Original post https://www.star-fleet.com/core/stf3/outpost42/notes/274/
https://www.star-fleet.com/core/stf3/outpost42/notes/39238/

Duncan raised an eyebrow as he looked at her, and then looked at the giant greenish blue planet hanging in space just outside the the huge windows of this empty bar that Duncan had been painstakingly rebuilding himself. His eyes slipped back to the beautiful woman in his arms and he smirked. She was cute, and she was able to hold his attention far longer than most people could. There was something about her that made him want to spend his time with her. She had made him smile, frown, swear inside and laugh outwardly all in just a few precious hours. That was something that to Duncan, told him far more about her than just her looks or where she had picked him up from.

“Okay, wait a moment. Exactly how many guys have you danced with in front of giant beautiful planets in a darkened room, that you need to sort them all with snippets of personal information like an i.d. system?” His hands dropped and circled her waist, his fingers gently following the curve of her sides as he spoke. “I could just be the guy that refused to play your game,” he whispered and brought his head closer to her, his lips by her ear. “I could be the guy that stayed mysterious, didn’t answer. So that way I will always be that one guy, not I like tripe guy or I have 6 toes and they are all webbed guy. I would always be that one guy that you think of and what my secret might have been.”

Lt Rhodes, CSO

“You know Larry,” she said with mocked surprise. Lily let her laugh fill the room for a second. “That is a good question,” she said chewing on her lip. “The answer is far less exciting. I have been around a lot and by a lot I don’t mean a lot. You know like the a lot that would make a pastor’s wife blush or exile you from Barlutha V a lot. Not that kind of a lot. More the travel a lot where you experience new things but not those kinds of things but get your heart pounding and make you scream god yes I want to do this like ten times a lot,” she said in an excited tone. Looking at Duncan she realized maybe her point wasn’t coming off right.

Duncan nodded as he listened, but it wasn’t the nod of someone with complete understanding. It was the nod of a man trying to follow a series of complex and interwoven instructions and explanations where you had to turn page around and over once or twice before you realized that it was probably better to throw away the instructions and just go with your gut instinct. Kind of like a blind leap, but one made with faith and trust that things were going to turn out just like they should. He did, however, raise an eyebrow. None of that meant he wasn’t allowed to be confused.

“You know what I mean right. By a lot? The standing on the edge of a cliff on Deneva and looking over the rainbow aurora and asking yourself do I take this moment and jump or let it pass you by.” Even though her heart was pounding and her ears had a ringing sound in them, Lily wore an external calm expression. “I am going to stop talking now and kiss you,” she said slowly as if she was trying to take control of a dangerous situation. “Because I don’t want this moment to pass us by. I want a lot,” she stressed the last two words, ” of moments with you because you are not some Joe Schmoe tour guide pointing out the sites for all the tourist that I can figure out in a second. You are the guy that stayed mysterious, didn’t answer, and made me think take the jump Lily.”

“Shut up and kiss me. Lily Locksley.” Duncan told her in the quiet of the old room. The music had stopped playing now, and it was only the two of them together in the silence and the dim light. His hands still gently held her waist, and slightly pulled her into him as his head lowered to hers. He didn’t move his hands to her face, brush a hair away or gently caress the soft skin of her neck, he just held her to him in a way that showed she was perfect just as she was. He didn’t rush the movements either, Duncan just let his lips touch hers and he fell into the kiss slowly. The taste of her, the feel of her against him and how his hands gently ran up her sides to behind her shoulder blades all blended into that moment, the only moment that had ever mattered it felt like, creation and new beginnings. Everything before that moment was swept away like water under a bridge, and Duncan and Lily stood on that bridge and watched the time past float behind them.

She did not rush it. She knew she didn’t have to. Duncan was not like other men. He was slightly formal and standoffish yet made you feel safe. As her lips touched his Lily got lost in the moment. It was as if there had never been another moment on the Outpost before this. Lily had a hard time remembering how she actually got here. What she knew was why she was here now. It was to meet Duncan Rhodes. As their lips parted she felt a shiver ripple up and down her spine causing her to shake in his arms. The feeling of his hands on the small of her back pressing towards him let a soft moan escape her lips as she used the second to draw in a quick breath. If she needed to breathe it meant they were kissing for a long moment only in her mind it just started. Lily was losing a sense of time when she was with Duncan. As the kiss deepened she felt a hot rush filling her body. The kiss had started soft and gentle. Just a brushing of the lips with the promise of more. Now the promise was being called out. His hands were in her hair. Stroking and gently tugging showing his need for her to be with him or were they. The longer the kiss lingered the more Lily was having trouble distinguishing between the reality of Rhodes standing before her and the fantasy Rhodes in her head. The truth, however, didn’t matter. If the man before her could make her feel like this in real life, then all things in her dreams were possible given time.

Duncan hadn’t expected the night to come to a point quite like this, especially since he had entered the coffee shop simply looking for a coffee and a sandwich. He most certainly couldn’t complain about meeting Lily and the way that she had made him feel all every moment he had been with her, with her attention on him and everything about her pointing in his direction. He kissed her and felt himself being drawn into her, felt his hands through her hair and caressing her soft and delicate skin, finding her curves. He felt her lips against him, felt his against the skin of her neck.

The night was going in a direction Lily never planned but was willing to explore. Not thinking, just reacting she jumped off the floor wrapping her legs around his waist so that she was eye level with him. She needed to see his eyes. The height difference was starting to give her a neck and probably his back an ache with the arching up and stooping over. The motion was seamless as if he knew what was coming. He held her close to him and she looked into his eyes. Many people talked of looking in their lover’s eyes and seeing things as profound as the future or as mystical as a soul mate but Lily only saw honesty. The pure and honest gaze that told Lily he would not make promises to her right now. He would only live in this moment with her and not regret a single second of it. There was no promise of a tomorrow or false promise they would have a fairytale life. No hint that he had a playbook which got him from point A to point B which in Lily’s experience was odd for a man with his wealthy and looks. Duncan was promising her the first of her ‘a lot’ moments and she would take it.

Walking slow and steady he carried her across the room and lifted her smoothly onto the table behind her. Old and polished oak, it was sturdy and like something out of one of Duncan’s old estates, which might have been why he chose the style. The lights were already low and the planet outside the window gave them the bulk of their light, all at once giving them the feeling that they were alone yet a part of the universe around them. His hand moved back to behind her neck, his thumb gently tracing the curve of her neck and he again pulled her lips to his. Everything between Duncan and Lily was right, how it should have been. Duncan wasn’t able to see the future, but he knew deep inside that this woman was someone that he was meant to be with and that it wasn’t chance the two of them were here. All of that he knew, yet he didn’t think it. It was already inside him, he just knew that as he kissed her, he was meant to be hers.

They had the night, it was theirs and whatever lay in the future for Lily and Duncan, somehow he knew that they were going to be side by side, just like they were now.

Lt Rhodes, CSO

===================
Four hours later......

Lily flopped back on the couch with her heart still pounding and worked to steady her breath. “This room,” she said tucking the picnic blankets up tightly under her arms, “looks like it has been tossed by robbers.” If it had been a crime scene the police would easily be able to decipher the chain of events. It would have started at the large window. Four handprints smudging the glass as two people looking out at Gamma Tiltimum below. The trail would lead to the middle of the dance floor where a pair of sneakers had been kicked off. One shoe sitting flat and proper next to one that was on its side as if hastily pulled off a foot and dropped where it fell. From there the large oak table would be the next stop and they would spend a while examining that. The table was huge. Far larger than any other table Lily had ever enjoyed sitting at. It was large enough that her hands could be raised above her head and legs outstretched yet still her feet would not dangle over the edge. It was a hard surface without any table cloth or placemats yet Lily had no problems with the solid piece of oak that was the focal point of the room. A few horizontal scratches might run down the sides but it was old and some nicks could be expected from time to time. They were probably due to someone moving a plate or cup from one end of the table to the other. Not carefully as one might expect but slid out of the way as if in a hurry to make room for something else. The table would still be warm to the touch if one rested a palm on it. Two chairs had an article of clothing on them each. One was a females shirt and the other a man’s dress shirt.

As your eyes traveled the room you would see the left side of the observation window also had hand prints but only one set of palms leaving an impression on the glass. The prints were small or maybe just the fingers curled for some reason. The mystery would be where was the other set of hands. So far everything was in sets of two as evidenced by the pants and shorts lying on the ground in a heap off in a corner. They could not have gotten there on their own. They were too far from the hand prints. A casual kick might have launched them to their final resting place or a sharp toss sideways. Either way, the clothes were almost knotted in a ball. One leg of the pants peeking out under the waistband of the shorts. This was not the end of the trail, however.

The trail ended with pillows and cushions from several chairs strewn about the room. More clothes interwove them. A bra hanging off the tip of the one righted pillow leaning against the easy chair. Some silken fabric poking out from under the bottom of another as if it were an easter egg. Able to be seen but not noticed immediately. Ultimately the trail of haphazardly scattered pillows would end at a single couch. The bottom cushions were intact but the back ones gone as if pushed over the back to make room. The end of the trail would allow even the most novice cop come to the reason of why the room looked as if it did.

“And I loved every minute of it,” she let out a deep contented laugh rolling over towards Duncan. Lily slung her left leg over his lap and curled tightly against his body resting her head on his mid-chest. “I really enjoyed that thing where you told me to lean back and you went right. I have no idea how you got your hand where you did but the only thought in my mind was please god let this man keep taking yoga,” she let the laugh ripple through her body as she punctuated the sentence with a loud playful kiss to the middle of his chest. “I thought I had some moves but I guess there is a reason you are the teacher and I am just your lovely assistant Lily,” she tilted her head up looking at him with a happy grin. Her hair was in no way perfectly styled when they left but the sloppy curls that framed her face now looked as if they had endured the hurricane on the surface of the planet below them. There was a name for the hairdo she was sporting now and it was not elegant up do. “So much like the dance lessons, do you have a sign up sheet for Aerobic Yoga with Duncan. If so I would like to book every day with a “y” in it and preferably from 7am to 12 pm,” she teased.

Men did not often surprise Lily but Duncan was like no man she had ever met. One second he is all formal with the proper education to match his amazing manners but the other second he was like …something. If Lily had they word to describe it she would have yet her mind was blank. At this moment though all she cared about was taking a breather before they decided to inspect the last section of the room.

Lily Locksley.