SOBS BROKENLY

[ Carolyn is only just a captain. She is a reluctant leader, willing to step back and let the more experienced take charge. She is perfectly fine with admitting when she's made a mistake. But she is stubborn and insistent on survival and her bark is loud and her bite is getting better, and the Tranquility sorely needs someone like her. Having Hotspur around was a great help. She was less stressed than she otherwise would be, and while her sleep wasn't actually better, she took more breaks. She slept in her room instead of in the shuttle bay most nights and she smiled more. It was a good setup. It worked. And somehow she knew that Hotspur wouldn't mind it so much if he ever found out that she had been field promoted, just as she knew that she would never, ever tell him what she had tried to do to keep herself alive.

She's not smiling now, though. The mistletoe is above them and Carolyn sighs, finishing up her notes on her comms device before tucking it back into her belt. ]

Is being stuck an Earth thing, too? [ Well, at least it's Hotspur and not Kirk. ]