Dinner was eaten faster than anyone had expected.

The girls had made a light meat and veggie soup for themselves, giving the majority of the meat to the humanoids. Athena had admitted that although the captain of the ship had said the storm would blow over tomorrow, there was no guarantee in that prediction. So they rationed out their food and tried to save as much as possible.

There wasn't much.

Lex was going through their remaining gear when dinner was over. She announced to the group that they had three tents still, each having survived with the girls and their ordeals. Athena examined the size of each one and pondered their sleeping situation. While Lex and Athena brought tents large enough for multiple persons to sleep in, Lucinda only brought a small one that could maybe fit two people in it.

"How about this?" Lucinda suggested. "Yeyinde can have my tent for himself. Scar, Chopper and Celtic can share one of the big ones while Lex, Athena and I take the other."

The four yautja cocked their heads at her suggestion. "We've never slept in. . .tents before." Yeyinde pointed out. "It'll help keep the cold out." Lex replied. "They're designed for snowy regions like this." The four still didn't look quite willing to try, so Athena made an offer. "We can show you how to use them, and you can decide if you want to or not."

Yeyinde and the others clicked and clacked amongst themselves before finally agreeing with Athena's offer.


After the girls had set the tents up inside the mess hall and showed the humanoids how to use them, the four males instantly agreed to sleep in them. Their initial distrust of these tents now gone once they saw their full use.

Lex, Lucinda and Athena rolled out their sleeping bags in their own tent and chattered for a while.

"Guys." Athena started out. "We're going to have to come up with a cover story for why we were the only ones who survived this trip." The tent went dead silent as the horrid reminder and grim reality settled on them once again. Lucinda clutched at the edges of her sleeping roll, trying hard not to cry. Lex was frowning and trying not to think of what had happened either.

Athena tapped her foot on the ground, trying not to think of what had happened either as well, but failing hard.

"What if. . ." Lucinda started out, lower lip trembling. "What if we said that the drilling machine exploded? And us three were out of range when it happened?" Lex and Athena pondered this idea for a while before deciding. Lex nodded her head in agreement, but Athena shook hers. "We'll need more details, at least on my part. I was Mr. Weyland's medic and body guard. They'll wonder how I could have survived that but he didn't."

Lucinda frowned, but Lex was the one that spoke. "Mr. Weyland was already dying. . .he could have died before the explosion. . .oh, what am I saying? He did die before the explosion!"

Lucinda added on to Lex's idea once she was finished. "We could say that Lex and I went to comfort you while you grieved his death, hence why we were away from the group at the time of the explosion." Lex nodded at this plan, and both looked to see Athena's reaction.

To their shock, Athena's eyes were moist from unshed tears and her lower lip was trembling hard in an effort not to cry.

She didn't like using Mr. Weyland as her cover story one bit. The man had ended up becoming a sort of father figure for her when he took pity and gave her the job as his medic and body guard. He had pride and sometimes entitlement issues, but he definitely did not disserve this treatment of his name.

But what choice did they have? It was either this or tell the truth. The later was not an option for obvious reasons.

Lucinda shot forward and wrapped her arms around Athena as Lex slowly stood up and did the same as well. "It looks like the part of us comforting you isn't going to be far from the truth." Lex softly said as Athena buried her head in her shoulder and sniffed. Her body quaked with silent sobs and both girls held her tight as she let her quiet tears out.

They don't know how long they stayed like that, but when Athena pulled back, they didn't care how long she needed to take to mourn. They knew she needed to get it out.

Athena sniffed and rubbed her wet cheeks with her hands before saying anything. "Thank you." She quietly muttered to the both of them. Lucinda rubbed her back and Athena took a deep breath before trying to shake off her emotional pain. "I'll go with the plan." She quietly said to them. "Now let's talk about something else. I don't want to dwell on it."

Lex and Lucinda were in a stump for several seconds on what to change the topic to when Lex blurted the first thing that came to mind.

"Any fun dating stories?" She asked. This got Athena to weakly chuckle and shake her head in a 'no' while Lucinda did a shrug and an unsure face. Lex sighed. "Ok, how about . . .who's no longer a virgin?" She asked. Lex raised her own hand and Lucinda did as well, but Athena's hands remained at her side.

Lex and Lucinda stared at her, genuinely shocked. "You're a virgin?" Lex asked.

Athena's mood slowly came back around and she gave a more hearty laugh at their expressions. "Yep." she simply said. "How?!" Lucinda gasped. Athena rose an eyebrow at her and Lucinda quickly rose her hands in front of her. "I didn't mean that to be rude! I just. . .you seem like the type that guys would kind of be lining up to bang." She admitted.

Athena sighed and sat up straighter, letting her hands fall in her lap.

"Thank you for the compliment." She began. "But most guys don't exactly like me romantically." She leaned back in her bag and held up three fingers to them. "Their first complaint is that I'm too tall. I'm 7 feet, 6 inches, and most guys I've met want a girl that's significantly shorter than them. Number two, I'm too masculine, apparently. . ."

Both Lex and Lucinda made a point of gesturing to Athena's humungous chest, which caused the girl to let out a laugh.

"I know what you're thinking. But apparently big boobs are a turn off when there's a six pack underneath them. I've been told I've got the body of a man before." Lex and Lucinda gapped at her. "That's so messed up!" Lex exclaimed. Athena nodded at her, but shrugged. "It happens, I guess." She shook her head and held up her last finger. "And this last one is my favorite one. It's only happened a couple of times, but some guys have a problem with my skin." She said. Lex rose an eyebrow at her. "Your skin?"

Athena nodded. "Apparently having two natural skin colors at once makes me too freakish to date." She shrugged like it was no big deal, but Lucinda watched her eyes and saw the small blip of hurt that crossed them when she mentioned this.

Athena sat back in her sleeping bag and gestured to them. "Alright, I spilled my dating life. Time for yours. How's the fun sex life going?" She asked with a mischievous grin.

Lex rolled her eyes and laughed at her, but Lucinda kind of slumped in her bed, which caught the other girls' attentions. Lucinda noticed this and decided that it was her turn. "I, uhh. . .didn't really have a good sex experience. . ." She admitted. Athena stared at her in horror and rising anger. She spoke quietly and gently. "Lucinda. . .were you ra-" "No!" Lucinda quickly interjected before she could finish. Athena and Lex frowned at her in confusion, so Lucinda continued.

"I. . .I had grown extremely close with the guy I was dating at the time. . .and we decided to take it to the next level." She paused and took a deep breath. "The next day, he broke up with me and told me that the entire time we were. . .doing it, he felt like a pedophile every time he looked at me." Lucinda stared at the ground as she spoke. "I'm apparently too short, hence why I'm annoyed when people call me a child. I haven't dated anyone since. . ."

Lex and Athena were openly staring at her in horrified shock.

"Who is this guy?! I want to fight him!" Athena exclaimed, clenching her firsts. Lex nodded in agreement, having similar feelings. Lucinda shook her head and shrugged at them. "It's alright, really. It was a long time ago." Athena nearly yelled out her reply. "Bullsh-" "Shush!" Lex hissed. "The others might be sleeping." She whispered. "Sorry." Athena whispered back sheepishly.

Lucinda shook her head at them and then gestured to Lex. "Your turn." She replied with a small grin.

Lex sighed and sit back. "Well. . .I've had boyfriends in the past, and yes, have had sex with a few of them. . .but here's something I learned about them." She sat up straighter before continuing. "Apparently they like girls who are confident, but not too confident. . .I am apparently too confident."

Now Lucinda and Athena stared at her in bewilderment as Lex gave a shrug as well, trying to act nonchalant about it all.

"Boys suck!" Athena hissed. Lucinda playfully smacked her thigh. "Not all boys!" She insisted. "Some are just really. . .terrible." Athena rolled her eyes. "Fine. Boys suck, men rock." She amended. "The bed." Lex added with an impish grin.

This threw the girls into a fit of giggles that lasted for seemingly hours before they finally went to sleep.


Author's note: Sorry if this seemed boring because it didn't have the boys in it that much, but I like giving some more depth to my characters and I felt this chapter would be appropriate for it. Also, I needed to have them discuss their cover story. Sorry if it felt like a filler chapter for you.

To the others that enjoyed it, share your own dating experiences in the comments. Did you have some similar to these girls, or hopefully better ones?