Perception
There are many different ways to perceive the relationship of Commander Cruger and Doctor Manx. They are colleagues, friends – great friends – and confidantes in the most dire of times. After working together for decades they have an impermeable relationship, no matter what you think.
Some think they're just friends, though said "some" is not an impressive total of people. They see the Commander and his technician as the best and oldest of friends who have worked together for longer than anyone else on base has been alive. It just so happens that most of the people who believe this have a crush on Kat.
Others believe that they have something secret going. Sometimes it's rumored to just be physical, sometimes the story is that they've secretly been dating for years. One story was that they've secretly been married this whole time and that only the rangers really know the truth.
Since the base is a HUGE gossip center, everyone learned at some point or another that Commander Cruger was married once. This gave birth to an entirely new branch of gossip, in which Kat and Cruger were only having one–night–stands and that he continually broke her heart because he still loved his late wife. Those people don't know that Kat was also married, but that the spouses in both cases are deceased.
One day Z gets so tired of guessing blindly that she terrorizes Bridge into finding out for her. He was reluctant, but she held his buttery toast hostage, so he eventually crumbled to her will. When they're all gathered for a briefing, Kat and Cruger turned from them, Bridge reads their auras.
The wavering colors exuded mix together naturally in swirls. Kat's aura is a mellow green kind of glow while Cruger's is a hard, icy cobalt shade. Still, they mix together. Kat's aura sweeps around Cruger's elegantly and mellows it, calming the flame–like edges into a soft mist. Similarly, Cruger's bright aura brings a vivacity to Kat's softer, fainter one. They mix in harmony.
"So?" Z asks as she leans into him.
"They're just...together," Bridge is in awe. He has never read auras so at peace with each other. It calms him, in both the sense of his abilities and his general soul. His mind doesn't recoil at the thoughts that sometimes get mixed into the auras he reads. They bring warmth to him and he sighs in pleasure. Flashes of pleasant memories flash by his mind's eye, most too quick for him to register on a conscious level. One lingers, though. It's sunny...Kat...and Cruger...sunny...smiling... "They're...in love."
"Yeah, but are they dating, married," Z asks for elaboration, rolling her hand in motion.
"No, nothing, they're just together, in love," Bridge smiles at her, absorbing some of their happiness by aura. Slipping back on his glove he blinks a few times. He adjusts himself, though he's still happy. "It's as simple as just...existing in perfectly pleasant balance."
Z glances at the two, who share a small, secretive smile. She can't understand it entirely, she has never found this kind of coexistence in its purest essence. Seeing the two she can take it as it is and smile. "Okay, I'll buy that. You can have your buttery toast back."
Bridge just grins and waggles his fingers at her.