This is my first attempt at anything like this so I hope it is not too terrible. There is a fair bit of backstory before you get to the action but it is there. I have an idea for a whole series so please let me know if you like this and want more.
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After two years of extensive and detailed training Wing Commander Charlotte "Firebird" Cartwright was coming to the end of her basic training at the ESA astronaut training center in Cologne, Germany. She had been in the top percentiles during training across the board and had been top of her class in the "Human Physiology" and "Biology" modules. Having graduated from basic training she would now move into advanced training.
The graduating ceremony was an event of much pomp and ceremony not something that Charlotte bought into much. Like the majority of modern astronauts she had not pursued a career in space exploration for the glamour and fame, she had devoted herself to it for the chance of adventure and the opportunity to discover things previously unknown and to better study things poorly understood. So despite not being entirely engaged by the graduation itself she was incredibly pleased and excited to have completed phase one of her training.
That night her entire graduating class had a party planned at their regular watering hole. This she was excited for as it was a celebration of their achievement for themselves and not a public spectacle for dignitaries and program managers. It was also a rare, in their highly scheduled and monitored lives, and welcome opportunity to let off steam.
She was also excited, in no small part, due to the fact that she would be spending the night in her boyfriend, Dominic 's, company. They had not seen each other in over three months due to the intense work leading up to her final evaluations and his most recent deployment. He like she was from a military background, they had met at a mutual friend's wedding which on the grooms side had consisted, unsurprisingly considering his family's military heritage, largely of members of the armed forces.
She spotted him in the audience at the ceremony sat next to her parents and her two siblings, all waving furiously with huge grins on their faces. She nearly burst into giggles at the sight of them but managed to keep her composure to a smile.
After about an hour and half of handshakes and exchanges of official pieces of overly embellished pieces of parchment, which struck Charlotte as one a completely unrepresentative document lacking almost completely in any data on their strengths and weaknesses; secondly as an extraordinarily fragile object to convey such importance on; and thirdly obsolete in a digital age where it could be stored attached to all the data which it represented, backed up, secure and easily retrievable.
After the graduation Charlotte congratulated all her friends and classmates with a lot of hugs and plenty of jokes about various anecdotes from their two years in each others company. From there she quickly shot back to her living quarters and changed out of her official genwric all in one flightsuit. Into one of her favourite dresses which she happened to know was also a particular favourite of Dominic's.
From there she met up with her family and Dominic and went on to a local restaurant where they all told stories of the various adventures they had enjoyed since they had last seen each other and ate great food with some wonderful local wine. One of the reasons Charlotte loved her family and Dom so much was that, like her, they did not really subscribe to over celebration. After all the initial hugs and "We are so proud of you"s the whole occasion became about being together catching up and just generally relaxing and having fun. Charlotte caught herself, more than once during the meal, just sitting back and grinning feeling incredibly content, happy and lucky to be surrounded by her favourite people again.
After a couple of courses Charlotte felt a slight pang growing in her lower stomach and popped off to go to the loo. After relieving herself and make sure nothing was dramatically out of place in the mirror she headed back to the table. As she emerged from the door and turned right she felt a familiar hand slip into her left and pull her in the opposite direction spinning her straight into Dom's arms.
After the initial shock she relaxed and grinned as she draped her arms around his neck and joined the embrace to be met by the most delicious and delicate kiss, this quickly escalated into something more urgent as the passion of their protracted separation began to surface. Soon their tongues were engaged in a gentle dance that mirrored that of their hands as they explored each other re-familiarising themselves with their opposite's anatomy.
As she began to push herself against him he responded by curling his fingers slightly pushing them into the small of her back and pulling her more firmly against him. This was too much for her and she reluctantly slid her arms up between their chests with her palms following the contours of his body and gently pushed him away lingering in the last soft moments of their kiss.
"Careful Dom," she murmured in his ear as she pulled him back into a hug, "you know what happens when you do that and I haven't got anything on under this dress and I'd rather not have a wet patch on the back when we meet up with the guys later" she said cheekily.
"Telling me that now is just mean." Dom protested smiling and gently releasing her, "Although stopping is probably a good idea. I'm glad I haven't been to the loo yet I'm going to need a minute."
They both had a good laugh as they could feel the throbbing between their navels.
"Just you wait 'til later." she said teasing.
Dom turned, grinning, to make his way into the men's and Charlotte headed back to the table, to rejoin her family. Charlotte and her sister, Beatrice known to all as 'Bea', were soon deep in conversation about what science they had been taught and what methods they were trained in during phase one astronaut preparations.
Dom on the other side of the table was having a good conversation with Charlotte's parents, Fred and Tilly, and her brother Johnny. They were all passionately putting across their differing points of view on the politics and budgeting of the military whilst constantly making playful jibes at one another about the fact they were all committing the ultimate social 'faux pas' of having a debate about both politics and money at the same time.
All the while Dom and Charlotte both kept throwing each other glances across the table. Neither of them able to keep their mind off their unfinished meeting earlier. Fred and Tilly had driven a long way from England the day before and we're starting to feel it catching up with them as the evening drew in so they made their excuses and headed back to their hotel. Both of them had been drinking at the meal so they called a taxi left the car for Johnny to drive himself and Bea later as he had drawn the short straw ending up the driver for the evening.
After they had left the four of them stayed for a while and did more catching up Johnny telling everyone about his most recent wildlife filming trip in Honduras and the trouble they had narrowly avoided with all the civil unrest there. Bea bought them all up to date with her latest research and got massively over excited and nerdy about the whole thing which made them all crack up with laughter, much to her bemusement. All the while Dom batted away questions about which dictator he had been involved in conflict with recently and which drones he had watching Charlotte during training. All of these sliding off him without the slightest change in his composure apart from the occasional wink to elicit a laugh and show he was still game for the onslaught.
As night approached Dom and Charlotte realised it was time to leave. Not wanting to part with her siblings just yet, having not been able to spend much time with them since Christmas and seeing as they were all getting on like the proverbial house. She invited them along.
"Why don't you two reprobates come to the bar with us?" Charlotte jested, "I'd love you to come and the more the merrier."
Not needing much persuading Johnny and Bea agreed but said they would need to head back to the hotel first as they had both left their wallets in the room.
"That's fine we'll meet you there then. I'll text you the address in the car Bea" she called to her sister as they crossed the car park to Dom's car. He too had abstained up until now as he had driven over from Bielefeld, where he was stationed, that morning. He would be letting his hair down at the bar though and would pick his car up in the morning. They all climbed into their cars and Johnny and Bea headed off to the hotel.
Dom and Charlotte hung around for a second to share another kiss which by now they were both longing for. After a minute or two they pulled apart, both of them beaming at the other .
"I missed you." Dom whispered
"You've no idea..." Charlotte muttered as she grabbed him in a tight embrace. "...I love you Dom."
"And I love you Lotty." he said teasing, Charlotte did not like being called Lotty by people and often protested when Dom called her it. If she was honest though she actually really enjoyed it when Dom called her Lotty, it was something that she would only let him do, something that was theirs and made her feel that pang you get in your chest and gave her butterflies that you get when something reminds you of why you love someone. She would never openly admit enjoying it to Dom though, although she was fairly sure he had figured it out already. So on this occasion she let it pass and just kept holding Dom close to her.
"We should get going." Dom said gently prying himself loose.
"If you insist." Charlotte protested.
