I don't own The Orville or any of the characters.

Alara yawned as she awoke feeling more refreshed than she had in weeks. She opened her eyes slowly, her body relaxed and comfortable. As her eyes came into focus she found she was staring a wall of black. Her mind connected the dots quickly, a black shirt on a man, on Gordon.

She remembered falling asleep with him lying next to her on the bed over the covers. She took quick stock of their current position and blushed.

Her arms had one wrapped around his waist and the other was curled up against him with her hand on his chest, his arms were also wrapped around her in a gentle embrace. His legs were next to hers but still over the covers.

She glanced up at him to see that he was asleep. Somehow, in sleep, they had ended up like this.

His dark red hair was sticking up and his beard felt soft against her forehead when she moved. It surprised her as she had always thought facial hair was coarse and rough, but not Gordon's.

He looked peaceful as he slept, his breath barely whispering against the top of her head.

Those same flutters came over her as she looked at him. She wasn't sure what the reason was this time as she had a well-rested night. What the hell was going on with her?

She took a deep breath to stop the flutters and it worked momentarily, but as soon as she looked back at his sleeping face they returned.

Perhaps she was sick. She would have to ask Claire about it at a later time.

She tried to move out of Gordon's arms, but as soon as she started to back away his grip on her tightened, pressing her closer to his body. Her hand on his chest pressed tighter against him. He was more muscular than she thought under his uniform. Her face flushed as she recalled bits of memories from the last time they had been in this room together, in her bed together.

Gordon's lips on her skin, his soft beard caressing her skin as he moved, his body flexing and moving over her own, under her own.

She looked back down at her hand on his chest and tried to recall what he looked like before quickly shooing that thought away. They had decided to forget that night, they were crew mates and friends. It wasn't in their best interests to think about that sort of thing.

She was brought back to the present from her thoughts as she heard Gordon take a deep breath. "Alara," he muttered in his sleep softly. She froze. He had said her name that night too, many times, soft against her skin, groaning next to her ears as he moved with her, softly and passionately.

Alara could feel her body flush with heat at the memories as Gordon cuddled closer to her, as if trying to meld their two bodies into one.

She glanced up at him, watching as slowly he started to awaken. She prayed that her blush had gone away.

Slowly his eyes opened to reveal those dark brown eyes, those same eyes that had looked upon her with such desire now looked at her in a slight haze that gave him a dreamy expression, as if not quite awake.

Had Gordon always looked like this? Was she blind?

He blinked and slowly seemed to realize where he was and who with. Those eyes widened in confusion and then relaxed with understand. "Good morning," he said.

His voice when first waking up was deep, husky and sexy. It caused shivers to run down Alara's spine. She shook those thoughts out of her head. This was Gordon, the goofball, the joker, not an object for her lust.

"Good morning," she replied with more calmness than she felt. "Do you mind...um...?"

It was then that Gordon seemed to realize the position they were lying in together. He looked at her confused, as if unsure how he had gotten there, before quickly removing his arms, releasing her, and sitting up.

Alara instantly felt cold.

"So, did it work?"

It took Alara a moment to understand what he meant. Sleeping. His presence. The whole point of him being here to begin with.

She sat up herself, the blanket falling to her waist. "Yeah, best sleep I've had in a while."

Gordon looked at her with a slight smile. "Glad I could help."

"I hope I didn't bother you while you slept."

Gordon knew he had slept well, but the dreams he had were only of Alara and almost all of them were X-rated. But he couldn't tell her that. "Nah! I slept great." Alara smiled. Gordon couldn't help thinking she had a great smile and he always wanted to see her smiling.

As they smiled at each other Gordon began to feel a bit awkward, unsure of where to go from here. It wasn't everyday that he slept in the same bed as a female friend that wasn't sexual. He didn't know what to say now.

Alara seemed to have the same issue. Her face was even flushed slightly as she looked away as if embarrassed, which only only made her more attractive. Before he knew it he was leaning towards her.

"I'm glad you finally got some sleep," he said, his voice deepening. Alara turned to him and seemed surprised at his closeness to her, yet she didn't back away. "Although it was difficult to hold a beautiful woman all night and not make a move."

Alara felt her heart skip a beat, her body start to warm. On instinct she licked her lips drawing his eyes there. Fire flooded her veins as she suddenly had the intense desire for him to kiss her. She leaned closer drawing his eyes back to hers.

Inches from each other now, the room thick with sexual tension. She could feel his breath soft against her cheeks, caressing her skin. The slightest brush of his lips sent tingles up her spine, making her want more.

"Bridge to Lt. Kitan!"

Both Alara and Gordon jumped back as Bortus' voice penetrated Alara's quarters, their eyes looking at the other in shock, as if not realizing what had just happened.

"Bridge to Lt. Kitan!"

Alara shook her head, clearing the fog from her mind. She took a deep breath. "Lt. Kitan here, go ahead."

"The Captain is requesting your presence."

"Understood. On my way."

The connection to the bridge severed, Alara cast a glance at Gordon, who had already stood. "I should get out of here so you can change," he said, his back to her. "See ya later."

Alara didn't know what to say as she watched him walk out of the room, grab his shoes and jacket from the other room, slip the shoes on and walk out of her quarters without looking at her.

Alara didn't know what had just happened, didn't know how to process it, but she shook it out of her mind for now.

Right now she had to get dressed and going. Ed was waiting for her.

Gordon tried not to think about what had just happened as he walked down the corridors to his own quarters, but it was fruitless.

Alara had just looked so alluring and tempting. He hadn't tried to do or say anything that would result in anything. He really was trying to just be a friend helping out another friend.

Her lips had been so soft, that brief touch causing his whole body to harden. He had wanted to deepen it, lay her on the bed and hold her with nothing between them.

He shook that thought out of his head. That would have been a mistake. Alara was in love with Ed, he would be stupid to get involved with her like that. It wouldn't lead anywhere and just leave him hurt in the end.

Still, he wasn't sure if Bortus' interruption was a blessing or a curse.

He reached his quarters he quickly changed into a clean uniform. As he rushed out he ran into John who was also on his way to the bridge.

"Whoa man, in a hurry?"

Gordon laughed. "Yeah. Running a little behind today," he said as he side stepped his friend.

"Maybe next time take a change of clothes with you."

Gordon froze. He took a deep breath before slowly turning back to a smiling John. "What?"

John looked at Gordon with knowing eyes. "You didn't sleep in your quarters last night, so the question really is, where were you?"

Gordon looked at his friend with slightly narrowed eyes before he chuckled the nerves away. He had to keep this secret to protect Alara. "What? Of course I was in my quarters. Why wouldn't I be?"

John took a step closer causing Gordon's smile to fade slightly. "I'm not as dumb as I look," he said. "I came by and you weren't there. Hell, I came by twice, both last night and this morning."

Gordon looked confused now. "Why?"

John rolled his eyes. "I wanted to check up on you cause you were acting weird yesterday after Alara talked to y..." John froze, his eyes narrowed as in deep thought before they widened and he looked at Gordon with wide eyes.

Shit.

"Dude...did you...with Alara?"

Gordon grabbed John and pulled him into his quarters. No way was anyone going to hear this conversation, even if he had sew John's mouth shut.

John was still talking, looking at his friend in shock. "You slept with Alara? Dude!"

Gordon looked at him with a serious expression. "No, it's not like that."

"Then what is it like? For that matter, how did this happen? You guys never seemed to have an interest in each other before."

Gordon shut his eyes in frustration. He didn't know what this was with Alara, there was no way he could explain that to someone else. John was right, this was ridiculous. Alara was in love with another man, his best friend and boss, and he... he just didn't know what he was to Alara. That caused a sharp pain to fill him but he ignored it.

"Listen," he said firmly looking at John, "it's not like that. We just slept. Nothing happened."

John shook his head as Gordon confirmed what he had already figured out. "I just can't believe it, you and Alara. It's a weird pairing."

Gordon shook his head. "There is nothing like that between us." He grabbed John by the shoulders, forcing the other man to look at him. "You need to keep quiet about this. Alara...well she..." he didn't know how to say this without bursting out Alara's love for Ed. "Just you cannot say anything about this. Besides...nothing happened anyways."

Gordon released John, his eyes staying serious. John looked at his friend with curious eyes.

"Somehow, I feel like you wish something had happened."

Alara was nervous as she walked to Ed's office. What did he want and why did he call her?

She couldn't think of anything she might have done or said recently that would need her to be called into his office.

For a moment she allowed herself the hope that he might actually care about her too, that he might want her too. The thought filled her with excitement, but it wasn't as strong as it usually was.

She pushed the button to alert him to her presence and entered at his call.

Ed was at his desk typing and looked up at her with those beautiful blue eyes. She smiled at him as if her heart wasn't pounding like crazy.

Which it wasn't like normally...strange.

"Alara! Come on in." Alara walked in and sat before Ed, confused as to why she wasn't feeling like she normally did around him.

"Yes, Captain?"

Ed sat back in his chair, casual about this meeting with her. It calmed Alara to know that if he was being casual then she wasn't in any trouble or being reprimanded. It just confused her more on what he wanted with her.

"I wanted to check in with you," he said before standing up and walking around the desk. He stopped next to her and leaned back on the desk looking down at her. His arms remained at his sides. "I've been worried about you these last few weeks."

Alara expected her heart to start pounding at his nearness like usual, but it didn't. "Oh?"

Ed looked concerned but was relaxed, giving a feeling of calmness about the conversation. "A couple weeks ago you were hammered, nearly black out drunk, and could not even walk to your own quarters on your own. Then these last two weeks I've seen that some of your reports have been a bit sloppy and even have some things misspelled or missing. Nothing major, but worrisome going forward. Is everything okay?"

Alara wasn't sure how to respond. Was it okay that she was in love with the man in front of her that didn't realize her feelings? Was it okay that she could apparently only sleep in bed with another man she wasn't in love with? Was it okay that despite the fact that she had been in love with Ed for so long her heart wasn't pounding in his presence?

As far as she could tell things were not okay, at least with her.

However, to Ed, she responded, "I understand your concern. I was going through a few personal things and was not responding well to them. I already spoke with the Commander about the drinking and have been doing well in that respect. The last few weeks I had an issue sleeping. After talking with Claire I think that I've uncovered a way to resolve that issue."

Alara left out Gordon in that conversation. She didn't need that being broadcast across the ship.

Ed smiled before patting her on the shoulder. Normally this would make her blush or cause shivers to run down her spine. Today, she felt none of those things. She didn't even blush.

"Good to hear," Ed said.

Ed's touch didn't cause the same intense feelings invoked in her as when Gordon touched her, even briefly.

She mentally shook her head, pushing Gordon out of her thoughts. Something was wrong with her if she was confusing her feelings for Ed towards Gordon. Maybe she needed more sleep.

Ed dismissed her and she went to her post on the bridge. She tried not to glance at Gordon who was already at his post working, but she found her eyes wandering to him briefly anyways.

He was focused on his station and flying the ship. It was like he didn't even notice she had come on the bridge. He was acting like nothing happened.

Which nothing had happened. They had just slept in the same bed. It was just one friend helping another friend. The kiss this morning was just Gordon being Gordon, they were caught up in the moment. Besides it was just a brief touch of lips, not a real kiss.

As she took her place at her station Alara pushed thoughts of romance out of her head. She had a job to do and this was not the time to focus on what was going on with her and Gordon.

Gordon wasn't sure what was going on between Alara and him. For the past two weeks he would go back to his quarters only for her to show up to see him and sleep.

They would talk sometimes. She told him about her parents and how they were upset about her joining the military. He told her about his family and how his father was a drunk and his mother worked two jobs and they never go along, but he still loved them.

They didn't talk about the night they were together or the barely kiss. Gordon would also change the subject whenever Ed came into the conversation.

He could admit that he was being a bit petty about it, but he couldn't stand to hear Alara talk about Ed. She didn't seem to notice and for that he was glad.

He could admit to himself that he wanted her for himself, that he was attracted to her. Holding her in his arms every night was driving him to madness. He wanted to do more than hold her, but he wouldn't allow himself to cross that line.

He knew that she loved Ed and he couldn't handle hearing her say that to him again.

John always looked like he wanted to say something to him, but luckily the man kept his mouth shut. Gordon wasn't sure what he would say to John if questioned about his feelings for Alara.

He might say something he wasn't ready to admit, even to himself.

They had entered orbit around Carns 9 to drop off supplies. A routine mission that the Orville had completed millions of time.

Alara was in the shuttle bay supervising the loading of the supplies. Everything had to go just right.

There was a crew working on the other shuttle being lead by John. It had malfunctioned on the last mission and was in need of repairs quickly.

John had shot her a quick wave when she had come in. She had returned it before focusing on her duties. She noticed that John had been acting weird around her lately, but she was glad that it seemed like he was back to his normal space.

As they were finishing up Gordon and Kelly walked into the bay. They were in charge of delivering the supplies to the planet's surface.

At the sight of Gordon entering the bay Alara felt her heart start to pick up pace and she was starting to feel nervous.

After these last few weeks together, Alara felt as if her friendship with Gordon had grown stronger. She still didn't know why she felt this way towards him. She cared about him for sure, but there was just friendship between them. She knew that.

She loved Ed, so why would she feel like this towards Gordon? It made no sense.

She took a deep breath and turned back to the task at hand. This was no time to be thinking about those types of things. She had to keep telling herself that a lot more lately. Perhaps she was still tired from that lack of sleep those two week.

Yeah, that had to be the reason for why she felt this way.

After the last items were loaded, Kelly headed into the ship to get set up. Gordon was following behind her as well.

As he passed Alara she couldn't stop herself from speaking. "Stay safe."

He paused for only a moment, obviously not expecting her words. He sent her a quick smile. "I will," he said softly before continuing back inside the shuttle.

The whole exchange happened in less than a minute, but John saw the whole thing from where he was working. Even if he didn't hear what they had said to each other, John could see the strong emotions between them. How no one else seemed to see it, he didn't know. It was obvious.

Alara watched as the shuttle powered up and left the bay. She knew that Gordon was a great pilot and that is was a routine mission, one they had done dozens of times. Still she was worried about him, she didn't understand why.

"They'll be fine."

She turned her head at John's voice, unaware that the other man had walked up. "Gordon's the best pilot in the fleet. They'll be safe."

She turned back to watch the shuttle grow smaller and smaller. "I'm not worried," she lied. "I was just thinking that a security officer should have gone with them, just in case.'

"It's a routine supply run. In two hours they'll be back, just like clockwork."

Alara nodded. "I know, but it's my job to plan for the unexpected."

John said nothing in response, but when she looked back at him she could see that he wanted to say something to her. What, she didn't know.

Before she could ask him about it one of his team called him back to the shuttle with an issue. Alara shrugged. It probably wasn't important anyways.

On her way back to the bridge, Alara ran into Claire.

"Oh, Alara," she said with a smile. "You're looking better. I guess it was psychological."

Alara nodded. "I guess so. Have been sleeping better at least."

"That's good. I'm glad to hear it." Claire said. "I have to go now, but let me know if you need anything else."

Alara considered, for a moment, consulting Claire about the strange feelings she was having around Gordon, but she wasn't sure how to bring it up. She watched the doctor head down the corridor and said nothing instead.

Whatever it was, she would deal with it on her own and continued on towards the bridge.

They remained in orbit as they waited for the shuttle to return. Every minute felt like an hour to Alara making the wait unbearable.

Why was this supply run bothering her? It was the first one they had done since she and Gordon started sleeping in the same bed so she could be worried that he would be hurt and she would lose the person helping her sleep while he recovered. She didn't think that was it as it seemed like a petty and selfish reason, but she wasn't sure what other reason there would be.

Finally, after what felt like lifetimes, the shuttle was returning to the Orville. They had picked up a passenger who requested travel to the next station, which was on the way for the Orville anyways. Ed had confirmed that it would be fine and so the shuttle would be heavy with 3 passengers rather than just 2.

Without drawing notice, Alara stood and calmly walked off the bridge, down the corridors to the observation control room for the shuttle bay. The men there issued hellos to her, but she didn't hear or respond to them. Her focus was on the little shuttle and the red headed man currently walking out.

He was fine, just as she knew he would be, just as he had been the dozens of other times he had done this. A wave of relief covered her at seeing him alive and well.

Just as she was turning to leave the third person exited the shuttle carrying a small bag. Normally this wouldn't have drawn her gaze, but she knew this person.

Tall, thin body with long, black hair flowing down her back, sharp brown eyes and a glowing smile. Dressed in a long flowing dress and carrying a small bag with the initial "A" on it. Alara couldn't believe her bad luck.

She stood and stared down at her older, flirty, brilliant older sister, Amara.