We Are Not of This World

[Alice Ryder]

“Taking you to Xenex would have been a mistake.” Alice said as she smiled at him. “You do remind me a lot of before we were married. I can’t remember the last time you were excited about tools especially with me standing around in nothing but a robe.”

[Nick Ryder]

"It's taking a ton of willpower to not maul you." Nick said casually. "Except I was working in here and our neighbor just popped in and another random gearhead guy that I'm going to hire for some of the work around here and maybe build some custom shuttles or cars or whatever." he chuckled. "I have no idea if some pearl clutching Mrs. Havisham is going to pop out with a 'helll-oooooo' when I'm getting all handsy with you."

[Alice Ryder]

“We’d be quite the scandal.” Alice laughed. “But what if I want you to mail me? It’s been awhile since you’ve done that.”

[Nick Ryder]

Nick smirked as he cleared off some of the work bench. "It has been a while hasn't it?" he looked around and couldn't sense anyone around. "So... nothing at all on under that robe hmm?" he put his arms around her and pulled her close into a passionate kiss. A couple of tugs at the belt she had tied around her waist and the robe opened up. He gave her a look and closed the workshop door. "Good thing I cleaned the place up a little."

A half hour later --

Nick was sitting in a rather large, rather old chair in the workshop as he held Alice in his arms, her robe was still on the workbench and she was curled up on his lap. "Well I have to say, that was something we both really needed... " he kissed her bare shoulder and smiled. "So love... how about we actually TRY to be intimate at least once a day? Thankfully we're not involved in anything that requires most of our free time and I have to admit, I did really want you last night but we were both so exhausted after getting the bedroom set up for us and Gale and at least getting some of the furniture where it should be. I probably would have fallen asleep on top of you." he winced. "Or under you... either way I would have passed out."

[Alice Ryder]

Alice laughed softly, “Your not the only one.”

[Nick Ryder]

"Yeah we really crashed last night, I slept an hour longer than usual, you looked even more beat. Although it was a long day even before we came here yesterday." Nick said as he ran his finger across her bare skin. "Much better plan than Xenex, although I would have adapted, but this... this is much more comfortable for the long term. You deserved better anyway." he looked into her eyes. "Y'know the look on your face when you walked out of the shuttle, that 'i'm home' look, that sold me on all this. If this part of England was so screwed up still on Earth, I was seriously contemplating talking to Emperor Kai about letting us have a vacation home there, but this is better. No Imperium, no Terra Pax, no insane alternate reality duplicates. And a Starfleet and Federation that's still altruistic and hopeful. Not that I plan to wear a uniform again, but at least no one is going to try and draft us back into service. I did manage to get you a distance earned double Doctorate from Oxford."

[Alice Ryder]

“Hmmm Dr. Alice Huntington Ryder. Does have a nice ring to it and without all the fuss.” Alice said and kiss him on the cheek. “You didn’t have to do that.”

[Nick Ryder]

"Well you did sort of already earn it with your Starfleet education and what you've done since. You helped create a nearly self sustaining power source, I'd say that's worth a doctorate. Or any of the other dozens of discoveries we've made that we didn't make public." Nick replied. "I've got life experience, you've got pure intelligence. Kind of like Jack, you see a problem and you can solve it intuitively. Plus... it'll explain any experiments or projects either of us have running that may seem out of the norm."

[Alice Ryder]

“You have a point.” Alice said with a smile as she got up. “We should check on Gale. Hmm maybe we should get a Nanny. Then we could slip away more.”

[Nick Ryder]

"Might not be a bad idea. At least while we're navigating this new century, I do fully intend to spend a lot more time with you two. It's not like before, whatever either of us do is because we wanted to do it, not because it was something we HAD to." Nick replied. "Although it would be nice to take a few more date nights... date weekends... although I am pretty sure the moment we go into the city of London, people are going to think you're a model or something. Upside, you don't have to try so hard to not look like the stunning woman you are. You wore my clothes as baggy as they were and you still made them look sexy... no idea how you do it."