Note, this is just our ranting and giving the disclaimer. If you scroll down you will find the story.

Jeck: There once was a man from Nantuckit…
Raxsah: I'm not even going to continue that song, it's too dirty for this story.
Jeck: Mmmmm I'm too dirty for you, babe. :D
Raxsah: Ugh, Hello Fanfiction… we're back!
Jeck: And dirtier than ever!
Raxsah: I'm pretty sure that's only you. ANYWAY, we'd like to thank those who took the time to add this to their alerts list, and the one person who sent us a message, it made us smile.
Jeck: Actually no, you kinda thought they were pushy, remember? We don't update on demand. We just update every Friday now!
Raxsah: I was joking. You're so literal. I really did like it, but we are going to post every Friday… unless there is something going on and we can't get together to write it. And once we get some reviews, we'll respond to them in the Authors notes at the bottom.
Jeck: Yeah, what she said. And not the dirty kind, the literal kind. :D
Raxsah: Word. Anyway, we don't own Star Trek, if we did, a second movie would be out by now, and it would be similar to this.
Jeck: Or you'd be introduced to the most ridiculous crack pairings ever! Lol
Raxsah: It's not crack paring since they're secretly true.
Jeck: Yeah… that's true…. OH MY GOD! STOP SINGING!!!!
Raxsah: You are just jealous of my awesome singing skills. Plus, it's my house. My house, my rules, my rules say LET'S SING!!!
Jeck: You want me to sing? You want me to sing while I sound like an 80 year old man with lung cancer?
Raxsah: No, I'll do the singing. Sorry, I keep being distracted by my parents talking. ANYWAY! We don't own anything related to Star Trek, the only thing we own is the OC and a bit of the plot.
Jeck: Okay, let's just finish the intro now.
Raxsah: Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Black Hole Sun

"I officially hate being an engineer," Ryan whined as a doctor finished stitching up his hand. His red uniform was completely covered in grease, his hair was a mess, and the fatigue of the long day was settling in.

"It's something that you're going to have to get used to. But I did warn you, the first day is a killer. At least you know what to expect now." A voice said from the door. Griffin stepped into the medical ward and smiled down at his friend. He took a glance at his friend's hand and hissed.

"Yeah, I got it caught in a machine. It's nothing major, I'm sure I can continue work without a problem." Griffin shook his head.

"Well, at least you're determined. That'll get you far." Ryan nodded.

"So, when do we get to sleep?" Ryan asked while the doctor began to wrap up his hand.

"Soon. First there is dinner and you can meet all the other engineers." Ryan nodded and stood up when the doctor was finished.

"Thanks," he said. The doctor nodded as he and Griffin walked out of the medical center.

"So, other then getting your hand caught, how was your first day?" Griffin asked.

"It was… long. I don't remember having so much fun around a bunch of machines," Ryan told him. Griffin nodded and smiled. He was glad his friend was taking to life in space. Perhaps if he kept working like this, he wouldn't worry so much about Claire.

"That's good to hear. I'm glad you're enjoying life as an engineer." Griffin gave Ryan a pat on the back as they entered the cafeteria. Ryan stopped as he watched the crew members attack their food as if they hadn't eaten for days.

"Is it normally this much like a zoo in here?" Ryan asked as he watched two men tackle each other for the last seat at a table in the back. No one dared stop the two as one man knocked the second man to the ground and starting knocking teeth out of his mouth.

"Yeah. Usually this only happens on ships like this though. Mostly because it's full of men." Griffin told him, acting like it was nothing new.

"Oh…" Ryan said as he continued to look around the mess of a cafeteria. He felt Griffin pull him toward the serving table and broke his gaze.

"Don't stare; they might go after you next." Ryan rolled his eyes.

"Funny. Wait, are you serious?" Ryan asked after looking at a few of the crewmembers. Griffin laughed and picked up a tray of food.

"Dude, chill. No, they're not going to eat you. They have higher standards than cannibalism." Ryan rolled his eyes and picked up his own tray. Griffin led him to a table and they both sat down. "You just need to calm down, you're too jumpy."

"I've just been thrown onto a ship and left to fend for myself. If I wasn't jumpy, I'd be surprised," Ryan said, taking a bite of his sandwich. Griffin laughed and shook his head and ate his own dinner.

"You could be handling it worse. So far you're doing alright." Ryan nodded and glanced out the window. All in all, it hadn't been that bad of a day. He had been thrown into engineering and told to do some errands, one of them happened to be helping someone to fix a data pad that connected to a warp core pipe. After he had done that, he was sent on more fixing jobs. It was only a few hours later that he found himself in sickbay. All in all, it wasn't such a bad day.

"Yeah, it's was pretty good," he said. Griffin smiled and watched as his friend dove into his dinner. Ryan was only a year or so younger than him, but he was much less experienced than he was. During Starfleet, he had been able to branch out a little more than he would have at home, but it wasn't much. He contributed that mostly to Claire. Ryan was always either so busy with his work in Starfleet or making sure Claire was alright. It was not his fault, nor her's, but it was the truth.

"Just a warning, life out here can be pretty crazy," Griffin warned.

"I'm up for it. Jesus, this is the longest I've had this much fun in a while," Ryan told him.

"That's because you've spent most of your life babysitting," Griffin said, his eyes plastered to his plate. Ryan abruptly stopped digging into his food and looked up at Griffin.

"I didn't have much of a choice at first. Our parents never really had that much time to raise two kids. The responsibility fell on me," Ryan explained as he pushed his food around on his plate with is fork. He had suddenly lost his appetite.

"Yeah, but you guys are adults now. Besides, you deserve to have time to yourself and enjoy what you like to do," Griffin pointed out as he began eating his own meal. Ryan nodded and continued to eat his own dinner.

"I guess you're right," he said as Griffin paused.

"Really? No arguing?" Ryan shook his head and Griffin raised an eyebrow.

"I'm way too tired to argue. And besides, you might be right for once," Ryan offered. Griffin nodded as Ryan's words sunk in.

"Wait, what do you mean for once? I'm right plenty of times," he defended. A few guys who were busy inhaling their plates of food paused to survey the two men, but didn't pay attention for long.

"Yeah, whatever you say," Ryan countered and laughed as Griffin just glared.

"Alright, you know what; keep talking and I'll put you on the graveyard shift." Ryan frowned.

"That's not cool," Ryan muttered. Griffin laughed then looked past Ryan, flagging down a few guys coming their way.

"There you are Griffin; we thought you ditched us for a minute." One of them said as he sat down next to Griffin. Ryan looked at the three guys in front of them. Two of them had darker hair, while the last had a hair full of red hair.

"Ryan, this is Harry, Liam, and Paul. Guys, this is Ryan." Liam shook Ryan's hand.

"Nice to meet you, Griffin keeps telling us how much of a good engineer you are," he said. Ryan smirked.

"Well, I'm pretty decent. I get the job done," Ryan told them, a cocky smirk coming to his face.

"Sweet. I'm the head pilot. Harry is the CMO and Paul is second in command of security."

"Nice to meet you," Harry said, eating some of his salad. Ryan nodded.

"How long have you guys been on here?" He asked.

"I've been here since I graduated five years ago," Paul told him, smirking at one of the two females on board.

"I've been here for just about as long," Harry said, eating a bit more.

"And Liam has been here as long as I have," Griffin said.

"Wow, I feel like a newbie," Ryan muttered.

"Well, you are a newbie," Griffin said as he elbowed Ryan in the side. Ryan dropped his fork on the table and glared, but Griffin chose to ignore him.

"So how was your first day on the Berlin?" Liam asked as he patted Ryan on the back, causing him to choke on his food. Once he had recovered, he looked to the three men staring at him.

"It wasn't too bad," he said as Paul rolled his eyes.

"Looking at your hand says otherwise," he told him, gesturing to his injured hand. Self-consciously, Ryan pulled his hand closer to his body in attempt to draw attention away from it.

"He made a little slip up, leave him alone," Liam defended, but Paul just shook his head.

"Paul, leave him alone. We all screw up from time to time," Harry said as he smacked Paul upside the head. Paul rounded on Harry.

"You want to start something?" Paul spat angrily and Harry shrugged.

"I could take you any day," Harry countered as Liam, Ryan, and Griffin watched the two men getting ready to attack.

"Seriously? Can you guys go one dinner without getting into a fight?" Liam whined as Paul ducked, just barely dodging Harry's fist. He countered with an elbow to Harry stomach, but Harry jumped back before Paul could land a hit.

"Do they do this a lot?" Ryan asked in amazement at the speed and grace the two men were displaying.

"Almost every dinner. Well, unless they're serving salmon. Those guys are too busy eating to even pick a fight then," Griffin explained as they continued to watch Harry and Paul fight. Ryan just shook his head.

"Wow, I don't think I've seen so much fighting in one evening." Griffin chuckled.

"You're one to talk, throwing punches at famous Captains. You are very lucky that he didn't take you to an Admiral." Liam looked over at them.

"You punched a Captain? Which one?" Ryan ran a hand through his hair.

"Uh… Captain Kirk," Ryan admitted. Liam laughed.

"No way! Really?" Ryan nodded. Griffin shot a look at Liam.

"Don't say anything. The kid has gotten enough crap from people today," Liam shrugged and watched as Harry landed a punch right in Paul's gut. Ryan flinched.

"Jesus… you guys really get into it." Griffin laughed and shrugged.

"It's what we do." Liam looked over to Griffin.

"Oh, I almost forgot. I heard that there is a big meeting for senior staff and you're required to be there." Griffin sighed.

"Shit, I need someone to cover me for my shift," Griffin said. Liam gestured to Ryan.

"Have Ryan take the shift. Give you a break," Ryan's eyes went wide and he looked at he friend.

"Good point. Ryan, you're on the graveyard shift tonight." Ryan gave a heavy sigh and glared at his friend.

"You suck," he hissed.

"You suck!" Claire snapped, slamming her tray on the table. Alex sat down across from her and flinched. A few other Ensigns that they graduated with all looked at them.

"Okay, I already said I'm sorry." Claire just continued to glare at him.

"I was covered in a man's bowel movement because of you!" She shouted. The man next to her gagged.

"Oh my god," he said. Claire rolled her eyes.

"Come on! You honestly think I wouldn't shower six times after that?" She asked. Alex just shrugged.

"I had to remove a wrench from a man's ass. I don't know how it got there, but I know how it got out of there. Don't even start with me about shitty days," Alex shot back. The two glared at each other before another tray slammed onto the table.

"Welcome to being a doctor on the Enterprise," Bones shot at the two before picking his tray back up and moving towards the table that Captain Kirk and a Vulcan were eating.

"Who's the guy with the ears?" Claire asked as she watched him from afar. Alex leaned to look past her.

"Spock. He's a bastard," Alex told her indifferently. Claire turned back to her food as yet another tray was dropped on their table.

"I do hope you two finished cleaning up all your medical equipment before leaving for dinner," Pam shot at them as she sat down next to Alex.

"Why does it seem like every doctor wants to slam their tray on our table?" Alex asked angrily as another doctor walked pass, slammed their tray on their table, picked it up, and walked away. "THAT WASN'T AN INVATATION!"

"Alex, shut up. Pam, go sit with your own friends," Claire snapped. Pam glared at her.

"Don't talk back to me, I'm your senior!" Pam snapped.

"I don't care how old you are, just leave me alone." Claire snapped, placing her head in her hands and resting the weight of her head in them.

"Is someone sick of space already? Maybe you should've stayed back on earth." Alex stood up.

"Jesus Christ, shut the hell up! You're just jealous at the fact that it took you five years to get on any ship and she got on the Enterprise as soon as she graduated. Go away, Pam!" Pam glared at him before looking at Claire.

"Too good to fight your own battles?" Claire looked up at her, a very bored expression on her face.

"Pam… say whatever you want, but honestly, I don't care. I'm tired, I'm cranky, and I've had human shit all over me today. You are the least of my worries," Claire said before putting her head on the table, not even looking at her food. Alex sat down and began eating, while Pam walked away, but not before slamming her tray on the table one more time. There was a pause before Alex spoke once more.

"You want me to lock her in a shuttle bay for a few hours?" Claire looked up and began to pick at her dinner.

"Not really…" She replied. Alex watched as she ate a little bit of her spaghetti, but left her pudding alone.

"You going to eat that?" Claire looked at her tray before shaking her head and tossing it on his tray.

"It's all yours dude." She told him, taking a bite of her dinner. She wasn't very hungry and having someone expel their waste all over you might have had a significant role in it.

"You okay, Claire? I know you're not in the best of moods, but you look downright depressed. Almost makes me feel bad that I asked for your pudding," he said as he plunged his spoon in the cup of chocolate pudding.

"It's just been a rough first day," she mumbled as she watched Alex make a huge mess with his pudding.

"Tell me about it. Are you sure that's it?" He asked through a mouthful of pudding. Claire gave him a half-smile.

"I'm sure. It's funny, my brother used to do that a lot," she told him as she passed him a napkin. Alex wiped his mouth before taking another spoonful of pudding and shoving it into his mouth.

"Do what?"

"The talking with your mouthful thing." Alex shrugged as he continued to eat happily. Claire pushed a meatball across her plate as an idea hit her.

"You know what? I think I'm going to go see if I can get a hold of my brother and see if his first day on the Berlin was any better than mine," Claire declared as she rose from her seat. Alex nodded.

"Alright, so if you're not back in twenty minutes we can assume your doing something like talking about your day or whatever with your brother. Does he actually like to talk about that sort of thing?" He asked.

"Yes in fact, he does," she defended. Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Is he gay?" He asked. Claire glared and snatched her pudding from his hands.

"Give my pudding back, you don't deserve it," she snapped. Alex frowned for a second before shrugging.

"I already ate most of it… but hey, are you going to eat the rest of your dinner?" Claire rolled her eyes and dropped the pudding back on his tray.

"I don't care… just clean up my tray when you're done," she told him. He smirked.

"Score!" Claire let out a laugh before walking out of the cafeteria and walking toward her quarters. Since she was a doctor, her quarters were pretty close to sickbay, and sickbay was only a level or two away from the cafeteria. This resulted in her getting to her small quarters fairly quickly and she went straight to the computer.

Just as she was about to hit the button, she paused. Was it such a good idea to try and call him? What if he was working? Not to mention she didn't want him to think she couldn't spend a day without him. Hell, it hadn't even been a full day. She let out a sigh and pressed the button anyway.

"Call Ryan Conaway, U.S.S. Berlin." The computer beeped a few times and the sound of ringing filled the room. After a minute of no answer, the computer buzzed again.

"Conaway, Ryan, is not receiving calls at this time." The computer said in a mechanical voice. Claire sighed and spun around in her chair a few times. It was probably for the best. She didn't want Ryan to think that she couldn't handle spending time without it. Just as Claire was getting comfortable in the chair, a knock fell upon her door.

"Enter." Claire called out and the CMO took a step into her room.

"Congratulations. You get the night shift in sickbay tonight with Pam," he told her. Claire groaned and leaned back in the chair.

"Seriously?" She asked in disbelief.

"Like I would lie to you. Enjoy the rest of your first day," he replied dryly and left her room. The door slide shut right behind him.

"Good riddance," she mumbled.

"Graveyard shift?" An engineer asked from the other side of the room. Only four or five engineers reported to the night shift and thanks to Griffin, Ryan was one of them.

"Yeah, I am," Ryan said as he stifled back a yawn. He had such a long day and was looking for the chance to head back to his room and pass out, but no such luck.

"Welcome. The name's Oliver. Over there is Dom, Rupert, and the pretty blonde in the corner is Colleen. Hi Colleen!" Oliver called out. Colleen responded by flipping him off. Oliver just smiled and waved back. "She secretly loves me."

"I'm sure she does," Ryan grumbled back. Oliver smirked and blew kisses at her. She rolled her eyes and walked over to the two of them.

"Oliver, I swear to god if you don't stop being so weird, I'll shove this wrench so far up your ass that you'll miss a month," she hissed. Oliver paled and held his hands up in defense.

"Okay, I'll back off a bit." Colleen rolled her eyes and glanced at Ryan.

"Oh, hi, I'm Colleen. You must be one of the new guys," she said. Ryan nodded and shook her hand.

"Yeah, I'm Ryan." Colleen smiled.

"Nice to meet you. What did you do to piss off Griffin?" Ryan raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, last year when he was second in command, he usually was able to get most of the new guys to do the graveyard shift for him. So, I ask again, what did you do to piss off Griffin?" Ryan groaned and shook his head.

"I'm his friend," he muttered. Colleen raised an eyebrow, but shrugged it off.

"I'm not even going to ask. Since you're hand is busted, you can just monitor everything. I'll come over and check out everything a little later," she told him. Ryan raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, will you?" He asked. Colleen smirked and nodded.

"Well, I am the senior ranking officer here, so what I say goes, okay?" He nodded.

"You bet," he told her, a smile coming to his face. Colleen chuckled and walked off, going to boss one of the other engineers around.

"Dude, you're totally going to steal my girl!" Oliver snapped.

"Oh please, Oliver… Colleen wouldn't be your girl even if you begged," Dom said. He and Ryan briefly made acquaintance before Oliver jumped back into the conversation.

"Dude, one of these days, she's going to realize she loves me," he told them. Rupert laughed, even from his place at the work table.

"Please, you have better chances with a Vulcan."

"Yeah, you've been trying to hook up with her since you got here," Dom interjected. Oliver crossed his arms over his chest angrily.

"I have not!" He said defensively. Dom just shrugged.

"You're right, my bad. Just since you met her." Ryan and Dom broke out into laughter as Oliver's face got red.

"That's not fair!" He cried, but Ryan and Dom just kept laughing. After a minute, Ryan wiped a few tears that had appeared in his eyes from laughing so hard.

"Why don't you just give up already?" He asked, resulting in Oliver's finger in his face.

"Why, so you can take her?" He shot back, waving his finger in an accusing manner. Ryan held his hands up in his defense.

"I have no interest in her!" He countered, but his cheeks went red. She was pretty; he wasn't going to deny that. Her green eyes sparkled with confidence which was fueled by the power she held. She stood tall and proud and her golden hair was pulled back to accent her strong facial features. Plus, she had a rack to die for.

"I see the way she looks at you!" Oliver snapped, forcing Ryan to take a step back. Dom was beside himself laughing.

"Oliver, did you take your medication today?" Rupert asked from across the room.

"Ask me that again and see what happens!" Oliver yelled across the room.

"The worst you'll do is call him Ruppy again," Dom said from his spot next to Dom. Rupert whorled around in his chair and glared at Dom.

"Dom!" Dom shrugged.

"Sorry, Rupert." Just as Oliver was about to go off again, Colleen walked back into the room.

"If you don't shut up and get to work, all of you will be cleaning out the transporter conduits for a week. Now shut up and get back to work," she snapped. All the men jumped into gear and Ryan walked over to his station, taking one quick look at Colleen before going to work.

"Are you actually sleeping?" A voice said. Claire gave a sigh and opened her eyes, glaring at the woman in front of her.

"I was, until you interrupted me," she snapped, turning over.

"You are on shift! You can't just sleep!" Claire sat up and glared at Pam. This woman was more trouble than she was worth.

"Honestly, I seriously doubt anyone is going to come running in here anytime soon with a major problem." Pam crossed her arms.

"You don't know that," she said. Claire looked at the time and rolled her eyes.

"It's midnight, who on their right mind would be awake at this hour?" Claire said, falling back on the patient's bed.

"We are up…" Claire glared at the older woman.

"Obviously not by choice…" Claire mumbled and closed her eyes again. She intended on going back to sleep, but Pam decided to slam her hands down on the table that was currently being used as a pillow.

"You're not leaving me on shift by myself! Why not trying acting like you care about your job for once?" Pam spat angrily, causing Claire to rise to her feet.

"Excuse me, but you don't even know me. We just met today. You don't know anything about me!" Claire countered, but Pam shook her head.

"I know enough. I'm surprised they even passed you out of the academy!" Pam snapped. Claire placed her hands on her hips.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She snapped.

"It makes me wonder how a slacker like you could've gotten through the academy. Starfleet must be lowering their standards," Pam told her.

"And what does that say about you, since it took your forever to even get on a starship!" Pam scoffed and grabbed a patient chart.

"I don't need this from a punk ass kid!" Claire rolled her eyes and walked to the generator.

"I don't need this from an old bag," she muttered. She ordered a coffee and began to drink it almost as soon as it came out of the generator, almost burning her mouth in the process. She sat down at the main station and began going through her email, stopping once in a while when something important came up. After thirty minutes of just doing that, she figured she would write a message to her brother wishing him well.

'It couldn't hurt… right? I'm just saying hello,' That was Claire's rationalization on the situation. She began writing, deciding to keep it short and sweet before sending it to him and leaning back in her chair. Her relaxation was short lived when one of the engineers on the nightshift came in and puked all over the floor. Claire walked over to him and pulled him aside, Pam was right next to her.

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"I am going to admit him, then make sure he's okay," Pam crossed her arms.

"What about the mess?" Claire shrugged.

"You have nothing better to do," Claire offered with a sneer as she helped the engineer into sickbay. The engineer clung to her as if his life depended on it.

"You're going to pay, Conaway," Pam swore as she glared down at the pile of vomit on the floor.

Claire entered her room after a long day in sickbay and collapsed onto her bed without even removing her shoes. She was just about to let sleep take over her exhausted form when a ringing noise filled the room.

"What do you want, computer?" Claire grumbled as she threw a pillow over her face, resisting the urge to scream. For the past three days, all she had time for was work, work, and more work. It wasn't helping that the CMO had scheduled her for the night shift two out of those three days.

"Incoming call from Conaway, Ryan on the U.S.S. Berlin. Will you receive the call?" The computer asked in a feminine, yet robotic voice. Claire shot up from her position on her bed.

"Really? Yes, of course!" She said. The computer soon brought up the image of her brother and she moved to her desk.

"Hey Claire, how have you been?" He asked. For a second, Claire was extremely jealous of her brother. He looked tired, but still looked like he was able to get a good night's sleep. She, on the other hand, had no such luck.

"Busy, how is everything over there? I heard it's full of dudes, I bet that's fun," Ryan chuckled, but shrugged. It was then he got a better look at his sister. It was obvious that she hadn't slept in a while, due to the dark circles under her eyes. Her uniform had a few spots of blood on it, along with a few other things that must have been from being a doctor. Her hair was very tangled, and it looked like she hadn't showered in a bit.

"It's… interesting. You wouldn't believe how many guys will pick a fight about anything," Claire laughed and moved to take her boots off.

"Ugh, I'd hate to be medical on that ship, its bad enough over here." Ryan nodded.

"How are you over there? You make any friends?" He asked. She finished taking off her boots and nodded.

"Yup, I sit with a group of ensigns at dinner, but only one of them is in medical with me. He's sort of my new friend," she said. Ryan raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really? Who?" He asked.

"Uh… Alex Chambers, he was in my biology class," she told him.

"Oh… are you… close?" He asked, sounding a little embarrassed.

"No, he's just a friend. And an ass." Ryan laughed and shook his head.

"At least you're having fun," he said. She nodded.

"What about you? You make any friends?" He shrugged.

"I'm sure if you call them friends. Some of these guys are slightly crazy," he explained and she chuckled.

"Of course you'd be the one to attraction a bunch of crazy dudes." They both laughed and an uneasy silence fell over them.

"You're not looking too well, Claire. Is everything okay?" Ryan asked, worry evident in his voice. Perhaps it was because she was tired and slightly cranky, but Claire's first instinct was to respond with angry.

"Yeah, I'm just peachy. I can handle myself you know," she shot, causing Ryan to run a hand through his wet hair. Claire guessed that he had just gotten out of the shower before calling her.

"I didn't mean it like that, relax. I just wanted to make sure everything is okay," he reasoned, trying to not make her any angrier. Claire took a deep breath and sighed.

"Everything is fine. You don't need to worry all the time. I'm just tired," she told him, relaxing into the computer seat.

"Yeah, I figured. Well, I don't want to keep you too long. You look like you need a shower and a good night's sleep." Claire nodded.

"That I do. I'll talk to you again soon, okay?" Ryan nodded from his end and gave her a thumbs up.

"I'm sure you're working miracles over there."

"I wish, I'll talk to you soon, love you." Ryan smiled.

"Love you too, be careful." Claire nodded and shut off the screen. She immediately got up and headed for a shower, grabbing her pajamas and towel. The moment the water hit her back, she was in heaven. After three days of doing nothing, but working, a nice shower was just perfect. Sadly, Pam ended up working with her more than Alex did. The only upside was Pam was still working, while she had the night off. When she was done with the shower, she put her pajamas on and went straight to her bed, not bothering to do anything else. The moment she hit the mattress, her doorbell rang.

"No! I'm not working tonight!" She yelled into her pillow.

"Claire, its Alex… I have coffee," Claire begrudgingly got up and got to the door and opened it, grabbing the coffee from him immediately.

"What are you doing here?" Claire asked, taking a sip of her coffee. Alex shrugged.

"Not a whole lot, this is a bit of a thank you for letting me eat your dessert the past three days." Claire raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really? You are just looking to pay me back?" She asked.

"That… and I've been single for a really long time," he said. She scoffed and handed back his coffee.

"No thanks, I don't do friends with benefits," she said. He took his coffee and frowned.

"Damn, I was hoping I could get some. I would go after Pam, but sex with her would be just… awkward," he said, taking a sip of his coffee.

"You are an ass," she told him.

"Well, if you ever want a booty call, I'd be happy to be your booty call."

"You just want to get laid," She yawned. She glanced down the hallway just in time to see Captain Kirk walking their way.

"And there is nothing wrong with that! I have a fully function, and large by the way, penis and you're pretty damn hot. I see nothing wrong with us relieving a little tension after a long da-" Alex stopped mid-sentence as Kirk chose that moment to walk by her door. Claire's face turned bright scarlet as Kirk just smiled.

"Maybe I'm just not trying hard enough," he whispered to her in a nonchalant manner and continued walking to his destination. Alex folded his arms angrily as he turned back to Claire.

"Seriously? The Captain? I bet I could pleasure you in ways he couldn't dream," he told Claire as she ran a hand through her wet hair.

"Alex, just stop. We're friends, nothing more," she told him once again before going to turn around.

"Wait Claire, I have one last important thing to ask you," Alex said in a completely serious voice. She turned around to see his hazel eyes giving her a sad, almost pleading look.

"No sex," she repeated. Alex shook his head, the serious look never leaving his face.

"No, it's not that. What I'm about to ask you is a very serious issue," he explained, grabbing her by the shoulders. Claire had never seen Alex this serious before, but then again, she had only known him for a few days.

"What?" She asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Okay, here it goes. Claire… can I still have your pudding cups?" She pulled away and smacked his shoulder.

"Get the hell out of here; I have work in the morning." Alex nodded.

"Fine, I'll go hit on some chick in the science department," he told her.

"Have fun," she said.

"Oh, I will."

"Dude, why is there no women on this freaking ship?" Paul snapped, sitting down next to Ryan. Ryan nodded absentmindedly. Aside from Colleen and another girl from medical, there were hardly any women in this ship.

"I know… I can't wait for shore leave… I wonder if we'll dock with another ship this time," Harry muttered.

"Guys, we just left shore leave three days ago. Why would you possibly want to go back?" Liam asked.

"To get some ass, right Ryan?" Griffin said. Ryan coughed up some of his soup, not expecting Griffin to speak to him.

"Oh, uh… yeah, I guess." Paul raised an eyebrow.

"You guess? Who doesn't want some ass?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"You aren't gay? Are you?" Liam glared at Harry.

"There is nothing wrong with being gay. Stop being an ass Harry," Liam defended. Ryan shifted uncomfortably.

"Uh, I'm not gay." Griffin looked to his friends.

"I told you so," he said. Harry just shrugged and attacked his soup like every other time that sat down to eat.

"Good, we don't need another Liam," Paul whispered to Ryan who looked up at Liam. In those fifteen seconds of looking at Liam, really looking at him, Ryan understood Paul's words. Well, that and he noticed the eyeliner.

"I heard that Paul," Liam shot from across the table. Harry snorted into his soup, but continued eating.

"Oh, I forgot to mention. Ryan, you're on the graveyard shift again. The senior officers have another meeting tonight," Griffin told Ryan as he tore a piece of bread off from the slice and dipped it into his soup. Ryan groaned as he dipped an end of his grilled cheese sandwich into his tomato soup.

"Seriously? Didn't you have one of those meetings like three days ago?" Ryan asked, trying to hold back a whine. Griffin nodded.

"That we did. Captain Shay keeps setting up these meetings for us though, so we can't say no. Besides, pushing off graveyard duty to you makes me sleep better at night," he explained to Ryan as Harry and Paul began throwing bits of crackers at each other from across the table.

"I feel like I'm on a ship with a bunch of gorillas…" Liam mumbled as he spread a napkin across his lap. Ryan raised an eyebrow as he looked back to Griffin.

"Has he always been like that?" He asked. Griffin raised an eyebrow and glanced back to Liam, who was carefully eating his salad.

"Yeah, you just don't notice it until you know," Griffin whispered. Ryan nodded and continued to eat.

"So, do you have a girlfriend?" Liam asked. Ryan shook his head as he watched Harry began flicking the bits and parts of his soup at Paul.

"No, I uh… I never really had time during the academy," Ryan said. Liam frowned.

"Such a shame," Ryan glanced at him and Griffin chuckled.

"Too bad you're not gay; Liam would be all over you." Ryan turned pale.

"Eww, that's nasty!" Paul said, scrunching his nose. Liam rolled his eyes and they all changed the subject, causing Ryan to let his mind to wander. His eyes landed on Colleen, and he watched as the other girl on the ship helped her braid her hair up. He had briefly debated on asking her out, but threw that thought away. The last thing he needed was drama on his first job. Not that she would bring drama, but better safe then sorry.

"Hey, did you hear me?" Griffin asked. Ryan jumped a little.

"Sorry, I got distracted, what did you say?" Griffin rolled his eyes.

"I asked if you talked to Claire recently…" Paul raised an eyebrow.

"Claire? There is another chick on the ship?" he asked.

"No, she's my sister. She's on the Enterprise," Ryan told them. Harry smirked.

"Is she hot?" Ryan chose to ignore Harry's question and turned to face Griffin.

"Yeah, I talked to her yesterday. She seems really stressed out and tired, I guess that comes with being a doctor. I don't even want to take a guess and what she was covered in," he explained, causing Paul and Harry to smirk.

"I bet I can tell you what she's cover in," Paul started.

"The same thing I covered that hot babe over there in!" Harry finished, pointing to the girl who was braiding Colleen's hair. They broke out into a fit of laughs while Liam and Ryan just glared.

"You guys are sick," Griffin stated, but laughed along with them. Ryan slammed his spoon down on the table.

"Don't talk about my sister that way!" He shouted, catching the attention of Colleen and her friend.

"Dude, we were just jok-" Liam cut Harry off.

"Just being ignorant. That's so disrespectful. What if I started talking about your little sister like that, Paul?" Liam countered, but Paul just burst out laughing again.

"She's like twelve. That makes you a pedophile," he said, causing Griffin and Harry to join him in laughing. Ryan pressed his lips together and threw his spoon to the side.

"Dude, I'm just joking." Paul told Ryan. Ryan just ran a hand through his hair.

"Whatever," Ryan muttered. Griffin shook his head and continued to eat.

"Just relax, Ryan. No one is going to try anything on your sister," he assured him.

"Yeah, don't worry dude. I don't fuck doctors anyway," Paul muttered.

"You fucked that medical chick the other night," Harry reminded him.

"Yeah… but I was desperate. I don't know who hasn't fucked her," Paul said. The guys laughed and Liam shook his head.

"You guys are so immature. I'm heading back to the bridge," Liam said, standing up and walking out of the cafeteria. Paul and Harry stood up next.

"Yeah, we'd better get going too… not all of us have lackeys doing our jobs for us." Griffin rolled his eyes.

"Alright, whatever… just leave," Harry and Paul chuckled, but left the table, leaving only Ryan and Griffin.

"They're… interesting," Ryan stated.

"If they were gay, they'd be the perfect couple." Ryan laughed and shook his head. A silence came upon them before Ryan spoke once more.

"So, what's with all these meetings you guys have been having?" Griffin froze.

"I'm not sure that you're ready to know yet," he said, trying to act nonchalantly, but Ryan had known him for years and knew when Griffin was hiding something.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ryan asked, trying to get some information out of Griffin, but knowing how stubborn he was at the same time.

"It means that I have a meeting to go to and you might want to take a quick nap before your shift tonight. Graveyard duty really sucks when you're dead on your feet," Griffin told him as he grabbed his tray and left the dinner hall.

"Griffin? Griffin!" Ryan crossed his arms and glared at his soup. He was slowly starting to hate Griffin.

Raxsah:

Ze plot thickens! We hoped you enjoyed the chapter.
Jeck: Indeed we do! As we sit around barely paying attention to the story. Oh wait, that's just me…
Raxsah: Yeah, well with your attention span, that doesn't surprise me. Well, we'd really appreciate if we got a few reviews, we don't ask for much, just some reviews and alerts, and favorites… nope, not much at all.
Jeck: Messages work too. We'll take what we can get. *wink wink* :D
Raxsah: I'm not even going there… We'd like to wish everyone a happy valentines day, or a happy singles awareness day. Sadly, our "Valentines Day" chapter just now came into the though process, so we are not able to post it.
Jeck: Yeah, so Happy Valentines Day… in like April or something. Just know that we'll be thinking it during the happy (or not) holiday. We'll be chilling and celebrating our own single's weekend. But that's okay, I think… :D
Raxsah: Too bad we didn't anticipate the six day weekend, we could've started much earlier.
Jeck: Oh yeah, but it's been an awesome six day weekend! :D
Raxsah: Heck Yeah. Anyway… Review and all that good jazz. Later!
Jeck: Much later… in my bedroom ;) No… not really! :D
Raxsah: … R and R!