Chapter 14

Kriss wasn't in the medical bay for long; in fact she was out by dinner. She hobbled over to the table where Arnold was sitting with Dave and Kryten and sat down. She had spilt half of her milk and was so thirsty.

"Please can someone go and get me another milk?" she pleaded with the boys, Arnold jumped at the chance

"Here, have mine" he offered, "I don't want any anyway"

"You sure,"

"I'm sure"

"Thank you" Kriss smiled at him in her own special way.

"It's okay" he smiled back.

Every time Kriss looked at Arnold he knew he was the luckiest man alive. They had been together a week now and he still wasn't sure he believed it. He knew it, but he didn't quite believe it. Another week went by and Kriss' leg healed. They went back to having sex every other night and spent a lot of time together.

Kriss was sitting in her quarters reading a book when the postman knocked on her door.

"I've got a letter here for Kristine Kochanski." The postman told her

"That's me" she replied

"Sign here"

She signed for the letter and sat down on her bed, she could tell that handwriting anywhere, it was her brother Moose. That was strange, Moose never sent her anything. She opened the letter puzzled and read it aloud to herself.

"Dear Kriss" it read "I'm sorry that I haven't contacted you in a while. There's no way of saying this but I'm afraid our father has died. He had a heart attack on Saturday and died on Sunday. His last words were that he was proud of us both, but he was especially proud of you. Lots and lots of love. Moose." She could hardly believe what she was hearing. Her father, dead, it couldn't be. She felt the tears in her eyes and didn't know what to do. She didn't want to be alone but she knew Arnold was on cleaning duty. She'd have to go and see Dave.

Kristine walked up to Dave's quarters and knocked on the already open door. Dave didn't look up from his comic.

"Come in" he called as he looked up "oh hi Kriss"

She couldn't hold it anymore; tears streamed down her face and stained her uniform. She couldn't say anything, neither could Dave, he just hugged her until she calmed down.

"Right," Dave started "now then Kristine, do you want to tell me what's wrong?"

"It's my father" she began "he's died, he had a heart attack on Saturday and died on Sunday"

"Oh Krissie" Dave comforted her

"That's not the whole thing though"

"There's more?"

"He told Moose to tell me that he was very proud of me and he wished he could've told me himself."

Dave smiled "I always told you he was proud of you didn't I" Kriss nodded "now, then calm yourself down, do you want another hug?" Kriss nodded and moved towards him. At this point Arnold walked in, took one look at them and turned round again, Kriss ran after him.

"Arnold, Arnold, come back" she screamed "Arnold what's wrong"

"Why" Arnold said through gritted teeth "why were you hugging him?"

"He was comforting me" Kriss began to cry again "My father has just died!"

"Oh, baby" his voice softened "why didn't you tell me"

"Well you didn't give me much chance did you" Arnold shook his head in self-disgust

"I'm sorry Kriss, what did he die of?"

"A heart attack" Arnold pulled her towards him and kissed her hair. "Oh darling, I'm sorry"