A Mouth that Praises and a Hand that Kills.

[Undefined Affections]

"I'm good with other people's kids." But he wasn't so sure how he'd be with his own children. Would he be able to discipline them enough without making them resent him? Would he be the boring parent to them? Would he be the annoying one? He was afraid of so many things going wrong. "I hope you're right."

[Calette_Sentrinde]

"You'll be fantastic," Leyla promised him, sighing. They would be good parents, she hoped. They would have to learn quickly. "It'll be soon enough, now.." Six months, give or take, if the twins were on time.

[Undefined Affections]

"Not soon enough for me." Ravid admitted. He didn't want Leyla to be sick anymore, and he just wanted the children there to complete their family. He smiled at his wife and kissed her cheek.

[Calette_Sentrinde]

"Soon," Leyla promised him. Six months didn't seem like quite enough for everything they had to do, really. "Sooner than you'd think."

--

"So we're going diving?" Mark smiled a little, reaching for his communicator. "Sounds nice." He'd only been with Rex once, but he wasn't too nervous about it. Hopefully, he would be able to keep up with Rex and Jesse. "And then Jesse will grill, I'm guessing. We won't be back in time for dinner, here."

[Undefined Affections]

"That's right." Rex smiled as he stood behind Mark and massaged the man's shoulders. "We play to have a cook out on the beach once we make it back to shore from diving. We won't camp." He reassured Mark, remembering their last experience from camping on the beach.

[Calette_Sentrinde]

Mark smiled. "For you, I would camp again," he smiled ruefully. With Jesse, though, he didn't expect that camping out would be quite so much... fun. "I'm looking forward to going with you two. Jesse seems nice." He wasn't sure Eli agreed, since Eli had kept Kit on a pretty close leash since Jesse had gotten into the base.

[Undefined Affections]

"He's more extreme than I am." Rex warned. "He might want to take us close to sharks if we find some." When Rex had taken Mark out diving, they'd stuck to the coral reefs and dolphins and the other beautiful, harmless creatures of the ocean. "Whales, too."

[Calette_Sentrinde]

"That's comforting," Mark answered, his shoulders tightening under Rex's massaging hands. Sharks and whales didn't sound altogether safe, but Mark would follow his lover's lead. He trusted Rex, and it wasn't that he was afraid of diving. It just seemed like tempting fate to chase danger like that.

[Undefined Affections]

Rex felt the tension in Mark's shoulders. He leaned down and kissed Mark's cheek, then whispered in his ear. "I won't let Jesse take us into danger. No worries, mate." He didn't want Mark to feel afraid while they were supposed to be having fun.

[Calette_Sentrinde]

"I trust you," Mark promised, leaning back against his partner. "I'm sure we'll all be perfectly safe." He was looking forward to that barbecue, after all, and so they had to make it to that.

[Undefined Affections]

"We will." Rex nodded as he tried to massage out all the tension Mark had just built up from thoughts of sharks and whales. Jesse was capable, but if Mark was even a little unsure of going near a certain undersea creature, then Rex wouldn't make him do it. Rex himself had lived through a couple shark attacks just by sheer luck. He wouldn't put Mark through that. With a small smile, he kissed Mark's temple and wrapped his arms around the man's neck from behind.

[Calette_Sentrinde]

"When are we heading out?" Mark tipped his head back to look up at Rex curiously. "Did Jesse say?" Just because of sharks, he wasn't going to skip the day's activities. Rex knew how to prevent shark attacks, Mark was sure. Even if the water wasn't his element, Mark was excited.

[Undefined Affections]

"Once Jesse gets all the gear we need, we'll be set to go." Jesse had brought his own gear, but there was a malfunction with the tanks that may have been caused from the flight over to the base. But it was easy to just replace them.

[Calette_Sentrinde]

"Sounds good." Mark had his own suspicions about that equipment malfunction- as far as he knew, Jesse had found that particular flaw only after discovering that Kit was responsible for issuing gear like that, usually used for special missions. Eli had asked her to take control of the relatively low traffic position, in an effort to delegate his responsibilities- besides, Kit had wanted a job, and that was just about the safest and least time consuming thing available.

[Undefined Affections]

It was taking Jesse a while to get replacements, Rex had noticed that, but he didn't think much of it. He'd told his brother that Kit would most likely be the best source for new equipment, but he didn't expect his brother to take long on purpose because of the woman. They had limited time together, after all.