37. Andi

37

ANDI

" H ey, what's wrong, big guy—you seem preoccupied today." Andi tried to talk casually as she took a seat beside her partner in their favorite café not far from the Sacred Grove.

"Hm? Nothing's wrong. Just thinking." Thrax shook his head as he sipped the mug of hot chai Andi had ordered him. He had developed a liking for it after they had gone to an Indian restaurant on one of their bi-monthly restaurant trips to try new cuisines and now it was his favorite breakfast drink.

Andi told herself she should be glad her partner only seemed preoccupied and not horribly depressed. Their routing was back to normal—the trips to try new restaurants, their movie nights, the friendly camaraderie—everything was just like it had been for the past three years.

But she couldn't help remembering how good it felt to be held in her partner's arms…or how his big hands felt on her breasts…or how hot his mouth was when he spread her open with his tongue…

Stop it—stop thinking about that! It's in the past and the past is toxic—you have to let it go! she lectured herself sternly.

She took a sip of her coffee—no tea for her, thank you—and tried to turn her mind to other things.

"So I was wondering if you knew where the fuck I put my blaster," Thrax rumbled, startling her.

Andi jumped and nearly spilled her coffee.

"Oh, uh, your blaster?" she asked weakly. Actually, she knew exactly where it was. Kat had given both her own weapon and Thrax's back to her the next day after the ceremony and Andi had stored them in her own suite. Thrax seemed completely cured, but she wanted to be sure he was unarmed, just in case.

But now her partner was totally his old self again and she knew she couldn't keep his blaster forever. After all, they might get a new mission from Commander Sylvan at any time—Thrax had to be able to protect himself.

"Yeah, my blaster. Do you know where it is?" Thrax asked, breaking her train of thought.

"I, uh, think you might have left it at my place. You know, after our last mission," Andi lied.

He frowned.

"Speaking of our last mission, I know this is crazy, but I can't seem to fucking remember much of it. I know we went to one of the planets in the Twisted System, but I can't remember which one."

"You can't?" Andi felt a surge of panic.

"No, I can't. And I can't figure it out—every time I try to think about it, I just get these misty images that disappear the minute I try to sort them out." Thrax put down his cup of chai and rubbed his temples. "It's really fucking with my mind. What's wrong with me?"

"I'm sure nothing's wrong. Maybe…maybe it has to do with the swamp gas we breathed while we were on Salacious Delta," Andi said quickly, improvising. "They called it ‘the Fume' remember?"

"Kind of…did it smell like some kind of Chinese food?" Thrax frowned.

"Sweet and sour chicken," Andi said, nodding.

She hoped she wasn't disturbing his memories too much—she didn't want to undo the healing that the Cleansing Ceremony had done.

"Anyway, we went to get Commander Kier, who had landed there by mistake," she told him. "We found him and brought him back and now he's safe and happy again." She shrugged. "And that's it. So it doesn't really matter if you don't remember."

"Yes, it fucking does!" Thrax growled. "I don't like feeling like I'm losing my memory!"

"You're not —it was just the swamp gas," Andi said, doubling down on the lie. "Look, don't worry about it. I'll bring your blaster to your suite later today if it'll make you happy."

Thrax grumbled something under his breath but he finally went back to sipping his chai. Andi went back to her coffee, feeling like she had narrowly averted disaster. Hopefully her partner would accept her explanation of what had happened during their last mission and be content.

If he didn't, she wasn't sure what she was going to do.