Waiting | a fanfiction

chapter six

"I'm sorry our day together got cut short," Lucas apologized as he walked me to my quarters.

"You don't have to apologize for anything, Lucas," I replied. "Today was perfect. Thank you."

We stopped once we reached the door leading into my quarters.

"Well, goodnight I guess," Lucas said to me.

"Goodnight," I kissed him on the cheek and pulled away, smiling. He blushed.

"You don't know how bad I wanna kiss you back," he said.

"Then do it," I breathed. He hooked his arm around my waist and pulled me close to him. But before our noses could even touch, Captain Hudson appeared in the hallway.

"Ensign, you can defile Ms. McIntyre on your own time. It's almost curfew, so go get in your cabin!" Captain Hudson huffed as he walked past us.

Lucas shook his head and I sighed, lightly placing my hand on his chest.

"When the time is right, it'll come. I swear."

"It better. I don't know how many interruptions I can take," Lucas said, irritated.

"Well, tomorrow's a new day. Maybe we'll have better luck then." I hugged Lucas.

"Maybe we will. Goodnight, Shelby," Lucas said softly after ending our hug.

"Goodnight, Lucas." I backed into my quarters, never breaking my gaze with him until he turned down a different hallway. When he was gone, I shut my door and sighed.

•••

I woke up to see a navy blue uniform hanging on my bathroom door. I guess I hadn't seen it the night before, when I was so preoccupied with thoughts of Lucas. I slowly trudged over to the uniform and examined it.

There was a patch with my name on it on the front and a UEO emblem on one of the sleeves. I admired the uniform a moment more before changing out of my pajamas and into the uniform. I then walked into my bathroom and brushed my teeth, styled my naturally curly hair, and put on some light makeup. And with that, I was done. I set off to the cafeteria to grab some breakfast.

"Lieutenant!" A voice called. I whirled around to find Lucas running towards me.

"Ensign!" I smiled back. When Lucas finally caught up to me, he hooked his arm around my waist and held me close to him as we walked.

"How did you sleep?"

"Pretty well, thanks. How did you?"

"I slept great. Thanks to the Captain, I got nine hours of sleep."

"And all because he yelled at you for trying to kiss me?" I laughed.

"Yep. Sometimes it's good to have someone set me straight," Lucas said. "Although most times it's annoying."

"Well, someday you'll be mature enough and you won't have to follow anyone's instructions." I patted his shoulder. "But don't worry, that day won't come anytime soon."

Lucas playfully punched me in the arm and I laughed. We entered the cafeteria and got some breakfast and then sat down at a table far away from everyone else.

"Are you nervous?" Lucas asked before biting a piece of his toast.

"A little," I admitted. "This isn't my first time as a Lieutenant but it's my first time on a vessel this big."

"You'll get used to it in no time," Lucas assured me.

"I hope so," I responded. I ate a spoonful of my strawberry yogurt.

"Is it good?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, it's really good. Especially for artificial strawberries from the Frasier colony."

Lucas picked up a spoon from his tray and stuck it in my yogurt. He got a spoonful of it and ate it while I stared at him, shocked.

"Ooh, that is good," he said.

"I guess you won't mind if I eat your bagel then," I smirked, grabbing his bagel off of his tray.

"Hey, that's not fair!" He cried, reaching across the table for his bagel.

"What do you mean it's not fair? You ate my yogurt!"

"Yeah, but I only had a bite! You can't take my entire bagel!" Lucas whined. I laughed and ripped off a piece of the bagel before handing the rest back to him.

"There. Even?" I asked.

"Even," he agreed.

I stared Lucas in the eyes while I popped the bagel chunk into my mouth. He smirked and took a big bite out of the bagel he had won back from me, never breaking our eye contact.

"Shelby," Lucas whispered after a long while of staring into each other's eyes.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Shelby, I-I need to tell you something."

"What is it?" I leaned across the table so I could be closer to him and he did the same.

"Shelby, I think I l-" Lucas was interrupted by the blaring of another alarm.

"Not again," I groaned. Lucas buried his head in his hands as the voice boomed throughout the submarine.

All crew personnel please report to the bridge. All crew personnel please report to the bridge.
This is not a drill.

"Later," I said. We would have all the time in the world to talk after we were done at the bridge. I took Lucas' hand in mine and we walked together, hand in hand, to the bridge.