And Then There Was You (Chris Evans AU)

Honeymoon Kahului Hawaii

Chris POV

Not surprisingly I'm awake with the sun on our first day in port. Daphne lays peacefully against my chest as I play with her hair. The whale watching excursion doesn't leave the docks until noon so we could have a lazy start to the day.

After our eventful night on the balcony I'm willing to let her sleep in. I have never considered myself an exhibitionist but given the private and spacious balcony I couldn't pass it up. If Daphne had asked me to stop I would have, but she didn't. And from what I could tell she thoroughly enjoyed herself as well. She may have even suggested it occur again before the end of the trip.

  It's just 6:30, definitely too early to wake Daphne. I carefully creep out of the bed. After throwing on some gym shorts, t-shirt and my tennis shoes I jot a quick note on the off chance she wakes up before I'm back.
Beautiful,
   I've gone for a workout. I'll be back by 8 am. Love you.

  I toss my wallet and key into my pocket and quietly retreat out of the room. Looking at the map of the boat next to the elevator I see that the track and gym are on the same floor, just one above us.

  After thirty minutes of weight training I go out to the track. The sunrise makes an incredible backdrop as I begin my run. It's peaceful, quiet. And for the first fifteen minutes I'm alone. But the quiet is interrupted when I hear heavy footsteps coming up behind me, trying to match my speed.

Glancing over my shoulder I see that Mark apparently had a similar thought to get some exercise in. I give a little 'guy nod' and continue my pace.

Personally I don't want to have a conversation with him after some of his behavior over dinner so I try to keep a good bit of distance between us. But, after another ten minutes I'm ready to be done so I slow my run down to a jog. For whatever reason Mark finds this as an invitation for discussion.

"Sure is gorgeous out here," he says as he jogs up next to me.

"Yeah," I just simply agree hoping to not prolong this interaction.

"Jessica is so lazy she hasn't gotten up before 10 since we boarded the ship."

"Well it is a vacation. I'm sure she deserves the extra rest," I tell him as I realize this won't be a short conversation. "Being a nurse in any ER is tough."

Mark scoffs in response to my comment. "She always embellishes her job. She pushes paperwork more than anything. But she loves to throw in the "ER nurse" terminology."

I need to watch my words carefully. "I'm sure it's a lot on her no matter how much trauma she sees. I know I struggle with some of the things I've seen."

"She's rarely home. Hardly supports me in my job. I'm the only coach whose wife is never waiting for him on the sidelines," he tells me much more than I care to know about anyone I just met. I flinch as I realize he's continuing. "My wife's not there, but my 'lady friend' is even if we can't be public."

Yeah, I want out of this conversation. "I need to head back to Daphne. Good seeing you."

"Enjoy it now. You'll lose interest soon," he calls out to me. I walk away wondering if he's drunk this early in the morning or fully aware of what he's saying about his wife and marriage.

Daphne's POV

I attempt to get closer to Chris but I kept being met with empty space. Finally opening my eyes I see a note on his pillow. '8 am, huh. He's got 5 minutes,' I think to myself.

I decide to start getting ready for the day because I can already tell I'm going to need lots of coffee. I sit up and swing my legs off the side of the bed to stand. My legs are shaky and weak. I start to feel concerned wondering what could be wrong but then I'm reminded of our balcony escapades. The memory sends shivers down my body and a warmth through my core. It was certainly the most adventurous thing I've done in my life. It was very out of character for me but with Chris everything feels right.