A/N: This one is set the day after Ch4 of my first Andromeda fic A Trail of Hope. Sara is injured in a mission and while high on painkillers she delivers the awkward flirting conversation you get in game when romancing Suvi :D

Also, if anyone needs Netflix recs, 'The half of it' is really good wholesome fun!

As Sara drifted comfortably on the edge of waking, she became aware of a sharp throbbing across almost her entirety of her back. And once she had noticed it, she couldn't escape its pull. She groaned and buried her face further into her pillow as the pain of her injuries brought her out of her slumber with a swift kick to the behind. She lay on her bed, on her front on top of the covers, still wearing her clothes from the day before. She could feel the tightness of bandages across her chest and stomach, hiding medigel-sealed wounds and holding ointment-soaked gauze to deep purple bruising. Right, because the day before yesterday she had thrown herself in front of Jaal to save him from a grenade lobbed by a Kadaran exile with stunningly precise aim. And yesterday...

Sara groaned again and bunched up the pillow either side of her ears, trying to engulf her head as though that could quiet her thoughts. Yesterday she had awoken in agony in the medbay and Lexi had dosed her up to the eyeballs on hardcore painkillers and released her into the wild and, in her delirious state, Sara had wandered onto the bridge and... Said things. To a certain gorgeous science officer.

Her brain helpfully selected a few choice moments to play back to her and Sara felt herself blushing furiously.

She was such an idiot.

She had known, deep down. The words didn't come from nowhere. The more she analysed what had happened, the more she realized: she had feelings for Suvi. Feelings that she was unused to. That... She didn't remember having for others. Ever. How in the hell had she not noticed this before?! Where had that even come from?

She knew she had found Suvi attractive since first meeting her, but people with eyes could see that. Suvi was cute and dorky and that accent and- okay, so perhaps Sara should have noticed way before a medication-induced high made everything so painfully obvious.

But... Perhaps she was mistaking a purely platonic love for attraction? Surely that was possible.

Who was she kidding, the feelings were stronger, overwhelming. What was going on?

She allowed her thoughts to drift, calling to mind her crew members, searching her emotions. There was Cora, brave and intense and stoic. They had known each other before Andromeda and, while Sara loved her fiercely, and Cora was certainly attractive... She didn't even feel a flicker of the spark Suvi fed. Besides, Cora was basically family. Next was Liam, with his warm eyes and big heart. No. Jaal, with his warrior spirit and new and exciting culture. Nothing. Vetra? No. Gil? No way, he was like a second brother. Lexi? Nope, more maternal. Peebee? Kallo? Nada. Drack? Absolutely not.

When she got to Suvi she reflexively blocked the thought. Took a deep breath. Exhaled slowly.

Let go.

She thought of fiery red hair and gorgeous eyes the colour of some tropical ocean, of soft words spoken with a Scottish lilt, of a musical laugh, a brilliant mind eagerly seeking any and all knowledge, an endearing awkwardness. She thought of that beautiful smile, of curious conversations about anything and everything in an attempt to extend visits to the bridge. Visits she had never even realized she had been trying to extend. That was, until now.

Warmth bloomed through her chest and her stomach jolted with an inexplicable fondness for the awkward scientist, to find her and hold her. There was no denying such an intense reaction. She turned her head to one side to stare across her room at the wall opposite her, ignoring her wounds vehemently protesting the motion.

"Fuck..."

She was well and truly smitten. Or... Was she? Perhaps it was a passing infatuation? Something that would fade with time if it was carefully ignored.

No, her mind whispered traitorously, this is something else. Something more. She stuffed that voice into a box and shoved it into some shadowy corner of her brain where it couldn't bother her.

"Pathfinder, you seem agitated," SAM spoke softly within her mind.

"I'm fine," she replied quietly, speaking out loud. But she wasn't. Not really. She was lost, adrift at sea- ocean eyes. She has eyes like the-

Sara jerked her head violently to halt that thought train, scowling across the room. She supposed it was only a matter of time before someone amongst the Tempest crew developed feelings for another. That's not what this is, Sara stubbornly told herself. Then what is it? Whispered that traitorous voice. I'm arguing with myself...

Sara uttered a frustrated growl and managed to roll onto her other side, glaring instead out through the tinted window across Kadara port. "SAM, I'm scared."

"Why are you scared?" SAM inquired gently.

"Because I think I'm falling for Suvi." Saying it out loud sent a bolt of fear, cold and sharp, through her chest. Her emotions were spiralling out of control; it made her feel weak, naked, as though she were no longer at the helm and it terrified her.

SAM spoke after a brief pause, "I am not sure I understand."

"Neither do I..."