Abstinence

Alwen still couldn’t get used to the garish red and green paint job in the ship’s large communal gym. And while Highland and the Deck Apes did a fantastic job with just brushes and rollers, it would always be an assault on the eyes of anyone who saw it. That said Alwen doubted that it was going anywhere anytime soon. The day after the Bosun had repainted the room someone had smudged the still drying paint, within the hour every Deck Ape had been on the hunt for someone with a red hand. Luckily Alwen had been smart enough to wash her hands with the powerful antibacterial soap in the surgery suite.

For some strange reason the gym was actually empty today, save for its lone semi-permeant resident, and her boyfriend Gato. At the moment Gato was currently jogging on a treadmill, all four feet/hands slapping the rubber mat moving beneath him at max speed, and at max incline. He was too focused on the run to notice Alwen step up to the treadmill next to him and start her own jog, though at a much more sedate pace. It was only was when the machine automatically slowed down for a cool down lap that he finally popped back up to two feet and noticed Alwen at his side.

“Have you been there long?” he asked once he had enough breath to speak.

“Only a few minutes, where’s everyone else?”

“Cap’ns got the virtues running around the station on intel gathering. She sent out the Sins and Apes as well with orders to be as obnoxious as possible, draw the eye of the SS while the Virtues work.”

“And you? Why aren’t you with your men?”

He looked ashamed “Cap’n was worried SS might shoot me on the spot if I made any trouble.”

“They can’t be that bad.” Alwen scoffed. “Sure the SS were way too skittish around deathworlders, but they were still public servants. They can’t shoot someone without consequence.”

“Alice said she saw two SS officers handcuff an unconscious human with a broken arm.” Gato said with raised eyebrows, as if he couldn’t quite believe it himself.

Alwen blinked and turned down the speed on the treadmill. “Seriously?”

“Yup, and apparently the human was one of theirs. The Captain was expecting some trouble with the SS after they tried to illegally board the ship, but their extremely hostile reaction to a wounded human has made her reassess our approach to things on Unity. They might try and mow us down if we moved in groups larger the four or five.”

Alwen felt her skin crawl as she realized the beautiful heart of the Union might just be as dangerous as the Pirate Capital. It was hard for to imagine police as anything other than the guardians of a community, the people you could always rely on to do the right thing. But that was on Torwen, and she had already seen first hand how Union police treated Deathworlders.

“Well there go my plans.” Alwen muttered.

“Plans?” Gato asked.

“I was hoping you and I could explore the station, but now I’m not so sure.” She muttered.

“This isn’t a vacation Vi, we’re here to recover lost equipment needed to save all life on Earth. We’re in the heart of enemy territory and need to be on guard.” He chastised.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Alwen scowled “I don’t know about you, but everywhere I’ve been has been enemy territory. Femeri, The Confederacy, New Mombasa, even the Astaroth had seemed like a Volspa’s nest when I first joined.”

“Volspa?”

“Poisonous amphibians.” She groused. “Its all been dangerous and unknown, that’s what made it exciting. If I had ever let something like that stop me then I would have never left Torwen, I would have never joined a pirate ship, and never met you.”

His machine finished its cool down cycle, and he came to a stop. There was a predatory glint in his eyes as he leaned over to her machine, a slight bunching in his shoulders signaled him readying for a pounce. “So you like danger.” He purred softly.

A tingle went up her spine “You’re not exactly a kitten.” She cooed back, adjusting the speed on her machine until it came to a stop.

He grinned “You know I’ve missed you these last few weeks, you’ve been too busy with your project.”

Instantly the reminder of her project sapped the lust right out of Alwen. She had been busy with her project, but not to the point where she completely lost herself. She hadn’t been to see Gato in a while because she was avoiding a difficult topic. “Um, about that.”

He felt the change in her mood and that predatory glint in his eyes faded. “Yes.” He said cautiously.

“I need to come clean about something, I haven’t been too busy to come see you, I’ve been avoiding you.”

His eyes looked hurt “avoiding me, did I do something wrong?”

“No!” Alwen said quickly, her face flushing in shame. She knew better than most how often Gato thought he was unworthy of the people in his life, and had probably gotten the wrong idea from her words. “Its not you its me.”

His face fell more “That sounds worse.”

Right, that was a Terran break up line. “Gah, why am I so bad at words. There’s a reason I’m a doctor and not a linguist.” Alwen put her hands to her face. “I’m not breaking up with you, just give me a minute to sort out my words.”

His ears picked back up as relief washed over his face. Gato stood and patiently waited for her to organize her words.

Alwen took in deep breath and let it out. “My cramps have only just stopped.”

“That’s good.” Gato commented, happy she was no longer under attack by her own reproductive organs.

Alwen nodded “Yes. My research is also entering a critical point. The thing is I have only five Torweni subjects to pull from, versus a whole ship of varied Terrans of many species.” She said, hoping he might catch onto to what she was getting at so she didn’t have to say it.

Gato looked uncomfortable, “Yes… and that means?”

Alwen sighed. “It means that I need to keep my five Torweni samples as clean as possible. And I can’t do that if my body is sending out all the wrong hormones.”

He stared at her, puzzling out her meaning, until it dawned on him. “Your saying you can’t have sex anymore.” He said sullenly.

“Not forever” She said hastily. “Just, for a while.”

“Because you need to keep your body at its baseline. How long?” he asked.

“At least until I figure out a good hormone blocker. I like you, but your not worth me wanting to kill myself because my guts are trying to tie themselves in knots.” He perked up, and Alwen almost didn’t say the next part. “Also if my research enters a critical point I’ll have to extend the abstinence.”

“I see.” He said slowly, each syllable drawn out.

Alwen felt her face heat up, and she prepared herself for the thing she had been avoiding. “Look, I understand better than most how horny Terran men can be. So if that’s a deal breaker, I, uh, understand. And I hope we can still be friends.”

He looked up “You think I’d break up with you over a lack of sex? I love you for more than your body and what we do under the covers.” He snapped, a hurt expression on his face.

Alwen felt ashamed. “Well, its, it’s just that’s all you seem to want to do, you know.”

Now it was his turn to look away in shame. “I’m sorry.” He mumbled.

“What are you sorry for?”

“I’m sorry I’m a terrible boyfriend and I made you feel like that’s all I want from you.” he mumbled sullenly. “I’m not good at opening up, I don’t like being idle, and I’m no fun on dates. The bedroom was the one place I felt like I could show you how I feel. I’m good at physical stuff, just not the rest.”

Alwen felt her heart flutter, she stepped off her machine and over to his. She leaned into his side and nuzzled up to his chest. He turned back down and put a muscled arm around her shoulder. “I’m sorry I thought you only wanted me for those reasons. I know how you feel and you don’t need to prove anything to me. If anything I feel a little helpless, like I can’t make your normal activities exciting like in the bedroom.”

He snorted “Are you serious, you brighten my day just by being near me.” He tightened his grip around her shoulder, and they stood like that for a while.

“Maybe this will be good for us” Alwen said softly, “It seems that we aren’t talking enough and misunderstood each other.”

“Yeah, we definitely we need to talk more, and I want to be better at dates.” He murmured back.

“You’re just fine as you are.”

“No reason I can’t be better.” He rumbled back. “A relationship takes work, and I feel like I’ve been slacking there. Like skipping leg day.”

Alwen laughed and leaned away, “Speaking of which, I’ve spent the last few weeks on my ass, and I’m starting to feel restless. If we’re not going to be meeting up for our late night sessions then you’ll have to find other ways to help me train.” She said cheekily.

He grinned “Oh you’re going to regret saying that.”

“I always do.”