Updating the medical records had not taken very long at all (much to Aneep's frustration) so now she busied herself with the preparation of the healing strips. This also did not take her as long as she'd planned. After her inspiration this morning the problems she'd perceived that would have taken her hours to resolve had been easily overcome. The strips were now ready and would not need to be looked at again until she was able to administer them directly onto the patient. Now she sat at her desk looking at a pile of data pads that held the nutritional portions research and grimaced at the thought. She was desperate for another cup of caf, but that meant walking in the line of sight of those dark mocking eyes and she just wasn't sure if she could take it again. Her own eyes kept betraying her and seeking him out, though it was hard to not be distracted by him when he stood floating in the centre of the room lit up like some not-so-distant star. Sometimes when her head was bent low over her work she would fancy that he had turned his head and was studying her from over his shoulder. But whenever she looked up at him he was always facing away from her towards the door as he should be, so she must have imagined it.
She sighed, thirsty. "This is ridiculous." She thought. "I want a drink. It's foolish to be held prisoner at my own desk."
The more she thought about it the more ridiculous it seemed. After all he was invading her space, it was her office and she should be able to do whatever she wanted without unease. She knew she was right, but it still took her a couple of minutes before she could psych herself up to the point where she pushed herself free of the desk, strode without so much as glancing up past the tank and over to the caf station. Whilst waiting for the pot to boil she dashed a look at the tank's control panel to check everything was functioning correctly. The read outs were exactly as they should be, but to her horror she saw something on the glass of the tank that certainly should not have been there. It was a handprint…her handprint in fact from when she had placed a kiss on the glass the evening before. The lights from the office's ceiling had made it embarrassingly visible to anyone who might walk in as it stood out particularly starkly as the glass was conspicuously free from any other blemishes. It was also rather embarrassing as due to its delicate size it was quite clearly her hand and no one else's. But the worst part was its placement. The print hung directly over a rather compromising and intimate area of Ren's body. Aneep's stomach dropped at the realisation and her ears prickled with alarm. What the hell could she do about it? She couldn't leave it there of anyone might see it. What if the General saw it? He might have some serious questions for her then. Removing it though meant drawing Ren's attention to it and she wasn't sure if he'd be able to see it from inside the tank… at least she hoped for a fleeting frantic moment that he couldn't. But a foreign certainty crept into her mind and somehow she knew, she just knew that he could. She could feel, without looking at his face, that he was staring directly at her again. It was as though she could feel invisible fingers slide into her mind and beckon. He wanted her to look at him and she, like a good girl did as she was asked. Blue eyes met brown once again.
"The handprint. What should I do about the handprint?"
"Clean it up," A cool, deep mental voice whispered "or questions might be asked."
As alien as the voice seemed to her she did at least agree with its sentiment. She'd worked hard her whole life to be taken seriously and to be respected. She did not want her life's efforts undermined by one poorly placed handprint. What did it matter that Ren's attention would be drawn to it? She knew with unshaking certainty that he already knew it was there, she had no idea how she knew, but she did.
Her hand reached behind her and grabbed the microfibre cloth she kept by the caf station. Ren's eyes still searched her own.
"He knows but he doesn't mind." She thought and his eyes quirked with acknowledgement. It was a tiny gesture, just a slight narrowing of his eyes, but she knew exactly what it meant. He wasn't laughing at her, he was trying to help, she knew it assuredly almost as though he had spoken the words aloud.
She stepped closer to the tank her eyes never wavering from his. She felt more confident now, now that she was sure that he wasn't mocking her. She felt the same spark of excitement she had felt waking this morning, now that he'd given her some form of assurance and approval. It wasn't the same as admiration but it was better than the distain and mockery that she has been so afraid he'd given her earlier. Frankly though, she found him so instantly physically attractive that she was glad of any breadcrumb of positive attention from him no matter how small. However, it was rather soul crushingly depressing to linger too long on that particular thought as it made her abject loneliness almost too much to bear. Instead her brain switched to a much more agreeable image, one that had pleased her greatly the night before- that of him shirtless, free of the bacta tank, kissing her passionately with her hand buried in his luscious hair. It was in her mind's eye as she moved closer to the tank's surface, it was burned into her thoughts as she approached him and she knew that those brown eyes could see it as clearly as she could see him. There were depths in those mahogany eyes that she could read as clearly as the control panel of the tank- he could see her thoughts and he was intrigued. He did not mock, he was interested and curious about the things he saw in her head. Those wicked, wicked things. There were few that had ever looked at him the way Aneep did and fewer still who had thought of him as she was. She had developed a deep physical attraction to him so instantaneously it was like a spontaneous wild fire.
She stood before the glass, he was staring down at her and she up at him. A silent communication passed between them. Hunger. Mutual hunger for physical comfort, it surprised them both.
Aneep's face was level with the offending handprint which meant that she was also directly at eye level with his groin. His eyes sparked and she rejoiced at the sight. She knew that look. It was an invitation not a rejection. It was encouraging but she wanted to see desire in those eyes. Desire the same way she felt whenever she had to assess his half naked form. She'd get that from him and then she could be happy. She'd have that small victory and then she'd be able to get on with some work- she just needed the assurance. But somehow she knew that she'd have to provoke it out of him, so she tore her eyes away from his and looked directly at the print and what lay beyond it. She glanced up at him again with mischief in her eyes.
"Good, yes, he's still looking."
Leaning closer to the glass with her heart pounding her slowly opened her mouth and licked the glass with an upward motion. She glanced at him again.
"Ah yes, there it is." She smiled as his eyes flooded with desire. "Victory."
Still half of the print remained. This time she did not look away, she kept her blue eyes fixed on him as she licked the glass clean. Now she saw lust, surprise and amusement and she was happy to give him that.
With a casual flick of her wrist she polished her saliva off the surface of the glass with the cloth in her hand. Once it gleamed unsullied she glanced at him again- he'd not taken his eyes off her. Smiling, she threw the cloth over her shoulder and sauntered back to her desk and the waiting data pads not quite believing what she had just done but glowing with pride at her own daring.