For the first time in ages, Oliver felt relaxed. The Risan tropical air was soothing. Lying on a sunlounger, padded with extra cushions, he was enjoying the duel Risan suns. It was early morning and instead of lying in at the luxurious Risan villa he and Fynn had been given, they had decided to head down to the nearby beach. Clear, crystal water lapped calmly against the pure-white sandy shore. After going swimming for a bit together, Oliver had decided to leave Fynn to carry on with his snorkelling antics while he returned to the beach. Now enjoying the warm gentle air carasse against him, Endeavour’s commanding officer was no longer feeling guilty about leaving his ship and half the crew behind while it was in high orbit receiving minor repairs. Leonov had to almost practically push Campbell onto the Risan transport that was used to bring the first half of the crew down to the pleasure planet below. He was starting to warm more and more to her. 

Resting on the Risan beach reminded him of his time when he was a teenager and his parents had moved him and his brother to Los Angeles for a few years. His mother, being a famed author, had been approached by film producers to turn one of her famous novels into a big Hollywood blockbuster. Oliver had hated change and enjoyed living in Ayr in Scotland, so when he did move to LA, he wasn’t the most accommodating teenager. Reluctantly he engaged with his school work and found some enjoyment in the team games he played. The one thing that had helped him was spending time on the beach. Sometimes it would be with his friends, or his brother but most of the time he preferred his own company. That said this beach was something else. There wasn’t a soul around beside him and Fynn. It was perfect. It was bliss. 

An hour had passed and Oliver had dozed off. Wearing just his sunglasses and blue swim shorts, he was in a carefree mood. That was quickly interrupted by Fynn’s sudden return from out of the water and throwing a handful of water over Oliver. Swearing at him at the sudden wake up call, Oliver stood up and chased after Fynn who had quickly sprinted off knowing that his husband would have his revenge. The two were in the middle of wrestling one another, after Oliver had caught up with him and tackled him to the floor, when they just stopped and laughed at each other. With Oliver straddling on top of Fynn, they soon let go and continued to chuckle.

“This has been the best two days so far.” Fynn remarked after Oliver had helped him stand up from the sand as they walked hand in hand back to where they had based themselves earlier. 

“You’re right.” Oliver admitted. “It was needed.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that you’ve been carrying the weight of this war on your shoulders for too long.” Fynn stated.

“I’m not the only Starfleet captain feeling that way, Fynn.” Oliver responded, “there’s a lot at stake here.”

Placing his arm around Oliver’s waist, Fynn got closer as they carried on walking and talking. “Ja, I know that but the way you were before about it not being right for us to enjoy ourselves while here was not a healthy outlook, Ollie.” 

“It’s not as if the Romulans have made it easy for us to relax.” Oliver countered back with.

“Ollie, I’m not saying that. What I’m trying to say is we’ve gone from one battle to the next without only taking a breath when Endeavour was heavily damaged after Draken. Then it took Starfleet to tell you the ship was being upgraded and refitted for you to take a moment to breathe.” Fynn defended his point. 

“Four months isn’t the best time not to be away from the frontlines.” Oliver said.

“It was because it gave you time to stop, rest and recover. Just like you’ve needed after dealing with the Orions.” Fynn told his husband.

Oliver nodded, as he knew that Fynn was right. He just couldn’t shake the guilt off so easily of enjoying himself while others were out there putting their lives in danger while they were frolicking about on Risa. 

When they approached where they had been lying earlier they were surprised to see Captain Jarandis standing there. Wearing a long flowing white dress, the Risan woman was stunning to look at. Seeing them approach her, she smiled sweetly.

“Captain Jarandis, this is a lovely surprise.” Oliver said as he and Fynn stopped just before her. “Is everything okay?”

“Absolutely and I’m sorry to disturb your time but I have been sent to pass on an official dinner invitation from the Chief Curator of the Risan Hedony to you both.” Jarandis handed them a circular shaped piece of paper that was written in English, inviting them to travel to the Risan capital city of Nuvian and join the Risan leader for dinner that evening. 

Looking at Fynn and then back to Jarandis, Oliver was surprised. “We are honoured, but we weren’t expecting anything like this.”

“I understand, but Curator Kevis is a former…friend of mine and he was interested in meeting with you when we found out from other guests that you led the negotiations in forming the alliance between Earth and Kreetassa.” Jarandis mentioned. 

Hearing that there was some political motivation behind the invite, Oliver wondered where Jarandis was going with this. “So is this a formal meeting between our people?”

“Let us call it an opportunity to discuss further relations between our people.” Jarandis said, still smiling sweetly. “It does not require formal wear, but I will have a steward sent to measure you both up for clothing that you will find comfortable to wear in the curator’s presence.”

Oliver could sense Fynn tensing at the invite. “The curator is very kind and we’d be happy to meet with him.” He finally said. 

“That is great, we will have an executive transport come and pick you both up. In the meantime, please enjoy the rest of your day and don’t forget we have a number of Nuvian masseurs we can send over to help you relax further.” Jarandis offered. 

Oliver chuckled nervously and turned down Jarandis’ suggestion but said they would be available later for the dinner. 

As she walked away from them, Oliver looked at Fynn and straight away he knew Fynn wasn’t impressed. 

“Oliver Harris Campbell, I swear I don’t know why I love you so much but you are  hopeless at trying to put yourself first instead of the uniform.” Fynn teased while shaking his head and suppressing a smirk. 

Shrugging his shoulders, Oliver wasn’t sure what to say at first. “If the Risan leader wants to discuss informally with me what we can do to improve relations then I’m happy to listen.”

“Let’s hope that’s all he expects from us. I hope he doesn’t expect us to join him for jamaharon to improve relations.” Fynn quipped as they laid back on the sunloungers. 

Chuckling at Fynn’s comment, Oliver sat down and wondered if he should call his superiors about this. Knowing it would annoy Fynn, he changed his mind and called Leonov instead to update her about what had happened. 

He wasn’t going to create a diplomatic incident without his first officer knowing his whereabouts.