Intrepid looked at me, then back to the retreating form of Bremerton, then back to me before she scooped up her phone from the table. "M-maybe tomorrow, Commander," she stammered as she tried to hastily withdraw. "I-yeowch!" She yowled, and there was a loud clang! as the table jumped, likewise scattering whatever was still on it. It was a miracle the iced coffee in her drink managed to stay in the glass.

I got down on one knee, immediately looking for any visible injury. "You alright?" I asked as she winced and reached down for her left foot.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she hissed as she gingerly probed at it through her sneaker. "Just think I hit the same spot as yesterday."

"Probably should just stay off it for a few minutes, give it time to feel better," I said as I got back to my feet. "Mind if I sit with you?"

She cast her eyes back towards where Bremerton had been, then realized no help was coming and she finally relented. "Alright," she sighed as she gestured to the seat Bremerton had just vacated. "So…how much did you hear?"

"Not much," I admitted as I took a seat opposite of her. "Just how I'm Victor Laszlo." Her cheeks flushed a deep red and she swiftly avoided my gaze. "But I think we may be having the same debate…"

Her blue eyes glanced back at me, and an eyebrow raised ever so slightly. "We might?"

"Yeah," I nodded, then shook my head. "Well…maybe. I'm not sure. I just…I'm not entirely sure what…this is. Are we dating and I'm just not picking it up or are these just friendly outings? I don't want to make it weird, but…"

"I understand," Intrepid softly assured me. "I'm…not sure, either. At first, I was just happy to have someone else to come along with during stargazing, but after the movie…I think I want more." Her eyes darted away before she asked her question, sparing only furtive glances back at me. "Do…do you feel the same way?"

As the conflicting emotions came flooding back, I sighed and ran my hand over my face. "I…I don't know," I answered honestly. "You're a fantastic girl and I've loved every second we've spent together but…" I struggled to find the words. "...it's…it's not you, it's-No." I quickly cut myself off with an emphatic shake of my head. I wasn't going to give her some cliche phrase, she deserved better.

I took another second to gather myself, to try and phrase this as best I could. "I don't know because I feel like I'm…not good enough. I'm a workaholic, I barely have any free time…I don't even know what to do with my free time anymore…" I hesitated, not wanting to fully disclose what I'd been through, but not wanting to shut her out entirely. "...and I'm dealing with…a lot of things right now, especially with the Northern Parliament." I leaned back, shrugged, and sighed. "I just don't know if I have any business being in a relationship with anyone."

Intrepid leaned back now as her blue eyes peered mercilessly into me. As I struggled to meet her gaze, I didn't see any disgust or derision in them, just…concern…and maybe a little bit of frustration. Eventually, something flashed behind those eyes and she got a sly grin. "Maybe now is the best time to start a relationship with someone."

I looked at her for a moment as if she'd lost her mind. "Did…did you not hear everything I just said?"

"Yep!" she confirmed with an eager nod of the head, getting more and more enthusiastic the more she thought about it.

I stared at her in confusion for another few seconds before I gave up and sighed. "You're gonna have to spell this one out for me."

She leaned forward and beckoned me to do the same. When I followed suit, she laid it all out in a low voice, as if she was cluing me in on some big secret. "Right now, you're not looking for love, right?"

"Uh-huh," I nodded slowly, still lost. "Said that just a second ago."

"Right," she confirmed, "So if you did meet someone, and you did start having feelings for them, then you'd know it was for real because you weren't looking. It couldn't be you just getting desperate for a relationship and jumping into the first one."

That was a relatively logical assessment, one I couldn't find fault with. "Okay…" I said, "But what about the whole, 'me being a mess thing'?"

"Well, as long as you're up-front about that, then I think that's something that we can work on together," she offered with a smile as she reached out and took my hand. "But the real question is, do you have feelings for me?"

I balked at first, still thinking about how I wasn't good boyfriend material at the time. "I-" I hesitated.

Intrepid squeezed my hand and shook her head. "Ignore everything that your head is telling you. What does your heart say?"

With a sigh, I shut my eyes and tried listening to my heart. After a while, I shook my head and opened my eyes, giving her a regretful look. "I…I don't know. Maybe? We barely know each other." Her face began to fall before I added, "But…I think I want to find out."

Her smile quickly returned and she let out a quiet "Yes!" as if I wasn't within inches of her face. "Alright, we've taken the first step, now the second."

"Official date time?" I surmised, eyebrow raised.

"Exactly!" She nodded happily, then quickly backpedaled. "I-if you're ready for that, that is. I mean, we can keep hanging out if that's what you want, take things slower."

I grinned slightly and shrugged. "Dating's just hanging out, but in fancier clothes. I'm up for either, but if we wanna do a proper date, it's going to take a while for me to find the time right now…"

Intrepid leaned back and gave me a confident grin. "Leave that to me, Commander!" she declared with a thumbs up. "Just make sure you've got your dress whites all ready!"

Her enthusiasm was infectious, and I grinned back as I nodded to her. "Alright, I'll let you take the lead on this one. But how, exactly are you going to clear my schedule?"

"Leave that to me," she answered cryptically. "I'll make it happen." Sensing my hesitation, she added, "Don't worry, I won't compromise fleet safety or the training plan for this big thing you've got coming up."

Understandably, I was still a bit hesitant to take her at face value. "...you're sure?"

To her credit, that confident expression never wavered. Whatever she was planning, she was utterly certain she would succeed. "Absolutely, Commander!"

In the end, all I could do was trust her and hope she could pull this off. Whatever "this" was. "Alright," I said slowly. "I'll leave it in your capable hands, then. Oh, and one last thing. If we start dating, I'm going to have to be hard on you when it comes to this upcoming operation. Once word gets out, I don't want people thinking that you got this because you're the boss's girlfriend or anything like that. Prove to them that you deserve to be there, no questions asked."

Her grin faltered, replaced by a more somber, solemn look. "Understood, sir. I'll do my very best."

"I expected nothing less," I smiled as I got to my feet. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to grab lunch and I think you need to track down Bremerton."

That smile returned, although this time it was far more predatory than playful. "You're quite right, John. Catch you later!"

I watched her as she headed off in the direction where we'd last seen Bremerton and smiled to myself as I watched those silvery twin ponytails bounce up and down with every purposeful step. Despite all of my misgivings, I had a good feeling about this…


"You set me up."

I tried to glare accusatorily at Bremerton, but it was really hard to be upset with her given the overall end result.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about, Commander," she retorted in an innocent voice that was belied by the smug grin on her face.

"Don't play coy with me," I warned, although it was rather difficult to appear stern when the corners of my mouth kept trying to pull up into a grin. "You set us both up."

"Did I, though?" she asked.

"Yes! Or at the very least put us in a position where we had to deal with it."

She thoughtfully tapped her pen against her chin as she pretended to consider my point. "Well, as a counselor, it's my job to help people with any issues they're having. You're welcome, by the way."

I sighed and shook my head, unable to keep the grin from my face any longer. "Alright, have it your way," I relented. "But seriously, when did you start trying to put us together?"

"Since the first night you two met," she confessed. "Well, the morning after, really. I think you two would be good for each other."

The good mood was suddenly soured by the doubts I had about this relationship. Mainly my own baggage. "Yeah," I awkwardly began, "About that…I'm not sure exactly what I'm bringing to this relationship. As I told Intrepid yesterday, I've got a bunch of problems and I'm not sure if I'm ready for a relationship right now. Or ever."

Then Bremerton said something I wasn't expecting. "You're not ready."

"What?" That was not what I was expecting to hear from her. I was expecting her to tell me it'd be okay, or something comforting, not to agree with me.

"You're not ready, and you're never going to be ready," she repeated. When I continued to stare at her as if she'd just grown an extra arm, she continued. "Commander, being 'ready' for a relationship isn't some sort of pre-flight checklist. Even if you're in a good place, with no stress, no baggage of any kind, you're never truly ready because you don't know the other person. You don't know how you two are going to mesh in a romantic setting. Maybe you two will be great friends and find out there's not a romantic spark between you. Or maybe you'll get swept away in some passionate love affair that will last the rest of your lives. But until you start dating, there's no way to know."

"But-"

She cut off my protests with a firm shake of her head. "I know, I know. And we're working on those issues. Don't let them dictate your life, Commander. Besides, maybe Intrepid can help you there, too."

I thought back to the dream last night and pondered on it. Maybe she already has.

"What was that?" Bremerton asked.

"What was what?"

"You just said something," she explained, "Sounded like 'maybe she already has'."

Crap. I idly hoped I haven't been monologuing my inner thoughts lately before I nodded slowly. "Yeah, yeah I guess I did. Wasn't supposed to be out loud."

As if reading my thoughts, she smiled and said, "Don't worry, this is the first time you've done it. At least, around me."

"Well, that's comforting," I sighed as I leaned back on the couch. "Guess I should probably explain myself, then."

"Only if you're comfortable," she softly answered in that calm, reassuring voice.

I about it for a few seconds then shrugged. "It was probably going to come up anyway, so why not? I was having that dream again, the one from the expedition where I find myself floating in the void. Except this time, after floating there for a few minutes, I see something."

Bremerton quickly slips back into her professional demeanor as she begins taking notes. "And what did you see?"

"A light," I answered. "Just a tiny point of light almost like…"

"A star?" Bremerton helpfully finished for me.

"Exactly," I agreed, then gave her a wry grin. "You can probably make the connection with Intrepid on that front."

"It's not much of a stretch to think the events of the past few days might have had some effect on you," she chuckled. "Tell me more about this star."

I exhaled softly as I thought back. "It was blue-white, off in the distance, but it felt…close, somehow, like I could reach it. In fact, I was getting closer and closer to it. Or it was getting closer to me, I couldn't tell. But it felt…warm…safe, somehow. I don't know exactly how to put it into words, I just know that somehow I wasn't going to be alone, that I would be…okay."

Bremerton had a soft smile on her face when she looked up from her notes. "And how did you feel when you woke up?"

"Rested. Relaxed. I didn't thrash out of bed or bolt upright screaming."

"And how do you think this is related to Intrepid?" she asked.

"Well, for starters, it's a star, and given her love of astronomy, it makes sense," I replied with a slight grin. "But honestly, it's not any logical thing I can point to, it just…it just feels like her."

She scribbles a few more notes before she nods. "I see. Well, this certainly sounds like good news, but we'll keep checking in on that dream if anything changes." I nodded as she set aside the notepad and fixed me with an eager smile. "So, when's your first date? Anything special picked out?"

"Ah…" I awkwardly said as I rubbed the back of my neck, "She's the one taking me out. And I don't know where. Or when. Intrepid just said that she'd make sure my schedule was clear and to keep my dress whites handy."

"Interesting," she grinned. "You'll have to tell me how that goes."

"I promise, but not everything," I smirked playfully. "I'm not the type to kiss and tell."

Bremerton's laughter filled the office…


Our morning session over, I headed back up to my office and got to work. There was still a ton of logistics to go over, and that was just for the training exercise. We also needed to get things prepped for the trip through the Panama Canal and into the North Atlantic. Fortunately, Saratoga was handling prep work on the East Coast, making sure she was integrating the technology Naval HQ had been gifting us on what seemed like a daily basis. I was beginning to wonder where it had all been coming from. Had they been sitting on it this whole time, not wanting to give the Sirens a chance to counter it, or was there some sort of significant breakthrough? In any case, I had bigger things on my plate. Like getting this roster filled out.

With perfect timing, Brooklyn, who had replaced Essex as secretary for the day, walked over to me and held out a folder. "Sir, I have the results from the first day's training exercises."

"Thanks, Brooklyn," I eagerly took them from her with a smile and immediately began skimming over the contents. "Let's see how our first batch did."

While I was going to go over it in detail later on, right then I was looking for one name, and I didn't have to go far to find it. "Is this correct?" I asked, almost unable to believe my eyes. "These are the completed training scores?"

She leaned down, looked them over, and then nodded. "Yes, sir," she confirmed, looking somewhat puzzled. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no!" I quickly said as I glanced back at the numbers. "Just…surprised, that's all." Sitting at the number one spot, by a comfortable margin, might I add, was Intrepid. Guess she didn't want to leave any room for doubt, either. "Can you pull up the logs of today's exercises for me, please? As well as Intrepid's personnel file."

Brooklyn nodded once and quickly hurried off to retrieve the data that I'd requested. While she was off doing that, I'd get as much of this paperwork cleared out before lunch so I could go over the training records and her file.

To be clear, I didn't think that this was a fluke or the other kansen deliberately limiting themselves to make Intrepid seem that much better. They all knew this was for a big operation, and I didn't think anyone wanted to run the risk of being cut just so one carrier can look good for her boyfriend. But what was rattling around in my skull was the question of how much of an improvement this is for her? In the week since I'd been back, I hadn't gotten much time to review the files of the new shipgirls who'd arrived. So much had changed since I left for the Northern Parliament, it felt like I'd been playing catch up from the moment I'd returned. Maybe she'd always done well and she just had a good day? Or maybe, just maybe, was this the support Bremerton said she'd needed?

I shook my head to dispel such silly thoughts. I don't think agreeing to date her would spur her on that much…would it? While I'd say no, I realized I hardly knew her. But then again, that's the whole point of dating, isn't it? Getting to know one another?

Brooklyn cleared her throat, and I was surprised to see her standing there with yet another folder in her hand. "Intrepid's file, sir. And I'm downloading the results of today's exercise to your desk."

"That was shockingly fast, Brooklyn," I said as I took the file from her hand. "Thank you."

"Just doing my duty, sir," she demurred before she headed back to her desk.

I turned my attention back to the folder in my hand and quickly opened it, skimming over her files. Her hull had seen quite a bit of combat in the Pacific War, helping to sink both Yamato and Musashi, but she'd also been sent back to the drydock on more than one occasion. For as many highs she'd seen in her career, she seems to have seen just as many lows. It would seem to explain why she'd always try and brush off or downplay any of those little accidents she kept having.

Moving on to her actual service record, she seemed to do well, holding her own in combat, as well as placing consistently near the top in her exercises. If she could keep getting scores like this, then there would be no doubt left that she belonged in this operation, regardless of our romantic relationship.

Confident that this wasn't a fluke or some ploy to make her look good, I pulled up the recording to see just how she did…

A/N-Next week, thrilling combat! Or watching Intrepid fumble her way to victory. Which is it? Who knows? (Spoiler: still me) Until next time, fair winds and following seas!