Kirk was a bit surprised at that statement. "Um..." he retorted, holding his collar with the rank pips, "I AM the duty officer." He was willing to give his friends some latitude with the regulations, but he couldn't let it get out of hand.
"Sorry," Tony countered sarcastically, "you suck at lying, Sir." He sat down and slumped back in his chair.
Stephen rolled his eyes. "Whatever." he countered weakly. In his opinion, pulling rank wasn't helping. This would have to be friend to friend. His tone became more frustrated. "What's going on between you two?"
Tony threw his hands in the air. "I wish I knew! Before we got to Earth, everything was fine! Once we got there, she turned into some kind of ice queen and wouldn't give me the time of day. Now, all she's got for me are snide remarks." He put his arms down and shook his head. This was nuts, and the fact that it was him getting talked to by Stephen instead of her didn't sit well with him, either. "If it wasn't for me, she'd still be attached to the floorboards after the battle." He added, tapping his pointer finger to the desk.
Stephen rapped his fingers on the desk. He was on the bridge with them for pretty much the entire trip back to Earth. They seemed to genuinely get along. For awhile, he thought something more than friendship was starting. As his mind rehashed the dinner at Wu's, he couldn't remember much regarding Elaine. She had been pretty tight-lipped all night. Still staring blankly at a wall, Kirk offered, "Maybe something happened to her between Saturday and Tuesday after we got to Earth."
Lieutenant Moreau was just tired of the whole situation. "I don't know, and right now, I don't care." As he considered his situation, a thought dawned on him. "And why am I the only one in the dean's office? How come Davies isn't here, too?" He became aggravated with the continued thought Steve was taking Elaine's side over his.
Stephen's blank stare turned firmly to his friend's eyes. Why wouldn't he get his friend in first to hear his side of the story? Tony's tone was a bit confusing. "I needed to separate you two before you killed each other."
"So you brought ME in?" Tony gestured to himself with both hands, his voice raised.
Stephen was starting to get upset at Tony's impatience, but opted to remain calm. "Calm down, Tone. I wanted to hear your side first."
Deep in the back of Tony's mind, a voice tried telling him that was a logical and reasonable thing to do and that he should calm down. The voice sounded remarkably like T'Nia's... but he was too riled to listen to it. "I thought we were friends, Steve." He stood up. "You of all people should know that I had nothing to do with this whole thing."
That last crack about being friends made Kirk's blood pressure rise, but to his surprise, he continued to keep his calm. "We ARE friends, Tony. But, if I remember what just happened out there correctly, it was your comment to her that started it."
"It was not!" Tony answered excitedly. He knew Elaine began the entire adversarial change in their relationship. Why wasn't Steve taking his word for it? Why wasn't Steve helping? This promotion must have gotten to his head. First, Steve called him into his office like a disobedient school kid, then he shows off his pips. Now this...
Kirk was getting tired of this childish conversation. Clearly, Tony wasn't thinking clearly. He hoped what he was about to do wouldn't damage their friendship, but he was a senior ranking officer now and couldn't afford this kind of behavior to continue. He hoped this was the right course of action. His voice became authoritative, his brown eyes stern. "Sit down, Lieutenant."
"What for..." Tony began.
Stephen glared. His voice raised. "I said, sit down!" Moreau was shocked. His fears realized, he sat down expressionless. "This is a starship, not a soap opera. I don't care about this he-said, she-said garbage, and I'm not about to put up with this childish behavior, either. You both need to grow up." As he said that last statement, it came out wrong, but it was too late. He was in 'commander' mode now, and couldn't afford to back down. "Now, yell, pound the table, swear... whatever you need to do in order to vent your anger... but don't you DARE take it out of this room. Is that clear, Lieutenant?" His eyes never left Tony's.
Tony stared at him blankly. "childish behavior"... "you... need to grow up"... So, this was it. Tony had hoped that getting back together with his old Academy friends would be so much fun. So much for that. "Yes, Sir," he replied flatly.
"Good." He could tell Tony was hurt and angry. Hopefully, some time to cool down would fix everything. Eventually, Stephen would have to apologize for the 'childish' and 'grow up' cracks. "Now, vent your anger if you have to, get out there, fix Lieutenant Davies' system, and be the perfect example of professionalism for the last two hours of your shift. Understood, Lieutenant Moreau?" His tone softened a little.
"Yes, Sir," Tony responded using the exact same tone as before.
"Alright then... dismissed." He stared down at the desk, not wanting to see the hurt in his friend's eyes any more. He heard soft footsteps walking away, then the hiss of the door opening and closing. He sat back in his chair with a sigh and looked at the ceiling. The next discussion probably wouldn't be any better. This was why leadership stunk, he thought. It was completely overrated. He longed for the days when he was just a helmsman.