At one point she told me that we should get together for coffee in the mornings after Robert left. She explained that she had just retired and she was... going to have to get used to having time on her hands in the mornings. Having a retired friend to talk to would help her with the transition. The cookout was a rousing success, with all of us saying we had to do this more frequently. Jayne and Robert were the last to leave and, when they left, Jayne hugged me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.. I took it from her mouth and as soon as I took it in my hand, I spanked her ass with it. “This is for whacking your nasty ass,” I said.She then took out the condoms, ropes, etc with lust in her eyes. She was shocked to see candles in the bag. I whacked her ass again.“Time will tell the answer to these, baby” I told her.I then dragged her to the room again. I pushed her to the bed and started kissing her. My hand glided from her soft belly to her chest from the sides. I could feel her soft skin. Closing the book, whose title was A Tale of Two Cities, she thought of the ramifications of just turning the ship over to the crew under the command of its First Officer once they reached Proxima Ceti, yet, for reasons she could not discount, perhaps a misplaced sense of loyalty, she couldn't let the old ship go. Glancing up at the supine navigator on her crash couch, she cleared her throat, to which the NavCom looked back. "Status?", requested the androgynous Captain. "Still fourteen parsecs. Stan was pleased and relieved to find that the greeting was just as warm as always. Anne's black-and-gold dress that she wore again may have had something to do with it, but Stan imagined Yves was too professional to pay too much attention to that.They went through the normal formalities and Yves invited them through. His one concession to the previous week was when he told Anne, quietly, "Miss Bottomley and Mr. Orbison are here already." He said no more, merely gesturing them on.Stan let Anne.