Katrina awoke slowly, feeling more rested than she had in weeks. She was warm and comfortable, curled up against a soft body with an arm wrapped around her. Slowly it registered that she had not only had a nightmare free night, she hadn't even moved. She was just wondering how to free herself from the girl's hold without waking her when Tilly spoke quietly.

'It's ok, I'm awake.' Katrina rolled onto her back but stayed in Tilly's arms. Tilly smiled at her. 'Good morning.'

'That was the best night's sleep I've had in a very long time,' Katrina admitted. 'I may have to keep you.' Tilly giggled.

'What's the plan for today then? How are you feeling?' Katrina tentatively felt her bruised side.

'Ok, I think. Let's go for a bit of an explore and see what we can find.' They let go of each other and sat up, Katrina running her hands through her hair in disgust. 'When we get back I'm going to recommend they add hairbrushes to the survival kit.' Tilly laughed out loud.

'I can plait it for you if you like?' she offered. Katrina gave her a mock glare.

'You think I can't plait my own hair Cadet?' Tilly stuck her tongue out at her in response and both women laughed.

After a quick breakfast of ration bars, they set off up the hill. Katrina's logic was that should they find a summit, they would have an excellent view of the surrounding area and Tilly had agreed. As they walked they chatted, Tilly sharing stories of her home and her childhood and Katrina mostly relating adventures from her days serving as ship's counsellor. She also had Tilly in stitches with tales of the trouble she'd got into with Captain Lorca back in their academy days.

'I know it's none of my business..' Tilly asked after a couple of minutes of silence, 'But are you and the Captain..?' She hesitated, unable to find the right word.

'No,' replied Katrina, surprising herself with the strength of her denial. 'I mean, we have, a few times, but we're just friends.' She sighed. 'Actually, I'm not even sure we're that anymore.' At Tilly's questioning look, she shook her head. 'Never mind. It's complicated.' After a pause, she asked, 'And you, do you have.. a partner?' Tilly shook her head fervently.

'Nooo, definitely not. Lieutenant Rhys was after me at the last party, but I heard bad things about him from Ensign Mason, and anyway, I usually prefer girls.' She caught Katrina's eye as she said the last bit, and Katrina found herself blushing. Looking away to hide her confusion, she realised they had reached a point of the hill where the 'path' curved, leaving them with a spectacular view across the valley below. Tilly joined her at the edge, her hands on her hips and her breathing slightly ragged. She whistled. 'Phew, look at that!' Katrina nodded, still casting her eyes over the landscape.

'What's that?' she asked, pointing at an area about half a kilometre away speckled with small blue patches. Tilly frowned and got out her tricorder.

'It's hard to tell from here exactly, but my guess would be lots of small pools of water.' Katrina turned to her.

'Shall we go investigate?' Tilly nodded and they set off down the hill.

After a short walk, they arrived at the pools. To their surprise, steam was rising from them, and Tilly turned her tricorder on the nearest large one.

'The pool is four feet deep, water reads normal, approximately 39 degrees Celsius. No life signs. Hot springs of some kind?' She stooped and dipped her hand in, sighing in pleasure at the temperature. 'Now that's my kind of water!' Without another word, she shed her uniform and slipped in, an expression of bliss on her face. 'Just come and get me when rescue comes, I'm good until then!' Katrina chuckled and unzipped her jacket too. Tilly started to turn around but Katrina stopped her.

'No, it's ok, you don't have to.' Tilly leaned back against the side of the pool, not quite watching her but not looking away either. Ignoring the slight flutters brought on by the scrutiny, Katrina removed the rest of her uniform and slid quickly into the pool.

'Those look better,' Tilly remarked, indicating the bruises on Katrina's side. She pushed off from her spot and approached. 'May I?' Katrina nodded mutely. Tilly ran her fingers slowly up her side, feeling everywhere there had been damage. Katrina shivered at the contact, acutely aware of how close she was standing. She could feel all the places she touched tingling even after her fingers had moved on. Tilly's hands stopped just below her breasts and she stepped back.

'They're looking good,' Tilly said, her voice not quite hitting casual, leading Katrina to believe she hadn't been the only one affected by the interaction. 'I can have another go with the regen unit later if you like, then they should be almost back to normal.'

'Thanks,' Katrina replied, not quite trusting herself to say more, and leaned back with her head on the side of the pool. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly, relaxing in the warm water until Tilly's voice cut into her thoughts.

'I can't believe you made me get in that fucking stream when this was here the whole time.'

They stayed in the pool until Katrina said they should get out or they'd lose too many minerals, then reluctantly dragged themselves out of the water. The weather was slightly warmer today than it had been but still not hot, and both women were grateful to get their uniforms back on. Katrina tried not to dwell on the disappointment she felt when Tilly had zipped her jacket all the way back up and pushed it to the back of her mind to deal with later. They climbed back up to the ridge with the view and had their lunch there, looking down at the valley below. Tilly thought it was odd how little wildlife they had seen so far, so on the walk back to camp they kept their eyes open but didn't see anything other than a few small birds.

'At least we're not constantly fighting off bears!' was Tilly's cheerful rejoinder. Katrina shot her a look.

'If we're suddenly inundated with attacks from local predators you know it's entirely your fault.'

'Oh, shush you!' Tilly dismissed her concerns with a flap of the hand. Upon entering the campsite however, they were distracted by the blinking green light on top of the emergency beacon that signalled a new message. Tilly crossed to it and activated it. Captain Lorca's voice filled the small clearing.

'This is Captain Gabriel Lorca of the USS Discovery responding to a distress signal. I presume this signal is being sent by Admiral Cornwell and Cadet Tilly, both of whom went missing several days ago. I am awaiting orders on whether we are to retrieve you ourselves or whether another ship will be sent – either way it'll be at least another couple of days before we can reach you.' There was a pause, and when he spoke again the tone of his voice had changed. 'Sit tight Kat, we'll be there soon. Lorca out.'

There was silence. Katrina stumbled to a log and sat down, for a moment hearing another voice telling her that she wasn't being rescued and feeling the rising panic that she'd tried so hard to suppress. Then she felt gentle hands on her face and Tilly was with her, talking her through it and bringing her back to the present. She reached out blindly and clutched at her, breathing in her now familiar scent and grounding herself in the warmth of her body. Tilly stroked her hair and murmured reassuring words in her ear, and eventually Katrina pulled back.

'Burnham left me,' she whispered, not looking Tilly in the eye. 'On the Klingon ship, she and Tyler found me but I couldn't walk. She had a mission to complete so she had to leave me and I didn't know if she'd come back.' Tilly's hand was under her chin, lifting her head so she was looking her directly in the eyes.

'She got you out of there,' Tilly said firmly. 'You stayed strong until you were rescued, and you're going to do the same this time. They will come for us, like they came for you before. And you're not alone this time. You've got me, and I will not let this break you.'

The two women stayed close together that evening, huddling by the fire as the light slowly faded. Tilly's declaration earlier had changed something between them and they didn't talk much, choosing just to enjoy each other's company in silence. Katrina had declined Tilly's offer of another session with the regen unit, saying she felt a little fragile still and Tilly had accepted that. While this was true, Katrina was also nervous about the effect that letting the girl near her bare skin again might have. She could no longer deny her attraction to the younger woman; Tilly had proven herself to be smart, funny, kind and caring as well as incredibly attractive. The image of her as they got out of the hot pool earlier that day wouldn't leave her alone and Katrina felt slightly guilty as her mind's eye again traced the droplets of water that ran down the redhead's neck, over her breasts and travelled on down her body. When night had almost completely fallen, Katrina stood and stretched, trying to hide the nervous anticipation she was feeling.

'I'm going to turn in. You coming?'

'Sure,' Tilly nodded and followed her into the tent, turning to zip the door closed behind them. Once it was secure, she crawled over to Katrina. Lying down next to her, she wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close under the blankets. Katrina couldn't help the sigh that escaped her as her body melted into Tilly's. 'Are you ok?'

'Yeah,' she breathed, already drifting. 'Thanks.'

Tilly hummed against her neck, before gently pressing a kiss just below her ear. 'Sleep now. I've got you.'