Twilight

Pry

The Bolian surfer completed his run for the second time, and Pry

“Proceed,”responded the computer.

“Captain Hoku, this is Pry

The door chime sounded, and a knot immediately formed in Pry

“Recording terminated.”

Pry

Her breath caught as she thought of him, the image of his face so clear in her mind’s eye, as though she had just seen him. Wishful thinking,she told herself. During the Jem’Hadar assault on the station almost two months ago, Monyodin had been fatally wounded by a chemical gas leak. He had died several hours later in the infirmary, with Pry

Since then, she had begun socializing again, but she had also kept her new crewmates at arm’s length. She had grown friendly, to some extent, with Nog and Sam Bowers, but they had already visited her earlier this morning, as had Colonel Kira. No, Pry

She thought about what she could do or say to cut short any visit by Bashir or Richter or Matthias.

Or worse, by her father.

The chime signaled again. Pry

The door slid open to reveal the tall, cool figure of Vaughn. She watched as he peered inside, his steely blue eyes sca

“May I come in?” he asked when she said nothing.

The word noscreamed in her mind like a red-alert klaxon, and the urge to give it voice almost overwhelmed her. She had weathered the couple of visits Vaughn had paid her in Defiant’s medical bay during the trip back to the station, but there had always been other people present, and he had neither stayed long nor said much. She worried now that, with just the two of them, such would not be the case. If she told him to leave, though, she feared that might itself provoke a conversation that she did not want to have with him. Finally, she said, “Yes.”

Vaughn lifted his foot over the high Cardassian sill and took one step into the room. As the door closed, he clasped his hands behind his back, a bit of body language Pry

Pry

Vaughn turned his head and examined the other side of the room, where she sat, and Pry

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” Pry

“Good, good,” Vaughn said, and he took another step into the room. He seemed to struggle to find something to say. He looked away from her and over to the seating area in the center of the room, where a chair and ottoman, along with a sofa, sat around a low, oval table. Pry

“Are you all right?” Vaughn asked, the concern in his voice plain. She also heard him take a step closer to her.

“Yes, yes,” she said, waving him away without looking around at him. As she reached the sofa, a twinge in her abdomen made her wince and bend over. She brought one arm up to her belly as the other leaned on the edge of the sofa.

“Here let me—” Vaughn started, moving in close now and taking her elbow in his hand.

“No,” Pry

“How bad is it?” Vaughn asked. “I mean, I’ve spoken with the doctor, and I know you’re going to recover completely, but how bad is the pain?”

“Not bad,” she lied, forcing herself to quiet her breathing. Her skin felt clammy beneath her clothes. Given the choice, she thought, she could live with the pain, but it infuriated her that even walking just a few steps required such an effort from her recuperating body. And the last thing she wanted was help from Vaughn. “Dr. Bashir told me that he could block the pain, but that if I was going to be on my feet, he’d rather not,” she explained. “He wanted me to be able to feel what I was doing to my body so that I wouldn’t overexert myself.”