"Of course it's alright," he agreed, nestling in closer to her. "I'm happy to have any time alone. And someday we'll get to spend the whole night together," he promised. Maybe not someday soon, given how little progress he seemed to be making winning her family over to his cause, but someday. After having weathered the initial rough summer after they'd surprised everyone with the courtship, he was no longer worried that they would intervene to break things off. They were probably expecting that they could dissuade him from continuing to pursue her by repeatedly icing him out any time they were together, but Alfred wasn't going to give up. He hadn't undertaken this decision lightly, and he was sure Zelda hadn't, either. They were in this for good, as far as he was concerned. Her family may never really come around, but sooner or later they'd get used to it.

Having her this close was something he hadn't been able to do since before they'd started courting, and he was relishing the feel of her skin and the smell of her hair, over the underlying salt scent from the sea all around them. Cuddling together under the blanket was having a physical effect on him, but he didn't bother trying to hide it. He was long since past pretending, for decorum's sake, that he wasn't wildly attracted to her.

That thought stirred a memory, one which he couldn't help but laugh at. "Do you remember when you came to the Voyager about a month before I was set to leave on the expedition? You were in my cabin... I think ostensibly to look at a sword," he recalled, but on saying this the potential for innuendo occurred to him and set him to laughing again. "You asked to kiss me. Merlin, I was so embarrassed. I wanted to kiss you so badly. I was just afraid if I started I wouldn't stop."