Name: The Lonely Hearts Club
Roughly six months after the Nathan James returned from Asia, the crew of the Nathan James has begun to think about their future and rebuilding their lives, as well as the world. Originally posted for the TLS 2024 Valentine Day Fest.
AU: Tex is alive and Azima is already part of the crew.
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A/N — I've had this idea floating around for a while and included some portions in 31 Days (in case it seems familiar, it probably is), so I decided to flesh it out for Valentine's Day. Per the usual, I am running late and so will add chapters as they are ready. xoxo — kals
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"No sex. No dating. No feelings. No thinking about men for another year," Sasha said, slamming her shot glass down on the coffee table.
"Amen!" Alisha replied, throwing back her own glass. "Except for the men part. But women suck too."
Andrea stared at the ceiling for several moments before taking her own shot. "I'm in. Although it's not like I had any prospects for sex anyway."
"Pretty sure Danny's not going to agree to no sex for a year," Kara replied dryly when every eye turned in her direction.
Alisha rolled her eyes at Sasha. "Why did we let her join us? I thought this party was for single women only?"
"Because my husband pulled the short straw and is on duty tonight?" Kara sighed. She lifted her own shot glass, before setting it back down. Given that Frankie was in the house, she had limited herself to two drinks. Of course, that was back when she was expecting a classy evening with cocktails and appetizers, rather than the post-apocalyptic version of a frat party.
"To make sure that none of us do something stupid and make a booty call," Andrea corrected briskly, and surprisingly coherently, given the amount of alcohol in her system. She paused. "Do they still call them that?"
Alisha scowled. "I think now it's Netflix and chill. Green suggests that as a date activity frequently and I don't think he's in it for the Hallmark movies."
Kara choked, before covering the sound with a question. "So, if you were going to go after someone this year, who would it be?"
"Tom," Sasha replied instantly, her voice soft, drawing instant sympathy from the other three women. Given that the man was completely incommunicado, Tom was obviously not an option.
"He's an ass for leaving that way and not even calling," Andrea announced, shocking everyone. With every eye on her, she waved her hands, liquid splashing over the side of her glass. "What? You know that you were all thinking the same thing."
Catching Alisha's eye, Kara shrugged. "We just didn't expect anyone to say it aloud."
"I'm tired of being alone. I loved Bill, still love him, but he's dead. And sometimes I just want to have a little human contact," Andrea announced, alcohol clearly making her even more direct than usual. Kara was wondering if she should cut Andrea off when the woman narrowed her eyes at Sasha. "You should go for Wolf."
"Taylor?" Sasha asked, confused, before taking another shot for absolutely no reason.
"Why not?" Andrea demanded. "I'm guessing here, but my bet is that you haven't had sex since you left for China before the virus hit. Right?"
Sasha's responding shrug was non-committal, making Kara wonder if Tom and Sasha had been up to more on the Nathan James than anyone realized - or, at least, more than anyone told Kara. There were definitely some downsides to being off the ship. Danny claimed to tell her everything but, as Alisha frequently pointed out, Danny was an idiot when it came to personal relationships.
Andrea was still talking. "Even if Tom comes back in a month or two, there's no reason why you shouldn't be getting some." Andrea waggled her eyebrows. "And we've all seen what's under that shirt."
Sasha leaned over to refill Andrea's glass. "Fine, if I hook up with Taylor, then you have to hook up with someone too. How about Slattery?"
Andrea made a face. "He's kind of like a brother. Plus, I was friends with Christine." That killed the conversation for a minute, until Andrea snapped her fingers. "Nolan."
"Tex?" Kara asked, voice curious.
Andrea nodded briskly. "No worry about long-term entanglements and I've seen the man in just his underwear. There's something mighty fine down there."
Hooting, Alisha slammed back her own shot. "Kara, honey, if you could only see your face. But don't pretend that you haven't noticed it. I mean, you spent enough time in their cabin."
"Hey..." Kara began, only to be cut off by Andrea.
"Also, proximity factor. Kat's been staying with me so luring Gitmo into the sack should be the work of approximately .02 seconds." Grinning, Andrea took another shot.
"Who are you going to have fun with?" Sasha asked, wiggling her eyebrows at Alisha. "The new JO in engineering is pretty fine."
"Is she?" Alisha said, her nonchalant shrug ruined when she almost fell over. "I hadn't noticed."
Kara scoffed. "Just admit that you have a thing for Azima and go for it. After all, this is just sex, right ladies?" At a round of nods, Kara pulled out a pen. "So, for purposes of making sure you all remember this tomorrow, I am writing down your resolutions. This coming year, there will be no dating or feelings. But we will all aim to have lots of sex. Andrea with Tex. Sasha with Wolf. And Alisha with Azima. I'll be having sex too, of course, but I'm going to keep the dating and feelings too. Anything to add?"
Hearing none, Kara refilled all of their glasses. "Let's drink to that."
