Red alert. The shrill alarm was blaring through the ship and I was sure my ears were going to bleed. I could feel the adrenaline rush through my body as the ship tilted slightly, and then it was quiet. Jim's arm slipped around my waist and pulled me closer to him.

I blinked slowly. A warm light filled the room, the simulation of a glowing sunrise. It was too bright and I squeezed my eyes shut.

"What time's it?" I mumbled into the arm that I was resting my head on.

"0530."

I groaned, and the chest behind me shook a little as Jim chuckled, the sound gritty with sleep.

"We don't have to get up yet, baby," he whispered into my hair.

"Good." I wiggled closer to him and he grabbed my hand and interlocked our fingers. I laid our hands close to my chest, wrapping Jim around me. His face was nuzzled against my neck, and the hot breath on my skin made me relax completely in his embrace and I felt myself drifting off. I knew we needed to get up soon though, so just seconds later, my brain wrenched me awake with a jerk.

"Sleep, baby," Jim whispered into my hair. "If you're late, I'll excuse you. Captain's girlfriend's privilege."

As nice as that sounded, I didn't want special treatment because of my connection with him. I didn't want anyone to think I was with him for anything else than the world in his eyes. The passion in his heart. The clever of his mind. The butterflies in my stomach as he shifted me onto my back so he could card his free hand through my hair.

"Sleep," he whispered again, lips pressing against my temple. "You need a little bit more sleep."

He was not wrong. I glanced up at him with his tousled hair. His eyes were closed, and I was denied the blinding blue of them, but I could vividly recall the way they stared into mine just hours ago. I closed my own and sighed with content as I relived the way he had kissed me, the way he had made me scream with his tongue. The way his fingers had ghosted over my skin and the way his hands had left imprints on my hips as I shattered on top of him. The way he had stared at me with eyes the colour of the deepest ocean. Lashes fluttering as he struggled to keep them open when my name tumbled over his lips, again and again and again, like a broken record.

I needed more rest after a night like that.

"Why are you smiling?"

"Remembering last night." I looked up at him and finally saw his electric blues, amusement dancing in them.

"Oh really?"

I hummed and turned towards him, snuggling into his chest. Breathing in the smell of sleep, my perfume sticking to his skin, sweat, and Jim. "Love you," I mumbled, melting into him when he closed his arms around my back.

"Love you too."

With the two oceanic orbs vivid in my mind, the sound of his heartbeat and the gentle rise and fall of his chest against my cheek, I felt reality slip away.