"This's my home system..." he whispered. "Grew up here, and all that, it's always been special to me--especially this." Another button, and the projection zoomed in on a single star, glowing mightily above the others, a giant among men... or in this case, burning gases. "This is my guide star... when I'd be out beyond the city I'd often get lost. This star's brightest in the sky every night, and it always seemed to point home." Dav paused, eyes glazing over for a moment as the memories came flooding back. "I've never had a name for it, unlike the others, nothing's ever seemed right enough for it." His weight shifted, so that he could crane his neck to look at her again with less effort. "... Would you like to name a star? That'd be my gift to you."

She turned her gaze back to him a moment and smiled. "Sure. That same one, right? I have a name in mind. " As she watched Davon, she realized that was the first time she was truly attracted to the man.

Snapped back into reality, he turned his attention back to Mara. "Nothing's ever seemed right until now, that star means more to me than it would to most... but I could never name her... which is why I want you to do it." Another sigh, he slid his goggles off his forehead and tossed them across the room, where they landed on a pile of three-day-old laundry, to say he was exhausted after the days events would be an understatement.

"What about....Amneris?" she asked. It was a name she always loved and had thought that one day she might name a daughter if she had one, until she realized she wasn't really the child-having type.

His normally thick accent had disappeared at this point; yet another wall he'd erected in his attempt to forget his old life, this rarely happened and, such as it were, Dav found his mental defenses slipping further and further out of his control. When Mara gave him the name he'd taken a moment to think about it, then with a typical Vanden smile, he'd nodded his head. "Lovely name you pulled out there, damn near perfect, actually."

She looked over at him for a moment. "No, it wasn't the best bar, was it? You seemed pretty content though. I really appreciate you doing for me what you did that night, and the next day. And you know....this." She sometimes felt that she didn't fit in. And she really knew that she was nothing like the rest of them, but it seemed as though the crew was a unique band of misfits, and in some twisted way, that made her right at home.

Finally, Mara turned her attention back to the ceiling. "Did I mention how cool this is? I don't have cool stars on my ceiling....." She smiled a little and let out a sigh.

She reached over to him and brushed a lock of his bright red hair back from his forehead as she watched his expression. "I'm sorry....I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." Mara wasn't sure if she truly did or not, but it seemed like it. "I've never been to that system, you know. But I've heard it's beautiful..." She said before she offered him a small smile.

Her next move was on impulse, and without thinking, she leaned down and pressed her lips against his tenderly. She didn't know why, but it felt right. And after all his trying, he had let her past that cocky exterior enough to make her feel comfortable enough to do that. It didn't last long, and Mara pulled back and looked down at him for a moment.

His fortunes had improved; had he known how easy this had been he'd have finished the projection matrix much sooner than he had. Hindsight was 20/20, at any rate, and all that mattered to him now was that his efforts had begun to bear fruit. Though if there was one thing he'd have changed about this moment, he probably would have shut the door, just in case. Still, jacket-less, with a beautiful girl clawing away at him, tearing buttons and ever-so-slightly crushing his lungs? This was definitely a much better night than he'd envisioned.

He pulled her down to kiss her again, and without a second thought, she responded enthusiastically, deepening said kiss. Mara had forgotten about the door for the moment and went to busying herself with easily popping the buttons of his shirt open with the thumb and forefinger of her left hand. Once unbuttoned, she rested her palm on his chest and dragged her black lacquered nails against his pale flesh, though not enough to hurt him.

Finally, she remembered the door, and broke the kiss long enough to say something about it. "Dav the....the uh door...." She paused for a moment before she caught his lips again.

A deafening silence filled the room; Mara could only sit and watch as Vanden, flustered and breathing heavily, proceeded to grit his teeth as a whirlwind of obscenities in several different languages erupted from his throat. His tirade was of a godlike and pernicious wrath; and if Mara'd been able to decipher any of it, she'd have heard him cursing the furniture's entire family to certain damnation. 'Twas as if the Gods themselves had brought down the full force of divine retribution upon it; were there clouds in the sky a bolt of lightning would have split the durasteel monstrosity asunder. Finally, over the course of a good thirty seconds, the raging storm subsided, and there Davon sat, defeated, leaning against the side of his bed. His hazel eyes, still red with pained tears, managed to find her own, and all he could do was offer an apologetic smile. "... Sorry 'bout that."

Mara had it expected it to ne agressive, wanting, but the nexts moments events were not expected at all. The pair crashed to the floor, with a yelp from her and a rather sickening crack of Davons head against he nightstand. Luckily, she was sparedthe pain of hitting anything aside from the cold, hard floor of his room. And even then, that hurt in itself.

"Dav..." she murmured as she tried to quell the stream of obcenities that was already flowing from his obviously unfiltered mouth. He didn't hear her though. Mara sat up and shook her head, clearing the dizziness within,when his tired finally came to a conclusion. "It's fine. " She said softly as she looked him over for a minute to make sure her wasn't bleeding or anything. Sure enough, there was a trickle of blood from the side of his forehead. "I'll get a medkit. " Mara said before she got up and nearl slammed into Doohan as she went. As if what had just happened wasn't embarrassing enough for the both of them, he fact that there was now a witness made it worse.

Mara's cheeks burned red when she saw the look on the old mans face. The fact was that when she did see him, she liked him, which made the situation all the more humiliating. "Oh hush. " she said as she brushed by him and dashed down the corridor to find a medkit to stir h the navigator up with. She had half hoped that he would wander his way down to the clinic room, but she had a feeling that she would just have to suck it up and go back there, despite how awkward things were going to be from now on.

Once she retrieved the med kit, Mara headed back towards Davon's room. What she saw next, she didn't expect. He was gone. "Uhm.....Dav?" A small frown crossed her face as she looked at the abandoned, messy room. His shirt was still laying there in the heap of bedding that had come off of the bed when the both fell. So wherever he was, he was shirtless and bleeding.