Trip took his friends' advice. He would drop by and see Buffy on the off occasion, gently checking her face or touching her hand. Buffy would turn pink and he would leave with barely intact control.

            Buffy started teaching hand to hand and really enjoyed herself. Teaching adults who had been in battle was more rewarding than teaching teenage girls in a life and death conflict. She had to pull back her strength so not to hurt anyone, but she watched with satisfaction as the crew became more proficient. Often she would tell them that these skills would save their lives and the lives of their crewmates.

            One day there was a wisecrack that even with the training they couldn't 'out run an energy weapon'. Buffy stopped what she was doing and looked thoughtful, "You're right." She said and went over to the comm on the wall, "Lt. Reed, could you come to the gym with a phase weapon please?"

            Malcolm was on the bridge and raised his eyebrows to the Captain who nodded, "See what she wants Malcolm. Send Lt. Franks to your station."

            "Aye Captain."

            Malcolm had his phase pistol at his side when he entered the gym. "Ah Mal, care to be my guinea pig?" Buffy asked with a huge smile.

            Immediately suspicious he looked at Buffy, "What is going on in that devious mind of yours?"

            "Stand right there and point your phase pistol at me. Make sure you can shoot me, but please, please, stun me!" Buffy wisecracked and Malcolm shook his head. "The Captain would be displeased."

            "The Captain asked me to teach, so quit being so wussy." She laughed at the insulted expression that crossed his face.

            Buffy stood and watched Malcolm's stance carefully, then rushed him. She rolled under the first weapons discharge, grabbed Malcolm's arm and flipped him over, grabbing the pistol and pointing it at his neck. She smiled into Malcolm's face and pressed a kiss onto his nose. "Gotcha." She smirked.

            She then looked up at the stunned crew, "Even a phase weapon can be disabled. It's a mistake to rely on technology to the point of being lazy." She pulled Malcolm up and checked him over, "I didn't break you did I?" she asked and he smiled, a little flustered. "I'm fine Buffy. Was that all?" he asked, a little desperate to get some breathing room from the very attractive blond.

            "Nope, I want to show them how I did it." She turned and separated the crew into groups of two and had them practice, showing how she carefully checked Malcolm's stance before making her move. Malcolm stopped being uncomfortable and started being fascinated by her insight and learned from the experience. He knew he was a strong fighter, but Buffy's insight made him a smarter one as well.

            Pretty soon Buffy's classes were very popular, especially after an unfortunate incident involving an away mission. The entire away crew made it back, in large part to their training from Buffy's class. The Captain was very proud and made it mandatory for the entire crew. Trip was very proud as well, but waited until his class to prove it to Buffy.

            Buffy walked into class the next day and groaned silently when she saw Trip. This was going to make her hormones go crazy, she just knew it. She sighed and began the class.

            Trip smiled at look of discomfort that crossed her face when she saw him. This was going to be loads of fun.

            Buffy separated them into two groups, and was plainly suspicious when Trip became her partner. She looked up into his twinkling blue eyes, "How did you do that?" and watched his devastating smile, "I don't know whatcha mean darlin'."

            "Whatever." Buffy sighed. She decided to show how to disarm a larger opponent, using Trip as her opponent. Suddenly he didn't trust her for a second.

            "Ok, here's your bigger opponent. Now just because he's bigger, doesn't mean he's smarter." She grinned at Trip who let out a yelp of protest, "Hey!"

            "Wasn't personal. Now, .." she proceeded to trounce Trip thoroughly. As the class ended and she had him on his back for the hundredth time, he decided to take advantage of his position. She had a knee on his chest and was thoughtfully watching the class complete the move, when Trip jerked her down to lie on his chest, their faces almost touching.

            "I think I deserve a reward for all of the floor time I've seen today." He murmured before kissing her thoroughly. Buffy felt like she was frozen, then on fire before a sound impinged onto her consciousness.

            The other crewmembers watched and started to clap. Buffy jerked back, her face red with embarrassment. She got up and looked at her class, "That's it for today. Check the schedule for your next class." She grabbed her stuff and rushed out, leaving a bemused Trip still lying on the mats. Travis came over and gave him a hand, "Come on Sir." He shook his head at the grinning engineer. "She's going to make you pay Commander."

            And pay he did. Buffy found every excuse under the sun to avoid seeing Trip for more than two seconds at a time. Hoshi and Travis had watched with the amusement as Buffy had successfully avoided the engineer who knew the ship as well as the back of his hand. It was lunchtime several days later when Trip had finally tracked her down. She was eating with Travis and Hoshi when he stopped by their table.

            "Hey ya'all. How are you doin' this fine day?" He asked everyone, his eyes lingering on Buffy's pink face.

            Travis smiled, "Ok Sir."

Hoshi smiled too, "Just fine Sir. In fact, you have a new message from home." She turned to Buffy, "You have a message with attached files from Angel." Buffy's face brightened, "I hope it's the pictures he promised!"

Hoshi saw Trip's face and decided to have a little fun. She leaned toward Buffy, "Angel is so handsome. I can see what you saw in him." Trip's face fell and he looked at Buffy with a frown.

Buffy immediately caught on, "Yeah, he's extremely handsome, sweet too. Unfortunately he couldn't handle me and he bailed." She shrugged and took a drink of water. She watched Trip smile a slow smile and bend down to whisper in her ear, "Unless I'm on a boat, I don't bail." He brushed his lips against her cheek and left. Travis and Hoshi smiled at the expression of shock on Buffy's face. Travis waved a hand in front of Buffy's face and she jumped.

Her eyes met Hoshi's amused ones and she groaned, "Oh, I am in so much trouble."