When Gaila woke the next morning the bed was empty but she didn't panic. He may not be here but he hadn't left her. Sure enough when she looked up at her PADD there was a message from him.
Went to get something for us to eat. I'll be back before you know it.
She smiled stretching out over the bed. She turned her face into the pillow inhaling deeply. It smelled like him, warm and woody. This whole bed smelled like him and she laid back taking it all in. How could this bed feel so much better then her own?She knew that they were all issued the same style bed but his felt softer, warmer. She wrapped her arms around his pillow pulling it into her.
"Do I have some competition?" he said walking in.
"Yes." she said. "Your pillow and I are madly in love an we're running away." She released the pillow sitting up her hair a mess of curls wrapping his sheets around him.
"Damn." said Bones leaning against the door.
"What?" she said her hand going to her hair. "Bed head? It can get really bad sometimes."
"No." he said. "I just forgot how good you looked wearing my sheets." She smiled up at him biting her lip.
"Your note had promises of breakfast." she said.
"And here it is." he pulled a container of yogurt out from behind his back in one hand his other held a granola bar.
"Ah the delicacies of Star Fleet." she said taking the yogurt and he pulled a spoon from his back pocket.
"I would kill for one of the big breakfasts I used to get back home." he said.
"I know what you mean." she said tearing the lid off the yogurt and taking her first spoonful. As she cleaned her spoon she looked up at him who was smiling at her. "What?"
"That." he said. "Reminds me when you sat across from me that first day trying to feed me that pink frozen yogurt."
"You called it pink syrupy crap." she said tucking her feet beneath her.
"I was oblivious to flirting." he said taking a bite of his granola bar.
"Mhmm." she said taking another spoonful. "This is nice, breakfast in bed."
"Very nice." he said. "We should make this a habit."
"Sounds good." she said setting down the empty container. "I wish I didn't have to leave."
"You don't." he said wrapping his hand around her calf pulling her down the bed towards him. "Just stay here with me all morning." He kissed up her leg.
"I do." she said.
"Just stay." he said kissing up her neck.
"I have to go talk to Kirk." she said turning away from him.
"Oh." he said releasing her. "That's right. Kirk."
"I'm just going to go tell him our arrangements off." she said. "There's nothing to end. He'll be upset for five minutes then find some new girl." She stood up pulling her boots on.
"Ok." he said.
"I'll be right back." she said. "I promise." She leaned down kissing him softly.
"Hurry back." he said.
"I will." she said grabbing her PADD. She stepped through the door and typed out a message.
Kirk I need to talk to you. Where are you? She got a response before she was out of the medical bay.
I can meet you in your room in five. Does that work? She thought quickly, Uhura should be out of there room by now.
See you there. She rushed back to her room changing out of her rumpled uniform from the night before and into a clean one, running a brush through her hair.
"Hey." says Kirk not bothering to knock on the door before he walked in.
"Hi." said Gaila looking up at him.
"So." he said leaning against the wall. "So 'we need to talk'? Ominous."
"Not really." she said. "I just-"
"I know what this is." said Kirk.
"You do?" says Gaila her eyebrows creasing.
"This is 'The Talk'." he says putting airquotes around the phrase.
"The Talk?" says Gaila.
"The talk where you tell me that this started out as something physical. But you feel like there's something else there."
"Kirk-"
"And usually that would send me running." said Kirk. "But Gaila," he pulled her to her feet. "It's true. There's something else here."
"Kirk I don't-"
"I don't know what it is but it's there. And we could try this again. Not just sex but a relationship. Like before, at the Academy, but so much better."
"Kirk-" he cut her off again this time by pressing his lips to hers his hand wrapping around her back.
"I'm back with Leo." she said pushing away from him and stumbling backwards.
"You're- wait how can you-" said Kirk stepping into her.
"Last night the page on my PADD was from him. He apologized to me for everything he said. He asked me for a second chance and I'm going to give it to him. We work together ok? I trust him."
"You trust him? Didn't you tell me he called you-"
"I know what he called me. He was angry. I said things to him I regret too. The important thing is that we talked it out and we're trying it again."
"And you didn't think about us?"
"Us? There is no us. It was sex! You made it very clear the first time that was all you were interested in."
"How can you say that?"
"I told you that I loved you and you said 'That's so weird.' Was I supposed to take that as you saying it back?"
"That was ages ago."
"And until you crawled into my bed you only talked to me when you were looking for Uhura."
"Oh yeah I had to beg to get into bed with you. You didn't pull me in-"
"I was hurt. I needed someone to be there for me and I knew sleeping with you was the only way to get you to stay."
"Well it's not just about sex anymore!" said Kirk. "I want more then that."
"No." said Gaila. "I'm giving him a second chance. Not you."
"Gai-"
"I have to go." she said pushing past him. The door closed behind her automatically behind her blocking Kirk from following her. She turned to the panel quickly punching in the code that would lock her room giving her some time. It took all her self restraint not to run down the hall away from him. Where the hell had this come from? Yesterday the confession would have surprised her just as much but she might have accepted it. But now knowing that Leo wanted her back-
"So how did it go?" Gaila looked up. She had walked to the medical bay on autopilot so quickly she hardly realized she had walked through the door.
"It was... weird." she said sitting on one of the examination tables.
"Meaning?"
"Meaning as I was trying to end things with him he was trying to start something."
"What?"
"He told me that he wanted to be something more."
"And what did you say?"
"That I was giving you a second chance. That he'd already had his."
"You turned him down?"
"Of course I did." she said swinging her legs. "Does that sound surprising?"
"Well you were kind of... smitten with him before."
"It was... It wasn't real with him. I was too blind to see how one sided our whole... it's not even enough to be called a relationship. I followed him around like a lovesick puppy, it was pathetic."
"You're not pathetic." he said raising himself up to sit beside her on the table.
"I feel like he only wants me now because he can't have me." she said. "I mean even before you and I talked he could still tell I wanted you. It's why he chases after Uhura so much, because he knows he'll never really catch her. It's all about the pursuit."
"And you don't like being chased?"
"I'm don't enjoy being hunted." she said. "That's what it feels like."
"Sorry." he said.
"You didn't do anything." she said laying her head on his shoulder. "Can we just go back to bed?"
"Bed or sleep?" he said raising an eyebrow.
"Bed." she said smiling up at him.
"Thank god." he said swinging her off the bed into his arms. "Because if you had said sleep I would have just laid there staring at you."
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." she said punching in the code to his bedroom.
"Good." he said as they passed through the door. He punched in the code to lock his door before he pushed her up against it. He kissed her neck pushing running her hand through her hair.
"This is not bed." she said closing her eyes.
"I couldn't wait to make it all the way to the bed." he said kissing up higher. He pulled back smiling at her before he kissed her softly.
"What was that smile for?" she said as he pulled back.
"Just happy you're giving me a second chance." he said.
"You made a pretty big effort." she said. "And I've never had anyone make any effort."
"And I just don't get that." he said. "I don't get how guys aren't throwing themselves at your feet."
"Because I never make them, I never turned anyone away. But I never had a guy turn me down."
"I never turned you down. I was oblivious."
"I practically sat on your lap in the cafeteria." she said laughing.
"I don't notice stuff like that." he said.
"But get a concussion and you're all over me."
"I was not attracted to your concussion." he said turning her around. "By the way are you feeling ok? You were supposed to come back for check ups but you wouldn't talk to me."
"I'm fine." she said laughing.
"You were with Kirk." he said. "If that's not a sign of brain damage-"
"Hey!" she said.
"I am serious though." he said. He slid his hands to her temples pressing softly. "Does that hurt?"
"Nope." He pressed into the back of her head at the base of her skull.
"Here?" he said.
"No." He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck.
"Here?"
"I didn't hurt my neck-" He pulled her into him kissing her deeply. "Ok maybe I do still have a concussion because I'm seeing stars."
"We're in space." he said. "We're all seeing stars."
"Shut up." she said slapping his arm. She wrapped her hand around his neck and pulled her down to her mouth. His hands closed around her waist and she couldn't tell if she stepped backwards or if he stepped forward first. All she knew was that before she knew it the back of her knees hit his bed. They fell back into the bed pulling at each others clothes gasping for breath as inch by inch more skin was then there they were pressed together so tightly she could barely catch her breath.
"We don't have to." he gasped out. "If you want to just talk-"
"What?" she said sitting up on her elbows.
"I don't want you to think I'm just with you for the sex." he said.
"I don't." she said.
"Then let's stop."
"What?" she said trying not to sound as disappointed as she felt.
"Let's talk." he said.
"About what?"
"Anything."he said.
"Ok." she said. "What do you miss most about Georgia?"
"I miss the heat." he says. "I mean when you're in the middle of it you kinda wanna kill yourself. But up here everything is so controlled. And the medical bay is always freezing."
"Is that why your room is so warm?" she said.
"Yeah. I can control the temperature in here. So," he said leaning against his headboard. "Why did you come to Starfleet?"
"I already told you." she said.
"But why Starfleet?" he said. "I mean you could have done anything."
"It was a Starfleet officer who found me." she said. "And some part of me thought that if I was in Starfleet maybe I could find my sister one day. I guess it's kind of stupid. I mean what are the chances that in the infinite reaches of space that one person could find one other person."
"It's not stupid." he said. "I have four brothers and if anything happened to one of them I'd search the universe twice to find who hurt them."
"Sometimes I swear I can hear her." she said smiling softly. "When we were younger we would always tell other people that we had special twin telepathy. We'd say we could talk through walls. And sometimes I'd swear I thought I heard her and then she'd tell she'd been thinking about me."
"What do you hear?" he said.
"I just hear her looking for me. She's wondering if I'm ok."
"Starfleet will find her." he said. "They're always after the Orion Syndicate."
"And they're so good at catching them." said Gaila rolling her eyes.
"I'm just saying don't give up."
"I won't." said Gaila. "I will never give up on my sister. Six years later I look for her as much as I did the first day."
"What's her name?"
"Alyiah." said Gaila. "God it's been so long since I said her name out loud."
"If it helps you can talk to me about her."
"Thanks." she said. "It doe-" Her words were cut off by a beeping noise coming from her PADD. "Damn it." she said.
"What is that?" he said.
"I'm still on duty." she said. "I'm sorry but I have to go." She tugged on her uniform hastily. "I'll come back as soon as I can."
"Hurry back." he said sitting up.
"I will." she said smiling. She leaned down kissing him gently. "I missed you."
"I missed you." he said.