For the first time in several days, Kassia was spending the day in her shop going over how the business had been, though she was in her uniform. She had some training later. Danni had been doing a wonderful job keeping things up, and she was very happy that she had brought the girl in as a partner. With as much as Danni put into the shop, she deserved, Kassia though.
As she was going over the inventory a hand gently touched her shoulder. She shirked away defensively. The reflex response was still there. But when she calmed down and allowed his hand to touch her, she knew who it was. She smiled softly.
"Hi, Kassia," came a gentle voice from behind her, laced with concern.
She turned to see Toren Len, his blue eyes shining bright with worry in the subdued lighting in her shop.
"And how are you?" she asked.
"I'm very good . . . In fact, I'm at the top of the class in that Medics course . . . Another couple of months and I'll be ready for a job . . ." he said.
"That's wonderful!" she said, as she embraced him warmly. "Sounds like the medical field is the perfect place for you then."
He nodded. "So how have you been?" he asked looking her over, the concern still hadn't left his eyes. "I see some things have changed since the last time I have actually been able to come see you . . ."
"You mean the uniform," she replied with a smirk. "Yeah, well . . . a Starfleet position was offered and it sounded very appealing, so I took it . . ."
"I bet Troy was thrilled . . ." Len looked at her seriously.
"As thrilled as you can imagine," she replied.
"There's a little more to this, isn't there?" he asked.
As he reached to caress her face, she flinched slightly. He stopped for a moment and then continued on. As he touched her, her eyes met his. There was an unspoken pain flashing there.
"What is it?" he asked.
She sighed, and took his hand. "Are you interested in grabbing a late lunch?"
He nodded. "Definitely. I was going to ask you anyway . . ."
"Danni, I'm leaving now," she called out to her friend who was behind the counter.
"Okay," she called out with a smile.
But Kassia picked up something in Danni's dark eyes . . . A longing . . . She would have to check into that later, Kassia thought. With that, she let Len leader her from her shop and out into the Commerce section.
Len took Kassia to Harry's, where they settled into a back booth looked over a menu. The waitress came and took their drink order. As she left, Len reached across the table and took Kassia's hand. This startled her a bit, but wasn't entirely uncomfortable. She could sense that Len didn't mean anything by it, only deep concern. His love her for was still there, but he has no intentions of pushing his feelings . . . He knew they weren't returned.
"Now what happened . . ." he asked. "Something's changed you . . ."
"Yeah . . ." she replied. "Something happened when I was with the Arizona-A . . . It happened my first official day as a Brevet Ensign actually . . ." Her smile was soft, but bittersweet.
He wasn't a psychic like she was, or a telepath, or even an empath, but he sensed what it was. "You were hurt?" he asked quietly.
She nodded. "First Away Mission, and I got captured by the bad guys . . ." she replied with a smile, trying to lighten the news. "Basically I was interrogated . . . Ended up with a couple broken ribs . . . facial fracture . . . lacerations and contusions . . ." she replied remembering every detail of her own medical report. "Just your usual interrogation stuff . . ."
"You don't have to make light of this for my benefit," Len replied, gently squeezing her hand. "It must have been bad for you to still be reacting . . ."
She sighed and looked away. "I still get nightmares," she replied. "And I struggle with the reflex actions, as you've seen . . . But I'm doing better . . . Its just a matter of time . . ."
"And after that you still wanted to remain with Starfleet?" he asked astonished.
"Troy was just as surprised . . ." she replied. "But what happened was a matter of certain mistakes . . . But its over . . . and I'm a much stronger person now . . . or at least I'd like to think . . ."
"You always were, Kassia," he replied.
She smiled. "Enough about me . . . What about you? You must have more of a life then just your training . . ."
He shook his head. "Not really . . ."
"No women?" she asked.
His blue eyes met her green. "Just you . . ." he replied.
She shook her head. "Len, what am I going to do with you?" she smiled gently.
"I know your heart belongs to Tarik . . ." he said with a hint of regret. "But you'll always have a place in my heart . . ."
"You need to let go of me . . ." she said softly, "Another woman is out there for you . . . The right woman . . . " She focused on the physical connection they had through their hands and she directed her thoughts to the future. An image of a dark haired girl came into her mind. It wasn't clear, but the features were familiar . . . As the image crystallized, she saw Danni's face, smiling brightly . . . Danni was the woman for Len! She would make sure, but now she was sure who his match was . . .
"I can't imagine another woman . . . at least for now," he said, smiling gently.
"But she's there . . . You just have to open your heart to her . . ."
Toren Len gave her a quizzical look, as the waitress returned with their sodas. Kassia pulled her hand away as she held up the menu once again.
"Ready to order?" the waitress asked, as she chewed on gum.
"I'll have a cheese burger with fries," Toren ordered.
"I'll have the same, only with onion rings," Kassia replied.
"Gotcha," the waitress replied with a wink and headed back to the cook.
Kassia looked at Len and sighed with a smile. "How would you feel about helping me out with something at the shop tonight?" she asked. "Its not anything big, but I need to move around a couple of the displays and Danni and I could do it, but it would take us all night . . . We could use a man's help . . ."
The wheels in her mind were already turning . . . If she worked this right, this would be the opportunity to get Len to truly notice Danni, she thought. She smirked.
"What do you say?" she asked. "Well you help me?"
"Of course!" he replied. "What time?"