Salvation by Aeon Igni Page B

there watching the medic clean his tools and wondering what would happen to me now.
    I must have drifted off again, because the next time I woke it was to the footsteps of the captain walking in. He didn't waste time, but walked over and looked at me closely.
    "How are you feeling?"
    I took a quick inventory. "Not much the worse for wear, sir."
    He expelled a breath softly, and I could tell he was relieved. "Well, you got to use some of our remaining medical supplies to fix you up. Aren't you glad I saved them?"
    I started to smile, but then a ll at once I remembered what had happened, and I grabbed his arm. "Please, sir,” I begged. “Don't make me go again. This ship is the only home I know." I really wished that I was braver, but I started trembling again.
    I felt the muscles bunch in his forearm as his fist clenched. "Why didn't you tell me the truth?"
    I kept looking down at his fist, not wanting to meet his eyes. "I was afraid that you would send me away." Unable to help myself, I added, "But you did that, anyway."
    "Look at me," he commanded, and my eyes shot up. " Do you really think I'm the type of person to send a young girl with no protection out on her own?"
    He paused, and when I shook my head, he continued. "I would have figured out something to do with you, a way to keep you safe."
    I knew I would probably regret it, but I spoke out again. "You would have kept me safe by sending me away. I wanted to stay with you on the ship...even if it meant I had to be a boy." My words trailed off and I was already embarrassed that I'd admitted my feelings.
    He put his hand on my shoulder . "Look, Simmons, I need you to understand something. I sent you away because I thought you were a young boy. It was becoming obvious that you were developing some fairly strong feelings for me. Even worse, I was starting to have feelings for you. I wanted to make sure that you had the chance to meet other people your own age, and people of the opposite sex."
    The pressure of not knowing what he was going to do with me was making my head hurt. "I guess you must've been pretty angry then, when you found out I was a girl."
    He snorted. " That's an understatement. Jeremiah is going to be knocking a few dents out of the walls in my office." He softened his gruff words with a grin.
    " Are you still angry with me, sir? Are you going to send me away?" My questions were hesitant, but as afraid as I was of hearing the answer, I needed to know what he planned.
    H e shook his head slowly. "After the worst of my rage had been spent, I started thinking about the first time I saw you. You had spirit, but I could see that you were painfully thin and barely making it on your own. I didn't know what would happen to you if I didn't take you on board, but I could guess. That's why I hired you."
    I was shocked at his revelation. Seeing our first meeting from his perspective was making me realize there was a whole other side to him that I hadn't known about.
    I realized the captain was watching me closely. When I looked up at him again, he went on, " I think, if I'd been having as hard a time as you were, I probably would have done anything to change my fate. That's what you did, taking your future into your own two hands, and I just can't be angry about it, Simmons."
    Tears began to form in my eyes, and I quickly blinked them away. For the first time, I felt that he saw me; that he understood why I'd done what I had in order to survive.
    The captain chuckled suddenly. "I can't keep calling you Simmons. What is your real name?"
    "Samantha," I replied shyly.
    " And how old are you, really?"
    "I just turned twenty-two standard years, sir."
    His eyes rolled upward. "Thank god." He spoke the words fervently, and then, completely unexpectedly, he cupped my face in his warm palms and crushed my lips with his. I sat still in shock for a moment, then came to my senses and wrapped my arms around his neck, living every fantasy I'd had for the last year in the space of a