The Early Morning Walk Home

It was equal parts wanting to be near Rai (even though it was fairly humiliating to be close to an empath when attracted to said person) and wanting to avoid being left alone with Tal'Ara that drove T'Pren to suddenly declare that, yes, perhaps she would try to get more sleep. She'd packed up her father's guitar with great care and hefted the case easily for the awkward walk back to the Habitat Ring.

Because her body was doing lots of talking for her, the girl herself remained uncomfortably silent. At least until she was absolutely sure Tal'Ara wasn't around.

"Sorry," she murmured.

Falten had not known what to do about the situation in her room. She couldn't stay up all night at the bar again, and she desperately needed more than a nap. She'd found herself at the door to her quarters, and then not known what to do. She couldn't go back in there at night, not if the Cardassian had access to it. She didn't feel right, or safe.

She'd sat down on the floor next to her door to think on her options, then promptly fallen asleep. So she was still there when Pren walked into her stretch of hallway, one knee up and one leg sprawled, her head sunk to her chest as she breathed gently, the sleep a welcome comfort from the anxiety in her mind.

"Don't be, it's flattering," he said, chewing on his lip. He glanced at her furtively, and quickly looked away.
"Is that the bartender on the floor?" He asked, spotting the slumped Andorian woman.
"Are you alright?"

As T'Pren's body reacted to Rai's admission -- all new heat and a quickening of her heart -- her face glowed verdant. She let out a hard breath and very carefully did not look at the Commander. At all. Nope. Okay, maybe a little. But then away!

Away right to Falten asleep on the floor. The lieutenant immediately looked around for signs of struggle or intruders and then moved to her knees next to the Andorian, prepared to perform some basic field exams if she didn't respond to the Commander.

Rai knelt next to her.
"I think she's sleeping. Let's just bring her in," he said.
Standing, he accessed the lock terminal.
"Computer, release civilian quarters, access code Rai alpha tango 338."
When the doors slid open, he looped his arms under her knees and shoulders. She stirred softly, but remained asleep.
He laid her softly on her bed, and tiptoed out.

Despite the fact that T'Pren was fairly curious to see other people's quarters, since she still had a decor problem, she couldn't quite bring herself to follow Rai inside out of respect for Falten's privacy. So she hung around outside the door, pacing restlessly and trying to breathe meditatively to control the heat that kept rushing through her torso and face.

"Now, as I was saying, I don't mind. Would you like me to walk you the rest of the way back to your quarters?"
His breath hung dry in his throat while he waited for her to answer. The lighting was, despite his efforts, dim in the corridor. Her small, pointed face was deeply shadowed. This may be something he would later categorize as a massive lapse in judgement.

That was not at all what T'Pren had expected. Her breath caught in her lungs and her mouth hung open slightly as she stood in the corridor with her father's guitar case in one hand, frozen mid-pace and staring in surprise -- though not unpleasant surprise -- at the Commander. Her green eyes were wide as she furiously went through her options. Her skin was an even more vivid emerald, though it might not have seemed possible.

When she finally did press her lips closed, it was with a quietly squeaked 'mm' of struggle. Her whole body now was basically on fire inside. Eventually her brow furrowed intensely and she set down her father's guitar case so she could step toward him, one hand already making that familiar Vulcan salute by her side.

"May I...?" she practically whispered, trying desperately to keep a husky quality out of her voice. She failed.

"I wish you would," he said encouragingly.

The half-Vulcan let out a sharp breath at that, her earlier levels of barely contained lust returning with even more immediacy. Part of her expected to wake up at any moment in her quarters from a medicine-induced sleep full of bizarre dreams and then she'd have to go to the promotion ceremony and face Rai and he'd know, he'd know she had a weird sex dream about him. Her chest rose and fell dramatically as she closed the distance between them, studying his face the whole time like her life depended on it.

T'Pren's hand was trembling slightly as she reached up to make contact with the Commander's face, her fingertips just as heated as an empath might expect from the way she was radiating. With their skin touching, she took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, bracing for whatever part of Rai she was about to see.

For a moment, Lieutenant Inabnet felt everything Rai felt. There were permeating waves of desire for her, the blush of new attraction and the fluttering of hope. Also in this abyss was a monolith of terror; a looming new war and the specter of an old war. She saw a body count that Rai had kept, the stacked corpses of Jem'Hadar clones and Cardassian soldiers, and the way that it haunted him in his sleep and the waking world. She heard the noise that he heard everyday, the chattering flood of emotions from every living thing on the station, and this chattering noise was the main reason he drank. These were his sleepless nights, his Sisyphean struggle, the scape of his mind.
He cleared his throat.
"I told you it was a lot," he said softly.

The things Rai was feeling for T'Pren were intoxicating in and of themselves, but it was the weight of his conscience and the horrors he'd seen and committed, the struggle of his day to day existence that made her Vulcan heart swell. She was looking at him now not with pity or just lust or even any of her earlier uncertainty: she was taking him in with compassion and affection and a desire to take care of him. Lust, yes, of course, but more complete now. Less feverish and more decided.

This was how T'Pren felt when she, fingers still on the Commander's face, inched her body closer to his and pressed their lips together experimentally but with reassurance. Even though they were standing in the middle of the Habitat Ring corridor. Because fuck it.

He leaned into her lips, and let his hand touch her waist. His lips parted ever so slightly. He was sleep deprived, overwhelmed, and oddly vulnerable, but he wasn't about to turn her away.
"T'Pren," he said. "For once, I don't know what to say."

When the kiss broke, T'Pren's expression softened into something closer to wonder as she drank in Rai's features and the feelings she was still getting from physical contact. Her own body was practically humming with energy, fluttering pleasantly in some areas and running hot in others. The half-Vulcan's cheeks were flushed green, but it wasn't out of embarrassment. "I've never really done that outside of pon farr," she admitted in a whisper, but it didn't seem to bother her. On the contrary, a smile played at the corners of her lips. "So you could tell me whether or not I did it correctly."

"You did," he said breathlessly, "but try it again to make sure. Sometimes these things can only be achieved through copious practice," he smirked. A blush crept up his collar and into his cheeks. He had forgotten, for the time being, that he was kissing a subordinate openly in the Habitat Ring.

T'Pren looked terribly pleased with Rai's response. She studied him appraisingly a moment, as if planning her next attack, licked her lips, and stepped a little closer. Her body wasn't quite touching his, but it was close enough now that heat and electricity could freely travel between them.

This time she pushed her Vulcan salute into the Commander's dark hair, running the pad of her thumb over his non-pointed ear, and tilted her chin into a kiss that was still gentle and exploratory, but began with parted lips.

His heart hammered in his throat at the gentle prodding of her lips and tongue. The company he kept had been male through his career in Starfleet. In fact, he hadn't made love to a woman since his days in the Academy. He had forgotten that women's faces were softer than cake, with the absence of stubble, and her tiny jaw fit perfectly in the palm of his hand as he touched her to steady himself. When he pulled away, he still saw stars.
"Lieutenant, we really shouldn't do this here," he said after a gasp.

While Rai was rediscovering women, T'Pren was entering a completely new world. Her brain was barely functioning at this point, which was magnificent. It was the closest she'd come to successful meditation in a very long time. Certainly since arriving here.

Her heart was shivering like a wet bird at the bottom of her ribcage and her chest as it rose and fell came dangerously close to brushing against the Commander's. She couldn't remember a time when she'd felt so placid, but even as she made that realization, she noticed how her physical form was buzzing like a live wire.

Why hadn't she done this outside of pon farr again?

"Mm," she agreed a little stupidly, and this time when she licked her lips it was to taste Rai again while she plotted their next move. Ever so slyly, she grinned at him. "Your quarters or mine?"

His eyes widened. "Yours are closer, I believe?" He started to walk with her, summoning his composure to take him the short distance to her quarters.

Poor distracted Pren had to really think for a moment about whether or not it was true that her quarters were closer, but when she verified it for herself, she gave a nod and started to lead the way, sliding her hand down Rai's neck and shoulder, skimming the length of his arm. Without even thinking about it, she repeated a gesture she'd seen Muroc do a thousand times to Adlai, her split fingers caressing the back of the Commander's hand.

She almost forgot to grab her guitar on the way, but as she passed it, remembered at the last second to dip slightly and scoop it up.

Was she supposed to feel this punch drunk?

The half-Vulcan led the way silently through the corridor, taking extra precautions when they reached the officers' quarters in case one of the other senior staff happened to be up and about still. But there was no one and finally they paused in front of her door so she could open the way to her room.

[To be continued in another thread after Rai posts!]

"Are you sure about all of this?" he asked. "We can't let this change how we work together. I'm worried everything will change."