Dinah watched as Lev and Dia arrived together for breakfast.  Together and last of all the ship's company.  She kept watching them out of the corner of her eye as they ate and then Lev went to resume working with the dragons.  They were stopping at St. Michael's again before heading for the Rim to pick up the warrior monk who was going to be heading up the Dragon defense system for the colonists world and during the trip out Lev was going to be teaching him what he'd taught the Dragons on board so he in his turn could teach the dragons and warriors on Drago.  All the volunteer Dragons and the warrior monks would travel directly to Drago using the dragons. 

Once Aaru arrived at Drago they'd be creating basic shelter for the colonists and off loading all the equipment and supplies in the cargo bays that they were transporting for them.  That would give Lev a week or so to help start the training with the security forces before the colonists arrived, most of whom were now en route but traveling slower than Aaru was.  All of those things would keep Lev busy for the next couple of weeks.  Marc's plans would keep Dia equally busy, she was sure. 

All of that was in the back of her mind as she ate her own breakfast while recalling them eating theirs, exchanging very few words and a lot of long covert looks at each other.  She frowned, her brows drawing together. Then she turned to Marc.  "I want twenty-four hours before things get crazy again."

Marc looked up at her from the paperwork he'd been perusing. An eyebrow rose. "I didn't know I'd become the general manager of the Universe, Dinah. When did that happen?"

She stuck her tongue out at him.

He just looked at her.  Then, when she didn't answer right away, asked, with a sigh, "What are you up to?"

"I am up to nothing other than communicating my desire to have you all to myself for twenty four hours, preferably naked and in bed and preferably before we hit Draco," she said patiently.

Marc reached for his hand held and looked at his schedule. "I can give you 18, if you give me a few hours to arrange it."

"Eighteen?  That is generous," she said.  "But if you're that busy perhaps it isn't a good idea."

His lips twitched. "Okay. Never mind then."

She looked back at Dia again.  "Has it occurred to you that there are remarkable similarities between Lev and yourself?" she asked.

"Well, we are both handsome devils, that I'll grant you," Marc replied, putting the paperwork aside and sitting back more comfortably to enjoy the entertainment.

She let her eyes travel over him slowly, first up and then down.  Then she brought them to his.  "I meant your distaste for being emotionally vulnerable."

"Hmmm. Is that what they're calling it these days? Dia, maybe you should run for the hills, darling."

Dia, clearing her dishes stopped by their table when she heard her name.  "Excuse me?"

Marc grinned. "Dinah and I are about to have a huge fight. Most of those aboard Aaru like to lurk in the corridors, well out of firing range when we have them.  But suit yourself."

"We are?" Dinah asked.  "About what?"

"Well, I swear I thought you were angry as hell a few minutes ago. Did I misread that?" Marc asked innocently.

"What have I to be angry about?" she asked.

"No idea, luv. Forget what I said, Dia, false alarm."

Dinah smiled at Dia.  "So how are you settling in?  Is there anything you need?"

"No," she said.  "I'm fine."

"Judging by the look in your eyes I'd have thought there might be one or two questions," Dinah said. 

Dia's brow drew together.  "About what?"

"Men like Lev," Dinah said.

"And me apparently. But then what do I know?"

"Well you two are a lot a like in some ways," Dinah said.

Dia nodded.  "I was saying the same thing myself earlier this morning.  You and Ian and Lev.  It's almost uncanny."

Marc looked horrified. "I'm nothing at all like Ian. I bet he and Betty Jo never fight, for one thing. For another, he likes wearing three piece suits and tuxedos and has a bespoken tailor on Saville Row. I buy clothes from... from Old Navy. That's a cheap store, isn't it Dinah? I've never heard such nonsense," Marc muttered and buried his head in his paperwork, sipping on his coffee.

Dinah looked at him.  "I forgot how busy you were dear.  But before I leave you in peace let me explain what I meant so you can relax.  It's nothing to do with dress.  And everything to do with denial and how it's best to just humor you all along."

Dia looked puzzled.  "No, I meant the way all three of them are scared to death they aren't good enough for us, and that because they aren't saints it's a foregone conclusion all they can do is hurt us."

Dinah nodded.  "There's that part too."

Marc looked up from his paperwork frowning like mad. "Nonsense!"

Dinah tilted her head.  "No?  Then those times when you tried to stop seeing me because you felt all guilty about what an awful, evil, sinful past you have and how you were sure you'd just end up hurting me because I wanted more than just an affair and you couldn't offer me anything but that, even though you were already in love with me but in denial about it--  I'm just imagining those times?"

"It wasn't like that at all," Marc replied. "My first wife nearly killed me. On purpose. And I don't blame her. So, you have to admit my track record on relationships sucked."

Dinah patted the back of his hand.  "I know dear.  But Dia's point and mine is the one where because of all that you tie yourself in knots and practically kill yourself so none of that will happen with us makes being in love with you the safest bet in the universe.  You're so sure you're going to make me unhappy or hurt me that you spend every waking moment practically making sure it doesn't happen.  That's what all three of you do, and did even when you were terrified to admit you loved us because it made you way too vulnerable for your peace of mind.  So if you didn't say it out loud it can't true and you're safe."

Marc opened his mouth, but shut it with a snap without saying a word. Then finally, he managed, "Are all of you like this?"

"All of who, dear?" Dinah asked.

"Women. You sit around and imagine all these deeply psychological motives for plain common sense actions."

"Is that what we do?  I had no idea.  I thought what we did was humor you while you worked things out for yourself."  She eyed him straightly for a moment.  "But I do have something I'm wondering about.  You talk about Cyndia as your first wife like you had more than one.  Is that why you're so busy all the time?  You've a second or maybe a third or even more somewhere?"

"I have one, in all but name. No check that, in name too. And she's very good at driving me insane."

Dia bit her lip to keep from laughing and slipped away.

Dinah smiled.  "Really?  I'm glad you told me.  Then I won't worry about you being lonely. Now I guess I'd better leave you to your work," she said, standing up.  "Enjoy."

Marc grabbed her arm as she started to walk past him and pulled her down into his lap. He shook his head.  "Now what was all that in aid of?" he asked between nibbles on her neck.

"What was what in aid of?" she managed albeit breathlessly.

He stopped kissing her and met her eye. "All this pop psychology 101 stuff."

She struggled to collect her wits for a moment.  "Oh, just some information Dia needed."

"Why?" he asked, clearly baffled.

"Because she's never been involved with a man before.  And because she had the good taste and bad judgment to pick one just like you so I didn't want him driving her to drink trying to figure out what to believe.  The words that come out of his mouth -- or don't as the case may be -- or the way he behaves."

"What's wrong with the way he behaves?" Marc demanded. "Is he mean to her? I'll smash his face in if he is."

She gaped at him.  "Nothing.  He's so in love with her he can't see straight.  But it's scaring him to death.  Plus he's sure he's going to hurt her because he's not a nice man.  She gets the second part, but the first isn't as easy to understand until you've been there and done that.  She'll probably be fine now, even if they do have to do fifteen more rounds before he gets his act together."

"Are we living on the same spaceship?" Marc asked, bewildered. "Obviously they spent the night together, despite the damn cats. They were both looking sated and satisfied. I'd say he'd done a pretty good job of having his act together last night, from all the signs I saw."

"I never said or even thought that physically he wasn't doing a bang up job.  And if she were more experienced she'd be able to draw a few conclusions from the quality of their sex life, and I would guess, the quantity of it.  But she's not and he's not a talker so someone needed to clue her in."

"Oh," Marc replied doing his best to follow that logic trail to the bitter end. "So, you want to go laze in bed for 24 hours so I can show you how much I love you?"

"You're busy, darling.  I know because I saw you check your schedule to see if you had space available."

"Oh shut up," Marc replied standing up with her in his arms and heading to the bedroom. "Reno!  I'm busy for the next 24."

"Right boss. I'll warn the multiverse."

She put her arms around his neck.  "You enjoy making me angry don't you?"

"Don't be silly," he replied as he reached the bedroom and tossed her onto the bed, watching her bounce.

When she stopped she propped herself up on her elbows.  "Am I too demanding?"

"I wouldn't have you any other way," he replied as he stripped them both with a thought.

"Too needy?"

"Are you?" he asked, as he crawled on hands and knees over the bed toward her. "I hadn't noticed."

"I don't know," she said.  "That's why I'm asking."

He stopped mid prowl to flop down beside her and regard her seriously.  "Are you really concerned about that?"

"Well, obviously you had some point in mind when you checked your schedule," she said.  "And because I love you, I'm trying understand what it is."

"I hate treating people I care about badly, so I dislike it when I agree to do something, then cancel it at the last minute. It feels, frivolous, sometimes and I wonder what they must think.  You know, 'oh, Marc and Dinah are screwing while we work our butts off' sort of thing."

He reached out to take her hand and raise it to his lips. "For longer than man walked planet Earth, I was celibate. Completely so. When Cyndia set out to make damn sure I never had another child to do evil things to, well, I survived physically, although it took years to properly regenerate the physical plumbing, as it were. But mentally... I was castrated. I had no interest in sex. None. Not even my dreams went there.

"And yet .. oh, when I met you I was having sex again. But not because the act meant anything to me. It was a means to an end. A useful tool.  And then you called me a jack-ass and my world changed," he finished softly.

She regarded him, unblinking, for a long time.  Finally she said, "When Reno opens the pool on when we're going to have a blow up followed by marathon sex it's because he thinks that it's over due.  Have you noticed that?"

"Should I fire him?"

"No.  He opened the pool last night."

"So what, he's psychic?" Marc asked, before running his tongue over her palm.

"I don't know," she said, making no effort to hide the shiver he evoked.  "I was wondering if it was possible to eliminate the blow up by going straight to the sex."

"Hmmm. Don't you feel better after a fight?"

"Feel better?  After I've lost my temper with you?  I've never thought about it.  I just know I don't like fighting with you.  I'm too afraid that sometime, somehow it won't be okay."

He stopped what he was doing and pulled her fiercely into a hug. "Never, never think that. I like it that you stand up to me when I'm being an ass and call me on it. You keep me honest with myself, and make me reassess what the hell I'm thinking. I need that brake on myself. I need it, Dinah. I need to know that you will tell me when I get out of hand."  He paused, " And besides, you're sexy when you're angry. Your eyes turned this fiery emerald green and your nose scrunches all up and your jaw juts out."

She laughed against his neck.  "It's just that you like make up sex, because it's so much more...well everything.  And because I love you and like it too, I suppose I'll keep getting angry."

"That's the second best bit of news I've had all day," he replied.

"What was the first?" she asked.

"I won the pool," he answered with a grin.

She shoved him back away from her.  "You what?" she demanded.

He collapsed backwards onto the bed laughing.

She glared at him and then rolled away from him, swinging her legs off the bed.  "Well I'm glad for you," she hissed as she got up.  "I hope you have fun with your winnings."

He caught her with his coercion and pulled her back onto the bed and into his arms. "I love you. Oh, and I lied."

"Yeah," she said, struggling to get loose.  "You said you didn't like making me angry."

"Did I? Okay, maybe I lied twice then. No, the best bit of news I had this morning was you and me alone for 24 hours. But if you're determined to be mad and walk off, there you go," he said, as he released her.

Her eyes narrowed, the desire to sock him clear and vivid in the green that showed.  "Oh no, I'm not walking off.  That's be too easy on you.  I'm going to spend the next 24 hours making you pay for this."

He grinned. "Sounds like a plan."

She looked at him, reading his face, the message in his eyes.  "I love you," she said softly.

He opened up the bond fully and she saw how much he returned that love.

She smiled as she lowered her mouth to his.  "I know," she whispered.  "And I'm also going to spend the next 24 hours reveling in it."