chaseasteroid (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
chaseasteroid) wrote2010-12-18 01:43 am
chaseasteroid) wrote2010-12-18 01:43 am
Entry tags:
[Star Trek] Refit (3/?)
Title: Refit (3/?)
Author:![[personal profile]](https://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
chaseasteroid (AKA racheldeet)
Pairings: Chekov/Sulu, with a side of Kirk/McCoy and Rand/Riley
Rating: PG
Summary: Pavel had grown up in the cold, where clouds did not form as easily and the lights of the city were distant. Stars had always been easy to see from there, even if the sun was not fond of visiting.
Previously: "Under Construction.", Chapter One, Chapter Two
The problem was, they weren't able to leave. They weren't being treated like prisoners anymore, at least, which was a relief. They had free run of the tunnels, but the ladders had all been taken up to keep them from leaving. Pavel paced, and Hikaru almost opened his motuh, once, to warn him against digging the tunnel deeper by wearing a hole in the floor — but thought better of it at the last moment. He did his best, really, trying to keep Pavel from thinking about it, but after exhausting fencing practice and sex, his options were limited to mind-games. Which, really, seemed to annoy Pavel more than anything else.
"You should find one of the locals," Hikaru said eventually, running out of ideas. "Take some scans, ask some questions. Spock would like that."
To his amazement, that actually seemed to work. For about a tenth of a second, Pavel stopped moving. "Perhaps," was all he said, and then began to move again.
Hikaru was ready to give up. "Just come here," he sighed, holding his arms out. Pavel hesitated, then came to sit on Hikaru's lap, lacing their fingers together.
"Love you," he mumbled. "Sorry. I hate being here."
"I've noticed." Hikaru nuzzled his nose against Pavel's collar. "Just take it easy. We'll be home soon."
Pavel moved his hands up to lace through Hikaru's hair, and tipped Hikaru's head enough for them to kiss. The way they kissed, it was somehow more intimate than sex, at least the way Hikaru felt. He liked knowing that at the end of the day, they weren't together because it was convenient, or because the sex was good. It was hard to think that it was anything but love when Pavel was pouring everything he had into even the simplest of touches.
They pressed their foreheads together when they were done. Pavel's lips were bright and wet, and he kept his eyes closed. "I love you," he said softly, breath puffing lightly against Hikaru's cheek.
"I don't think you realize how much I love you," Hikaru replied, brushing his hand through a mass of curles in desperate need of cutting. "I'll see if we can find some excuse to go to the surface."
"You don't have to. I'll make it work," Pavel replied. "It shouldn't bother me like this."
"Everyone has something." He wanted to say something else, but decided now wasn't the time. "I should go ask the captain about that now."
"It can wait." Pavel settled himself firmly on top of Hikaru's thighs. "I'm comfortable."
"You're such a little imp!" Hikaru pinched him on the hip for emphasis. His heart wasn't in it, though. For once, Pavel's eyes were a little brighter, and he was focusing on only one thing: him. He had no idea what had caused the change, but was more than happy to try to keep that distraction up.
Pavel shifted, rubbing them together through standard-issue uniform trousers, making Hikaru roll his head back. "I thought you didn't want any," he groaned. "Don't be a tease."
"I don't. But making you happy helps."
There were about seventeen reasons whizzing through Hikaru's mind for why he should stop this right here and now. But none of them registered as Pavel nibbled on his ear and rubbed against him again. After another minute of this treatment, luckily, his brain went white, and stopped thinking.
Pavel had one hand working into Hikaru's pants when a soft cough from the corner startled them both, and they almost tipped the chair over.
"I am quite sorry," said a chipper voice. "Am I disturbing you?"
It took every bit of diplomacy in Hikaru's body not to throw a chair at the tiny alien. Pavel buried his face in Hikaru's shoulder, face hot even through the shirt that separated their skin. Shame, amusement, or both? Hikaru wasn't sure which was most potent.
"You did not," Pavel choked after a moment. Definitely shame. He wiggled his hand out of Hikaru's pants as discreetly as possible. "Do you need us for something?"
"We wish to give a gift to the pair who passed our test."
Pavel slid off of Hikaru's lap, which gave him room to turn and look at the alien. "Us? Why?"
The alien — he really wished they would give names, because it was hard to think of them as "aliens" without feeling the years of inter-planetary tolerance classes they'd been forced to pass at the academy — blinked at them, huge eyes giving off the eerie feeling that they were specimens under a microscope. "You are the first to pass our test. We think this is a feat worth being celebrated."
"Thank you," Pavel said gently. "We would be honored." He took Hikaru by the hand, and winked.
They followed the alien through the tunnels, Pavel's grip on his hand tightening and releasing, he assumed with the waves of panic as they came and went. They finally came to a much smaller chamber than those they had seen before. Mats and blankets had been set out, obviously meant for sleeping. Hikaru drew Pavel to sit, bringing them both to eye level with the alien.
"We are very lucky," the alien said slowly. "The flaura we have been given has more than a few kindnesses to lend to us. You have obviously become very intimate with our safe homes —"
Pavel did not quite sneer, but came close. Hikaru nudged him, and got a dirty look in response.
"We have another plant," the alien continued, seemingly oblivious. "It is one of the reasons we are so strict about who we will allow on our planet; we fear what would happen if someone who did not respect it were to get hold of it."
Hikaru raised both eyebrows. "I have a personal interest in plants, I have to say."
"You will find this one particularly interesting. Its properties give us the ability to do things that would otherwise not be possible." The alien sat down in front of them. "The gift we wish to give you is a tea made from this plant. Drinking it will give you several hours with a loved one you can no longer see."
"I don't understand," Pavel said.
"I think humans use the word death to describe it, though we do not think it is as simple as that."
Hikaru caught his breath without meaning to. Pavel didn't seem to react initially, but the silence seemed to ring around them. The weight of the idea was not lost; Pavel's loss had shaped their relationship in big ways. Hikaru trusted him when he said that he would choose Hikaru over his mother, but when given the option of having both — well, it didn't take a genius to figure it out.
"No."
"What?" Hikaru turned to look at Pavel, more than startled that the word had come out. "Pavel."
Pavel shook his head, eyes clenched shut. Unsure what to do, Hikaru kissed him below the ear, and turned his attention back to the alien — they were definitely being studied, now. The look was all too familiar, though usually reserved for Spock's face. "We're honored," Hikaru said, "but I think we need to discuss it before we decide anything."
"Negotiations will not be completed for several days yet. You have time to think," the alien said. "You may remain here, if you wish."
"This is fine, thank you."
Pavel didn't move until they were alone; then, he curled into Hikaru's side, clinging tight. Hikaru petted his curls, not sure what was wrong, or what he could do to help.
"I thought this is what you would want," Hikaru said after a minute.
Pavel shrugged. He picked at the loose threads of the blanket with his fingernails, and didn't say anything.
"Pasha, tell me what you're thinking."
"I would want it if it was real." He didn't look at Hikaru, though he stopped picking at the blanket. "What he describes is nothing but a hallucination."
He had a point. Hikaru knew that, and he wanted to say something to change his mind, but didn't know what. "But what if it isn't?" was all he could come up with.
Pavel finally looked up, obviously skeptical. "They want to drug us so we can see dead people. That's a hallucination."
"That doesn't mean it's not real." Somehow, this seemed more important than anything they had had to decide in the last few months of being together.
"There's a big difference between some chemical reaction —" he said the words like they were being wrenched from him. "And paranormal activity."
"You're a scientist, I know," Hikaru said slowly, trying to sort his thoughts carefully before he said them. "But by that logic, isn't love just a bunch of chemical reactions that make you feel good?"
"You're oversimplifying it."
"You're just being stubborn."
The look he got after that was soft, Pavel's eyebrows raised and a small quirk to his lips. "Stop being so right. It's very bothersome."
He could hear the sound of victory, in a purely metaphorical way. "So by my logic, it would be completely real if you did take it. Right?"
Pavel definitely did not want to admit it. He looked away and was silent, though he pressed a little closer to Hikaru. Finally, he heaved a sigh. "You are very lucky I love you."
"You have a strong biological reaction when in contact with me?"
That earned him a smack. "Something like that. Still. Let me think."
Hikaru leaned back against the wall, and returned to petting Pavel's hair. He was sure that there was more to it than his parsing of logic. Grief, he was sure, had its hand in it. That he didn't have any idea what to say bothered him, so the best he could do was this. "I love you. Whatever you decide is fine with me. I just want to make sure you don't just say no without thinking about it."
They sat in silence for a while, until Hikaru finally shifted to free the leg that was going numb. "Well, this has definitely killed the mood," he said, and they both giggled like schoolgirls.
* * *
A few hours later, Hikaru was able to track down Kirk, who had gotten himself freed from negotiations for a little while. Of course, by tracking him down, he meant sneaking up on the man while he ate dinner.
"Sir?"
Kirk jumped, then pressed a hand to his chest. "Mr. Sulu," he said, breathless, "I want you to raise your right hand and swear an oath to me that you will never use your ninja powers on me again."
"I didn't mean to," Hikaru laughed. "Ninja? Just because I'm Japanese, right?"
"No, because you're a sneaky son of a bitch." Kirk jabbed at him with a finger. "Did you need something?"
"How are negotiations going so far?"
Kirk raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure that has nothing to do with you wanting something, of course."
"Pavel is going to dig to the other side of the planet if he doesn't get out of here sometime soon. It doesn't have to be anything important, but could we get one of them to…I don't know, walk us around? We can examine plants or something for the records." He sounded desperate, and he kind of hated it. Kirk, fantastic as he was, what not someone Hikaru liked having to ask favors from. If he wasn't their captain, it would be less of a big deal. But between his station and the fact that Kirk had saved his life more than once, favors seemed trite.
"I'll talk to them," Kirk said. "At this rate I think we're going to be lucky to get out of here with any sort of deal to do scientific study, so Spock's going to beat me if I don't come back to the ship with something."
That was a relief, at least. "You're the best." Hikaru turned to leave, but was stopped by a hand on his wrist. Kirk motioned him to sit.
"These aliens have had an awful lot of questions to ask the last couple of days about what reason in the universe Mr. Chekov would have for getting caught with a hand down your pants."
Hikaru went through a number of responses in his mind, but didn't produce anything but a small strangled noise.
Kirk grinned broadly. "I just thought you should know. Have a good lunch, Mr. Sulu."
Hikaru was gone before Kirk had even finished speaking, too embarrassed to stay. Behind him, he thought he could hear slightly hysterical laughter.
The thing about Kirk was that he as much as he might make things look like they were just for his own convenience, he always worked triple-time when someone asked him for something important. At least, important to him. It took less than an hour for him to have written permission to send both Hikaru and Pavel to the surface. Pavel kissed the paper, and looked like he was ready to find Kirk to kiss him too.
"Will you come on?" Hikaru asked, tugging Pavel by the hip. "Let's get up there before they change their minds!"
It wasn't quite that easy. They had to wait for their guide, first of all, because the aliens didn't want them tramping around on the planet on their own. He wanted to say something, but knew that referencing their last sexual fubar would just make Pavel more nervous. At last, though, they were able to crawl up the ladders, and into the sunlight. There, Pavel took his opportunity to flop in the grass, like a man who had just barely escaped from drowning and was glad to see land.
Hikaru flopped on top of him when he reached the top next, and giggled, giddy with the feeling of being home. "I love you," he mumbled.
"Get off," Pavel replied, nudging him. "Don't you have plants to look at?"
Hikaru hauled Pavel up with him, and they half-followed their guide as he introduced much of the plant life. They alternated taking samples and scans with knocking shoulders and, occasionally, tossing down their tools to roll in the grass some more. The change in Pavel was gigantic; he looked like he was a child, the question of their "gift" totally gone while he took in the world. It made Hikaru catch his breath for a minute.
And then it was gone.
"What are these?" Pavel asked, pointing to a small patch of what looked similar to clover, if clover was purple.
"The most treasured thing the planet gives us," the alien said.
"The tea flower?"
"That would be it." The alien stood between Pavel and the plant, though considering how tiny it was, the action was fairly futile. Still, it was obvious that the species was protective of it. Pavel didn't say anything more; he studied the plant for a minute over the alien's head before finally grabbing his tricorder from where he had set it on the ground, jerking the strap a little too sharply. If Hikaru had blinked, he would have missed it.
Luckily, he didn't blink.
* * *
He was determined not to press, so the waited for Pavel to bring it up again. He had expected it to take longer — at least one night, maybe two — but that didn't mean he wasn't relieved that Pasha put his head on Hikaru's chest that night, and mumbled, "i want to do it."
He just petted Pavel's head, and closed his eyes. "I don't think you'll regret it."
Author:
chaseasteroid (AKA racheldeet)Pairings: Chekov/Sulu, with a side of Kirk/McCoy and Rand/Riley
Rating: PG
Summary: Pavel had grown up in the cold, where clouds did not form as easily and the lights of the city were distant. Stars had always been easy to see from there, even if the sun was not fond of visiting.
Previously: "Under Construction.", Chapter One, Chapter Two
The problem was, they weren't able to leave. They weren't being treated like prisoners anymore, at least, which was a relief. They had free run of the tunnels, but the ladders had all been taken up to keep them from leaving. Pavel paced, and Hikaru almost opened his motuh, once, to warn him against digging the tunnel deeper by wearing a hole in the floor — but thought better of it at the last moment. He did his best, really, trying to keep Pavel from thinking about it, but after exhausting fencing practice and sex, his options were limited to mind-games. Which, really, seemed to annoy Pavel more than anything else.
"You should find one of the locals," Hikaru said eventually, running out of ideas. "Take some scans, ask some questions. Spock would like that."
To his amazement, that actually seemed to work. For about a tenth of a second, Pavel stopped moving. "Perhaps," was all he said, and then began to move again.
Hikaru was ready to give up. "Just come here," he sighed, holding his arms out. Pavel hesitated, then came to sit on Hikaru's lap, lacing their fingers together.
"Love you," he mumbled. "Sorry. I hate being here."
"I've noticed." Hikaru nuzzled his nose against Pavel's collar. "Just take it easy. We'll be home soon."
Pavel moved his hands up to lace through Hikaru's hair, and tipped Hikaru's head enough for them to kiss. The way they kissed, it was somehow more intimate than sex, at least the way Hikaru felt. He liked knowing that at the end of the day, they weren't together because it was convenient, or because the sex was good. It was hard to think that it was anything but love when Pavel was pouring everything he had into even the simplest of touches.
They pressed their foreheads together when they were done. Pavel's lips were bright and wet, and he kept his eyes closed. "I love you," he said softly, breath puffing lightly against Hikaru's cheek.
"I don't think you realize how much I love you," Hikaru replied, brushing his hand through a mass of curles in desperate need of cutting. "I'll see if we can find some excuse to go to the surface."
"You don't have to. I'll make it work," Pavel replied. "It shouldn't bother me like this."
"Everyone has something." He wanted to say something else, but decided now wasn't the time. "I should go ask the captain about that now."
"It can wait." Pavel settled himself firmly on top of Hikaru's thighs. "I'm comfortable."
"You're such a little imp!" Hikaru pinched him on the hip for emphasis. His heart wasn't in it, though. For once, Pavel's eyes were a little brighter, and he was focusing on only one thing: him. He had no idea what had caused the change, but was more than happy to try to keep that distraction up.
Pavel shifted, rubbing them together through standard-issue uniform trousers, making Hikaru roll his head back. "I thought you didn't want any," he groaned. "Don't be a tease."
"I don't. But making you happy helps."
There were about seventeen reasons whizzing through Hikaru's mind for why he should stop this right here and now. But none of them registered as Pavel nibbled on his ear and rubbed against him again. After another minute of this treatment, luckily, his brain went white, and stopped thinking.
Pavel had one hand working into Hikaru's pants when a soft cough from the corner startled them both, and they almost tipped the chair over.
"I am quite sorry," said a chipper voice. "Am I disturbing you?"
It took every bit of diplomacy in Hikaru's body not to throw a chair at the tiny alien. Pavel buried his face in Hikaru's shoulder, face hot even through the shirt that separated their skin. Shame, amusement, or both? Hikaru wasn't sure which was most potent.
"You did not," Pavel choked after a moment. Definitely shame. He wiggled his hand out of Hikaru's pants as discreetly as possible. "Do you need us for something?"
"We wish to give a gift to the pair who passed our test."
Pavel slid off of Hikaru's lap, which gave him room to turn and look at the alien. "Us? Why?"
The alien — he really wished they would give names, because it was hard to think of them as "aliens" without feeling the years of inter-planetary tolerance classes they'd been forced to pass at the academy — blinked at them, huge eyes giving off the eerie feeling that they were specimens under a microscope. "You are the first to pass our test. We think this is a feat worth being celebrated."
"Thank you," Pavel said gently. "We would be honored." He took Hikaru by the hand, and winked.
They followed the alien through the tunnels, Pavel's grip on his hand tightening and releasing, he assumed with the waves of panic as they came and went. They finally came to a much smaller chamber than those they had seen before. Mats and blankets had been set out, obviously meant for sleeping. Hikaru drew Pavel to sit, bringing them both to eye level with the alien.
"We are very lucky," the alien said slowly. "The flaura we have been given has more than a few kindnesses to lend to us. You have obviously become very intimate with our safe homes —"
Pavel did not quite sneer, but came close. Hikaru nudged him, and got a dirty look in response.
"We have another plant," the alien continued, seemingly oblivious. "It is one of the reasons we are so strict about who we will allow on our planet; we fear what would happen if someone who did not respect it were to get hold of it."
Hikaru raised both eyebrows. "I have a personal interest in plants, I have to say."
"You will find this one particularly interesting. Its properties give us the ability to do things that would otherwise not be possible." The alien sat down in front of them. "The gift we wish to give you is a tea made from this plant. Drinking it will give you several hours with a loved one you can no longer see."
"I don't understand," Pavel said.
"I think humans use the word death to describe it, though we do not think it is as simple as that."
Hikaru caught his breath without meaning to. Pavel didn't seem to react initially, but the silence seemed to ring around them. The weight of the idea was not lost; Pavel's loss had shaped their relationship in big ways. Hikaru trusted him when he said that he would choose Hikaru over his mother, but when given the option of having both — well, it didn't take a genius to figure it out.
"No."
"What?" Hikaru turned to look at Pavel, more than startled that the word had come out. "Pavel."
Pavel shook his head, eyes clenched shut. Unsure what to do, Hikaru kissed him below the ear, and turned his attention back to the alien — they were definitely being studied, now. The look was all too familiar, though usually reserved for Spock's face. "We're honored," Hikaru said, "but I think we need to discuss it before we decide anything."
"Negotiations will not be completed for several days yet. You have time to think," the alien said. "You may remain here, if you wish."
"This is fine, thank you."
Pavel didn't move until they were alone; then, he curled into Hikaru's side, clinging tight. Hikaru petted his curls, not sure what was wrong, or what he could do to help.
"I thought this is what you would want," Hikaru said after a minute.
Pavel shrugged. He picked at the loose threads of the blanket with his fingernails, and didn't say anything.
"Pasha, tell me what you're thinking."
"I would want it if it was real." He didn't look at Hikaru, though he stopped picking at the blanket. "What he describes is nothing but a hallucination."
He had a point. Hikaru knew that, and he wanted to say something to change his mind, but didn't know what. "But what if it isn't?" was all he could come up with.
Pavel finally looked up, obviously skeptical. "They want to drug us so we can see dead people. That's a hallucination."
"That doesn't mean it's not real." Somehow, this seemed more important than anything they had had to decide in the last few months of being together.
"There's a big difference between some chemical reaction —" he said the words like they were being wrenched from him. "And paranormal activity."
"You're a scientist, I know," Hikaru said slowly, trying to sort his thoughts carefully before he said them. "But by that logic, isn't love just a bunch of chemical reactions that make you feel good?"
"You're oversimplifying it."
"You're just being stubborn."
The look he got after that was soft, Pavel's eyebrows raised and a small quirk to his lips. "Stop being so right. It's very bothersome."
He could hear the sound of victory, in a purely metaphorical way. "So by my logic, it would be completely real if you did take it. Right?"
Pavel definitely did not want to admit it. He looked away and was silent, though he pressed a little closer to Hikaru. Finally, he heaved a sigh. "You are very lucky I love you."
"You have a strong biological reaction when in contact with me?"
That earned him a smack. "Something like that. Still. Let me think."
Hikaru leaned back against the wall, and returned to petting Pavel's hair. He was sure that there was more to it than his parsing of logic. Grief, he was sure, had its hand in it. That he didn't have any idea what to say bothered him, so the best he could do was this. "I love you. Whatever you decide is fine with me. I just want to make sure you don't just say no without thinking about it."
They sat in silence for a while, until Hikaru finally shifted to free the leg that was going numb. "Well, this has definitely killed the mood," he said, and they both giggled like schoolgirls.
A few hours later, Hikaru was able to track down Kirk, who had gotten himself freed from negotiations for a little while. Of course, by tracking him down, he meant sneaking up on the man while he ate dinner.
"Sir?"
Kirk jumped, then pressed a hand to his chest. "Mr. Sulu," he said, breathless, "I want you to raise your right hand and swear an oath to me that you will never use your ninja powers on me again."
"I didn't mean to," Hikaru laughed. "Ninja? Just because I'm Japanese, right?"
"No, because you're a sneaky son of a bitch." Kirk jabbed at him with a finger. "Did you need something?"
"How are negotiations going so far?"
Kirk raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure that has nothing to do with you wanting something, of course."
"Pavel is going to dig to the other side of the planet if he doesn't get out of here sometime soon. It doesn't have to be anything important, but could we get one of them to…I don't know, walk us around? We can examine plants or something for the records." He sounded desperate, and he kind of hated it. Kirk, fantastic as he was, what not someone Hikaru liked having to ask favors from. If he wasn't their captain, it would be less of a big deal. But between his station and the fact that Kirk had saved his life more than once, favors seemed trite.
"I'll talk to them," Kirk said. "At this rate I think we're going to be lucky to get out of here with any sort of deal to do scientific study, so Spock's going to beat me if I don't come back to the ship with something."
That was a relief, at least. "You're the best." Hikaru turned to leave, but was stopped by a hand on his wrist. Kirk motioned him to sit.
"These aliens have had an awful lot of questions to ask the last couple of days about what reason in the universe Mr. Chekov would have for getting caught with a hand down your pants."
Hikaru went through a number of responses in his mind, but didn't produce anything but a small strangled noise.
Kirk grinned broadly. "I just thought you should know. Have a good lunch, Mr. Sulu."
Hikaru was gone before Kirk had even finished speaking, too embarrassed to stay. Behind him, he thought he could hear slightly hysterical laughter.
The thing about Kirk was that he as much as he might make things look like they were just for his own convenience, he always worked triple-time when someone asked him for something important. At least, important to him. It took less than an hour for him to have written permission to send both Hikaru and Pavel to the surface. Pavel kissed the paper, and looked like he was ready to find Kirk to kiss him too.
"Will you come on?" Hikaru asked, tugging Pavel by the hip. "Let's get up there before they change their minds!"
It wasn't quite that easy. They had to wait for their guide, first of all, because the aliens didn't want them tramping around on the planet on their own. He wanted to say something, but knew that referencing their last sexual fubar would just make Pavel more nervous. At last, though, they were able to crawl up the ladders, and into the sunlight. There, Pavel took his opportunity to flop in the grass, like a man who had just barely escaped from drowning and was glad to see land.
Hikaru flopped on top of him when he reached the top next, and giggled, giddy with the feeling of being home. "I love you," he mumbled.
"Get off," Pavel replied, nudging him. "Don't you have plants to look at?"
Hikaru hauled Pavel up with him, and they half-followed their guide as he introduced much of the plant life. They alternated taking samples and scans with knocking shoulders and, occasionally, tossing down their tools to roll in the grass some more. The change in Pavel was gigantic; he looked like he was a child, the question of their "gift" totally gone while he took in the world. It made Hikaru catch his breath for a minute.
And then it was gone.
"What are these?" Pavel asked, pointing to a small patch of what looked similar to clover, if clover was purple.
"The most treasured thing the planet gives us," the alien said.
"The tea flower?"
"That would be it." The alien stood between Pavel and the plant, though considering how tiny it was, the action was fairly futile. Still, it was obvious that the species was protective of it. Pavel didn't say anything more; he studied the plant for a minute over the alien's head before finally grabbing his tricorder from where he had set it on the ground, jerking the strap a little too sharply. If Hikaru had blinked, he would have missed it.
Luckily, he didn't blink.
He was determined not to press, so the waited for Pavel to bring it up again. He had expected it to take longer — at least one night, maybe two — but that didn't mean he wasn't relieved that Pasha put his head on Hikaru's chest that night, and mumbled, "i want to do it."
He just petted Pavel's head, and closed his eyes. "I don't think you'll regret it."