Tila was miserable. She didn't know how things had come to this. But there she sat at home, alone, on a Friday night.

Tiren had received a new order request and it was very large. She knew when the requisition paperwork came in that it would take up a large chunk of his time. He was still working on two other orders that were due within two weeks of one another. So when he accepted the new request outright, she was very upset with him.

##

"Tiren, didn't you think we should have discussed this first before you took on this order?" she asked later on that night when he arrived home.

"My wife, you were aware I was a crafter before we married."

"But this order is going to take up most of your in-store crafting time. And you know you still have to get both of those other orders done by their deadlines."

He paused at first, trying to temper his answer. "I am aware of my obligations," he said just a bit too stiffly.

She knew then that he didn't care for her saying anything to him. It wasn't like her, but she stood up from their bed and shouted, "Fine!" She began walking out of their bedroom room.

"Tila! My wife, where are you going?"

"I'm going to watch a net vid," she answered icily over her shoulder, not even bothering to look at him.

An hour into her show, Tiren exited the bedroom and sat next to her on the couch. As was his way, he simply sat there and didn't say a word. He waited until she gave him her attention. Tila rolled her eyes after fifteen seconds and paused playback. "Yes?" she asked, much calmer than an hour before.

"My wife, you are angry with me."

"Would you like some kind of award for that realization?" she snapped.

He was not used to her being this upset with him. He could handle her anger toward anyone else, but not him. "I have already contracted for the work. I am now under obligation. What would you have me do?"

"That's not the reason I got upset, okay?" she said and then folded her arms, looked away from him. She wanted him to leave and she wanted him to stay. She didn't know really what she wanted to happen next.

"Then why did you become angry with me and leave the room?" he asked, attempting to sort out the situation.

"It wasn't just that you took on work that's going to eat all of our time together. But when I mentioned it to you, I know that look on your face and I could feel it coming from you that you were actually offended that I had the nerve to bring it up to you that you had other obligations first. And I was just talking about work at point, too, not even me in particular! Well I am offended that you took on more work and you didn't care that you weren't going to see me for a lot of that time while you were doing said work. But since it's already too late and you've already signed for it, there's no reason for us to even talk about this anymore. You know how I feel now and that's all there is to it."

Tiren was confused. "You saw my taking the extra assignment as being uncaring toward you and our time together?"

She didn't answer. It was common sense to her, but it was obviously news to him. She tried to calm herself down and see this from his point of view. But when she accessed their bond, he was in a true state of confusion. He didn't understand her point of view one bit. And she didn't know how to explain herself anymore than she already had. She knew he didn't understand and for some reason that made her angrier.

"The work I take goes toward funding our future. That is the ultimate expression of care," he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

She looked at him and wondered how it was he didn't get that if they didn't spend enough time together they wouldn't have a future? She had grown up on Vulcan and knew enough about the psychology of their males. He would see it as some kind of threat if she said that to him, so she didn't say a word. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and counted to ten. She forced herself to relax. This time, he would have to learn from experience.

She opened her eyes and looked at him with forced patience. "Tiren, I will try my best not to be angry with you about this anymore since you've already said it and it's true. What's done is done. I will also try my best while you're doing these assignments over the next couple of weeks, or months or whatever, not to say something annoying to you like 'I told you so' if we don't get enough time together. But just… can we both just agree to learn from this experience?"

He had no idea what she was talking about, but he simply nodded. "I have always endeavored to keep an open mind about all that happens between us."

She knew he was double talking her, he had no idea what she meant, but she also knew before this was over he was going to see exactly what she meant. And she could only stand and watch while he learned.

He sensed her true resolve to let things go for the time being. "Then you will return to bed at this time?" he requested.

She had to hold in laughter at the singular nature of his thoughts. "I'll come to bed now."

##

That night was the last night of 'fun' they had in a while because once the next day arrived, Tiren was off and out of the gate like a racing horse running for the finish line.

The only time they truly saw one another after that was during the in-office hours at the shop. She would go home at the end of her workday while he remained behind to fulfill all of his obligations in the workshop.

She would go to bed and some nights she would feel him get into bed with her later on after she was already asleep. But there were about two nights a week he didn't even get to go home. He would work straight through the night at the shop in order to get in the work on the other two specialty orders.

##

So a month into hardly seeing him, Tila was sitting at home alone on that Friday night.

She received a call from a friend of hers. "Hello?" she answered her PADD. The face of Ginger from her last job on Earth popped up. "Oh my goodness!" Tila exclaimed, full of surprise as she sat up excitedly.

"It's me, girl!" Ginger said with a huge grin. "I've been here like two whole days. I knew you were probably working during those days and didn't want to bug you! How's things going?"

"Fine! What are you doing here?"

"Well," said Ginger dramatically, "I came here for a conference on 'Incorporating Semi-Vulcan Fashions'," she air quoted. "It's the new rage on Earth, robes and such," she waved it off.

"Get outta here!" Tila said, shocked.

"Yes, girl! We don't have another conference day set until like Tuesday. It is Friday night and you know what I do on my Friday nights!"

"Party!" Tila shouted.

"That's right, girl! Get your butt up and meet me at my hotel room! We are going clubbing! Kara's here, too!"

"Oh wow! Okay, give me an hour. I'm going to get dressed and get on some make-up and oh man, this is great!"

"Don't hurt yourself, married lady!" laughed Ginger. "See you in an hour!"

Tila hadn't done such a thing in so long, for the first five minutes she ran around the house in an almost too excited state to think straight. She finally found the dress in the closet she wanted to wear, a lime green form fitting thing that was held up with spaghetti straps. It fit her like a glove, but it at least just covered her knees. The five inch heels, she knew, were just perfect. She also knew the high heels wouldn't last an hour. They would be discarded off in a corner somewhere as she danced as much as possible that night.

She jumped into the shower after waxing her eyebrows, legs and underarms. She exfoliated while in the shower, moisturized her skin after getting out of the shower and finally put her hair up into a chignon to keep it out of the way. She quickly painted her toenails lime green and smiled at the choice of color. She hadn't worn anything this outrageous in almost a year! She couldn't help but pick out the most scandalous underwear in her drawer, then she sprayed on a scent she hadn't worn in months. She felt like more than just her regular self. Some strange sense of self had hit her and she felt hyperaware of being young and full of energy, ready to embrace whatever good times happened that night.

After she was fully dressed, Tila added a couple of points to her 'badness portfolio' vibe when she snapped a ridiculously posed picture of herself with the auto function on her PADD, transferred it to the house computer and left a note for Tiren. 'Went out with some old friends. Be back by morning. Love, Tila.'

Tila was out of the door and in her shuttle with ten minutes to spare.

It was the most fun she'd had in so long, when she snuck back into the house in the wee hours of the morning, she hoped she didn't wake Tiren up. But when she got into the bedroom she realized he hadn't reached home, yet, either.

She laughed out loud at her fortune, undressed quickly, showered and went right to bed. Before she fell asleep, she remembered to set her alarm to wake her up four hours later.

##

Tila awoke later and saw she had two messages in her inbox. She opened the first message. It was Ginger. "Girl, it's me! I didn't drink too badly last night, so I'm not hung over. Well at least I'm not. Can you hear poor Kara back there?"

Tila flinched as she heard a serious case of vomiting in the background.

"Anyway," continued the message. "We wanted to go on a tour yesterday of one of the monasteries, but they said a resident has to bring us and we know you're a resident. Can you give us a tour? Kara's hypo should kick in any minute now. Call us back and let us know."

Tila shook her head at the state of poor Kara as she opened the next message. It was Tiren. "My wife, I opted to remain here at the shop the entire night, but the reward for my effort is that I have completed one of the requisitions. As such, I shall dedicate more of my time to finishing the second today. I will return to our premises to obtain rest this afternoon and then I shall depart again for the workshop this evening."

She shook her head again and called Ginger back. "Hey!" she said to her as soon as she picked up. "Can you take us to the monastery?"

"Sure," said Tila. "I can do that. I can fly us there and everything. Is Kara okay now? Did that hypo kick in?"

"She's much better, she's just about to drink this poor desert world dry with all the water she's sucking down that she can get her hands on. By the way, I didn't get a chance to talk to you yesterday, but I should have."

"What about?"

"Samuel."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh?"

"Yeah, he's kind of gone downhill since you left Earth, you know? He took it kind of hard when he found out you got married and everything."

She forced herself to smile. "Not my problem anymore!"

"Well," said Ginger, "I delivered my message from him. I feel better now. See you this afternoon?"

"See you this afternoon," she confirmed.

Tila cooked Tiren a bunch of different foods and put them into the storage replicator before she left. She put a note out for him that the food was available. She decided, on a whim, to pack a bag just in case the girls wanted to go out again that night. Knowing Ginger, she most certainly would.

The three ladies met up once again at the hotel. Ginger was a tall voluptuous woman with vibrant red hair and Kara was a very petite blonde. They always had a wonderful time anytime they went to hang out together. Tila had found them wonderfully emotional and human when she had first gone to Earth and for some reason she found herself able to relax fully with them while she still hadn't been able to with so many others. She often wished she could have been roommates with them instead of the group she wound up with.

"You brought a bag?" Ginger teased.

"I thought we might go out again afterward," smiled Tila.

"You know us too well!" laughed Kara.

"We want to go out for karaoke tonight! There's a karaoke bar over on Tseren and Third in the human section. You ever been there?" asked Ginger.

"Honestly, no," Tila realized. "I guess I can buy some slacks for that or something."

"Just wear what you brought!" said Kara. "I'm wearing a dress tonight, too."

"Okay," shrugged Tila. "Let's get to the monastery now."

She was glad both girls had had the foresight to wear long skirts for their outing. She wore the House Robes of Tiren and his clan and made certain she had a Planetary ID on her person.

They gained access to the monastery easily enough and were given a semi in-depth tour by one of the members of the order. It lasted about an hour and both girls were impressed by the architecture and size of the place.

"This place is massive," Ginger whispered, quite impressed, at one point.

"It is quite large, by many approximations," said the monk accompanying their tour. He had startled the two young women since they hadn't realized he could hear what Ginger had just said. "The temple section of the monastery is the oldest part of this order. It predates both the Reformation and Surak and has been an instrumental part of this planet's history."

The ladies thanked him profusely for his tour. When they were about to leave, the monk said to Tila, "I would ask that you sign, please, so that we may inform your clan mother of your attendance here this day."

The other two ladies left after Tila told them she would meet them outside. She turned to the monk and signed her name by hand in a large official-looking book. Most of the signatures were in Vulcan script, but there were a few here and there not in that language. It was a memory, of sorts, of names from across the galaxy. Her signature now sat along with the others and she was glad her father had sent her to a tutor when she was a child to learn the Vulcan script. "May I ask, what do they do this for, the keeping of this record?"

"You are not new to the planet, I can tell," said the monk. "But you are new to clan life. You have done a fine thing, educating yourself on the planet and people of he who happens to be your husband. But honestly, it is he who should have been the one to bring you here. You should not have come alone for your first post-marriage visit."

"I am not alone. I brought my companions with me."

"The Outworlders do not qualify."

It shone a spotlight on a situation she was trying her best not to think about. She realized then she had missed some sensitive social cue and wondered what it was. She felt the need to say, "I have been here before. When I was eight, my grandfather brought me along with the lady who is now my clan mother. Back then I didn't have to sign anything, though," she smiled only slightly. "I came again years ago before I left Vulcan to work on Earth. I didn't have to sign then, either. I should have come back as soon as I set foot on the planet. But my friends just came in for a few days and wanted a tour and so I brought them. My husband has work obligations and couldn't come with us."

"I beg forgiveness for my assumption, then, that your husband was not aware of your visit to this place. I assumed wrong, did I not?" he asked as his penetrating gaze held hers.

She realized this man that looked to be about 50 was most likely twice that age. What did this monk see that was obviously written all over her? What social cue had she missed after all these years living here that had shown itself by her going there without her mate? "Perhaps you didn't assume wrong after all," was all she said. She saluted him with the ta'al and then left.

Ginger and Kara noticed how quiet she was on the ride back to their hotel. "Is there something wrong?" asked Kara.

She smiled. "No! I just usually get kind of quiet after I go to a monastery, that's all."

"Are you still up for a visit to the karaoke place?" asked Ginger. "We don't want to wreck your chi or something like that."

"Heck yes I'm up for it!" she exclaimed. "I can't wait to go." She needed the diversion and she realized it might actually make her feel better.

##

They got to the hotel, showered and changed. "This planet's gravity is going to kill me!" whined Ginger.

Tila laughed, "I felt weird when I first got back, but after a couple of months I was already readjusted. How are you doing, Kara?"

The blonde was still trying to fix her skirt, but was having a hard time reaching a back button. "I'm okay, I guess. I just can't shake this slight headache. It happens to me, though, anytime I go to a high altitude or anyplace with less oxygen so I'm not shocked about it."

"She can't even handle the Colorado mountains!" laughed Ginger.

"Oh, make fun of me, will you!" Kara snapped.

Tila stood and helped Kara fix the button on her skirt. "You want to run by a clinic for a tri-ox shot?" she asked.

"Oh, yes!" said Kara, "Can we?"

They looked up information and found that the hotel actually offered two tri-ox shots a day for free. Both girls punched in for it and a cute man arrived with the shots ten minutes before they left.

The guy had dark hair and dreamy blue eyes and he was human. "Hey," Ginger said suggestively.

"Hey," he answered in the same way as he administered her shot.

"What you doing tonight?" she asked him.

"I don't know," he shrugged as he began walking toward the door. "What about you?"

"Going to the karaoke place to sing our hearts out!" she laughed.

"I know where it is. I'll see you there," he said, inviting himself.

After he left, Kara put her hands on her hips and gave Ginger a face. "You work so fast, you little hooker!"

"Don't call me names just because I see what I want and go for it."

Kara looked over at Tila. "You still haven't told us anything about your husband," she said. "Spill! We've been waiting for you to say something, but you've been so tight-lipped."

Tila sat down and pulled out her PADD. She called up a picture of the two of them from before the too-many-orders madness. "This is us."

Both ladies stared. "Damn, but that's a big Vulcan!" exclaimed Ginger. "What a hunk of man! Good job, Tila!"

"I wouldn't go back to Samuel either," quipped Kara.

Tila smiled. "Tiren is a crafter. I guess handling large amounts of lumber and other stuff has bulked him up a lot. Well that and he's a master of Vulcan martial arts. He could have been a bodyguard but his talent was so outstanding he was put into the crafter's profession when he hit his teens."

"So you got yourself a fighting artist!" laughed Ginger. "I'm not good with that sort of stuff. What does he do?"

"Furniture, but sometimes he dabbles in sculpture," said Tila. "Oh, remember those big publicity pieces delivered to Starfleet Academy last year done by each world in the Federation? That likeness of Ambassador Spock, I found out that it was Tiren that did that one."

"He's gifted," said Kara truthfully. "He knows the ambassador?" she whispered in awe.

"Yes, he does, but only casually. I wish I could see more of my husband these days," admitted Tila. "He's got orders up to his neck so the only time I see him is at the job. We work at the same place. But then at the end of the day, he's crafting and I'm home alone."

"That's why you've been able to be with us like this?" asked Ginger.

"Yeah."

"My mom and dad had a seriously awful schedule sometimes," said Kara. "And so does my sister and her husband. I don't know what mom and dad did and quite frankly I don't want to know. But Melissa and Jimmy got…creative." She smiled mischievously.

"Creative?" asked Ginger. "Creative how?"

Kara's face became downright wicked. "Melissa would put on a trench coat and go to his job late at night sometimes and 'surprise' him, if you catch my drift."

Tila thought of walking through the streets of Vulcan with just a trench coat on. She was scandalized, horrified and turned on by the thought all at once. She found herself laughing at the mental picture.

"Let's go sing!" Ginger declared. "Get your frustration out in song!"

They made their way to the karaoke establishment. It was a wonderful night filled with singing and drinks. Tila refused to sing at first but was pushed onstage by both the girls when the song 'Bad Romance' began. She was one of the few people who even remembered the tune and Ginger knew she would because she was the one that introduced her to it all those years ago.

Tila started out shy and low voiced, but by the chorus, she was deep into the song, singing full voiced:

"I want your love and I want your revenge, you and me could write a bad romance.

I want your love and all your lovers revenge, you and me could write a bad romance! Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh! Love and bad romance!"

The place was truly jumping at that point, patrons were cheering her on and she fed off of the energy and became something she never knew she could. A pop star. For about four whole minutes. Then the song was over.

She got offstage, but no one succeeded in making her get back on again after that. She felt truly embarrassed every time she thought about it, especially when some of the guys in the bar kept looking at her and checking her out. Ginger's hotel guy showed up somewhere in the middle of all that and hung out with them for the rest of the night.

The ladies left later on that night and Tila figured no harm was done as she dropped her two friends off at their hotel. She was rather proud of the trouble she had not gotten into since she had only ingested two drinks before being pushed up onstage. She was a lightweight and hadn't had anything else to drink after that, so she was more than sober by the time they left the club.

She drove home that night and found herself singing 'Bad Romance' rather loudly in her shuttle alone, a huge grin on her face. After she parked and got out of the shuttle, she grabbed her bag and let herself into the house, that time singing a Klingon song of death, love and meeting in the afterlife.

Tiren, to her shock, was sitting in their living room, the still frame of her in the lime green dress from the day before blown up large onscreen. "Wow, you're just seeing that now?" she asked, still buzzing from her great night at the bar. "That was like yesterday!"

He looked her up and down as he saw she was not wearing the same outfit as in the photo and asked, "May I ask your whereabouts for this day and yesterday, my wife?" His eyebrow had risen substantially.

Her positive buzz gone, she suddenly felt self-conscious in the pink skirt and peekaboo blue top that was modest in front, but showed off half her back via clear mesh when she turned. But she reminded herself that she had done nothing wrong at all. "I went to a club with my friends last night," she said casually as she walked to their bedroom to put her things away. "Then they wanted to go to the monastery so I took them for a tour-"

"And you were dressed as such?" he asked, halfway alarmed as he followed behind her.

"Oh was I not supposed to wear this? You'd think I would know how to dress after all this time here, right?" she asked him with impatient sarcasm. "Um, NO! I wore these!" she said angrily as she pulled the robes out of the bag she was carrying. "Afterward, I changed into this!" she motioned at her current outfit, "and we went to sing karaoke at a bar in the human section." She began straightening out the robes and head covering to hang them properly in the closet. She dusted off some of the desert sand that had gotten lodged in the hemline.

Tiren stood there and surveyed her side of the closet. How had he never noticed all of the revealing dresses, skirts and tops before? Perhaps because they had been constantly in one another's company since meeting…until now. He said the first thing he thought without thinking first. "You are attempting to garner my attention via bad behavior," he observed.

She gave him a cutting look. "That's so beneath you to say such a thing to me."

"My assertion is untrue?" he challenged.

"This is not 'bad behavior'!" she shouted. "It's normal! Humans go out and have a drink or two, or not, but sometimes we like to-" she floundered for the proper words to explain karaoke, "-sing in large groups." She began to giggle then as she thought about the look that must have been on her face when her friends made her sing. "Oh God, I wiped out onstage tonight at first because I fell and my head hit the wall when they pushed me up there!"

He didn't understand what she meant at all. "Stage?"

She realized, "You've never been to a karaoke bar, have you? Well neither had I until tonight."

He was honestly confused. "You have been to a club, a monastery and then a karaoke establishment?" He found himself saying, "These events do not seem harmonious in nature."

She sighed tiredly. It didn't seem to matter what she said that night, he had a problem with everything she did. "I give up. I'm going to bed now."

He followed behind her, wanting to get some answers. "You have dressed and behaved in a scandalous nature in public!" he charged.

"If I'd rode some guy's disco stick in that club then you could say I was scandalous in public!" she said as she walked into the bathroom while taking her clothing off from that night. She got into the shower and set the temperature of the water, turned it on full blast. "All I did last night was dance!" she said over the sound of the water. "I danced with my friends! I didn't even dance with another man since I knew you wouldn't like that! Then I went to a monastery, dressed the right way, mind you, and acted correctly. Then I went out tonight and sang and had only two drinks. Do you know how nonexistent that is in the annals of drinking? I've dressed and behaved in a scandalous nature in public? No, what I did was behave human in public and that's your problem, not mine!"

He realized then that maybe he was seeing her activities in the wrong light. "Do you assert that you have done nothing improper this evening?"

"If you have to ask me that, you're the one with the problem!" she shouted on the other side of the glass partition while soaping up.

His wife was obviously very angry with him. He was ready to let things go, but then he could hear her PADD chirping from her bag. He went and removed it from her bag without thought and accessed it without her permission.

She saw him suddenly disappear from the bathroom and had a bad feeling. She rinsed off the soap from her body and hair and exited the shower after turning it off. As she toweled herself dry, she could hear a very familiar voice coming from the bedroom singing 'Bad Romance'. The size of her eyes grew as she realized that Ginger must have been taking footage of her as she sang that night. She rushed out of the bathroom and saw her very Vulcan husband sitting there, his mouth a thin line of obvious near-anger as he watched the screen.

Tila was wearing nothing but a towel and feeling quite vulnerable as his eyes rose to meet hers. She ran over to her PADD then and snatched it from him, meant to turn the thing off. But she stood and stared at the footage of herself onstage. She couldn't squelch the small amount of pride at not only her voice, but the way she moved to the music. "Damn, I look semi-professional in my delivery," she found herself mumbling almost comically as she continued to watch.

But as he stood and looked over her shoulder, all Tiren saw was the rapt attention she held the males of the audience in as everyone cheered her on and danced in place. She seemed to enjoy the attention and feed off of it during her performance, her smile wide, eyes sparkling. He realized then that he could never give her that kind of attention. The song ended and he could see her friends rush the stage and pull her into a hug as she beamed a huge smile of pride and joy as she ran back to her seat with them in the back. The footage ended.

She sat down on their bed in her towel and looked over at him as she clutched the PADD in her lap. "That's what I did tonight. And that was the only song I sang onstage," she shrugged. "I've never done anything like that before," she admitted. "Usually the karaoke I did on Earth was just among friends in a tiny rent-a-room with our own unit and music. But this is the first time I've done this in front of strangers. I performed, that's all."

He was trying his best to expand his mind. He could detect only a trace of guilt from her, nothing overt. He knew this meant she felt she had done no true wrong but she was upset because he did not like what he had seen. "Yet you enjoyed this attention."

"Of course I did," she said with a smile. "It's only…human. I didn't know I could sing like that in front of strangers!"

He realized they were speaking of two separate things. "And your movements?"

"The dancing? You're actually scandalized by the dancing?" she asked.

"It was not your voice the males of the establishment were responding to, though it was delivered tonally correct. It was a response to the superior nature of your particular physiology."

She found herself suppressing a huge grin. "Yeah, I know!" she said as a small grin slipped through anyway.

His ears turned deep green. "You are pleased with yourself over this display?"

She sighed tiredly. "Tiren, can I ask you a question?"

"Most assuredly, wife."

"What does it mean to you to be human? I mean, to you, what does it mean when you think about the expression 'Being Human'?"

He sat there and blinked at her for a second. "It means to not suppress your emotions. To do as you see fit regardless of what is proper."

She shook her head. "That is not what it means, at least not to me it doesn't."

"Then you will tell me at this time what it means," he nearly demanded.

She gathered her thoughts as she tried to get her point across. "I've lived on your planet all of my life and did what I was supposed to do among your people. My mother pushed me to go to Earth to learn what it meant to be human among humans and not just Vulcans. At first I hated that she did that to me, pushed me out of my comfort zone. But now I realize that I did learn what it meant and I'm glad I did. And being human means being adaptable, at least to me that's all it means. And I have a right to act like a human when I'm with humans."

He was still out of his depth in this conversation. "My wife, social human behavior is beyond me," he admitted.

"I've only just figured it out myself a couple of years ago," she also admitted. "Although, at this time I must inform you that you never go into a woman's purse without her permission! I don't even think that's only a human thing, that's like universal with females everywhere. Nothing says 'I don't trust you' more than that."

He realized he'd done so when he went into her bag to retrieve her PADD. "I looked at your personal message without permission, as well," he readily admitted.

She saw he was remorseful about that. "Yes, you did," she nodded as she placed her PADD onto the nightstand next to their bed.

"I will not do it again," he promised.

"Thank you," she said with a half smile as her arms encircled him.

"That is all you require? My promise?" he asked, confused by how quickly she was willing to let it go.

"That's it."

"May I ask why you are willing to believe me so quickly?"

"Because I trust you. You've always told me the truth and I trust you because of that."

He simply nodded and his mind turned to the question he needed to ask. He got to the root of his thoughts quickly, "So you would not prefer a male who shows his emotions to all in addition to what I have already promised?"

She realized then that he felt as if he were not enough in some way. Was he threatened by her reaction to the men in the bar? "No!" she said as she went and sat on his lap. "Never. That's not who I want. I want you the way that you are right now. We're figuring things out together and everything but I don't want anyone else. I thought you knew that."

He pulled her in closer and realized then his wife was in his lap wearing nothing but a towel. "I am very pleased," he halfway whispered as his eyes held hers.

She realized they hadn't been together in quite some time. She even felt halfway shy about sitting this way with him, in this state of undress, and her face flamed up at the thoughts she could detect in his mind. He had that look on his face. She hadn't seen that look in quite a while since he'd been so focused on fulfilling his contracts.

Before she could think straight, she was becoming dizzy from him suddenly lifting her and expertly placing her beneath him, her towel gone in a quick lift and throw across the room. She inhaled sharply as his still clothed body met hers.

He breathed in the scent of her neck before he began to kiss and bite at a place she couldn't cover in regular clothing just off the side of her jawbone. It was a very sensitive spot, he knew. "You may go out among humans, I shall promise to never prevent that. It would be wrong of me to do so, I understand that."

She knew that meant she was going to be sporting a large mark the next day while she ventured out with her friends again. But she was so turned on by his attentions as his hands pulled her even closer to him, she didn't care where she was being marked.