A/N: Sorry, I just really, really needed to fix my grammatical mistakes. It was driving me insane! Next post WILL be chapter 5! As I've said before, you guy are absolutely fantastic! Each one of your reviews has brought a giant smile to my face!

This chapter goes out to the Taylor/Wash fandom! We really need to come up with a pairing nickname like Tash, Twash or Taylorton. …or something *big smile*

I hope everyone enjoys this chapter as much as the others!

Taylor's POV will be fun!

It was the beginning of the next day and the sun was just about to rise over the horizon and grace Terra Nova with it's light. In Commander Taylor's office, the very man himself sat at his desk with both of his Lieutenants on either side of him. They were leaned in close to read Skye's written proposal with him. Generally it wasn't a problem when they were this close, but today it bothered him. Well, Guzman would only get so close but Alicia on the other hand…she was a good distance away from his body and he could still smell her scented soap.

More than once throughout reading the page long proposal, he had inhaled too deeply and got a stronger whiff of it. It was infuriatingly addictive and it would be at this point that his head would move instinctively toward the delightful smell.

Clenching his jaw and forcing himself to focus, he finally got in the last paragraph. A few sentences before he had finished, Guzman stood straight and a few moments after, Alicia did the same.

"Thoughts?" he asked, leaning back in his chair.

"As fun as it would be, the civilians don't know proper protocol for watching over the gate. I like the idea, but I prefer the second option where half of the soldiers stay on patrol for the day and then they switch at night. If this becomes a yearly occurrence, then we'll have to keep tabs on who was allowed to get drunk and who wasn't previous years to make it even." said Guzman, a small frown marring his features.

"Right. But would this be a hindrance to the soldiers? Having a celebration going on behind them when they have to be on patrol?" asked Taylor.

"You would have to ask, Lieutenant Washington, sir." he said, indicating to the silent woman on his other side. "I know how they work professionally. She would know them a little bit deeper since she trained most of them when they got here."

It was then both men turned their full attention to Alicia. Taylor did his absolute best to look neutral towards her but knew he was doing an awful job when the very woman he was trying to be neutral to, stared at him a few moments longer than probably necessary before for started talking.

"The newer soldiers will be tempted. I suspect they'd look back at the celebration often, instead of outside the gate. If we were to- as Skye had suggested- allow the alcohol to come out at a certain time of the night, we would have to do a couple rounds throughout the night at each post to make sure they weren't slacking." Guzman nodded his agreement with Alicia.

"If the Sixers were to make a move that night at the gate, we would probably have to bring out the sonic cannons and use those to make them go away until another time. The last thing we need or want is to send our drunk soldiers onto the battlefield with a weapon. They'll be an easy target." the tanned man leaned once again on the table as he spoke. "If we were to prepare all the soldiers mentally for this celebration, I don't foresee any problems with it."

Commander Taylor had a frown etched onto his features. "Alright, leave it with me, I need to think it over." his two subordinates nodded and left for their turn on patrol.

As soon as the door closed behind Guzman, Taylor sighed heavily and ran his hands over his face. He took in a small breath and let out a noise of frustration when he could still smell the sharp flowery scent that he was now starting to associate with Alicia.

That woman had no idea what she was doing to him. Last night, after their sparring match, he had to leave early to have a long cold shower. All he could think about was how she felt under and on top of him. The Commander closed his eyes and once again a vision of her naked and writhing under him popped into his mind.

Eyes flying open, he shook his head. Stop! he hissed to himself. This was getting absolutely ridiculous. As much as he wanted to make it clear to Alicia that she'd done nothing wrong and he wasn't avoiding her out of dislike, he couldn't. He needed her as far away from him as possible, for now. At least until he got this under control.

He turned in his chair to face the open window, catching sight of Wash giving instructions to a band of soldiers. He watched her for a moment, knowing he probably shouldn't, but the way she handled herself was entrancing. Why hadn't he noticed before? Was he that blind that he failed to see the sheer powerful femininity that Wash emitted?

Apparently, he wasn't the only to notice. Unconsciously, he leaned forward in his chair with a dark expression and watched a newer recruit eye her the way one might a juicy steak. He looked to be no more than twenty years old with wide shoulders and towered over Wash by a good six feet. What was interesting was not once did Alicia look like she noticed his constant staring.

Getting up from his seat, he traveled to his window and leaned an arm on it to better observe the scene unfolding below him.

He could faintly hear his Lieutenant giving them instructions on what to do if they spotted anything amiss, no matter how small. While the soldier in question looked like he was listening to what she was saying, Taylor watched the boy's eyes drift down every time she turned to address someone else's questions.

Boy, don't even try. Wash turned her back to them and bent slightly to retrieve her firearm and once again, the soldier's eyes drifted down for a moment longer than necessary. "You gotta be kidding me." he muttered. An air of relief washed over him when she dismissed them and everyone, including the asshole checking out his Lieutenant, dispersed.

He would need to keep an eye on that man. And then have a word with Wash about her lack of female intuition.

Nathaniel pushed off the window frame and went back to his desk, only to discover a- not so supervised- dinosaur in his chair. Taylor looked around to see how the thing got in and noticed his door was slightly ajar. Guzman probably didn't close it right.

Coming around to his desk he spun the chair around. "Off." Apollo looked up at him and tilted his head.

"What do you mean you lost him?" he heard Alicia yell from outside headquarters.

"I'm sorry! I turned for only a moment and he was gone." Malcolm's panicked voice came next.

"Wash!" Taylor called, catching both scientist and Lieutenant's attention. When the woman walked in to find Apollo in Taylor's seat with the very man leaning his arms on the back of the chair, relief flooded her features.

"Oh, thank god!" said Malcolm. "You," he pointed to the dinosaur as he came around the desk. "are a very bad dinosaur. Very bad indeed."

"No harm done Malcolm, for future just make sure you actually keep the doors closed. You wouldn't have them open with a small child in the room, would you?"

"It won't happen again." the light-haired man said and before he was able to pick up the dinosaur, Apollo scurried off the chair and trotted over to Alicia. She bent down and with an affectionate smile, she ran a hand from the base of the bump on his head, to the middle of his back.

"You be a good dinosaur to Malcolmus, okay? No more running off." she told it softly and allowed the very man to pick up the creature and carry it back to his lab.

She watched them go and stood up straight. Alicia faced her Commander and barely suppressed a grin at the incredulous expression on his face.

"Really, Wash? Attached to a dinosaur?" he asked and she shrugged.

"To each his own." she replied and made a small bow before she headed for his door.

"Freeze." he said in a tone meant to stop her but somehow it came out harsher than he'd intended. She turned back around and stood in stance, her head held high. She thought he was angry with her again, he mused to himself.

"Sir." she said, indicating she was listening.

"One of your recruits… I want reassigned to Guzman." he ignored her confused frown and sat back down at his desk.

"None of them are ready to be reassigned until they've completed test trials and been through patrols for at least three months before a transfer is even considered." she replied. He could see her confusion but chose to ignore it.

Taylor activated the screen on his desk and opened the man's file that was no doubt thinking impure thoughts about Alicia as they spoke.

"William Bennett. I want him moved." he replied, ignoring what she told him. He knew very well what the rules were, he made them.

"For the safety of him and our colony, I can not follow that order, sir. He's only been on three weeks." she replied and he watched her gulp when he tore his gaze from the profile, to her.

"You're not fit to be his teacher." her brows raised at the blunt answer.

"I… sir… what?"

"You heard me, Wash. I just watched your interaction with the men out there. You're not going to be training him."

"But sir-"

"That's an order, Wash. Don't forget your place here. You may be second in command but I finalize the decisions and I've decided to transfer him to Guzman." he watched her jaw clench and unclench.

"Yes, sir." she was furious again and when she slammed the door behind her, he sighed and ran a hand over his face. He was really good at doing that lately.

That night, as Taylor was making his nightly rounds around the gate, he spotted William Bennett and one other new recruit. They hadn't noticed his presence yet, which was just fine with the older man because it gave him the element of surprise.

"You think you'll ever be a Lieutenant, Bennett?" asked the smaller man.

"Maybe. What I'd like more than anything," he said and snickered. "is to make that uptight Lieutenant Washington loosen up, you know? Take her to bed a few times and ram her like I did that Tasha girl." he grinned. "Oh, that would make anything she dished out at me be that much more worth it."

"Don't keep her all to yourself, asshole." said his companion.

At this point, Taylor had heard enough and made his presence known by clapping a firm hand over their shoulders. "Evening, boys." the smile on his face didn't reach his eyes as he looked at them.

"Evening, Commander." they said in unison and briefly gave each other a panicked look before turning back to their CO.

"You know, talk like that about a woman can get you in a lot of trouble 'round here." said Taylor, his wide fake smile fading into a little grin. "Talk like that about my Lieutenant…well boys, lets just say it ain't too friendly out there beyond that gate." his small smirk faded completely into a pissed off glare.

"Sir, we were just joking-"

"Yeah we weren't being serious, we had no idea-"

Retracting both fists, he popped them in the side of the jaw and watched them stumble to regain their footing. "Get out of here before I throw you over the gate with my bare hands!"

They said nothing as they scrambled and ran back to their home across a few pathways. Taylor watched them go with narrowed eyes and stood tall. "Assholes." he spat on the ground in their direction. Screw transferring the man, he was off the team altogether as of right now.

The next morning, Alicia reported in like every other morning but this time, Taylor beat her to the sign in pad and stood in front of it.

"He's off the team." he held up the paper for her to see and carefully watched her reaction. He knew she wouldn't like this. Not one bit. Especially since he had no intention of giving her a reason why.

"This wouldn't be because of my actions yesterday…" she said and he saw her shoulders tense.

At her inquisition, his own shoulders tensed. "You think I would stoop to that level?" he hissed. A few other men came in to sign in and he pointed right back out the door. "Out! Sign in later."

They froze for a moment but didn't wait around to see how far they could push his buttons and scurried out as fast as they could to report to their posts. Taylor rested one hand on his gun holstered just under his heart, and the other on his belt. "You think me a lowly Commander, Lieutenant? That I would kick him off because you decided to argue with me on who he should be training under?"

"That's not what I said, sir." she took a step back and he followed. The action hadn't gone unnoticed by her. That was made clear by the brief frown that flittered across her forehead and the glance she gave at his feet.

"Really? 'Cause it sure seemed like you were implying something along those lines."

"No, I just don't see any other explanation, he's a good soldier-"

"He's a shitty man, Wash. A shit man will eventually make a shit soldier." he cut her off and she shook her head, completely frustrated with him.

"What proof do you have of that?" her voice was raised, something they both weren't expecting to happen but it didn't stop Taylor from not missing a beat.

"A man knows." he said, meaning it to be his last words on the matter. He meant for it to be Wash's cue to drop it, to leave it alone but just like he knew she would, she kept countering him.

"You know as well as I do that's not a good enough reason. He's done nothing to harm the colony, Taylor." she used his last name. He whistled and raised his eyebrows. She had the decency to look a bit more humbled after that outburst, but the fight in her was far from gone.

"My reasons are mine alone." he gritted out, finally on his last wire of patience. He turned his back to her, dead set on leaving to take a walk until she muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like 'of course you're going to walk away'. He stopped in his tracks and glared at her over his shoulder. "What was that?"

"Nothing, sir."

His look intensified. "Really. Because I heard something that just snapped my already thin patience in half." he hissed. "You want an explanation, Wash? Fine. You'll god damned well get one!" as he spoke, he came closer to her, once again invading her personal space. The look in her eyes wasn't fear, but was something so familiar yet so foreign to the Commander that it took all his concentration to keep to the task at hand.

"Nathaniel…" she trailed off when her back was pressed against the wall behind her and he stopped close enough that he could smell her soap again and feel her warm, shallow breath on his face.

"You know that womanly instinct that usually tells a woman when her virtue is in danger?" he hissed and slammed his hand beside her head. She did her best to suppress her startled jump but he saw it and revelled in the knowledge that he was able to make the ever stoic lieutenant Washington jump. "Well, Wash, apparently yours doesn't work." he blocked her off from slipping to the side with his other hand. "Did you know he undressed you with his eyes yesterday?" he asked, effectively making her stop trying to find a way to make him take a step back and gave him her full attention. "That's right," he went on. "and then, last night when I was making rounds I heard him talking to his friends about how he wants nothing more than to fuck you into his bed a few times so you're not so uptight anymore." He watched the expressions transition across her face and when she said nothing, just stared at him, he pushed away from her body. His hand grazed against her face and he shivered involuntarily. "So, Wash, still think I was out of line?" his look was unrelenting as he stared at her, silently forcing an answer out of her.

She muttered again, her eyes straying to the ground.

"Eyes on me, Wash." he commanded. Each and every time he's commanded her to look at him, a tremor always, always, travels from the base of his spine, to the tip of his nether regions. He wasn't sure what was so enticing, so sexy about his Lieutenant looking up at him when he commanded it, but he found himself liking the flash of emotion that flittered through her eyes enough to want to do it every day, multiple times a day. "I asked you a question, ma'am. I expect a clear answer."

"I said, No, sir." she replied but she wasn't committed to the answer. He searched her eyes, plucking her will to fight back with him from under her. He snapped out of it when she cleared her throat. "Permission to report to my post, sir?" her eyes wavered a moment, indicating it was hard for her to look him in the eyes after his harshly put truth.

"Permission, granted." she slipped by him, doing her best not to touch him with her shoulders as she passed but he didn't make it easy for her. In the end, without him moving to help avoid contact, her arm grazed against his and he watched her clench and unclench her hands on her way out.

Interesting. She was just as effected by their contact as he was… It was becoming reluctantly clearer with each day that his lower commander was liking Alicia a little too much these days. He wasn't sure what that meant for them, his logical side hoped nothing. However- his other more adventurous side- hoped something would come from it. It made things a little more interesting now that he was sure she wasn't immune to their tension.

A/N: It's not as long as the other chapters but it at least got Taylor to admit, to himself, in his head (lawl) that he wants Alicia. I'll be working on the next chapter tomorrow and will have it out sometime Monday or early Tuesday, as in 12-2 in the morning.