<div align="center"><strong>Stephen McPherson - still living in the past (or more specifically, Chapter One) - en route to and inside the best little hothouse in town</strong></div><br/><div align="center">*******</div><br/><strong> "My name is Simeon, but if you need to call me, 'Help' gets my attention almost as well." </strong><br/><br/>Steve figured that was about as polite as the guy with the stick up his arse was going to get, and he took it as a concession of sorts, an acknowledgement they were on the same side and needed to be civil to one another.  Steve was certainly willing to meet him half way.<br/><br/>"Steve" he responded, a little nod of the head.  There, that should do it.  Anything he could think of to add to that would probably come across as belligerent, intended or not.<br/><br/>**************<br/><br/>Steve was a tad confused for a moment when his First Officer put her arm around him and started playing the role of the flighty fiancee.  As soon as he realized he was supposed to be playing a role, his confusion turned to a barely concealed exasperation.<br/><br/><em>See, this is another frackin' instance where a frackin' briefin' would have been frackin' nice!</em><br/><br/>Hazing the new guy, or even putting him into uncomfortable situations, wasn't an unheard of event.  In fact, it was going on in military and paramilitary organizations dating back to ... well, Steve wasn't sure how far back it dated, but he felt confident it went back to the caveman days.  He knew he was the new guy, and expected to get shit on here and there, but gorramit, you don't pull this kind of shit on a mission where people might start shooting any second now.  He realized his initial momentary WTF look may have given them away, but maybe not.<br/><br/>"I'm just glad you're not still upset over that comment I made about marriage earlier."  Then he reached down to gently pat her tummy.  "You know I didn't mean it, and you know I want little Simon to get off to the best possible start, with a Mommy AND a Daddy.  Now, you pick out what you want, honey, I'm going to go look over the spices and herbs selection."  He figured that would give him a good vantage point to keep an eye on his two comrads, and put enough distance between them that the didn't all make easy targets for a single shotgun blast.<br/>