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It was an hour before closing time when she had a visitor.

"Lieutenant?"

The voice made her jump to attention "Sir?"

"At ease. Sit down."

She obeyed as he took a seat across the desk. Unnerved she watched the man as he made himself comfortable in the small, hard wooden chair, slouching in it. Steepling his hands together he observed her quietly for a minute, notching up her anxiety and confusion, before finally speaking.

"Have any plans tonight?"

Loren couldn't help but be surprised. This question was usually a precursor into a date invitation and it was not something a CO would ask a subordinate...

"No, sir."

She still had enough respect for authority not to make up some story. She had no definite plans except to wallow in self-pity and vent anger at the world.

"Good." Chegwidden replied thoughtfully, hiding a little smirk.

"Then you won't mind coming to the tavern tonight? Petty Officer Chambers passed his last exam and is buying a round of drinks."

Loren's mind was feverishly trying to find a way out of this, she really didn't feel like going out tonight. Not that she ever felt like going out with someone...

"Exam, sir?" she asked, trying to buy time to come up with a good excuse.

The problem with the military is, however, that CO's' invitations are no invitations, but nicely disguised orders, when they even bother to "invite" instead of just ordering straight out that is.

And since Chegwidden knew of her situation and was asking her nonetheless she knew she had no choice.

She wasn't playing clueless completely, though, because she really didn't know what exam he was talking about. She wasn't even sure who Chambers was exactly...

"He just became a Legalman, Lieutenant." the Admiral's brow furrowed in consternation "And that's exactly the reason you should come. You've been with us for a year now and you're yet to take any interest in your coworkers. Besides, you need a distraction."

"Sir, I..." Loren floundered, wanting to find a way out of this, but not succeeding. She really didn't want to be among people tonight, tomorrow's doctor visit making her so anxious she was on the verge of vomitting.

"Good, it's settled." Chegwidden decided, ignoring Loren's aghast expression "It's at the usual time... Oh, that means 2000 hours." he couldn't help the snarky reminder that she'd never showed up for any of these occasions.

"Aye, sir." Loren deflated.

"And seeing you have such an old car I think it's best someone comes pick you up to avoid any problems with it that would stop you from attending."

If she hadn't been sure of who had put him up to this, she surely would've been now... Her car was only 5 years old and the previous owner had kept it in excellent condition... there was no way it was old enough to be plagued with malfunctions, especially enough to develop them out of the blue.

"He surely won't have any problems with his car, seeing as he is such an able mechanic."

Chegwidden's tone made her wonder.

"Be ready to go at 1930."

Having said his piece, Chegwidden stood and left the small office, leaving a defeated officer inside.

Stopping behind the corner he looked at the man who'd been waiting for him.

"Mission accomplished, Commander and I agree, she need this. She needs something to take her mind off it. Take good care of her."

Harm nodded "I will, sir."

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When she heard the knocking on her door at 1929 hours Loren made sure everything was turned off before opening the front door. Without saying a word or even looking at the man standing there she locked her apartment and walked off down the stairs.

Harm looked after her in bewilderment, her cold behaviour throwing him off track. He'd known she wouldn't be enthusiastic, but had honestly expected another berating and not this cold shoulder. She hadn't even returned his hello...

Arriving outside the building he spotted Loren standing by the side door of his Lexus and he exhaled in relief. At least she wasn't about to make problems about that.

As he walked over he had to acknowledge she cleaned up nicely. While she wasn't dressed to kill, the black skirt and dark blue blouse looked good on her. Even though most women didn't even consider it a hair-style Harm had to admit the pony-tail really fitted her, leaving her entire face revealed, not hiding her attractiveness. She really was a good looking woman, but, Harm was sure, she would've been a stunning, drop-dead gorgeous one if she'd at least smile once in a while.

And not her shark-like smile, but an honest, happy, carefree smile. Which made him realize that that exactly was the reason she never smiled: she obviously wasn't happy with her life and she definitely wasn't carefree.

10 yards from the car he used the remote to unlock it. Assuming now that she was more collected than the day he'd forced that confession out of her, she'd be like Mac who resented chivalrous gestures, he was about to get in the car when he stopped.

Loren wasn't making a move to get in even though it was quite clear the car was unlocked. Instead, she was standing there, feet apart, crossed arms supporting her breasts, chin set and glaring at him.

So, this was how it was gonna be, eh? This was how she was gonna make him pay for manipulating her to get out of her apartment by involving the Admiral. She was probably gonna be difficult and obnoxious throughout the evening.

Setting his own jaw, Harm refused to regret being concerned about her.

Opening the door for her he waited for her to get in without a word, then closed it.

The ride over was spent in silence, even his compliment of her clothes was met with a glare.

Why the hell did the women he cared about always take his caring as an offense?

Harm sighed quietly, it was going to be a long evening.

When they arrived at the tavern he opened the door for her again and again without even a look of thanks.

About to enter the building Loren stopped, making him stop as well. Seeing her raised eyebrow he looked at her in confusion, clueless what she wanted of him now.

"Didn't your mother teach you any manners?"

She was still pissed alright...

Cluing in, Harm extened an elbow for Loren to hang on to. When she did he opened the door and let her go before him.

If he'd been curious about Loren's motivations for such ceremonies, his doubts were all banished for as soon as their friends caught sight of them he could feel sharp nails dig into his arm.

He held back the grimace of pain, not wanting to let his friends on, but mainly unwilling to give Loren the satisfaction.

Okay, he got it. She was angry at him for backing her into a corner by involving the Admiral, forcing her to go out when all she wanted to do was stay home and brood. For that she was making him pay. The good part about it was that with Loren he was at least sure she wouldn't intentionally try to embarrass him as part of revenge.

No, she would just act like a bitch and try to make him as miserable as possible.

Tough for her, though, was that Harm had plenty of recent experience with a woman acting like that. Compared to that woman, Loren was definitely an amateur in bitchiness.

Unfortunately for Loren, Harm already had a plan in place for just that occasion, a plan that would insure her maximum interaction with others and minimum interaction with him, if the circumstances required it.

He could see some of the non-coms snicker and whisper as they watched them approach, Chegwidden looking at them as if he wasn't sure whether they were aliens or not, Mac looking pissed, Bud as always confused and Harriet thoughtful. The other officers paid them no heed, deep in their conversation on court strategies.

As soon as Loren let go upon arriving at the table Harm moved out of her reach, covertly shaking his arm and rubbing the punctured spots in an attempt to soothe the sting.

Harriet, whom Harm had notified of his plan of socializing Loren but not about the story behind it, immediately swooped in, taking over as she physically pulled Loren into her little group, involving her in their conversation.

Harm, in the meantime, gratefully took the empty seat next to the Admiral, who was smirking at him from behind his glass of beer.

"What was that all about, Commander?"

Harm shrugged, sighing heavily as he wiped away small droplets of blood from his small wounds "Payback, sir."

Chegwidden couldn't contain his amusement, which didn't really help matters.

"The Lieutenant's quite a firecracker, isn't she?"

Harm sighed "You have no idea, sir."

Looking down into his beer, the Admiral sobered "It's hard to care about someone when they're doing all they can to make sure no-one would care about them, keeping everyone far away and isolating themselves. Or, even worse, acting in the way others would get the impression they're not even worthy of being cared about."

"You sound like you're speaking from experience, sir." Harm dared.

Admiral frowned at him "Not really. I just recognize the signs. Singer for some reason either thinks she's not worthy of meaning something to anyone or has been hurt in the past and isn't willing and ready to trust anyone again. Either or both. In any case, you're gonna have to be steadfast if you want her to let you in and we both know she's got a better chance of beating this if she's got some sort of support system."

"Aye, sir." Harm replied, deep in dark thoughts "That I know."

Chegwidden looked at him curiously, but seeing Harm wasn't willing to share he turned back to his beer.

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