Ok, I know this is pretty short, but it felt like the right place to stop for the moment... hope to have more up after the holiday weekend.

Thank you again, as always, for the lovely reviews! I really appreciate them and everyone who has fave/alerted this or who just keep reading without a peep. I appreciate you all.

Chapter Twenty Five

"In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood."

Henry David Thoreau

"Movie night?" Julian questioned his cabin mate when Buddy asked him if he was going to be joining the dayshift. Jack had put him on a swing shift so he could fill in wherever he was needed (or so he would annoy fewer of the crew, Julian wasn't sure.) As for question at hand, Jule had known his thrice great grandfather to do some unorthodox things in his life, but a movie night? And of all times…they were fully into alien territory, which made it seem like hardly the right time to be slacking off.

Buddy shrugged in response to his query. "It started a while back—something Kam arranged as a surprise for Jack," his smile warmed, a clear indication of how he felt about the Captain and his young lover.

Julian had noticed the level of support Kam received from the crew. It wasn't at all what he'd expected when Jack first announced the shy little blond as his 'partner'. He might not have a problem with it (why should he?), but Jack's crew? Surely they wouldn't accept the Captain's lover as one of them even if he was the pilot. They might not have any choice but to tolerate his presence on the bridge but…but they more than tolerated him. Tolbert was almost as protective of the kid as Jack and Anna Raynor…? She'd given him the evil eye when he forgot himself for a moment and started flirting with Kam the other day… not that he'd actually meant anything by it. It was just who he was, he flirted with everybody.

Still, he had the impression he should start being a little more careful lest he wake up one morning to find that the ship's medic had removed one of his testicals in his sleep. (For Kam's part, the kid had totally ignored him, which did wonders for his ego… it was one thing to be turned down flat, but ignored?)

He realized the conversation was lagging and it was his turn to speak. "Special occasion?" he queried of the other's comment.

"None that I ever knew," answered Buddy.

He suspected that there was more to it than that, but he wasn't going to hear about it from the big engineer. Chances were that whatever it was, it didn't really matter anyway. So he just nodded. Truth was he wasn't particularly interested in a movie night…or much of anything else that didn't involve spending the next eight hours staring at the insides of his eyelids. Swing shift was the worst.

He turned his attention back to Buddy Garrison. "I think I'll catch it with the night shift."

If Buddy had an opinion of that, it didn't register on his face. "See you later, then," he said in his usual amiable tone.

Jule nodded, wishing him well.

As soon as Buddy was gone, he peeled himself out of his clothes and tossed them into a heap. The art of being a good roommate wasn't lost on him, but all he wanted was a hot shower and a lot of sleep….dirty laundry could wait a few hours.

………………………………………………………………….

Buddy got to Anneke's door just as she was coming out of her cabin. He couldn't say she'd been avoiding him the last few days…or that he'd been avoiding her for that matter, although he certainly felt awkward and uncomfortable now, face to face with her, even though he'd been coming to her cabin specifically to see her. But really, how could anybody avoid anybody on a ship the size of the Bonny Welshman? He couldn't have missed her on purpose, he was sure of that. Sort of. It was just coincidence that he hadn't seen much of her and they hadn't been alone together again since…

He cleared his throat. "Heading down to the mess?" he asked, silently thankful that his voice remained steady even if inside he was a quivering wreck.

She shrugged. "Yeah. You?" she didn't quite meet his gaze.

Buddy nodded. "Are you going to the movie after?"

"Probably," she still couldn't look him directly in the eye.

Anneke had spent a fair amount of time with Kam and the Captain the past week or so, but not just for the company. Their cabin was a great place to hide out from Buddy. She felt a little ashamed of the fact that she was hiding, she hadn't really meant, not to at first (or so she kept telling herself), she just couldn't face him after the way she'd made a complete and total idiot out of herself.

Things hadn't gone any further with Jack and Kam than a few more kisses, but kissing was good. It was comfortable. In fact the more they did it, the more comfortable it got… the less… passionate… it seemed.

Maybe Jack was right about waiting for somebody she really wanted to be with. After all, it wasn't as if she was under some sort of obligation to lose her virginity…still… the thought of either of those two lying on top of her like the men in that book Jack had lent her… or her on top of them…either of them… both of them… she'd read the book twice. She would give anything to have someone want her the way the other characters wanted the heroine of the novel… not that Jack or Kam would ever want her that way, but still…they were willing to take the time with her, she appreciated that.

The book is just a story, something somebody made up, she reminded herself. Things like that didn't happen in real life… well… there was Jack and Kam, their story was pretty incredible…she didn't know she hadn't heard the half of it.

"Erm… Anneke…" Buddy cleared his throat.

She glanced up at him; he looked as uncomfortable as he'd sounded just then. She was pretty sure she knew why—he had to know she'd been avoiding him. It was stupid. They worked together. They should be friends. She should be content to be just friends, like she was content to be just friends with Jack and Kam. And they'd kissed her. She hadn't done so much as hold Buddy's hand. Which makes this totally stupid, she told herself of the fluttering in her stomach. "Look, about the other day," she began, trying to sound more confident than she felt. "Just forget that stuff I said, ok? I didn't mean anything by it," she lied. It would be easier for both of them if she lied, even if it made the butterflies turn into hornets in her stomach.

Buddy opened his mouth to say something, but then apparently thought better of it. He gave over a tight lipped smile.

"I was just… just being silly," she told him. "Forgive me?"

"Yeah. Yeah sure. Sure."

"Thanks," she said. She didn't see the crestfallen expression or hear the hurt in his tone. She had no idea he'd been trying to ask her out on that date… she doubted that he had any idea how much she'd been hoping he might ask her to go with him when Jack first announced that they were having another movie night. But he hadn't. So she assumed…

Anneke forced a smile, telling herself again just how silly she was being about the whole thing. It was just dinner in the mess as usual and then some old movie the Captain had dug out of the archives. How could anybody possibly make a date out of that anyway?