MIDNIGHT ON THE NEGOTIATION LINE - PART 5 By Sunraven After they finally escaped the Shai-Alyt's quarters and his wickedly twinkling blue eyes, they both were sure they heard him laughing loudly as the door shut. Neroon set the pace as they walked quickly back to the Human side of the compound. "The Shai-Alyt will never respect me again, after this! How could you forget that, that...item of clothing! I don't even know what it is, for Valen's sake. My career is ruined! I might as well resign my Alyt rank now, before I leave for the Ingata. It is all your fault! The man who is as a father to me will have nothing but contempt for me after this!" Finally, Terra, though she tried desperately, could take no more. She broke into helpless peels of laughter so strong that she had to stop and lean against the building for support, grasping the offending garment she still held tightly in her hand to her chest. Neroon moved in close to her, glaring as only a warrior caste Minbari could glare. "What is so amusing?" He asked through clenched teeth. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to..." Then broke down again. Finally, as people were starting to stare at her, she struggled and got herself under control. "Come on, let's get to my quarters, before I start up again." After the door to her suite shut, he turned on her and said crossly, "Now will you tell me why my disgrace is so amusing to you?" She looked at the annoyed warrior, biting her lip so as not to start cracking up again. "I apologize, Neroon. It was just what you said. It is so like a Human joke about what a woman says to a man regarding respect on the morning after she makes love to him." "I do not need to remind you again Terra, that I am not Human, do I?" The teeth were starting to clench again. It was a wonder the man didn't wear his molars down to nubs. She put her hand up to the stiff jaw, and stroked it lightly. "After your performance tonight, love, I am perfectly aware that you are definitely not Human. I'm sorry, Neroon, I shouldn't have laughed like that. You were understandably upset. Being caught by your superior with a woman in your room and a bra hanging from your shoulder board can't have been very pleasant. At least he isn't my superior, thank Valen. But you were incorrect about him not respecting you." "What are you going on about? You heard his laughter as we left!" "Well, the situation was amusing, if you weren't us. But what I sensed from him was amusement and some relief, which was probably because he had been worried about you. In fact, before he went and got you, he had me pretty scared. He said he wished that I was on the list of his dead enemies because of what I did to you." "The Shai-Alyt threatened violence to you?" "Yep, he sure did. If I hadn't been so determined to see you, I would have been frightened silly. Anyway, I also sensed some emotions when he caught us that makes me think that he might have been caught in a similar situation some time during his past, and I don't think it was when he was a priest. I think that was where the amusement came from, well, at least some of it. You did look pretty funny with my bra hanging off of you." He glared at her again. "How could you forget to put on that...piece of clothing?" "Because I only put on what you threw at me. Our clothes were pretty tangled up, you know. We didn't take the time to lay them neatly out in case of roving Shai-Alyts." "Well, then I supposed it wasn't all your fault." He grudgingly admitted. That's real nice of you, you black-suited gorilla. Though you are a really cute gorilla, she thought charitably. "So are you still mad at me?" "Yes!" He growled She stood up on her toes and kissed him on the lips, a warm lingering kiss. She could feel his anger and tension starting to melt away like snow in the sun. Then she asked again, "Still?" "Yes." Another kiss and they were in the bedroom going through it all again. He was definitely not mad at her anymore. And she was definitely going to bring a pillow to sit on tomorrow. "Neroon?" "Yes, Terra?" "Can you spend the night? Since it might be forever till I see you again." "I should probably ask the Shai-Alyt. I am still his aide, despite what you caused today." She responded by slapping him on his bare leg, "Well, go call him and ask, then. Also, tell him that I need you to be at the morning negotiation session as well. Tell him to leave the other flunky home until the afternoon session." "Flunky? Chakur a flunky? He is a very competent lower officer. You are completely outrageous, do you know that?" "Absolutely. That's half the fun in life." "And the other half?" She leaned over and started kissing his face lightly, running her tongue along the sensitive spots around the headbone. "I could think of lots of answers to that." She murmured. He grabbed her, rolled her over and pinned her arms down. "Are all female Humans this wild?" "I wouldn't know, not ever having been with any. Why? Do you want to find out?" He answered her in the only safe way a male could answer a question like that. "Honor, Shai-Alyt." "Neroon. You must have walked over about half the planet by now in your trip back from the Doctor's quarters." The wicked gleam was back, visible even through the vid screen. "Well, not exactly, Shai-Alyt. I got ...sidetracked." "Oh, I see. More discussions with the fascinating Dr. McClare?" "Yes, sir." He was maintaining his sense of dignity well in the face of the teasing. "She has requested that I stay the night, sir. Since I am leaving for the Ingata tomorrow. Also she asked me to relay her, uh, request to you that I accompany you to the negotiations tomorrow morning before I leave. She feels it is important to the peace talks." "That would be rude to Chakur, Neroon, and the Doctor knows us well enough to know that. Though after his behavior today, he could do with a little chastisement." "Yes, she knows that it is rude. You do not even want to know what she called him, Shai-Alyt." "What?" "She called him a 'flunky', and she said to leave him at home in the morning. As though he was some sort of decorative pet! She did say that it was important that I be there, though she didn't tell me why." Branmer couldn't help it; he started laughing again at Terra's impertinence. "She is outrageous, Neroon. If anyone else acted this way, I would have killed them by now. It is unbelievable. First she almost casually breaks the heart of the best aide I have ever had, then she mends it again under rather untraditional circumstances, embarrasses you and herself, not to mention me, then makes demands against protocol while calling my replacement aide a flunky." He shook his head. "You have my respect, my son, for having the courage to get close to that one. I would be afraid that I would kill her one way or another." Neroon felt warmed by the caring he heard in the voice of the old Warrior. "Why do you think I am leaving tomorrow? She has the heart of a Star Rider, the spirit of a Human, the persuasive powers of a Centauri, and the ability to annoy me that rivals even Satai Delenn. However, I am afraid it is way too late for my heart. Again, I didn't even see the blow coming, let alone being able to fight it." "Blows to the heart are usually like that, son, and all we males can hope to do is to surrender quickly and hope to set fair peace terms. All right, as a gift to you, I will do as she asks. But you had better warn her that she had better stay away from Chakur after you are gone, or she will risk my severe displeasure! She can find another escort if she wants to go on another of these 'picnics'. Losing one aide until these cursed talks are over is bad enough. I will not have her tormenting another. Meet me at the meeting room in the morning. Oh, and Neroon," "Yes, Shai-Alyt?" "Leave the extraneous uniform decorations behind, please." Terra woke up early, in fact she really hadn't slept much in the first place. Neroon wasn't used to a human-style bed, and he kept tossing and turning. When a Warrior Caste tossed and turned in your bed, you had better stay outside of socking range or risk serious injury. After the second kick to her shin, she decided to go take a hot soak in the tub. Once that was done, she came back in and sat in a padded chair where she could watch him. He was having some bad dream, by the angry look on his face. Suddenly the anger drained out, and a little smile came to his lips. He now looked as though he was about 10 cycles old. Her heart went even more under the water as she watched him. Finally she fell asleep curled up in the chair. She woke up to see him standing over her, half dressed to leave. "Why aren't you in bed? When I awoke, I thought for a minute that you were performing the True Face ritual." She really had to find out what the True Face ritual was. "I was thinking about what I'm going to do in the peace talks this morning," she lied, "I guess I fell asleep in the chair." "You really think it is important that I am there?" "Yes. I am going to present something to the group, and I wish to give it to you as a gift as well. When does your shuttle leave?" "1300 ETS." "Would you mind if I said goodbye to you at the shuttle port then? We'll be on our lunch break." He looked at her. "I am not very good at goodbyes, Terra. I think you will be disappointed with me if you do." "Your goodbye last night wasn't so bad. But I would like to see you off, even so." He smiled down at her, reaching out to stroke her hair. "When have I ever been able to say no to you?" "About fifty times every day, you insufferable warrior caste! Come here and kiss me." He did that, and reluctantly broke away to finish dressing. She went in to shower just as he left because she didn't want him to see the tears starting to fall. Part 6, the negotiations have a breakthrough