The Warrior and The King: The Short Stories

16. Happily Ever After

Kaylea Wolf walked out of the training room to see a jumble of parts spread out down the corridor. Picking her way through them, she knelt beside the open maintenance panel and stuck her head in. Thorin Oakenshield was sitting in the access tube, fitting a new ionizer onto the replicator.

"Husband, what are you doing?"

Thorin turned to look at her. "I needed to take it apart to know how it works."

"You do not need to know how it works," Kaylea replied. "The computer told you it needed a new regulator. That was easily changed, you have it almost completely disassembled."

Thorin gave her a long-suffering look. "I need to take it apart to know how it works."

Kaylea shook her head at him. Dwarves. "You do realize we will not have anything to eat until you get that put back together?"

"We have fresh food in the fridge unit," Thorin replied, going back to tightening the ionizer.

"So, if you do not get this finished, you are going to make dinner?"

"No, you are going to make me dinner for fixing the replicator. Cooking is woman's work."

Kaylea reached into the access tube to pick up a wrench and throw it at him. Thorin ducked as it sailed by his head, smiling widely at her. "Of course, I will make you dinner. Anything for you, my love."

"I have sampled your cooking," Kaylea said wryly. "Better get that replicator fixed."

Thorin chuckled and went back to assembling the machine. Now that he understood the way it operated it would be a simple thing to put it back together. Kaylea watched him for a moment, appreciating how sexy her husband was when he was dirty. Thorin had stripped down to just his undershirt and close-fitting shorts, his hair tied back and wearing just the right amount of sweat and grease to make her want to climb down into the access tube with him. He glanced over at her curiously.

"Is there something else?"

"Just admiring the view," Kaylea replied, smiling at him. Thorin stopped working and turned toward her, a mischievous smile on his face.

"Why not come down here and admire it close-up?" He asked.

Kaylea laughed. "I would rather have something to eat tonight." She stood up, leaving her husband to his work. Knowing there was no way he was getting that reassembled anytime soon, she went into the galley to see what they had in the fresh stores. There some meat and fish, and a few vegetables; they wouldn't have to make due with emergency rations. She had been eating replicated food for so long the taste did not bother her, but she knew Thorin hated it. He had probably taken the machine apart to see if he could improve it; if he did come up with a design that actually made replicated food taste as good as fresh, he was going to be astronomically wealthy. Kaylea left dinner thawing and went to shower off the sweat from her workout.

It was a couple hours later and Kaylea was on the bridge making a quick check of the ship's systems when she heard her husband behind her. She straightened up as he wrapped his arms around her, kissing her neck.

"Mmmm...you smell good," he said softly into her ear.

"And you smell like gear oil," Kaylea replied, looking down at his arms streaked with grime. Thorin kissed her neck again, working his way down to her shoulder. His hands travelled up to massage her breasts through her shirt. She half-turned to look at him. "Hit the shower."

Thorin's eyebrows shot up. "I'm hungry. I have been working hard all afternoon, don't you have dinner ready?"

Kaylea chuckled at him. "Take a shower, dirty boy."