Thea buried her face in her hands and slumped against the wall beside Zehra's room door. Every time she almost acted normal, some weirdness blurted out her mouth. She looked down at her outfit. Despite the captain being a total stranger, her words hurt. Thea was having trouble feeling cute after that.

"What's wrong, babe?" Janice asked, stopping for a moment and tucking her clipboard beneath her arm. "Everything okay?"

Shaking her head, Thea didn't look up to meet her friends eyes. "I'm a mess. What the starshit am I doing with my life?"

Janice sighed. "Hun, we've had this talk I don't know how many times. It's okay to not have it figured out yet, you're barely an adult."

"But Zehra is only a few years older than me and a freakin starship captain!" Thea cried, pulling her knees into her chest. "While I'm this nobody bartender, room service for a hotel, and—more jobs than I care to mention which I will lose more than half of by next week and lose my apartment with it."

"You won't lose them, as long as you start leaving more time between shifts so you aren't late," Janice declared, flipping her kelp-like hair over her green shoulder. "Don't overwork yourself, and move out of that damn overpriced apartment, you have no reason to—"

"It was my mom's," Thea whispered, her tone more clipped than she intended it to be. "I can't leave it, I don't care how much it costs. I just—I need to find another job to make up the difference for the raise in price and—"

Janice knelt down, grabbing Thea's hands and pulling them away from her face. "Thea. When was the last time you got a good nights sleep? Are you ever at the apartment you're paying for?"

"Well, sometimes on the weekends. . . Oh wait, no, that's when I babysit the mongrils'. Or is that the Termeku's? I can't remember. Something with a T or M," Thea stated, nodding her head thoughtfully.

"Thea." Janice's tone turned stern. "This isn't healthy. Please, just—"

"No!" Thea cried, standing to her feet. "I can't. I need more time."

Janice sighed, her shoulders drooping as she started down the hall. "Just—don't let that apartment be the death of you." She paused, writing something on her holopad. "Your mother wouldn't have wanted you to suffer to hold onto a hollow living space."

Deep down, Thea knew Janice was right. Someday she would be ready to accept that, but not that yet. Not now. As her friend walked away, Thea pushed the cart forward for her cleaning duties. The jobs were more than just the money. Thea sniffed, wiping a stray tear from her face. They were a distraction. She needed to keep going, before grief caught up with her.

The remainder of the cleaning passed by all too fast before Thea had to move onto the next task. She forced a smile, but the heaviness in her heart refused to leave. Maybe, for the first time since her mom's passing, it was time to call in to work and go home. Maybe it was time to stop running, and to let herself cry. Confronting this alone was terrifying to think about.

As Thea put her cart in the back room and raised her fingers to text her first boss, she froze. If she didn't work today, she was guaranteed to lose the apartment unless she borrowed more money. Mr. Alima would need some sort of collateral if she couldn't pay him back within two months. She'd only just paid off her debt with him last week. What was she going to do?

Captain Zehra walked past with shades over her eyes. She paused having caught sight of Thea. Oh great. This was just what she needed, to embarrass herself further.

"Thea," the captain said quietly, likely still hosting a mild migraine.

"Cap, what brings you to the employee area of the hotel?" Thea put her device in her pocket and walked forward, putting her hand against the wall. "You're not supposed to be here."

"Well I—" Zehra's face grew a deeper shade of purple. "I'm sorry!"

Thea jumped, knocking into the wall as the words were barked like a command. "What?"

Zehra placed her hands tightly at her sides, clicking her heels together in a military position of attention. "I degraded you unnecessarily. I am sorry."

Blinking, Thea couldn't summon a reply. But stars, it was kinda hot when Zehra acted all official. Thea sighed blissfully, the stresses of her day fading to the background of her mind. It didn't help that Zehra was in uniform. Damn, she loved a woman in uniform.

Coughing, Captain Zehra changed to at ease, her hands clasped behind her back and feet a shoulders width apart. "Might I request your forgiveness? Ma'am?"

"Only if you do something for me first," Thea said, a smirk tweaking her lips upright. She waltzed forward, coming to stand an inch from the captain. "Take me out on a date."

"That's a weird way to ask someone out," Captain Zehra said, raising a brow.

"Oh I'm not asking," Thea said, placing a finger on the captain's chest. "I'm demanding." This had to be the stupidest thing she'd ever done, but in that moment, she didn't care.

The captain looked down at the finger on her chest. Thea couldn't tell what kind of expression remained behind the shades. But the clench of the jaw could only mean one thing.

"If I'm going to take you out, I'd advise changing out of your 'work uniform'," Zehra stated, grabbing Thea's hand and lower back. She dipped her downwards. "Because there's a starship dance tonight, and if I hold you like this, the whole of the patrons will see your underthings."

Thea's face grew hotter than the broiler in the rooms down below. Captain Zehra was taking her to a d-dance on a da-date? Thea demanded it, sure, but she hadn't expected her to agree to it. That was a half-joke, half-challenge.

Oh starshit.

Thea fainted.