I do not own the Orville or any of the characters, I do own Amara however.

Gordon was actually glad Alara had given him the warning about Amara, however that didn't mean he was prepared for Amara's seduction attempts.

Amara was aggressive.

She seemed to take the "not interested" approach as playing hard to get and it just seemed to make her try harder.

Gordon was on his way down the corridor to his quarters with Alara. They were about to head to the Mess Hall to get some food before going back up to the bridge. He asked her to walk with him because of Amara's aggressive nature.

It wasn't that he was scared of her, he wasn't. However, she would throw herself at him at random times and he needed someone to give him an excuse to escape.

"Thanks for walking with me," he told Alara. "I couldn't very well as John for this."

"It's fine," she replied, her eyes forward. "This is why I wanted to warn you."

Gordon glanced at Alara out of the corner of his eyes. It had been a couple days since she had warned him about Amara's intentions. That was the last time they had slept in the same bed together. He wondered if she was sleeping well.

Was his role in her life already over?

He couldn't bring himself to ask her. He didn't want to hear those words come out of her mouth. He would rather be her teddy bear than have no role in her life.

They got to his quarters and the door opened. He walked in and found a body suddenly flung on his own, arms wrapping around his waist.

A female body.

A naked female body wrapped in his blanket.

"I've been waiting for you."

Gordon kept his arms pinned to his side as he looked down at Amara smiling seductively up at him.

"Amara?"

He glanced at Alara who had come in behind him and was looking at her sister with a raised eyebrow.

Amara looked over and the smile faded as she laid eyes on her younger sister. She released him and moved back, holding the blanket tight against her body.

"Alara...how good to see you," Amara said with a smile. "I was just..."

"Amara, how did you get into Gordon's room?"

Amara gave Alara a guilty smile. "I...uh...hacked the entry pad." She giggled nervously. Alara nodded slowly. "I wasn't expecting him to return with someone..."

Gordon just watched the interaction between the two sisters. It seemed that despite her intelligence, Amara preferred acting younger than she was. It was like Alara was the older sister looking over the younger, even though she was the younger sister.

"Despite the fact that you thought he would be alone, that is considered breaking and entering. I could lock you up for that," Alara said firmly. "I'll overlook it for now, but you need to get dressed and get out of here right now."

Amara nodded and then glanced at Gordon. She smiled at him shyly. "Next time, I'll get you to invite me in," she said softly before grabbing her clothes and walking into the bathroom.

Gordon looked at Alara as she let out a sigh. "Sorry about that," she said. "I'll keep a better eye on her. We should be at Starbase 239 soon and she'll be on her way to her next assignment."

"It's alright. Family...right?" He said with a slight shrug.

She chuckled slightly and smiled at him. She looked tired. "Yeah," she said softly.

Gordon looked at her in concern but before he could say anything Amara walked out of the bathroom, this time fully dressed.

"Alright, I'm leaving," she said before glancing at Gordon with a flirty smile, "...for now."

Alara sighed before taking her sister's arm and guiding her out of Gordon's room.

"I'll see you on the bridge later," she said before she walked out, Amara in tow.

After the room incident, Gordon asked Alara to find temporary quarters for him, just in case Amara decided that she didn't want to wait for his invitation back to his rooms. She was all to quick to oblige.

Amara didn't stop her aggressive seduction attempts despite him showing no interest in her. Alara had even banned her from the bridge when she showed up and tried to sit in Gordon's lap while he worked.

He was thankful he had one place she could know where he was and not come after him. He was getting tired of her attempts.

It also didn't help that he found himself being unable to sleep without Alara next to him.

He missed her, more than he realized he would. It bothered him how much he missed her just sleeping next to him.

He pushed the thoughts out of his mind as he walked into the Mess Hall hoping to get some food before he went back to the bridge.

Suddenly a pair of arms encircled him from behind, a pair of arms he was slowly starting to hate.

"Hey sexy," Amara's voice said, even her voice was starting to bother him. "Off-duty?"

"Nope," he said firmly as he gently removed Amara's arms from him. "I'm actually here looking for..." he glanced around the room and spotted Issac sitting not too far from him, talking with someone Gordon didn't recognize from Engineering, "Issac."

He moved quickly across the room, not once glancing back at Amara. "Hey buddy," he said once he reached him.

Issac turned, the bright blue orbs simulating eyes glowed. "Hello Lt. Malloy. How might I assist you?"

"We had that...thing today, remember?"

"I'm afraid I do not understand."

Gordon took a deep breath, holding back his urge to smack the artificial life form. Instead, he reached out and grabbed Issac's arm. "Of course you remember, you remember everything." He lifted Issac out of the chair and they started walking towards the door. As he passed Amara, Gordon said "Gotta go," before quickly walking down the corridor to the nearest lift.

After they entered the lift Gordon released Issac and let out a breath. This was getting ridiculous.

"Lieutenant, I am afraid I still am unaware..."

Gordon sighed. "We didn't have anything planned. I needed to escape."

"Escape? I do not understand. What did you need to escape from?"

Gordon didn't look at Issac. "From Amara."

Issac seemed to ponder this new information. "Is Lt. Kitan's sister unappealing in some way?"

Gordon shook his head. "No, it's not like that. She's just a bit annoying."

"It seems as though she has chosen to pursue you for some purpose. Do you not wish to see what it is she is wanting from you?"

Gordon rolled his eyes. "I know exactly what she wants from me," he replied. "I just don't want to give it to her."

"I see," Issac said. "They why does she continue to pursue you if you will not give her what she is looking for?"

Gordon shrugged. "Beats me. Maybe she likes a chase, maybe she thinks it's a game or some form of foreplay. In any case, I'm not interested."

The doors opened and Gordon walked out casting one last glance back at the life form in the lift. "Thanks for being my shield today," he said before the doors shut behind him, enclosing Issac inside once again.

Gordon let out a breath. This was getting out of hand and he was getting too tired to deal with Amara. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going and bumped into Alara right outside the bridge.

"Gordon? Are you okay?" she said as she looked up at him.

"Yeah, just tired," he said softly. "Amara tried to jump me in the Mess Hall. Luckily Issac was there and I could use him to escape."

Alara gave him a sympathetic smile. "Sorry about that."

He shook his head. "It's not your fault," he said. It was then that he noticed Alara seemed like she did almost a month ago, tired and unable to focus. "Not sleeping well?"

He hadn't realized he had spoken until she looked back up him. "Not really," she replied. "A few hours here and there."

He nodded. "Did you want to...?" He wasn't sure what he was asking, but he knew that he couldn't sleep without her next to him anymore. He needed her with him, in his bed, in his life.

Forever.

The sudden thought shocked him as pieces started to fall into place. Before he could think any more on it, Alara's voice broke into his thoughts.

"I thought about that, but what about Amara?"

"I don't give a damn about Amara," he replied fiercely. "You need your sleep." He didn't dare mention that he needed his sleep as well and found that now he only could do so well when she was near.

Alara smiled at him. "Yeah, I do. Alright. After Amara goes to sleep I'll find you."

Gordon watched her go back to her station. Why Alara felt inferior to Amara he didn't know or care. She was so much better than her sister.

He knew now how deep he was in with her, not that he could ever say anything to her about it. She was in love with Ed. It made him so jealous he couldn't see straight sometimes. She deserved everything she wanted, but at the same time he wasn't sure he could stand it if she got it.

As long as Ed remained unaware of her feelings, Gordon knew he could remain close to her. Although this gave him the chance to spend more time with her, Alara would forever be pining after another man.

Either way, Gordon knew that he would end up the loser. Alara would not love him.

He took a deep breath and cleared his mind. He wasn't going to think about this any more today. Later, when he was alone, he could lay his feelings out and reflect on them. Right now, he had work to do.

The Orville computer beeped loudly as they took another hit, the ship jerking to the side. This run-in with the Krill was unexpected and they were outclassed.

Bortus and Alara worked together to make sure they would have something to fire back at the enemy ship as Gordon maneuvered the ship out of harms way as best he could.

He was focused. The entire ship and all it's passengers were in his hands. He wasn't going to die here, Alara wasn't going to die here. Not if Gordon Malloy had any say in it.

He turned the ship in several sharp and evasive maneuvers. They missed several shots from the Krill ship, except one.

A sharp hit slung the ship to the right knocking Gordon out of his chair and hard to the floor. Pain surged up his right are so sharp he thought he might have broken his arm.

He moved back to his station, ignoring the pain. He would worry about the arm after he got them out of here.

"Our deflectors are nearly depleted, sir," Bortus said firmly.

"Issac, do we have enough power to get out of here?" Ed yelled over the commotion.

"Yes, Captain. All adjustments have been made."

"Gordon, get us out of here."

Ed didn't have to tell him twice. Using only one arm, Gordon quickly put in the coordinates and they were zooming away from the Krill vessel.

Gordon let out a breath of relief. The pain in his arm aside, they had escaped pretty easily. He was ready to get a good night's sleep tonight once he got all patched up.

"Alara?"

At the sound of Kelly's concerned voice, Gordon turned and looked towards the sound of Alara's station.

Only Alara wasn't at her station. She was lying on the ground with Kelly kneeling right next to her. She was still...too still.

His blood froze. She couldn't be...

The minutes it took for Claire to get to the bridge were agonizing. Gordon was barely breathing. He tried to look away but found that he couldn't. His entire being was focused on Alara's still body.

She was breathing, that much he could tell from the brief rise and fall of her chest, but she wasn't responding to Kelly's voice.

Claire quickly looked her over before having a medical officer help lift her up to take her to Sick Bay. She moved to him and checked his arm, informing him that it was indeed broken and that she had a machine in Sick Bay that would be able to mend the broken bones.

He wondered idly if it could do the same for a broken heart.

As he followed Claire, the medical officer and Alara off the bridge Gordon knew that he was going to have to back away from Alara. She loved Ed and he would never be Ed.

He was too selfish and would try to keep her for himself if he didn't back away from her. If he did he knew that she would hate him. If Ed became interested later on, Gordon knew that he would do everything he could to keep them apart.

He would have to be the first one to walk away.