Nick jerked back, laying his hand against her face. Her shallow breath was the only sound he heard.

  “Caitlin,” he said, trying to ignore his need long enough to speak. “I’m old.”

  She laughed, her voice carrying through the night. “What?”

  “I’m old. Caitlin, I’m seventeen years older than you.”

  “So.”

  “So? That doesn’t bother you?”

  She leaned into him, nipping the skin along the side of his throat between her teeth as her hands unbuttoned his shirt, exposing his skin to the cool evening air. But he didn’t feel the cold.

  “If it bothered me, would I want you as much as I do?” she said close to his ear before she drew his earlobe between her lips.

  Nick slid his arms beneath her knees and behind her back, taking her with him as he stood. Without another word, he carried her around to the front of the cabin and pushed the door open with his toe, kicking it shut behind him. The only bedroom in the cabin was just off the living room, a wide doorway connecting the two rooms with no door. He carried her through the room; his lips finding hers as he instinctively avoided the sparse furniture to bring them to the side of the bed.

  He set her on the edge of the bed, her hands already tugging his shirt free of the waistband of his jeans. Nick yanked the cotton free of his arms and tossed it to the floor, acting quickly so he could once again devour her mouth as he laid her back on the bed.

  **********

  Tuesday September 18, 2043

  Parson’s Point

  The smell of bacon and spring mornings filled the cabin, and through the open kitchen window came the music of a distant songbird. CJ picked up a warm slice of toast, hissing as it hurt the tips of her fingers, and spread soft butter across the surface. She barely managed to keep herself from whistling as she arranged the two plates of food and glasses of juice. Coffee was still a mystery to her, and she had decided to forego even trying.

  “Breakfast is ready, Nicky,” she called out over her shoulder, but gasped as two long, strong arms circled her body from behind.

  “Mmmmm, smells delicious.” His voice shimmied over her like a sweet caress, and she leaned back into his embrace.

  “I didn’t burn the bacon this time,” she said with a smile and tilted her head so he could press a kiss just in front of her ear.

  “I’m proud of you,” he whispered, his voice earnest. “But damn, woman. How am I supposed to think about food when I find you wearing nothing but my old flannel shirt?”

  CJ’s body tingled as his long fingers expertly released the buttons of the oversized shirt and his hands slipped inside to skim over her skin. He slipped the collar away from her shoulder and buried his face into the curve of her neck, his tongue applying firm pressure to her skin before his lips sucked gently. CJ let her head fall back, supported by his chest, as his hands cupped her breasts and skimmed her stomach, plucking at the waistband of her panties.

  “Nicky…” she whispered hoarsely.

  He turned her around in the space between him and the counter, his hands coming up to cup her face. CJ looked up at him as his thumb stroked across her lower lip. He was bare from the waist up and the subtle flex of his arms and chest when he moved made her heart race and her blood heat. She reached up to lay her hands on his chest, enjoying the heat of his skin and the beat of his heart beneath her palm. He tipped her face and covered her lips with a deep, open mouth kiss that made her insides dance and her knees shake. His fingertips laced into her hair and he pulled her closer, kissing her longer, until they both had to stop to breathe. Nicky rested his forehead against hers, their rapid breath mingling in the space between them, and licked his lips.

  “I love you, Caitlin.”

  Her heart jumped, and she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer. “I love you, too, Nicky.”

  He smiled, a single corner of his lips tipping up. “Good,” was his only answer as he swept her into his arms and carried her back to bed, leaving breakfast behind.

  **********

  Thursday, November 12, 2042

  Sorentino’s Café

  Arlington, Virginia

  Former United States of America

  “It’s bullshit, Caitlin.”

  CJ glanced around the café, her nerves jumping at the thought that one of her colleagues – or anyone of power – might hear Nick’s rant. “Nicky, please…”

  “You don’t think this is crazy? They’re taking over everything and wiping out anything that resembles what we were. What we’re supposed to be. Soon, there’s going to be nothing left of us. The Human race.”

  “You’re jumping to conclusions. President Camrin has not agreed to granting political power to any Areth official, and until he does…”

  “Until he does. Even you think it’s going to happen.”

  CJ set her fork down and rested her hands in her lap, drawing a slow breath to try and calm her nerves. “Why are we fighting about this?”

  “We’re not fighting,” Nick said, jabbing at his chicken.

  “It feels like we’re fighting.”

  He finally raised his head and looked at her, his tense features relaxing when their gazes connected. With a huff and a shake of his head, he let his fork drop onto the plate with a clatter and reached his hand across the space of the table. CJ brought her hand from beneath the tablecloth and laid it in his, sighing when he gently squeezed her fingers. Nick raised her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I just get —”

  “I know.”

  He smiled at her, and some of her tension eased. They finished their meal, and after Nick gave the waiter his payment card, they left the café. The winter air bit at her skin and she tucked her chin into the collar of her coat.

  “I can’t convince you to take the afternoon off?”

  CJ smiled, moving closer to him so he could circle her shoulders with his arm and pull her against his side. “I’m sorry. But we’re close to breaking the DNA code we’ve been studying. I’m surprised Jairdan let me go for lunch.”

  “He’s a slave driver.”

  CJ laughed. “But he’s also a genius.”

  “Have you ever met an Areth that wasn’t?” he mumbled under his breath.

  They reached the entrance to the tall glass and steel medical building where CJ’s new office and staff were located. Nick turned her in his arms and kissed her, long and deep, and she wished she really could take the afternoon off to be with him. They had given up on maintaining two apartments in the city, and Nick had moved in several weeks before. She loved waking up in his arms, and falling asleep to the sound of his heartbeat, but on days like today she wanted more. More time. More him. Just more.

  “I’ll see you tonight,” he said against her lips.

  “Okay. I love you.”

  “I love you.” With one more kiss, he let her go so she could enter the sterile interior of the facility. She watched him walk away through the smoky glass that let her see out but didn’t allow any pedestrians to see into the lobby. When he disappeared from sight, she walked to the elevator and rode to the top floor and her labs.

  She absently walked through the lab where several of her subordinates worked, and opened to the door to her office, stopping short when she saw the two men waiting for her. Jairdan, the Areth scientist overseeing her studies, stood behind her desk and Professor Abernathy rested in one of her chairs. Both men looked up, whatever conversation they were having stopped short. Jairdan features were tight as he glanced at the photograph of herself and Nick she had set near her computer.

  “Jairdan, Professor Abernathy, this is a surprise,” she said, closing the door behind her. “Is there something I can help you with?”

  Professor Abernathy stood, bracing his hands on the armrests for leverage. “Let’s take a walk, Miss Montgomery. We haven’t had a chance to talk in the last few months.”

  She glanced between Professor Abernathy and Jairdan, the tension and weight in the air tangible. Jairdan drew a slow breath through his nostrils and tucked his hands behind his back as he came from behind his desk.

  “I’ll leave you to talk,” he said, his tone heavy on ‘talk’, and nodded at Professor Abernathy as he passed. “You and I will speak later, Doctor Montgomery.”

  Professor Abernathy took her hand as he reached her, and slid it into the bend of his arm just as he had at the awards ceremony months before. “Your life is about to change, Miss Montgomery,” he said as they walked out of the office. “Like you never imagined.”

  **********

  “I’m in the kitchen,” Nick called through the apartment when he heard the front door open and close. He slid the pan of seared salmon off the heating unit and wiped his fingers on the small towel draped over his shoulder as he walked to the front foyer.

  It was empty, and he continued to the combined living-dining room where he found Caitlin standing beside the table he had already set for dinner. She toyed with the soft petals of the orchids he had placed in a vase. Nick stepped behind her and slid his arms around her body, resting his chin on the top of her head.

  “I was beginning to wonder how long Jairdan was going to keep you.”

  “Busy day today,” she answered, her voice distant.

  Nick gently urged her to turn in his arms, and bent at the knee so he could look her straight in the eyes. “You look exhausted. Why don’t you sit while I finish dinner?”

  She smiled, but her features were still tight and strained. Nick leaned in and kissed her until he felt some of the tension ease and her hand lay against his chest. Pulling back, he moved to pull a chair out for her and she sat, immediately picking up the glass of wine he had poured for her. Not that synthetic crap, either. Tonight, the real stuff was in order. She hummed appreciatively at the first sip.

  Nick returned to the kitchen to finish preparing their plates. Before he picked them up, he patted his pocket just to make sure the ring was still there.

  This was it… He was going to do it again…

  He paused in the doorway before entering the dining room, sighing when he saw Caitlin. Her elbow was on the table, her forehead supported by her hand with her eyes closed. A protective surge of annoyance hit him and he marched across the room, setting her plate down. She jerked back, obviously not hearing him.

  “I don’t know who the hell Jairdan thinks he is, abusing you the way he does. They work you until you’re dead on your feet —”

  “They don’t abuse me, Nicky,” she said softly, but he kept going.

  “Christ, I know they don’t have lives, but you do. Hell, Caitlin, there are nights I don’t even hear you come in.”

  “Could we please not fight?”

  “I’m not fighting.” Nick paused, grinning. “Déjà vu.” Her smile was weak, but there nonetheless. “Dig in,” he said, pointing to her plate with the tines of his fork.

  She poked at the food, pushing the salmon around more than eating it. After a few moments of her not eating, and him watching her not eat, Caitlin sighed and set her fork down. “Nicky, we need to talk.”

  “Absolutely,” he said around the bite of vegetables in his cheek. “I have something I want to talk to you about. I think we need to take a vacation.”

  “I can’t right now, Nicky.”

  “Now, listen… I’m not talking a weekend away. I’m talking two weeks, at least. Get the hell away from the city and enjoy some fresh air. Do some stargazing, some fishing, whatever. Just you and me. I went eighteen years without taking any leave, so I’ve got plenty coming —”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  Caitlin pushed her plate away and sat back in her chair, crossed her arms and avoided looking at him. “We’re close to making a breakthrough, and I can’t walk away from the study right now. It’s too important.”

  “When it’s done, then”

  She shook her head. “No. Nicky, since I was eleven years old I’ve worked hard to get to where I am. I wanted to be a geneticist, and I made it. I can’t just throw it away for…” She stumbled over her words, stopping herself short, her eyes shifting to him for a split moment as color rose in her cheeks.

  A lead weight hit Nick’s gut and he felt sick. Keeping a tight rein on his urge to snap, he drained the wine from his glass barely tasting the robust flavor. “For what, Caitlin,” he said through tight lips.

  “For an unplanned vacation.” Her voice was weak and unconvincing.

  They sat in silence for several moments as Nick poured himself another glass, downing it in two swallows. Caitlin worried the edge of her napkin, her fingertips tapping on the tabletop. Finally, she drew a deep breath.

  “You knew what I was when you met me.”

  Nick raised his head and looked at her. “I knew you were a doctor, I didn’t know you were the Areth’s personal whipping girl.”

  “That’s not fair, Nicky!”

  He set his glass down with a thud and stood. “No, it’s not.”

  Nick crossed the living room to stand at the wide glass door that looked out on Barcroft Park. It had started to rain some time after he got home from Langley. Rivulets of water ran down the glass, branching off and joining again like lines on a map. The park was dark, only two or three streetlamps visible in the gloom. He heard her chair slide across the tile floor, and saw her reflection muted in the glass as she walked towards him, her arms crossed over her body. Defensive. Protective.

  What had he ever done to make her feel that way?

  “I’m leaving, Nicky.”

  He spun around. “What?”

  “I’ve been offered a position at the Alliance Labs in Geneva. I can continue my research there. I can form my own team, and it’s important work.” She hitched up her chin and finally met his gaze for the first time since she came home. “I want to take it, Nicky.”

  Nick scrubbed a palm over his face, sucking in air. He looked past her for a minute, regrouping, before setting his hands at his hips and meeting her eyes again. “How long?”

  “Two years, maybe longer.”

  He closed his eyes. “I can’t relocate, Caitlin. I’m stuck here until I retire.”

  “I know…” she said softly. “The Areth are accomplishing amazing breakthroughs, and I’m going to be part of it.”

  “Areth,” he hissed, storming past her. “It always comes back to the damn Areth. It’s all I hear…The Areth are making our lives better, The Areth are accomplishing amazing breakthroughs, The Areth are our salvation. It’s crap!”

  “You know, they said you wouldn’t understand —”

  Nick spun around. “They? Who the hell are ‘they’? Jairdan? Who the hell are they to say anything about you and me?”

  “They’re looking out for my best interests. My career—”

  “And I don’t…”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Sure as hell sounded like it.”

  “Don’t put words in my mouth.”

  “Why the hell not? The Areth already are.”

  She snapped her mouth shut so hard, her teeth clanked together, and she glared at him. A tremor shifted through her body, and he knew she was either on the verge of crying or hitting him…which one, he wasn’t sure. Nick marched around the end of the couch and headed for the foyer.

  “I’m going to go out for awhile.” He stopped in the archway of the hall, turning to look at her as he drew a slow, steadying breath. “Maybe when I come back, we’ll both be calm enough to figure this out.” She swiped her fingers across her cheeks, nodding. “Caitlin…” He waited until she looked up, her glistening eyes looking at him. “I want to figure this out.”

  She nodded again, and Nick grabbed his coat before leaving the apartment.

  **********

  The vast blackness of space spread out on all sides of Nick’s O2 glider, broken only by the distant twinkle of dying stars. He kept his boosters pointed at Earth, floating in the vacuum to try and clear his head.

  That was the advantage of being a Colonel, he supposed. If he wanted to take a quick jaunt around the moon, no one was going to say no. And there was no better way to find his balance than to catapult himself into nothingness.

  Space had been his net after Kathleen and Michael died. He couldn’t function on Earth, the air smothered him and his life was nothing but a pile of rubble. Everything he thought he had was gone in a handful of minutes. His wife… his son… gone. He had buried himself in his glider, taking every training mission and volunteering for every flight schedule he could until his skills were second to none.