Kriss and Arnold didn't meet again until breakfast at 0800 hours. They stood next to each other in the line both looking as guilty as sin. Dave approached Kriss.
"We still on for this evening?" he asked
"Sorry, no" she answered, she was very blunt, some people would say she snapped at him
"What's gone wrong now?" he asked "you were all for it yesterday"
"I've met someone else" Kriss said in the same blunt, snappy way.
"Oh,"
"Yeah" she continued, "so you can forget about us, that was a long time ago and things are very different now"
Kriss turned her head ever so slightly to see Arnold gently sniggering with the smuggest look she had ever seen.
Ackerman walked past.
"Morning Rimmer" he forced himself to say
"Morning sir," Rimmer chirpily answered "and how are you today?"
Ackerman had to stop to take this all in
"How are you feeling?" he asked, half concerned, half as if he didn't care
"Never better" Arnold answered
Kriss and Arnold sat down side by side and ate their breakfast but said nothing; conversation was going on around them but nothing from them. By lunch time Cat had clicked that something was different and he came straight out and asked Arnold in front of Kriss, Dave and Kryten what was wrong. Arnold's face was redder than a strawberry.
"Nothing" he muttered into his onion soup "nothing"
"You're not yourself bud" Cat continued "you too Kriss"
"What?" Kriss yelled obviously startled "keep out of my business Cat"
Kriss was getting angry and Arnold could see it
"Cool it Kriss" Arnold attempted to say this under his breath, but failed
"Yeah Kriss" Dave joined in "Cool it"
"Oh don't you start you illiterate space bum" Kriss was getting really angry now and had gained the attention of everyone in the room. She noticed this and addressed her outburst to everyone "look you lot, she screamed keep out of my business, it's not your business it's my business and got nothing to do with you" Kriss carried on with her outburst and managed to tell the whole of the room that as from last night she was sleeping with Arnold Rimmer. Dave walked out of the room. Kriss felt really bad. She had even declared her love for Arnold and given him a kiss. She didn't want to hurt Dave, but after all it was true she did love Arnold.
Dave just sat there, rocking his body backwards and forwards and crying into his naan bread. There was a knock on the door and a familiar floating head appeared in the frame.
"Hey buddy" the floating head offered "how you feeling"
"Do you have to ask?" Dave responded, "You know how I feel about her"
"I know," answered Cat as he handed Dave a tissue
"I was just getting somewhere with her and now it's all been taken away from me"
Cat nodded "maybe it's for the best" he commented, "maybe it's a lucky escape"
"What do you mean by that?" Dave enquired
"Well" Cat began "apparently they had sex three times last night and Kriss still wanted more, I think you're better out of it you couldn't manage that"
"I don't know what to say," Dave sobbed "I love her, that shouldn't matter Rimmer can't love her half as much as I would"
"I know bud" Cat comforted "but she don't want you does she, she wants goalpost head"
"Thanks Cat" Dave said sarcastically
"Hey I'm only trying to cheer you up" Dave gave Cat the 'well it's not working you bloody fool' look and Cat left.
Dave picked up his tear soaked naan bread and sobbed and sobbed until it was falling apart. He must've been there for hours because before he knew it the bell went for dinner. He couldn't face them, he could face Kriss and he could face Arnold but he couldn't face Kriss and Arnold. He imagined the image that would greet him. A table for two, candles, Kriss, Arnold, Kriss and Arnold kissing aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh. He couldn't face that. No he'd just go hungry.
After a few more hours he heard the door handle turn and there she was: Kristine Kochanski she wasn't wearing her sexy lingerie, no she was wearing her ship issue combats and a black fitted t-shirt.
"What do you want Mrs. Rimmer?" Dave scoffed
"I was just checking to see if you were ok" she answered "we didn't see you at dinner"
"No, well you wouldn't if I didn't come would you?"
"Don't be angry, Dave" she pleaded "I hate not being liked"
"Well you should've thought about that before you slept with Rimmer!"
Kriss nodded. She could see how upset he was and she knew how much he loved her.
"Just go away Kriss" Dave continued
"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me why you weren't at dinner" she insisted
Dave got up and threw what was left of the soggy naan bread onto the floor. "You wanna know why I wasn't at dinner?" He yelled, "I'll tell you shall I?" Kriss was getting rather scared and was backing into a corner "picture this, the love of your life agrees to go on a date with you and the next thing you know he's in bed with your roommate in the next room to where you were sleeping. Think about that scenario and tell me how you would feel"
"Dave, I'm sorry but…"
"Sorry?" Dave interrupted "Sorry? I'm afraid sorry's not going to cover it Kristine" he moved away from her and sat down on his bed. "Leave" he demanded
"But Dave…" she started
"Leave!"
She did as he asked, he had told her why he wasn't at dinner and that's all she wanted to know. She sat outside his quarters and thought about what she had done. She knew she'd done the right thing, after all she loved Arnold, but she couldn't help but think there could've been a better way to do it. She felt really guilty; she had hurt Dave, almost cheated on him. What was she going to do about it? She had what she wanted but he didn't. She decided to go and see Kryten; he'd know what to do.
Kryten wasn't in their sleeping quarters. Kryten wasn't in the medical block. Kryten wasn't in Dave's quarters. Kryten wasn't in Arnold's quarters. Kryten wasn't in Cat's quarters. Where was he? Kriss didn't really know what to do or where to look. She went to see Ackerman who just ridiculed her. She went to see Cat who just grunted at her and then she went to see Arnold and there they both were. Arnold had the same idea as Kriss and decided to get Kryten's view on everything. Kryten wasn't very happy but he told them to let Dave cool off,
"He'll be okay in a couple of days" Kryten stated "just give him time"
"We hated hurting him," commented Kriss "but we couldn't lie to him"
Kryten nodded in agreement and let out a long sigh.
"Are you coming ma'am?" he asked her
"No" she replied "I want to spend some time with Arnold.