The moment she caught her reflection in the viewing port window, Dwasina Roix realized she very much needed to sleep. The dark circles under her eyes made her look skeletal, any wrinkles were pronounced, and her face was drawn into a deep tired frown that radiated from her forehead to her lips.

“Let me get you into a spare guest room.”

She jumped at Darin Jaroo’s voice, turning to see him leaning on the counter behind her. She had made it to the medbay with Yvie, and spent the last four hours helping the civilian nurses tend the injured and organize the displaced. Which included over half the Calistoga’s crew. She learned from those who had evacuated that the Vaadwaur boarded the Calistoga, and she immediately started to search for Jason. She had hoped he would be leading the evacuation group, but he was nowhere to be found.

She spent the next hour ruminating on what happened to him, and finally she heard the news that the last Vaadwaur ship was defeated – by Darin Jaroo’s independent fighters no less. Then she spent the next three hours keeping as busy as possible to keep her mind off what might be happening on the Calistoga. Comms were spotty. Finally, someone got word to her that the Vaadwaur that had boarded were contained.

“It’s OK, I’m…” She waved a hand at the station commander, and that little bit of movement made her feel lightheaded. Maybe she did need that room? “If I can have a place to lay down for a while?” she relented.

Darin Jaroo offered a faint smile. “Yeah. Come.” He even offered her an arm to lean on.

They walked together in silence, as if he was a concerned friend escorting her to safety. She thought back on the mission, and her words while under fire. Heat burned in her cheeks as she slowly turned to him.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Jaroo. I misjudged you.”

For his part, Darin Jaroo was generous and forgiving. “Miss Roix, I didn’t trust you when you first arrived, but you and your people proved themselves. Let’s take this as growing pains.”

Slowly she nodded, and then like a very slow dawning of the sun she smiled. “I’m glad we can come together.”

“I am, too.” Jaroo offered her a smile, the kind of genuine expression she didn’t think could grace his face when she first arrived, before opening up a door that led to a small bedroom with a bath. “Here, you’ll have some privacy and can sleep.  Hopefully tomorrow everyone will have the commlines repaired.”

She paused and turned to him. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

After the absolute best feeling sonic shower that she could remember she collapsed on the bed, sleep consuming her swiftly.

~*~

“Hey there…”

The voice was soft, deep, sweet. A featherlight touch brushed her cheek and her eyes snapped open.

“Jason…” She sat up, realizing she had slept in her uniform. “What are you doing here?”

“I told the station commander I was your husband, and he let me in…” Jason Ibanez grinned in a cavalier manner.

Dwasina narrowed her eyes at him, trying to smooth the wrinkles out of her highly rumpled uniform.  “You lied.”

She didn’t know if she was upset or impressed. Both. Jason has always taken liberties with their relationship. Part of her knew that he didn’t belong in here. Part of her was relieved, even charmed that he had come. It was both welcome and unwelcome at the same time.

Most of the time she felt like she was his surrogate older sister, guiding him through his transfer, his divorce, his growth as an officer. Helping him work through his anger issues and his contempt of authority issues. And some of the time she felt like she was warding off his romantic advances.

That was the minority of the time, but she was surprised that he hadn’t taken the hint yet. And somewhere deep inside she was starting to think she should have been setting clearer personal and professional boundaries. Actually she was realizing that she needed to be setting boundaries more often, in multiple areas of her life. Which wasn’t her forte, but she also believed it would be to her benefit.

“He believed it!” Jason retorted, chest puffing out with pride.

Dwasina slowly shook her head at him, once again unsure of what to think about that. “Well, at least you didn’t start a fight.”

“You know me, I’m the bastion of diplomacy.” He offered, knowing he was anything but.

She stretched, tossing her legs over the bed and looking for her boots.  At least she had taken those off before she fell asleep.  “What happened on the Calistoga?”

“Oh my galaxies. What didn’t happen. We flew into an asteroid belt, we destroyed a Vaadwaur ship, we pulled a suicide move, we somehow lived, we lost all power and didn’t get killed, we pulled a sneak attack on the Vaadwaur, we took a last stand in front of Mireya VII, got boarded, rerouted power to sickbay, fought our way to sickbay, retook the ship, Watched a bunch of pirates blow the last Vaadwaur up and then I got this burn dressed and took a nap and came here.” Jason punctuated the story by holding his arm up, still bandaged in bio-regenerative wrap and then he gestured broadly to the room.

That was a lot. Dwasina sat in silence, processing it all. She was slightly alarmed at the mention of a burn, and yet he seemed fine so that was tucked away for a different conversation. Instead she asked, “And did you behave?”

Jason shuffled from foot to foot. “I, uh, possible will be slammed with conduct unbecoming of an officer.”

“Jason!” She cried before she could stop herself. “What did you do?”

“Mouthed off to Dal while on the bridge.” He admitted. “In my defense we had lost all power, and we were a sitting duck.”

She shook her head. “You and your inability to bite your tongue…”

He shrugged. “At the time I thought Dal was leading us into a suicide mission… but we lived so…”

She stood eye, eyeing Jason. “It almost sounds like you’re going to admit that he’s not so bad.”

Jason did everything possible not to roll his eyes. With consternation he admitted “He’s OK. But holy hell don’t get on his bad side.”

She looked at him, shaking her head slowly as a barking laugh bubbled up through her throat. “Says the man who is facing a conduct unbecoming of an officer charge…”

“Fair… fair.  He hasn’t killed me yet.” Jason admitted,

She shook her head again, and then taking a step forward, she wrapped her arms around Jason’s chest, drawing him in for a sisterly hug. “I’m very glad you’re alive and well. I would have hated it if our last conversation was an argument.”

“I was worried about you.” He admitted.

“I was worried about you, too.” She confessed.

He wrapped his arms around her and drew her close. It was a silent promise to watch over each other, care for each other, ensure that moving forward they could be a little bit safer, and ensure a continued happy ending.