She felt her face turning scarlet again. Fantastic; she'd barely even thought about having kids, but apparently if it ever came up she had to tell Aiden, of all people?
“Until then,” the companion continued undeterred, “take one of these each day with a meal if you plan on engaging in vaginal sex with a man anytime in the near future, and continue doing so for as long as you are sexually active or might potentially be.” The beautiful woman smiled conspiratorially. “In other words, unless you plan to take a vow of celibacy it's best to make these pills a part of your daily routine.”
Lana hastily shoved the bottle into her belt pouch. She wondered what it said that she was accepting the pills without question, instead of insisting she had no such plans. “Um, thanks again.”
The companion finished resolutely. “Also, if you plan on engaging in any sexual activity with someone outside this crew, or with a crew member after shore leave and before I've checked them out, please consult me ahead of time for instruction on methods for preventing sexually transmitted diseases. Preventive measures are easy and simple, and can save you a great deal of hardship and distress.”
She was already out the door as Ali finished, ears burning as she scurried down the corridor and ducked into the exercise room. It went without saying that, after the embarrassing discussion she'd just had, it was hard to meet Dax's eye when he greeted her. And she felt self-conscious the entire time they were exercising together, so much so that the young man actually asked if something was wrong.
No, just had a nice talk with a sex robot about what to expect if I ever want to lose my non-virginity to you. Lana just shook her head and sped up her treadmill to a sprint so she wouldn't have to talk for a couple minutes; hopefully by then he'd have forgotten the question.
It also went without saying that later, as she was eating lunch, she found an opportunity to unobtrusively slip one of Ali's pills into her mouth and wash it down with water.
Just to be safe.
* * * * *
Given her embarrassing talk with Ali, Lana temporarily abandoned her intentions to try to find an excuse to sit on Dax's lap that day. The plain fact was that now she found herself wondering where it might lead, and if she was ready for such a big step.
So she decided to keep her affection to hugs and holding hands, and instead focus on trying to get closer to the young man by finding out more about him.
Which dovetailed nicely into another part of Lana's plan, since along with breaking through Dax's unshakeable discipline she wanted to break through to his hidden past as well. Especially the things he didn't want to talk about because they were obviously painful.
After all, how could she comfort him if she didn't know why he was hurting?
Because the fact was, every time she saw Dax stiffen to his rigid posture, obviously suppressing deep emotion, Lana found herself also straightening and letting her face go blank in sympathy. Even though what she really wanted to do was throw her arms around him and hug him tight until he felt better.
Which was why at dinner the next day, the fifth since leaving Callous, Lana firmly blocked her friend from getting at his locker with its awful processed meat. “Have some of the food you got for me,” she insisted.
Dax looked reluctant, hand still raised as if to open the door behind her. “That's not necessary. I'm content with this.”
“Content is a pretty low bar,” Lana replied, gently taking his hand and moving it away so she could open her own locker. Most of the packaged meals Dax had picked up for her at Midpoint were gone, although it was full to bursting of other, even more delicious foods from the colony world. “Come on, I know you like good food. You bolted down that steak on Callous . . . why not have something else from there?”
“Really, if I eat all your food then soon we'll both be eating mine,” he said, although she thought his resolve might be weakening.
“Oh no we won't,” she shot back with a wide grin. “Because if you don't enjoy a good meal with me right now, I'm going to chuck all your bland garbage food out the airlock. That way you won't have a choice.”
The young man looked her thoughtfully for what felt like forever, then shrugged. “Okay. Just don't expect me to melt into a puddle, the way you did while eating your steak on Callis 1.”
Grinning wider in victory, Lana pulled out some steaks, which the colonists had sealed in packaging and irradiated for preservation. That left them tasting nearly as fresh as the ones she'd eaten on the planet, she discovered. And they had the same seasoning.
Dax helped her prepare them, and when they started eating she was amused to see that in spite of his balking, he wolfed his down with the same enthusiasm he'd shown on Callous.
After a few minutes of busy silence as they ate, Lana worked up her courage to try to implement her plan. She leaned a bit closer to the gunner, resting a hand on his arm and lowering her voice. “What did you mean, about you not having as long to experience the universe as everyone else?”
He froze as if her touch had turned him into stone. “I'm the youngest member of the crew,” he said after a few seconds.
She didn't think the man would ever lie, but that felt an awful lot like an evasion to her. “You mean besides me?”
Dax turned to look at her, relaxing slightly as he leapt on an opportunity to try to change the subject. “I'm . . . actually not sure. If you
