Coming together

Posted on 30 Jul 2024 @ 6:21pm by 2nd Lieutenant Cassandra Mathews & Master Sergeant Thomas Zang

2,792 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: General Sim Postings
Location: Gym

Thomas arrived at the gym, a small duffle bag in hand. He entered and sat the bag down before he removed his overshirt to reveal a khaki-colored t-shirt. He wore his khaki-colored sweats and tennis shoes. He put his shirt into the bag and straightened up into a stretch, arms thrust upwards over his back. He glanced up at the clock. "Cass should be here any minute." He said to himself with a smile. He had sent a message to her when he had gotten up that morning asking her if she wanted to do an early morning pt session before they went on duty.

Cassandra showed up shortly after he'd begun to stretch. Dressed in a pair of black yoga shorts that clung to her legs down the top of her knees, and a light green tweety bird T-shirt. Her hair was pulled back in a neat and prim ponytail. Her feet adorned in light green crew socks and black running shoes. She gave off the air of someone who had been up for hours already. Water bottle in hand she moved through the gym, full of bouncy energy and smiles. "Hey! I gotch'yer message. Whatch'ya wanna do first?" She asked as those blue eyes drank him in at a glance.

She was more at ease here. More like how he remembered her from their time in recovery. Smiles and encouragement. Always ready to lend a friendly hand or ear to anyone. Her body was now toned under the t shirt as well as her arms and legs, instead of the scrawny half starved frame he'd remembered. He'd never have guessed in million years that she'd had a baby.

Thomas couldn't help but look Cassandra up and down but he tried to be inconspicuous by stretching. His own muscles rippled with the movements. "You could join me in the stretches or we could go for a jog in a minute or two." He straightened, hands at his sides and a grin on his face.

"Or we can do both." Cassandra suggested, her cheeks a bit flushed after catching herself checking him out. For the briefest second she thought she had seen his own eyes looking her over too. Or maybe she had just imagined it.

Still he was definitely worth a second glance or third. Plus there was that addictive smile of his. Contagious too. Whenever she saw it she felt herself melt a little inside, and unable to stop herself from smiling back. It was awful. She prided herself on control. Control of mind and body most the time, yet Zang had somehow managed to hijack her control with just that goofy smile. She couldn't even be mad. "What do you want to start with? Sit and reach? Some light yoga?" She had already started to flamingo. Stretching her legs one at a time. Being careful to rotate the joints of her ankles.

Thomas chuckled at the options Cass had thrown out. "To be honest, I never really did much yoga. I'm willing to give it a try as long as your leading." He said but he told himself that it would be a great way to check her out more as it gave him a reason to keep his eyes on her.

"Alright. I don't mind showing you a thing or two. Some of this you probably already know without knowing that it's yoga anyway." Cassandra said brightly. "Let's go get a couple mats from the replicator and go over to the open area by the mirrors." She directed, leading the way.

Thomas nodded and followed her to the replicator. When they had their mats, he followed her over to the open space that she had indicated. With a quick flick of his wrists, he had his mat unfurled and flat on the deck. "Ready when you are." He said, his grin reaching from ear to ear as he motioned to his mat.

"Alrighty." Cassandra said unable to stop the stupid grin from crossing her face. He probably smiles like that at everyone. She reasoned with herself. Still, again it was just contagious. It felt good to smile. To be amongst friends again. She had laid out her own mat. A little in front of and to the left side of him for space. "So we start with feet shoulder width apart. Then we reach out forward deep breath in. Then let it out slowly and bend down towards the floor." She explained as she demonstrated the maneuver. "Hold for ten seconds."

Thomas took his place on the mat and stood as Cass instructed. His eyes were drawn from the mirror in front of him to Cassandra's back. They then slide down to stop at her rear as she bent over.

Her rear was fully accented in those yoga pants she was wearing. She could feel his eyes on her and being honest with her self she found that she liked it. So she said nothing about it. Instead she continued on with instructions as though nothing was a miss.

"Soo next thing is deep breathing. Were going to take a deep breath as we raise our hands up over our head hold for ten seconds then release letting the arms come down to the sides again. You got that?" She asked stealing a look at him from over her shoulder a playful gleam in those blue eyes.

Thomas caught the movement of Cass's head and grinned sheepishly. He moved into the indicated position and took a deep breath, trying to hide the blush that spread across his face.

"So next thing we can do." Cassandra said after they had repeated the motion a few times more. "Were going to do the reach." Deep breath in arms up. Hold. Exhale slowly dropping the arms. "Now we are going to bend at the waist reaching straight out as far as you can without losing your balance on the exhale. Inhale on the draw back." She said demonstrating for him. Giving him a much better view than before. Then she added. "Ya know we should go out sometime. Whatta you think."

Thomas followed her directions easily as he contemplated her words. "I would really like that. Maybe after we get back from this mission." He said, his eyes on Cass.

"Actually.... I was thinking about maybe something sooner?" Cassandra was thinking about the last mission about how she'd lost so many people she'd cared about. Lt. Haze, Her brother almost as well. If it taught her anything it was to seize the day. She had spent so much time waiting for the right opportunities to talk to people, to reach out and do things with her friends. What if something happened to Thomas or herself on this mission? "I understand that it's a bit sudden. I just, well I don't want to wait and possibly miss the opportunity. That's all." She stopped and turned around to look at him. "Of course it's totally okay if you don't want to. Normally I would have tried to be slower myself but I'm trying something new here."

Thomas stood at ease and just looked at her a moment. Suddenly his face was split from ear to ear as he stepped over to her. "You know, I was heartbroken when we got separate orders after that mission." He said as he took her in his arms. "I had always hoped we'd get a chance to be together again." He hugged her to him.

The hug was unexpected but not unwanted. Cassandra let out a breath she hadn't realized that she had been holding. She hugged him back. "You know I felt the same way for a long time as well." She squeezed him tighter. "I gave them up after I found out about you and Blake. You seemed so happy with her and I didn't want to get in the way of that." She finally let him go and stepped back, "I think it's past due for us to give things a shot. Just some coffee or something. Just to see how it goes."

"I agree Cass." Thomas said with a grin as he leaned into her and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. He wanted to kiss her better but he didn't want to rush things. "I was only with her to try and forget about you but I couldn't stop thinking of you so it just didn't work out between her and I." Not to mention Yani's infidelity when the two of them had been separated had played a big part in it as well.

Cassandra never knew that she could be so happy. The universe had been so kind to her. Rarely did people get second chances. So far it had granted her four major second chances, first in bringing her brother back to her, secondly at stopping Tevran Antako. Even if he never saw true justice against him he could never hurt anyone else again and Cassandra was happy enough for that. Third as a mother, the universe had brought Martha and happiness back to her. Now here again it had brought back immeasurable joy in the form of Thomas Zang. She couldn't find the right words to tell him this. She could only stare in amazement. "We will have to be careful. The whole rank issue and all." She finally said.

"Of course Cass. Though I'm thinking of requesting to become an officer." Thomas admitted with a grin. He couldn't help it, he leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. It had been so long since he last kissed her. Way back on that mission so long ago, he felt he just had to give into the urge.

She saw him move towards her. Knew somehow instinctively what he was going to do. Still it happened so fast. One second she watched him drawing nearer. Then the warm feel of his lips pressed gently though firmly over her own. Such a little thing. Last time he'd kissed her was years ago. They had had one of those hellish days. Hide and seek on ultra hard mode. They had lost three of their teammates. Overwhelming numbers and the odds had been decidedly against them. Cold, hungry, tired, scared... Cassandra had sat next to a much younger Thomas. He had confessed to her that his biggest regret was that he had never gotten around to kissing a girl. It had made her laugh then. Of all their problems that's what had been bugging him most. But he was young. She had wanted to cheer him up. She hadn't thought they would live much longer given their situation. It was such a small thing to offer. So she had turned around and admitted that they finally had something in common. Growing up on Cait she hadn't really given boys much if any thought. Certainly never in any romantic notion. Still if that was his biggest regret then she was honored to offer herself up as tribute. Back then both being amateurs that shared first kiss had provided comfort and warmth and a much needed reprieve from their troubles. It had brought a blush to her face and made her heart skip several beats. Clumsy as it had been.

This time.... Oh this time it stole her breath away. Now they both had had some experience. She opened her mouth to encourage him further kissing him back in slow measured movements. Her hands had reach up to almost cradle his face.

Thomas broke the kiss after a moment. He glanced towards the Gym doors then back at her with a grin. "Careful, we don't want to get caught." He said with a mischievous wink. "Come, let's go for a run." He said as he took her hand and headed towards the treadmills.

He was right of course. It was simple luck that they where alone in the gym to begin with. She let him lead her to the treadmill. 'Run.. yes run.' Hell she'd fly if he asked her too. Still she pulled herself together. "Alright. Let's run. Then maybe some coffee."

"Sounds like a date." Thomas said as they began their run on the treadmills. He kept glancing over at her from the corner of his eye with a smile on his face.

Cassandra ran as though the dogs of hell chased her. She always threw herself into her physical training. Also she knew the time would seem to go faster if she focused. Still her eyes kept straying over to Thomas on the machine next to hers.

The time seemed to crawl though. All she wanted to her amazement was to be sipping coffee and indulging in the company of master sergeant Zang. It was strange. She'd never had a crush before. She found herself questing it. Trying to disect the strange warm feelings that ran through her veins every time she saw him. That kiss, it had sent blissful electric pulses like tsunami waves flooding through her body. Like a junky she found herself nearly desperate for the next hit. Craving the promise of something more tender and possibly intimate in her life. Perhaps that was foolish of her. Still for once in her life she felt it was worth taking a chance. Especially given their history together. They had an established friendship. A tight close bond that had once teetered on a relationship once.

The alarm bleeped out, announcing the end of their training cycle. Breaking Cassandra from her reminiscing. She hardly felt weary at all for the physical exercise at the excitement of the promised "date" to come.

Thomas smiled over at Cass, a few beads of sweat on his forehead. He reached over and grabbed his towel. He wiped the sweat off Cass's forehead before he wiped his own brow. "What say you to quickly cleaning up then meeting up in the lounge for that coffee?"

Cassandra felt her face flush at that small gesture from him. She could get used to early PT if this was what she had to look forward to. He was waiting for a reply and Cassandra realized then that she had been staring at him. "Oh, Yeah Coffee. right." She chuckled softly to hide her humiliation, It was just so hard not to stare at him. As though he was a powerful magnet just drawing her eyes. Even now she wanted to sneak a glance. "I will meet you in the lounge in say twenty minutes?"

"Sounds like a plan, last one there pays." Thomas said with a mischievous grin. He turned to grab his water bottle and to give her a chance to get a head start if she wanted to.

Cassandra headed off to get ready a mixture of excitement and nerves. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been in a mutual relationship. It was Paul. Yes Paul! Ever so briefly when she had first arrived on the Tomcat. Years ago now. Goodness. Before that.... well she had been busy with her career. Before that she'd been on Cait. On Cait well... Well she'd never really bothered to look for any such relationships. She'd had enough trouble simply making friends and more trouble in keeping them. Remembering it made her feel anxious. She had no reason to believe that things with Thomas would last at all. After all she had only a handful of people that had stuck around even as friends. So unless she was counting a one week fling with the chief of security way back in the day... Which she did. Or the nearly year long endeavor of being held in captivity playing house with a psychopath serial killer.. which she didn't... Cassandra had to conclude that she had absolutely no idea what she was doing or even supposed to do. Thomas liked her. Or he thought he did. He liked who he remembered her to be. She wasn't that person anymore. Best not to let herself get to excited about it then. Just enjoy the time they had and at least when it was over she'd be prepared for it. After all nobody stuck around too long in her life. Why would this be anything different?

She reached her quarters. Her mind made up. Have fun but don't expect anything to come of it. Her life motto. She stripped down and got to task getting cleaned up and ready for coffee.

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