Settling In (Part 2)

 

Month 16 Day 14

23:14 Hours

Smitty

Previously:  The 2 security guards looked at each other, swallowed, and then visibly prepared themselves for the chore ahead of them. “You heard the man, MacDowell. It’s time for you to leave.”

Smitty stared in horror as the guards approached his fiancée. “Not her!” he managed to declare. “The blond in my bedroom!” The 2 men stopped, looking confused. They finally turned to approach the bedroom. “I don’t care if she’s dressed or not!” Smitty added. “Get her out! I’ll press charges against her!”

Monroe appeared, haphazardly dressed, her shoes clutched to her chest. “You can’t treat me like this, Bartholomew Smythe! After the good times we’ve had, to toss me aside like yesterday's status report! I’ll file a complaint!”

Smitty glared at her. “Madam, we have never had any good times! I have tried to make it plain that I have no interest in you!”

“Come on, Monroe, let’s go,” said a guard.

“I want to file a complaint, I tell you!” She declared shrilly.

“You’ll have to do that with your supervisor or the captain,” the guard told her. “The best I can do is get you a copy of the form to fill out. For that, we need to go to the security office.”

Monroe threw her shoes down and jammed her feet into them. “I know how to pull up a form on the computer!” She declared and stomped out of the bedroom through the door to the hallway.

The 2 guards hesitated. “Mr Smythe?”

“She’s gone,” he answered, feeling far less angry than he had been. His exhaustion came rushing back through him. “From now on, I’ll keep my doors locked.”

“Very good, sir,” they told him, and glanced at the redhead questioningly before they left the officer’s quarters.

Smitty took a deep breath, shook off the remainder of his anger, and took a step forward. Now to deal with this, when all I want to do is sleep! “That wasn’t what it looked like, Colleen.”

She cocked her head to one side. “Just because we’re together, doesn’t mean you have to give up your other girl friends.”

“Despite her efforts, that woman is not a girl friend. And never has been.”

“Smit,” she spoke softly. “I know men have girl friends, even after they’re married.”

It took a moment for the import of that statement to sink in. “I’m sorry, I... Who told you that?”

She shrugged. “A man has needs. On Gaelunde, it’s common knowledge.”

He stared at her for a long moment. If that's what she expects from marriage... “Colleen.” He surged forward and took hold of her shoulders. “Darling, this isn't Gaelunde. Maybe that’s normal there, but it’s frowned on most everyplace else. It's horribly disrespectful to the wife. Besides, I don’t want any other women. I want you. For the rest of my life.”

Green eyes looked up at him, her confusion obvious. One tear rolled down her cheek.

Smitty wiped the tear away, and kissed her lightly. A tired sigh escaped his lips. “To think, the only thought I had when I came to my quarters was to climb into bed and get some sleep.”

Colleen nodded, sighed, and turned to leave. “You want to be alone.”

For a second, as she stepped away from him, he knew a moment of panicked shock. Am I throwing an opportunity away? “I didn’t say that!” He protested.

She faced him, perplexed. “Isn’t that why you had Monroe escorted out?”

He fumbled for the right words. “She wanted sex. I didn’t want anything to do with her. She isn’t you. You’re the only woman I want in my bed. Whether or not we have sex.” He stepped forward and reached for her, changed his reach to take her hands. “How is your back?”

She flushed, and her eyes lowered to his chest, but a smile played with her lips. “All restrictions have been removed from my activities, I am fully recovered.” She took a small step toward him and looked up to study his face. “But you look tired, and you have to report to duty in the morning.” Of a sudden, she added, “I should let you sleep.”

He could feel her prepare to turn away, and he slipped his arms around her. “I wish you could sleep here tonight,” he murmured as he held her close. “Tomorrow, I’ll put variable gravity on my bed, then you can sleep over any night you like.”

She returned his embrace. “You don’t have to. I could sleep here, as long as we sleep together.”

“How?” he asked. “You need the extra gravity to avoid nightmares.”

“I have a theory,” she offered hesitantly. “Before you… installed variable gravity on my bed, Bugalu found I could sleep pretty decently for nearly 8 hours, as long as I had a… kind of anchor to make me feel safe. Feel… grounded, I guess you could say.”

Despite his efforts, his muscles tensed with jealousy. “He slept with you,” he guessed, his voice high-strung.

She hesitated, plunged forward. “Bugs spent his days off in my quarters, but he wasn’t sleeping. He was reading, and when I started to get restless, he would take my hand. Just holding my hand provided me with a sense of safety. I was thankful to him for giving up his days off to let me rest. So I figure if holding his hand was enough to let me sleep without Gaelund gravity, then having your arm around me would let me sleep deeply. After all, your hugs make me feel surrounded by safety.”

“Do they?” He asked in some surprise. It was the first inkling he’d had that she felt that way. “Will you stay, then? Oh, but you’ve already slept.”

“I’m not adverse to sleeping more,” she told him. “Another 4 or 5 hours, I suppose. Our helping the St Elmo was exhausting.”

“For me also,” he admitted, and regretted that he would not get 8 hours of sleep tonight. He expected he would have sex with Colleen tonight, if she stayed, and he did not want to rush that this time. He would just have to get through the next day somehow.

As if she knew his thoughts, she gently pulled away. “Since we're both tired, we should go to bed. It won’t bother you if I get up later and go check on my projects? I haven’t even given them a cursory glance.”

“I'll miss you,” he stated. “But I will not begrudge you time with your projects.” My bed will feel cold and lonely without her. But she can’t get all her needed rest at one time. It simply doesn’t work that way. “And since we're both tired, we should forego sex tonight.”

“Oh.” She seemed surprised, perhaps disappointed. “If you think that’s best.”

“Then let’s just go to bed and fall asleep,” he summed up. “Like an old married couple.” He led her to the bedroom, turning out the lights as they went.