Chapter 5: Plans

"Hey, sweetie." Ilia came towards Joe in the mess hall, a tray of food in her hands.

The tray before Joe was already half-eaten. The doctor had been right, she was losing her appitite. By the time dinner came around, she realized she hadn't eaten and wasn't even hungry. Which was why she came down here and grabbed some food.

The food wasn't bad, but no food was really all that good when you weren't hungry. But she ate it dutifully.

"Hey, Ilia." Joe smiled as the fea sat opposite her. The mess hall was only about half full at the moment. "How did the rest of your scuba training go?" she asked, smiling a bit.

"Fine. How was Edric?" Joe asked, poking at her food a bit.

"He misses me." Ilia sighed. "But he's gotten boring. All men do after a while."

Joe snickered a bit. "You're a female playboy, you know that, right?"

"I'm a sexual creature, dear." she said. "And, as all sexual creatures both human and mythic know, sexual creatures need constant entertainment in the bedroom. It's too bad I'm not into girls at all or I might go after you next, sweetie." Ilia winked.

Joe rolled her eyes.

"And that sailor Hector or James or whatever his name was, he's gotten boring too." Ilia pouted. "I swear, sweetie, I despair of ever finding anyone who could keep me entertained for an extended period of time."

"Have you ever considered celibacy?" Joe asked, only half joking. "I've heard it works wonders."

Ilia laughed out loud. "You're silly, sweetie. I'm fea. Sex is part of my nature."

"Oh, don't even lie!" Joe said, smiling a bit. "I've seen celibate and abstinent fairies."

Ilia waved her words away. "We all have black sheep."

"Yeah. You!" They laughed together.

"Well, speaking of sex lives, how goes things with Kai?" Ilia asked. "I heard you two had some nice quite time yesterday."

"We were in the sub simulator, hardly a hot date spot." Joe rolled her eyes. "And why are you pushing this?"

"Because." Ilia said. "Juno or Garret or whatever his name is has gotten boring, and there are no other men here attractive enough for me. You've staked a claim on Kai and I've backed off, which was very nice of me if I do say so myself."

"Not to too your own horn or anything." Joe said.

Ilia continued as if she hadn't spoken. "That means, sadly, that I am living vicariously through you. And since you don't have a sex life I can enjoy, I have to get you one."

"Ilia." Joe sighed.

"I'm serious!" Ilia said. "Do you know, besides me and you, there are only 6 other females on this ship. Two of which are mermaids! It's a sausage fest! And it has the potential to be hot expect nothing is happening!"

"I just know that that was an orgy reference." Joe blushed as she ducked her head, scarred someone might have heard Ilia.

"Gary or what ever his name is has outlived his fun. Kai is off-limits which, again, was very nice of me." Ilia reminded her. "And there isn't anyone else here hot enough to play with. Therefore, my new friend, that means I have to live through you until we get back to shore."

"That's extremely sad, Ilia." Joe said, back to poking at her food listlessly. "And it's not going to happen."

"Why not?" Ilia asked. "He's male. True, sometimes he's half fish, but he's still all male. And you, Joe, are female. You kind of look like an elf, actually. With darker skin, I swear all the elves look like albinos."

"Rude." Joe interrupted but Ilia didn't stop talking.

"You're very attractive. I admit, you're not the most beautiful girl ever. There can only be one and I've already sagged that spot."

"Not to toot your own horn or anything." Joe repeated.

"But you're still very pretty. I don't see why this isn't going to happen." Ilia finished and looked at Joe, clearly expecting an answer.

"He's just not my type, Ilia." Joe said at last.

"What? Are you lesbian?" Ilia asked. "Heavily muscled and hot is every straight girls type!"

"Alright, then I'm not his type." Joe amended. "Guys like him don't go for girls like me."

"Look, I'm not saying you two should buy a house with a white picket fence and an ocean in your backyard." Ilia said. "I'm just saying you should do it and give me all the juicy details."

"Okay, 1. Ew." Joe said calmly. "And 2. What part of 'I'm not his type' didn't you pick up?"

"You're not who's type?"

Both girls jumped as Kai approached the table, his own tray in his hands.

"Hey, Kai!" Ilia waved. "You want to sit, I was just leaving?"

"Don't leave on my account." he said politely, no doubt noticing that her food had barely been touched.

"Nonsense!" Ilia beamed as she stood up. "We'll be reaching our sight tomorrow. You two need to converse about top secret details and such. I'll just get out of your way."

Joe was blushing furiously, her head to one side as Ilia floated away and Kai took her seat.

"So, you're not who's type?" he asked again.

"Uh, nothing." Joe said quickly. "It's not important."

He stared at her again, seeing her lie. But he didn't push the subject for which Joe was thankful. "She was right, we do need to talk about what we're doing tomorrow. Adara and Flavian are coming with us to scout underwater."

"Oh, is that why?" Joe asked. "I kind of wondered."

"They're the best." he assured her though she hadn't doubted at all. "Adara is able to swim deeper than most other merfolk. She might be able to get close enough to see. Flavian is fast, I'm sure he'll be useful."

"I'm sure they both will." Joe said politely. Kai didn't seem the type to deal well with incompatence. "So, what's the plan?"

"You're the brains." he said. "You tell me."

Joe nodded and thought for a second. But, as if she had been contemplating it for days, the answer popped into her head. "We'll do exactly what we say we're here to do at first."

He nodded as he listened carefully.

"If it is something bad, some country doing something they shouldn't, they'll notice us immediately. We'll just check out things like we said we were doing. Examining undersea life, taking samples. Exactly what we said we'd do."

"I agree." Kai said. "Prove we're not a threat first."

"Right." Joe nodded. "We'll just search around, send transmissions they'd expect us to send. Work close but not close enough that they feel we're a threat."

Kai nodded again as he took a bite of his food.

"After a few days of that, we'll start getting closer." Joe said. "Working under radio silence, quiet as can be. I don't think I want lights but I can't see underwater. It's too dark. Any thoughts?"

"I can see fine in the darkness." he said. "I'll just tell you what I see and if there's any need to panic. I'll be doing the steering anyway. Besides, you can see the lights fine."

Joe nodded. "That works. which means we'll probably be only able to do manned subs, right?"

"Right." Kai nodded. "The camera's will just pick up black and that's all I'll see on the screen."

"Okay. I can handle that." Joe said. "And while's we're doing that, we'll have people doing what we did where we did it so it doesn't seem suspicious that we just stopped."

"I agree." Kai approved.

Joe thought again for a moment. "I guess I'll just have to plan based on what we find. I'm hoping the lights are just some kind of stationary sea creature."

Kai agreed. "It would make everything easier if it was."

They fell silent. Kai didn't seem bothered by it but Joe felt extremely self conscious. He just ate like nothing was wrong, not even looking at her. Joe, already with no appetite from the CBI's side affect, lost all the will to try and eat now.

"Well, I'm going to...go." she stood up suddenly and walked away, pausing only the throw her tray away before escaping into the hallway. All she wanted was to seek the safety of her room and drive all thoughts related to white haired mermen away.

But fate wasn't so kind to her.

"Kyma!"

She pretended she didn't hear as she tried to not too obviously quicken her step. She had no idea why she was running, or rather fast, walking away, but she knew she just had to get away from him. The energy she felt between them scared her only a lot, no one had ever made her feel like that. So it would be just far better to put distance between them.

But Kai had a different plan entirely.

"Kyma!" he called out to her again as he grabbed her arm and spun her around ot face him.

"Let go." Joe pleaded, trying to get her arm out of his grasp.

"Don't run from me, Kyma." he said softly, as he reached up and stroked her cheek. Unlike before, his hands were warm.

"Kai..." Joe didn' know what to say. What did you say when a man looked at you like that? Like you were the only woman in the world, like you were a light in the darkness.

He backed her up until she was against the wall of the hallway, trapping her but still giving her a way out if she wanted it.

"I've never felt this before, Kyma." he said. "And I know you feel it too."

How could she not? If the energy between them got any hotter she would probably burst into flames where she stood.

He started leaning towards her, pressing his body against hers as he lifted his hands to cup her face. But just before his lips brushed hers, just before he could give her that taste, he stopped.

"Do you not want this, Kyma? Tell me no and I will stop."

Tell him no? How could she? She wanted it, her body cried out for it even as her mind questioned why she would want it so badly.

"I-I suppose," she stuttered, "that i-if we don't, it w-would affect our work n-negatively. We should...at least try t-to...to..." to what? Where had all her intelligence gone?

"Very logical." he praised her just before he closed the distance.

It felt like fireworks had gone off in her brain. Her fingers clenched the fabric of his shirt as her knees tried to buckle. He didn't taste like a fish, he tasted like spring water. Clean and pure and delicious.

He kissed slow, each move deliberate and enticing. He didn't devour, he savored. When his tongue ran along her lips, seeking entrance, Joe gave him entrance without hesitation but he didn't barge in. He caressed her lips first, then, as if he had all the time in the world, he let his tongue begin dancing with hers.

Joe wasn't pliant in his arms, she kissed him back with everything she had. True, it had been a while since she had kissed anyone and never had she been kissed like this. But he didn't seem to mind her lack of experience. He showed her what to do, what he liked, as he took note of what she liked.

When he started sucking on her bottom lip, Joe moaned out loud.

That was when Kai pulled back.

She looked at him with half closed eyes, trying to pull air back into her lungs. His face was still calm but his jet black eyes were on fire with desire.

Desire for her, which stunned her a bit. A man had never looked at Joe like that before.

He leaned forward again, but this time he only placed his head on her forehead, his eyes closed, just enjoying her presence.

"Kai?" she spoke up softly when he made no signs of moving.

"Nomízo óti boreí na eínai stin agápi me sas, pou eínai ta kýmata tis kardiás mou." he said seductively.

"What?" Joe asked. She didn't speak whatever language that was.

He leaned back and smiled down at her. "I will tell you someday, Kyma. For now, let me escort you to your room." He held out his hand but Joe hesitated and he smirked a bit, just a simple upturn of his lips. "I wish only to take you to your door. You have my word."

Joe blinked at his hand for a moment more, then slipped her hand into his and let him lead her back to her room.