Don't everyone thank me at once (Costa)

[Fells Halgerdur]

(Docking bay)
There had been a lot of moments when Brody had wondered what the hell he was doing on the Shran and that this could only end badly.

Now that they were vack on the Starbase he knew it was only half true.
He stepped from a damaged ship accompanied by the smell of burnt circuits and plastic. His was cradling his arm but he was alive and save. So was the rest of the crew and one hell of a woman, who had almost single handedly saved the Shran.

Brody was incredibly impressed by her.
His heart beat a bit faster as he walked towards where she had landed.
"You're one hell of a pilot...is there something you suck at?" He tried to match her cocky lines but realized he failed miserably.
So he offered a sheepish grin.
"We could possibly work on that."

[Alexa Costa]

[Lex Costa - Fighter Docking Bay, Starbase Columbus]

A bead of sweat that had gathered around Costa's temple began to trickle down the side of her face. Over the curve of her cheek, clinging to the soft jawline before finally falling and meeting its end on the console before her.

She teased the one-man fighter into the docking bay, trailing clouds of black smoke behind her, the shorting electrics that had once kept her safe behind a shield sparking and burning with white lights illuminating the other huge shadows in the cavernous bay. She didn't allow herself a deep breath until she'd landed Sister Shark safely.

Then, eyes wide with adrenaline, she sucked in a breath, held it, then another. She was alive. She was safe back on SBC. She'd tangled with the Breen and she'd come out unscathed. Well, mostly. The fighter could use some work. Probably not as much as the Shran, but at least they were still flying.

The rush of surviving was even more powerful than the rush of the fight. It was euphoric. She wasn't sure if she needed a drink, or a fist fight, or a close encounter of a different kind...

And then there was Cooper.

Her palm slammed the release and the cockpit's trap door beneath her hissed to life. It stopped about half way to the ground, its mechanisms having been fused after taking some Breen fire, so she climbed the rest of the way down herself. She dropped to her feet a meter or two away from the science officer, and grinned.

Costa closed the distance between then in two steps, reached out to grab a handful of his uniform, and leaned in, intent on pressing her lips to his in an enthusiastic kiss.

[Fells Halgerdur]

[Docking bay Npc Cooper]
The last time they had seen each other she had barely acknowledged his existence and left without many words. So Brody assumed that he was too uncool, being a science nerd and all, to be seem with Costa in public.

He did not receive an answer today but a full on wet kiss, which he gladly accepted.
He enduldged in it and didn't care whether it was appropriate or not.
Brody wrapped his good arm around her and her held tight for a long moment.
"I'm glad you're okay."
Costa was a fire cracker but right now holding her took so much of the tension, that had built up, away.
"What a wild ride..."

[Alexa Costa]

[Lex Costa - Fighter Docking Bay, Starbase Columbus]

It wasn't long before she was relaxing into him, into the kiss, her shoulders dropping as some of that pent up energy from the many adrenaline bursts that had assailed her body left it. Her grip on the front of his shirt relaxed and her hand moved around his neck, where the other hand joined it, and her arms tightened around him as the kiss slowed and deepened.

Costa opened her eyes and studied him for a moment while he held her and told her he was glad she was okay.

"Am glad yer okay too, so I can kill ya meself." As if to bolster her point, she ran a hand through his hair and gave a fistful of it a tug. A kind-of-maybe-not-really gentle tug. A frown appeared on her face and her eyes narrowed at him.

"Why'd ya stay on tha' bloody ship, Cooper? Are ya suicidal!?"

The euphoria she'd felt over being alive, and the pleasure she'd experienced at seeing him when she disembarked, and that kiss... All of that was fading somewhat as she realised she was a bit angry with him.

[Fells Halgerdur]

[Docking bay]
This moment was almost magical. The adrwnaline high faded but was replaced by something equally nice as Costa did not let go but left herysoft lips lingering on his and tugged on his hair.
She said she was glad that he was okay....
"Mostly." He pointed to the arm that now hung loosely at his side because she had pressed herself against his front.

Then she said it again....with a certain anger on her face....why had he stayed on the Shran.

"That wasn't intentional. I got lost in the analysis when Commander Hawke came barging in and told me about this really important dangerous attempt. I was in before I could say no. That man is....crazy." He shook his head at the tactics he'd been using."

Brody couldn't wipe the smile from his face despite the pain he was in because he admired Costa and found her incredibly hot. To get this kind of affection was promising and enticing.
"You are...where did you learn to fly like that. So hot!....and useful I must say."

[Alexa Costa]

[Lex Costa - Fighter Docking Bay, Starbase Columbus]

The frown deepened, and she stepped back a little to give the injured arm he was pointing to a proper Costa-grade once-over. It was hanging at an odd angle and if she wasn't already sure that it must hurt like a mofo, she'd have punched him in it.

"Ya nerd..." She muttered distractedly, her frown softening just slightly when he explained how he'd been caught up in the Shran battle madness. She was not surprised when he mentioned Hawke's craziness, though. "Bossman is nuts," she confirmed in agreement. Her XO might be her friend, but he was definitely a few tools short of a full box.

She was still distracted by his injury when he referenced her flying. She looked up at him questioningly, though his words eventually got through to her. "Oh. Am a boomer. If it's got an engine, we can make it fly." She'd grown up on merchant ships and independent vessels where most people didn't have set, specific jobs, and where her father had seen her merely as a member of his crew. One he didn't have to pay for. "Ya should get tha' checked," she said, changing the subject. "Think I'll hit the Rising Sun and get wasted enough ta blank out the fact I jus' risked me life for all these morons." She paused for a moment, as though weighing something up. "Wanna join?"

[Fells Halgerdur]

[Docking bay Npc Cooper]

What 'I'm a boomer' meant remained a mystery for now but was something he wouldn't mind finding out.

A rescue team came running past them towards the Shran because they had reported a few people with serious injuries on board.

When Costa said Brody should get his dislocated or broken elbow checked out he nodded. "Later. Medical has got their hands full with serious injuries....I'd just wait forever. Might as well go to that bar with you and celebrate our victory. I wouldn't say no to whatever painkillers you've got in your purse."
Truth be told he'd go anywhere with her in any state if she offered.
Booze was great medicine and Costa more than just interesting. She was so different, so kick ass, so everything he couldn't put in words, like some dream woman cut from a crazy dream.

As he started walking out of the docking area and away from the stench of burnt circuits and yelling he wondered whether they were even allowed to just abandon the ship without a proper report or dismissal from a superior.
"Do we just walk away....just like that...and go drink? I really like that you asked btw."

[Alexa Costa]

[Lex Costa - Fighter Docking Bay, Starbase Columbus]

Costa was still frowning at his injured arm while he was making excuses not to see Medical. When he said he'd welcome any pain relief she could provide from her purse, she looked back up at him, an expression of amusement clearly on her face. She glanced over at her damaged figher - maybe there was a special compartment for purses in there that she didn't know about - and then back to him, her grin growing with each passing thought. "I look like the kinda chick tha' carries a handbag?"

Cooper was obviously living on another planet. Maybe that's why she found him fun. Fun in a different kind of way, of course.

When he started to move out of the docking bay she followed, but she hadn't forgotten about his injury. "Nah man, ya need ta get tha' checked first. Dun wanna be lookin' at is all useless and flappy while I try ta enjoy gettin' greased." She sounded harsh, maybe even unkind, but it was really just how she showed she cared. She pointed at a passing officer in teal. "Oi. Medic. Fix this lad's arm." She pointed then at poor Cooper, her tone leaving very little room for argument. But she did eventually remember her manners and added, "Please."

The young officer glared at her at first. Obviously he'd been ordered to go and see to the heroes of the battle, but once he'd identified her, he began to move toward the Petty Officer, a medical tricorder immediately in his hand. As Cooper was examined properly where they stood, Costa responded to the question about leaving the scene.

"After riskin' our lives I think we deserve ta skip out on protocol an' gather ourselves." That was kind of wise, she thought. Then she ruined it. "If anyone asks jus' lie and say I dismissed ya. The fat, scared slobs in the chairs can wait 'til tomorrow for our reports."

She turned her attention toward the Medical Officer, eyes narrowing a little at him. He reached out to poke and prod at Cooper's arm, before giving his diagnosis. "I am almost certain it is dislocated, with possible further hairline damage. You'll need to go to Sickbay."

Costa sighed. "Sickbay it is."

[Fells Halgerdur]

[Docking bay NPC Brody Cooper]
No, Costa was not a purse kind of girl. It had been a joke. Brody was so smitten with her that he would have dragged his dislocated/broken arm around just so he could spend time with her.

Before he could protest he had a medic on him.
"Were you on the Shran?"
"Yes, I was...." Brody replied unsure whether that was admiration he heard.
"Thanks...for putting your lifes on the line...we followed everything on our screens." The medic said before he scanned him.

As he started prodding, Brody protested with a groan, that should only get louder when Costa shoed him to sick bay.
"They're busy. I'll go after our drinks."
The medic radioed over to sick bay, then told him.
"Go to the one two levels up. They know you're coming."

Brody made an unhappy face at Costa.
"Thanks."

Then he took her by the hand. "C'mon....this way, lady."

On their way there Brody looked over at her, first serious, then with a smile.
"That was some crazy shit....my first time in active battle.....but you looked like you've done that a million times. How come you're not highly decorated?"
He assumed it might be an attitude problem with all the theft and skipping reports, which by the way felt wrong to him.

As expected there was a line up at the emergency medical station.
"Gah....fuc& it."

[Alexa Costa]

[Lex Costa - Fighter Docking Bay -> Tertiary Sickbay, Starbase Columbus]

Costa didn't take her eyes off the medic once while he examined Cooper, and even at one stage had to fight off the urge to reach out and slap the bloke in the back of the head for making the Science Officer moan so much. She didn't mind moans of the other kind, but moans of pain with no hint of spice were not ideal. But when it was decided that Sickbay was the only open course of action, and when Cooper turned to her with that unhappy face and uttered a sarcastic 'thanks', she burst out laughing.

"Any time."

He took her hand, and she stared down at it for a moment, laughter dying a little. She stared at their joined hands until she felt a slight tug that suggested Cooper was moving. She looked up and inwardly shrugged. Costa hated public displays of affection, but she decided that they were lucky to be alive, and that he was injured and so she'd let it happen. It had nothing to do with the little niggling voice in her mind that insisted she didn't want to disappoint him. No, that voice was an interloper. Outlandish, sentimental voices had no right being in Costa's noodle.

She was pleasantly distracted from them by Cooper's chatter. Normally she didn't like chatter. But this was about battle stuff, so she allowed it. "Have been in a few," she replied, certain images lighting up her memory. "A couple on the Challie, a couple with Admiral Torngate - those were Nausicaans, real tough bastards. Then some action here." She paused and looked back over at her unexpected companion and wondered why she was talking so much. Then she offered him a wry grin and a shrug. "Guess am jus' no the decoratin' type, Coop. Ah mean, would you give me any more influence?" She shook her head, as though answering her own question with disbelief.

It was her turn to moan when she spied the line. At this rate she'd never get properly greased and pour one out for her fallen ancestors. It took Costa less than a second to decide what she was going to do to remedy this travesty.

"Oh no - so hot!" She exclaimed, drawing a glance or two from the near-dead, bored patients in the queue. She lowered her voice quickly and hissed to Cooper, "Jus' go wit it."

She pulled off her flight jacket, slowly, as though struggling with the mere physical concept. "Too hot! Should never have touched tha' Breeny, Cooper... Why'd ya let me take off its helmet?" She got one arm stuck in her jacket. "Oh myyyy GODS. Am burnin' up! My skin... skin is on fire!" At this point almost every head was turned toward her and her dramatic performance.

"Is the Breen Death, Coop! I gots the Breen Death!" She threw her jacket away, and started trying to pull her string cami top off. She was a crazed soldier who had contracted a highly contagious disease, and as a result just had to remove all of her clothes before she spontaneously combusted. Either that or she was totally insane Space Sick.

[Fells Halgerdur]

[Sick bay NPC PO3 Brody Cooper]
Brody, who had lead a boring scientist life sor far, was udderly impressed by her battle experience.

When she suddenly started faking some Breen death sickness he first believed her but then remembered that she had been inside a fighter and not touched a single Breen.
"What the fu:k are you doing?" He whispered as all eyes turned on them.
It didn't take long to comprehend, especially when a nurse rushed towards them.
"Come with me, please."
She didn't touch Costa, who was about to get undressed in front of everyone.
Brody, when asked to stay behind, declared. "I'm coming with my wife."

Soon the nurse showed them a small room, thst was equipped with the most neccessary equipment.
"Stay here. Someone will be with you shortly."

After she left Brody let his flat palm cover his face. "Breen death?"

[Alexa Costa]

[Lex Costa - Tertiary Sickbay]

Costa was committing to her performance and trying not to laugh at Cooper's whispered curses. She began to follow the nurse, stepping out of the queue and skipping all of the other morons waiting for their analgesics. She turned, walking backward for a moment so she could look at Cooper and wink at him. When he declared her his wife, she almost snorted. It was hard to keep in character, but she soldiered on.

"Noooo! Voices! Too many voices in me head!" She tugged on the hem of her top, pulling it upward one-armed as she dutifully followed the nurse toward a small, private room. "Must. Remove. Clothing."

Then the nurse told them to stay where they were, left, and Costa hopped up onto the biobed. She smoothed down her top and crossed her legs, all of her ranting and raving coming to a very sudden stop. At Cooper's question, she shrugged. "Well they go evrywhere in those suits, righ'? Who knows wha' pathogens they carry unner those helmets."

Pathogens was a decently-sized word. "Computer, how many points for 'PATHOGENS' inna standard game o' Scrabble?"

"Fifteen points for 'PATHOGENS'."

"Huh. That's disappointin'. Oh well." She looked at Cooper then, a cheeky grin lighting up her flushed cheeks. "As ya wife, do I get half of the hyaphingazuli?"

[Fells Halgerdur]

[Sick bay NPC Cooper]
How on earth or the Starbase did the nurse buy this bullshit?
Brody looked at Costa when she stopped putting on her show. "Not only a great pilot but also an outstanding actress." He complimented her before he turned to search the glass storage units for decent pain killers. They were all locked probably anyway.
And the emergency aparatuses seemed undesirable.
"How many scrabble points for appendectomy, Costa?"

So he joined her on the biobed, still cradling his left arm, that was mostly useless.

"I'll make sure you get some pretty handcuffs if you get near 'my gem' again." Dimples were showing on his cheeks because he loved his own joke so much. The 'exercise of persuation' on his work station had been the second most exciting thing in his whole life.

"How come you're...so different than all the women I've met on this base?"
He was base born and bread. A lot of girls here seemed just too 'Starbasey'.

[Alexa Costa]

[Lex Costa - Tertiary Sickbay]

Costa laughed aloud when he called her an outstanding actress, taking his words for dry wit and finding it hilarious. Grinning broadly, she pushed her hands beneath her thighs, swinging her legs from her seat atop the biobed. "Lots," she answered with certainty when Cooper asked her how many points 'APPENDECTOMY' would get him. "Ya like Scrabble, Cooper?"

She was a little curious. She loved it, but she wasn't very good at it. She'd played a little with ANaLYN, the Starbase's AI, and the kid had assured her that she'd get better the more she practiced. Costa wasn't at all sure she would, but she appreciated Annie's faith in her.

She had to stop herself from leaning toward him and bumping his shoulder when he sat beside her and made that comment about handcuffs. "Tha' a promise?" Her gaze flickered downward at his smile, feeling a little warm suddenly at the sight of his cute dimples. Then her smile faltered when he said the 'D' word.

No, not that one. That was a fun one. No... he'd said 'different'.

She pulled back a little, her expression changing into something more neutral. She didn't think that Cooper was trying to be mean; he'd never been mean to her, on the contrary he was always saying nice things. But she'd been called different her entire life, and while it was something that she'd learned to embrace, there were still echos of cruel words and memories that accompanied. "Whatya mean?" She asked, her voice a little flat. Then she sighed in defeat and shook her head.

"Was born ona freighter. Spent 'most my childhood crewin' on the Presto. Am not like the kids raised on Earth or the inner planets."

She was cut off from expanding any further by a rather irate looking Andorian, who stormed into the examination room and pointed an accusing finger at Costa. "What in the name of all that is GOOD and HOLY is going on here! You! Disruptor of Sickbays!"

[Fells Halgerdur]

[Sick bay or sth alike Npc Cooper]
She got closer, smiled and for a moment there was a special connection again but it faded as quickly as it had come.
Obviously she didn't like being called different.
Brodys face fell with hers but he listened to understand why she was unlike other girls. It was her upbringing.
"I meant it in a good way....you're not so prissy....playing hard to get or fake coy. I like how straight forward you are."

His compliment was interrupted by a doctor, who barged in the room in a way that made Brody press his back against the wall.
Why was he furious? Because Costa had faked a mysterious illness?

There was only one way to get his attention off her.
Brody groaned audibly and huffed. "Thank you, thank evetything good and holy." Was thatca secret chant?
"I'm in so much pain. Finally you're here to help me. I think I broke my arm. I was on the Shran, you know?" Brody was very proud of that fact and surely every body else would feel the same way.