Destined | Christopher Pike

Chapter Eighteen

Emma stayed in Chris' quarters for longer than intended. Her body felt frozen to the couch as her mind kept replaying the kiss over and over. They had kissed. Chris had kissed her back. Which meant...which meant...he reciprocated her feelings? She groaned and buried her face in her hands. Love shouldn't have been that complicated, but he was her Captain. There weren't rules against, but it wasn't exactly praised either. For now, she just needed to focus on finding the colonists.

She pressed the button for the doors to open. Before she walked outside, she peeked her head out to make sure no one saw her leaving. The hallways were clear thankfully. However, as she rounded the corner to walk to the elevator, she found herself face to face with Chris again. To the side of him stood La'an. Chris and Emma looked at one another and she found that he had a better poker face than her. She looked as if she had seen a ghost.

"Good, Cadet Coleman. You're with us." Chris told her and started walking again.

Emma barely had time to react before she fell in line behind the two of them. Her mind was still elsewhere. "W-What's going on?"

"We think we located one of the colonists' ships, but they aren't responding to our hails. We're joining a team to investigate." La'an told her.

Emma watched as she broke off to gather her security team which left Chris and her alone in the armory.

"Grab a vest and one of those guns over there. Make sure you check your coms." He told her causally as if minutes ago they weren't about to fuck.

However, she didn't speak. She just did as she was told. She slipped the heavy vest on and fastened the straps carefully. Just as she reached to grab a gun, Chris walked over to check the straps of her vest. His fingers gently brushed against her side and she tried not to react. She swallowed dryly as he tightened the straps.

"You okay?" Chris asked softly.

"I'm okay." She confirmed. "You?"

He leaned his head down more, trying to ensure that no one heard him. "We'll talk later. Try to focus."

Emma secured her gun to her just as he finished checking her vest. "Okay. I just have one question, did you choose me for this mission due to...personal interests?"

"No." He paused as if he needed to ask himself the question she asked. "I chose you, because I thought it would be a good opportunity."

"Well, thank you, Captain Pike." She said and gave him the smallest smile.

They both heard footsteps and glanced up to see Una standing there. "Everything okay?"

"Yes. I just wanted to make sure I had my vest on correctly. Captain Pike was nice enough to help me." Emma looked at Chris and then back at Una. "Please, excuse me."

She gave Una a brief nod before walking past her so she could take her position on the transporter. While she stood there, she attempted to clear her mind of any personal business. She needed to focus on the colonists, not Chris. For the first time in a while, she found it easier to push him from her mind. She didn't know why. She thought it was because she finally knew that he felt the same way about her. However, despite his words about remaining professional, it didn't stop his gaze from lingering on her as he took his own spot. It was enough to send butterflies to her stomach.

It felt entirely too quiet when they beamed aboard the ship. In fact, it seemed almost abandoned. She flipped the lights on her vest so they could illuminate a path in the dark area they were in. She tightened the grip on her gun and began to advance forward with the team. Every once in awhile they could hear banging against metal, but nothing seemed out of the sorts other than the lack of people.