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The next two days passed quickly as we carried on working, playing and eating food and each other. Despite combined efforts at both houses, my Culinary Incineration wedding vows remained uncompleted.

The Dinner Party takes up to eight hours to film and goes late into the evening as Sarah had discovered but managed to truncate due to the early flight out. We told the producers that they could pick us up from my place as we had work on in the morning and we’d go straight to filming, but overnight at the Suites for the following Expert Day.

They wanted us to stay in the hotel until our trip out for Washup, “To strengthen our relationship,” they said. A tiny bedroom and a crappy kitchen were not our idea of fun and we observed that it would be risky to try Culinary Incineration without pissing off the other TLS victims. In addition, there was nowhere to set up two workstations so we could both work, so we went with the goat’y plan: we would return to my place the day after Expert Day and spend another two days there, in part so we could meet Wing and do Washup prep, then Sarah would train home, spend two days alone and then I’d join her. We didn’t really need the time apart but decided that it gave us time to think, reflect, and miss each other, though we’d still chat often. We knew that in a few months, we’d be 24/7 and were in no hurry to advance that plan as we planned to be 24/7 until 80.

It’s only about 90 mins from hers to my place, but we had two stops to make, so the alarm fired at 7 AM and we made a breakfast of cereals, Full English and fruit. For me, this was my Holiday Breakfast: large enough so I may not eat until dinner. For her, it was enormous, though it was one she was starting to enjoy, and we were unsure when our next meal would be, so we set ourselves up for the day.

Our breakfast pattern had slightly changed, for now, Sarah had found a better way to stabilise herself on my lap and I used her natural holds to help her get seated properly, then we sat there, eating breakfast and other things. “You are giving me bad habits,” she remarked as we carried on with the after-eats, now completely intimately united. We finished the last of the coffee and finally, had our usual playful shower before our diligent dry-off and then dealt with the problems of our clothing that always seemed to need adjusting and incurring kiss-induced delays.

My love wore the medium-red one that had caused our current state of entwinement and was solely accompanied by the CEN brooch for adornment. We didn’t wear wedding rings as we weren’t jewellery wearers and I wore a red tailored shirt, black trousers, and loafers.

Our first stop was The Manor House that we’d noticed on our separate travels. We stopped for a brief walk-around and got a date scone and coffee for early morning tea, then booked dinner for the night before we were due out for Washup, plus bought a little envelope from reception.

When we got to the Wing’s office, we used our ID cards to enter, then dropped our bag in the Delta room that I’d booked. We walked through the office periodically touching, though not holding hands as we weren’t really PDA’ers and this was work, as I guided her to the crop mop from memory.

We reached Rebecca’s desk, and I rubbed my love’s hand Your turn, she softly called out Rebecca’s name. Rebecca turned around to locate the feminine source, and her eyes opened wide in shock at seeing her near doppelganger. They say that unexpectedly seeing your DG is like opening a window onto your soul and in this case, this one of slightly increased height, bust, and hair, clad in a red dress that she had briefly worn several weeks ago.

This apparition had evidently and with great surprise, opened this window. Like the last time, I smiled a comforting smile at her, and Sarah introduced herself, proffering her hand as if she wasn’t a gratuitous hugger. I realised that poor Bex was hit hard again with yet another surprise as while I had shown her a picture of my love in the purple dress, she didn’t connect the photo with Sarah why or had forgotten our previous chat, nor knew that all three dresses were bought.

I suggested we get coffee from the outside café, and we walked outside as they tentatively got to know each other, discovering that Bex was a Graphic Designer and Sarah enjoyed doing it for fun.

At the café, I surprised Bex again by ordering four, not three coffees, then piled on more by heading to Delta. Her hole got even deeper when she saw Wing, and I knew she was really worried about what was to befall her. “Remember what I told you last time,” I playfully reproached her as the door closed and Sarah removed the cake box and pronounced, “Wedding Cake.” Which elicited another wave of confusion from the poor soul and placed the slices on the lid which we took. I handed over the USB drive from the bag to Wing.

She smiled at us, seeing the dress and the brooch that she’d never seen before and plugged the drive into the screen as I shifted the chairs around to face it. We ate the sweet, lemon-infused sponge and washed it down with the coffees as the video played. The video was of our wedding, honeymoon and Patagonia that Sarah had compiled with help from Terri. Bex’s mood lightened as the video played, which explained how she had come into this weird mess. Sarah had managed to get the stills and video of the Funnies as we referred them, which elicited laughs, and also our first night where the crew left us curled up on the deck until the next morning.

We were all in tears at the video and Bex asked who made it. Sarah replied that it was her as she needed something to occupy her time when apart from me. Wing replied slyly, “Shame they missed the airport reunion. Not!” and continued darkly, “Wonder how the fuckers will edit that footage to when they broadcast it,” and shrugged, surprising Bex and confirming our suspicions.

I playfully said, “Respect is like a chocolate coated raw redcurrant, fear is like a just the redcurrant!,” and nodded to Bex to let her know that Wing was on her side, mostly.

Wing said to Bex, “We made a good choice on that dress: especially with the Tag,” and playfully patted the younger lady’s hand.

We presented our friend with the envelope thanking her again which brought tears to her eyes. This was just a token of our appreciation for her vast help. Soon, it was time for us to head to my place and we hugged them goodbye as they wished us Good Luck for our trip back to the City of Sorrows, as Sarah referred to it.

In the car, Sarah asked what would happen to Bex. I said that she’ll find out in her next payslip: at least one, possibly several [pay] steps up, and Wing will keep an eye out for advancement opportunities as I know that the old lady never forgets, for good or for bad!

The crew had planned to film us changing and then entering the chauffeured car, but the time with Wing and Bex ran us late, so they were stuck with just filming us as we left the house and entering the car after we had quickly gobbled the sandwiches we’d made after dinner. We snuggled up in the back seat and as usual, feeling the other’s breathing and the comfy shoulder/pillows caused us to rapidly drop out until we arrived that the shoot.

We walked through the entrance in close step, briefly brushing each other and feeling relaxed as our minds were open and still thinking about the video. We got to the drinks cabinet and silently looked at the offering. I pulled out the Prosecco which we both liked and got a stroke across the hand as I carefully unwrapped and de-corked it, then poured two generous glasses, then headed to the sofa to wait for the first couple. We felt bored now as sofa time for us was mostly newspaper time where our minds and bodies united.

The first couple came through the door holding hands and we rose to greet them. She was in a low-cut V dress that showed nearly everything off and her beau had a shirt likewise. I judged that they were in their mid-20s. Joanne and James introduced themselves and seemed happy to see us together, though I had to dodge her hug. We walked to the bar with them as usual, making glances though, as usual, not holding hands. We asked about them, primarily to get to know them better, and to postpone their questions about us. When they asked about the wedding, we replied that we’d prefer to tell the group in one hit, and they would get the first question, similar to how we handle presentations.

A second couple came through: a short, dirty blonde wearing a mini-Bardot-type dress on and with a much taller guy, then they turned around and PDA’d. They introduced themselves as Sally and Adrian. I thought the voice sounded vaguely familiar, if that was the person on the link, though I was unsure as I’d had Gopher and Weasel in the background, plus aircraft and wind noise and I was only 10% on the questions. I felt a familiar hand play-scratch my spine as a warning and I responded by flicking my hand on her spine which elicited a grimace: a different sort of warning, I thought. We introduced ourselves and enquired about their background and TLS experience, then repeated the get to know and stack for them and the next four couples.

The final couple walked through the door and headed to us. They seemed a bit older than the rest: more like late 30s or early 40s. She had a yellow buttoned-up blouse and long pencil skirt on, and he was wearing a long shirt and chinos. She shook my hand and observed me dispassionately, “You’re the missing Bat, I’m Lindsey, this is Tony,” then smiled and left my hand for Sarah’s as he greeted me and she appraised Sarah’s dress, asking if it was new.

Sarah smiled and said, “Gifts,” cocking her head to me. It's new and it’s the longest it’s been on as the first time it was as it came off quickly and he wore me, she remembered.

“Wedding,” a voice called out as we returned to the sofa.

“Wedding was good, but someone sunk my vows,” said Sarah with a foul look on her face, and playfully dinged my spine. I returned ding but slightly harsher which elicited a harder flinch.

“What?” called out some of the group in shock.

“He started by presenting me with some blank cards and ‘This is the paper we write our story on..’ and I knew that what I thought was going to be a presentation was now an interaction, so my vows were sunk.” This elicited oohs from the group, and she looked over at me with a brief graze of her hand on my thigh, “I knew he’d framed up something, but the words were from the heart and in the moment, so he’d challenged me to respond in kind, which I did,” and her head briefly touched my shoulder

“Your vows were good when you showed me later on,” I responded and head-touched her shoulder. “The wedding was fun, and we didn’t get to bed until Honeymoon?” I asked

What?” called out from the sofa.

 “When we went to the room, we decided to change and have a brief walk and try the chocs before bed, and someone fell asleep,” she snarled and briefly elbow rubbed so I dinged her back again.

“Two someones both fell asleep in the garden as we were taking it in, and we woke in the morning to find someone had thrown a blanket over us,” I shrugged and got another ding. “We still haven’t had the champagne, and it was mid last week that we finally did in the chocs.”

“So how was the honeymoon, what happened?” asked Sally angling again.

“Apart from the end, it was really fun. We enjoyed the whole time as we were in no rush,” Sarah threw a boot in for Sally to fish on.

“No hurry?” Fishy Sally replied, catching it and not understanding.

“No. Rush. You said ‘We either go hard and fast or easy and slow’. We chose #2,” Sarah reiterated in confusion and her hand grazed my knee which I returned. Sally PDA’d her guy again which we thought was just a dig, but I ding-ding-dinged my love’s spine eliciting a grimace and dings in return. We were comfortable in our relationship and had nothing to provide to anyone. We weren’t hiding anything, but our signals were in a different language. I tapped her empty glass and got a knee touched in response, so we walked away for a refill and then returned.

Tony smiled, “What was Patagonia like?”

“Cold, low, and long. Heavy Heaven,” Sarah answered with confused looks and Tony repeated it back.

“Kids answer,” I whispered as that was what they wanted: aircraft and runway performance characteristics, not emotions first.

“Oh! I described the runway and that it’s good for full-weight take-offs,” she elaborated. “You saw the video I shot: scenery and The Lodge stunning,” she shrugged remembering how much she’d learned in the last month.

“When we did the link, it was howling,” I continued, “It used to take us ages to warm up after outings and the runs?” I smiled, dinging my way up her back and getting a grimace and more dings. I was wondering whether the grimaces were for effect or something else, as they were being pleasantly returned and I figured I was in the clear.

“Very long and very hard to warm up,” she said as she briefly flickered her eyelashes at me and briefly rubbed her arm on me.

“Any surprises?” Lindsey asked.

“The kids,” Sarah replied. “They were all really interested in the flying. Even the youngest ones are so knowledgeable. Miss Weasel decided I was her younger sister and wanted to take care of me!”

They were shocked at what seemed like a disparaging comment.

“She’s like her mother,” I replied, “She’s more like 28 than 8.”

“She was whispering translations to me then, and helped me with last week’s video,” she concluded.

I noticed Lindsey was looking intently at Sarah and I gave her a questioning look. “That brooch is interesting, can I see?” she asked.

“I’m not taking it off, but you can examine it,” Sarah replied, causing Lindsey and several other brides, though not Sally to assemble.

“C-E-N? What is the logo? Seems similar to the badge you had on last time and periodically stroked,” she asked, but Sarah didn’t remember subconsciously stroking it at the last dinner.

“It’s identical: one is material, the other is a custom piece. It’s a gift from Bat, Dog and Weasel that they had made there,” she replied, using my Tag again. “It’s my Formal Tag. They gave me the fabric one on the last night there. This one was presented rather more intimately on Wednesday,” and discretely used her finger to make a circle on my hip, which I repeated back. [The Sex Circle, vs the No Sex Cross that we had used from the off as a reassurance]

“Tag?” Sally asked.

“Nickname? Why?” James asked.

Sarah replied, “Dog and Weasel said ‘Tags are earned and I’d impressed everyone by fitting in so well and that I was the closest star to them’,” and opened her hands. ”’Proxima Centauri is our nearest star and CEN is sounds better than Proxi’ he said, the logo is of her and her two exoplanets,” she concluded to mostly blank faces, though Lindsey smiled. I discretely rubbed my love’s back at the base of the ribcage and got a reciprocation.

The waiter did his usual “Dinner is served,” bit and we made our way to the dining room and to our associated places.

Sarah

People took their seats and poured wine, and we were slightly buzzing now, in part from the anticipation of the toast, but also as we tended to only have one glass before eating and wouldn’t drink too much with dinner. We knew that we both were happy to have a few drinks at parties, but normally we’d max out at two in a night, so we got apple juice instead.

Before dinner is eaten, a someone offers the toast, well this is the sheepy way. Being goats, we offered to give the toast and the crew, surprisingly, accepted.

Over dinner at my place, we’d written down the toast we would give. As insurance, I promptly confiscated the cards, ensuring that what was written would be said.

Andy got up and said, “The Toast,”, raising his glass as I got up and slid into the first position I’d found so comfortable: my back against his chest, feeling our breaths sync as usual. This raised a few eyebrows from the crew and attendees as they were used to one person making the speech.

“’Life, Love and the pursuit of happiness,’ Keynes stated” [allegedly], Andy said in his usual speaking only to my voice. Though it was projected around the room via the mics.

“They say that To dream in the City of Sorrows is to dream of a better future,” I chimed.

“But recently, and very sadly and very suddenly, a lot of people’s City turned to sorrow,” he continued softly, and I realised we had lost Sally and several others.

“We dreamed, apart.”

“Together.”

“Apart.”

“Finally, together,” we concluded.

“A weed growing through a crack in a smashed pavement, a bird roosting on a fallen tree.”

“These are the dreams of the future becoming real. Real happiness.”

“To dreaming and finding happiness,” we concluded together, looking briefly into at each other, as about half of the group clapping, the other half baffled. This was our story summed up and we felt really relaxed as we had spoken slowly and softly, causing our breathing to slow. About half of the assembled clapped enthusiastically again, the rest politely as we returned to our seats.

We were famished now as it was well past our, typically early dinner time, and our lunch had been small and rushed, even by Andy’s standards. Bruschetta and ham were served and, the discussion turned to the follow-on from a girl's night a few days ago, now lubricated with the extra booze. Several of them were discussing what had happened and were settling the score. I gently raked Andy’s leg under the table with my fingertips as a warning and he brought his hand down to smooth it and then briefly scratched my back. We ate the starter and while it was attractive, it was unsubstantial, unlike the ones in Tonga and Patagonia. Worse, the starting chat paled into comparison with Patagonia where I had found myself on a steep, but very interesting learning curve.

After the plates were cleared, Tony and Linsdey swapped so they could sit next to us. He asked Andy what he actually did in Patagonia. Andy summarised, “I’ve got two prissy birds and batty crews to keep going. Eat, plan and sleep, plus squeezing in a few chats with someone,” and he briefly rubbed his head on my shoulder again.

I added with a knowing smile, “The birds aren’t so prissy, but the crews are definitely batty. At least your Day 1 was sane compared with other dets and you were able to get the Spots done quickly, so you actually were able to start planning Day 2.”

Linsey was surprised at this and asked how I knew. I said, “You told me bits in our chats and messages, and I’ve been reading your logs since I got back.”

A sudden silence befell the group, and she asked my love, “Logs: Diaries? Spots? How do you feel about her reading them?”

“We read them together, good learnings for you?” he smiled.

“Are you in much?” She asked.

“Log, yes diary. About four times in two weeks: prompts so he’ll ask me something when we chat later on and we always chatted at his breakfast and dinner, plus a few daily ad-hocs.” I explained why the setup of the parking spots were necessary to establish a very accurate GPS baseline for the onboard navigation systems. Andy held my hand, sometimes using a finger to nudge me on or give me subtle encouragement as I briefly ran through what I’d learned by having regular runs at his logs. They say that if you can teach someone else something you’ve learned, then you’ve definitely learned it and I knew that I was climbing this mountain of knowledge quickly, though with a guide like Tenzing Norgay.

Sally gave James another PDA which elicited us mutual finger raking and said to Andy with a sour expression, “Do you mind her reading them?”

He just shrugged at her, and dinged my back again, causing another involuntary grimace, then rubbed my hand to let me lead, “I have to now and I’m reading excerpts of others’ logs too. I’m no longer going to Washup next week just as family, it’s a work trip now.”

There were a few What’s? And I continued, “On the penultimate night, the pilots pulled me aside alone and asked me to join up and train up next year. I go to Washup as Ground Ops day lead.”

“You’ve never been involved, how will you cope?” Lindsey asked.

“The lead is a junior person, they’re paired with a Senior and a Project Support [as we had decided to refer to the EAs],” Andy said, “’The stupidest question is the one unasked’ and we need a Junior to ask the questions that nobody’s thought about. I’ve got a really smart Junior,” he briefly head rubbed me.

“Andy didn’t ask you?” she asked.

“They said that they’d hit him up about it earlier and he said that he had no opinion, but he trusts them and supports them,” I answered and discretely backstroked my love. This got disapproving groans, “No opinion means he was as stunned as I was, and I know they absolutely trust each other. I said I’d discuss it with him, we did and decided it would be part of our adventure. We head over to Seattle in January for 12 weeks initially as I am part-time with Logistics to get general training, then we’ll see what happens. I’ve already met my new boss,” I concluded, remembering that I wasn’t sure if, during our first meeting on the 757, she was happy to see me or was seeing me as dinner.

By now, the dinner was on the table and this deep thought was subsumed by food. Andy turned the Malbec bottle to face him, and I rubbed my knee against him, so he poured two glasses. The Chicken Kyiv was OK for dinner, unfortunately then it was the guys’ turn to start scoring hits and we just ate in uninterested silence as I thought about how nice it would be to be entwined on the sofa or floor with either the crossword or NCIS and I sensed a mutual feeling in my love as he briefly ran his hand down my spine, causing me to flinch again.

We finished the main and I made a discrete cross on his side, then a brief prod above which I saw elicited a flash of surprise on him as the prod was a new gesture. “Excuse me, I need to loosen my back,” I announced as I flexed and got up. He got up, excusing himself having got the hint.

“You OK?” one of the producers asked.

“Just need somewhere cool and quiet to loosen,” I responded, and they guided us to a side room. We entered and shut the door behind us, keeping them out.

Andy was concerned about my state and asked if I was OK. My hand reached behind him and somehow hit the power button on the mic, which his hand somehow simultaneously did to mine. My other hand reached behind and held him, and I whispered, “You bugger, each time you ding me, you get me slightly more, now I’m really tight,” held him tightly and prodded him again.

In the hug, our hands started at the top of the other’s spines and gently worked down, alternating slow holds and dings as our breathing slowed, and I felt the waves start again. Each time we changed from down to up and then reverse, we became more relaxed, and I could sense his spine flex too, though his carried on down his legs whereas my flex accumulated like a capacitor between mine. I held my mouth to his ear as our hands gently roamed spines and I moaned gently as the waves started to accumulate, then moaned longer. We heard the concerned questions of the crew outside, but we were now in a state of deep relaxation as I was nearing peak relaxation.

The wave flowed powerfully over me with our touches, and I breathed out deeply, then leaned back for a gentle, but deep kiss as the state of peak relaxation waned. I nose-tapped his shoulder and our hands moved down to our belts and somehow, the mics powered up.

We left and opened the door looking as we had when we entered, and I playfully stretched and apologised.

We got back to the table to find dessert on the table and everyone else’s glasses full again. Joanne asked if I was OK, and I replied that I got a sore back sometimes and that I always found that somewhere quiet was needed to unwind it. Or in the middle of an airport, a cold runway. Anywhere: it’s not the place that makes me go, it’s my man, I thought. We didn’t want any more booze as we wanted to sleep on our first night in the likely tiny room. We had planned a 2-hour run to explore the area between breakfasts and prior to filing Expert Day and I wondered if the late sugary dessert would cause me to have trouble getting to sleep. Probably not as I’ve got the perfect sleep aid now, I thought and rubbed the aid’s knee.

Soon, the dessert and the filming were finished, and we were bussed back to the Suites. We sat opposite Lindsay and Tony and invited them to join us on our morning run, and then breakfast. While they were happy for #2, sadly they weren’t runners, so we swapped numbers as we weren’t on the TLS WhatsApp group, not that we were too bothered as the OMessage Family group was quite lively and entertaining.

People were still chatting, but we snuggled up and I idly wrapped my index finger around Andy’s, then we playfully rotated the fingers. I felt my heart rate weirdly rise slowly despite the snuggle, and I felt his rise too and our fingers were twisting tighter and faster as we neared the hotel, and I could see some of the others were getting rather amorous. As we entered a tunnel, I turned my head around and kissed him on the lips. I felt an unusual edge to my kiss and the brief, returned one had a similar edge as our fingers locked.

Leaving the bus, we walked to our rooms and my heart rate was rising again. We used the keycard to enter the room and then closed the door. We felt the tension between us, and then we embraced each other, kissing hard and roughly. I grabbed his shirt and rapidly undid his buttons as he unzipped my dress in one go and dropped it to the floor. We then returned to our aggressive make-out and eliminated each other’s clothes as we proceeded to rapidly release our tension in the way that intimate couples do. “Our first quick one, how hot,” I said and kissed him hard.

He led me to the shower and turned it on so the hot water soothed us after the tedium of the Dinner Party. We resumed our coupling here, though this time at our usual, sensual pace, gradually raising the level of stimulation and like all others, until just now slow and sensuous. For us, our emotions build gradually and incrementally and coupling was generally no different Then, under the relaxing water. We sat making out on the floor followed by a final kiss as we disentangled and stood up, turning the water off so we could dry and sleep.

Later that morning, we woke and had a brief breakfast of porridge and coffee: a bad habit that I’d picked up from my love and discovered how effective it was, then we dressed and headed out for our run, unaccompanied by The Pests, despite our invite. We soaked in the route, taking brief breaks to drink and kiss, and discussed what the Experts might ask us, especially about at the airport. We had no intention of exposing Wing, so we decided to be honest: tell them what we knew, there were other things – such as exactly how our phones didn’t get any Pest calls, that we didn’t know for certain what had happened, but what happened there was between the three of us.

We got back to The Suites and banged on Lindsay’s door to give them the 15-minute signal and they called out “OK” as we headed to our room. Our shower was rather brief for us, though we managed to get in a few, brief plays. As usual, we diligently dried each other off, then changed into jeans and polo shirts: blue for me and grey for my love.

They arrived, tailed by the crew and we welcomed them in, then set some goodies that had been left for us in the fridge and they gave us a platter of fruit, then we turned on the kettle as we needed a good dose of coffee to warm up, given our normal one was absent. The crew left before the coffee had plunged and, thankfully, we had a bottle of juice, so at least we’d have some juice on the table for breakfast.

We slowly got to know each other, then Tony asked Andy whether, at Bring Up, things were as bad for him as they looked on screen. He said they were much worse: the link kept crashing despite being on the ground feed until just before he went live combined with a brain-farting camera, a server not powering up and The Pilot’s [Weasel’s] catty comments that he could overhear had. He said that as soon as he was back at the hangar, he cried until it was time for the call-in with the Project Support [Wing], which shocked them both, which I knew from him and indirectly via Weasel. “The strength of a small team is its tightness and efficiency; the weakness is that too much load means it gets swamped easily?” Tony observed and we all concurred.

To lighten the mood and to help the breakfast and coffee go down better, I said, “You know that crap vid of us they showed at last week’s Dinner?” They nodded and I plugged a different USB stick from our time in with Wing and Bex into the TV and fired it up. We viewed a different edit of Patagonia [minus people’s fronts], and then I put on my edit of the wedding. They were shocked at how the same footage had been edited so differently and asked who did it. I told them that I’d done it with Miss Weasel as she wanted to collaborate with me, which surprised them that an eight-year-old was so mature and technically skilled.

Lindsay asked how I’d got the dresses. Andy explained about the call to the Project Support [Wing] shortly after we’d separated, how he suspected [and now knew] she’d gathered an accomplice and gone looking for a suitable victim. He said, “She probably didn’t say ‘Come with me now’, but it wasn’t too much different,” which caused a smile from them, then he explained about how The Victim [Bex] had been kept completely in the dark about why she was trying on dresses until yesterday when we’d shown them the video, omitting that it was a different edit. Andy observed that she seemed in genuine fear of our friend until she’d been shown the video, which surprised the couple, and they asked if that fear was genuine. I remarked, “Most of those that are in fear of her, probably don’t need to be, but there are those that don’t know they should be but should,” thinking of The Pests.

After more coffee, they left, and we felt that we got to know and like them better as they were similar in age to us. Later we boarded the coach with all of the participants to the studio.

On arrival at the studio, we told that’d we’d be the penultimate couple up, with Lindsey and Tony being the last up. Some of the couples sat a decent distance apart, others touching; there was a gap big enough for the weekday, though not weekend paper between us. The Experts started quizzing the couples about the usual topics including what had happened that week, emotional progress and sex, and some of the topics seemed to be to score points rather than tease out areas for development which disappointed me. Similar to the dinner party, we’d glance at each other, sometimes a brief spine touch or ding, or briefly touch and, if there was a hot topic, fingers would briefly rake a leg as we dispassionately observed the proceedings. One couple called it quits, but we hadn’t talked to them apart from the beginning of the Dinner Party.

Then it was our turn, and we walked up, as usual close and sometimes brushing, not holding hands, then we resumed our position on the sofa facing the experts. The first expert, Joelle, asked us how we were. “We’re good,” I replied which elicited a surprised look as she was expecting a more comprehensive answer, but we’d done a personality test in Patagonia which had determined, without much surprise, that we were primarily rational problem-solvers. We knew that if there wasn’t a problem, we didn’t try looking for one: we were going to leave that task for Washup where there would be plenty of work ones.

“We’re happy,” my love replied, and Joelle nodded, wanting more. “We haven’t burned the dinner yet,” he continued which elicited bafflement from them.

“We haven’t tried hard enough,” I replied, which was true. We are more into naked breakfasts than dinners, I mused to their dead looks. “Wedding vows,” I elaborated to a dead reaction.

Expert Sid decided to have a run, “How did you feel about Andy.”

“From the beginning, respected and comfortable. He’s never hit on me which is good,” I smiled.

This shocked them and he asked, “Not interested?”

“A little nudge, but we decided that were weren’t in a hurry,” Andy replied with a gentle smile, still throwing them and they still thought we were cold about each other.

I laughed gently, “We put things on the table and when we’re ready, we have a nibble.” We had taken things one bite at a time: We had started with pecks, then the shared chocolate kiss, eventually leading to our lovemaking on the bed after the Tag. And I now get eaten at the breakfast table and a lot of other places too, I happily thought. I realised that we were being honest, though not explicit and they were not used to this.

“Did you really have to leave Sarah,” Sid asked, sneering as he tended to do.

“There were two choices: bad or worse,” I replied, “We chose bad, and I understood what would happen if he didn’t go. By the time I was home, Andy had got a Project Support [Wing] to put times in our diaries for calls.” This got oohs from the couples and Saskia, the relationships expert. “At the second breakfast, a pilot [Weasel] 1:1’d me which helped.”

Expert Joelle asked if things were as bad at Bring Up as they seemed on the video. I looked dead at them, pursing my lips and acidly said, “When you came on screen, I knew things were fucked,” which shocked all as a soft hand reached over and gently clasped mine.

As Andy briefly ran through the problems he’d had that morning, his voice tailed down and I knew what was coming as he concluded with me telling them to cut him off and his hasty exit from Weasel’s Falcon. Saskia nodded, knowing that there was more. I hugged him as he said, “Then I got back to the hangar and cried. I was alone, freezing and I wanted to hug Sarah so I could stop her anger and show my gratitude,” as he cried again, causing me and a few of the couples, including Lindsey and Tony to moisten. I placed my arm around him and my lips on his ear and whispered so only he could hear, “So much. [Love]” He turned in and repeated that into my ear.

They showed the video of us casually exiting the arrivals airside, and we saw Wing flashing the birds and her shit-eating smile for the first time. We held hands tightly at this, trying hard to block our laughs as the Rooster [well..] crows at their magnificence and some of the couples laughed, wondering whether this old bird behind was a random or something else.

Sid sneered, “So what happened exactly?”

Andy honestly replied, “We don’t know exactly”, which was true.

“And what we don’t know, we’re not stupid enough to find out,” I concluded acidly and with pursed lips.

“I like sausages, but I neither know nor want to know how they’re made. Do you?” my love shrugged, looking at sneering Sid. I just wanted to kiss him as I would normally do when he made a hanging comment, and he dinged my spine again rather too well and I flinched badly as he nearly got a hit on me. I placed my lips on his ear again and whispered “9.5,” and briefly tongued his ear, giving him a shiver.

Saskia asked if I was OK. “I’ve got an itch that itches sometimes,” I replied with a sly smile. I saw her ponder the comment, then a brief smile flashed as she wondered whether my comment or smile was the truth and couldn’t quite decide.

Then it was our friends’ turn. Sid seemed rather deflated and could barely manage the smallest sneer at them, and they barely got simmered by Joelle, not that they seemed to have much heat to give.

Over the provided after-film snacks, Sally asked what did happen at the airport. I stated that “A friend got me an airside pass and got me to the gate,” omitting how my phone had likely been diverted so The Pests couldn’t get hold of me until the next morning and what had happened at and after the gate. This didn’t satisfy her, nor did she have any follow-up as my closed statement had done its job.

On this bus, we whispered to each other that Wing’s arrangement of our airport reunion had turned what would have been a stressful and lonely time for me into a very romantic and relaxed surprise for us. We knew that hopefully, it would be a tale to that we would tell our kids and for a long time.

We entered the room and closed the door behind us, leaving the light off. I pushed him against the door and wrapped my arms around him, “I hate it when you cry,” and Frenched him gently and his lips and arms reciprocated, “We were alone and apart, but so united,” I continued and resumed the French.

“So united, my love, like we are now,” he replied holding me tight as he remained pinned to the door.

We continued kissing, but we moved slightly away from the door and our hands started moving gently over backs, still sensually Frenching. My hands gently lifted up his polo as his followed my lead, then he released my bra and we briefly stopped kissing so we could pull tops over our heads. Our hands and lips resumed the slow, sensual contact that we enjoy irrespective of attire, or not. In unison, we reached down and released the tops of the jeans, then his lips detached from mine and worked his way down me, stimulating and exciting me and I started to excite him, then I got to enjoy his soft, shaved chest.

This time he stood against the door and held me tight, which from the beginning was a true intimacy, though this one was safety, not sexual – albeit here it was both.  We kissed and connected with gentle touches and his hands wandering, again these touches stimulated us irrespective of attire, though here very much so. We excited each other more as we continued our kissing and we commenced our full, loving connection in the dark

I reminded myself that the first time he held me properly was from behind on our wedding night. We often held each other in the same position since, in all states of clothing, and it was intimate regardless – especially when doing the crossword as our minds and bodies were fully entwined. This was even better as it was so sensual he managed to hit all my spots: the cuddle, his touching of my hot zones, and the sex. I slid off him and led him to the bed, pushing him down and I re-awakened him. Making love to my man was so enjoyable with our bodies and emotions fully synced, especially being in control. I kissed him harder and vocalised my happiness as his hands dinged my back again, something that he really managed to do me – sometimes rather too well in the filming, though that was a different form of very pleasurable hit than here.

I lay on him as we slowly caressed and wound down into a sweaty slumber for our final night in The Suites.

 

Published 
Written by TheGardener
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