The day was a glorious one. The bright yellow-orange sun rode high in a crystal cerulean sky; white puffy clouds played tag in merry circles, the entire firmament their playground; the fresh salt-tanged sea breeze tousled the hair of anyone not wearing a hat; the almost-subliminal hums of a modern metropolis mingled in pleasant harmony with the shore birds wheeling high overhead.
In other words, a typical Mediterranean day here on the jewel of the Briar Patch Sector, planet Serenity.
The day was a day custom made for not going to work. Nature was simply putting on too good a performance. No, this day was a day for reveling in life, for rejoicing in simply being alive, for thanking the Great Bird of the Galaxy that the universe was the way it was and you had the physical senses to appreciate it and the wisdom to know a good thing when you saw it. The five young women of Starfleet's elite fighter squadron were certainly making the most of it.
In other words, they were lying around doing absolutely nothing!
From the roof garden of their apartment building, they had a magnificent view across the flat expanse of the spaceport to the sparkling blue ocean beyond the city's edge, and five reclining deck chairs were lined up in a neat row facing that direction to take full advantage, yet the panorama went unheeded today. Clad in skimpy bikinis, Lee Carter, Max Vasser and Sam Beckett were lying face-down on the chairs working on their tans, blissfully oblivious, while Jo Schmidt, also in a bathing suit, was propped up on her back and completely engrossed in a PADD. The fifth pool chair was empty, but a bottle of sunscreen on the wood deck beside and a carelessly-tossed beach towel indicated that Alex Dalton too was somewhere around.
"This is what I call R&R," said Lee Carter without raising her head or opening her eyes.
"Rest and relaxation," said Sam Beckett also without moving or looking up, though there was a contented smile on her lips.
"It'll be 'roast and recuperation' if you guys don't use your sunscreen," replied Max testily, although on a day like this, even Max's natural curmudgeonliness was significantly diluted and softened.
From below, the sound of the front door chime interrupted the women's banter. None of them moved. The chime sounded again. "Anyone going to get that?" asked Carter.
"Alex is downstairs," said Max.
The door chime rang again.
"That's really starting to get annoying," commented Carter idly.
"Jo, why don't you go see who it is and get rid of them," suggested Max.
"Why me?"
"Because you're up."
"No I'm not."
"You will be as soon as you go answer the door."
Jo sighed and said, "Can't argue with logic like that," and rose from her chair. Slipping on her robe, she headed for the stairs down. The doorbell rang a third time before she was halfway there. A casual glance around the apartment on her way through to the front door showed no sign of Alex. The bell rang a fourth time just before she reached the door. "I'm coming! Hold your horses, will ya? Jiminy Christmas!" She yanked the door open. "Oh, hi, Dex. What's up?"
Dexter Gray stood at the door, one hand behind his back, obviously hiding something, the other hand poised to ring the doorbell again. He was dressed in casual civilian attire: a yellow polo shirt, brown pants, and sneakers. Jo's sudden appearance startled him and he jumped back a step, almost falling off the front porch. Only a vigorous windmilling of the arms kept him from going over the steps backwards, but that in turn caused what he'd been hiding to get thrown to the sky. As Jo grabbed him by the collar and set him back on his feet, a dozen pink roses fluttered down around him.
"Good grief, Dex! You're as jumpy as a Klingon with a tribble down his pants!" exclaimed Jo, bending down to help the hapless youth collect his disheveled bouquet.
"Uh, is Alex here?" he asked, deciding that the only way to salvage his dignity was to cut straight to the point.
"Sure," replied Jo, suddenly understanding the young man's nervousness. She handed the flowers she had collected back to him. "She's around here somewhere. Let me go get her. Come on in."
Dexter followed Jo into the living room and parked himself in the center of the floor in front of the sofa and fidgeted. Jo smiled to herself and went in search of Alex.
She found the young blonde upstairs in her bedroom digging through her dresser drawers, clothes strewn all over the floor and bed. Jo ignored the mess; she'd seen it before. Alex was a notorious slob.
Alex was facing away from the door, so Jo knocked on the doorframe and said, "Alex, Dex is here to see you. Didn't you hear the doorbell?" Alex closed the drawer she was ransacking and opened the next one down, completely ignoring Jo.
"Alex."
Still no response.
"Alex!"
This time Alex turned, surprise widening her eyes when she saw Jo standing at her door. She brushed back long hair the color of sunlight and popped a pair of tiny earphones out of her ears. "Sorry. I was listening to my music. What did you say?"
Jo rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation. "I said Dex is here to see you." But then she brightened again. "He's got flowers..." she added with a grin.
"Dex with flowers?" cried Alex joyfully. "Why didn't you say so?" She tossed down the earphones and leapt the mess on the floor in a single bound, landing beside Jo. In a flash, she was out the door and downstairs to her waiting beau.
Jo shook her head in lighthearted dismay at the flightiness and easy good nature of the youngest Banshee, and headed back to the roof garden to resume her interrupted tan.
"Hi, Dex," said Alex upon reaching the bottom of the spiral staircase in the living room.
At the sound of her voice, Dexter spun around from where he'd been idly examining the book titles on the shelves, almost knocking a model starfighter from its place in the process, and quickly tried to hide the flowers behind his back again.
Alex smiled. "Are those for me?" she asked sweetly, pointing.
His subterfuge discovered, Dex brought out the posies and held them out to Alex. "I thought you might like them," he said.
Alex took them and said, "They're lovely!"
"Say... Alex..." stammered Dex, nervously shuffling his feet, trying to gather his courage.
"Yes, Dex?"
"I was wondering if you'd, uh..."
"Yes?"
"What I mean is, uh, would you do me the honor of, uh..."
"Yes?" prodded Alex, getting a little exasperated.
"Would you like to..."
"Spit it out, man!"
"You wanna go on a date? With me?"
"Of course, Dex!" said Alex, beaming brightly. "I'd love to!"
Dexter exhaled and relaxed visibly, and became once more the not-nervous young co-pilot of Banshee Squadron's recon vessel Longbow. "Great!" He offered Alex his arm, which the girl gladly took, and side-by-side they went through the front door to whatever fun awaited them.
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