Editing A Return To Normal

<span style="color:#800000"> '''''Good clean fun ... and then some.  LOL.  Thanks, Andy.--Maer''''' </span> <br><br><br><br>




'''Tuesday, 23 Sep 2521'''<br>
'''Kuiper II class, ''Summer’s Gift'''''<br>
'''Yan Wo Station, Yan Wo'''<br>
'''Fury, Blue Sun (Qing Long) system'''<br>
'''2000hrs, ship’s time'''<br>



There were benefits to being stubborn and painstaking as a ship’s engineer.  You got the job done and what you fabricated or fixed was usually finished to a high standard.  Insisting on doing the best damned job whenever possible was pretty much the order of the day and hell could suck hind tit once I’d settled on a course of action.  My instincts were usually right, further justifying my position, but I wasn’t stupid: it also made for hard feelings, even enemies.  Which went far to explain why I was in the galley helping Joshua with the dinner dishes and not supervising the repair crew currently crawling over our girl.  My reputation as a bitch and a ballbreaker had gotten as far as Fury and I could see right off there was nothing I could do to convince the crew otherwise. So I was up to my elbows in suds scrubbing the dishes as Joshua rinsed and dried.<br><br>

It was a tight fit, standing two abreast at the sink, but I didn’t mind.  Joshua and I had been too taken up with our individual duties to spend much time together until recently and reestablishing our rhythm as a couple was a welcome respite from the occupational grind.  Mind, the occupational grind in our case involved Reavers and dead planets and zombified passengers.  And people shooting missiles and booby traps at us.  Hardly the usual sort of 9-to-5 irritation.  All of which made the simple homey act of doing the dishes with the man I loved all the sweeter.  I gave him a nudge with my hip and passed him a freshly-scrubbed plate, then got to work on the next one in the stack.  Between the warmth of the water on my bare skin and the heat I could feel coming off him, I was feeling downright cozy and domestic and thought ahead to what I could possibly rope him into doing after lights out.  I smiled at the suds and scrubbed on, knowing that chances were good he’d go for it.  It was enough to ease the sting of being shut out of the repairs going on topside and for once, I didn’t mind. <br><br> 

''Another victory.  I’m finally getting used to this.  Finally letting go.''<br><br>

It was tangible proof how much I’d changed in the past year and I paused for a moment to examine it, then scrubbed on.<br><br> 

---

Joshua dried the plate Rina handed him. Damn if it wasn't nice to be only drying a small set of dishes and not dishes for twenty-five. It had been a challenge - one he had asked for. He had handled it well, he thought, but the biggest benefit was a new appreciation for the quiet moments. When Rina passed the next dish over, he took an extra second to linger over her hand.<br><br>

"Thanks for helping with the dishes. I know you'd probably rather be doing other things, but this is nice." He grinned at her and returned the nudge of the hips she had given him a minute ago.<br><br>

---

I gave his hand a squeeze, a slippery proposition thanks to the soap, and grinned at him.<br><br>

"You can make it up to me later," I said, glancing down at his arms and seeing the suds flecking them set me wondering if we could both fit in the shower. The mental image started certain parts of me tingling and I gave him another nudge with my hip. "Back to work, you."<br><br>

---

He let go of her hand and nodded with a bit of a smirk on his face. More than once and they might be going for some sort of 24 hour record. As he scrubbed the dish with a towel, he said, "I don't know about you, but I was just thinking it was nice to get back to a routine. Back to regular chores, back to regular hours, even back to my regular drug routine."<br><br>

---

I'd noticed his arms were clear of needle tracks and his mention of his drug routine reminded me of something we'd briefly discussed the night before. Before we got distracted by other things ... I gathered my thoughts and aloud I said, "So was I. In fact, I was hoping you'd show me how to prep a dose and give it to you. You know, it's not something I've ever seen you do and by now I've seen pretty much everything there is of you." I accompanied that last with a knowing little smirk and nudged him with my hip again.<br><br>

---

He shrugged a little. "Not deliberately hiding from you. Just was taught to do it in private." A long job meant drugs would have to be done while in someone else's identity. How much of why he hadn't shared with Rina was hidden Blue Sun training? After all, they hadn't wanted him to think about the drugs on the job - they ended up in his mind long enough to dose and then faded right back out again.<br><br>

He put his dish in the rack and paused to look at her. "I rotate between spots to avoid injection marks." As he said it, he pointed to his arms, then his thighs and legs. "Combine that with blastomere at the injection sites and one set of pretty top of the line injection equipment and ta-da, scar free, just the way Blue Sun likes 'em."<br><br>

---

“If you'd rather not show me, I'll understand." I said, contrite as if I'd caught him in the act of something embarrassing. "I'm just thinking ahead. You might need your dose and not be conscious or otherwise be able to inject it. Or like on Miranda, you might have fared better had I been able to inject you before you dove into that subway tunnel."<br><br>

I sighed, flicked the suds off me, and leaned against the sink, frowning at my boots.<br><br>

"I'm sorry. I'm just... running the scenarios through my head and working on hack-arounds for them. I can't help it," I added, looking up at him. "I love you and I want you to be safe. Comes with the territory."<br><br>

---

He hadn't wanted to be dosed on Miranda. He had been given plenty of time to dose himself before he wandered outside the ship. But that was beside the point. At least for the moment.<br><br>

Joshua shook his head lightly. "I don't mind showing you. It'd be good to have someone else capable. Arden can do it, but you never know who's going to be around. I've never had to inject directly into the jugular, but it'd be nice to have you around to do it if it was needed." He shuddered a little. "Makes me nervous just thinking about it."<br><br>

---

I saw him twitch and caressed his face.<br><br>

"Does it have to be in the jugular? Or can I do it through your shirt?" Top of the line injection equipment would be designed around such obstacles. Smart needles with nano-guidance capabilities, for instance. Core-tech was a far cry from the pig stickers ubiquitous on the Rim but until I actually got a good look at what Joshua used, I couldn't be sure.<br><br>

---

"Well, you'd only be doing it in the jugular in case of emergency. Straight to the brain, so to speak. Most of the time, I do it in my arms and thighs." He did a half shrug. "It can be done through the clothing, supposedly. But I rarely do."<br><br>

---

"Good to know," I said, meaning it. "Keep in mind, if I'm doing it, it'll be an emergency and I may not have an option as to where to stick you." I turned back to the sink and the last of the dishes. "When can you show me?"<br><br>

---

"Whenever you want. On my every other day schedule, I'm not due until tomorrow, but you know as well as I do that I could dose myself every day if I chose." Not that he '''would''' choose that. He didn't need to dull his senses anymore than necessary.<br><br>

---

"Show me tonight?" I felt reasonably sure that nothing untoward would happen to us while docked at the station but I didn't want to put this matter off any longer than I had to. The dime our fortunes turned on was thin and had already proven itself tippy. "That way no matter what happens from here on out, I'll be ready."<br><br>

---

He smirked a little. "Before or after our other activities?"<br><br>

---

"Before." I cut a look at him and passed him the last plate. "That way I won't have anything distracting me. It'll have already been taken care of."<br><br>

True enough, as that sort of thing went. Time alone with Joshua was precious and I didn't want outside concerns detracting from it.<br><br>

''Good luck with that'', my inner critic snarked.<br><br>

---

"Excellent," he said as he dried the dish and put it away. "You get to stab me with a long pointy thing, then I get to return the favor." He kept his face perfectly straight as he said it, although on the inside, he was laughing furiously.<br><br>

---

Two could play that game. I grinned at him and struck a dramatic pose against the counter, forearm across my face and dripping suds and dishwater on my shirt.<br><br>

"You can stab me, beat me, torture me but you'll never make me talk."<br><br>

---

Still working hard to keep his face straight (although it was getting more difficult with every passing moment), Joshua replied, "Well, as long as you give it up, I guess I don't really care if you talk. Talking is overrated anyway." And a small smirk crossed his face.<br><br>
---

"In that case," I said, lowering my arm and closing in. "You'll just have to make me scream." And I pinned him against the opposite counter and kissed him.<br><br><br>


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