Nighttime Confessions
In the darkness of night, a figure made her way across the main deck of "Fury", on a mission towards the med bay. There was something that she had to do that she really didn't want anyone to witness. She was supposed to be strong for everyone, but if they saw this, it would change the view they had of her.
It had been two weeks since the op that Havoc Squad had done aboard the gauntlet, where her right hand, Aric Jorgan had been critically injured. Ever since then, Capt… no, Major, Nylah Morgan, she kept forgetting she was a major now, that they had all been promoted, had not been able to stop the nightmares that had begun to wake her at night. It seemed like every night, she would dream that their team medic, Elara Dorne had been unable to save Jorgan, and he had died right in front of her. Even right now, just thinking about it, she could feel the crippling despair try and creep up on her. Ever since that day, every night Nylah would awaken with a scream on her lips, tears on her cheeks, and her body absolutely covered in sweat. She did not know how she had been able to keep the screams from escaping her night after night when she was startled awake from the nightmare, but she knew that eventually, the scream would escape her, and she would have questions from her squad that she did not know if she would be able to answer.
Finally making her way to the doorway to the med bay, she paused for a moment, taking in the scene before her. In the muted light of the Fury at night, she could make out the sleeping figure of her target, the med panel above him beeping in time with his heartbeats, comforting Nylah with the reminder that he was still alive. In the corner of the room, Nylah knew that Dorne would be sleeping on a cot, the squad medic not wanting to be far from her patient, but she only had eyes for the Cathar before her.
Slowly she moved over to his bedside and settled onto the stool that she had grabbed. Her eyes quickly took him in, seeing the stark white of bandages that still covered the visible parts of his body, and more that she was sure laid under his covers. She felt tears fill her eyes, and she raised her hand to gently cup the necklace that she wore around her neck, the pendant in her hand filling her with a needed warmth and strength remembering the day when Jorgan had given it to her, after her promotion to Captain.
How long before that point had she fought her attraction to the strong Cathar? To her, it seemed like it had been there since the very beginning, from the first time that she had walked into the base at Fort Garnik on Ord Mantell and had been introduced to the tough as nails lieutenant that would be overseeing her ops maneuvers. That first meeting had sent the fluttering of something through her. If she were being truthful to herself, she did not think that she would have been as successful in leading Havoc Squad. While everyone looked to her to know what to do, she had looked to him to guide her in what she should do next. Without Jorgan at her side, she did not know if they would have been as successful as they had been thus far.
It wasn't until they had finally brought Tavus to justice that Nylah first started to see any hint from Jorgan that he might have had feelings for her. She could remember how she felt the first time that he had grabbed her hand as he was passing her on her way to the bridge, and the smile that he seemed to have just for her. It had caused warmth to blossom in her chest that she had held onto for days. Their first kiss… that was a memory that had been known to send her into fits of giggles at a moments notice… if she were to close her eyes, she could relive the memory.
They had been on Balmorra for two weeks tracking down the next member of their squad, Tanno Vik, and seemed to be getting nowhere. They had stopped for a few moments to catch their breaths and recharge themselves when Jorgan had turned to her, a strange look in his eyes. Nylah waited for him to say something as she was expecting, and when nothing came from her XO, she turned to face him only to find her lips caught and captured in one of the most passionate kisses she had ever been given. For a few moments, she had stood unresponsive, paralyzed in shock, before returning his kiss with just as much passion. That had been the beginning of their relationship, stealing tiny moments here and there when they could. Nylah could not even begin to express how happy she was. That was, until the op when Jorgan had been injured.
Even now, after the fact, she could still feel the punch to her heart that had hit her as she had approached the rest of her team and saw Jorgan collapsed on the deck. At first thought, she had been terrified that she would be told that Jorgan had been killed in action, but when she had been told that he was stable, she had felt such a sense of relief that the man she loved would survive. Yes, she had said it. She had fallen in love with him. Later that night, after they had made it back to their ship, in the safety of her quarters, Nylah had finally given in to the tears that had been waiting to escape.
Nylah was brought out of her thoughts feeling a gentle squeeze on the hand she had resting on the bed, and her eyes shot open to immediately gaze into the worried cat-like green eyes of the one that she had just been thinking about. His eyes narrowed slightly as he took in the tears that were clinging to her lashes. He raised his hand to her face, wiping away her tears and cupped her cheek. She nuzzled against his hand and pressed a kiss to his palm, her eyes dropping to study the blankets covering him.
"Ny." He said softly, his gravely voice a soothing balm to her weary soul at that moment. She felt tears fill her eyes at the sound of his concerned tone.
"I can't do it, Aric." She said. "I can't lose you. It would kill me." She felt his eyes on her for a few moments as her torrents of grief escaped her in a flood.
"Ny." He said again softly, trying to get her attention, and get her to look up at him, but she couldn't do it. "Ny." He said a third time, and now she could really hear the worried tone growing stronger as she shook her head. Finally, she felt his hand come up to her face and turn her to face him. "What is wrong?" He asked, seeing her tears.
"Can't lose you." She sobbed. "Keep seeing you in my dreams. Not quick enough. I lose you every time." She wasn't sure how much of that he could have understood between her sobs. But apparently he heard enough to understand because after a few moments, she heard and felt him move, and then she was pulled forward into his arms and onto the bed next to him. She tried to pull back as to not hurt his healing wounds, but he was having none of that. His arms were tight around her, holding her to him, and after a few moments, she gave up without really having put up a fight, knowing all along that she wanted to be held in his strong arms, to feel his strength against her. She lay against him, his quiet strength calming her as one of his hands rubbed up and down her back, soothing her.
Neither of them saw the quiet pair of eyes watching them from the corner of the room. Elara had been awakened by the sound of her commanding offer crying over her XO, and she had lay still, not wanting to draw attention to the fact that she had been awakened by it. She knew that according to regulations, fraternization between officers was strictly frowned on, but for once in her life, she did not care about that. She trusted both the Major and the Captain with her life, and so she would not attract undue attention to them.
After a short amount of time of being held in Aric's arms, Nylah finally looked up at him. She could see the concern and respect, and hopefully maybe even a little bit of love in his gaze.
"What happened?" He asked her finally.
"After the gauntlet." She said haltingly. "We weren't quick enough." She laid her hand on his chest where she could see a bandage and smiled slightly as she felt his heart beating as well. "You died." Her voice dropped down to barely a whisper. There was a moment of silence, and then Nylah felt Jorgan's arms come up tight around her.
"I'm not going anywhere." His voice was a low rumble in his chest that Nylah felt deep in her core. He cupped her face and turned her to look at him. "I'm not good at this; I never have been good at words or feelings, but I promise you with all that I am, that I am not going anywhere that makes me leave your side, Ny." Despite the fact that he did not say the words out loud, she saw them in his eyes and returned it.
"Forever." She whispered and leaned up to place a kiss on his mouth.
Elara Dorne smile as she watched her two commanding officers lose themselves in the love that could see now that bound them together. The smile remained on her lips as she settled back into sleep, content that her world was as it should be.
A/N: Changed characters name and added a few new things to make the story flow better.