Disclaimer: Look at Chapter 1

"Captain? Wake up Rachel!" I jumped in my seat, taking a few moments to recollect my self before I realized that kissing Jonathan was a dream and then further realizing that it was Jonathan who was waking me up.

"Rachel? Sorry to disturb you, I thought you might like a tour of the ship." He asked me tentatively, I proceeded to sit up in my chair with a faint smile on my face, remembering my dream. Jonathan noticed

"What are you smiling at?"

"Oh I just had a really good dream, and I mean really good" I replied while looking purposefully into his eyes

"Oh was it about me then!" Jonathan offered in jest, then changed stance "Oh I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that, that was inappropriate" he hung his head. I thought on that for a moment, remembering the feel of his lips on my neck.

"No its okay Jonathan, you were right..." I replied, as I stood up and walked to my door, purposely ignoring the incredulous look on his face. "So how about that tour Captain?" I smiled over to him. He quickly reached my side and offered his arm to me "Right away ma'am." We walked out of my quarters and turned down the corridor towards the turbo lift, unaware of the glances and knowing smiles of Archer's senior crew members who were standing together and watching us.

Jonathan Archer held up a glass of bright blue liquid in a toast "To Captain Rachel Robinson, may she enjoy her stay aboard Enterprise" he glanced across the table to where I was sitting and smiled slyly.

"Here Here!" chanted the other senior officers in response

"We all know you will…" muttered Trip out of the corner of his mouth to Lt. Reed who sniggered.

"What was that Trip?" Archer innocently asked knowing full well what he had said.

"Really, Jonathan? Would you enjoy my company that much?" I folded my hands under my chin and looked intently at him batting my eyelids and every one of the senior officers followed suit that is except Sub-Commander T'Pol.

"I hardly think this behavior is appropriate for people who hold the rank of Captain" she said coldly while adjusting her stiff position in the chair. It was Malcolm Reed who responded.

"Are you telling me that as a Vulcan or even as a woman, you have NEVER had a crush on somebody you worked with?"

Jonathan looked like he was about to protest probably to say he didn't have any crushes but Malcolm completely ignored him. His face had started to go red when he caught me glancing at him; I just smiled at him, not believing my luck that he liked me.

"Yes that's correct, my work doesn't allow for intimate relations with a colleague" she replied indifferently.

Malcolm gave up just giving her an exasperated sigh and shaking his head as he turned his attention back to Captain Archer who was staring at me as I sat absentmindedly twisting a loose strand of hair around my finger, and I hadn't noticed that everyone even T'Pol was looking back and forth from Jonathan to myself, that is until Jonathan noticed what everyone was doing and snapped

"Come on people are you going to eat or just let your food get cold, we need our strength up looking for this Xindi weapon?"

At that everyone just settled into their dinner, listening intently as I recounted my times aboard other ships with other captains, at the request of Ensign Sato. An hour later, I excused my self to go to the bathroom when Jonathan interrupted

"May I have a word with you outside Rachel?" I shrugged my shoulders

"Sure."

We walked out side the room and closed the door behind us amid the sniggering of a very immature senior officer's team.

He looked like he had something important to say but was having difficulty starting to talk.

"Yes Captain?" I prompted "What did you want to say?"

"Okay…" he began "This is really hard for me to say but I want to get one thing clear first, I am not placing any pressure on you to extend your limit of duty or responsibility to your Captaincy should you feel this exceeds those limits.

I was confused but agreed with him anyway by nodding my head, he continued

"Rachel, to be quite honest with you, I think you are the most beautiful woman that I have ever seen in my life, I have found myself falling head over heels for you since I saw your picture in the data base file that Admiral Forrest showed me before you arrived" It was clear now what he meant by "exceeding limits"

He had his heart out on his sleeve for me to take or break but he was professional enough to know how to react should I say no… but I knew he wouldn't have to think of that

I looked longingly into his eyes; flattered by what he said and realizing my crush was not unrequited I didn't say anything, just smiled softly at him and leaned in and kissed him softly on his lips.

We broke apart and Jonathan had a surprised look in his eyes,

"I really thought you were going to let me down easy" he said cautiously obviously still hoping he wasn't about to wake up from a dream

"You mean to say that the fact that I had a really good dream about you didn't give you any hints" I smiled as I put my arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug, Mmm… I thought to myself, I could feel the strength of his arms as he wrapped them around me.

We stood there like that for awhile when then I remembered why I had left in the first place. I pulled away from Jonathan, who could not wipe the smile off his face.

"Sorry to ruin the mood here but I really need go to the bathroom, that's sort of why I left the table in the first place." I said awkwardly. Jonathan started to laugh,

"Of course Rachel, sorry."

"Trust me it was worth the wait" I replied as I walked off to the bathroom.

Jonathan walked back into the room and sat down and joined their conversation about which ships they would love to have, with Jonathan having no need to say anything as everyone already knew what they did out of the room even T'Pol seemed to show some sort of glee at the fact Archer told Rachel how he felt.

I walked back to the room where we were having dinner, just before I was within earshot of the room; Malcolm, Trip and Jonathan were still discussing ships.

"Okay Cap'n what about the Excelsior your old ship you must still love her?" Tucker ventured. Fate it seems chose directly after this moment for me to enter the doorway of the room where I stood shocked and hurt at what Jonathan said next:

"…Ohhh, I don't love her, how could I now anyway, I'm the captain of the best ship in the fleet" he proudly held himself up.

I stood there in the doorway, my eyes clearly showed my disbelief and as my body began to rack with sobs. It was Ensign Sato who made the connection quickest as to what he said and how I could have misconstrued it.

"Captain, wait a min-" Hoshi started before I interjected, "How can you say that?" my hand flew to my mouth as I quickly, while maintaining my dignity walked off to my room and locked the entry key so no one could enter.

Meanwhile, Jonathan, back at the dinner table, was sitting there dumb founded

"What did I say?" It was T'Pol who offered the answer by simply stating

"She misconstrued what you said about not loving your old ship as to not loving her, considering apparently you just declared your love for her; it seems it was a foolish thing to do." Jonathan's hand flew to his head

"Great, now what am I going to do"

"I suggest just leave her until she has calmed down and then confront her about your mistake." offered Hoshi

"Okay, I'll do that. Good night crew." he walked out of the room and down the many corridors that led to his quarters on his way he passed Rachel's,

"Good night Rachel, my love" he whispered though the doors.

I was sobbing continuously into my pillow, realizing that I had only been here for not even a day and look what had happened. You know this happens whenever you involve yourself with anyone, when will you learn! I scolded myself.

All of sudden I heard, Jonathan's husky voice whisper at the door

"Good night Rachel, my love"

My love? What was wrong with him, I was so confused about him and about myself. I just called back

"Leave me alone Captain" Strictly professional I decided from now on. And I fell into an uneasy sleep.