CHAPTER 4

"Come on, Cass! You deserve to celebrate! You're an Officer now!" Tuu begged.

"Tuu, I told you. My doctor says no drinking for at least a couple weeks."

"You've got to be kidding," Tuu groaned. Tuu flopped herself back on Cass's bed, pulling her tentacle-like hair out from under her head. She had come up the day after Cass had been released from the hospital to visit, although Cass suspected there were ulterior motives behind this visit.

Cass shrugged. "I was seriously injured."

"Yes, yes, and you saved Lt. Scott and the whole ship and you're my hero - but you don't understand!"

"Tuu, we can go celebrate my promotion after I'm all healed up and back to work. It's not that big of a deal." Tuu was Cass's only friend. And in all honesty, she wasn't that good of a friend. Tuu mostly used her by borrowing money, borrowing travel passes, or as a wingwoman to go meet guys. Cass used her for occasional companionship.

"Okay, fine, here's the truth" Tuu said sitting up. "There's a big party tonight. Apparently someone who works on the Bridge is having a birthday. Anyway, it's supposed to be epic and there's a guy I've had my eye on and he said he'd be there."

"You mean the Captain?"

"No," she said looking highly disappointed. "You were right. As far as I can find out, he won't sleep with any of the Enterprise crew. He may be a man-whore, but his crew is off limits."

Cass looked back at her book hiding a know-it-all grin.

"It's a different guy. He's in security and he just got assigned to patrol the hall near the archives. I've bumped into him a few times and I think we could really hit it off."

"That's cool, but you don't need me," Cass said, not looking up from her book.

"Yes, I do, Cass. Please! What if he doesn't actually like me or he's an awful kisser? I need you there in case I need a bailout."

"So, you don't really want to celebrate my promotion?" she asked, finally looking back at her.

"I do but like you said, after you're all healed up," she smiled.

Cass put down her book and sighed. "I hate going to parties."

"No, you don't. They're fun! Besides, what if you meet someone?"

Cass dropped her chin and gave her a look from under her blonde bangs.

"Come on!" Tuu said pulling Cass off the bed with her.

A couple hours later Cass and Tuu arrived at the party which was in full swing. Music thumped through the hallways around the Bridge and into a large meeting room down the hall. Tuu led the way to the self-serve bar in there. "What do you want?" Tuu asked her.

"Water," Cass answered.

"What? Don't be so basic," Tuu said. "We'll take two Luna shots."

"Tuu! I can't drink," Cass said with closed fists. "I'm on medications."

"You can have one drink," Tuu argued. "It won't kill you."

Cass folded her arms as a tightness crept up in her chest. She hated arguing with Tuu because she usually ended up giving in. But this she knew she shouldn't give on and if Tuu was going to keep pushing then she was leaving.

Tuu held out the shot. When Cass didn't take it she said, "Seriously? You're not going to drink?"

Cass turned away and headed to the hall. A moment later Tuu caught up. "Okay, okay, don't leave," she said catching her hand. Cass looked back at her. "I won't make you drink if you really don't want to."

Cass smiled, feeling proud for standing up for herself. "Thank you."

"Can you at least dance? I want to move around and see if my guy is here."

Cass looked at the dance floor. It was pretty packed with a bunch of growing drunks. But Cass squared her shoulders. She wanted to be brave again. She nodded and Tuu squealed before grabbing her wrist and pulling her to the middle of the crowd.

Tuu immediately started swinging her hips and waving her arms above her head. Cass suddenly felt hot. She rubbed her palms on her skirt and kept her arms close to her body. It's alright, she told herself. She really did love to dance, but it was scary to do it in front of other people. A guy went twirling past her just then. She looked at him and smiled. He was flailing around like a derp and didn't have a care in the world.

Cass watched him and relaxed her arms while swinging her hips lightly. She grinned as he came back around to twirl near her. She loosened up a little more as she realized no one was paying him any attention - except for her. And no one was watching her, either. No one cared; they were just having a good time.

About twenty minutes later Tuu waved at someone. Cass looked and saw a broad, caramel-skinned human wave back at her. Tuu danced over to Cass. "That's him," she said and started to gently push Cass.

"Then why are we dancing away from him?" Cass asked, still smiling from her new found dancing bravado.

"Because I want him to chase me."

Cass shrugged not caring what Tuu did. Instead she tried to mimic some dance moves an Andorian woman was doing that made it look like she was swimming.

A few minutes later Tuu's love interest appeared. "Hey, Tuu," he said with what Cass guessed was an Australian accent. "Glad to see you could make it."

"You don't know this about me, but I'm always up for a good party," she said smiling at him.

"Me too. Can I get you a drink?"

"Yes, I'd love one. Cass, do you want anything?"

Cass had learned that this was the point of the hook-up for her to disappear. Tuu liked it if Cass was the one that looked like the flake, so if she had to "bail" she had a better excuse.

"No thanks," Cass said and danced away. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Tuu and him heading off towards the bar.

A guy danced up to Cass. She nervously stopped dancing but the guy jumped along with the beat. "Come on, dancing queen!" he grinned, jumping higher.

Cass smiled and started jumping with him while holding her stomach so her wound didn't bounce around so much. Soon the whole center mob of the dance floor was jumping in rhythm. Cass laughed as that guy and another did chest bumps, nearly sending each other crashing back to the ground.

The song changed to something slower and people started pairing up. Cass rubbed her arm as she ducked towards the edge of the dance floor. "Hey, beautiful. Where you headed?" a man said taking her arm. He pulled her to his chest and held her close as he started to sway back and forth.

Cass stiffened and clenched her jaw.

"My name's Dr. Ward. I saw you leaving the hospital yesterday. Glad to see you're looking so fine. What's your name?" he said, smirking down at her.

Cass shook her head. "Uh, no - no thanks." She tried to pull away but Ward pulled her back.

"Don't be like that," he said.

She continued to shake her head. "I - uh -" Her words got caught in her throat as memories flooded her brain. She pushed back, turning her face away.

She felt Ward lean in. "Relax, we're just having fun."

"Please let go," Cass said pulling away.

"Don't be like that," Ward said, holding her elbows and leaning close.

Deja vu hit her like a ton of bricks, gripping at her chest and making her breath leave her. "No," she gasped, trying to twist her arms away.

Ward smirked. "It's just -" Suddenly Ward went flying through the air, making Cass scream.