Written in the Stars

~ An excerpt from Nathan's novel "The Mars Accords" ~

The First Wing was alive and accounted for. They were all on board a ship that was a flying city, but they were alive. It wasn't the usual treatment that Taggert had anticipated when his ship was captured, but living in what could be called a building with the rest of his Wing wasn't as terrible as he imagined.

There was no mistaking that they were still prisoners of war; the guards out front, the permanent escort wherever they were taken. It was all a sign that the Queen, as he came to know her, was holding them while discussions were going on with Earth about their release and the failure that was their First Contact mission.

He had been in contact with his superiors not long after being taken on board the Queen's ship. They were after information that he simply didn't have given his limited access. It was also dawning on him that Earth saw the battle in a different light than he did.

Every ship was undamaged. Every drone was stored with its parent ship. Every pilot reported the same thing: loss of power due to the Visitors' weapons. They weren't out to kill anyone; the First Wing was just in the way.

In the time since the arrival, the Visitors had landed on an uninhabited island in the Pacific to establish communication with the nations of the world. Even more City Ships, as humanity was calling them, had arrived with their own transport fleets. None of them had opened fire on the planet. Their message was simple: they didn't wish for conflict, but would not shy from it either.

The Queen seemed to take an interest in the Wing for they could provide a window into humanity that she did not have prior to arriving. Being the commander, he spent many a dinner or afternoon in conversation with the Queen, thanks to an implant they had provided to him. Being around her, it was clear that she was troubled about something, but would deflect every time he probed. Taggert was no diplomat, but he was honest and she seemed to appreciate that.

One evening, about a month after First Contact, Taggert was brought to the Queen's chambers late at night. They didn't use the same route as before, sticking to maintenance passageways rather than the main corridors. Finally, Taggert found himself in an opulent room that he hadn't seen before. The soldiers left him alone for the first time before the Queen swept into the room, dressed in a simple gown rather than her usual regal wardrobe.

In that moment, the physical differences between human and Visitor were forgotten. She looked tired and worried in ways that he hadn't seen before. She had to be adroit at wearing many masks as leader for her people in Taggert's mind. She stood before him, looking into his eyes. The Visitor language sounded like a cross between cat purring and snake hissing, but it came out as clear English in his ear.

"You have to convince them. You have to get them to work with us or two species are doomed."

~ Chapter 8 ~

It had been a while since Vanessa and I started sleeping together. She was busy during the day at work, but she spent every night close by my side. While we were still exploring new aspects of our lives together, it felt like we had been a couple all along. We didn't need the awkward "getting to know you" phase or learn about each other's families. We already were family in many respects.

One thing that we did well was entertain each other. We were so busy wrapped up in our own world that we let things go. I didn't mind, but Vanessa urged me to consider the other relationships we had to nurture. Case in point, we still hadn't gotten around to having a get together with our old friends since I moved back. I knew she was right, but didn't feel like it while my book was still unfinished. Vanessa got creative with her "bribery" and talked me into it during one passionate morning in the shower. A dinner and hang with our old friends for my twenty-sixth birthday wasn't such a bad idea in the moment, so I finally agreed before pinning her to the wall to finish.

Vanessa went out shopping on the day of the dinner while I worked on the revision of one of my chapters. I knew Vanessa was back when I heard the intercom buzz. Since she had her own pass and keys, I figured she must be loaded down with armfuls of bags and couldn't reach them.

I popped the door open after I buzzed Nessa into the building and went back to my computer. I wasn't quite happy with how I was ending the chapter yet despite spinning my wheels for the last twenty minutes on it. If I didn't figure it out before dinner, it would niggle at me all night.

In the other room, I heard Vanessa burst through the door and kick it closed.

"Sounds like you have your hands full. It's just dinner with Angela, Mike and the gang... nothing major, right?" I called out to her as I heard about fifty bags hit the floor. Something a bit more delicate was placed on the kitchen counter by the sound of it.

Vanessa's footsteps came up the hall outside the room as she spoke. "Nah, nothing major. Just felt like blowing three weeks of pay in one day. You know, sales and all," she said as she let out a breath and leaned against the door to the little study alcove.

I looked over and smiled. It was these small moments that made me wish that I didn't have my own place upstairs waiting for me to move in. It didn't hurt that I had a sexy roommate for once; even harried, Vanessa lit up any room.

"When do we have to leave?" I asked her as I looked back at the text on the screen.

I heard Vanessa rummaging in her bra, pulling out her phone to check the time. I shook my head at how she could use those as an auxiliary purse in a pinch. Then again, her bust was generous, so it wasn't all bad. Finding what she was after, she slipped it back in.

"We still have an hour or so. I was thinking of taking a quick shower," she said.

I nodded.

"Okay. I'm gonna work on this a bit more in the meantime..." I glanced at her. I looked back to the line that had me stuck and remembered all the times Vanessa had helped me revise. Maybe I needed her eyes again. "Can you come look at the wording on this sentence first? I want to say it's right, but something about it feels off. I really want it to land as this is the sentence that closes out an important chapter."

Vanessa smiled fondly at me and nodded before walking over. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders as she read the text over your shoulder. I could tell that she was reading the sentence over a few times. Then, as she had so many times before, I saw the Eureka moment in her eyes.

"Ah, got it!" She said, leaning forward to point at the screen. "Get rid of the 'and'. Start a new sentence from the word after it," she suggested, giving me a kiss before standing up.

I can't help but facepalm when I see where she pointed. "Of course. Those clauses weren't related... thank you..." I groaned as I edited the sentence. I paused to kiss her back before she slipped away.

"Right, shower time... Oh, and before we go, I got you a new shirt to wear for tonight," Vanessa said before she bounced back off to use the shower.

I groaned at the thought of a new shirt that she got without my input.

"Aw come on, what's wrong with my old shirts?" I asked as I reread the final few paragraphs in the chapter.

"Nothing, I just saw this one and thought it would be nice for tonight. You don't have to wear it... but I'm dressing up, I thought you might want to as well," she called back before disappearing into the bathroom. The water started running moments after she shut the door.

At the mention of dressing up, my eyebrows raised. It had been a good few weeks since I saw Vanessa really dolled up. I didn't waste much time saving the document before walking out to the bags. I spotted the bag from the store at which Vanessa wanted me to shop at. Buying the shirt for me had to be the only way to convince me so I picked it up and retrieved the shirt from inside.

I held it up by the shoulders and had to admit that Vanessa had good taste. When she was right, she was very right... it was a very nice shirt. Black and well cut, with razor-thin white pinstripes and a great-shaped collar. Laying it over my arm, I took it into the bedroom and looked around in my closet for a pair of pants to go with it. Nothing seemed to be a very good fit in terms of style or color at first glance. Ultimately, the only pants I found to match were paired with my suit. I frowned slightly as I looked at it and the shirt.

So many times for family functions, holidays, and more formal social events, Vanessa professed her preference of seeing me in a suit. She said that she knew it would make my Mum feel better to see me dressed like an adult, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it was for Vanessa's own benefit as much as Mum's. So, I pulled my suit out of the back of the closet, checking to see if Vanessa was still busy in the shower.

I didn't hear the sounds of her washing her hair, which is usually the last step of a Vanessa shower. Figuring I was in the clear, I started to get dressed. I was about to pull the jacket on when I heard her calling out to me through the door.

"I left my bags out there! Can you please bring them? There is the black paper one with gold handles and the pink plastic one! No peeking!" She called out, I heard the unmistakable zing of the shower curtain being pulled open.

"Okay!" I called back, walking back out to the living room. Sure enough, all her bags were still there. I spied to two bags that stood out against the paper brown or white bags, and found that the black bag was from the new lingerie store that had opened in the mall. I bit my lip, fighting the urge to peek inside. Luckily, it was not a far walk as I set them on the bed. "It's all there, I'm going to step out while you change. I can't rob you of your big reveal," I called back through the door.

"Ok... but I want a kiss first," Vanessa said. I could hear her walk over to the door and crack it open. She leaned out, a sassy smirk on her face as she wrapped around the door, completely naked. I swallowed hard as I watched a stray droplet of water run down her neck and between her glistening breasts. I could see in her eyes the moment she realized what I was wearing. It appeared I was right about her real reason for constantly recommending I wear a suit.

"Just a kiss?" I asked, teasing her desire a little.

"We'll see..." she whispered back, curling a finger at me to draw me over.

I smiled as I stepped closer. Reaching out to take hold of the doorknob for support, I leaned forward to kiss Vanessa. My free hand settled on her hip to bring her close; her skin felt so soft and warm from the shower. As our lips met. I could even smell her body wash, the scent making my skin tingle.

Vanessa couldn't suppress a moan as she leaned into the kiss. It happened a lot for us these days; we had a real problem letting our kisses go on for a little longer than anticipated. When she pulled back, she cracked the door open a bit more. I took the hint and stepped back as she walked past and picked up the bags.

"Thanks Nate... " She said, pecking my lips on the return trip. She walked back into the steamy bathroom and shut the door again. I stepped away, letting her continue to get ready. Having seen where she shopped, I was more excited now to see what she had gotten for our night out with old friends. Since I had some time to kill again, I texted the group, verifying that everyone was still on for tonight.

Twenty minutes later and I was pacing in the living room, thumbing texts to the conversation I had inadvertently started. I checked the time and saw how close we were cutting it. Just as I was starting to worry, Vanessa finally stepped out. When she did, her chocolate curls had been tamed and were hanging, unbound, over her back and shoulders. She had put a few pins in behind her hair to add some shape to the overall look. She was checking that everything was holding when our eyes met and she smiled over at me.

"Hair up or down?" she asked, gently bundling up her curls and holding them in a loose bun so I could get an idea of both options.

To be honest, I hadn't heard her question at all. Her dress caught my eye in ways nothing she had worn before had. She didn't show off her curves very often, but the subtle teal v-neck of her dress displayed a hint of cleavage and the cinched in waist showed off her sexy hourglass shape. The dress was tight enough to hug her curves in all the best ways. It was a moment before I finally said something in response.

"Uhhh... down... I love your hair down..." I stammered, losing my cool for a moment. It had been months since we started sleeping together, and I had known her for my entire life, but Vanessa could still surprise me. I took a long slow breath and walked slowly over to her. My arms fit into the concave curves of her waist as I drew her close. "You are too good to me..." I whispered, kissing her softly. After all the time she spent getting ready, I didn't want to muss her lipstick.

I could feel her smiling in the kiss as her hands slipped over my shoulders and around my neck. As she settled back down on her heels again, she slid her hand to cup my cheek and wipe her lipstick from my lips.

"But we haven't even had dinner yet," she teased. "How do you know I'm not taking you to that terrible place down the road that always burns the pasta?"

"Even if we are... You've done so much for me already" I confessed, smiling.

She blushed, running her hands down the front of my new, crisp shirt. "You look good by the way... I can't wait to unbutton this shirt later," She purred, looking back up into my eyes.

I grinned at her promised comment. "I'll try not to ruin that dress by ripping it off of you while you do..." I whispered hotly into her ear. A breath caught in Vanessa's throat as her fingers clutched at my shirt. She looked as though she might say something back, but for once she let me have the last word.

"Come on, we don't want to be late," she said as she stepped around me to walk over and fish a shoebox out of one of the bags. She bent over as she slipped into a new pair of heels from her shopping trip, causing the dress to stretch tight over her arse. I wanted to slide my hands over those curves, but I knew if I did, we'd never leave. I let my hands drop and balled them to will them to behave.

Standing up, Vanessa caught that look in my eye and grinned. Without a word, she picked up the cake box that I hadn't noticed on the counter and took my hand as we walked out of her place.

The ride down to the parking garage was harder than I expected. I kept glancing over at her, trying and failing to not look down her dress. Even so, I managed more self-control than normal, but I had to squeeze her hand in pulses to tamp down my urges in that closed elevator. Even though we both behaved ourselves, the tension between us was palpable. Once in the car, Vanessa slipped out of her heels to drive. I would have offered, but since I sold my car back in the States, Vanessa has been the one responsible for driving us around. The restaurant she picked was only a few suburbs over, but parking is a bit of a challenge in that part of town. On the drive, she asked about how my revisions were going.

I hadn't been having the best luck on solidifying the ending to make the book stand on its own and not feel like a simple prequel for the next book in the series. As usual, Vanessa had her ideas and asked the right questions to help me verbalize the problem. It was more evidence that I wouldn't be this close to completion without her help.

Once the book talk was out of the way, Vanessa switched gears to tell me about what had been going on with our circle of friends. Since she never left Sydney, she had been able to see them more often and had all the latest information for me. Angela was engaged to a guy she met at work last year. Mike was working his way up in his job at an IT firm. Sarah managed to leave her six-month old with her partner and come out to dinner with us, and Tim had just started going out with a new girlfriend named Alana who would also be joining us.

It was quite the info dump, but I was able to pick it up as she outlined things. At the news about Sarah, I couldn't help a smile. "Sarah's a Mum... I figured she would be. She was always the mum of our group of dysfunctional idiots back in school," I chuckled. Vanessa pulled into the parking lot and I got out carefully, making sure not to tip the cake box too much.

"And where did Tim and Alana meet again?" I asked as she came around the car to shut the door for me since my hands were full. She locked the car and put her phone and keys in my pockets; it was our habit when Vanessa didn't want to bring along a purse somewhere. It was a testament to how long she had been doing it that she didn't even ask anymore.

Vanessa screwed up her face in thought, sliding her arm through the crook of my elbow as we walked to the door. "I think they met at one of Tim's work mate's birthday parties. They've been inseparable ever since. Angela thinks tonight will be a good chance to get to know Alana a bit better."

Vanessa opened the door for us and we didn't even make it to the hostess stand before there was a roareed cheer to our left. I spied the pushed together tables that the group had made and saw Sarah waving us over. Looking around, I took in the venue for tonight. It didn't take long to see why Vanessa picked the place. It's had some of my favourite food on the menu with a bit more of a formal dining atmosphere. I chuckled to myself as I thought that this might be the most formal thing this circle of friends has done since the year twelve formal. Reaching the table and looking around, it reminded me of how long it had been since I had seen them all. Gone were the childish grins of yesteryear; everyone looked like a grown-up now.

I set the cake box at the end of the table and went around to greet everyone. Sarah's hug lingered a little long; we dated back in school briefly around the formal. Looking back on it now, I took the wrong friend to the dance, but that's water under the bridge. Mike still had the athlete's physique; he must focus on it to keep it up since he's spending all day working on computers.

I kept going around until Tim introduced me to Alana. I could see why they were together; they were probably the best looking couple at the table. I couldn't help a glance at Vanessa with a "Wow!" expression in my eyes.

I wasn't sure how to read Vanessa's returned expression; when I caught her eyes, she seemed to stiffen a little. That moment passed quickly though as Vanessa hailed one of the nearby waitresses and passed her the cake to put in the fridge as we settled in at the table. I looked around at everyone as we sat, wondering why a silence fell over us as the others looked between each other. I could feel some unspoken comment circulating between them. Angela wass the first to break the silence, the words practically exploding from her mouth.

"So... I know we're here for your birthday and to celebrate you being back and all... but are you two finally together, or what?!" Angela asked. Upset by the timing and the tactless question, Tim rolled his eyes and shook his head. In contrast, Sarah chuckled pleasantly in happiness for us.

"So much for a slow, smooth work up to that one, Angela..." Sarah sighed, smiling.

I could only smile and look at Vanessa. There was no sense dancing around it anymore; they must have seen it even back then. I reached over and took Vanessa's hand gently and held it.

"We are. It wasn't long after I moved back. I stopped fighting what should have been obvious to me all along..." I said smiling as I looked back at everyone.