Thanks to Kat (Blackbird-green) for picking the colour of the fruit! :)

*****

"The name of the game, me lads, is Strip Poker!" Iris the card shark announced with glee, shuffling the cards Vagas style. She was grinning from ear to ear, chewing a bread stick like a cigar, a shot of home-brewed plonk on the table in front of her. Knowing Iris, not only would she be wearing several hundred layers (Just In CaseTM), She wouldn't loose a single one.

(I still reckon she cheats!!!)

We were set up in the mess hall, several smaller tables pushed together to make enough space for ten comfortably. Shot glasses and plonk bottles were pooled in various spots over the table, and some of the shipmates were already well into getting plastered.

Harry and I entered to find Iris, Peterson, Georges, Rodgers and some other guys who I can't be bothered mentioning right now, all there. Rodgers was one of those well into his cups.

Harry blinked and looked around with curiosity, following me to a seat opposite Iris. "How do you play?" He asked.

Iris got a wickedly mischievious glint in her eyes as she explained the rules for everyone to hear.

"Oh!" Harry raised his eye brows with wonder. "That sounds like fun!"

I was secretly dismayed at his eagerness, but was also aware that getting naked really didn't bother him. I was even more dismayed however about the way Iris' eyes lit up further and she licked her lips hungrily, all focused at Harry. What the?

"Er, are you sure you want to play?" I whispered. "How about you sit and watch for a while?"

Harry's expression fell like a beaten dog,and I felt like kicking myself. He even pouted. "But," He replied quietly, almost in a whine, "you said that I could play earlier. Remember, when I was sucking your-"

Toes! Toes. He has an amazing tongue, ok? And I have a thing about my toes. But the crew didn't know that because I so quickly covered his mouth with my hands, feeling my cheeks burn. Stupid move. I should have just let him finish. "Not in front of the others!" I hissed. Harry gave me a confused look, but said no more. I released his mouth to the sound of snickers.

"Aw, gwan! Let yer sex slave play." Rodgers slurred loudly, leaning across the table at us. "It's not like ya haven seen idall bifore."

I leaned threateningly across at Rodgers, but Iris' giggles distracted me. "You are such an arse!" She snorted at our slurry shipmate. He crossed his arms and scowled.

"You're just pissed you don't have an Iniri all of you're own to shag." One of the other guys teased.

"That's not nice!" Georges slapped his hand down on the table angrily. "Everyone just shut up and let's play!" Georges' face was also quite flushed, but I think it was more from the plonk than emotion.

"I love the way you think!" Iris grinned at the poor kid, and began to deal the cards.

Harry ended up watching the game from my knee the first few rounds, as expected all of us except Iris loosing an article of clothing each time. I hadn't realised just how much Harry was taking in until I unbuttoned my shirt and was taking it off. Then he growled low in his throat, almost like a dog, and tensed, digging his fingernails into my back and side.

"Woah." I breathed in his ear with surprise and pain. "What's that about."

He turned dangerously narrowed eyes up at me. "You're my mate." He growled, quickly bitting me on the neck where my dog tag chain was, only just not breaking my skin. "You are not to loose!"

All eyes were on us with this display. More crude comments flowed our way. "Uh-"

Then before I could do anything more, he took the cards from my hands and began to play in my stead.

"Hey, is that legal?" Peterson turned to Iris.

She snorted. "I ain't complaining."

She should have. Turns out Harry's a bigger card shark than she is.

I never would have guessed that Iris had paw prints tattooed on her bust. Wonders never cease.

****

After beating the tar out of Iris and everyone else, Harry thanked the near naked (and some what paraletic) people around him for a lovely game, turned to grab a fist full of my (now back on) shirt, and dragged me out of there back towards our room. He yawned widely at our doorway, waiting for me to open it.

I was still grinning with amusement and pride as I ushered him inside and closed the door behind us. Harry tottered bleary-eyed over to the bed, lying down fully clothed. I took off my boots before crawling up beside him to kiss his closed eyes.

"You still awake?" I asked, buzzed and not really ready to sleep. He grunted. I took off some layers of clothes and peeled back the bedding to lie down under. I pulled him close and nuzzled his ear. "How did you like the game?" I asked huskily.

"It was alright." He sighed sleepily. "Pretty easy really."

"Hmm? How so?"

"Just had to... watch the cards..." Then he was gone. I looked at the clock. He had done very well staying awake so long really. It was very late. For him. Early for me, but oh well. I snuggled down and pulled the blankets over us.

Thank God tomorrow was a day off!

***

I woke at some horrible time in the wee hours of the morning to a thunking noise. At first I had not noticed it, it had been incorporated into my dream some how, but when I became aware of it, the noise sent my heart sky rocketing. There was someone in my quarters, banging something against the carpeted floor. A slow banging, almost haunting in nature, that had me lying frozen to the spot all senses stretched towards it.

Then I realised that Harry was not beside me. Images of murdered Iniri floated through my mind. Slowly I reached under my bed to the pistol I hid there and without making a noise to betray me, switched on the lamp and rolled out of the bed into a defensive crouch; pistol pointed in the direction of the sound.

I blinked.

Harry was kneeling in the middle of the floor holding my battery operated clock above his head to bring it down against the carpet.

I put my pistol back and slowly approached him, watching him continued to try and smash the clock a few times.

"Harry?" I asked quietly from his side. He didn't acknowledge me, in fact his eyes were only half open and were empty of awareness. "Are you trying to kill my clock? My father gave that to me." Gently, when the clock was held above his head I snatched it from his fingers. He brought his hands down to his lap and looked at his palms in a dream-like confused way, blinking a few times. Then he whimpered slightly and slowly raised his hands to cover his ears, bringing his head down towards his knees at the same time.

I took the batteries out of the clock and instantly he was relaxed and snoring softly with his face smunched against the carpet and his ass in the air.

I placed the clock on the ground and rolled him onto his side to make it easier to lift him and carry him back to the bed.

I spent the rest of the night with my head to his chest listening to the steady drum of his heart instead of the tick of the clock.

Real tickers are much more comforting.

In the morning Harry was awake before me, kissing and nibbling, stroking me and generally being very affectionate.

"Good morning!" He chirped with a huge smile that I don't usually see while he is on board. "Did you sleep well?"

And I thought I was a morning person. "Fine," I replied. "a bit disturbed."

He frowned slightly. "Why? Bad dream? Not too bad I hope."

I grasped his hand and brought his fingers to my lips to kiss his knuckles. "Just some one trying to kill my favorite clock in the night."

His eyes widened with alarm, and he looked around. "What happened? Were you injured? Where are they?"

I snorted my laughter. "It was you, silly."

"Me?!" He shook his head in denial, almost horror even.

"Yes, you. I think the ticking bothered you so I took out the batteries to turn it off. I take it you slept well?"

Harry slowly nodded, his eyes still wide. "Yes, the best I've had here."

*****

Harry lead me through his forest, tall trees the size of houses on either side of us on the way along the leaf littered pathway, all with ferns and mosses of various levels of size and spikiness springing forth from the bark. Bark, which I might add, more often than not appeared to have flowed from the branches above like honey, or lava. Some of the folds were thick as my body and curled along side each other like strips of bacon. I have never seen anything quite like it Earth side, but then again since the Amazons were declared (whatever) over a hundred years ago, images from there stopped coming. And did I mention the GREEN of this place? It called to my heart just by seeing it. I don't know how to explain the beauty of the colour except that for about half an hour I had to sit on a moss and leaf coated log gathering my breath and rubbing the tingles from my skin. Harry sat patiently beside me, leaning into the tree and looking very comfortable as he gently rubbed my back with one hand.

Beams of light streamed down through the canopy, fading from sight about a meter from the leaf-littered ground, or landing like spotlights upon delicate flowers of a fluroecent blue and pale pink shaped like coiled crescent moons. Creatures that I decided might as well be titled butterflies danced about in the light, some bigger than my hands and vivid green and blue like the Ulysese back Earth side, others tiny and yellow with other colours mixed in. Many more smaller (to various degrees) trees shot up all around us like great straight and oh-so-tall telephone poles. Vines the size of ship ropes hung down all around us, and entwined though out it all were these delicate looking creepers with tiny bell-like white flowers. Above us birds called out in high pinging bell rings and flew around collecting bugs and branches for their nests. It was all very beautiful.

"Where are we going?" I asked as Harry lead me down a track leading off of the one we were on. A smaller one that while still well used, only had one man width to use instead of five. Harry looked coyly back over his shoulder at me.

"You'll see." He said in a quiet way that made my skin tingle. He held my hand as we walked, climbing up small rocky mounds to reach a higher level of ground, or at times down and across small gullies. Gradually I realised I could hear the sound of rushing water, which shocked me because there had been no visuals of open water from above the atmosphere. And then after walking a few more minutes we came to the edge of a small cliff, a piece of land that sloped sharply down to a large round pool of water. On the side of it opposite us I could see the waterfall feeding it from the mountains above, water pouring down the rocks above in what could have been trickles, or even between the rocks, then all converging together at an overhang to form the waterfall about two meters above the pool's surface. To the left of where we stood I could see the water overflowing rocks to continue down the mountainside over and around the roots of trees visual under the water. Over head the canopy of the trees hid the water from the sky, letting shafts of gold flow through to reflect about. The pool it's self was clear, rocks and sand at the bottom where there were not roots. Birds made their bell songs and some dived from the canopy to plunge in and speed out. The pool it's self didn't look too deep, but then again...

Harry walked ahead of me, smiling back in invitation, and climbed down mossy roots, peeling off his shirt as he did so. I chuckled and followed suit, watching as Harry walked naked into the water up to his hips, then swan dived, kicking his legs gracefully to slide through the water like a fish or a mermaid out deeper. He surfaced, arching his spine, and ran his hands through his hair to keep it dangling down his back, out of his face, then turned back to smile at me. I jumped into the cold after him, causing him to squwark and splutter with all the splashes and waves I made, giggling as I dog-paddled over to him. I flicked my hair about, splashing him again, and grinned as he swam away from me, daring me to catch him. So I chased him around the pool, the both of us giggling and splashing like children, until I managed to snag hold of his arm and wrap my arm around his middle, pressing myself against his backside. Harry moaned softly and melted back into my arms, turning in the water to wrap his arms around my neck to pull my head down for a hungry kiss. A kiss that grew deeper and hungrier for the both of us, and I swam us to the edge of the pool next to the waterfall until out feet touched ground and his back touched the rock beside it. We broke apart, and we were both panting with desire, the coolness of the water not at all effecting either of our arousals. He turned with out a word, just a coy smile and raised his hands to the moist rock at his head level, tilting his hips back so that the water broke about the curves of his backside. He spread his legs, revealing all to me and blinked back over his shoulder, pressing his chest to the rock.

As soon as I entered him I knew the difference. He moaned long, but full of pleasure as I held still and whispered "Are you sure?" into his ear.

"Yessss..." He hissed, and pushed back onto me further, gasping and shuddering all over. "More," He gasped, tilting his head back so I could suck and nip at his neck and ears. "It feels... so good..." His words desperately aroused me now that I knew he was not at all in pain, and I pulled him back with my hands gripping his hip bones and pressed myself against his body, letting our rhythms merge.

Harry always had made wonderful noises, but now they were even better, more desperate, more pleasured than before. His voice alone made me hot as hell, and pushed me harder, faster. My pleasure sang in my ears along with the sounds of wet flesh smacking wet flesh, then I erupted inside him and Harry threw his head back and screamed, entire body convulsing around me, sucking more pleasure from my body, and making my knees weak.

Gasping, I pressed my forehead against his shoulder, clinging to him, hearing/feeling his heart speeding in his chest, while he stood sprawled against the rock wall like a squished animal. Slowly we pulled apart from each other, and he turned shyly towards me. His cheeks were splashed with that red, and I felt giddy with happiness. I grinned, swooped down, capturing him in my arms, and swung him around in circles a few times splashing water every where and kissing him over and over while he giggled. I pressed my forehead against his and whispered "I love you."

Harry pulled back to look up at me, his own eyes shining bright as his smile. Then he flung himself against me hard enough to knock me off balance in the water and squeezed me tight around my middle. He rubbed his face against my chest and shoulder like a Very affectionate cat, babbling happily in his language and laughing as I almost submerged both of us before I got my feet under me again. I swam backwards with him holding me until I reached the side of the pool that we had entered from. I was starting to feel chilled, and there was a lovely flat boulder there that the canopy was open over letting the sun heat it up. Harry let go of me and climbed up on it, then helped me up. I lay back against the hot rock, hissing slightly at the temperature while he sat at the edge wringing his hair out back into the pool. I lay with one arm cushioning my head, the other gently stroking patterns on the small of his back while he did so. I knew I was grinning like an idiot, but I didn't care. It didn't bother me that just days ago the idea of a child between us almost grossed me out, now I was excited about it.

"How long?" I whispered. Harry looked back over his shoulder and down at me, one eye brow raised in question. "How long does it take... Uh, until your babies are born?" Did that sound really corny? I didn't really know how else to ask.

Harry looked slightly puzzled, then shrugged, smiling. "I don't know." I blinked with shock. " A while, I guess. Why?"

"Just curious." I said. "Why don't you know?" I hoped he had more of an explanation than "I'm too young/inexperienced to know these things".

Harry shrugged again. "Every one is different. It's usually within..." His eyes looked up as he mentally calculated. "A year. Human. But sometimes it can be longer, sometimes less. It just depends."

"Ah. Okay." We sat quietly like that for a few minutes, me stroking his back, him sitting with his hair slung around to his front, just listening to the birds and the waterfall. I almost drifted to sleep, when my stomach gurgled loudly letting us know I was hungry. I opened my eyes to find Harry leaning over me looking very amused.

"What." I blushed.

"Wait here." He ran his fingers through my hair, head butted me gently, then looked up and around at the tree tops. Finding what he was looking for, he scampered past me and up a tree with the ease of a monkey, is naked body Very nice to watch. Within a few minutes he was almost out of my sight amongst the tree tops.

"Catch!" He called out, and I just blinked stupidly as a purple something about the size of my fist sailed down through the air. I flinched as I reached up to catch it and didn't quite have the timing right so that it exploded against my out-stretched hand in a mess of sticky jelly-like mess. Harry cackled loudly with belly-clutching enthusiasm. I stuck my tongue out at him and shook the stuff from my hand with a grimace. In the warm sun the juices were thick like honey. I bent to wash it off in the water.

"Sorry," Harry was beside me so suddenly and so silently that I almost jumped back into the pool from shock, which also made him laugh. "You're so funny!" He announced, beaming at me, and held out a couple of those honey-bombs to me like an offering. "I should have remembered you don't know how to catch these. It takes a special kind of practice." I took one from his hand, and he plunked down beside me and took a large bite out of his like one would and apple. Juices and mush escaped onto his lips and hand, before he licked it all off and began to suck the innerds directly from the fruit. He paused when he saw I was just watching him. He licked more juice from his lips and blinked at me. "Why aren't you eating?"

I felt silly now. "Uh, I don't know how it will taste."

Harry snorted like that was the stupidest thing to say in the whole world. "I already told you that nothing tastes bad here. Don't you believe me?"

"It's not that..." But seeing the downcast expression he then wore I fumbled to save face. "I just... like to watch you eat." I decided. That perked him up again, then after that I took a deep breath and bit in like he had.

I expected them to be sour like lemons or some such, but they were... sweet, delicious. I sucked the guts from mine faster than Harry did his, and was surprised to find myself satisfied and full.

Then I slowly realised that I was feeling rather dizzy. Harry was saying my name, asking if I was okay, but he sounded like he was far away and echoing all around, and mixed in with voices of hundreds of people, all talking at different distances and levels of loudness. I pressed my hand against my head trying to shake the dizziness off and failing. Harry pressed his forehead to mine sounding panicked as he called my name. But I could have been wrong because it was about then that everything faded to gray.

to be continued....