When Selma finally awoke the next day, she knew she was supposed to have the day off. She also knew that Thevaar had already decided he was going to take her to the cafeteria to retrieve all of her meals and make certain she didn't do something ridiculous like overexert herself.

Just sit around and wait for him? Nah-ah! She thought as she stood and felt a wave of dizziness.

She didn't care what he said. There was no way she could tolerate being in his company again until she got her nether regions to stop standing at attention every time he spoke, looked at her, or stood in her general vicinity.

After he had left her quarters the day before, she finally succeeded in calming her nerves by burying herself into some difficult coursework. She had already obtained so much sleep earlier that day, she was able to stay up late and finish another one of her papers that was due in less than 48 hours. Once finished with it all, and quite pleased with herself, Selma finally made it to bed a little past midnight.

Some part of her thought the oblivion of sleep would give her a reprieve from thinking about him, but the dreams waiting for her that night were seriously wild... of course they were about him. She felt nothing but stark embarrassment as she got up to get showered and dressed that morning.

And then it occurred to her: He can't walk me to the cafeteria if I've already walked myself there! ;-)

So Selma left her quarters quite early and started in the direction of the cafeterias. She also took a different route so she wouldn't have to pass Thevaar's quarters, or his office.

-T&S T&S T&S T&S-

Thevaar turned at the sound of an alert he had programmed into his system. His eyebrow rose. Selma had already left her quarters. He patched into a station security camera to ascertain her whereabouts. He noticed she had not only already left her quarters, but she had also taken a completely different route so as not to pass his office. She never used that route!

And then it occurred to him: She is avoiding me.

He stood, the expression on his face more serious than usual. He did not know what her reason happened to be to avoid his company, but he felt it was his duty to make certain she remained safe until the doctor said otherwise. He went to go and find Selma.

-T&S

Since she had taken a roundabout way, Selma found herself at one of the station cafeterias she had never used before. Usually she went to the one closest to her section, but this one was a little smaller. She didn't know if she was imagining things, but the food seemed to smell better.

"How ya doing?" asked the very folksy Denobulan lady behind the counter. "We got fried potatoes and Klingon catfish this mornin'!" Her hair net looked slightly askew, but she seemed to be quite happy and satisfied with herself in only the way people seemed to look when they knew their cooking was the best anyone was ever going to eat. She was wearing a blue jumpsuit and colorful earrings. Her wrists held bangles that made a jingling sound as she moved about and worked, her nails manicured in orange and red, the colors of a roaring fire.

But Selma's ears perked up at what she had mentioned; Klingon catfish and fried potatoes. "Oh for real?"

"We got some Romulan mollusk stew and vegan split pea soup with cracked pepper comin' out for lunch," the down home cook announced proudly.

"How in the world have I missed this place?" asked Selma as she looked through the display window at some of the many sides one could have added onto whatever they chose to eat. "Is that sugar cinnamon oatmeal?" she muttered.

"You ain't been here long, have you?" asked the cook.

"No, I have not, ma'am..." she said distractedly, still looking at the display of food in front of her.

"I'm this station's best kept secret. Besides, I kick out anybody I don't like. I done kicked out over half the people that live here," bragged the cook as she slid Selma a tray of her fried potatoes and catfish.

"What do I do so I don't get kicked out of here?" asked Selma as she took the plate offered her and slowly started eating some of it.

"What do ya got to trade?" asked the cook with a wise smile that displayed a front gold tooth.

Selma tasted the fried potatoes, ready to pass out from it's calorie-soaked goodness. She stood there thinking for a moment as she chewed and let the flavor of what she suspected might actually be real butter from the milk of some mammoth soak her senses... "I have lots of different kinds of coffee. But I suspect my small stash of Orion coffee would be the thing you'd want the most," she said with a smile of her own. "I never brew that stuff for anyone but myself. This month, I can give you enough so that you can have a cup every morning if you wanted."

The cook obviously hadn't expected to hear that at all. "Orion coffee?" she asked, her smile gone, looking as if she were starting to salivate.

"And that's for this month," said Selma as she lounged casually against the wall and slowly ate the delicious food on her tray. "I have Deltan chocolates, too," she negotiated casually as if it were no big deal. "And I also have the base of the ingredient to make Risan whipped cream." Selma sighed and shrugged. "I have a few other things, too, but let's start with those..."

"Is that so?" asked the food lady with a dawning smile. "In that case-"

"This is substandard nutrition," said the voice of Thevaar in Selma's ear.

She nearly startled because she hadn't seen or heard him coming up on her from behind. Hearing 'this is substandard nutrition' is not exactly the hottest thing one could say into the ear of another, but from the way her nether region clenched at the sound of his voice as well as the heat of his exhaling into her ear, he might as well have been reciting the finest love sonnets to rival the greatest poets of any world.

But one thing no one was going to do was tell her what she could and could not eat. "Whatever it is, it's delicious," she said with a lazy nod and casually continued eating the fried potatoes.

He stood watching with open disapproval. "I have been charged with your well-being for the next few days, and I would appreciate it if you would-" And he went on and on about calories, saturated fats, carbohydrate intake, and unsourced fishes and ingredients.

Selma let him ramble on and on. She nodded slowly as if she cared to listen to every word, but she bit by bit ate every piece of food on her tray.

The lunch lady stood there knowingly watching how things played out between them, but at the end of his rambling she said to Selma, "The name's Jeeta. See you later for that coffee?"

"For sure, Ms. Jeeta," Selma nodded.

Thevaar's brow rose. I have informed her of the unwise nature of the decision to continue to ingest this nutrition and yet-!

"Let's go, Thevaar," she ordered him as if it were her right.

And he let her.

"We shall now discuss the reason you have decided to not adhere to my warnings about your nutritional intake," he said as he escorted her from the out-of-the way cafeteria back to her quarters.

Selma decided to put a voice to her instinct. "I suspect you're probably really upset because Ms. Jeeta put you out of her cafeteria at some point."

He didn't understand how she could know that -so it was true, that was not the point!- and he bristled, "I was simply attempting to share a healthy alternative to her method of food preparation."

"That may be true, BUT having something unhealthy once or twice a month isn't going to kill anyone."

"Are you affirming that you will restrict your visits to that cafeteria to once or twice a month?" he asked, willing to be satisfied with such a promise.

She tried to hold in laughter, but didn't succeed as she admitted, "No. I'm thinking it might be an every Friday thing for me. School is stressful and stress eating is a thing with humans."

He sighed tiredly. "Very well."

"And excuse you, sir, but there are some material facts you're forgetting here," she said as she looked him up and down with obvious attitude.

"And that would be?" he asked. He squelched down becoming offended since, to his estimation, he had never forgotten anything!

"First of all, you're only supposed to be looking after me for a few days to make certain I don't overwork. Trying to bargain how often I visit said cafeteria stretches into weeks! Second of all, keeping an eye to make certain I do not overwork myself has nothing to do with my nutrition. And third of all-" she grasped at her third point, initially couldn't come up with it- and then it burst out- "you are not my daddy," tumbled out of her mouth as she pointed a finger at him. But the thought came to her, unbidden, but I'd like you to be my d-

"You are correct," he said after a sigh of defeat. "But I believe you would experience optimum health if you healed your eating habits."

"Excuse you, sir!" she said with a smile, "My eating habits are fine. That's the first time in months I've had something so wonderfully sinful."

He gave her a face that conveyed his 'I don't believe you' thought, but said nothing more.

After they had arrived back at her quarters, she promised to go with him to lunch later on that day.

Later That Day

Once they stopped by Jeeta's to give her the promised Orion coffee allotment, Selma accompanied Thevaar to lunch at one of the healthier establishments on board the station. He also came by later that evening to bring her dinner, and they both ate together in her quarters. She tried to stop thinking about what she really wanted to do with him, and managed to make it through another day in his company without tackling him to the ground. Her eye kept straying to her bed and she kept forcing herself to stop looking at it.

He caught her looking over at her bed, several times, and misunderstood her meaning. He stood abruptly then, deciding to go home. She was obviously so tired, she could not look away from her sleeping platform. Before he left her that evening, he clarified, "I will see you tomorrow? For breakfast?"

"Why don't you just spend the night?" she halfway joked, but some part of her gawked inwardly that she'd been so bold.

But it appeared to her that the line went over his head. "Some other time," he promised before walking away.

She watched his nice lean frame walk out of her room and away from her. He just doesn't understand, does he?