Lieutenant, now Lieutenant Commander, Auzrel Lolaro walked down the grey corridor running through the center of what the crew were calling the snow globe. "Stellar cartography is here, and most of my science labs." She waved one hand at the rooms honeycombed into the globe. They were all made of a similar material so as not to disrupt the transparency, and Brooks imagined that standing in one of them while in deep space would feel like standing in the middle of the stars.
"It's great," he told the Trill. "I love how you have it set up. But why are you playing tour guide for me?"
She grinned. "Patience, my dear, patience. Follow me." He trailed after her obediently, watching her point out all the different research stations. Finally, they came to the end of the hall. "So, here's the deal."
Brooks crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm eagerly awaiting this deal."
"Kelphy was supposed to be working in this lab, but she was nauseous just looking at it and begged me to let her keep working out of the sickbay labs."
"And you told her to suck it up and deal, right?"
She gave him the evil eye. "What kind of monster do you think I am?"
Brooks glared right back. "You are the AuzMonster, terror of science departments and sad little doctors."
Auz snorted. "Okay, true enough. But that is not what I did with Kelphy. I let her keep her lab in sickbay, and rather than letting this beautiful workspace go to waste, I went to talk to Sioh."
"You lost me." Brooks was starting to feel the buzz at the back of his neck that warned him something odd was about to happen, but whether it was good odd or bad odd was still up in the air. "How does he factor into this?"
Her grin grew wider. "Well, if you'd shut up, I could tell you." Brooks pretended to zip his lips closed. "Thank you. As I was trying to say, I went to talk to Sioh, and we both agreed that since he had no problem with it, and I have the space and am also the first officer and thus allowed to make these kind of decisions, that if you want to work here on your fabrication projects, the place is yours."
He froze. "It...really? You mean it?"
She tilted her head at him. "Of course I do."
Brooks took a step forward, into the lab. Transparent walls, floors. He'd be in the stars, nothing around him but the deep black and the pure, bright pinpricks of light. "It's beautiful."
Auz's smile turned soft. "It really is, isn't it? I thought you'd appreciate it."
"Thank you." He glanced back at her, finding it hard to hear his eyes away from the view.
She patted his shoulder. "You're welcome, Brooksie."
If she noticed the dampness in his eyes, she was polite enough to keep it to herself.
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Siohdasii Traht leaned back against the med table. "Doctor, I know you're just doing your job, but really. I'm fine. They're minor burns. If you just give me your regenerator, I could probably fix it myself."
"Or, you could damage your hands forever, and I bet that would make it really difficult to be an engineer." Igoshin Joazub's voice was, as always, abnormally soft, but Sioh could detect a hint of a prickle. "I'm almost done here. Just...wait. Please."
Sioh held back a sigh. "Okay, I'm waiting."
Igo turned to look at him. "Thank you." He walked to the med table. "The first thing is to put on this lotion. It will help the skin heal better." He squeezed some cream onto Sioh's left hand and began to rub it between both of his own. "It may sting, but I promise it will make your hands left stiff while they heal."
In truth, Sioh had no intention of complaining. The younger man's hands felt good against his own. Even when Igo's long, black nails scored lightly against the surface of his palms, they sent pleased little nerve pulses straight to his spine. He bit his lip against another sigh, this one completely different from the first. "Am I hurting you?" Igo asked, hands stilling.
Sioh shook his head. "No, I'm fine."
Igo gave him a wary look, but Sioh met his eyes straight on, and eventually the other man accepted his sincerity. "Alright then, why don't we work on your other hand?"
He obediently put it forward. "You might want to be careful with this one. I cut it and..." Sioh trailed off. Igo was unwrapping the makeshift bandage, heedless of his words. "Hey. Dr. Joazub. You..."
The bandage was off now, and Igo stopped his gentle examination of the gash long enough to look up at Sioh. "Is there something I need to know about? Something complicating your injury? How did you cut your hand in Engineering anyway?"
Sioh opened his mouth, closed it again. It would be stupid to remind the doctor of a medical fact he surely knew already, but... "I'm a Bolian," he finally said. "You know that you shouldn't get too near my blood."
"Oh!" Igo smiled, almost shyly. "Well. Thank you for your concern, but as you can see, I'm pretty well protected." He turned his rough, grey hands over in front of Sioh. "It takes a lot more than Bolian blood to affect Krynygor skin."
"I didn't know that." Sioh had to smile back. "Sorry for doubting you. Carry on."
Igo waved it off. "No apology necessary." He picked up a dermal regenerator and began to wave it over the cut. "I'm sure a human would have appreciated the warning."
But, of course, he wasn't human. Sioh looked at the small spikes that lined Igo's brow and wondered idly if they were sensitive. He wasn't sure why this line of thought was coming to him, but he kinda liked it.
"All done." Igo's voice interrupted his reverie. "Should be almost as good as new."
Sioh looked at his hands. They were, indeed, healed. "Hey, thanks."
Igo shook his head. "It's my job. Just try to be more careful, okay? I don't want to see you back here for quite awhile."
Sioh agreed, but not without a faint tinge of disappointment.
--------------
Chiron Stasia looked around her new bridge. "I think the chairs are too big.â€
T'Lir sat down at the first officer station and found that it was indeed far too spacious. "I suppose that some would say that it's we who are too small."
Chiron grinned. It would certainly not be the first time someone had made disparaging comments about their height, or lack thereof. "And then you would break them in two, right?"
"I would not resort to violence over mere verbal insults." She paused. "However, I might force them to redesign the furniture."
Chiron laughed and walked over to sit in her captain's chair. Her feet barely reached the ground. It did not give her any greater sense of confidence in her own ability to command. She leaned her head back against the chair, glancing around to make sure no one else had entered the bridge. "Miral commed me yesterday."
"Oh?" T'Lir turned slightly to look at her friend. "On matters of business or of pleasure."
"She said she wanted to thank me. Again. Said she was glad it was me." Chiron sighed. "I never thought I'd be crossing time and space to rescue my academy girlfriend. It's so cliché, so fairytale. Life isn't actually supposed to work like that, right?"
T'Lir froze for an instant before regaining her composure. "I really would not know."
"Oh, dammit, I'm sorry, I forgot." Chiron reached over to touch T'Lir's shoulder before realizing that too would be unwelcome. "Did he message you? Has he said something?"
"Why would he? We are nothing to each other now. Our missions were completed satisfactorily. There is simply nothing to say."
Chiron frowned. "I still wish you'd let me hurt him."
"I know." There was so much she should say, about logic and rationality and control and the pointlessness of violence. She couldn't. "Knowing that you wanted to was enough."
At that, Chiron did take her hand, and tried to think as hard as she could about nice happy exploration missions and how she'd be completely lost without her spectacular first officer, and T'Lir allowed herself a brief moment to soak it in.
