"Bedside Manners"

[Aaron_Westler 0]

“Bedside Manners”

A log by Ens. Jasmine McClellan and LtJg Aaron Westler

 

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Aaron was walking to his accommodations for the night on the Caitian planet. He was just now feeling stiffness and aches from the game he had just played in. He had neglected to work out and keep in shape since getting on Challenger. Swearing to himself, he cricked his neck and found the room and entered. He found a nice big bed, and a small but satisfactory washroom. He found a small tub, with no shower. He sighed, but decided that sitting in hot water for a while would be nice. He let the water run and stepped in, shutting off the tap when it got to the top. He sat back and closed his eyes to relax.

 

Jas, sore and cramped from being tackled by a heavy Caitian, limped into the room blindly and quickly, without knowing that another occupant was in the room. Her senses were drowned out by the pain in her right side, she hoped she didn't break a rib or two. She found a bed in the room and sleepily and painfully limped towards it, then collapsing into it.

 

Aaron got out of the tub a few minutes later and found some clothes to sleep in. He staggered into the main room and felt his way through the dark to the bed. He climbed into it and was starting to settle in when his hand brushed by some hair. At first he thought it was some fur left by the last Caitian occupant, but this hair was attached to something. As his eyes adapted to the low light, he saw the form of a human. Eyes wide, he ripped off his side of the covers and got out of the bed, stumbling over a table and falling hard, taking the table with him.

 

The table and Aaron fell down to the floor, making a loud crash noise. Jas burst awake and twitched, many things were on her mind ... Did Caitians have, pardon the pun, Cat burglars? Or did some unfortunate Cait manage to stumble into the establishment quite by accident and knocked down the furnish? Of course it couldn't be one of challenger's crew since they were all sore and tired after that game. “Geez.” she thought. Jas sighed, sat up and got out of bed. She held her hands in front of her and carefully moved around the room. She found the destroyed table and tried to see who or what had it noisily disassembled.

 

"Hello? Who's there?" Jas couldn't see very well and tripped on a broken piece of the table and fell down too.

 

Aaron groaned and lifted his head up, feeling his neck hurting again. “This is Lt Westler, whoever you are, would you mind telling me what your doing in my room?" The voice he heard was very familiar.

 

Jas blinked in the darkness. She was lost as to what she needed to do or what she wanted to do next. She staggered to her feet. "Um... Lieutenant...” Jas stumbled to the bed and got her flashlight and turned it on, brightening the room. "Sorry...Aaron ...Its...Ens. McClellan... "

 

Aaron sat up and blinked. "Oh, umm, hey there." His mind was totally frazzled and he blinked again. "Fancy meeting you here....did our hosts assign you this room too?"

 

"Yeah, unless i read the sign wrong, they do all look alike. But I'm sure this is the right one ..." Looking at Aaron, who still was on the floor, she offered her hand. "Are you ... hurt?"

 

He took her hand and stood up. "No, at least I don't think so, it's hard to tell with all this bruising from earlier." He twisted his neck again. "I think they doubled all of us up, I remember now hearing some people from Science squabbling about it at dinner."

 

"Ah, yeah." Jas said. Having nothing else to say, she looked away.

 

Aaron moved to the now broken table and pushed the bigger pieces to the side. This was a new situation for him. He never did know what to say to women, and he had never had a woman in his bed, well, in the same room alone with him. Scratching his chin, he said "Well, It isn’t a big deal. You take the bed, I’m fine with sleeping on the floor."

 

Jas bit her lip. "No...I don't think that's fair, I'm sure both of us could share a bed..." She tried not to laugh, watching Aaron clean up the pieces on the floor. "...while being mature about it ..."

 

"Any way, sleeping with all those bruisers is medically unsound." She smiled.

 

Aaron nearly dropped a table leg on his foot. He was glad his back was to Jas, because she would have seen the color drain from his face. He hadn't expected that from her, he had always thought of her as quiet and a bit reserved. He kicked the last few small pieces to the side and turned to face her. "Mature eh? I don't quite recall myself ever being mature..." he winked and picked up an empty glass that had fallen off the table. "I'm sure I can learn fast though..."

 

"I hope so, or it’s the floor for the both of us." She waited as the glass noise subsided, then moved hesitantly to the bed.

 

He smiled, and sat down on the edge of the bed, waiting for her to get comfortable first.

 

Jas turned off the flashlight that she had on the bed and slowly sank herself into it. She didn't feel comfortable sharing her bed with some one she hardly knew, especially if it was a guy ... She placed those thoughts away and hoped the feeling would go away when she was fully asleep.

 

Aaron laid back and took one of the two covers on the bed. It was a good thing there were two, because knowing himself, he would've taken the whole thing by morning and left her without one. He winced as a picture came to mind of her yelling at him the following morning, and he pushed it away. He edged over to the end of the bed, giving her more room. "Well then, Good night Jas"

 

"Good night...Aaron." She kept her eyes on the ceiling, she still felt uncomfortable but the feeling slowly drifted away as she slipped into the unconscious.

 

Aaron kept his eyes open a bit longer, his back to Jas, trying not to move or think about her. He thought about the game they had played a few hours earlier, and put himself to sleep recalling how well the team had done, and the "cat"-astrophe with the drunken Caitians.

 

<<END>>

 

-Jas’ and Aaron’s Players