“This has been an exceptional night.”

Jack McCall strolled down the deck nine corridor of the Chamberlain happier than he'd been in a very long time. He'd just come from a counseling session with his wife, Melissa. It had been a good one. They'd talked about what they were hoping for in their marriage, and where they'd like to be in five years. Some of it was hard to hear, and hard to say, but they'd both felt relieved after the session. Counselor Talfa said she was quite impressed with their progress.

Jack had to admit he was still having trouble with the idea of a Klingon counselor. He'd half expected her to suggest they engage in combat to deal with their problems. However, after looking into her records, he'd discovered Talfa was only half-Klingon, her mother was human, and she'd never once set foot on Qo'noS.

Always watch your assumptions, he told himself. They'll lead you down the wrong path every time.

Jack laughed at himself.

Yes, it was a very good night indeed.

And it was going to get even better. At the end of their appointment, Melissa had smiled at him in a way which he knew quite well.

“How about we go to bed early tonight?” she had asked.

“Do you have a specific reason you want me home early?”

“Could be...” she had said as she gave him a seductive look.

“What time?”

“Say around twenty-two hundred. Don't be late.”

Jack had some places he needed to go before then, things he needed to take care of—captain things—but he had plenty of time. Still, he noticed a bit more spring in his step as he contemplated what Melissa had in mind for later in the evening.

An exceptional night indeed.

1945 hours

Jack turned a corner on deck nine and found himself in a stretch where all the wall panels had been removed, exposing the circuitry for several power conduits.

“What the hell's this about?” he asked himself in a murmur.

He slowed his pace to avoid tripping over any of the clutter from a seemingly endless field of removed panels. From up ahead, he heard the soft clang of metal against metal.

“Maintenance,” Jack whispered.

He could think of only one other time he'd actually come across someone working in a corridor like this.

Suddenly, his curiosity was aroused as to what they were up to.

Jack grinned and made his way toward the clink, clink, tinkering sounds.

Just past that corner, he thought.

“McCall is a jackass!” sounded a male voice from around the corner.

Jack stopped.

He didn't want to sneak up on whoever this was. Everyone deserved a chance to blow off steam from time to time, and it was common enough for the captain to be the target for such pressure relieving. He had learned not to take it personally.

He began to back away slowly, intending to find a path around this section.

“He blows it with those ships in the nebula,” the voice continued, louder than before. “He violates the Prime Directive, and as if that weren't enough, he comes close to getting us all killed on a regular basis!”

“Give it a rest, Mulligan,” said another male voice. “He's not that bad.”

“The hell he isn't!” the first voice responded. “Any other captain would have recognized my contributions to this ship, my achievements at the Academy, and my family background. Then all that other crap would be worth it. But McCall has me stuck on maintenance duty, fixing goddamn power conduits!”

A chuckle from the other voice. “So your family couldn't buy you something better?”

“Go to hell!”

A loud clang came from around the corner.

“I'm taking a break!”

“You took one five minutes ago,” the second voice complained. “We'll never get this done if you keep ranting and taking breaks.”

Jack stopped his backward movement. Complaining about him was one thing, loafing when there was work to be done was another.

Not on my ship.

Jack sailed around the corner.

What he saw reminded of him of situations where a bomb had gone off. Debris was everywhere.

“What the hell is all the racket?” he asked.

The man leaning against the left side of the corridor frowned.

“Who the hell...” But then the man's eyes focused on Jack. “Captain? Uh, sir...”

“We're working on a power conduit problem, Captain,” the other man, still with a tool in hand, responded.

Jack turned to the first. “Lieutenant Mulligan, isn't it?”

He stiffened his posture. “Aye, sir.”

Jack turned to the other one. “And...”

“Lieutenant Kalkani, sir.”

“Do your best to get this finished up, Kalkani,” Jack said.

“I will, sir,” Kalkani said with a pleased smile.

Jack started to walk away, but stopped. “And Mulligan?”

“Yes, Captain?”

“If you want your contributions recognized, do them well.”

Mulligan started to speak, but caught himself. He frowned instead.

2002 hours

Jack passed a recreation section on deck nine, and heard a howl of laughter coming from up ahead.

Holodecks.

He immediately recognized the voice as belonging to Elizabeth DeCarlo. A second later, he met her, standing in the hallway, still laughing with two other women and one man. They wore heavy parkas and breathing masks which they were all in the process of removing.

“It sounds like all of you have been having fun,” Jack said.

The four of them turned to him, all but Liz's smile faded as they stood a little bit straighter and offered...

“Captain.”

“Captain.”

“Captain.”

As the man took off his breather, Jack recognized him as Lieutenant Commander Ed Jenkins. He thought he was in astrobiology, but wasn't sure.

“Well, hello, Captain, sir,” Liz said with a sultry tone to her voice.

Jack noticed they were all dripping water from their parkas as the snow covering them melted away.

“We just climbed Everest,” Liz offered.

“Oh?” Jack said. “How was it?”

“Fantastic!” Liz said. The others seemed to be more restrained due to Jack's presence.

“You always were interested in adventure,” Jack replied.

Jenkins frowned and turned to Liz. “Look, I need to go.”

“But I thought we were all headed down to Deep Thirty-three.”

“I think I'll pass,” Jenkins said, and made his way down the corridor.

Liz shook her head. “What the hell's up with him? We were all having such a great...”

“I'll go talk to him,” the Andorian woman said. She immediately followed after Jenkins. The other woman did as well, leaving Jack and Liz alone in the corridor.

“Was it something I said?” Jack asked.

“I don't think so. Ed and I met last week, and well...” She smiled. “Things have been going great between us.”

“Does he know about you and me?”

Liz nodded. “He seemed okay about it until now.”

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...”

“It's okay, Jack.” She flexed her shoulders, knocking a bit of still frozen snow off her parka. “He'll either get over it, or he won't. What are you up to this evening?”

“I've got a lot of little things which have piled up and need doing,” he said with a grin. “So I decided to make a walk out of it.”

The two other women came back to Jack and Liz.

“He okay?” Liz called out to them.

“Didn't say a word,” the Andorian said. “Just got in the turbolift and was gone.”

Liz shrugged her shoulders as the two women stopped beside her smiling at Jack.

Liz pointed to the Andorian. “Jack, this is my friend Floricin Tal.”

“Hello,” Tal said. “My friends call me Florri.”

Jack couldn't help smiling.

“And,” Liz continued. “My other friend, Kate Ricketts.”

“Liz told us a lot about you... Jack,” Kate said with a smile.

“Yes,” Florri said. “She told us you were quite... I think the word was athletic.”

Jack thought a moment. “No, not really. I mean I played some baseball as a kid, but that's almost mandatory coming from Chicago. But no, not really athletic.”

Liz rolled her eyes at him.

“I don't think she meant it in the sense of team sports,” Kate said with a grin and narrowed eyes.

Jack finally got it.

“Oh, well... I was younger then.”

Florri smiled and nodded her head. “You seem young enough now, Jack.”

Kate turned to Florri. “But don't knock a man with experience.”

“Jack certainly has that,” Liz said, putting her arms around her two friends.

“You ought to join us in Deep Thirty-three, Jack,” Kate said. “We're missing our fourth.”

“Fourth?”

Jack could see she was trying not to laugh.

Jack felt a part of his body beginning to rise at the thought of what might transpire if he were to indulge this particular offer.

“You should come along, Jack,” Liz finally said. “We won't bite.”

“Speak for yourself. I always bite,” Florri said, licking her upper lip with her tongue. “But you'll enjoy it.”

Down boy... You've got a wife with whom you're working on a marriage with. AND... she's waiting for you having made her own special offer earlier in the evening.

Then another thought...

God, I know one day I'm going to regret not taking these three up on this.

Jack decided to take the risk of a haunting by regret.

“I think I'll pass tonight, ladies,” he said.

“Oh,” Kate said. “You're breaking my heart, Jack.”

All three women frowned.

“Please reconsider,” Florri said, pleading with the deepest blue eyes he'd ever seen.

“I already did... about five times in the last ten seconds.”

Liz smiled. “Okay, Jack. We'll let you go. But next time... there will be no escape.”

Jack strolled away and a few seconds later could once again hear their combined laughter echoing against the corridor walls.

2042 hours

Jack stared at the display on the tactical station, and didn't at all enjoy what he was seeing.

“Any idea what it is?” Jack asked.

Todd Nakano smirked a moment. “Nothing good... given our luck.”

“I for one intend to have a nice enjoyable evening,” Jack said. “And a ghost return on a sensor scan doesn't sound as if it would contribute to that.”

“No, sir,” Nakano said. “I was thinking of having maintenance check on the scanning unit. It could be a malfunction.”

“Are you hoping that's what it is, or do you actually believe that's what it is?”

“I doubt you want to hear me talk about our usual luck any more, so yes. I believe it's a malfunction.”

Jack turned to him. “Now if more of my officers took that attitude, I'd probably have fewer evenings ruined.” He paused a moment. “But we might all fall to some horrible fate as well. Have it checked, and if they don't definitely rule it a malfunction, bring us to yellow alert and call me.”

“Aye, sir.”

2111 hours

His throat suddenly dry as a tin roof on a broiling Summer afternoon, Jack flew into the deck seven lounge, and hurried to the nearest replicator unit.

“Water.”

A few seconds later, it appeared, and Jack downed most of it in one gulp.

He looked around the room and found only three other officers were present, and none of them seemed to have noticed him.

Finally as Jack finished the water in the glass, one of them did notice him.

“Captain?” Celeste Purcell called out to him.

“Commander,” Jack said, walking over to her. “How are you this evening?”

She turned off the PADD she had been reading. “Fine. And you?”

Jack smiled. “For some reason, I became really thirsty all of a sudden. So I ran in here.”

Purcell nodded, then pointed to the chair across the table from her. “Please...”

“I really shouldn't intrude on your evening.”

“You're not.”

Jack sat. “Working on something?” he asked, pointing to the PADD.

“A book I'm reading,” she said with a grin.

“You come here to read?”

“My quarters are too quiet. Not that there's a lot of people here usually, but there's often a few, just enough background sound to make it tolerable.”

“You read a lot?” Jack asked.

She smiled. “Whenever I can find the time. And you?”

“I used to when I was a kid,” he said. “But these days, I don't usually get much leisure reading in.”

“Commanding a starship does have its downsides.”

“Especially a ship this size.”

She nodded.

Her PADD began chiming. Purcell touched a control. “A priority message from Starfleet.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Is it important?”

“Captain's eyes only.”

Jack let out a long protest sigh. “I don't suppose it would let me read it off your PADD.”

“Would that count as leisure reading?” she asked with a grin.

“If it's from Starfleet, there'll be nothing leisure about it.”

“No, I can't get it to come in,” she said. “I think you'll need to be on a secure comm.”

“Damn it,” he said, standing. “If you'll excuse me.”

“Have a good evening, sir.”

“I was.”

2145 hours

Jack hurried down the corridor, hoping he wasn't too late. If he had known Starfleet Command would contact him at such a late hour, and that they'd be so long winded about it, he'd have sat in his Ready Room all night, but fate had decided to make this evening just a little more difficult for the captain of the Chamberlain.

I'm sure she's still awake, he told himself.

Finally, he stopped at the door and tapped the button on the side.

He heard muffled laughter from within which made him think this visit was ill-advised. But he needed to give this news now. He looked down the corridor, wondering if perhaps the laughter had come from somewhere else.

Maybe for me it's the ears that are the first to go, he told himself.

“Now we can get this started!” came a male voice from behind Jack. “Come on, where's the booze?!”

Jack slid about to face the persistent man to give him a piece of his mind, but when Jack saw him he could only laugh.

“Captain?” Anders sheepishly asked, wearing a huge cowboy hat and nothing else but a regulation pair of male underwear.

“I miss the rodeo?” Jack asked with a wide grin.

“I, uh...” Anders only got that much out.

But Jack decided to save the younger man. “I must have gotten the wrong quarters, I was...”

A female form flew up beside Anders wearing only a pair of regulation female panties and a gaudy looking North American Native feathered headdress.

“How long does it take to get two bottles of...” Zaylie Burton managed to say before seeing who stood at the door. “Captain?!”

Jack turned his eyes away allowing Ensign Burton the chance to throw her arm across her chest.

“I guess I got the right quarters after all.”

Zaylie pushed Anders away from the door, and while still keeping just enough of her chest covered, turned to Jack and smiled, holding up a single finger.

The door closed in Jack's face.

“I could come back later,” he said to the door.

But no reply came.

Nearly a minute later, the door opened.

Zaylie stood in her uniform. “Yes, Captain?”

Jack smiled. “You didn't have to put the full...”

“My apologies, sir,” She forced a wide smile. “Was there something I can help you with?”

Jack decided to let it go.

“My apologies for coming at so late an hour...”

“Not necessary, sir.”

Jack continued, “But I wanted to bring this to you personally.” He held up a PADD and started to read from it. “From the office of the CNC... Starfleet Command, in recognizing the extreme valor and dedication to duty of Ensign Zaylie Burton, Serial Number...” Jack skipped past all the identifying material. “Hereby orders her commanding officer to promote her to the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade in a formal ceremony at the earliest opportunity. Signed, Admiral Bartholemew James, CNC Starfleet.”

Zaylie's eyes went wide. “A promotion?”

“I put in for one for you after your ordeal aboard the runabout, but I guess that mission on Nyadran II convinced them.”

“I'm... oh my God...”

“Assuming you're up for it, I was going to schedule a ceremony for 1800 tomorrow in the Deck Seven Lounge.”

“Yes...” Zaylie said, finally smiling. “Yes, sir! And thank you, Captain!”

Jack was about to go, but stopped and grinned. “Oh, and tell Anders, that hat isn't at all authentic.”

“Hat...” Zaylie's face went from shock to a smile in the space of a second. “I've been telling him that.”

“Goodnight,” Jack said, finally turning to go.

Halfway down the corridor, Jack stopped. “Booze?” He thought a moment. “Booze?!”

Then a frown grew on his tired face. “Bishop,” he mumbled.

2155 hours

Jack marched down the corridor of Deck Thirty-three.

He'd looked the other way for a long time with Kristen Bishop for reasons proper, and for others not so proper. She was a damn fine engineer, and when everyone else had given up on the Chamberlain, Kristy had fought like hell to keep the old girl running. But there was also a moment in his life, when he was at his lowest, when Kristy made him think beyond that moment, pulling Jack out of hell.

He'd never talked to her about it, didn't really know what to say. She'd offered sex that night. He'd nearly taken her up on it, but he'd thought it better to refrain. However, in that moment, she'd made Jack think like a human being again, about human things.

He owed her.

Now it seemed his allowance had turned into something he couldn't permit to continue. Serving alcohol in Deep Thirty-Three, the former location of the water reclamation system which Kristy had turned into a bar, was one thing. Selling it throughout the ship was a very different proposition, one he had to put a stop to before things got out of hand.

Jack stopped at the entrance to Section D-Three where the usual guard stood watch to instruct patrons to remove their rank insignia. But Jack wasn't in the mood.

He pointed to Jack's rank pins, but all Jack did was offer a frown.

“Open the damn door.”

“Sir, I...”

“I'll tell Bishop I shot you.”

The man shook his head, but touched the door switch anyway.

Jack made his way through the dimly lit room and the few people present, searching about for Bishop, but not seeing her, he headed for the bar itself.

“Robin?” he asked the woman tending bar this evening, stunned at who he was seeing.

“Captain?” she asked. Her brow tightened a moment. “Is there something...”

“Nothing, I, uh...” Jack struggled to get past his shock. “I knew you were aboard, but I...”

“The other me?” Robin asked, her voice lowered.

He nodded. “I'm sorry. I expect you get a lot of that.”

“Not really,” she said. “Aside from going to see my... her parents, I haven't had much trouble with it.”

“Then I apologize,” he said. “I'm not supposed to let your true identity become widely known.”

She smiled. “But it's nice that someone knows who I really am.”

“Yeah.”

“Can I get you anything, sir?”

“Is Bishop around?”

Robin looked about the bar for a moment. “She was in here a little earlier, but I don't see her now.”

Jack tapped the bar with his right hand. “Let her know I'm looking for her.”

“Anything more than that?”

He thought a moment. “Make sure the alcohol stays in here from now on. I don't want any more deliveries to crew quarters.”

“I'll pass that along to her.”

Jack nodded. He had some reports to finish, and a promotion ceremony to prepare before getting to his quarters, so it was back to the Ready Room for him.

He took a moment to see if Liz and her two friends were there, but if they had come earlier, they were gone now.

Probably for the best. No reason to be tempted with something I know I won't do.

Just as McCall left, another figure walked in, catching Robin Nelson's eye.

“Oh my...”

He walked over to her at the bar. “So, how does this work?” he asked.

“Todd?” Robin barely got out. “Todd Nakano?”

“Do we know each other?” he asked with a grin and narrowed eyes, taking one of the stools at the bar.

She smiled. “In another life.”

He tilted his head. “A better one?”

“No, you were with someone else.” Robin said. “What will you have?”

“How about a rum?” He leaned forward. “After that, I wouldn't mind hearing about this other life.”

Robin set a glass in front of him, trying to think of how she was going to get out of this.

She couldn't tell him. She couldn't risk Temporal Investigations finding out and throwing her back in that hole she'd rotted in for months.

I won't go back to that.

She poured rum into the glass, then leaned toward him.

“How about you tell me about yourself, Mr. Nakano?”

Todd smiled wide and took a sip of his drink. “My lucky night.”

2203 hours

Bishop wrote several equations on wall. Robin walked up to her.

“What's up with that?” Robin asked, looking at the equations with more than a little curiosity.

“There was a passenger on the ship a couple of years ago named Corsica. He wrote some crap out he said was for wormholes. I didn't buy it at the time. Still don't. But, I read through them again, and I think I've found something almost as good. Tell me what you think.”

Robin sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “I've got a date, you know.”

“Really?” Bishop asked.

Robin continued to read. “Yes, really.”

“Anyone I know?”

“Nakano.”

Bishop thought a moment. “He seems too quiet for my tastes.”

“I knew him... back in...”

“Oh,” Bishop said, knowing they couldn't talk about it.

Robin turned to Bishop, her eyes wide as the equations finally came together for her. “My god... after more than a century of struggling to find this...”

“I know,” Bishop said with a grin. “This is just the broad outline. I need someone to help me flesh it out. You're the best engineer I've ever met.”

Robin smiled at the compliment, and set her uniform jacket down. She picked up a marker. “Let's get to work.”

“What about Nakano?”

“He can wait.”

2207 hours

Jack made his way down deck eight. He had to check the repairs on section nine before turning in for the night. He'd be late, but not by too much.

He stopped, realizing he'd just passed a door to a room he couldn't remember having ever seen.

The sign next to the door read: Ship's Chapel One

No, he had been there, six weeks after having taken command. He'd officiated a wedding. Who was the couple? Hobbs and Dover.

He stopped at the door which opened.

The room was small and dark, only minimal lighting from small units a quarter way up the wall emitted a soft blue light giving the room an unearthly appearance.

“Computer,” he called out. “Schedule for Ship's Chapel One for tomorrow?”

“Catholic Mass at thirteen hundred hours. Seventh Day Adventist worship service at sixteen hundred hours,” the computer reported.

Jack made his way up to the altar at the front. He stood for several moments just taking in the room.

He then turned and sat in the front pew.

For Jack, this was a place only for weddings and thankfully only on rare occasion, funerals. He'd never understood religious faith. The most exposure he'd had with it had been back in the nineteenth century. Everyone in town went to church on Sunday, even the mayor and the sheriff. He chuckled—and even old Jedediah Goodnight.

He laughed out loud, but immediately felt ashamed. It struck him that this was not the place for frivolity.

But the thought of his old friend sitting and singing in church brought nothing but an urge to laugh in Jack. Jedediah was good at many things, but singing was not something he excelled at. In church he was nothing but tone deaf in the extreme. But he sure put a lot of heart into singing...

“What was that?” he tried to remember. “Oh... The Old Rugged Cross.”

Jack smiled. He couldn't imagine anyone singing that hymn here, but maybe a few did. It was after all a big ship.

He looked at the lighting fixture behind the altar, how it sent beams of light upward to bounce off the ceiling, giving the front of the room a cool glow.

He couldn't imagine actually believing in some divine being, but then he knew the people back in the nineteenth century couldn't imagine believing in beings from other worlds. If any of them had ever met a Q or an Organian they'd have certainly considered them a god of sorts. And maybe, in a sense, they are.

The local school teacher back in Pierce Valley, Nebraska, Miss Anne Lowry had often encouraged Jack to attend church, and she was always standing outside waiting for him to arrive. The town had interpreted her interest as an indicator they were involved, but Jack hadn't allowed himself that kind of interaction. She was an attractive woman, soft spoken, considerate, and actually quite bright. He had thought of letting what was between them become more than a casual friendship. She certainly had given every indication she had wanted more. But being there was bad enough. Falling in love, getting married, and producing children in the nineteenth century would have been disastrous to the timeline.

Jack looked back at the front of the chapel again.

Anne had spoken to him often about her faith in God, and how she felt religion was the foundation of not only proper society, but a proper home life. He wouldn't have wanted to fake such a belief for a marriage, but... No. He would have had to tell her that he didn't believe.

For some reason he didn't understand, at this point in his life, a part of him wanted to believe in something more, something which guided life, but he wasn't sure about a divinity. The Q were bad enough. He couldn't imagine what someone with true omnipotence might be like. The thought was truly terrifying.

Someone walked into the chapel, and quickly went to the altar and knelt. It was a woman, but not anyone he could place from the back with the low light in the room. He did his best to remain as silent as possible so as not to disturb her prayer. After several minutes, she stood and turned to him.

“Captain?”

“Zaylie?”

Zaylie Burton smiled and walked over to the pew he sat in. “I'm surprised to find you here, sir.”

“You as well.”

She pointed to the pew and sat next to him. “I'm an Iowa farm girl. Church has been a part of my life since birth.”

“So you believe?”

She nodded. “I came to thank God for the promotion. I know a lot of my family had been praying about my career. This will please them.” She watched him a moment. “You don't believe?”

Jack shook his head. “I just can't conceive of a universe with a supreme being.”

“I can't conceive of a universe without one.”

Jack grinned. “I'd be curious to hear you speak about your faith sometime.”

“It's a private thing,” she said. “I don't talk to many people about it.”

“I understand,” he said.

Zaylie stood. “Thank you again for the promotion, Captain.” She started to leave the chapel, but stopped. “Jack...”

He was more than a little surprised she called him by name. “Yeah?”

“Your intention, is it to debate me about my faith?”

“No,” he said. “I'm just intensely curious about what it means to you, and how you integrate it into your life.”

“Catch me sometime when you've got a couple of hours, and I'll tell you about it.”

“You sure?”

Zaylie nodded. “Good night.”

“Good night.”

2237 hours

Melissa sat in her quarters, waiting, finishing a glass of great wine. The bedroom was ready with the rose petals she'd spread out on the bed as well as the Mendarian Passion Flowers which were still spreading their strong aroma throughout the room. It was all perfect. Only one thing was missing. Jack and his...

Melissa giggled at the thought she was so focused on that one part of his body. Something about these counseling sessions had brought out the playful side of both of them. She liked it. Certainly it was far better than the fights, or worse, the silence which had metastasized in their relationship since their Prime Directive problem.

“I should have just sent the report and told him why,” she murmured. “We would have had a big-ass fight, and then we'd have screwed for a month.”

She laughed at the thought of that. They'd come pretty close to that during their honeymoon. Minus time to eat, urinate and defecate, and other mundane requirements of biological life, all they had done for three weeks was make love in every possible position.

But it hadn't lasted much past a week after coming back to the ship.

She wanted to hate the Chamberlain for that, but she knew her own command aspirations would one day have just as strong a hold over her as this ship did over Jack. More and more she understood that lure, how enticing it was, almost like a lust for another's body.

Melissa glanced at the chronometer yet again.

2239 hours...

She hadn't really expected him to show up on time. This ship's claws were too deep into Jack's heart. The Chamberlain was a jealous woman, and she would certainly have found a way to delay him just to put Melissa in her place.

“You're the mistress, the cheap release, the sex doll,” the ship seemed to be saying. “I'm the real wife. His soul and his heart are mine... forever.”

Melissa shook her head and giggled again. “That wine is really hitting me hard tonight.”

The comm panel in front of her beeped. The grand bitch, Chamberlain, once again was going to show her who was who.

Melissa activated the panel. It took a moment for the face on the display to register. It had been nearly ten years.

“Ted?!” she almost screamed.

“Hey Mel!” the man on the screen called back to her. “How are you?”

Theodore Boylan still had a wild look in those deep blue eyes of his, and his dark hair was just as wild. He had been Melissa's first real love at the Academy. They both knew they'd be assigned to different ships and had accepted that. But every time they had had a chance to get back together, they'd moved Heaven, Earth, and Starfleet regulations to make it happen so they could have a few days alone in some hotel. But the last time they'd seen each other had been four years ago. With the Chamberlain in the Kel-j'na sector so often, and with Ted's ship, the Astra, a Nausicaa class cruiser usually on the far side of Klingon territory in the Beta Quadrant, it had been so very long since she'd even seen him on a comm display.

God, he looked good.

“I'm great, how have you been?”

“Fantastic, especially now that we're headed back to Federation space,” he said, a grin growing across his face. “I hear the Chamberlain is going to be at Yed Post IV in two weeks.”

“Three,” she said.

He thought a moment. “I think I can make that work.”

It finally struck Melissa what he was getting at.

“Ted, I should probably tell you, I'm married.”

“Right,” he said with a chuckle. But as she remained silent, his smile faded. “Really?”

“Yes, really.”

He recovered quickly. “Who is the lucky piece of shit?”

“Jack McCall.”

It took him only a moment to connect the dots. “Captain Jack McCall?”

“That's him.”

“Really?” Ted seemed to be more irritated than surprised now. “I thought he was already married.”

“He was.”

“Homewrecker,” he said with a new grin.

She knew it was meant in humor, but it hit her all the wrong way. “Not too far from the mark actually.”

“Oh,” his grin faded. “Sorry.”

“Not your fault,” she said. “Not really anyone's.”

He nodded. “Isn't he old? Like fifty or something?”

“Forty-seven,” she said, but only a few people were allowed to know he was five years older than his birth certificate would indicate.

“Close enough.”

“He's a good guy.”

“Better be,” Ted said. His face lost all sense of levity. “You know I love you, right.”

“Yes,” she said with a smile.

“And that I only want the best for you.”

“I know,” Melissa said.

“So to make sure you have the best, divorce this guy, and meet me on Yed Post IV.”

Melissa laughed. “You're lucky I love you, or I'd let Jack know what you said.”

“He the jealous type?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Uh, oh, I better behave myself,” Ted said, feigning fear.

“That sure would be disappointing.”

He smiled. “So, seriously, you want to meet up?”

Melissa took a long breath. “I think not.”

“Oh, come on... we got together when I was engaged to... what was her name?”

Melissa shook her head. “You're terrible.”

“Dora.”

“She was nice. What happened?”

“That whole monogamy thing.” He sat silently for a moment. “Hey, I knew better. What's your excuse?”

“I love him.”

Ted rolled his eyes. “No, seriously.”

“I mean it.”

“Okay, but you know how Starfleet life is,” Ted said. “And given he's a captain he's got to know.”

“He does, but he's an old fashioned romantic.”

“But you're not.”

“I've become what he needs me to be.”

Ted frowned. For the first time in their conversation, he seemed to be deadly serious. “And what about what you need?”

“I'm okay.”

“Bullshit, Mel.”

“Don't be that way.”

“I'm being honest, and you damn well know it.”

She exhaled, reaching for her wine glass. Empty, damn it. “Okay, so I've made some compromises.”

“Everybody makes compromises in a relationship, but this sounds like you've sold your soul.”

“I haven't, Ted. Really.”

“Mel, I know you better than you know you, and vice versa. This isn't you.”

“It's who I need to be right now,” she said, feeling herself near tears. Ted could always read her.

“But for who's sake? Yours or his?”

“Our marriage.”

Ted appeared about to explode into a profanity laced tear, but took a long breath instead. “I'm worried about you.”

“Don't be.”

“Impossible not to,” he said. “You and me, we're soulmates from centuries ago.”

“Millennia,” she replied as she always did when he said that.

“The idea that you'd let yourself be owned like that really upsets me.”

“I know,” she said, knowing he was being completely honest, just as she knew this had nothing to do with the idea of them not having sex sometime in the near future. Out of everyone she had ever known, Ted was the one person who she knew without a single doubt was always on her side, always had her back.

“This isn't a marriage, it's a prison,” he said.

“We're working on making it better than that,” Melissa said. “It's just going to take some time and a lot of work.”

“Is he working at it as much as you are?”

“Yes.”

He watched her for a minute in silence. “Can you honestly say you're happy?”

“Yes,” she said. “This week more than last, but yes.”

“Okay. We ought to at least meet for lunch while we're both at Yed Post.”

She grinned. “If you're lucky.”

He matched her grin. “You know I'm always lucky.”

Melissa laughed. “More than most.”

“Damn straight.” His grin faded. “Love you, Mel.”

“Love you too.”

The display went dark.

And with it, another small, almost insignificant part of Melissa's soul went dark as well.

2301 hours

“Sorry I'm late,” Jack said as he rushed into their quarters.

Melissa sat at their dinner table, wearing only her silk bathrobe. “I expected you'd be late, but not this late.”

“Sorry,” he repeated, walking up to her.

“This damn ship.”

“Hey...”

“I'm going to bed” She got up and headed to the bedroom.

“I love you,” he said.

Melissa slowly spun about to face him, a smile spreading across her face. “Really?”

“Yes,” he said, walking up to her, slowly taking her into his arms. “I thought we had a date.”

“I thought we did too,” she replied, sliding her arms around him. “Just once, I'd like to win against this ship.”

“I'm here now.” He kissed her. “I'm yours.”

2357 hours

Melissa looked at Jack, spread out on the bed face down, nothing on, and snoring away. She wrapped the silk robe around her now sweat covered body and walked into the outer room, up to the replicator.

“Orange juice,” she told the machine.

Its light came on, and ten seconds later, a cold glass of orange juice sat in the alcove.

Melissa took a sip from it, and slid over to the couch and sat down.

“I am pretty lucky,” she told herself. “He's a wonderful man.” She smiled. “And tonight was pretty good... better than average actually.”

But it had lost something due to the long wait. If he had just arrived at 2200, she'd been so damn ready for him then, she'd be sailing about the room, her feet never touching the floor. Hell, she might not even have been able to get up off the bed.

They'd had an occasion like that a couple of times where she'd been so spent she just remained in bed, enjoying wave after wave of incredible pleasure for an hour afterward.

“I just wish...”

She didn't want to go down a road of asking for what couldn't be. That wouldn't accomplish anything but drive them further apart.

She walked back to the bedroom, her orange juice in hand, and stood in the doorway watching Jack sleep.

She did love him... so very much.

“Why can't I be the center of your life?”

Melissa closed her eyes and listened to the heartbeat of the Chamberlain, its engines throbbing away in a constant rhythm far below her, barely perceptible.

She let her robe slide off her shoulders, and sat the glass on the nightstand on her side of the bed. Melissa slipped in beside Jack, and wrapped her arms about him.

She leaned toward his ear. “I'll do whatever it takes to stay with you. I love you Jack McCall.”

He stirred briefly, purring like a happy cat.

“This was an exceptional night,” Melissa said.