Katrina woke with Tilly's arm around her waist and the girl's legs tangled with hers. They were both still naked and she enjoyed the warmth of the skin to skin contact. From the light level outside the tent, she judged it was a little past dawn. Reluctantly she ran her hand down Tilly's back, trying to wake her as gently as possible. Tilly snuggled closer in and Katrina chuckled quietly.

'Rise and shine, sleeping beauty,' she said. 'We need to get up and get packed. Discovery will be here soon.' Tilly frowned and her eyes fluttered open.

'I don't wanna,' she muttered sleepily. Katrina laughed and poked her in the side.

'Tough shit. Now get up.' Tilly huffed but rolled over and stretched. The blanket fell back and Katrina was momentarily distracted by the expanse of alabaster skin it revealed. Tilly swatted lightly at her thigh.

'Stop perving,' she said, sitting up and poking her tongue out. Katrina smirked and met her eyes.

'It's your own fault for being so damn sexy.' Tilly blushed and Katrina sat up too, pulling her into a kiss before rummaging around for her uniform. 'C'mon. Let's get packed up.'

An hour later they were sitting on the log by the now dying fire. The tent had been packed away and all their supplies had been returned to the bags they came from. The two women were in correct uniform, Tilly's hair had been returned to her regulation hairstyle and there was nothing left to do except wait for the shuttle. A few minutes later it came into view. Katrina put her hand on Tilly's thigh and squeezed briefly before standing to watch the shuttle touch down. The hatch opened and three people came out.

'Captain Lorca,' Katrina said in greeting to the figure in front. She thought she saw him flinch minutely at her cold, professional tone and made sure to keep her own mixed feelings shut tightly away. 'Good of you to come and get us.'

'Admiral, Cadet,' he addressed them both. 'Sorry for the delay. Let's get you back to Discovery.' He gestured for Katrina to precede him up the ramp which she did, striding confidently past Lieutenant Tyler and taking a seat inside. Dr Culber joined her and began taking readings. She saw Lorca give Tilly's shoulder a squeeze and ask if she was ok as she passed him, and her nod in reply. Whatever Lorca was, he did care about his crew.

The atmosphere inside the shuttle was odd. Tyler and Tilly were chatting enthusiastically, yet Katrina thought there was something a bit off with Tilly's responses. Once the doctor had scanned Tilly as well and declared them both physically fit, if slightly undernourished, he joined the conversation. Katrina and Lorca were silent but Katrina could feel his eyes on her. She stared resolutely out of the window ahead and ignored him, listening with half an ear to Tilly's exclamations as the men caught her up on the ship gossip.

On reaching the Discovery, Tyler left them and Dr Culber escorted the women to the medical bay for a restorative hypospray. Tilly's was administered quickly and she was released back to her quarters. She left, casting a lingering look back at Katrina as she did so but without a valid reason to stay. Katrina cursed internally – why had she not considered that they were unlikely to get a chance to speak alone once they were back on the ship? She didn't get long to dwell on the matter though as Dr Culber approached and pulled the privacy screen around the bed. After putting a hypospray to her neck, he pulled out his PADD.

'Admiral. You've checked out fine on all the physical tests, despite the injuries you sustained in the crash, but I'm worried about your mental health. You were supposed to be on your way to recover from being a prisoner and this can't have helped.' Katrina gave him a wry grin.

'I'm well aware of that, Doctor. Cadet Tilly helped me while we were on the planet but I'd still like to see a specialist as soon as possible.' Culber nodded in agreement.

'Good. We're on our way to Starbase 46 now. You'll be transferred for treatment when we arrive in a few hours.' Katrina thanked him, and Dr Culber threw a look towards the curtain. 'The Captain would like a word, are you feeling up to talking to him?' Katrina sighed.

'Fine, send him in.' The doctor hesitated, but after a second he nodded and left. Captain Lorca entered a moment later.

'Kat,' he said gently. 'How are you?'

'What do you think, Gabriel?' she replied, and was pleased with how frosty her voice was. 'I've just spent several weeks being tortured by Klingons, only to end up immediately stranded on an uninhabited planet. I'm not at my best.' Lorca had flinched on the word torture, but now approached her.

'I'm so sorry Kat.'

'Sorry for what, Gabriel? Sorry I got captured? Sorry you set me up? Sorry that I'm still alive? You've got a hell of a nerve just walking in here and asking how I am! You're lucky I haven't got any way to prove my suspicions about what you did or I'd bust your ass back down to Ensign before you can say court martial!' Lorca had been quiet to start, but as her anger built so did his.

'What the hell Kat? Just what exactly are you accusing me of?'

'I can't accuse you of anything as you very well know!'

'No, I don't know! I don't understand what's going on here! I came in to see if my friend is alright and I instead I get my head bitten off!' Katrina folded her arms against her chest and studied him. She'd got pretty good at reading Gabriel over the years, even if the last time hadn't exactly fit the pattern. Still, the main read she was getting off him now was frustration and anger. He was pissed off at her 'unreasonable' behaviour, which indicated that he really hadn't known. She felt some of the weight on her shoulders leave her and nodded.

'Alright.' His anger turned to confusion.

'Alright? Kat, what's going on?' She dragged a hand down her face, suddenly weary.

'It's complicated. I don't think I'll be in touch for a while, Gabriel. Good luck with everything.' She turned before he could stop her and strode out of the medical bay. Once she had gone far enough to be sure there were no signs of pursuit, she slowed her pace. That shouldn't have been quite so unexpected; after all, she was on his ship. It was only natural for him to come and check on her. Now she just had to work out if he'd been telling the truth or not. Well, she'd work it all through with her therapist and see where she was afterwards. For now, she had more urgent matters to attend to. She found a panel on the wall and pressed the button.

'Computer, where would I find the quarters of Cadet Sylvia Tilly?'

Katrina pressed the door chime and waited, suddenly nervous. After all, they'd never properly discussed what would happen once they returned to the real world – there had been comments, things implied, but now they were actually back things might be different. Tilly's voice called 'Come in,' from the other side of the door. She depressed the panel again and stepped through. There were two people in there; Tilly was sitting on the edge of what Katrina presumed was her bunk, and Michael Burnham was standing next to her. They both looked slightly surprised to see her.

'Admiral,' Tilly greeted nervously. 'This is Michael Burnham, my roommate.'

'Admiral,' Burnham nodded, and Katrina returned the greeting.

'Burnham,' she replied. 'Good to see you again. I never got the chance to thank you for getting me off that Klingon ship. I'm truly grateful,' she said sincerely, and received another nod in reply.

'You're welcome.'

'Would you mind giving us a minute?' Katrina asked. Burnham shot a glance at Tilly before answering.

'Of course.' She crossed to the door and exited, leaving the other two alone. Tilly stood at once and they met in the middle of the room.

'Hey,' said Tilly. 'Are you ok?' Katrina kissed her instead of answering and Tilly returned it with equal fervour.

'I'm fine. You?' Tilly smiled slightly.

'Yeah.'

'I talked to Gabriel,' Katrina admitted. 'I'm.. confused. I'm pretty sure he didn't try to kill me on purpose. But I'll talk to my therapist about it when I finally get to Starbase 46. We should be arriving soon.' Tilly nodded.

'That's good.' Then she frowned. 'Is that good?' Katrina laughed.

'Yes, that's good.' She paused for a minute, unsure how to proceed, and looked around the room. 'I'd forgotten how small these crew quarters are,' she commented, and Tilly grimaced.

'Tell me about it! I bet you get massive quarters with a king sized bed in yours,' she complained, and then blushed. Katrina grinned.

'Yeah, I do,' she replied, stepping close to Tilly again. 'I'll show you sometime.' For a moment they just stood, until Katrina took the plunge. 'When I get back, I'm going to read every line of the fraternisation regs and make sure there aren't going to be any problems with an Admiral dating a Cadet. That is, if you want to.' Tilly's face split into a broad grin.

'I was so hoping we were on the same wavelength. Yes, I do. I'd really like to see if this works.'

'We'll make it work,' Katrina promised, and kissed her. 'I'm going to miss you,' she admitted.

'Me too,' replied Tilly, 'But you need to go recover from everything. I wish I could come with you.'

'The cuddles definitely do help,' agreed Katrina. 'Maybe if the nightmares get worse again I'll get you shipped over on a medical priority call.' She meant it as a joke, but Tilly frowned and Katrina hurried to reassure her. 'I'll be fine. I'll be back to normal in no time, and then we'll go from there.' Tilly pulled her into a hug.

'Just look after yourself, ok?'

'I will. Same to you though.' Katrina gave her a mock stern glare. 'No more getting stuck on random planets with women too old for you.' Tilly snorted.

'I'll try. And we've been through this..' she began, but Katrina cut her off.

'I know.' She kissed her again, more softly this time. Tilly pressed into her and they held each other, saying everything that couldn't be said with words with their kisses. Eventually Katrina pulled back and glanced out of the window. 'I'd better go,' she said, and Tilly nodded reluctantly. 'But I'll call you, and I'll see you soon. I will not let anything as petty as distance or regs get in the way of this.' Tilly smiled, and Katrina couldn't resist pulling her in for another kiss. 'I'll see you soon,' she repeated, stepping back.

'Get better,' Tilly said, and Katrina nodded.

'I intend to. And then you get to meet me properly, instead of this half arsed version that's hanging around at the moment.' Tilly laughed out loud.

'There is nothing half arsed about you, Kat. But I look forward to it.' Katrina grinned wickedly.

'Just you wait.' She kissed her again, swiftly but hard, then turned to leave while Tilly was still reeling. 'See you later.' She winked, pressed the door button and stepped through. For now, she was headed to Starbase 46. After that, who knew, but she'd be damned if she wasn't taking a part of Sylvia Tilly with her.

Ok, so this is finally finished - let me know what you thought! I'm not done with this universe yet; there will definitely be other, probably shorter, snippets about these two as I quite like them now. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!