“You don’t know how to relax.”

Captain Wren Walton leveled her gaze at Commander Park, an eyebrow raised at her statement.  They were sitting in The Barnacle on The Bay, a sea shanty-themed bar and restaurant in the coastal city of Bardor on the planet colony of  Tergenas I.  The faint hint of the salt water wafted off the light blue water that filled their view.  Wren didn’t reply.

“Wren.”  Her friend and former XO looked at her pointedly.

The tension between them held for several minutes before she muttered, “Fine.  I don’t know how to relax.”  The full fruity drink sat on the table, taunting her.  She’d accepted her shore leave orders out of duty.  Her crew had been far more excited to get off the Perseverance.  “I…there’s just lots of work to be done.”  Wren felt Park’s eyes on her.  “You’re not going to let me get back up in space, are you?”

She heard Park chuckle, “It’s just four weeks, Wren.”  The CO of the Nova continued, “I took up running.  I started testing it out to try to process everything from before.”  Walton turned and found Park with a wistful smile on her lips.  “There are feelings in all of us that need to go through…something.  It might be a music dance party, running through an empty New York, or, in Prentice’s case, playing some intense basketball on the holodeck.”  She sipped her peach daiquiri, eyes closing in quiet relief.  She turned to her friend.  “You know the lessons in command school as well as I do.  Counseling, conversations, and comfort – you can’t recover alone.”

Wren frowned. “This is going to be hard.”

Park lifted her drink towards Walton, “Here’s to us working on this together.”

Walton begrudgingly lifted hers in response.

“Who would have thought?”  Sadie Fowler mused as she walked hand in hand with her boyfriend of nearly two years, William Prentice.  She had missed the beach so much, and the sand felt like heaven beneath her feet as they strolled down the beach in the fading light.  They had run and embraced each other hours earlier when they’d signed their shore leave agreements and transported down.  They’d walked across the soft sand, inhaling the comforting smell of the waves crashing roughly in the surf, which then slid across the smooth surface of the beach.

Prentice kissed her cheek.  “Both of us executive officers on our ships?  Never.”  His memories returned to his first assignment, the USS Erigone.  “I was sure I would wash out or get kicked out.  Two years later…look at us.”  He had started his career on the Raven-Class starship with then-Commander Ambrose Harris, while she had come aboard the Edinburgh a few months later in May of 2400.

She rolled her eyes and leaned into him, “I was talking about that, sure. But also, us.”  She felt him slow his pace and softly turned her around to face him.

He looked into her eyes, his voice full of warmth, “You’re right, Said.  It’ll be two years in October.” He kissed her cheek, pulled away, a smile on his lips.  “I’ve loved every minute of it.  I’ve loved it and I love you.”

She felt that familiar warmth in her chest, and she couldn’t help but smile.  He’d had that effect on her since they’d gone on those first few dates.  She couldn’t look at him without a small smile.  There was something about having someone you could call home, she’d found.  It had taken time to unpack the part of her that responded so well to him, and longer to work with the unsettling feelings it had brought to the surface.

She put her arms around him, embracing him tightly.  “I feel right in your arms, Will.  I know I’ve said it so much…but you’re the first man that it felt…it just felt right.  It’s such a wonderful feeling.  I’ll never get tired of it.  Ever.”  Memories of their dates, and how he put her first, gave her space to feel.  She’d done her share of yelling, crying, and shouting…and yet he’d stayed by her.  He’d opened up to her in time, and they’d begun to understand each other beyond physically spending time together.  A wry grin crossed her lips as those warmer memories crossed her mind.  There was something about their connection that drew them together each time they were together.  They both shared the want.  Something else developed later – a need.

She said, “I need you, Will.  Always and forever.”  

She could feel his lips kiss her cheek, replying, “Always and forever, Sadie.”