Chapter 36 - It's getting a little Nippy in here!

After cleaning up the mess, Spitfire set out some paper in the cargo bay. She placed the rags she had used to clean up the mess in the centre of the papers, then took the puppy over to it. “You make your messes on the paper, understand? On the paper!” She was trying to clarify her statement by pointing at said paper over and over. Either through luck, coincidence, or actual understanding, the puppy walked to another part of the paper, and proceeded to do his other type of business there. “See, he really is smart!” Like a proud parent, Spitfire beamed at me. She moved his water and food bowls out there, as well as a box and blanket for him to sleep on. Then she closed the cargo bay door, and took my hand to lead me back to the bridge. She led me around the couch, and pushed me back into my seat. There, she resumed her previous position on my lap. “Now, where were we?” she asked mischievously.

“We were playing with your new jewellery.” I gladly reminded her.

“No, you were playing with my new jewellery. I was enjoying it!” she corrected me. “But right now, there's something else I need to show you.”

I gave her a very confused look! There wasn't any place else left to...?

She twisted around, and started to pull at something on the back of her neck, just under her hair. A flesh colored bandage lifted off to reveal a small tattoo. In simple clean lettering was “Jonathan Noughty”, and under it was the date he had passed away.

“Well?” she asked.

“That's real nice, Bee! I'm sure he would have liked it.” I said. She smiled.

“Okay, what about this one?”

It was amazing, I would never have seen the bandages, if she hadn't started to peel them off. The next tattoo, was on the front of her shoulder, on her upper chest. It was about as big as the palm of my hand. It looked like a curling banner, across a background of stars. Lines along the banner, made it look like a piece of sheet music. The lettering that followed the lines were shaped like musical notes, and they spelled out "Aria to the Stars"! “Wow...” was about all I could say.

“The little stars and the lettering glow in the dark! It's all done with nanobots, so it can be easily removed if I ever wanted to. So do you like it?” She was grinning and her eyes sparkled.

“Ya Bee, I do. I really do! I'm almost tempted...”

“Really!? Because I was thinking it would be sooo cool if we both had matching tattoos! Would you be willing to get one too? I will pay for it!” She didn't plead or beg this time. She wanted this to be something that I wanted to do, and not something I just did for her. But she was so excited, she was bouncing up and down. This however made other things in front of my face jiggle, in a most distracting manner! “Well?” she prompted me.

I forced myself to look up. Her sparkling gray eyes were so excited. “Yes Spitfire! I think that's a right fine idea. I think I'd like getting a matching tattoo!” That earned me an ear bleeding squeal, but it was worth it, for all the bouncing and kisses I received in return. We decided to go the following day and get mine done. “Now, are there any more surprises on your body I should know about?” I asked. She shook her head, and said that she had more ideas, but first wanted to first make sure I liked what she had done so far. I gave her a suspicious look and said ”Are you sure? I think I had better check!” I grabbed her and laid her across my lap. She squealed and giggled as I proceeded to “search” for any more hidden surprises. I pinched and poked and tickled until I was satisfied. "Well, I don't see anything else on this side."

The meaning of what I said, slowly dawned on her. "Oh no Morgan, no more please! NO! AAAAHHHH!"

I flipped her over and started my search on her back side. More squealing, kicking, and laughing followed. I finally picked her up, threw her over my shoulder, and carried her off to our quarters.

We were lying there, snuggled together and trying to catch our breaths, when I heard a sound. The howling of a little puppy coming through the access tunnels and ventilation shafts. “Ooooh no." she groaned. “Baby, as soon as I ca-can, I will go get him, I pr-promise.”

I just laughed. “I will go get him. It's okay.”

“No Morgan. I p-promised I would take care of him, and I will. I j-just can't move right now.”

“I know babe, my knees are still a little weak too, but it's okay, I will go get him. You stay here and twitch, it does my ego proud.”

“I love you Morgan, with all m-my heart, I love you!” she said.

“I love you too, Bee, more than I can ever tell you.” I replied.

“You don't have to tell me M-Morgan. It's in every thing you do for me. I could never doubt how mu-much you love me.” Her body gave another little shudder.

I gave her a kiss, then padded naked down the hall to the cargo bay door. He was sitting just on the other side, and he wagged his tail in greeting as the door opened. “Don't like being down here all by yourself huh? Well, can't say as I blame you. Come on then." I started back up the hall, and he followed along behind, just as smart as you please.

We got back to our quarters, and he stood on his little hind legs with his front paws on the bed and gave a bark. Spitfire giggled and reached down to pull him up. As soon as she set him on the bed, he bounced this way and that, tail going a mile a minute. I crawled back into my side of the bed, and lay on my side, facing Spitfire. She turned away from me, then scooted back until I was spooning her. She patted the bed in front of her and tried to get the puppy to lay down there. Instead, he walked up and licked her nose. Then proceeded to burrow his way under the covers until he was down near the boot of the bed. He turned around under the covers a few times, then lay down.

“He gave me a good night kiss!” she exclaimed.

“Sure looked that way, didn't it.” I said.

I gave her one too, and we all went to sleep.

Some time in the middle of the night, I woke to a short little scream. “Oh! I'm sorry, Morgan! His nose is cold and wet. I think he was just checking to make sure it was me. If you know what I mean...

I laughed and went back to sleep.

She was woken again, early in the morning. This time, he was licking and biting her nose. It was time for his morning constitutional. Spitfire threw on one of my old t-shirts, and shuffled out of the room, puppy at her heels. A few minutes later, she returned. “Morgan!” She shook me awake. “You know, he went right to the cargo bay, down the stairs to his papers, and did his business. He knew exactly what they were for. I can't...” I grabbed her and pulled her back into bed. I then pulled off the t-shirt she was wearing, and proceeded to punish her for waking me up.

“If that's how you're going to punish me, I am going to be sure and wake you up more often!”

“Darlin', if we do that much more often than we already do, neither one of us will ever be able to walk again!”

I received a playful punch for that, and some time later, we both got up to shower. When we came out of the bathroom, we found a puppy waiting for us. Playfully chewing on my boot. “Oh no! Puppy, that's not a chew toy! She grabbed him up, and I retrieved my boot. “Morgan, I'm sorry! I am so sorry! I will buy you a new pair of boots!”

I just grinned. We had caught him before he had done any real damage, so no harm... this time. “We need to go shopping, and get him some toys and things of his own.”

Her eyes lit up, relieved that I wasn't mad, as well as at the thought of going shopping again. She found a length of heavy string in her workshop, and fashioned a temporary leash and harness. Things were a bit chaotic, when she first tried to get him into it. But he finally figured out that this wasn't a game, and settled into the idea.

Evidently, pets were a fairly common occurrence on the station. We found everything we needed, including a vet, just a little way into the stations commercial sector. Puppy wasn't at all thrilled with the idea of shots, but no one got bit in the process, so we considered it a success. Toys, collar, leash, harness, food, treats, Spitfire paid for it all without a blink. Actually, she still had most of her original one hundred credits left after we were done. It still shocks me, how much a single credit was worth. When you're buying cargo, and dealing with hundreds or thousands of credits at a time, you forget that most everyday transactions are made at the  percentage level. We still had one more thing to get for the puppy, a license.

“But what name are you going to put on it, Bee? I asked.

“Oh! I hadn't even thought of that! I don't know what to name him! We sat on a store front bench, to consider it for a while.  Spitfire picked him up, so she could look at his face. He wiggled and squirmed, trying to get close enough to lick her. She laughed and brought him closer, slurp. “Ouch! You mustn't nip mommy's nose quite so hard!” She laughed.

I reached out to pet him, and he bit playfully at my fingers. “He's a little nipper, all right!” We both stopped and then looked at each other. And so, Little Nipper was christened. We got his license taken care of, so he was legal.

We owned a puppy. Little Nipper was part of our crew.

Afterwards, we went and got my very first tattoo. It was identical to Spitfire's, and in the same place as well. She was ecstatic. She went ahead, and got a few more rings put around the outside of her ears. Holding my hand and wincing a bit as each hole was made. I decided I kind of liked the look. She also got one in her belly button. I finally chased her out of the shop, when she started talking about me getting an earring, and her piercing her nose. I thought we had punched enough holes in our flesh for one day. We stopped on the way back to the ship, and got something to eat. She spoiled the dog by sneaking him bits of her hamburger.

Spitfire had won over five hundred credits in a strip contest. Been offered a job as a stripper. Gone on a shopping spree. Had various parts of her body pierced and tattooed. Talked me into a tattoo, and adopted a puppy. I thought it was about time to leave Riveis, before anything else could possibly happen!

We got back to the ship, and she started teaching Nipper what things he was allowed to play with. “You don't chew on daddy's shoes! This is yours to chew on!” She showed him one of my boots, wagging her finger at him and repeating, “No chew!”  Then she gave him one of his rawhide chew-toys. He immediately took it, and went off to enjoy it. Spitfire looked at me and shrugged. He had a few balls and other assorted toys now. All of which were soon scattered around the bridge.

“Don't forget to stow those before we lift off. We don't need them floating around when we switch the grav-plates.” I warned her. She opened an empty panel under one of the consoles and put all of the puppies toys in it. Except the chew-toy he was currently chewing on.

Meanwhile, Aria and I looked over the station manifest, and contracts. We couldn't sell our furs here for a profit, and none of the contracts looked worth taking. Time to look for a rich tech planet close by. Xezaor. It would take us about two and a half days to get there. We assumed our regular positions. Spitfire between my legs, with my left arm wrapped around her. The other arm held Nipper. This arrangement would require a rethink. Once our launch window opened up, Spitfire turned on the grav-plates. We were suddenly weightless, as the ship lifted from the ground. Little Nipper whined at the sensation, and immediately threw up on me. To his credit, he managed to look a mite embarrassed. Nothing to be done about it right then, though. Spitfire took us out into the black.

Once clear of the station, the grav-plates were reversed again, and our gravity returned to normal. We stopped the ship outside the station, but well within the patrol zone. I changed my clothes, and Spitfire cleaned up the command couch. We hoped Little Nipper would get used to the temporary shifts of gravity soon. As well as going in and out of  witchspace. Spitfire worked out a harness arrangement so she could fasten him to a safety belt on the seat next to us. She also made sure there was a towel under him, just in case. It was time to go.