ‘I reintroduced him to my spectacular awesome.’”
Dan grinned. “Luna, you’re the best.”
“Us Waterfolk live in pretty close quarters. We’re kind of open and blunt about our antics.”
Dan said, “See, I learn something new every day.”
Captain Aria appeared and everyone stopped laughing, un-entwined their bodies, and tried to act respectable. She chuckled. “At ease people. Got coffee? I’ve a bit of a headache.”
Rebecca and Jeffrey and Dr Mags appeared next. Dan and Beckett passed out mugs for coffee.
Captain Aria said, “Since you’re all here — we’ve had a change of plans. We have a big storm in the area. Lenny turned us south last night and he’s been running all night. It seems like we might as well head back to port. We’ll be arriving mid-morning tomorrow.”
Rebecca’s hair stuck up everywhere and her eyes were unfocused. “So can I go back to bed?”
Everyone laughed. Sarah said, “You know that ‘headed back to port’ means chores. And also you’re the one that needs to assign them. You know, as boss.”
Rebecca groaned. “Okay. Okay. It was my birthday yesterday.” She stuck her tongue out petulantly. “I’ll have a list ready by,” she looked at her wrist where there wasn’t a watch, “a while from now.” She dropped her head to the table, moaned, and spoke directly to Beckett and Luna. “You guys are lucky you don’t have to drink.”
Captain Aria said, “Well, I’m headed back to the bridge, bring my breakfast up when it’s ready Dan. I’ll send Lenny down before he gets to bed.” With that she climbed up the steps.
Dan said, after checking to make sure she had gone, “Fine, I’ll make breakfast. Someone has to, I suppose. Sheesh.” He hoisted himself up and disappeared in the kitchen, calling out, “We have too much food left, everyone is going to need to eat double time.” He reappeared around the corner. “Luna, heads up,” He tossed a chocolate bar.
“Yum, thanks Dan.” She ripped into it, bit off a corner, and hugged it to her chest.
Sarah moved into the seat beside Rebecca with a pad of paper and a pen and they began planning all the things that needed to be done to close down and relocate the lab and specimens and equipment. After a bit Dan appeared with eggs, bacon, and toast for everyone, and dictated a list to Jeffrey for closing up the kitchen. Beckett was necessary for parts of both, or all, jobs even with bandaged hands. He would be a floater and do whatever needed to be done. Luna was to wash the decks. She seemed excited about that job which made Dan squint his eyes skeptically. “That’s not a fun job.”
She looked incredulous. “Not fun? It’s water, soap — what do I use?”
“A mop. Sponges.”
“Mops, sponges, out on deck, on the ocean, with friends, all working together toward a common goal. I can’t think of anything more fun.” She took another bite of chocolate and grinned.
Beckett leaned over and kissed her on the temple.
_________________
The day was long. Beckett and Luna passed each other occasionally and kissed or held hands or just sat and leaned on each other, settling into being together. The chores took all day. Beckett asked Luna to help him at one point with tarp folding and like on the Outpost they spread out the tarps held the corners and moved to the middle to gather them together. Unlike on the Outpost, they kissed when they met in the middle and turned the whole thing into a game. Then Beckett disappeared to the galley while Luna organized ropes, but suddenly she appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, her face paler than usual.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing.” Her eyes flitted around the room.
“You sure?”
Dan looked up from a box he was filling with pots. “She’s hungry again, right Luna? Back for some dinner—” He looked at his wrist. “Damn, I’ve got to cook.” He spun around looking for his apron, lost in thought.
Beckett asked quietly, “What’s up?”
“Nothing . . .” She focused on the light switch on the wall beside him. “Did you see the big bank of clouds headed this way? It’s um — no big deal. I was wondering if you needed help down here?”
Beckett searched her eyes. “Yeah, I was coming to get you. Can you help me with packing the utensils?”
Relief washed over her face. “Sounds perfect.”
Dan said, “Again, not a fun job.”
Luna stuck out her tongue.
Thirty minutes later everyone else traipsed down to the galley, showing up at once, loud, boisterous, Jeffrey was last, wet. “The rain has arrived.”
They slid into all the booths and looked expectantly, half-jokingly at the kitchen door. Dan looked around the door jamb. “Jeez you guys need to eat again? It’s going to be awhile before it’s ready, so I don’t know, play cards or something.” An hour later he fed them a big meal he had conjured up of all the rest of the perishables.
Dr Mags said, “I’ve been dying for veggies and suddenly you have them? You saved them?”
“In case we needed them, now we do.”
“As your doctor I would like to go on the record as saying you need your veggies every day. It’s a fact, there’s no arguing.”
“When did you become my doctor, aren’t you an animal Doctor? Maybe you’re confusing me with a cow.” He placed a heaping plate in front of her and kissed her on the cheek playfully. “I kid, you’re not just an animal Doctor you’re also Beckett’s Doctor.”
Everyone ate in silence and Rebecca groaned again. “So how did everyone do on their lists? I’m not close to done, but it’s raining now, dark, I don’t want to do anything. Can we call it a day? I’m wiped.”
Sarah said, “You tell me. I can’t think, I need sleep.”
“I say we call it. We can finish tomorrow morning and then we have the unloading and moving and unpacking. Poop, let’s just go to bed.”
Dan said, “Wait! He rushed to the kitchen and returned with a heaping plate of cookies, turnovers, and pastries. “Eat! Finish these and then you can sleep. And Jeffrey, I’ll need your help after for cleanup again.” He pointed at Beckett with a questioning look.
Beckett shook his head.
“Okay, I only need Jeffrey.”
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