CHAPTER 15C
Her protective force field was up as Kacey lost herself in the music. She lost track of time, as she hid behind the strength of the notes she played. It was just her and her violin alone in the universe.
Natalia listened to the music that filtered through the closed door. The haunting sadness of the melody reached in and pulled on her heart. Thankful that Kate and Anya had told her what had happened. But nothing could have prepared her for the sorrow and despair she heard in the music. If a violin could weep, Kacey's certainly was. The music stopped. Natalia waited for several heartbeats before she opened their door. She found Kacey standing head bowed. Her violin in its customary stand. Deep heart wrenching sobs escaped. Natalia took Kacey in her arms. She felt Kacey's arms hold her tightly, as she cried as if her heart would break. They stood there until the sobs no longer wracked Kacey's body.
Natalia took Kacey hand in hers. "Sweetheart come sit down so we can talk."
Kacey felt herself drowning and let herself be led to the couch, never losing contact with the life line Natalia offered.
"Have you talked to Kate?"
"Yes. She called me."
"She never stops looking out for me. Would not surprise me if she had me under video surveillance this afternoon after I told her I wanted to be alone."
"Tell me about what happened."
"I killed someone today."
"Did you go to his cell and shoot him?"
"No. I would not ever do that." Kacey protested.
"Then take me through everything. Please?" Natalia pleaded.
Kacey took a ragged breath and began. "Castor escaped. He knocked out the guard, who has a fractured skull and the Doctors don't know if he will pull through. Castor went to Private Hastings quarters where he broke in. He beat her savagely and raped her. He was still on top of her when I arrived. I was able to get him away from her and I taunted and argued with him until he came towards me. We fought and the gun went off. I shot him."
"Sounds very much like self defense to me." Natalia stated.
"No. It was not. He was unarmed. I provoked him into coming at me. I do not see how that can be considered self defense. Kate will have to hold an inquiry. I may end up like Castor. Stripped of rank and dishonorably discharged. I hope when that happens I can find something useful to do on the ship."
"I do not think that will happen." Natalia said.
"Kate does not make the rules, honey. She has to hold an inquiry. Just because she is my sister, does not mean she can disregard the rules."
"We can talk to Kate tomorrow."
"I hope she lets me resign before they have to take my saber and insignia from me. I could not bear for my family to see that. It would be bad enough to have Kate do it. Something like this is never done in private. "
"If there is an inquiry, I will be your lawyer. I am undefeated." Natalia boasted. This got a chuckle out of Kacey "Have you eaten anything since breakfast?"
"No." Kacey answered.
"Would you like to go to the Mess Hall or stay here for dinner?"
"Stay here. I really do not feel like seeing anyone but you right now."
"Then here it is. Would you like another drink?"
"There is only one thing I really want, but now is not the time."
"Tell me."
"I wanted everything to be perfect. I have pictured this so many times in my mind. A romantic dinner with candle light and soft music, then come back here and..."
"Make love?"
Kacey nodded. "After today, I don't know how you can even stand to touch me."
"Touch you? I have wanted to touch you for a long time. What happened today was self defense Kacey Understand. Self defense. You. Had. No. Choice." She pronounced each word with care. "You know I can make a mean peanut butter and jelly and we can still eat by candle light. We have all the romantic music we need right here. There will never be a better time to celebrate the fact that we are both here at the end of the day."
"But..."
"No buts, Colonel. Lets try this." Natalia drew a big box in the air. "See this big box?"
"No." Kacey stated.
"Use your imagination, Colonel."
"All right. We have a big box."
"Right now that box is empty. What we are going to do is take everything that happened today up to this very second and place it in this box." She made a motion of picking up something heavy. "Come on Colonel, work me. Give me a hand here." Kacey sighed and pretended to help Natalia lift the imaginary burden. Natalia then made the motion of closing and locking the box. "Now everything is locked away, as if it did not happen and will not be mentioned again tonight." Got it Colonel?"
"Got it, Natalia." Kacey responded.
"Now we take a nice deep cleansing breath." She took a deep breath. Kacey sat unmoving. "Now Colonel." Natalia ordered. They took a deep breath together. "See that did not hurt did it?" Kacey shook her head. "Now Colonel I am going to tell you something very personal and I hope you will not laugh."
"I won't laugh." Kacey promised.
"I have wanted you ever since that day, you called me beautiful. The day we first kissed. I was afraid to make any sort of move because I really had no idea what to do. I ended up talking to Kate who sent me some special reading material."
"I did the same thing. I never had time for any sort of, I guess you could call it a love life. I never went out on dates. I kept myself so busy with music and my duties with the Corps. Time flew by and before I knew it I was twenty eight and still uncharted territory. I never gave it any thought. Sometimes I would look at my parents and Kate and Anya and envied the love they have for each other. I was content with being on the outside looking in."
"Uncharted territory? You mean a virgin?"
"Yeah. I figured I was the last remaining virgin over the age of ten left on Earth. Something that belonged in a museum. I was comfortable with that. Until the day I met you. Among the rocks falling, I was not just following orders when I would not let you remain on Marcus Prime. I just did not know it at the time."
"I was in the same situation on Marcus Prime. After I became Queen there was never enough hours in the day to get every thing done that I needed to get done. Love was a luxury I just did not have time for."
"We are quite the pair aren't we?" Kacey asked
"Tell me what did you learn from the material Kate sent you?"
"I learned that I really want you." Kacey admitted.
"How about this we start at chapter one and work our way through." Natalia asked.
Kacey did not answer, but leaned in to kiss Natalia. She felt Natalia return the kiss. Kacey's tongue touched Natalia's lips. She was granted access. They spent several minutes just kissing. When they finally broke apart they both smiled.
"Those pages never mention how I would feel like I was walking on air." Natalia stated.
"Step one completed." Kacey stated. "And extremely enjoyable."
"It most definitely was," Natalia agreed. "Shall we try step two?"
"I would like that very much." Kacey stated with a smile. "We review step one while bringing in step two"
Natalia moved in to kiss Kacey who returned the kiss. Kacey gently rubbed Natalia back then slowly moved her hands to Natalia's arms. She worked her way to the breast that was so enticingly close. She gently massaged soft flesh in her hand and felt the nipple harden through the tunic Natalia had on. Suddenly she felt that there was too many clothes in the way. She undid the shoulder buttons and unzipped the tunic. She gently pushed the tunic off Natalia's shoulders. Natalia shrugged out of the offending clothing,
Kacey undid the clasp on Natalia's bra and released the flesh she longed to touch. Natalia suddenly pushed her away which confused Kacey.
"What's wrong? Did I hurt you? Am I going to fast?"
Natalia stood and held out her hand. "I think we will be more comfortable in the bedroom." Kacey took the hand that was extended to her.
Inside the bedroom, Kacey lowered Natalia's trousers . Natalia stepped out of them and stood in front of Kacey "You are truly beautiful" She kissed Natalia again. Her hands returning to the breasts she longed to touch. Natalia pushed Kacey's ragged shorts past her slender hips until gravity took over. Kacey stepped out of the shorts. She pulled back from the intoxicating lips long enough to pull her shirt over her head. She gently lowered Natalia onto the bed and lay down next to her. Their lips met and their tongues played tag. Kacey hands slowly returned to Natalia's breast. Kacey kissed Natalia's eyes, ears and moved down to her throat. She kissed each breast before taking a rigid nipple into her mouth. Natalia moaned in pleasure at the sensations. Kacey felt her hand moving on its own. Feather light down past Natalia's navel until she reached the soft hair. Kacey's mouth left Natalia's breasts and returned to her mouth as her hand continued its slow journey downward. She felt Natalia's legs open for her. She reached Natalia's center. The heat and moisture that greeted her. Her fingers found the hard bud and slowly stroked it. She felt the change in Natalia's breathing immediately. Her breathing increased and soon she neared the edge. Kacey increased the speed and pressure which sent Natalia over. Kacey felt the tremors as they made their way through Natalia's body.
It took several minutes before Natalia's breathing and heart rate returned to normal. When she was able to form a coherent thought, she said, "Wow. How did you know exactly what to do?"
"I practiced what I read while you were gone so that I would not act like a bloody fool."
Natalia laughed. "We are quite the pair aren't we. I practiced also. I did not want you to think I was a complete goof. Let me see if I can do for you what you did for me."
She pushed Kacey onto her back and followed what Kacey did. Starting with kissing her eyes, ears and down her throat. Her hand cupped the soft breast and loved her until Kacey felt all her bones dissolve. She felt her body climb to the top and happily let herself go over the edge.
The lay spent in the after glow of love. Natalia rested her head on Kacey shoulder. "We never counted past step two." Natalia said. Kacey laughed.
"I did not think we needed to. Chapter one completed and we passed with flying colors. I cannot wait until chapter two." Kacey said as they both laughed until their sides hurt. Kacey kissed the top of Natalia's head.
They lay together in silence. There was no need for any words between them. Both fell into a light doze. The chiming of the door woke Kacey
"Damn it." She said and started to get up.
Natalia put a hand on her arm to stop her. "We can pretend that we are not here."
"It's probably my mother and she knows the code for the door. Besides your promised me PB and J by candle light." The door chimed again. Kacey hastily put on her sleep clothes and walked into the living room, closing the door to the bedroom so that Natalia could get dressed. The door chimed for a third time. "Come in," she called out
The door did not open. Kacey opened the door expecting to see her mother, but found only a rolling cart with two trays of food waiting for her.
"Who is it?" Natalia asked as she came out of the bedroom in her pajamas.
"Not who, but what. My mother brought us dinner. Guess she thought we would starve tonight. She picked up the note that was folded on the plate cover. Kacey read the note out loud. "I do not want to see either of you girls until tomorrow morning. Enjoy your dinner. Welcome to the family Natalia." Kacey shook her head. "How does she always know?' Then thought. "Damn it Kate the video surveillance had better have been shut off." She shouted.
"Looks like I have a note also. It is from Kate. She says wait until chapter four. Now I have two little sisters. Tell Kacey I called off the video lock as soon as you got home."
"Smells great. I will get the candles." Kacey said
"I will set the table. Would you like wine with dinner?" Natalia asked.
"Sure" Kacey lifted the cover off one plate and took in the food there. "Looks like red will be the drink to complement this meal."
Candles lit, wine poured, Kacey held out Natalia's chair. "Computer lower the lights by fifty percent." Kacey said as she hit the play button on the disc player. Soft violin music played in the background. Kacey checked out every inch of the cart looking for something that was not there.
"Is that you playing?" Natalia asked.
"Yes."
"It's beautiful." She stated as Kacey continued to search the cart. "What are you looking for?" Natalia asked.
"Mom is on a one woman's crusade to make me drink milk. I have hated it for as long as I can remember. She usually forces me to drink a glass with every meal before she will allow me to have any coffee."
"It is not my favorite drink either." Natalia admitted. "This is delicious. Sure beats Peanut butter and Jelly even by candle light." They broke out laughing.