Katrina woke up to an odd sound very close to her head. She immediately tensed, anticipating some new method of torture but before she could panic, her mind caught up with her and she remembered she was no longer on the Klingon ship and she was lying with her head pillowed on something soft and warm. Just as she realised the noise was the sound of Tilly's snoring, she noticed it had stopped. Opening her eyes and lifting her head, she saw the redhead doing the same. Unsure how to react, she gently released her hold on the girl and rolled off her.

'Good morning,' she offered. 'Thank you for your help last night. I apologise for falling asleep on you.'

Tilly relaxed slightly but didn't smile. 'That's ok. I, uh, I'm sorry if I crossed the line. You didn't seem to be calming down and I didn't know what else to do..' Katrina cut her off by touching her gently on the hand.

'It's fine. I can't say it's a technique I've ever tried myself with my trauma patients but it seemed to work.' When Tilly still looked worried, she added, 'And you really do snore.' Tilly finally cracked a smile.

'I know. It's a medical condition, I wasn't supposed to have a roommate because of it, which kind of sucked, but then I got lucky when Michael joined the ship..' Realising she was rambling, Tilly fell silent again. Katrina sat up, pleased to note no dizziness from the movement and barely any headache.

'Let's get some breakfast,' she said to fill the sudden awkward silence.

'Yes, Admiral,' Tilly responded, and Katrina frowned.

'Seeing as I spent the night sleeping on you and there's nobody else here, how about we dispense with the titles. Call me Kat. Or Katrina, if you prefer.' Tilly nodded slightly awkwardly.

'Everyone just calls me Tilly. I don't really like Sylvia.' Katrina smiled.

'Tilly suits you better.'

'I know, right? Sylvia is someone's Gran.' Both women laughed and the atmosphere inside the tent thawed a little. Katrina grabbed them a couple of ration bars and they munched on them in silence. Once they were finished, they unzipped the tent and climbed out.

'I could do with a wash,' Katrina admitted, 'Let's take a walk and see if there's any water nearby. We'll need it for drinking too if we're here much longer.' Tilly nodded.

'Yes si.. Katrina' she amended. Katrina chuckled as Tilly ducked back into the tent to grab supplies. When she returned with a small bag and various pieces attached to her belt, they started out of the camp. With the help of a tricorder and a standard grid pattern, they soon found a small stream. Tilly stooped to test it and reported all clear. Both women refilled their drinking flasks before Katrina dipped a hand in.

'Feels like winter run-off,' she remarked with a grimace. 'I think I'd rather be cold than filthy though.' She glanced up at Tilly. 'Would you mind?' When the girl still looked confused, Katrina made a twirling motion with her finger. Comprehension dawned and Tilly blushed.

'Oh, sorry!' she stammered and turned her back. Katrina wasted no time in shedding her uniform and stepping in.

'Fuck that's cold!' she swore breathlessly, and Tilly giggled. The water only came up to her waist so she splashed it up her body and onto her face, wiping away the blood and grime left over from the crash as quickly as she could. A cursory examination revealed large amounts of bruising running up her left side from the top of her thigh to her ribs, with a smattering of grazing on top. Her teeth chattering now, she climbed out and rubbed herself dry vigorously on a blanket. Tilly held a clean uniform out to her without fully turning around and Katrina dressed as quickly as possible.

'Much better,' she sighed, and Tilly turned around.

'Clean is good,' she agreed, eyeing Katrina's no longer dirt covered face and uniform. 'You look better.' Warily she turned to look at the stream.. 'I suppose I should..'

'Yes, you should,' agreed Katrina firmly, giving the girl a little shove and turning her back.

'Ok, here's the thing though..' she heard the girl say from behind her and turned back around. Tilly was fiddling nervously with the hem of her uniform and not meeting Katrina's eyes. 'I've never really liked water and this is kind of fast moving and probably really cold so if it's ok with you, do you think you could maybe.. keep an eye on me?' Katrina understood.

'You want me to make sure you don't get swept away?' Tilly nodded, still looking uncomfortable. 'No problem. It's actually safer that way, I just still have some.. issues.. I need to work through. Go ahead when you're ready.' Tilly reluctantly stepped over the the water's edge and stripped off her uniform. Katrina tried not to look but Tilly's completely unselfconscious attitude towards her nudity made her feel slightly silly. Tilly poked a toe into the water and shrieked, turning to Katrina with a look of horror.

'You put your whole body in here?! It's fucking freezing!' Katrina chuckled.

'Don't make me push you..'

With a grumble, Tilly turned back to the stream, took a deep breath and plunged in completely, coming up a couple of seconds later with a steady stream of expletives issuing from her mouth that didn't abate even as the girl gave herself the speediest scrubbing Katrina had ever seen and clambered as quickly as possible out of the water. She was still going when Katrina handed her a fresh uniform, although the volume had lessened considerably, and it wasn't until Tilly had zipped her jacket all the way up to her chin that she looked at Katrina with a glower and said,

'You can stop laughing now.' Abruptly Katrina stopped, and Tilly cocked her head. 'You didn't know you were doing it.'

'It's been a while since I had anything to laugh about,' Katrina admitted. Tilly gave her an unreadable smile and squeezed her shoulder briefly. 'Let's head back to camp.'

On the way back to their campsite they discussed the agenda for the rest of the day, and when they arrived a few minutes later they both got started on their respective jobs. Tilly added more wood to the fire while Katrina sat down on a nearby log and started jotting down all the information she could remember on last known positions of their ships. Halfway through, however, she felt her head starting to throb again. As subtly as she could, she returned to the tent and tried to discreetly take some more pain meds but Tilly was too sharp-eyed for her.

'Shit, I'm so sorry, I'm the worst crash buddy ever! You've still got concussion and I haven't even checked to see how you are today! Sit right back down and I'll get you sorted.' Katrina found herself being manhandled back to her seat and felt the spray as Tilly gave her the pain relief. A second later she was back with the tricorder, running scans in a much more professional way that made Katrina feel sure she'd been watching her yesterday. Her tongue poked out as she worked which Katrina thought was vaguely adorable. 'You've still got slight concussion – better than yesterday, but,' she winced, 'The bruising is worse. Let me bring you the medkit over and you can see if we've got anything that'll help.' She was back a minute later with the bag, which turned out to contain a small regen unit. Katrina handed it to Tilly with instructions on how to use it, then reluctantly took off her jacket and pulled up the side of her t-shirt. Tilly let out a small intake of breath but didn't say anything. After a couple of passes, she stopped. 'This is going to be easier for us both if you lie down. Let's go inside.'

Once they had relocated and Katrina was lying on her side, Tilly resumed her efforts. After a couple of minutes, she asked quietly, 'Why didn't you say anything earlier?' Katrina didn't answer. Just as she was about to, Tilly spoke up again. 'It's ok, you know, to ask for help. It doesn't mean you're weak, or not good enough. You of all people should know that.'

'I know. I just forget.. sometimes.'

Katrina woke on her own a short while later, slightly confused but feeling better for a nap. She checked the bruising before she left the tent and was pleased to note it looked much healthier. Tilly smiled at her as she climbed out.

'Hi. How are you feeling?'

'Much better, thank you. How long did I sleep for?'

'Oh, not long, you dozed off just as I was finishing up but I figured you needed the rest.' Katrina nodded and sat down next to her. 'I was just going over the information you'd written down about our ships' locations. As far as I can make out, the signal from the beacon should be picked up sometime in the next couple of days and we can expect rescue not too long after that, depending on what's going on with the Klingons.'

'I wouldn't imagine we're a priority,' Katrina said drily, and Tilly gave her a stern look.

'I might not be but you are, Admiral Katrina.' Katrina smiled and looked away.

'Looks like we'll get a chance to do a bit of exploring after all. I should be up for a bit of a hike tomorrow. How about you?' Tilly didn't look that enthused.

'Yay, exercise,' she said, and Katrina had to laugh at her tone. 'You're as bad as Michael.'

'Oh?'

'Michael says if I want to make Captain one day I need to excel in all areas. She makes me go jogging.' Tilly grimaced. 'I'm getting better, but it's not exactly my thing.'

'What is your thing?' Katrina asked, curious. Tilly shrugged.

'Science. Movies. People.' Katrina laughed.

'In that order?' Tilly shrugged again.

'There isn't really much time for hobbies on Discovery.'

'I can imagine,' Katrina said wryly. 'She's right though, you know. Burnham. You don't make Captain unless you can do it all.'

'Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence Kat!' Both women laughed, but Katrina turned serious again quickly.

'I never said you couldn't. I have full confidence that you'll be a great Captain one day.'

The smile Tilly gave her in reply made Katrina's stomach turn in a way she hadn't felt in years.

When night fell, there was a certain awkwardness in their preparations for bed. While Katrina was fairly certain that Tilly's closeness was the reason she hadn't had any more nightmares the night before, she wasn't sure how the girl would respond if she broached the subject again. However, Tilly seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

'So..' she started hesitantly. 'Your nightmares seemed better last night, after, you know..' Tilly made some kind of gesture with her arms that Katrina presumed was meant to indicate a hug. 'Do you think it would help again?'

'Would you mind?' Katrina asked, relieved. 'Only I slept better last night than I have in weeks.' They shuffled their blankets together and then paused again, Tilly giggling slightly with her nervousness.

'You'd think I'd never slept with anyone before!' She froze, her cheeks flooding red and her eyes going wide. Katrina raised her eyebrows. 'Shit, I didn't mean…' she stuttered, before Katrina cut her off with a smile.

'I know what you meant. Now let's get some rest.'

They ended up lying on their sides with Tilly spooned up against Katrina's back and her arm around her. It took a while for Katrina to relax, but it was hard not to with the reassuring warmth of Tilly's body pressing against her and the weight of her arm around her waist. Eventually both women drifted off to sleep.