Captain Olivia Dunham
Commander Lincoln Lee, First Officer
Post-"Mirror, Darkly."
"Come here often?"
Lincoln started from where he'd been hunched over a table, studying crew reports on his PADD. The mess was usually silent in the middle of gamma shift, and he'd been so engrossed in his reading that he hadn't even heard the door swish open.
He looked up into his captain's face. "Well, as far as twenty-four hour dining goes, this place is better than most. You know, they make a pretty good cup of coffee if you want to join me."
She just smiled and went over to the synthesizer and then to the covered plate set to one side of the food slot, returning after a moment with a cup of coffee and a slice of peach pie. She set the latter on the table between them, along with two forks.
Lincoln huffed a laugh. "Yeoman Manning baked that for Peter."
"I'm sure he won't mind sharing." Olivia raised her cup to him in brief salute and drank. "Hm. The coffee is better."
"I think Sam fiddled with the program. Olivia, why are you awake?"
She set her cup down, avoiding his eyes, and picked up a fork. She toyed with it for a moment, then sighed. "Just couldn't sleep. Thinking about the other universe."
Lincoln paused, considering. Olivia had given a thorough debrief, although Lincoln and Peter both suspected she'd held back mission-irrelevant but distressing personal details. Now wasn't a good time to press her for those-no time would be-but if something specific was bothering her... "That sounded like a particularly rotten one."
"It had moments." Olivia grimaced and put her fork down without touching the pie. "But it wasn't completely warped. Frank seemed mostly the same. You..." she lifted her eyes, a smile starting to play on her mouth. "Ditto, although the other Commander Lee did something spiky with his hair."
From her account, his alternate self had risked a lot to help Olivia escape. Lincoln was grateful for that. The other part sounded dubious, though. "Not high on my priority list. Not on my list at all. But I'm glad he decided to help."
"I hope he doesn't pay too dearly for it." Olivia took another gulp of coffee and picked up her fork again with a purposeful air. "We shouldn't let this go to waste."
Lincoln gamely helped her finish off the pie, though it was too sweet for his taste. Olivia nodded toward his PADD. "Anything interesting? And you never said why you were up."
"Nothing of note, and just one of those nights, I guess." Lincoln abandoned the idea that Olivia might confess her troubles tonight; the moment had passed. "I recommend you try to get some rest for the next-" he checked the chronometer on the wall- "three hours or so."
"I will if you will," she countered, and that seemed to be the best bargain he could make.
Back in the privacy of his quarters, Lincoln let himself sigh and wish, just for a minute, that Olivia might one day be willing to truly drop her guard with him. But only for a minute.