I lay back on the bed, my stomach full. Cas lifted his arm and I rolled towards him immediately, resting my head on his chest.

“Are you still hungry?” he asked.

“No, I’m stuffed. That was so good. That pudding was better than anything I’ve ever eaten before,” I said.

Cas’ body shook slightly under me as he laughed.

“That was good. I think the chefs here might be even better than the ones on the base.”

The laugh died on my lips as sadness washed through me again.

“I miss it. Is that wrong?” I asked after a pause. “I know that it probably isn’t the same there now but… I still miss it.”

One of his hands came up and laced through mine.

“Me too. I hate it. Andy spent most of his life making it into a place far away from the Council’s control and now it’s probably under it worse than ever.”

I sighed.

“What do we do?”

He was silent for a little bit as he tried to think of an answer.

“I don’t know.”

Guilt coursed through me. I’d promised Sammy that I would do something to help him but I hadn’t. I’d basically just forgotten about him as soon as we got here.

“I’ll talk to Andy about it, after the mission tomorrow,” I decided. “There has to be something we can do. Even if we just get something in there to talk to Sammy, then we can go from there.”

Cas nodded.

I could feel his hesitation though. He was clearly about to say something but didn’t really want to.

“Why do you think we haven’t heard from him yet? I mean, surely after news got around that we were definitely alive and helping the fighters, he would have posted something on the boards… Right?” he asked finally.

I really didn’t want to believe that Sammy was dead but that’s where my mind immediately went. Maybe someone had reported that we’d spoken to him on the base, back when everything went wrong and they tortured him to get information about what we said.

Gods, I hope not. He was a good kid, he doesn’t deserve that.

“I don’t know. We’ll find out though. I’m sure someone here will be able to hack into the base roster. I bet Andy is already monitoring it,” Cas said, trying to sound hopeful.

“Yeah, maybe.”

We fell silent again. His chest was warm under me and I wanted to stay in that moment forever. His fingers stroked mine gently.

“What happened… what if it does go badly tomorrow? Then what?” Cas whispered.

I pushed myself up onto my elbow to look at him. Fear was etched onto his face and he looked like he was barely managing to hold himself together.

“Cas, it’ll be okay,” I breathed.

He shook his head, tears shining in his eyes.

“What if my dad gets you?”

My heart clenched at his words. I wanted to promise him that it would be okay, that there was no way that his dad would get me but I knew it was a risk. There was a genuine chance that by the end of the next day, I would be at Counsellor Harvey’s mercy.

“He might but if he does, we deal with it. I know you won’t let them leave me there. It’ll be okay,” I whispered, brushing his cheek gently with my hand.

“But… what if he kills you?”

The raw fear in his voice settled around my heart like a fist. He might.

“I don’t think he will. I’m worth more to the Council than that.”

“He’s an idiot. He might kill you before the Council have a chance to intervene.”

“Maybe. But I doubt he’ll actually be there tomorrow, he’ll be waiting back on Nova and they won’t let him give the order to have me killed.”

Cas’ hand came up to cup my cheek and I leant into it, love flowing through me.

“I just… I worry,” he said finally.

“I know. It’ll work out, it has to. We’ll get Peggy back and everything will be okay.”

“I love you.”

I smiled as I lowered my head slowly, placing a gentle kiss on his lips.

“I love you,” I said.

I kissed him again but unlike before, when our kisses felt hungry and charged with tension, these kisses felt more relaxed. I took my time, exploring Cas’ face with my lips, relishing in the sensations. He yielded under me, responding to my kisses with eagerness.

I pulled away, breathless and lightheaded, and bit my lip.

“I kind of wish we hadn’t eaten so much,” I said, my hand trailing suggestively across his chest.

He reached up, his lips finding mine and pulling me back down.

“Me too. The others will probably be back soon though,” he said after finally releasing me from the kiss.

“How long have we got?” I asked, realising I hadn’t even checked the time when they’d left.

Cas glanced at the clock above the door before letting out a groan and dropping his head back against the pillow.

“Ten minutes.”

I snapped my head around to stare blankly at the clock.

“Damn,” I said softly.

Cas’ hand came up to brush the hair behind my ear, a gentle smile on his face.

“What?” I asked after he didn’t speak for a moment.

“Nothing,” he said, looking away from me but still smiling.

“What is it?” I pushed.

He grinned before looking back at me.

“I just really enjoyed our date. Sorry we couldn’t go somewhere better.”

I placed my hand on his.

“It was perfect, I really loved it. I’m just sorry we don’t have more time.”

“Me too but when you come back, we’ll be able to have more time alone. Maybe we’ll be able to go on a real date to a fancy restaurant somewhere?” he said sounding wistful.

“We better. I need another excuse to wear this dress again,” I teased, looking down at it.

His eyes followed my deep neckline slowly.

“Well then we’ll definitely have to go.”

I grinned, enjoying the effect I was having on him.

“I mean, it’s so beautiful, I might just start wearing it around the ship,” I joked.

His eyes met mine again and a cheeky smile grew on his face.

“I have absolutely no problem with that.”

I snorted and started to lower my head again when a blaring klaxon noise echoed through the room, coming from one of the screens.

I reached over Cas, picking it up, my eyes scanning the message quickly before breathing out a breath of exasperation.

“What is it?” Cas asked, looking at my face in worry.

“Gem,” I said. “She said ‘five minute warning, don’t worry about putting that dress back on, just put on a jumpsuit, hope you had fun’.”

I left out the last part of the message that said ‘but not too much fun’.

Cas sighed and shook his head.

“She must have change the alert noise earlier. She’s such an asshole,” he breathed but a smile played on his lips.

“She is,” I agreed before dropping the screen and looking back at Cas.

“We should get changed,” he said.

“We should…”

I bit my lip as my eyes flittered to the screen again.

“But I did hack the door again.”

I looked at Cas in surprise.

“You did?”

“Yeah. It won’t keep her out forever but it would give us a little more time.”

I laughed.

“That’s tempting but… we shouldn’t,” I said regretfully.

“I know. Zero-G will be fun…”

I sighed.

“It will. But so would staying here with you.”

He grinned.

“Shall we get changed?” he asked.

“I guess.”

I kissed him one last time before rolling backwards, careful not to kick any of the plates waiting at the end of the bed.

“How are we going to do the teams for zero-G? I asked as I stood.

Cas sat up, his hair a rumpled mess.

“Well, it doesn’t seem fair to have you and Cory against Gem and me,” he started.

“Umm I could kick your ass without Peggy, it’s just Cory who struggles to go against Gem. I have no problem destroying you,” I said with a coy shrug, turning away from Cas so that he couldn’t see my grin.

“You might be able to… If you get lucky.”

I turned and narrowed my eyes at his innocent grinning face.

“We’ll see, I guess,” I said, competitiveness rising in me.

“I guess will we. Or… you and I could go against Gem and Cory. They make a good team, we make a good team…” he trailed off as I considered it.

They did make a good team. They were both competitive and, whilst Gem was great working out the tactical things, Cory was wonderful at considering the finer details.

“Let’s do that,” I grinned.