Chapter One
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Stardate 7452.855
27th February 2273
1307 hoursLieutenant JG Andrea Jane Brown set her hands on her hips and scrutinised the obstacles before her with a finely-honed intensity. Her eyes took in the angles and distances and her brain calculated forces and motion, forcing that which she would have done instinctively into her forebrain so she could see how it would all unfold and what it would take to make it unfold that way.
This emerging quality had steadily burned through the hesitation and other insecurities that had hampered her first six months on board her first posting from the Academy. It made her a much more capable officer, but the change had been gradual enough that Andrea hadn’t noticed it more than subconsciously.
Her controlled breathing slowed. Her eyes took in her comfortably loose jogging suit, a last-minute check to make sure no baggy folds of cloth that could snag were evident. Her vision narrowed to block out everything except her exercise area. Taking a deep breath, Andrea lined up on the first set of uneven bars and launched herself at them.
Her world became defined by the slap of hands and feet on matting and bars, and the spinning of the ship around her as she defied gravity for as long as she could.
*****
Andrea finished her workout, breathing hard and mopping her face with the towel she’d brought along. Her jogging suit was wet with sweat down her back, under her arms, and down her breastbone, but the dark blue, long-sleeved outfit didn’t show it as badly as a light grey one would have. Her long, dark hair was pulled away from her face in a simple ponytail but her hairline was damp and she knew her pale complexion would still be flushed from her exertions for a good few minutes yet.
She started to stroll over to the gym food slot to get her usual tall glass of cold water but was brought up short when she saw Melissa watching her intently. Suddenly self-conscious, she relaxed again when her friend smiled at her, and moved to intercept at the food slot.
“Looking good, Andie,” Melissa greeted her.
“Thanks, Mel,” Andrea retorted with good-natured sarcasm. “I’m a sweaty mess! Unless you are commenting in your Medical capacity?” she grinned back.
“Well,
medically speaking, you’re in fine shape, and your exercise regime keeps your edge without pushing you into potential injury area,” the nurse told her with mock asperity, before telling her bluntly, “and maybe I happen to
like the way a woman looks when she’s hot and sweaty.”
Andrea had been about to take a large swig of chilled water but her friend’s last comment and the way she’d said it forced her into a shocked immobility. Pushing past it, she laughed shakily and stole a quick glance around the gym. Several people were using the equipment but they had a measure of privacy beside the food slots.
She turned back to find Melissa waiting patiently, eyebrow raised and a slight, expectant smile on her face. Attempting to ignore what she thought she’d heard, Andrea asked her, “So, you wanna meet me in the Rec Room? I’ll have to grab a shower—“
“Oh for Pity’s Sake!” Melissa exploded. Her friend had listened to her with an expression of increasing disbelief, and at her exasperated outburst, Andrea shut up in surprise.
Hands on hips, Melissa regarded her with frustrated eyes. Coming to a decision, she demanded, “Okay, we obviously need to talk. Let’s go to my quarters for some privacy.”
She spun and headed for the exit on one side of the room, her body language brooking no disobedience. Andrea followed meekly, wondering what she’d done to anger her friend so much – and fearing she already knew.
*****
A silent, charged journey through the ship’s corridors to the centre of the saucer and Nurse Lieutenant JG Melissa Guzzman’s quarters ensued. As soon as the door slid shut behind them, Melissa spun to face Andrea, her hands on her hips yet again.
“Sit down,” she told Andrea in a more normal tone.
Having opened her mouth to apologise, she merely closed it again and did what she was told.
“Okay,” Melissa said shortly, then let out a sigh. “Okay,” she said again, drawing out the word a little into an exhalation, and looked down to lock eyes with her friend. “Since the subtle approach has gotten me absolutely
nowhere with you in the last
four months, I’m going to lay it out for you.”
Andrea’s brow furrowed, wondering what the hell her friend was on about, but before she could think of anything, Melissa continued.
“I, Melissa Guzzman, being of sound mind and body, do hereby declare that I am interested in pursuing a romantic and/or physical relationship with you, Andrea Brown. Who, despite having a sound body, has a state of mind that leaves much to be desired!”
Then she just stood there and practically glared at her friend.
Andrea stared back.
“
What?” she finally responded, and on seeing another impending explosion, hurried to add, “Oh, I heard and understood you, but… I mean… you
do?”
Melissa threw up her hands and turned away, her expression one of exasperated disbelief. Andrea thought they might end up falling out over this until she heard Melissa start to laugh.
“
Yes, you blind idiot, I do!” she retorted wonderingly. “Over the past four months I’ve been
trying to let you know that I’m interested in you, but the only times I’ve gotten a reaction from you they’ve been either guilty, embarrassed, or you’ve taken off!”
“I…” Andrea tried, but couldn’t quite figure out what she wanted to say.
“I noticed your interest in
me,” Melissa told her more gently, “but every time I tried to encourage you, you either didn’t notice or got cold feet. It’s been maddening!” she declared.
Gods, but I’m thick, Andrea castigated herself.
“Seeing how obviously shy you are about this, I did everything except touch you meaningfully or flat out tell you,” Melissa continued, pulling her room’s sole chair up to the edge of the bed where Andrea sat. “I’d been looking at you anyway, and you’re good for a laugh, but what you did for Garn decided me. That was very sweet and I decided I’d like to be with someone who would do that for a friend.”
“Melissa, I’m… I’m sorry,” Andrea told her friend. “I didn’t know,” she stated simply.
Now it was Melissa’s turn to look puzzled. “I admit, waiting on being told either ‘yes’ or ‘no’ was supremely vexing with the mixed signals you kept giving out, but how could you not
know I was interested?”
“Mellissa, I…” Andrea halted again.
Should I tell her? Will she laugh? Ah hell… how can I not
tell her? She’s bound to find out sooner or later anyway… “I didn’t realise I was giving out signals. I was just trying to… discreetly… check you out, and when you caught me looking… I just got really… embarrassed.”
Andrea hated her halting way of talking but pushing that out was hard enough that continual nerve had to be summoned. She also felt her face heat up as the blood rushed to her face, but finally managed to look up from playing with her hands to meet her friend’s uncomprehending gaze. “I got scared, thinking you were just being friendly and if you knew what… what I was thinking, or what I… really meant by it, you’d be... offended, or hurt, or… something.”
“What?” Melissa exclaimed, and Andrea dropped her eyes again. “How could you think that?” she asked without heat and in obvious puzzlement.
“Mel, I’ve never done this before,” Andrea told her softly, then elaborated. “Never been with another woman. I’ve no idea what I’m doing.”
“Oh, Andie! That’s okay,” Melissa told her playfully. “I do, and I’m not going to hurt you. You believe me, right?”
Andrea looked up again from her clasped hands and back into Melissa’s expressive, pretty eyes. “Yes, I believe you,” she told the nurse, “but I don’t think you fully get what I’m trying to say here.”
“Then just
tell me,” Melissa encouraged gently. “I won’t laugh, I promise.”
Obviously screwing up her resolve, Andrea managed to blurt, “I’ve never done this before with
anyone. I’m… I’m still a virgin.”
Melissa almost did it, despite her promise. She almost blurted back,
“A virgin? Looking the way you do? You gotta be frickin’ kidding me!” but seeing the desperate trust in her suddenly vulnerable friend’s eyes stayed those words and they died in her throat. Instead, she murmured, “That’s… remarkable. Was it personal choice, or…?”
A short, bitter laugh escaped Andrea’s lips. “Oh, it wasn’t by choice, I can assure you! I just… never met anyone who gave me any sign.”
“Andie, no offence, but I’ve been giving you every kind of sign I can think of – except for the one you made for Garn,” she told her, referring to the metre-high flashing holo-sign Andrea had arranged for Garn’s birthday, “– over the past four months, and you’ve alternately confused the hell out of me but emotionally distancing yourself from me and some of your other friends, or
annoyed the hell out of me by completely ignoring me, like you did just now in the gym!” Melissa regarded her friend with undisguised compassion, but also a hint of annoyance. “The only reason I didn’t just give up and leave you to yourself is because it’s become a mystery to me why. Some days I would catch you looking at Rachel, or Lisa, or me with an… appreciative eye. Other times I’d see such a look of ‘little-girl-lost’, or such unfiltered
longing that it was all I could do not to immediately rush over and hold you.”
Andrea looked up in shock at her friend’s words. “Was I really that transparent?” she asked in hushed tones. “I was trying so hard to be discreet, and not let the loneliness out… I didn’t want to wreck my friendships, create awkwardness among our group…”
“Oh Andie,” Melissa chided her gently. “What century are you living in? With planets like Argelius, Tranquillity Seven, and Wrigley’s Pleasure Planet, as well as entire humanoid species like the Deltans and Andorians in the Federation, how can you possibly think that sex or sensuality is even an issue any more?”
Seeing an objection forming on Andrea’s face, Melissa offered a pre-emptive rebuttal. “Okay, I know that we’re in Starfleet and rules of decorum have to be observed, but I’m not talking about turning up on the bridge naked or having sex on the Sickbay diagnostic beds! All our friends are within one rank above or below us, and you and I are the same rank. As long as we don’t allow it to interfere with our duties, ‘fraternisation’ is not forbidden, or even frowned upon! Gods, Andie! I’m a JG like you and I’ve had three relationships while in the Academy and another two as an ensign!”
Andrea looked into Melissa’s light blue eyes and struggled to assimilate all she’d been told. “Mel… I know all that. I knew cadets who paired off in the Academy. I know Tina is still after Markus. I know that on three, four, or five year missions we’re not expected to be monks. That’s not… where my problem lies. I’ve just never known one Human woman who paired off with another female of any species, and growing up in small villages and towns in Scotland, I never really noticed anyone there who liked other girls.”
Melissa kept her surprise off her face but inwardly wondered if her friend was indeed expecting herself to be a nun, if she’d really never seen two women as a couple, or if she’d merely been as blind all those years as she’d proven herself to be over the past four months.
Andrea shrugged eloquently and Melissa again thought her friend had just been too shy to properly react to any signals she had noticed.
“Boys kept chatting me up and I kept turning them down. I just wasn’t – still aren’t – interested in them, not even curious. They were all so
immature. We all were, I suppose, but even then they never appealed to me. So, here I am. Twenty-two, nearly twenty-three, and never been kissed. It’s… embarrassing, inhibiting,
pathetic—“
“Now stop right there, Andrea!” Melissa commanded abruptly. “As of today, your past – however pitiful you may think it – is over. In case you’ve forgotten amongst all these angst-ridden regrets, a smart, beautiful, warm, friendly, and very sexy woman has just asked you out.”
Andrea looked up again, her blush fading momentarily then renewing as she realised with Melissa’s last words that she wasn’t, in fact, talking about Andrea. She saw the knowledge in Melissa’s eyes and evidenced by the smirk on her face, which made her blush more.
“Not only that,” her friend continued, “you
still haven’t told said brainy sexpot if you’ve accepted or declined her offer.” She folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow. “You’d damn well
better be as inexperienced as you say you are, or I’m liable to be hurt by such inconsiderate procrastination.”
“Oh hell, Melissa! I’m sorry!” Andrea blurted. “Of course, yes! You’re a great friend and,” she added, managing to haul herself back on balance, “as you yourself noted, you’re smart and sexy too. Of course I want to be with you.”
“I’m glad to hear it, Andie,” Melissa returned with mock severity, before breaking into a wide smile. “Now, apparently I have a
lot of work to do to bring you up to speed on the whole dating concept, its theories and practices.”
Andrea gave her a shy, self-conscious, but genuinely amused smile. “Yes, I suppose you do.”
“Excellent. A willing student is always the easiest to teach. So,” she added with a wicked grin, “are you ready for your first lesson?”
Despite her heating cheeks – which she seriously hoped she’d manage to control really soon – Andrea managed to assume a pose of rapt attention.
“Yes, Miss Guzzman. I am all yours.”
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