Author's note: Yup. Yet another storyline. Enjoy!

Lister awoke with the Mother of all hangovers. Well, maybe not the Mother. Possibly a distant Aunt. Whatever relation it was, it hurt his head. He went out drinking a lot more since Rimmer had moved out. He brought back a lot more women, too. In fact, he did a lot of stuff that he couldn't do before. Only thing was, it wasn't making him nearly as happy as he thought it would.
At first he thought he was just lonely in general, but he had his mates to hang out with if he ever needed them, and he could always go to a bar and pick up some girl. Then he thought that maybe he was actually missing Rimmer, but that theory had gone out the window pretty quickly. A strange new idea emerged in his head when Rimmer had come by to pick up the last of his things. He'd mentioned something about Nicole and something inside him had jolted horribly; he thought maybe he had developed feelings for Nicole. But he'd only met her a couple of times, and once was at a funeral – even Lister wasn't that shallow. So he was back to square one, lying on his bunk, trying to figure out the problem.
"Lister, D. Report for duty," Holly's monotonous voice echoed through his quarters.
"You're kidding me!" Lister said to no one in particular, "I only clocked off, like, thirty hours ago!"

"Lister," Hollister said, gesturing to his right, "I'd like you to meet you're new co-worker, Belinda Aberforth."
Lister saw his new co-worker, Belinda Aberforth, and his jaw dropped to the floor. A buxom blonde who looked every bit as alluring in her khaki tech uniform as she would in a glittering ball gown. She had shadowy eyes and a rose leaf complexion, and when she smiled, Lister felt his heart melt.
"Hi," she said in a gorgeous husky voice. Lister opened his mouth but nothing came out except a small squeak.
"I trust you'll take good care of her as her superior," Hollister said with a smile.
"Y…yeah. I can't wait to get over her!"
Belinda looked shocked. Hollister looked angry.
"I mean," Lister corrected frantically, "be over her. I mean…er…be her superior. Y'know…at work."
Belinda laughed a little and Lister relaxed. Hollister still looked a little pissed off at this outburst, "Belinda, you remember your way around from the tour?"
"Yes, sir."
"Could you go to vending machine C3 on F deck, please? Lister will meet you there in a moment after I have a quick word with him."
"Of course, sir," she saluted and bobbed off, Lister becoming almost hypnotised by the way her hips swayed.
"Lister!" Hollister snapped.
"I wasn't thinkin' anything, honest!"
"You'd better not. Ever," Hollister sounded the most threatening Lister had ever heard him be, "I've already lost one technician to a women."
Lister smirked; it was hard to believe that sentence was referring to Rimmer.
"I won't let you down, sir," Lister said, saluting.
Hollister nodded, "I thought I could trust you. Take care of her. She's had a rough time with her ex-husband."
Lister's heart sank, "She's just been through a divorce?"
Hollister shook his head, "He died."
Lister's heart sank further; what kind of chance did he have with a woman whose husband had just died?
"I hope you're not thinking what I think you're thinking," said Hollister. Lister shook his head vehemently, "Good. Now get to work. Your colleague is waiting for you."
Lister smiled. He knew Hollister had meant it in a completely different sense, but what if Belinda was waiting for him? Waiting for him to be the comforting soul. The shoulder to cry on. The man who could make all her troubles disappear with just one good kiss…
He'd never scored with a widow before. It could be an interesting experience.

A/n: Sorry, but I hate this chapter. Zip inspiration, but I knew I had to just scale the mental block and get on with it. Next chapter will be better (let's face it, it can't get much worse).