Part Two – Actions

The world was a dark and fuzzy blur as I opened my blue eyes. I took a quick look around me. I was still in the Wraith lounge just as I had suspected. I glanced down at my chrono in the darkness, oh-two hundred. Great, it was already tomorrow. I pulled the blanket that someone, probably Kell, had draped over me, around myself a little more securely.

I reached a hand out towards the table beside for the couch, and the cup of caf I had upon it. I made a slight face, as I tasted the now cold liquid. Swinging my legs down from the couch, I discarded the blanket, grabbed my cup, and went over to heat it back up.

I was about to turn around and head back to my 'seat' when I felt a pair of eyes on my back. I froze, not moving a muscle. Finally, I turned to view my watcher. It was Cloud Ritril.

Muttering several curses underneath my breath, I headed back towards the couch, taking a long sip of my caf on the way there. Tucking my knees up against my chest, I turned to face Cloud.

"Any particular reason you're in here at oh two hundred?" I asked, not letting any sarcasm creep into my voice.

Cloud's expression grew closed, not giving me any clue to what he might be thinking, in the dim light.

"Not really, couldn't sleep I guess," he turned away from me, hiding his face from my view.

I shivered slightly from the slight chill in the room, I only had a think short sleeve shirt on underneath my Wraith pilot jacket. I saw the outline of Cloud's head jerk upward abruptly. Silently, I cursed and tried to get a hold of my emotions so not to give the Force-sensitive Cloud any clues to my fear.

"Tyria, can I ask you something?" Cloud asked.

"You just did, but sure," I replied carefully, doing my best to keep my emotions in check.

"Why are you afraid?"

I froze at that question. Apparently, I hadn't kept good enough checks on my Sithin' emotions. Tucking my knees up even closer to my chest, I debated about which answer to give him. Finally, I said softly, "Because I'm afraid of leaving everyone behind when Daala finally kills me. I'm afraid of what it'll do to Kell," and you, I added silently. Cloud remained silent, shocked I assume. Not liking the uneasy silence, I added, "It's why I don't want to get in a relationship with anyone." Good going Tainer, you could've done without that last sentence, I silently berated myself.

Finally, Cloud moved. He stood up and came to sit at the opposite end of the couch from me. Still not facing me, he said slowly, "So that's why you said you weren't interested in dating?"

I didn't trust myself to speak, I merely shook my head.

"Tyria, you don't need to be afraid. Daala won't get you. I won't let her."

The amount of firmness in his voice as he said that would've been strong enough to knock me back to the wall if it had been a punch.

I'm not a very emotional person, unless you compare me to say Jade of course, but for some reason, his words started to bring tears to my eyes. Quickly, I wiped my eyes on my jacket before Cloud could see them and turned away.

"Cloud, that's really sweet and all, but you don't need to say things you don't mean just to make me feel better."

"I meant every word of it, Tyria, every word," his voice seemed to be much closer now. Slowly, I turned around, letting go of my knees, allowing them to drop back down.

Hesitantly, almost as if he was scared to, Cloud leaned down slightly, bringing his head towards mine. Then after what seemed like five hours instead of five seconds, his lips finally met mine, kissing me gently. Shocked, I almost jumped away but managed to get a hold of myself before I did.

Abruptly, Cloud pulled away. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that," he apologized.

I rolled my eyes. Was it because of biological predisposition that all males were so stupid?

"Cloud you idiot, I'm to going to slap you or anything like that. I'm not Adra or Nicola."

My turn to shock Cloud. He opened his mouth to reply but I silenced him by pulling his head down towards me and kissing him firmly on the lips. My arms entwined around his neck as his hands rested on my waist. Finally, we broke away as the need for air came upon us.

"Kell's going to kill me," Cloud said a bit resignedly.

I shook my head. "How is he going to kill you if he doesn't know?"

"Tyria, we've got Adra Loran and Nicola Afyon in our squadron. How long do you think we could keep this a secret? A day? Three hours?"

"If Adra says anything, I'll tell everyone about her little secret."

"And what secret would that be?"

"I can't tell you. If I did, it wouldn't be a secret. If you really want to know, get Face really drunk."

"Well that's helpful."

I laughed at that. "Well, after what happened last week, I don't think Face will willingly get drunk very easily, and no, I'm not explaining that either."

Cloud rolled his eyes. "Which brings us back to my original point, do we date and keep it a secret, not date, or date and not keep it a secret?"

"Well, one of those options is not an option. Another one of those would get you killed. So can you guess which one that leaves us with?"

Cloud sighed. "The not dating?"

I rolled my eyes and laughed. Getting up, I kissed him quickly on the cheek and headed towards the door. "Try dating and keeping it a secret." With that last thought, I left the lounge and headed towards my room where I did have a bed, provided I could find it underneath my piles of computer stuff.