If You Wait

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If You Wait...

A/N: My entry for the first round of CupidsCorner RSD III. For the judges, I've used Locations/Scenes #4 (In the rain) and #2 (Space), in that order, and Couples(ish) #6. Approximately 3,430 words.

She gazed through the filtered porthole at her destination below, trying to see if she could detect the edges of the biodomes that made this world possible, fidgeting in excitement that soon she would be walking its surface. The paraterraforming and shielding had slowly but surely created a near-approximation of Old Terra on this planet, overcoming the harsh brightness of Capella's binary system and making it one of the most popular vacation worlds. She'd waited four years for this. She could hardly wait to breathe the clean air, feel the warmth of the suns seeping into her skin, hear the silence only obtainable on worlds such as this one where all tech save what was necessary to sustain the environment was banned.

"You sure about this?" a voice beside her asked, startling her. "We have enough credits to make another hop if you've come to your senses," he said hopefully.

Well, silence aside from the incessant complaining of her older brother, Wil, that is.

"You picked last time. My turn. Stop whining, and don't pretend for even a minute that you're not looking forward to being anywhere that isn't the mines for the next two months. It could be worse... I could've picked one of the ones where you spend the whole time in a tiny room meditating. At least there's girls here. Not that that will help your chances of getting one blind enough to ignore your ugly mug and talk to you anyway." She shrieked, narrowly avoiding being caught, and ran back towards the mess hall, as he gave full chase.

It was a wise choice, because they were all so hungry after waking up after the long stint in stasis that even the usually less than appetizing scent of the nutrient-dense ship's fare was enough to shift his sights from her to that of filling his belly. His favorite part of leave was the suspension of the everyday dietary and portion restrictions they dealt with in the mines. She grabbed a bowl of...something... and ate without tasting as she went back to her post. In just a few more hours, they would land, and she would see trees and horses and be able to spend whole days, weeks, without the need of a biosuit. She took a deep breath. Only a few more hours...

They'd only been planetside a few days when Wil began complaining again, saying he'd already done everything...Twice...and was incurably bored. She'd resorted to sneaking off without him to gain some peace. She hadn't had nearly enough yet. The tea rooms and carriage rides and horseback riding were wonderful. The first dance was set for two days from now, and she could hardly wait. Her favorite, though, were the long hours she could spend walking through and exploring the extensive woods, listening to the trees rustling and sighing, the birds singing, dreaming away the days in the dappled light. She'd been wandering this way for most of the afternoon when she began to notice the sound of the leaves picking up, the air above her darkening. She was still standing in the middle of the path looking up in awe when the first fat raindrops fell. And then the gentle rain became a downpour. She was running and slipping on the now muddy path, cursing the skirts that were the fashion here as she tripped on them and struggled with the increasingly wet weight. It was coming down so hard that the ground was beginning to flood and make small running rivers. She'd lost her bearings and was just beginning to panic when a hand grabbed her arm, dragging her along, and shouted, "Come on!"

Minutes later, she found herself, breathless and soaked to the bone, tucked into a large hollowed out tree at the top of a modest hill in the close company of her rescuer, who now appeared to be taking off his clothes. First his hat, then his coat, next his vest, and when he reached for the buttons on his pants, she regained her senses and yelled, "Stop! What do you think you're doing?! Not one more button!"

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