Selma managed to keep Thevaar out of her thoughts for the next few days. Whenever he would escort her to and from her meals she kept telling herself 'only a few more days... 2 more... 1 more day'.

Finally, she was given clearance by the station doctor to return to duty. From her point of view, she was relieved she would not have to stretch her mind into trying not to think about what she wanted to do with -and to- Thevaar. She felt she would be able to just go on with her life and pay attention to the things she was supposed to be doing, not what she fantasized she could be doing… with him. She didn't understand why this was happening to her. She had never once gotten hung up on anyone this way to the point of being mind-wanderingly distracted and tempted not to keep her hands to herself. She always assumed that she had impecable self-control. But life had, once again, shown up and slapped her upside the head with what she saw as the mother of all practical jokes. Obsessed with a Vulcan I will obviously never have. Where they do that at?

As long as she stayed away from him, she knew she would be just fine.

But there was one thing she was not counting on.

S&T-S&T-S&T

Not four days after the doctor discharged her from concussion scrutiny, Thevaar casually strolled into her office between appointments. Almost against her will, her eyes lit up at the sight of him, a smile on her face.

He saw her smile and knew that finally he was welcome within her work space. "I have come to gauge your health since last we spoke."

She laughed a little. "I have been doing just fine. I got all of my assignments in, mostly on time, and I have caught up with the work that I had to drop during the days I was off."

"It sounds as if you are working quite efficiently," he complimented.

"Yes, I am. Everything's perfect!" Except those dreams I keep having about you...

"If at any time you are in need of a companion during one of your meals," he offered, "I am available."

Is he asking me out on a date and he doesn't even realize he's asking me out on a date? Lawd, I just can't- "Oh don't worry about me anymore!" she waved him off with a deceptively innocent smile. "I have plenty of work to do and not enough time to go to a cafeteria. I do a lot of working meals right here in my office or in my room."

His eyebrow lifted as he said, "I have no memory of your taking meals here within your office. Perhaps you do not wish to have my company," he realized as he looked down and away from her.

He looked openly dejected. Did I just hurt his- nah, he's a Vulcan! He doesn't have any feelings! So why does he look kind of like I just hurt his feelings?

He knew her habits since he had been watching her so closely. He didn't realize he had let that piece of information slip. She was so busy wondering if he had feelings to hurt, she hadn't noticed the slip.

She decided to tell him the truth without fully telling him the truth. "Thevaar, I'm just trying to focus on my work, that's all. I get distracted easily, at times, and if I don't force myself to pay hyper-attention to things, I wind up having disastrous results. I'm at a stage in my plan where if I mess up just one thing-" And when I'm with you, all I want to do is wrap my legs around your-

"I understand," he said. "Please inform me of a day you are unoccupied and wish to engage in social activities with others."

"I'll do that!" she promised with a smile.

Thevaar walked away from Selma's office. He did not feel any kind of satisfaction with the way things had resolved. He also did not understand why he saw the need to further associate with her. But he did. He decided his meditations that night would involve searching his mind for why he needed to be in contact with her on a more regular basis, especially after it seemed she did not wish to associate with him.

Selma awoke in the middle of the night from another one of those damned dreams. Her heart was pounding. What was happening to her?

She sat up, trying to remember the exact details of what had happened in the dream...

Thevaar had been chasing her through the station, but she was not panicked or afraid by the chase. If anything, she was only prolonging the anticipation of what it was she really wanted from him.

In the dream, he had finally tracked down her location. He turned the corner to where she was, right near where she set up her coffee stand every day. And as he slowly walked up on her, she was backing into a wall. His eyes roamed up and down her body as he advanced upon her. Every part of her ached for his touch, her mouth ready to taste him as her highly sensitized body was ready to-

She had woken up before he could get to her, and felt nothing but the coldness of real world frustration. She got up and out of bed, went to her communications array, and put in a call to her first cousin.

The subspace call connected almost immediately. It was the middle of the night on the station for her, but for the section of Earth Keisha happened to be, it was mid-day. "Girl, how are you doing?" her cousin greeted her enthusiastically. She hadn't expected to hear from her that day, and was so happy to see her. "Last time I got a message from you, you were thirsting after a tall, dark chocolate Vulcan!" She was laughing, too, enjoying the memory of her cousin's obvious discomfort in that last subspace drop-message.

Selma just groaned in frustration. "Girl, if I see that man one more time after one of these damn dreams, I can't be held accountable for the stuff I might do to him."

"That's illegal!" she laughed. "So you had another dream?" asked Keisha as she sat back and relaxed. She was eating a bowl of kimchi soup since it was her lunch break. "Talk my ear off. I don't have to be back to creating artwork for over an hour. It's a long lunch day. And I don't have one exciting thing going on in my life now except my spot at the art gallery."

Selma sighed tiredly. "My body is trying to get me to get one thing, but what I really need is some damn sleep. And all I do is dream about that man and wake up much too early every day. What is wrong with me?"

"What do you mean, what's wrong with you?" she asked as she looked across the screen at her. She casually ate her lunch and said, "People sometimes do need companionship, contact, touching-"

"Yes, but it's normal to develop a crush on someone who might actually be interested in you in return."

"It's also normal to develop crushes on people who might not be interested in you, either… So you think he's really not?" asked Keisha, confused. "Like you think he's not interested in you at all? AT ALL, at all?"

"I mean, why would he be?" asked Selma as she leaned against her wall, exhausted in more way than one.

Her cousin looked at her through the screen as if she were out of her mind. "Sooo ...why wouldn't he be?"

Selma scoffed. "Now you're just being contrary! He's a Vulcan! They don't need any of that stuff!"

"Says who?" asked Keisha, offended on Thevaar's behalf. "Just because they don't run around talking about it in public doesn't mean they don't get down wit' it sometimes."

Selma shook her head. "You do not know what you're talking about."

"Okay, bet. I think you're just being ridiculous. I bet if you tried to kiss that man, he'd kiss you back- or whatever it is that Vulcans do."

"That's the other thing? What do they DO?"

Keisha shrugged. "Ask him."

Selma couldn't believe how casual Keisha was being about the situation and decided her cousin's mischief had gone to new levels. "I'm fittin to disconnect on you!" she laughed.

Keisha was also laughing and joked, "Look, just go to his quarters, invite yourself in, take off your clothes, and get in his bed! I can pretty much guarantee, he'll know what to do with you!"

Selma was howling with laughter at that point. "I will block you!" she threatened halfheartedly as she clapped out each spoken word of her sentence. Her cousin's face was beet red from laughter at that point.

They talked for half an hour more. Keisha had her laughing until she almost cried at some points, and then Selma, having laughed out all of her frustration and jitters, went back to bed.

The next morning, Selma was dragging herself into work. She was exhausted, but having had a chance to talk with Keisha in the middle of the night boosted her mood. She was tired, but smiling on her way to set up her coffee station that day. "Hey, you're looking mighty tired," said Monty, one of the miners on his way to one of the cafeterias.

"I just need a little more sleep," she admitted.

"I'll be by for coffee, soon!" he said cheerfully as he continued on his way. "How about get yourself a cup before the rest of us get there and swarm the station!"

She did just that. She was just sitting down, alone, about to relax with her cup of coffee when she saw Thevaar pass by on the way to his office. His eyebrow rose as he lifted his hand in ta'al salute. She smiled and waved at him in return while looking at the fullness of his lips. Lawd, help...

T&S-T&S-T&S

Thevaar was not pleased. Selma looked as if she had once again not been receiving adequate rest. But he was in no position to do anything about it since she was not at all injured or under a doctor's care.

He felt stark frustration. She had also not found any time in her schedule to associate with him recreationally. Was it not true that humans need recreation? That was the thing that had been drilled into him by one of his mentors. From the look of her schedule, she contained no air in her day.

Or perhaps… perhaps she was... avoiding him?

His mind stalled at the thought. Perhaps he had said or done something else that had caused her pause and she did not wish to be in his company any longer and she was simply too polite to- No, Selma was not the type to keep her thoughts to herself if he said or did something she did not like. That aspect of her personality had strongly asserted itself from the moment they'd met.

He did not know what to think. He decided he would ask a friend.

Routh was sitting there with a huge grin on his face. The Andorian had never felt so amused in his life. Never had Thevaar ever come to him with any issue soliciting advice. Usually he was the one consulting him, trying to brainstorm some activity. And now finally here he was, coming to him... for this?! It took all of his might not to seize up into laughter. He relished what was about to happen, because he knew he was going to enjoy this conversation immensely.

Thevaar was just finishing up his train of thought with, "-therefore I can only surmise that I have once again done or said something that has offended Selma Tillerson-Parker."

"Is that so?" asked Routh, the grin still on his face.

"Yes, that is so," Thevaar said with frustration. And he did not understand, why was Routh smiling at his predicament? This was no smiling matter!

"May I ask a few questions, my friend?"

"Will it lead to the potential discovery of the reasons behind Selma Tillerson-Parker avoiding my presence?"

"Perhaps, perhaps," he almost brushed off the question. "For starters, do you call her 'Selma Tillerson-Parker' to her face? Using all of her official names and-"

"I absolutely do not," he almost snapped at him. "I have served with humans long enough to understand certain basic social conventions. And that is quite basic."

He sighed with relief. "Okay, good. Then I can assume you're on a first-name basis with her?"

"I am," he said.

"Good. Now that I know you're not disqualifying yourself from a deeper friendship by calling her by her surnames, what exactly are your intentions toward her?"

Thevaar stood there for an uncomfortable 15 seconds. It was the last question he thought Routh would ask. He honestly did not think any such thing would be asked of him. (Routh, meanwhile, was laughing on the inside at the long pause.) "I have tried to ascertain my intentions via deep meditations, and yet I do not know what it is I wish from her. I only know I wish to speak with her on more occasions."

"And then?" asked Routh.

Thevaar bristled. "'And then'?"

"And then if you're able to speak with her more, and then what after that?"

"I was unaware there needed to be a reason to wish to remain in contact with another individual," said the Vulcan with a barely disguised aura of annoyance.

Routh shrugged almost casually trying to place his carefully worded ribbing in such a way that the Vulcan wouldn't see that he was being baited. "Perhaps she can sense your ambiguity and doesn't care for it."

Thevaar was now openly annoyed. "And you are aware of this because?"

Finally, Routh really was at that point as he said, "Look at the look on your face! You are so very annoyed!" He realized he was treading on dangerous ground and didn't care as he also said, "And jealous!"

The Vulcan inhaled and then exhaled. This was going nowhere. It became obvious to him, that his friend for some unknown reason had decided to mock him. "This is futile. I shall return to duty at once."

"Maybe she's not offended," Routh said as Thevaar was about to exit his office, not yet ready to be finished with assaulting his friend with 'what if's that ruffled feathers. "Maybe she really is just extremely busy. She is very ambitious. You of all people should understand that."

Thevaar paused. "She does not understand. Perhaps there is some way I may help her ambitions. But I cannot know that until I know what her ambitions happen to be."

Routh just restrained himself from rolling his eyes. It was obvious to him what Thevaar might want from Selma, and it wasn't just conversation, it was companionship. But he was too dense to see it for himself. "Then maybe you should find out what her ambitions happen to be… and also uncover your own motivations in the process."

It was the only time during their talk that day that Thevaar felt Routh was not just messing with him. What did he mean by 'uncover your own motivations in the process'?

S&T-S&T-S&T

Selma was surprised to see Thevaar walking toward her as she was leaving her office for the day. "May I accompany you to your quarters?" asked Thevaar. "Perhaps a chance for us to speak before you proceed with what is no doubt a night full of work."

She shrugged. "Sure. Walking back home is a bit of free time I actually do have."

"I am aware of your field of study," he said as they walked together. "But what is your ultimate goal?"

She smiled up at him as they walked. "Are you asking me about my future plans?"

"That is correct."

Some part of her wondered why he was asking. But she wanted to tell him. She didn't know why she wanted to tell him, but she did. "Well, I'm one of those people that makes two-year plans. I kind of stick to my goals for those two years, and six months before they're done I make another two year plan. So at this point I'm kind of lost." She hated admitting that out loud.

"You are unaware of what you wish to do beyond your schooling?" he asked, surprised.

She sighed. "Yeah, I'm really disappointed in myself with that, too. I just get so anxious if I try to plan too far ahead and then I feel restless and like I just want to hurry up and get there already!" she admitted. "For the first time I have that feeling of impatience of just wanting to get somewhere already, but this time I don't even know what the 'somewhere' is." She sighed. "I don't think I've ever admitted that to anyone. I do have some possible goals for post-graduation, but nothing set in stone."

"And they would be?"

She was glad to hash her thoughts out with someone else. "Taking hospitality work at some prestigious space station? A colony somewhere or some touristy hub? I don't know. Maybe Mars colony… Earth Lunar… Risa itself?" she sighed. "I just know that my future is somewhere that involves socializing with bunches of people for my job and then having quiet evenings without lots of people around," she laughed a bit. "Any good hospitality gig that I think will enrich my life will do. And then someday, I'd like to be the one who creates excursions wherever, launch my own company. That's my ultimate goal, but not for a good decade or two from now."

"Would you ever take work on Vulcan?" he asked. As soon as she looked at him strangely he amended that with, "Or any other planet deemed 'difficult to reside upon' for humans?"

She smiled a bit. "If I thought it would be fulfilling, yeah, I would. I've seen some beautiful pictures of Mt. Seleya and some of the cities... the desert. And once I saw pictures of one of the farms in one of the fertile valleys not far from the sea. I was blown away by the images and the live footage from one of those travel subspace vloggers."

"Yes, Planath Valley. My mother's family resides there."

Her eyes lit up. "That's amazing. Then you've been there, of course?"

"Yes, I spent much of my childhood there during the fertile season helping bring in the harvest. I have wished to return for quite some time to help during harvest time."

"That sounds amazing. To get my hands into some dirt on a planet after being on a space station for months... I've always wanted to go there to Planath Valley," she admitted. "I've just never had the time or opportunity." It was one of the few times speaking with him that she had not thought of him in a physical way. She was connecting with him in another way she never thought possible.

He had paused while walking. And she had also paused. In her mind, she was wondering why he was just standing there, looking at her like that?

In his mind he was thinking she is a suitable option. Can I not simply go wherever she happens to go? Especially if space station work might be involved? Perhaps from time to time we may go to Planath- go home. She seems amenable to occasional harvest work. We would return to regular work afterward where she may wander about the galaxy at will. Our goals overlap… perhaps we are future-compatible.

"Are you okay?" she asked. He seemed to be contemplating something very deeply. But even as she was asking the question, she found herself staring at his lips and then into the deepness of his gaze. He was not breaking eye-contact either. It was nice, looking up at him this way. An even deeper pool of something within her responded to the look he was giving her. One part of her wondered if she was imagining things. Another part of her thought: Maybe Keisha is right. I should just-

"May I partake of the evening meal with you?" he asked, seemingly, out of nowhere.

"Yes," she said without thinking.

He got this look on his face. It was the look of a man that suddenly had a solid plan. "Very well. I shall go now."

"Hey!" she called after him.

He turned back around to see what it was she needed to say.

Why is he so damn handsome? She found herself saying something she thought she would never say. "I'll make you something this time? How about that? Come by in two hours."

His eyebrow rose. An offer of a meal made by her own hands? "Agreed."