We don't get to get out of the base often, and when we do, I usually have obligations to visit my family, or he's got to visit his parents. Sometimes I'll have really sweet seats for a Sox game, or he'll be in one of his moods where he just wants to go out in the desert for a week and shoot things in silence.

We see each other around the base, and I'll usually sneak out to sleep in his camper if I can make it without any of the guys noticing, but I didn't expect him to want me this vacation.

I didn't have any plans, and he knew it. I'd usually talk about them if I did. He doesn't talk much, so I always just assume there's something going on. It makes for a great surprise when there isn't.

"Pack your bag, Roo." He told me, leaning against my door with a small smile.

"You ain't got a job?" I asked, already clambering off my bed to fetch my satchel and stuff it with a few days' worth of clothes, and a few more of underwear.

"Nope. 'N' told my dad where he could shove it last time I was at home. Mum said to maybe wait a month before coming 'round again." Sniper rolled his eyes and gave me a sheepish grin.

I smiled back and pulled on some sneakers. "So where we goin'?"

"Out into the desert."

"Hunting?" I asked, trying to keep my expression neutral. If it was hunting, he'd want me to stay quiet.

He just smirked and winked at me before turning to leave, and I followed a few steps after.

Well, we're not hunting out here.

I took a nap for most of the ride, and didn't expect to see anything for miles once we stopped. Well, there would be brush and trees and maybe a few animals slithering off under something, but I hadn't expected to see a pile of dry scrub and wood piled up real neat and organized.

The sun's already dipping below the never-ending horizon when the van pulls to a stop a safe distance away from the pile. Sniper tosses the keys on the dash and pops a crick out of his neck before getting out with a light, "here she is."

I get out too, ignoring the intense urge to run over and investigate the pile of wood. When I follow Sniper around to the back of the camper, I'm boiling with a mixture of confusion and excitement.

"Hey, what gives?" I ask, but he doesn't even look up at the question, just continues digging around in the back of his camper like he's on a mission for something specific.

I huff at him, and make way when he comes back out with a few blankets under his arm and a pillow. The setting sun reflects off his aviators, and I swallow when he looks right at me, letting them slip down his nose.

"You wanna light 'er up?"

"Does a bird wanna fucking fly?" I grin and jump into the camped behind him to dig around for his lighter.

It takes me a little while to find it—still in one of the pockets of his jeans from yesterday—but I'm pretty good at finding things when he loses them.

I jump out and turn around to see Sniper laying out the blankets a suitable distance away. Stars are already becoming visible with the fading light of the sun, and I feel my ears start to burn from just how fucking nice of him it was to plan this.

To plan it for me.

I bite my lip and walk over to him, waiting for him to straighten before launching myself at him and giving him the biggest hug he's ever gotten. He stumbles back a step, and I can feel the chuckle deep in his chest where my face is pressed. I breathe him in and feel his arms wrap around me in return.

"Thought it might be nice to get away from base for a bit…" his hand rubs my back slowly, and I press my face against his collarbone and shake my head, trying to get myself back together before I pull back and punch him in the arm.

"It is." I grin up at him and then raise up on my toes to give him a quick kiss. "Fuck, it's awesome."

He chuckles and flicks his head toward the brush pile. "Well, light it, it's going to start cooling down out here soon."

The wood at the base is already soaked in lighter fluid, and the flames twist up toward the sky until they jump off the pile and disappear into the night. More flickers replace them, and I feel Sniper's arms wrap around me as I just watch, entranced by the orange flames.

"C'mon." He murmurs, and pulls me gently down with him. Once we're lying down, he stretches out on the blanket and I sit up next to him, still watching the flames burning brightly.

"How long can we stay out here?" I ask as he shifts the pillow beneath his head and stares up at the sky.

"Hmmm… so long as we're back by noon Tuesday…" He shrugs and gives me a half-smile.

"Tuesday, huh?" I grin and wiggle my body closer to him until my hip touches his. His hand reaches up to tug on the back of my shirt, and I lay back, using his arm as a pillow.

He shifts up above me, and grins down at me. "So we have Monday, Sunday, Saturday, Friday…" He says, pressing his lips to mine between each day. His lips linger, and he murmurs, "and we have tonight."

"Sounds good to me…" I choke out, not used to this much affection at once. Usually we kiss a little, hug a little and then fuck a little, but Sniper seems like he's enjoying kissing me more than usual.

I'm not complaining.

I reach up and grab his vest to tug him back down. One of his hands slides across my stomach to rest on my hip, and I feel his rough thumb tease the skin beneath the edge of my shirt, but that's as far as he goes.

The kiss is… a lot sweeter than usual. It's not desperate or aroused, it's just… comfortable. Enjoyable, and Sniper's body is blocking the light enough when he pulls back that I can see the discontent in his eyes at needing to breathe.

He hesitates, and then his hand slips over to rest on my crotch. "If you—"

"I… uh…" I blush and shake my head. "Not now, yeah?" I glance up at the stars winking above us. A little less brightly because of the fire, but they're still visible, and I can even pick out a few constellations. I don't know their names or anything, though.

"We still have Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday…" I watch his lips turn up in a smile and rest my head back against his arm. "Tell me some more star stories."

He chuckles and pulls his glasses and hat off, setting them to the side before gathering me closer to him and shifting so that I can pillow my head on his shoulder—rest my cheek right next to his.

"Where did we leave off?" He asks, raising his hand to trace a constellation.

"Uh…" I don't recognize the one that he last told me—the first night when we were close like this and we realized that it would just be really easy to turn our heads and kiss. We were a little drunk, but neither of us was dumb enough to blame it on that.

"We would have been facing that way." He points and I shift reluctantly away from his warm body to turn the way he's pointing.

"Oh, yeah, that one." I point up and he shifts so that his head is next to mine, our ears touching and feet pointing opposite directions.

His arm follows mine and he hums. "You remember where we left off?"

"Before we started making out? Not really." I grin and move back around to lay on the blankets again. He rejoins me and holds me close.

"I'll start over, then." I see the smile in the way his cheek moves and kiss his stubble. "That's Casseopia, the queen of the night sky. Like most Greek stories worth telling, she pissed off the gods something fierce."

"What'd she do?" I ask, twining our legs together.

"Well, she was boastful and vain." He nudges me, and I grumble at him to fuck off with a small grin as he continues talking.

I'm probably not going to remember the story in the morning, but that's not the important part of tonight.