Chapter Text
“You didn’t have to come to Bajor with me.” Out of uniform, Nerys relaxes in a way you aren’t entirely familiar with. The tension she always seems to hold in her shoulders, in her back, in her jaw, dissolves away. You noticed it on the runabout earlier, but it’s even more obvious to you now, on the surface of the planet. The air is fresh, carries a sweet scent that you can’t place, and you flash her a warm smile.
“I needed some time off,” you respond. “The station just gets so stuffy sometimes! And Bajor is beautiful, I’ll take any chance I get to come down here.” She smiles, and you’re every bit as smitten with her as you were an hour ago, which is a point in the column of consistency. You follow her down a wooded path, matted grass soft under your bare feet, shoes, abandoned awhile back, tucked in your bag. You’re glad she suggested landing the runabout a ways off from the cottage you were going to be staying in, it’s beautiful out.
You round a bend eventually, the cottage comes into view, and you think it’s every bit as beautiful as you pictured it. It’s a stout, dark, wooden building sat comfortably in a clearing on the edge of a stream, second floor balcony overlooking the trickling water. The door looks like it’s just tall enough for you to get inside without having to crouch, and you’d guess just by looking at it that the ceiling’s going to be a little closer to the top of your head than you’re used to, but you can live with that. You’re a Trill, after all, and this place was built by and for Bajorans. You catch thick, cream coloured drapes blocking out the windows, admire the domed roof briefly. You wonder if it’s going to be as charming on the inside as it is on the outside.
“Oh, Nerys, I love it!” you exclaim, and a little voice in your head that isn’t you, isn’t Jadzia, says that it’s downright romantic. You agree, frankly, so you tell Nerys. Her whole face goes red and she giggles, awkward and shy and adorable.
“Yeah, I guess it is,” she agrees, heads towards the door. “Come on, do you want to see inside?” You absolutely do. You hurry after her, grinning ear to ear. She took you on a romantic getaway, didn’t she. Awww, jeez. You think it’s time to step up your flirting game, you think it’s time to make it glaringly obvious that you’re down, if she is. You think it’s cute that she’s being so obvious.
She unlocks the door, little number lock touchpad above the handle beeping at you as she taps it. The door frame is just tall enough that you don’t have to duck, but short enough that you do anyway. The inside, you find, is just as beautiful as you thought it was going to be. You flit about the main room, bag still slung over your shoulder, admiring the wooden furniture and the rustic feel of it. You tell her you love it and she smiles, sort of trails after you as you explore. The couch is going to be comfortable, you can already tell, plush cushions under a soft, knitted blanket. You admire the table in the kitchen, and the chairs, and the counters, and then you admire the metal stove, and the stairs to the second floor, and the paintings and photos hung on the walls.
“It’s all hand-made,” she tells you, sounding a little shy. “My friend put a lot of love into this place, but he’s a bit too old to get out here too often now.”
“Nerys,” you start, ducking as you begin to climb the stairs so as not to knock your head on the ceiling, “it’s beautiful, I can’t believe this is where we’re staying! And for a whole week! You didn’t tell me it looked like this!”
Her face flushes again and she grins, wrinkles her nose and rubs the back of her neck as she trails after you. She’s going to kill you, she’s so cute. “I sort of wanted it to be a surprise.”
“Consider me surprised, then, I love it!” you exclaim as you make your way to the second floor landing. The bathroom is up here, you notice as you start to poke your head into the couple of doors. It’s cute, for a bathroom. You poke your head into another door, find a small bedroom, taken up mostly by a large, extremely soft looking bed, a large painting hung above the top of it depicting what you’re fairly certain is the capital of Dahkur province. It’s cute too, but you know enough about homes to know this isn’t the master bedroom, and your ultimate goal in the week you have here, is to get into her bed, whether that’s just to cuddle or for… well, you’d rather not get ahead of yourself. You’d happily settle with cuddling. You poke your head in the last door, pleased to find that this is, indeed, the location of the master bedroom. It’s bigger, more spacious, a couple chairs and a little table in the corner, a bookshelf against the wall, photo of a garden hung above the bed. And, of course, the doors to the balcony. You shut the door, put your hands on your hips, and turn back to Nerys with a mischievous grin on your face.
“Two bedrooms, huh,” you start, “and that one’s so much nicer than the other one! I just don’t think it’d be fair for one of us to have to sleep in the smaller one.” Her face goes bright red, again, and she looks a little startled. “We’ll just have to share.” You think she almost had a heart attack. She starts to stutter a response, and you break into a fit of giggles. “I’m just teasing you, Nerys, I’ll take the other one, you can have this one. I’m coming in for that balcony though, you’ve got to share that.” You begin to make a plan to kiss her on the balcony. You refuse to go back to the station without some juicy gossip and a workplace romance, frankly, that would just be poor planning. And you’re very sure she’s as smitten with you as you are with her, if her reactions mean anything at all.
“A-Alright, that works,” she manages to get out, and you smile at her, brush past to dump your bag in the other room. She sets her things in her room, which you’re very determined to make your room before the end of the week, and you meet her back in the middle of the hall.
“So,” you start, “lunch?”