Alisha, Andrea, Kara & Sasha

x

"I need details," Kara announced, handing out glasses of wine. "With Frankie being sick, I haven't been out of this house in a week. Mike actually had a courier bring my work here so I wouldn't infect the office. Now everyone spill. How goes the sex life?"

Alisha lifted her glass, not certain how much she wanted to share about her growing relationship with Azima. Things were going well. Three official dates and several spur-of-the-moment cups of tea in between, Alisha realized that there was an entire side of Azima that she had known nothing about. Alisha had never doubted that Azima was smart and an excellent operator — she never would have made it onto the Nathan James otherwise — but Azima also had an unceasing zest for life and curiosity about everything here in St. Louis. Prior to her transfer six months ago, Azima had never been to the United States and teaching her about the local customs had become one of Alisha's highlights. But perhaps most surprising to Alisha was that Azima had not pressed the issue of sex at all. Even though the woman practically oozed sex appeal — just thinking about her was enough for Alisha to feel warm — Azima seemed to understand that sex was more complicated for Alisha and appeared perfectly willing to stay at the pace Alisha set.

She was falling hard, and she knew it.

Alisha just wasn't sure how she was going to tell the ladies that she had broken their resolution.

No sex.

Lots of feelings.

After a moment of silence, Andrea cracked. "I'm old. Last night I almost fell asleep halfway through."

Kara chuckled. "Danny said that Tex has been taking naps during the day. I think you're wearing each other out."

"Tex said that Danny's been pretty tired himself," Andrea replied, a teasing note in her voice. "You still aiming for daily?"

Kara made a face. "Between Frankie being sick and Danny running night training sessions, neither one of us has been getting any sleep. Danny's gone for two weeks on this recruiting trip and my sendoff was more of the just-let-me-give-you-a-blow-job-so-we-can-be-done-and-I-can-go-back-to-sleep variety."

"Did he go for it?" Sasha teased. "I'm asking for research purposes only."

"He was all about the blow job," Kara replied tartly. "And then he wanted to have sex."

A round of laughter greeting that. "Speaking of work trips," Andrea said, "has anyone learned anything else about Maddie Rawlings?"

"She's a Las Vegas native. She made second lieutenant before leaving the Navy roughly ten years ago to start her own company," Sasha replied, rattling off the list of facts. "After everything hit the fan, there was no work in Vegas and someone asked her to help out ferrying supplies for the Navy. One thing led to another and she was in Monterey training new teams when Mike arrived to review the facilities. At that point, I hit a stone wall and couldn't get any more information. I did, however, invite Maddie to join us tonight. She couldn't because she's working but said that she's definitely in for next time."

"Nicely done, Cooper." Kara grinned. "Now, back to our resolution. Who's next?"

Sasha shrugged. "I've failed miserably. No sex at all."

Deciding that this was probably the best time for her own admission, Alisha spoke quietly. "No sex here either."

"Really?" Sasha demanded, before holding up a hand and taking a gulp of her wine. "That came out badly. What I meant is that I've seen you and Azima together and there's a definite spark. You look like a couple."

Alisha took a breath. "I like Azima. A lot. And I'm afraid that things will go badly and ..."

"And you'll get hurt again," Kara finished softly, reaching out a hand to touch Alisha's arm.

"Yes." Alisha looked to Sasha, recalling that Sasha lost a husband to the virus. Maybe she, like Alisha, was afraid of that happening again. "Is it the same with you and Wolf? Are you taking things slowly?"

Sasha didn't hesitate. "Nope. I asked him straight up if he was interested in no-strings sex and he said no."

The entire room fell silent until Kara managed to find her voice. "He said what?"

"He's got a thing for Jesse," Sasha explained, not appearing particularly upset. If the tables were turned, Alisha knew that she would be mortified. "She shot him down before she went back to Asia."

"Oh, that's rough," Kara sympathized. She tapped her fingers on the arm of her chair. "Although she did go back to Asia so I'm not sure the chicks-before-dicks rule applies..."

"He's in love with her," Sasha said, cutting Kara off. "He's still hoping that she'll come back and he knows that, if we've had sex, Jesse won't be okay with it."

There was another silence, longer this time. Alisha wondered if this wasn't about Sasha's husband at all, but rather about Captain Chandler. While she didn't know the entire story — or any of the story, actually — Alisha did know that his leaving crushed Sasha. She spoke softly. "You're helping each other heal."

Sasha's head tilted as she considered Alisha's words. "Yes, that's a good way of putting it. Anyway, we've been hanging out away from the team and it's been ... fun. Guess that's pretty much the opposite of what we agreed."

"I let Tex make dinner once a week. Just the two of us, when Kat's gone," Andrea admitted.

Surprised, Alisha glanced at Kara. Interestingly, Kara didn't seem surprised by the information — which meant that Tex told Danny, who told Kara. But Kara had moved on to another topic. "That reminds me. Carlton actually has a date to the Abbot fundraiser."

Sasha snorted. "Maybe. According to both Danny and Wolf, Danny practically did the asking for Carlton, like we were back in high school."

"That," Alisha replied, sharing a look with Kara, "means he really likes this woman."

"Who really likes her?" Andrea asked, eyes widening in an innocent look that fooled nobody. "Carlton or Danny?"

Another round of laughter followed. "Danny, obviously. After all, we're going to be stuck hanging out with the woman. And that," Kara continued, "is exactly why we need to be prepared to run interference when Carlton does something stupid."

Sasha laughed, lifting her glass. "Is he really that bad with women?"

"God, yes," Kara replied.

Alisha must have had more wine than she realized because she giggled. "He's so bad. Baby girl this or let me show you around base that. Didn't he once use that line where you ask a woman if she's an angel because she must have fallen from heaven?"

Sasha choked. "No."

Kara sighed. "Yes. Hence why we have to run interference until he can relax and be himself." Kara gazed at Andrea and Sasha. "So, are you in?"

"Sure, why not," Sasha replied, shrugging.

Andrea crossed her arms, toe tapping for a few minutes before she nodded. "Fine. But only because I'm tired of listening to Tex complain that the guy needs to get laid."