I'd always heard the phrase "ridden hard and put away wet" throughout my life, but I don't think I really appreciated it until the morning after my first night with Gangut. Every single muscle in my body was sore and my hip bone felt like jelly. If this keeps up, I thought, I might want to look at investing in a metal replacement. Like titanium or adamantium.

As I moved my head to the side, feeling the muscles in my neck screaming in protest, I saw that Gangut had already departed the bed. Her shako and cloak were still lying on a chair in the corner, however, so I knew she hadn't departed the apartment just yet. With a groan, I tossed the covers off and forced myself out of bed. Looking around the room for my boxers, I saw a glass of water next to my bed. I smiled, realizing Gangut must have left it there for me after she got up. I quickly downed the contents, feeling somewhat refreshed, and I finally spotted my boxers and t-shirt. Wasting no time, I slipped them on and padded towards the kitchen.

Just as I had suspected, Gangut was already there, teapot already on the stove. When she heard my footfalls, she turned to face me, a broad smile on her face. "Comrade!" she greeted me warmly as she gathered me up in her arms for one of her bear hugs. "How did you sleep?"

"Like the dead," I chuckled as I returned her embrace, enjoying the feeling of her pressed against me once more. Had I known what was about to happen, I probably would have savored the moment a bit more.

"Good!" she declared as she stepped back. "And I'm glad we were able to get that out of our system."

I cocked my head slightly as I tried to make sense of what she was saying. "Get…what out of our system, exactly?"

"The passion and desire that had been building up between us, of course!" she said as if it were a perfectly reasonable and logical thing to do. "And now that we have been sated, we can get back to our duties!"

I felt a growing knot in my stomach as I asked a question, praying I was wrong about the expected answer. "So…last night wasn't a prelude to anything more romantic?"

"Of course not, Comrade!" she said with a smile, not realizing the pain she'd just caused with those four words. "I do not have time for romance, not when the rest of the world has not come to understand the glory of the revolyutsiya the way we have!"

Rossiya's warning came rushing back to me at long last, and I suddenly understood what she meant. My heart sank like a stone, and I tried to keep the disappointment from my face. "I see…" I slowly replied.

Gangut noticed my dismay and frowned slightly. "You were hoping for something more." It wasn't a question.

Dammit. "I just…" I sighed and shrugged my shoulders. "I thought there was a mutual attraction between between us. I'm not the type of person to just jump into bed with someone, so I thought this was maybe the start of something…bigger than just a one night stand."

"We don't have to stop if you want," she offered. "We could be…oh, what is that phrase…'friends with benefits'?"

"No," I emphatically shook my head. "I've tried that before and it didn't end well. Any kind of intimacy like that is going to make me want romantic intimacy as well. I think it would be best that we just keep things on friendly terms, or at the very least professional."

Her red eyes stared out into the middle distance as she thought things over before she sighed heavily and nodded slowly to herself. "As you wish, Comrade," she said with a soft smile. "A shame, because you were quite good last night."

I chuckled and smiled weakly. "Thank you, you were amazing yourself."

"Your stamina needs work though," she said thoughtfully as she turned around to pour the tea. "You'll need plenty of it when it comes time to fight the bears."

I laughed for a moment, then realized she was serious. "Wait, bears, plural?"

"Do not worry, Comrade," she reassured me, "We will start you off with one bear at a time."

This may be hard to believe, but I was not reassured by that. "Oh, good," I said in a subdued tone. "Had me worried for a second?"

She laughed as she turned around, teacups in hand, and she offered one to me. "We would not be reckless, Comrade Mikhail. Wrestling two bears at once would be foolhardy for even the strongest novice!"

I would have said fighting one bear was foolhardy, but I was still playing along, operating on the notion that I would be back home by springtime. "Of course not, how silly of me," I grinned.

"I said I would keep you safe, and I will still uphold that promise," she said, her tone unexpectedly serious. "I do not want you to think anything else has changed between us."

"Thank you, Gangut," I said softly, looking down at my tea to avoid her loving gaze. "I wouldn't want anything to change between us, either," I lied. I wanted things to change. I wanted to see where things went. It had been a long time since I'd felt an attraction this strong to someone, and who knew when I'd find someone like her again? Sadly, it seemed as though fate had other plans.

But I didn't have time to sit around and mope. I had a job to do, so I tried to comfort myself with the idea that I would at least be able to enjoy Gangut's friendship and company at the very least and get back to work. "In any case, we'd best get cleaned up and head down to the mess hall before Pamiat gets all the syrniki."

"Very true, Comrade," she laughed.

When we walked into the mess hall, nobody seemed to notice anything different between Gangut and me. Nobody except Rossiya. As soon as my eyes met hers, I could see she knew what had happened last night…and what the result was this morning. Her reaction was immediate but subtle. A frown that quickly shifted into a subtle smile of sympathy. I returned the gesture as best I could before Gangut and I joined the others at the table.

After the meal had concluded, as everyone headed off to get started on the day's assignments, she spoke up. "Comrade Commander, if I may have a moment of your time?"

I glanced over at Gangut, who gave me a puzzled look. I smiled at her and nodded. "Go on, I'll catch up," I told her. She simply shrugged, smiled, and waved before heading out.

Rossiya took a step towards me, keeping her voice low in case any stragglers were still hanging around. "I did warn you, Comrade Commander," she admonished me.

"I know, I know," I hissed, some of my frustration bleeding into my words. "There was just…no time. One minute, we were having dinner, and the next…" I sighed. "We've agreed to keep things professional at least, friendly at best, so this shouldn't cause any problems."

"I hope you both can," she said softly before suddenly asking, "Do you still wish Sevastopol and Poltava to be transferred here?"

"Of course," I nodded. "Even if we're not going to date, I still want her to be happy. I'd like everyone to be happy, of course. The happiness of all mankind. But her, especially. Keep the transfers in place."

"And what about you?"

I gave her a quizzical look. "What about me?"

"Will you be alright?"

Her concern was touching, and I smiled softly. "I'll be okay, thanks. It was just one night, nothing more. It's not like I was picking out wedding venues or anything like that. But there's always going to be a part of me that wonders what might have been…" I sighed and shook my head. "In any case, we've still got a lot of work to do so we'd better get to it. Have a good one, Comrade Rossiya."

"You, too, Comrade Commander."

By the time I got to the office, Gangut was already hard at work, making sure everything was in place for the initial convoy requests from the Eagle Union and Royal Navy. "Everything alright, Comrade?" she smiled as I walked in.

"Yeah," I replied, heading towards my desk. "She just wanted to confirm a few personnel changes with me. Nothing here," I quickly added. "For the convoy escorts." That part was a lie, but I still wanted to keep things a surprise for her.

"I see…" she said slowly. "Will I ever get to go out on those escorts?"

"I haven't thought about putting you on those," I answered honestly. "I was thinking of sending you on patrols. You didn't seem to care much for convoy duties back when you were talking about the Ice Cruise."

Her snowy eyebrows furrowed together as she thought it over. "Which is more likely to see combat?"

"The patrols, hopefully," I chuckled darkly. "I'm sending the patrols to clear the area of Sirens so the convoys can have an easier time of it. Nothing I find more stressful than an escort mission. But since you're so eager, I'll have you know I scheduled a live fire exercise for tomorrow."

Her eyes lit up as she gasped, a hopeful smile on her face. "Truly?"

As always, I couldn't help but find her enthusiasm infectious. "I wouldn't lie to you about something like that," I grinned up at her. "First thing tomorrow morning."

I'm fairly certain the entire base heard her cry of joy.

"Incoming torpedoes, break to port!"

"Target is burning out of control and heeled out of the battle line, switch to next ship."

"The revolution blesses you, AH HA HA HA HA HA!"

The boisterous laugh was lost in the thunderous sound of twelve thirteen-inch guns firing all at once. Gangut leaned into the backblast, a wild grin on her face as the shockwave caused her snow-white hair and cape to billow out behind her. It certainly made for a dramatic moment, and I honestly regretted not bringing a camera along to capture it.

From up in the control booth, we had a good view of the entire exercise, along with several screens displaying combat data feeds as well as drone camera footage. "Well, at least she's having fun," I remarked as I watched the shells land. A few were off-target, splashing near the target ship, but most hit home, explosions blossoming along its hull and superstructure. "Dispersion's looking good, too." But despite all the good news, something seemed off. I activated the stopwatch and glanced over at Soyuz, who was overseeing the exercise with me. "Does Gangut usually do volley fire? During the battle at the Siren stronghold, she was firing her cannons individually."

Soyuz studied the image of Gangut as she skated around an incoming torpedo salvo, her turrets rotating as she danced across the waves. "Sometimes. But it is a rare occurrence."

Her guns belched smoke and flame once more and I checked my stopwatch. Her salvo was ten seconds slower than her nominal rate of fire. Something was off. While this could be interpreted as someone not taking the exercise as seriously as they should, this would in no way apply to Gangut. She was never, ever one to half-ass anything. She whole-assed everything she did and then some. So what's the reason for the delay?

The second clue came almost immediately after the question popped into my head. As the drone panned around her and the smoke cleared, I could see her face, and behind her smile, there was something else. A grimace of pain? Were her guns hurting her when she fired them? I thought about canceling the exercise, but I knew she would be upset if we called it off, and it was almost over anyway. If there was damage, I doubted a few more salvos were going to make things that much worse than they already were.

With a heavy sigh, I shook my head and made a mental note to have the maintenance team thoroughly go over her rigging once the exercise was completed. Which only took a few minutes more. The enemy fleet had been sunk in exchange for minor "damage" to Kirov and Rossiya.

"Excellent work out there, Comrades!" I called out over the loudspeaker. "Head to maintenance to have your rigging checked and get cleaned up." I turned to Soyuz. "Who's doing maintenance today?"

She checked her chart before coolly answering with, "Chapayev."

I nodded and patched myself into a secure line with the blue-haired cruiser. "Comrade Chapayev, I want you to check Gangut last, and check her guns out thoroughly. I think she was having some difficulty firing them."

"Understood, Commander."

I terminated the call and began shutting down the monitors when I felt Soyuz's ice-blue eyes on me. "What?" I asked as I turned to face her.

"Nothing, Comrade Commander," she answered, a hint of a smile on her face. "Just admiring your attention to detail."

"What, with Gangut?" I smiled softly and shook my head. "She's just easy to read, that's all. Her…enthusiasm tends to draw one's eye and as a result, I learned her patterns a little quicker."

Her smile turned into a full-blown smirk as she nodded along. "As you say, Commander. In any case, I look forward to reading your after-action report. Good day."

With a slight bow, she turned and left, leaving me alone and slightly perplexed. "Wonder what that was about…" I muttered to myself. When the answer didn't immediately present itself, I simply shook my head and got back to work. This combat data wasn't about to compile itself, after all…

An hour later, with the work complete, I headed down to the maintenance bay to check on Chapayev and Gangut. With any luck, they should just be finishing up.

I opened the door to find a somewhat surprised Chapayev and a rather dour-looking Gangut. Her arms were folded across her chest and she wore a rather upset expression on her face. Almost pouting, to be honest. My eyes flicked between the two kansen before they settled on Chapayev. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Not at all, Commander," Chapayev purred as she got to her feet. "I was just about to call for you. Per your request, I took a look at Gangut's cannons and I found something."

She beckoned me over to the monitors, and as I headed towards them, Gangut called out, "It's nothing!"

"I'll be the judge of that," I curtly answered her as I glanced at the diagnostic information. Unfortunately, it was entirely in Russian, but I saw all twelve gun barrels flashing red. "I take it this is what you were going to call me in for?" I asked Chapayev.

"Yes, Commander," she confirmed. "The barrel linings are extremely worn out. She can still fire, but it's causing her pain every time she does it, and if we don't get them relined soon, she won't be able to safely fire her guns at all."

Definitely a serious issue, but something was bothering me. "Why wasn't this caught during her maintenance after the last battle?"

Chapayev frowned and looked uncharacteristically sheepish. "We did notice it, but it wasn't as pronounced, and…Gangut said she didn't need it."

"Even though the diagnostic told you she did?"

Chapayev shrugged. "Supplies are low, so we sometimes have to go without. It's not uncommon for a shipgirl to push herself to the limits, or even past them."

I exhaled as I turned back to the diagnostic displays. "That may have been the case, but we'll start getting more supplies and materiel soon. If something is on the verge of being replaced, replace it, regardless of how a shipgirl feels about it."

"Comrade!" Gangut loudly objected.

I paused for a moment, looking between Chapayev and Gangut. Eventually, I turned to the cruiser and quietly said, "Can you give us the room, please?"

Chapayev nodded and swiftly headed out of the maintenance bay. I waited until I heard the door shut behind me before I slowly walked towards Gangut. She struggled to meet my gaze, her mouth constantly opening and closing like a fish out of water as she tried to object. Eventually, she blurted out. "It's not fair! How am I supposed to become strong if you treat me like a weak little child?"

My hackles raised at the accusation that I was soft-soaping her, and I quickly shot back. "Pushing your equipment to the breaking point and beyond doesn't make you strong, it makes you a liability!" I exclaimed. "When you're out there, I need to be able to count on you to get the job done. It won't matter how strong, or how tough, or how cunning you are if your equipment fails in the middle of a battle. Doesn't it hurt you when you're firing right now?"

"It does," she admitted, "But there may be times when I have to fight through pain in battle."

I let out an aggravated sigh as I ran my hand through my hair. "Why are you doing this? Why do you insist on pushing yourself past the point of no return? Is it pride?"

Gangut opened her mouth, then promptly shut it before she shook her head. "You would not understand."

"Try me."

She peered searchingly at me for a moment before she shook her head. "I'm sorry, Comrade, but no. I cannot. I will follow your orders, but this is something I am not ready to discuss with you. Not yet."

I stared at her, my anger and frustration threatening to boil over. The past couple of days had been a complete trainwreck, and I knew if I pushed the issue, we would both say things we would regret, possibly ending our professional relationship, to say nothing of our time as friends. In the end, I sighed, shook my head, and spat, "Fine," before I turned on my heel and marched out of the maintenance bay.

I hoped this would have cleared up after a few days, and things would not stay strained between us for very long. I was wrong on both counts.

A/N-Well, that could have gone…better. Until next time, fair winds and following seas!