[DREAMS]

She had been there for almost fourteen hours now, only leaving the building to eat something for lunch. And, once again, her communicator went off, its sound echoing between the spacious lab's walls. Apart from the guards there were only a handful of people scattered across the building, but the only one Serena cared about was working in the other end of the floor.

Letting out a tired sigh she walked over to him, not bothering with knocking. The door slid open, revealing a man sitting behind a table in the middle of the blindingly white lab. For a second Serena let her gaze stop and linger on the back of his black shirt, seeing the muscles through the thin material, but soon turned away and cleared her throat.

"You know, Harrison, I'm not your maid or assistant," she stated as she walked closer, standing right in front of him with arms folded over her chest. When his blue eyes finally looked up at her, Serena shook her head and said, "I want to go home soon, so what is it now?"

Harrison didn't say anything, only pushed a PADD over to her without breaking eye contact. She ran through the text then put it back down in front of him with a sarcastic laugh. Seconds passed without either of them speaking up, but soon enough he broke the silence.

"I need these things as soon as it's possible," he stated seriously.

"Well, I guess you'll have to wait until you can find someone to do the shopping for you tomorrow," Serena replied with a shrug. When the man slightly tilted his head to one side, she sank down on the chair behind her and crossed her legs. "I helped you before but it doesn't mean you're my boss now. If you need help again, all you have to do is asking me. Nicely," she added quickly.

With an arrogant smile on his face, Harrison stood up and looked down at her with his hands behind his back. "I can still contact Admiral Marcus," he informed Serena coldly as he walked over to her side of the table, making her stand up as well. "I'm sure he would be more than willing to give you an order to be my assistant in the next couple of months."

The lack of the previously safe proximity intimidated her and she couldn't help but take a few steps back. "Why me?" she asked weakly.

"Do I need a reason?"

"Actually, if you would even talk to Marcus just to make me," Serena replied, her voice becoming more confident, "then yes."

"Serena, wake up."

John's deep voice and his long fingers on the side of her face made her give in and finally open her eyes. He was crouching next to her side of the bed, already wearing his blue uniform, and his bright blue eyes were looking down at her, accompanied by a warm smile. Serena quickly put her hand in front of her mouth as she yawned and stretched her other arm.

"Good morning, Sleepyhead," he said after he sat on the side of the bed. "You should get up so we can have some breakfast before our shift starts."

Of course, it was the Enterprise, not Earth, not London. But the dream seemed so real. Again. It had started roughly a month after they left the planet for the first five-year mission in the history of the Federation. In every single dream she was on Earth, working in some nameless building with John Harrison; her John Harrison, but he wasn't himself. He was cold and arrogant and demanding, no sign of the kindness in his eyes that she loved so much.

Then she woke up and it usually took her a few minutes to get used to the idea it was nothing more but a dream. It wouldn't have bothered her if she wasn't spending most of her nights with John, because whenever dream-John was cruel to her, she found it a bit hard to get used to the idea that real-John was one of the nicest people she had ever met.

"Morning," she said with a small smile while she sat up and gave him a quick kiss. "How was your sleep?"

"Short," came his reply as he flashed a mischievous smile at her. "And it's not my fault since it was you who kept me awake." Serena tilted her head to the side and gave him a disapproving look. Sure, now it was her fault. "I'm only responsible if you're late from your shift," he pointed out before adding, "Or if our plans for the evening are completely ruined."

"Enough," she said with a carefree laugh then stood up on the bed. The only piece of clothing on her was her black panties but she didn't care about that. Not with him. He was so handsome, so intelligent that sometimes she couldn't even imagine what he saw in her, but most of the time she was happy to have him around and she was more than happy to please him. "By the way, how about having lunch together?"

John stood up and turned to face her, his fingers caressing the skin on the sides of her waist as he leaned close to her. "I'm sorry, but not today," he murmured quietly as he placed kisses across her collarbone. "I think I'll work pretty late so I won't even go over to your quarter for the night."

"No problem."

"Sure?" he asked, glancing up at her.

"Yes," Serena stated with a reassuring smile as she jumped off the bed with her arms around his neck. "I'm a big girl, John, I can sleep alone."

He wanted to say something but his communicator interrupted him so he let out a sigh and left to answer it. Serena listened to the conversation, keeping eye contact with him the whole time, even flashing a small smile at the man when she heard he wasn't about to have breakfast with her because there was some kind of a problem in his lab.

After she quickly got dressed and kissed him goodbye, Serena went to the sickbay instead of the mess hall, hoping she would find Dr. McCoy there so early in the morning. Most mornings he was there, enjoying the quiet hours when he had the entire place mostly to himself. But this morning he was in his office, resting his head on his arms while he was sleeping peacefully. She hated herself for doing this, but eventually she knocked on the wall next to the open door and waited for him to wake up.

The doctor raised his head to look at her, fighting back a yawn. "Sorry for waking you up, Bones, but do you have a minute for me?"

"Sure, what's wrong?" Bones asked as he sat up straight and pointed at the chair across from him.

Serena sat down and ran a hand through her long brown hair. Maybe it wasn't a good idea after all, she thought. But it was too late now. "The dreams I was talking about two weeks ago," she started. "They are getting more frequent lately; I mean I dream the same thing every other night. And when I say "the same thing", it means it takes place in the same twisted world."

"Probably you're just stressed and tired."

"Stressed? About what? I'm working with computer systems and programs all day long. It's a completely peaceful job," she added just to make it clear. She did love her job.

"Then I don't know, Serena." There was a short pause. Bones looked up at the ceiling for a second and this usually meaningless movement alarmed her. Then he spoke up. "Is everything okay between you and John?" he asked, his hazel eyes now fixed on her.

"Of course," she replied without thinking but then it struck her. Okay? Everything was perfect; maybe too perfect, but she couldn't start talking about it as if that was a problem. This is what Bones was implying, that maybe something was wrong between them? "Wait, you think I'm dreaming about a completely different John because something's wrong between us?" she suddenly asked just to make sure she didn't misunderstand it.

Bones shrugged. "I'm just guessing."

"You know, I'm just worried because these dreams feel so real. God, I'm scared that I might be going crazy."

"Listen, I'll talk to Jim and tell him you're taking a few days off," he finally said, resting his elbows on the desk and resting his chin on his folded fingers. "Doctor's orders, but you have to promise me you'll have some rest. If things won't change after that, we'll talk again."

This sounded way better. Maybe he was right and she did need some time for herself. "Okay, I promise I'll relax," she nodded with a smile. "But now I'll let you sleep or go have something to eat. Thanks for the chat and I'm really sorry for waking you up," Serena said before she turned around and headed towards the mess hall.

Author's note: So I was bored and this idea is the result. I'm really interested in what you think so far.