Tw'eak's return to the Warspite was a brief, rapid trip. She packed her things, left her quarters intact, avoided a trip to the bridge or her ready room, and changed into a white patterned sweater and blue denim outfit. When she returned to the transporter room, however, she found Octavia and Aurora waiting for her. The lieutenant who had been present at her beam-in was nowhere to be seen.

"Admiral," Octavia said as Tw'eak entered the room.

"Hello." Tw'eak resumed her path to the transporter pad.

"May I inquire where you are headed?"

"Good question. Not sure myself. Guess I'll start with DS-Nine, maybe see some more of Bajor. I've got nothing but time."

"Why?" Aurora asked. "They... the fleet admiral hasn't informed you yet."

"No, ma'am."

"I'm suspended from active duty until further notice. She's your ship now, Octavia. I'm very happy for you."

"I... I am sorry, but I do not feel it appropriate to assume command."

"Why not? Those are Starfleet's orders."

"Yes, but I would question whether or not I am qualified to do so."

"Again, Starfleet didn't ask, so guess what. Captain."

Octavia inclined her chin upwards slightly, in surprise. "Are you using that term in conjunction with the ship's tradition of-"

"No. That's part of it. Captain in both rank and command, and this is your starship."

"Wow, congratulations, Octavia," Aurora offered. Tw'eak looked from Octavia to Aurora.

"You'll probably want to start by naming your first officer. I know who I'd choose."

"Of course," Octavia replied. "This is... an unexpected privilege. However, your presence aboard the ship will be greatly missed."

"It might be temporary. No idea. We'll see soon enough."

"In that case, I will leave your ready room intact."

Tw'eak gave a thin smile. "Hardly matters. Whatever you'd like." She looked down at her cylindrical kit, which hung about her shoulder. "I should really get going. I don't want to run afoul of any regulations - if I'm here at fifteen-oh-one hours, I'm sure they'll beam me right to the brig or something."

"Hey, if it means we can beam you to our brig, sure!" Aurora offered, then reconsidered. "I suppose it wouldn't be very comfortable... but we could figure something out. We could come visit, though!"

"I appreciate that, but really. I'll see you both later. Maybe when you're off-duty we can get some dinner on the station, or something."

The door burst open and Dashii stepped inside. "What in Uzaveh's name are you doing?" "Dashichal - you're confined to quarters!" "I don't care - you're leaving?"

"How did you find out about that?" Aurora said, astonished.

"I was reading on my padd when I got a notification that I'm being transferred to this ship, and they had information about your being suspended from duty in the text. So I asked one of my guards and they said you'd just walked by - you weren't even going to tell me you were going?"

"I didn't see much point. I was going to call you once I got to the station."

"Oh. So that's it, then."

"No." Tw'eak indicated Octavia. "This is Captain Eight of Twelve, she'll be your commanding officer. Aurora duBois is my chief - the chief engineer of this vessel. You'll report to them. Once your court-martial has concluded, that is."

"Why wouldn't you come to see me?"

"And get you in more trouble? You're confined to quarters, remember?"

"I don't care - I can still have visitors." "No you can't. Not ones outside the rank hierarchy, that is."

"I am also concerned with your fraternization with the guards," Octavia added.

Dashii raised both hands. "Don't expect me to name any names."

"That won't be necessary. I will have the First assign you a new detail."

"Damn it. One of them was kind of cute."

Tw'eak crossed her arms. "Dashichal."

"All right, just... I don't know, let me hug you before you go."

Dashii stepped onto the pad and embraced her sister. "Thank you," she said quietly, "for everything."

"Just take care of yourself. And listen." Tw'eak leaned back, out of the embrace. "These are two of the finest officers in Starfleet. I've managed to set it up so that you'll report to them. But if you just take off again, or if you do anything other than become a damn fine officer, in their sterling example, I will personally stuff you into the nearest airlock and blow it. Understood?"

Dashii snickered. "I would like to see you try." Tw'eak offered a mock jab, which Dashii swatted aside. She then offered her own punch, and before long, a sort of sparring contest had begun on the transporter pad.

Aurora cleared her throat. "Um... please, before one of you breaks a transport coil or something."

"All right, all right," Tw'eak said, throwing herself into a bear hug around her sister. "Go on. Back to your quarters, you delinquent." "You can't order me around anymore," Dashii said with a smile.

"Well, Captain?" Tw'eak replied, looking to Octavia. "First big command decision."

Octavia crossed her hands behind her. "I will not make it an order, but a request."

Dashii smiled, stepping in order beside Octavia. "I like that. But only once we've said goodbye."

Tw'eak nodded, grinning at two of her closest friends and her sister. "Whenever you're ready, Aurora."

"Say the word, Admiral." Tw'eak lowered her head, still grinning. "It's just Tw'eak now, remember?"

"Oh, right. Say the word..." Aurora sputtered with laughter. "I can't do it! I'm so used to calling you by your rank!"

"In that case, let's go."

"Okay." As Aurora initated beam-out, she, Octavia and Dashii each offered a salute. Tw'eak simply nodded as she faded out, re-appearing on the ops deck of Deep Space Nine. Tw'eak took a deep breath and moved into the turbolift to the Promenade. Thinking better of it after a moment, she turned to the nearest operations officer and asked, "Would you mind if I used your subspace communications array for just a few quick minutes?"

"Certainly, Admiral."

Tw'eak raised an eyebrow. "How do you know who I am?"

"I was given orders by Captain Kurland to notify Fleet Admiral Kells of your arrival."

"Ah. Yeah, that. Thanks." The lieutenant showed Tw'eak to a console, and then went back into the lower section to carry on his work. Tw'eak tapped up the console and entered the contact code she kept in memory.

After a few moments of a screen reading 'PROCESSING REQUEST', the screen blinked to life, showing the interior of a Hirogen vessel, its cargo nets, once jammed with skulls and relics of prey, now packed with consumables and provisions. After a moment, Tw'eak's heart skipped at the sight of Leo approaching the monitor. "Hey, look who it is," he said after a moment.

"Good to see you."

"Yeah. Place hasn't been the same without you."

Tw'eak smiled, blushing slightly. "How fast can you get to Deep Space Nine?"

"DS-Nine? Uh... no idea. What do you need?"

"I'm out of a job for the foreseeable future. Pending a board of inquiry."

"Really. Well, their loss. We could sure use you. Selkirk's been gone a week, I'm the only one here with any command experience."

"What?"

"Yeah - damn, he didn't call you?"

"No, what about?" Leo smirked proudly. "His cubs. We found 'em. The Orions had 'em after all."

"Fantastic!"

"Yeah. He's taken one of the ships to bring them back to the Caitian homeworld, get them settled. There's a pool onboard as to whether or not he comes back. I bet thirty creds on 'yes'. But until he gets back, I'm in charge."

"I'm happy to hear he found them and all."

"I can give Maurice overall command for a couple days, bring the Shieldmaiden to DS-Nine to meet with you, but that's way more attention than I think Selkirk would want."

"No doubt." Tw'eak shrugged. "To be honest, I was kind of hoping to have you to myself for a couple days."

"Yeah, that does sound nice." Leo looked up off-screen for a moment. "I think we have a shuttle I could use somewhere. Give me a couple hours to get things set up here and I'll be on my way, should get there early tomorrow."

"But I thought you said there wasn't anyone there with command experience?"

"Yeah, but that was before you said- look, they're gonna get command experience, starting the minute I leave. Besides, your guy Zed knows enough, him and Maurice just need to keep out of trouble until Selkirk or I get back. The two of them together... Shouldn't be too hard."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah. Could use a couple days away myself. Especially, y'know... there."

"I'll meet you in the replimat here tomorrow. Shall we say eleven-hundred?"

"Wouldn't miss it. We have lots to talk about."

Tw'eak smiled. "Let me get one thing out there first. I never really thanked you for your assistance on Nimbus."

"No need. It was fun, having you around."

"Yeah, I remember." Tw'eak took a moment to gaze longingly at the screen before she continued. "Alright, get going. I've got guest quarters and a few things to set up here. I'll see you tomorrow."

"You got it. Take care of yourself, eh?"

"Same to you. See you soon."

"Out."

Tw'eak looked over, to where the operations officer was now working at an adjacent console. "Can I ask you another question?"

"Certainly."

"Is there someplace I can stay for the next few days?"

"Yeah. We've arranged guest quarters for you in the habitat ring. I can show you the way, if you'd like."

"If you wouldn't mind." The lieutenant gestured to the turbolift, and Tw'eak followed, barely conscious of anything other than her anticipation of the following morning, and her reunion with Leo.

The station replimat was a quiet place. A Ferengi trader poked at the replicator, a few off-duty personnel still in uniform toasted each other near a countertop bar at the far end, a couple of freighter crew from the Romulan Republic sat deep in conversation at an adjacent table, while the usual traffic made its busy way along the Promenade... and a single Andorian shan female, with a cup of freshly-replicated katheka in hand, sat with her back to the nearest wall, placidly watching the universe go by. Through the windows of the upper Promenade, Tw'eak could make out the purplish-blue glow of the opening of the wormhole. For once, her mind was utterly blank, and she felt herself to be completely in the moment. She wasn't happy to be sitting here instead of on a starship, but at the same time, it was a change of pace that she wasn't disappointed in, either. She watched the young officers with particular amusement. One human, one Bajoran, and one an Andorian with short white hair that could have been either of her sisters - well, presuming that Sassil was still alive, and had somehow switched careers to serve in engineering. She felt the urge to ask her what part of Andoria she was from, if she had even grown up on the homeworld, as most Andorians tended to do, but she left well enough alone. For the moment, Tw'eak was simply content to watch the three of them, out for a boisterous round of drinks after having been out in space for months. That was as far as Tw'eak had been willing to listen into their conversation. Out of uniform, with her hair down and her disposition completely unlike that of a Starfleet admiral, they had no way of knowing who she was unless they recognized her, which was unlikely. So she carried on as she had been, sipping katheka and keeping her watch.

The truth was, though, that Tw'eak felt as though the entire space station's gravitational field was out of focus - that the station was shifting upon its normal axis of orientation around her. She had this impression of being just a little bit off from the regular, as though a Q being had re-imagined how the universe should be aligned and with a snap of its fingers left Tw'eak struggling to adapt. The power of a fleet admiral worked on a similar level, as far as her career was concerned, and now she felt herself adrift in chaotic space, out of control and desperate for some sense that everything would, in fact, turn out to be all right. The katheka had helped, at first, but now it was mostly gone and kind of granulated near the bottom. A fresh cup might help - but really, nothing would help as much as Leo.

She felt herself straining to remain in place, overcome with an urge to speed about the station, from docking port to docking port, up and down until she found him. Yet she knew this was their arranged meeting place. It would do her little good to race about when he would be looking for her in turn. It might make a reunion worthy of a trashy holo-novel, but it didn't suit Tw'eak. Only the remembered dignity of her earned rank kept her in place.

Perhaps it was the running which was the problem - among other things. In a valiant attempt to restore some sense of normalcy, Tw'eak had attempted to figure out a route to run around the station earlier that morning. All she had received for her trouble was a stilted, frequently-interrupted jog. Many of the station's areas were off-limits to non-active-duty personnel. A Bajoran constable had taken a particular dislike to her intentions, and she had been forced to endure some well-intentioned but ultimately unnecessary questioning before attempting to take a run around the Promenade - then the upper Promenade - then the deck below the Promenade. Suspicion and unintentional blockage of her path had been her experience, and the whole process had left her intensely frustrated.

She felt like yelling. There was no particular reason why, or direction - a sort of primal scream she felt percolating in her chest, no doubt as a response to the displacement from normal which the past few days, and indeed the past few weeks, had represented. There was a sort of lonely, hostile place which seemed to surround her wherever she had gone, her own private Andorian wilderness extending a metre or so in every direction from where she sat. She simultaneously wanted someone to approach, to try and break through to her, and for that person to approach simply so she would be able to crystallize her anxiety into a screaming response, to break the tension inside herself. The hostility of her frustration, the perception of an injustice having been done to her, was overwhelming her, and she found herself fearing slightly for the well-being of others around her.

Fuming to herself, Tw'eak felt a surging annoyance towards the impropriety of the Starfleet personnel seated just a few metres away from her. Perhaps that was part of their problem. Their attitudes, their service status, hell, even their age... it was an unappreciated irony from the universe that they should be here, now, when she was like this. Didn't they know? Couldn't they sense the seething Andorian seated just behind them? Shouldn't they know who she was, why she was there, what she had done - what she had done wrong? Didn't everyone know by now?

This crushing barrage of shame and self-loathing was interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice. "Not often I find a nice girl like you in a place like this."

Tw'eak turned her head to see Leo standing next to her. "How did you-?" She stood up and put her arms around him.

"Wasn't easy," Leo said as he responded to her embrace. "I walked across the upper Promenade, saw you sitting here, planned my approach. Helped that you were giving those kids the Andorian death stare."

"I was not. Besides, it's not like I was planning on staying here."

"Where to? Quark's?"

"They assigned me some quarters." Tw'eak arched an eyebrow, waiting to see how long it took Leo to catch her drift.

It didn't take long. Leo leaned back, smiling fiendishly. "You really don't mess around."

"It doesn't have to be that." Tw'eak pulled herself closer. "Well, y'know, I wouldn't mind if it was. Let's just... not be here."

"I like the sound of that." Leo stepped back, took Tw'eak's hand in his, and the two of them walked towards the nearest turbolift.

"That happened pretty quickly."

From where he lay beside her, Leo leaned up on his elbows, giving Tw'eak a suspicious glare. "What do you mean by that?"

"No, not - I mean, the last time I went from 'hello' to ...like this, that quickly, I think I was still in the Academy."

"Oh." Leo put his head back down onto the pillow. "Never mind, then." He looked up at the ceiling. "What did you want to talk about?"

Tw'eak sighed, turning over onto her stomach, her breasts grazing the surface of the mattress. She gave a slight sigh. "It can probably wait."

"For what? I mean, we already-"

"No, I just..." Tw'eak tucked an arm under and propped her chin on upon her hand. "I'm really glad you're here."

"Yeah, me too. I couldn't believe how much I missed having you around."

"Yeah." Tw'eak smiled. "You... you really... why is it..." She blinked, making an awkward, embarrassed expression come across her face. "I have far, far more stressful conversations than this when I'm on duty. Why is it I can't just say what I feel?"

"You don't think you can?"

"Not really. I mean, I never do. It's always what I have to, or should say. Commanders still get to say more than their subordinates, in terms of expressing themselves. But I have to be so careful, every word, like it's going to shatter. And yet I feel like I need to be even more careful with you."

"You really don't, you know. I've seen you naked."

Tw'eak laughed. "Not much to see, is it?"

"Same shade of blue all over, except for down-"

"Okay, hey, c'mon now." Still smiling, Tw'eak wrinkled her nose. "You don't get what I'm saying?"

"Not really. I don't really talk much. I mean, this sort of thing... I just go with what feels right."

"And that's how you ended up in bed with me?"

"Was your idea, remember? But yeah, I could sit there looking for the words, or I could just move a little closer and let it happen."

Tw'eak's eyebrow arched playfully. "So soon?"

"Well, you said it was too quick-"

"I didn't mean like that, I already said!"

It was Leo's turn to laugh. "God, you're easy to tweak."

Tw'eak no longer smiled. "Tell me you didn't say that on purpose."

Leo clasped a hand to his mouth and shook his head vigourously.

"Tell me!"

"I swear I didn't!"

"Okay, good." Tw'eak smirked. "I hate when people do that."

"I see your point - about the 'what to say' thing, I mean. I swear I didn't do that on purpose."

"All right, all right..." She gazed into his eyes for a moment. "So should we?"

"Should we what?"

"Tell each other. How we feel, I mean."

"I think it's pretty obvious. I don't do this often."

"No, me either."

"So that counts for something, right?"

"Yeah. But still. There's something about hearing it."

"What?"

"How the other person feels." Tw'eak used her other hand to give Leo's shoulder a little push. "You could stay with me on this."

"I thought I was!"

"So tell me, then." Tw'eak reached out with one finger and dragged it lustily across Leo's chest. "Come on."

"What do you want to hear?"

Tw'eak let her hand fall flat on Leo's chest. "What I want-?"

"Yeah."

"No. What you want to say."

"Me? God, I don't know."

"Neither do I. Was hoping you'd go first."

"One thing at a time?"

"If you want."

"Well... you're so beautiful. I can't believe you'd want anything to do with a guy like me."

"Yeah?" Tw'eak felt herself blush.

"Yeah. So I guess that makes it your turn, then."

"We're taking turns?"

"We are now!"

Tw'eak let her chin fall. "I don't know. I mean, it's all muddled. I don't know how to say it. I'm afraid to say it, really."

"Well, I'll tell you what. You say it, and if it's some horrible thing I never want to hear again, I'm okay with you taking it back."

"Really?"

"There are very few things you could say that would make me want to get out of this bed. Especially when I'm this comfortable."

Tw'eak smiled, still blushing. "That's what I mean. Anything I come out with is going to sound like a performance appraisal or something."

"I'd say my recent performance was stellar, if I do say so myself."

"Uzaveh's name." Tw'eak shook her head.

"Knew you'd agree."

"No, I mean, that. Your sense of humour. Your inability to let anything really bother you."

"Lotta things bother me."

"But not the little things. You don't over-think them like I do, you just... you handle them."

"Uh, I've seen you handle plenty. I'd have to say that you, in ground combat... it's like an art form for you. I've seen you operate - it's hard to remember to fire when I'm afraid I'll miss some sweet move of yours by looking away."

"Well, you did really well in supporting me. Wouldn't have come together without you."

"We wouldn't have come together if you hadn't shown up like that."

"And now that we have..." Tw'eak snuggled together with Leo. "What about it?"

"What about what? I have this crazy Andorian for a girlfriend, I guess."

"Girlfriend? Well." Tw'eak pulled Leo a little closer, wrapping a leg around him. "That sounds sort of... official."

"Well, it's true. Whoever else I could possibly want to be with, she'd have to be something special to make me not want to be with you. She'd have to be - you'd probably ushaan her or something."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you - make your girlfriend fight for the right to be with you."

"No. But I'd fight for you if I had to. I'd fight alongside you. Anywhere."

Tw'eak rested her head on Leo's shoulder. "Yeah. I'd feel a lot safer with you next to me, whether it was here or wherever."

"So this is all... kind of big." Leo cleared his throat slightly.

"I know."

"That doesn't... scare you at all?"

"It should, right?"

"Scares the hell out of me!"

"Okay, good. Just a little, in my case." Tw'eak brought her eyes up to meet Leo's. "I mean, now that we've done this sober and all..."

"I was wondering if you'd bring that up."

Tw'eak smiled, looked down at the pillow for a moment, then locked her eyes in contact with Leo's. "I think I love you, you know."

Leo tilted his head up and kissed Tw'eak, putting his arm around her shoulders. Her arms tightened their grip, and after a few moments in a passionate embrace, Tw'eak flipped herself over and picked up where they had left off earlier.

Later that evening, Leo and Tw'eak were seated at the small table adjacent to the replicator, each enjoying a meal of their respective choices. Tw'eak had on her woollen cardigan, unbuttoned, and a pair of panties, while Leo wore a regulation undershirt and a pair of boxers.

"How's the steak?" she asked.

"They always replicate steak wrong. There's a texture to beef... I don't know how to explain it, it's like the grain of a piece of wood."

"Sounds delicious."

"No, I mean - it all goes in one direction. On the actual cow, I mean. For replicated steak, though, it's like they try too hard. I always replicate it medium rather than medium-rare just to compensate. I don't know how to explain it - you ever had a steak? I mean, a real one."

"Last time I had non-replicated food... was a while back now. My helmsman on the Bonnie, his mom had a restaurant on Earth. We all went down together the one day. It was fantastic. Mostly stuff you'd expect for breakfast. But you're right, something - maybe it's only a psychological thing, but something about it just really, really feels good to eat." Tw'eak took her tray back to the replicator. "One thing I've never gotten used to, on starships. The feeling like my plates and fork are going back to the same place, to become my next meal."

"Tell me about it. I still can't get my head around replicators. Give me a good ready-pack any day."

"Those are mostly replicated, you know - it just comes in a box instead."

"I know, but I ate so many of them over the years, I could tell you what was in them just by sniffing the package."

Tw'eak tapped the replicator. "Katheka. Sweet." The replicator complied, and a cup of katheka awaited Tw'eak, her first in a few hours. She sat back down. "You ever been to Defera?"

"Don't think so."

"There's a Borg colony there. Well, not a colony. They're trying to assimilate the whole world, there's a sort of ongoing resistance, and there's a Preservers archive behind it all - anyway. I was called in there a couple times over the last few-"

There was a chime at the door. Tw'eak's eyes widened, and she looked up at Leo, who was not the least bit alarmed. "I'll get it."

Tw'eak got up and tucked herself around the corner as Leo opened the door. In stepped a Bajoran constable - Tw'eak recognized him as the one she had encountered during her run earlier. "I apologize for disturbing you in the middle of dinner... I'm looking for Twaiheak Sh'abbas."

"Hello," Tw'eak said after she finished buttoning up her shirt. "Can I help you?"

"I'm Constable Bruar Daritza, station security." He raised a hand, showing he was carrying a padd in it, then tapped upon it. "Were you in a replimat on the Promenade between ten-hundred and eleven-thirty local time today?"

"I was."

"Then you..." Bruar looked up at Tw'eak, nonplussed by her half-clothed state. "I'm going to need you to get dressed and come down to the office with me. I'd like to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind."

"Is it anything I can't answer here?" Tw'eak realized the ridiculousness of taking an indignant pose with her bare legs visible, but she did anyway.

"I'd prefer to get this on the record, given the severity of what's happened."

"She's not going anywhere until I know what this is about," Leo said, crossing his arms.

"Are you her husband?"

Leo tilted his head back. "I am."

The flutters of excitement in Tw'eak's stomach - her husband? since when? - turned to anxiety as the constable responded matter-of-factly. "In that case, you'll probably have to come along, too."

Tw'eak's eyes opened wide. "As a courtesy, Constable, what 'severe' incident are we referring to?"

Bruar looked up. "You mean you have no idea what's happened?"

"We... my husband and I don't get to see each other very often. We've been predisposed of this entire afternoon."

Bruar gave a sort of grunt. "I can imagine. It's a fairly common occurrence around here, given the comings and goings." He shook his head. "There was an explosion. Our investigation is pointing to some kind of bomb, located at or near that replimat. Thirty-one people are wounded, some rather gravely. Fortunately we had advanced warning... unfortunately, it wasn't far enough advanced to make a complete evacuation possible."

Tw'eak raised a hand to her mouth. "Uzaveh's name." She looked sharply towards Leo. "You don't think-"

Leo's knit brows said it all. "You bet I do."