Table 13

[karen2]

It both embarrassed and relieved Ben when Oliver tried to make an unobtrusive exit, leaving him and Anna alone to talk this out. Well wouldn't this be fun. The red-headed woman was looking at him, her red face slowly turning back to it's normal colour as she offered a proper greeting. He didn't trust his voice to be proper just yet, and so he simply nodded once and got to his feet to face her properly.

A nervous laugh broke through his lips as she questioned him about the accidental foot-bump under the table. "Um... yeah, sorry about that," he mumbled, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck.

She tried to smile, but didn't succeed. When she trailed off, Ben instantly snatched up three possibilities of what she'd been about to say. One was, "Especially when we work together", which made sense, but didn't seem likely. The second one, "Especially when I think I like you", gave him a little bit of hope, but the third option effectively got rid of even that small amount.

"Especially when you're interested in Oliver," he finished for her, not quite meeting her eyes. "I get it, it's fine. I'm pretty terrible at being subtle, and our innocent chat got out of hand, and then seeing you in that dress--" he sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry."

As it turned out, ripping out your heart when you weren't even sure how it felt, really hurt. Ben tried to keep the look of pain off his face until it had passed, and then offered Anna a very forced smile. "I think I'm just going to head back to the ship now. I don't really know why I even came, I mean, I don't think I'm supposed to be here."

And back there I can get all of this out of my system without you being right there to watch, he added silently.

[~ ADMIN]

Anna shouldn't have let that sentence trail into nothing, it could have been taken many ways, none of them good. Two had crossed her mind; what she'd meant to say, and because they worked together, but the one that eventually came out of his mouth she hadn't been expecting at all, even after all that time she'd spent this evening worrying about Ollie and how he was going to react. In the end, he'd backed away.

As Ben babbled on, she gained more and more hope that maybe he did like her too. Especially the look on his face, it looked like the words that he was saying were causing him physical pain, rather than him being in her presence causing him pain. The work thing was irrelevant, she'd thought that before. After all, Will was Natalie's superior, and they had a relationship.

And as for Ollie, of course she cared for him. He was sweet, a great guy, he got her sense of humour, all that sort of stuff. But a good friend could do just the same. Ben was the one that got her pulse racing, that made the butterflies in her stomach flutter the hardest when he looked at her. Especially in that suit, she'd proven that when she'd almost fallen over earlier this evening and started this whole debacle.

"No!" she said, realising that had been a little too loud, "I mean, no, no, you're supposed to be here. Of course you are, you're part of the crew, and even though it was a complete surprise, it makes sense." This babbling of her own wasn't getting her anywhere. "What I meant to say was..." she looked into his eyes, "especially when..." Come on, Anna. Take the risk, it could be worth it.

"I..." Argh! "Oh for Christ's sake," she said, mostly to herself before doing the most wreckless thing possible, reaching up to kiss Ben on the lips.

[karen2]

Anna's cry of "No" made Ben flinch a little, though it really shouldn't have. After all, she was saying she wanted--no, she wasn't saying she wanted him to stay, she was saying that it made sense that he was there in the first place. There was a difference, and he had to remember that, pay attention to it. If he didn't, no doubt he'd pay for it later.

It was then that he noticed she was stammering, and he had only a second to register her change in expression, from nervous to determined, before she'd leaned up and kissed him. Mentally he made sure that he'd gotten that right. Made sure that it was actually her that had kissed him, and not the other way around. She had.

With that discovery he came so close to kissing her back, so close to saying that the rest of the world should just screw itself and pulling her into his arms. But he had to know just one other thing. Carefully, so that she wouldn't take it as an out-right rejection, Ben pulled back and met her beautiful green eyes questioningly.

"What about Oliver?" he asked cautiously, trying not to focus too much on the way his lips were tingling, protesting the separation from hers.

She kissed you, you fool! Don't you think that more or less tells you that she's chosen? It was that part of his brain that made him reach up with one hand and caress her cheek, but with his question still dangling in the air between them he didn't dare do more than that.

[~ ADMIN]

There was no reaction on the other side of the kiss, he lingered close but his lips didn't move. Maybe she'd been wrong after all, he didn't like her. But all the signs pointed to the opposite, how could she have read them so wrong? She was trained to read people, and yet it was like walking into the minefield of his mind, not sure whether she was about to trip over a hidden mine and explode.

He pulled back, and she got ready for the rejection, she wouldn't let herself cry, but her heart felt like it straining in her chest, aching to know exactly how he felt. And then he said three words that made her want to slap him. For crying out loud, she'd just risked everything to kiss him, and now he was asking if she was sure. She didn't go round arbitrarily kissing guys!

"You," she said, "are the one I just kissed. You are the one I that is currently making my heart dance the Tango in my chest, okay?" She said that without shame or embarrassment, it was how she felt, and now he knew. "Now, are you going to kiss me or not?"

[karen2]

The fact that Ben hadn't kissed her back seemed to throw Anna off at first, and for a horrifying second she looked like she was going to cry. Wait. Wasn't that a good thing? Not that she was going to cry, no, that wasn't good, but that she was going to cry because he'd pulled away from her. Didn't that more or less say that she hadn't wanted to stop either?

Apparently, though, double checking that she knew what she was doing and didn't regret it was the wrong thing to do. Odd. Usually girls got annoyed when you didn't give them a choice, not when you did. Then again, Anna was far more interesting than most girls.

The small flame of hope in his chest came back to life at her words, and when she finally asked if he was going to kiss her or not, a wide grin split his face. "As you wish, my good lady," he said playfully, his eyes sparkling as he swept her up into his arms so that she was lifted off the floor and kissing her more passionately than he'd ever kissed a woman before.

True, he felt a little like he'd stolen Anna from Oliver, but at the same time he hadn't. After all, she'd chosen him. And if he'd wanted to, Oliver could have stayed. He didn't have to have left.

He didn't want to stop, to ruin this moment, but he had to keep in mind that they were in a public place, and beyond that, if they took much longer surely Alliana or someone would come looking for them. Recognizing that he'd been a little over-enthusiastic, he looked appropriately abashed when he set her back on the ground, but didn't bother to try and hide his grin.

All the confusion and frustration and tension that had been building--well, in all honesty he felt it had been building for a little while now, but only noticeably so over the last couple of days--had finally let up. It had all been a crescendo to this moment.

[~ ADMIN]

Anna wasn't a normal girl, that was for certain. And, to a certain extent, she was proud of that fact. The first twenty-one years of her life, for better or for worse, had taught her a lot, and she'd developed one heck of a personality from her experiences, at least, she liked to think so anyway. She appreciated the way she was now, and she hoped others did too.

Now that Ben was finally sure that she was sure, he wasted no time in returning the kiss she'd given him, pretty damn passionately, she noted. She dished out the same amount of passion in return, placing both her hands on the back of his neck, running her fingers into his hair. It was like how she imagined first kisses to be in movies and in books, the intensity overwhelming.

The kiss solidified everything in her mind, she'd definitely made the right choice with Ben, despite the rocky start. Who knew that him slipping vinegar into her tea would lead to them making out outside the HAPPY Awards ceremony hall? Not her, but this was the best ending to the scenario that she could have asked for.

Her feet settled on the ground once again, and she felt like she was descending from her own private heaven. The grin he wore made her beam right back, her lips still tingling and her head still buzzing from that kiss. "Wow," she whispered, unable to stop herself. And she meant it. If they happened to do that on a regular basis, she wouldn't have any complaints.

How long had they been out here now? Ally was sure to burst out any second and grab her, demanding to know what was going on. "Maybe we should go back inside?" she suggested. At least there wouldn't be any tension at the table any more. Reaching over, she grabbed his tie, pulling up his collar before doing his tie for him, flattening the collar again before straightening his jacket. "There," she grinned, "handsome once again."

[karen2]

It was in that moment that Ben found he very much liked having a woman's hands in his hair--more specifically, Anna's hands. Once they'd pulled apart and his head had stopped spinning, Ben managed to acknowledge Anna's quiet exclamation of awe with a round of multiple shorter kisses, his grin firmly in place the whole while.

"Beautiful, a great kisser, and intelligent," he said by means of agreement when Anna mentioned that they should head back inside. He watched, mildly amused, as she reached over to fix his tie for him. "Beautiful, a great kisser, intelligent, and able to work as confounding inventions as the tie? Now I'm really impressed."

He took his tongue between his teeth and leaned back a little to get a better look at her before laughing and using his thumb to erase the lipstick he'd smudged. Hopefully his lips hadn't been dyed the same colour. Though it would be fairly obvious that they'd sorted things out this way, he didn't want it to be painfully so.

"Now we can head back inside," he smiled, dropping his hand to her shoulder and then snaking it down to her hand. After squeezing it once he went over to open the door for her, deciding to act the gentleman--at least until this evening was over.

[~ ADMIN]

Anna made sure to share each of the shorter kisses he gave her, smoothing down the hair on the back of his head which she'd managed to unsettle. As much as she had enjoyed what they had just done, she didn't want it to be blatantly obvious to the whole room. Their friends would notice certainly, but she didn't really mind. Now she had someone to get excited over with Ally, instead of it being one sided.

"You already got the girl," she pointed out to him, tugging at the lapel on his jacket slightly, "although, I suppose if you want to keep telling me how wonderful I am, I certainly won't object." She smirked up at him, "the inner workings of the mysterious tie are only a mystery to men. It's that lack of ability to multitask, you can't concentrate on the sequence while actually tying the tie," she teased him. Now that the tension had eased, she had no reservations about winding him up.

Anna hadn't even realised the state of her lipstick, mostly because she hardly ever wore make up. She'd already rubbed her eye once this evening on the way to the ceremony and smudged her eye shadow. She lightly kissed his thumb as it moved near her lips, before smiling. He didn't seem to have come off too badly, in this light at least, she could barely tell that they had, in fact, kissed, apart from the ridiculously large smile on his face.

She chuckled as he went over to open the door for her. It wouldn't last. She curtsied, then made her way through the door, waiting for him to follow. "I'm guess this gentlemanly streak of yours isn't going to last much longer," she said, looking at him with a knowing smile, "I bet it lasts till the end of the evening, and even then I'm sceptical."

((Sorry for hogging the thread! Please, everyone, continue to post!))

[karen2]

Ben feigned a look of petulance at her jibe about men lacking the co-ordination to be able to remember the sequence and preform it at the same time. "It's a good thing I 'got the girl', then, isn't it? She can do it for me," he retorted, a teasing glint to his eye.

As he rubbed the excess lipstick off of her face, she planted a quick kiss on his thumb, and one side of his mouth quirked up in a lopsided smirk. Not that he'd really stopped smiling to begin with. He just couldn't help himself. Anna chuckled as he held open the door for her, and his smile widened yet again as she threw a quick curtsy in.

"You know me so well," he laughed when she hazarded a guess at how long this polite, well-behaved side of him would last. "I'd wager you're right. I think it's already starting to wear off."

It was entirely too obvious that they'd worked things out by how comfortably they walked side-by-side back to the table, but the only people who'd find it suspicious would be the Venia crew. Not that they cared much.

He was tempted to continue being a "gentleman" a little while longer and risk embarrassing Anna by pulling her chair out for her, but decided against it. The others were staring at them already, and it would be far more fun to let them stew in their own juices as they tried to figure out what had happened.

Instead he simply strolled around the table and plopped down in his seat again, taking a sip of his wine before examining the plate of food in front of him. The others at the table were conversing quietly, and he listened in to see if it was a conversation he could jump into.

((Yes, we're sorry! Please, jump back in!))

[Alliana Porter]

Ally watched Anna sprint off like a hot coal, and released the breath she had been holding. Well...now what? Luke gripped her hand tight, holding her from running after Anna. Men just...knew, and it was almost agitating. Luke was sweet though and he understood that she cared for Anna. She gave a short sigh and turned to give him a faint, soft smile. It suddenly occurred to her, that she had failed to answer Dee's question.

Ally in turn, gave Dee a faint, apologetic smile. "Sorry about that. Alliana, or Ally, yes." she nodded. "I work on the scientific natures and behaviors or molecular atomic patterns, chemical reactions......I do chemistry..biology." she chuckled lightly, dumbing down her words. Not everyone had a ridiculous IQ like she did, and she had to tone down her genius somedays. She was smart, even though she didn't usually look or act like it. "It's....usually just varied to whatever really. However they need me." She didn't know too much about the new member, considering she had only recently joined that day, but she seemed nice. "What do you do?" she inquisitioned, poking at the bits of food on her plate.

Ally sucked her bottom lip again, and looked up, just to see Ben returning. He had an odd glow about him, and she was now becoming ridiculously curious. Something had obviously gone on between Anna and him, it was written all over his face. She would definitely press Anna for answers later. The waiters came around, presenting the next course dish, the first Ally had barely touched. The food was amazing, yes, but she was beginning to lose her appetite right about now. She rose a slow gaze to Luke from the corner of her eyes. He was rather quiet tonight, but knowing him, his mind was probably reeling on something. He got like that when he was thinking. She was thinking now too. The only people who really knew what the hell was going on, weren't exactly open and talkative right now.

[~ ADMIN]

Anna snorted, "hello chauvinism," she smirked back at him. "And of course I do, it is part of my job after all." She patted him on the shoulder as he strode past her towards the table, not pulling out her chair. Two minutes, well, that was a first.

She stopped just inside the hall for a moment, looking at the table. Ally was talking to Dee while Luke listened, but Ollie hadn't made it back yet. She figured he would be back with the wine at some point. Sliding into her seat, Ally's eyes immediately flicked to her, looking at her expectantly. She reached under the table and squeezed Ally's hand, unable to remove the smile from her face completely. She hoped that would be enough to let Ally know she was okay.

Luke was still being quiet, but he wasn't about to interrupt Ally and Dee's conversation, and there wasn't anyone else at the table to talk to at the moment. Toby was still nowhere to be seen, the co-pilot would be a fun addition to the table if he ever decided to show. Despite him catching Ally and Luke making out on the flight deck once, he was a good laugh.

Ben entered, and instantly Luke knew he was right. He knew that look on Ben's face, and they hadn't completely removed the lipstick from his lips, they were lightly tinted pink. He didn't know whether Ally had figured it out yet, maybe not from the curious look on her face, but Anna would tell her soon enough, he was sure.

Do you think they're actually going to start this ceremony at some point?" he said, wondering when someone was going to take to the stage. He realised it'd been the first time he'd talked in nearly twenty minutes.

[somerandomhippie2]

Ollie wandered off, finally deciding to stop thinking up various pronunciations for the word 'dude' when he got out of earshot of Anna and Ben. They were intriguing him slightly, with their hesitant ways-- almost like two bears, trying to decide who would attack the other first. Somehow, he had a feeling it wasn't going to be attacking they were doing.

He found his way to the kitchen, and was promptly given a bottle of white wine, along with a corkscrew. He ogled. He hadn't used one of those since he was... Well, it was a long time ago, at any rate. He'd be learning on the job, obviously.

He managed to make his way back to the table without getting too lost, and managed to catch Luke's sentence about the ceremony. "Well, the kitchen is just getting dessert ready, so it'll probably be after that," he offered. He sat down, and tried to work the corkscrew. He tried twisting it in, shoving it through the cork, using it to pry the cork out... Nope. Not gonna happen. He eventually gave up, and simply grabbed the cork and yanked it out of the glass bottle. It let out a pop, and Ollie managed to move it over to a napkin as bubbles poured out the top.

He read the label. "Whoops... Fizzing white wine, also known as champagne," he read aloud. "Anyone up for some?" He glanced around the table. Anna's hair looked a little disheveled, and Ben's mouth was the same tint as her's. He took the opportunity of glancing around to flash a mischievous grin at Ben. Ohhhh. So that's what had happened.

[Alliana Porter]

Ally linked her finger's with Luke's under the table once again for a brief moment, giving a small squeeze and retreated it bak to the table to actually take a bit of her food for once. If she wasn't eating, she would probably be holding onto him all night long, jus for comfort and confidence. Even the small motion of letting go, was still too much after what she had endured lately. And he still didn't know the truth. That would probably leak out later tonight anyway.

She finally looked up and around again, and finally got the drift of what had actually taken place. She half choked on the wine she was drinking, then waved it off as drinking it too fast. So THAT'S What she missed? How long was thing going on? When did it start to happen? Anna Liked Ben? Wait...what? It was all happening way to fast, and she was having a hard time catching up.

Oliver clicked her back to reality, popping the top for the champagne and making a fizzy, sticky mess. Fortunately, most of it had settled on him. Ally shook her head, scoffing a small laugh at him. "I'll take a little." she said, raising her glass a little. The nagging idea continued to rage in her head with wine's side affects. She wasn't a heavy drinker, but she knew what it's consequences were, and Luke had downed his glass now as well. Never mind those thoughts now.

She turned back to Anna who was glowing with a foolish grin on her face. Ally bumped her on purpose under the table. Anna would definitely have to spill, in fact, the bathroom might be the perfect place. "excuse me for a bit." She smiled politely, poking Anna to now follow as well.

[~ ADMIN]

Tapping the mic with her forefinger, the ever beautiful Melanie Dow, award winning scientist in particle physics, caught the attention of the audience, smiling her winning smile.

"Welcome, everyone, to the 56th HAPPY Awards. My name is Melanie Dow, and it my pleasure to be presenting the awards this evening. Now that the food has been served, and you're all suitably merry from the wine, we are going to get this ceremony underway."

Person after person took to the stage, happily accepting their awards for their humantarian or peace keeping acts, giving their short, prepared speeches before taking a seat again, celebrating with their friends and colleagues.

"And now, finally, the prize for The Robert Yetholm Award for Universal Humantarian Efforts. There are several exemplory persons or groups of people nominated for the award this year, and the decision was a hard one. But, a decision was made, and without any further ado, I can proudly annouce that the winners of this award are...

...the crew of the Star Ship Venia."

Applause burst out from the other tables, and Melanie looked expectantly to see who from the crew would come up to accept the award.

[Alliana Porter]

After a revealing conversation in the restroom, Ally finally decided it was time to drag Anna back to the table., Now that everything had been sorted out and cleared, it all made sense now between Ben and Anna. She couldn't help but smile at how cute they looked together; the stolen glances, lip bites, smiles. It was more than obvious now they were completely attracted to each other. Ally reached for Luke's hand again as she slid into her chair. She still couldn't help but touch him tonight. He was all the security she would ever need.

She reached across, taking a small sip of her wine and looked at her lover from the corner of her eyes. How did she get so lucky? A rather attractive woman took the stage, introducing herself as Melanie Dow. She seemed cheerful enough, calming voice, brilliant smile. Ever so slowly, Ally was becoming less tense. No one seemed to notice who she was, or what she had done in the past. None of it seemed to matter.

Melanie finally began the nominations for the last award, and a smile drew across Ally's face when she heard they had one. This life was s much better than the one she left behind. This life, with these people, this..family was so much more than she could eve have asked for. Despite her unfortunate adventures and finding herself inside a governmental prison, it was all worth it, every little moment was worth this happiness.