– A couple of hours later –

“Oh Goddess, Lauren, you can barely stand.” Eva said to the Commander. She put her drink on the table to help support her.

“Hey, I only drank a glass or two… Okay, maybe three… But I’m definitely. Not. Drunk.” Lauren replied, she looked a bit annoyed at the apparent accusation.

“You have been working pretty hard, that’s true.” Eva shook her head.

“Finally, a bit of recognition.”

“What are we supposed to do with you…” Eva looked at Yuki and I. We had been having a conversation about one of the new foreign snacks both of us had tried out. “I kind of wanted to stay a little longer to chat with the others.”

“Do you want me to take her to her cabin? I wasn’t planning on staying at the party for that long.” I proposed. It wasn’t a lie, as the party had quickly drained me of the energy I saved during the nap beforehand.

“Really, that’d be really sweet.” Eva replied with a smile.

“You don’t have to, Luna… Really… I can walk by myself.” Lauren tried to shake herself loose from Eva but she almost went to her knees while attempting this.

“Walk? Don’t you mean crawl?” Eva guided Lauren over to me and hung her around my shoulder.

“It was nice talking to you, Yuki.” I said to our Ensign. We hadn’t talked much before, mostly because we’d both been too shy to really talk with each other. But we did bond quite a lot over our love for food. So I guess the party had succeeded in doing what it was supposed to.

“Likewise.” Yuki bowed slightly towards me. “Have a good night.”

“You too.” I said back.

Eva guided us to the door of the lounge before halting me one last time. “You can just drop her off at her cabin door, she’ll find her way inside on her own.”

“Indeed.” Lauren nodded along with Eva’s statement.

“Will do.” I nodded as well.

“And thanks again for doing this. Next time, I’ll take her to her cabin instead.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” I smiled and both Lauren and I said goodbye to our doctor, who then went back to continue partying a bit longer.

While we walked to our cabins, we didn’t really speak much to one another, apart from the occasional grunt from the Commander. She really didn’t appear to be in a good condition anymore and appeared to be getting a bit worse as we continued our journey.

“I think I’ve sprained my ankle as well…” Lauren said when we reached the elevator.

“Where did you do that?”

“I’m not sure… it’s starting to hurt quite a bit.”

I tried to press the button to our floor but the Commander pressed it for me.

“Sorry for causing all this trouble. I’m supposed to be the most reliable person on this ship.”

“You are very reliable, though.” I protested against her self-deprecation. “You just can’t always be on the top of your game.”

“Hmm, let’s agree to disagree.” She laughed my protest away.

As we entered the hallway both of our cabins were in, the Commander tried again to walk by herself but that still didn’t really work.

“Pfff. This is so frustrating. It reminds me of revalidation. I hate it.”

“Did you have to revalidate for a long time?”

She nodded. “I had to learn how to walk again, build up my muscles after being in bed for so long. And don’t even get me started on how long it took for me to be able to use my arm.” She squeezed her robotic arm’s fist closed.

I suppose I somewhat know what she went through. When I got this body for the first time, it also took me some time to get used to my new size and the lack of a tail. I stumbled and fell over more times than not because I had to learn how to balance myself again.

“Luna? You there?” We’d arrived at the Commander’s door, but I didn’t notice because my mind had been occupied.

“Sorry, I was… dozing off…”

“Hmm, could you grab my holostick to open the door?”

I nodded and took her holostick from her belt. I swept it over the door’s lock, but instead of opening, the door’s servo motor makes a weird noise before a pop could be heard.

“Oh, fuck me.” Lauren cursed. “Really? Is anything going to go right today? For fucks sake.”

I ran the holostick over the lock again, this time the door didn’t make any noise at all.

“Uhm, Ellie, are you there?” I spoke into the hallway.

“Yes, Lieutenant-Commander?” She replied from overhead.

“Is something up with the Commander’s door?”

“Running quick diagnostics…” Ellie stayed quiet for a couple of seconds. “The servo-motor responsible for opening the door automatically malfunctioned and with it has locked the Commander’s door shut until repairs have been performed.

“We can’t open it manually?”

“You can but this would possibly damage more modules.”

I looked at the Commander, who was still hanging on to me. She looked like she was thinking it through.

“Well… I guess the mechanics will just have to work a bit longer?”

“Co… Lauren… you can stay over in my cabin until they’ve fixed the issue…”

“Really?” She looked at me. “I really don’t want to be a bother, though. I’ve already caused you enough problems today.”

“I think the Commander would benefit from your presence as well, Lieutenant-Commander. Her psychic profile…”

“Uhm, Ellie.” The Commander started on a stern tone. “I’d rather you didn’t do a psych evaluation on me right now.”

“Yes, Commander.” Ellie then went silent.

Lauren sighed. “I guess… I guess I’ll take you up on your offer then… if you’ll have me.”

“Of course. I suggested it, didn’t I?”

“Thanks.” Before I could react, Lauren had taken me in for a hug. “Luna, you are a great person… I hope you know that…”

My eyes shot wide open. “T-t-thanks…” I didn’t expect that hug at all.

When Lauren stopped hugging me and my system shock had halted, I supported her back down the hallway to my own cabin. Luckily, that door did open without many issues. I sat her down on one of the seats at my table and gave her a glass of water to drink.

In the meantime, I started pulling out the mattress from underneath my bed.

“I would help you… but…”

“You should just rest.” I called back. “I’ll take care of you…” I blushed at my own words. “I-I… N-never mind…”

Luckily, Lauren didn’t appear to notice what I’d said, as she was staring blankly at the glass of water. She was still doing so as I finally managed to prepare her bed for a good night’s rest.

“Do you need something?” I asked, slightly concerned. Ellie’s psych evaluation had stuck with me.

“I… don’t know…” She shook her head, a pang of sadness in her voice. “Maybe this was just all a mistake and we should just go home… or I… should go home…”

“A mistake? But we just saved an entire race from extinction, how’s that a mistake? It’s just the exhaustion speaking, Lauren. Everything will be fine after you’ve rested a bit.”

“Perhaps…” She tried to take up the glass of water to drink a bit, but her hand trembled so much that she just couldn’t keep it steady.

I put my hand on her. “It’ll be fine, I promise.” My shyness and reservations be damned, right now Lauren needed someone who she could rely on. I brought my other hand to her back and slowly started to rub it in circles.

With my hand steadying hers, she managed to bring the glass to her lips and drink a bit. She put it back down and then looked at me. “Could I give you another hug?”

“Sure.” I nodded and once I did, she pulled me closer while still being seated and put her forehead against my stomach.

She then started crying. Quite badly, actually. I’d never seen her this vulnerable before. The exhaustion and stress of late had really gotten to her and now that she could relax a bit, everything was just coming out. It was almost the complete opposite situation of what happened in that one bathroom some time ago.

Lauren’s beret fell on the floor as she continued crying. I put my hand on top of her head and started gently caressing her. I’d read in a book that this was something that people did to calm their loved ones.

She cried like that for quite a while before she finally managed to calm down.

“Are you okay?” I asked for the second time.

“I will be… thanks.” She took her distance from me again and rubbed her eyes clean with a handkerchief she kept in her chest pocket. “It’s weird…”

“What is?” I asked.

“Even though I love Eva and she’s such a good friend to me… I never feel as comfortable with her as I do with you… Crying like this in front of her… I’ve practically never done that before… At least not this badly…”

Even though it sounds a bit wrong, hearing that made me feel warm inside. That I’d taken a special place inside her heart….