** Public Service Announcement **
The story is switching (click!) to M starting next week. Not a very hard M; indeed, I've seen racier things on daytime soap operas. But still.
I warned you all that there would be lots of Vandham eventually. Chapters 13 & 14 are where that happens, between paragraphs. Ahem, but still.
If that is not quite what you need, come back in Ch. 16 for some totally T-rated H.B. trolling.
** This has been an emergency message from the Vandham Appreciation Society. **
** We now return you to your regular broadcast **

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a/n: Yeah, well, it seems Lila and Vandham did NOT start discussing fuel requests at the end of their date.

Utter fluff, no swears, and a lot of kissing. Eminently skippable. Or just jump to the last section, because Lara Mara. What on earth is he doing there? The closing duo would rule the world if I let them.

Lila's not Cross, just an NPC with wandering hands. Everything else belongs to the hard working geniuses of MONOLITHSOFT. Don't worry, kids, I got this one.

… "Come on, I have two cheeks, no waiting." He leaned in sideways at her, offering the right side of his face for starters.

She reached up, placing a hand along his jaw, and swiveled his face straight towards her. Then she kissed him full on. He never knew what hit him.

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Aw, man, this was not what was supposed to be happening. That little voice that always told her to stop, to take care, just where had it gone to? Was it even still on Mira? Certainly it had cleared out of New LA, leaving her with only this man and her own curiosity.

Because she had wondered for so very long what it would be like if she just gave in. What he'd do if she kissed him, touched him, even looked long enough at him. Looking at him was always a pleasure, she'd admitted that to herself long ago. Their meetings were so very professional, always for the good of the station, at least up until now, but they had carried a secret payload of joy as well.

She'd only invited him out tonight because he'd looked so frustrated, so close to despair. The repeated losses and attacks on NLA were wearing him down. It frightened her, and she wanted to help. The gym, weird as it seemed, was full of hope for her. All those different species, playing and fighting together, seemed to prove to her that they had more than a slim chance of success. She wanted to pass some of that feeling along. So she'd told herself. But it was also the thrill of sharing something secret, telling him something about herself that was true. Not a real secret, but an invitation to know her better.

Prone had their way of initiating courtship, humans had their own. She was ashamed she hadn't realized this earlier.

Stupid stupid girl, what was she getting herself into? What was she doing?

Kissing him, apparently, as hard as possible. He'd pulled back slightly when she'd started, which had tipped her balance. He'd caught her waist to keep her from stumbling and she had taken advantage of the tug to lean in even closer. Up on tiptoe to get a better position along his mouth, sliding her hands along his neck. Man, his hair was softer than she'd remembered. She'd touched it once, on the Whale, fleetingly bumping heads in a tight access tube. Now, she wanted to reach up as high as she could and lose her fingers in his hair.

Air. Eventually a person needed air, even if they didn't really. The space between them was cold, only the distance of her arms and his, since she still had her hands on his shoulders, those glorious shoulders, and he still had his hands, well, somewhat lower than exactly her waist by this point.

She just looked, hard, at him, mouth a little open. Nothing scrambling through her head seemed the right thing to say. He was blinking, giving his head a little nod.

Aw, man, what HAD she done? It wasn't too late. All she had to do was give the lightest pressure, a tiny shove, and they could be laughing about this by next week. An experiment that proved some things but nothing of much of importance. Something to admire but not to follow. She'd answered her curiosity, hadn't she?

She didn't move a muscle, just watched him. If she was trembling, well, there was nothing she could do about that. She didn't move away. He nodded again, and slowly leaned towards her, slowly offered her his other cheek. Joy, pure joy, and another chance at madness. A stupid chance she would never end, if she had her choice. She could only smile and take everything that Mira had to offer her.

She'd never punched in her door's key code backwards, blind and with such speed. It was a miracle she freed up one hand to do it, but luckily the careful little voice had not entirely abandoned her.

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Half an hour prior, back at the gym, Lara Mara had watched the pair leave. The minute they exited the gym, he'd immediately grabbed his comm device and sent a heartfelt message to Eleonora. "Please, baby girl, I am begging you, on my knees even, do not bother the Commander for, hmmm, shall we say three hours?"

"Lara, don't be ridiculous."

"Two hours then. I have a serious bet going, and I do not want you to ruin it. Him and Lila. I will eat my armor if her station doesn't rock tonight."

The line filled with silence. Then Eleonora gave an amazed laugh. "Well, sugar and sunshine."

"Yessiree! I'm gonna clean up if it goes well tonight." His voice was giddy.

The comm device blazed with Eleonora's brilliant smile. "Don't worry about a thing, Mara. I think I can block any calls for a bit. To either of them. I'll expect a report later, correct?"

"Absolutely. What I can give you is all yours. You know I worship you."

"Same to you, Lara. Good night."

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a/n: I haven't visited Lila's head for a while, so that was a nice change. Notice the utter lack of swears. She never swears. Never. Someday, that will go into a story, but not in this arc.

Do you realize how hard it was not to let Mara swamp everything? I love that dude like no other. He's grand. I want somebody to write a whole mystery story line for him. So bad. Go! Fly my pretties and make it so. New LA Noir! Make it a thing!

Next up: Jack has a chance to think about things. Including that discussion about fuel requirements he just had with Lila. Repeat: we're switching (click) to M, but it is a tame M, and it contains useful plot.