You started to get nervous when you put your hand on the door handle of the bridge door. You hadn't been back up to the bridge since Chris had sent you away last time. Your heart rate slightly increased as you remembered the snickers you had gotten from the bridge team to his dismissive comment towards you. The whole thing embarrassed you so much that you had stormed off the bridge. That wasn't something that you wanted to repeat anytime soon.

"Hey (y/n)."  You heard as you jumped from the the voice coming from behind you. "Are you joining us tonight?"

You quickly turned around and came face to face with one of the people from the self defense class. She was beaming at you as she stood there. You slightly smiled back at her. Her welcoming reaction to you was encouraging.

"For a bit." You replied with a slight smile. "Chris said that he wanted to show me something."

"Tonight would be a great night for it." She said as she slightly glanced off to the side.

"A great night for what?" You asked as you looked at her.

She beamed back at you. "Oh no. I'm not going to ruin that surprise. Your going to have to wait until Chris shows you."

"Okay." You smiled back.

Then with a smile, you were about to open up the door to the bridge when the door right beside you started to move. You jumped back as the door opened up. Suddenly there was several people coming out of that door. They saw you and smiled as they greeted you. Then they headed into the bridge. Then as the last person was getting ready to walk out of the room, you recognized him as being the guy who was on the chart table when the ship had pulled out. He looked at you and smiled. Then he turned he head back towards the room.

"There's someone here for you Chris." He called into the room.

"Good. Send her in. We'll meet you there in a minute.  But go ahead and get everything ready." You heard Chris' voice say from the room.

"Roger that." He said back before he turned to you.

"You heard him." He said as he nodded towards the room. "We'll see you two in a bit."

Then with a smile he entered the bridge along with the girl that you had been talking to earlier. You gave them both a curious look before you turned towards the open door. When you looked in, you saw another chart table against one wall, as well as a computer near the door. Then you noticed the solid roll of filing cabinets leading up to a adjacent wall of shelves. The shelves were full of wooden boxes of all sizes and various pieces of equipment that you had never seen before and had no idea what they did.

"Hey." He said as he stood by the chart table as he was writing something down on a piece of paper that was in front of him. "I'm glad you decided to come up."

"Thanks for inviting me." You said as you stepped into the room and started looking around. "What is this room?"

"This is the chart room." Chris said as he stood back up and started gathering up the papers.

"That's a strange name for a room." You commented as you looked around.

Chris slightly laughed at you as he put the papers in the top drawer. "Perhaps if you're not familiar with what we do."

"Well I know that you do the navigation and the weather." You said as you looked at one of the wooden boxes that was sitting on the shelves.

"We do." He said as he turned and watched you. "But do you know how?"

"Well I suppose you would use some of this stuff." You said as you walked up to the shelves.

Chris stood there and watched you for a moment. Then he saw you looking at one of the wooden cases. He slowly walked up to you as you reached up and started to run your hand across the top of the box. He slightly smiled as he noticed you almost marveling at the small wooden box.

"Your on the right track." He answered as he stood right behind you. "These are a few of the things that we use."

As you ran your hand across the wood, you looked at the name on the metal plate that was attached to it. The name seemed a bit familiar.  But you weren't sure where you had heard it before.

"Sextant?" You said as you looked at it.

"That's right." He returned.

"What does it do?" You asked as you looked at him.

He gave you a smile back as he slowly lifted the corners of his mouth. "Well, that is exactly what I wanted to show you."

You gave him a curious look. "Really?"

"Yeah. We're going to be doing a special type of navigation tonight." He said with a smile. "We don't get to do it very often because of the clouds and all. So when we get the chance, we all come up to try our hand at it and see who can plot it the closest to the ECDIS gps display. I had hoped that you would enjoy to learn about it and would try it along with us."

You turned around and faced him as you leaned up against the shelves as you narrowed your eyes at him as you smiled. "I thought that you didn't like to train anyone?"

"Who told you that?" Christ asked as he looked at you.

"Henry."  You returned as you crossed your arms in front of yourself.  "And you, when you blew me off the last time I was up here."

"Oh, back when you were stalking me?" He teased back as he moved in front of you.

"Like I told you then, I wasn't stalking you." You said as you pointed your finger at him.

"Sure you weren't." He said as he stepped in closer so that he was within an inch of touching you.

"You just accidentally fell into me four times." He said as he reached a hand up and behind you.

You caught your breath from him being so close. You could feel his warm breath on you and even smell his smooth cologne that seemed to match his tone. You placed your hand on his chest as you saw his outstretched arm moving. Your heart rate increased as you anticipated his touch.

"What are you doing?" You asked in almost a whisper as your heart pounded in your chest as you looked up and meet his eyes.

Suddenly you jumped as you heard something sliding off the shelf behind you. You quickly stepped forward as you nervously moved away from it. But you were stopped short as you became pressed up against him because of it. Immediately you froze as you realized that you were touching him.

But he didn't move his body. Instead he moved his outstretched arm and brought it back in front of him as he pulled down the sextant case. His eyes never left you as he watched your reaction. And he never made a move to touch you. Instead he just smiled.

"We'll need this if we're going to navigate tonight." He said in his smooth voice.

"Oh." You said as you looked up at him. "Right. I suppose we do."

He smiled back at you before he stepped back with the case in hand. "Come on. The rest of the navigation team is waiting."

"Okay." You replied as you watched him turn and walk away.

But not before you saw him swallow hard as he tried to blink away the hint of heat that you saw fly across his eyes before he turned away from you. The gesture caught you off guard as you watched him. You hadn't expected that. But then again, you had just been pressed up against him.

But as he approached the door, you dropped your gaze and followed him. You didn't want to go there with him. And you didn't want him thinking that there was a chance that you would. Sure you were fighting with Ignis at the moment. But that didn't mean that you were ready to give him up just like that and go for someone else. Even if Chris had helped you out like he did.

As you stepped out of the room, you pulled the door closed and dogged it down before you followed Chris into the bridge area. As you entered the bridge, you were surprised that the bridge was a lot brighter then it had been the last time you had been there. And it was also a lot busier since a lot more people were walking around and all seemed to be going back and forth between the chart table and the adjacent bridge wing.

"There they are." You heard one of them say as you and Chris walked over to the table. "We were beginning to think that you might have changed your mind."

"Are you kidding?" Chris asked with a smile. "I never miss a chance to navigate by the stars."

"Wait a minute." You stated as you walked up to the table as you watched Chris. "Your going to navigate by the stars?"

"Well, yeah." He replied with a smile. "That's what a sextant let's us do."

Your jaw dropped as you looked at him as he placed the case on the table and opened it up. Then you looked at the device and was puzzled. You had never seen anything like it before. Which was why you watched intently as he took it out and attached the monocular.

"Is the other one out already?" Chris asked as he started checking the device as he moved several things on it.

"Yeah." One of them answered. "We've already picked out the stars as well."

Chris smiled as he looked at them. "Good. So which ones are we using tonight?"

"We were going to use Aerith. The first star in the Carbuncle constellation." Another one chimed in.

"And why Aerith?" He asked as he looked around at the rest of them.

"Because it's the only one that is the most constant northern star in this hemisphere." Someone else answered.

"And what's the second one?" He asked the group.

"We went with Barrett. The last star in Bahamut." One of them answered.

"Great choice." Chris said as he smiled. "Another good constant and far enough away to allow for a good second bearing.

"Good. I'm glad everyone paid attention from last time." Chris returned with a smile as he looked at everyone.

"So what does the winner get?" One of them asked.

Chris thought for a moment before he smiled back at the team. "The winner gets dinner on me when we pull into port."

"But you always do that and you always win." One of them responded.

"And who's to blame for that?" Chris asked back with a smirk.

You couldn't help but to smile as they all looked around sheepishly. You figured that he must have been doing this for a while for all of them to act the same way. He was starting to remind you of a certain sandy blonde with glasses. The thought made you happy and torn at the same time.

"Alright everyone has their goal." Chris said as he shifted the sextant in his hand. "Let's start shooting, the next plot is in 2 minutes. That should give the first team enough time to locate both stars and get their bearings for our first fix.  Then after that, each team rotate through as we all take turns shooting every two minutes.  Let's head out and get started."

"Right." The group responded.

Then they all turned and walked out of the bridge. You stood there smiling at Chris as he turned his attention back to the sextant and started making some adjustments to it as he held it. After a few adjustments, he turned his attention to the chart table and grabbed a strange looking circle thing. As he reached for it, he held the sextant out to you.

"Can you hold this for me for a moment?" He asked as he studied the thin circle.

"Sure." You said as you nervously grabbed it from him.

As you held it, you noticed how heavy it felt. Even though it looked like it should weight next to nothing. Then as you looked at it closer, you noticed that there were several lenses on it. You slightly moved each one out enough to see that each of them were a different color.

"What are these different lenses for?" You asked as you looked closer at them to see if you could tell what the actual colors were in the red light.

"Those are to prevent you from burning your eyes when you take a bearing from the sun." He answered without looking at you as he moved the circle thing in his hand.

"You can get a bearing from the sun?" You asked him in a stunned tone.

"Well yeah." He replied as he gave you a quick smile. "It is a star after all. You can even use the moon if you wanted to."

"They both have a set pattern for which they cross the sky which makes them idea targets. In fact most of the time, you can navigate solely by the sun during the day. But that's because it only goes from east to west across the sky. Which makes it easy to figure out which direction your going. As long as you know the general direction to go towards that is." Chris said as he set the ring back down.

That was when you notice three things that just stuck out from the side of the sextant. "What are these for then? They can't possible be of any use."

Chris then slowly reached over and place his hand on yours as it held the sextant. Your hand slightly trembled from his sudden touch as he gently turned your hand to the side and moved it over the chart table.  His eyes never left yours as he moved your hand over the table and set the sextant down on the table on the three things that were sticking out.  He then wrapped his fingers around yours as he took your hand away from the sextant as it now sat on the table propped up.

"Those are supports."  He said in almost a whisper as he brought your hand down and away from the table. "This way you can set it down safely."

"Oh."  You whispered back as he tighten up his grip on your hand, while his eyes were still focused on you.

You stood there for a moment as you started to get lost in the gentleness of his touch.  He took one step forward and closed the gap between the two of so that you were now only a inch apart.  Once again, you could smell his cologne and could hear his breathing as he looked at you.  And no matter how hard you tried, you just couldn't take your eyes off of him.

He didn't have the bored or frustrated look as he had before.  No this time there was something different.  Something almost longing in his eyes as he searched yours.  But you could tell by his clenched jaw that he seemed to be arguing with himself about this.

You opened your mouth to try and say something.  But right at that moment, the first team of two people came back into the bridge. Immediately he released your hand and stepped back as he looked over at them as they came in and walked over to the table.  They were both beaming as they walked over.

You couldn't tell if their excitement was because they were excited about what they had just seen between the two of you.  Or if they were just excited about finding the stars right away and they were the first to plot their bearings with no problems.  But either way, the tension between the two of you seemed to disappear as he focused on them.  You watched as they looked at their coordinates and put their marks on the map that was on the table.

You asked them questions as they marked their bearings.  They were more than happy to explain how they gotten them and how they used the two points to figure out where they were on the map, or chart as they call them when it is a map of the ocean.  Chris went into explaining that there were several different scales for each chart and that when the ship got closer to the port that the scale would be bigger so that they could properly navigate through the tight harbor.  You couldn't help but to get excited as they explain all of it.  You had never thought about learning a skill like navigation before.  But the idea was exciting to you now that you had seen it in action.

In no time at all, the next group came in with their bearings and the first team went back out.  They did the same thing the last team had done.  Then they retreated to the bridge wing as well as the next team came after them.  When the last team came in, you noticed that Chris didn't watch them as closely. 

But then again it had been the guy who had been on the chart table when the ship had pulled out.  You figured that he did it so much that this was nothing but play time for him.  Just like it was for Chris as he seemed to almost beam as each team was coming in and laying down their plot.  But right as you were getting ready to relax as you figured the last team was getting ready to go back out, Chris picked up the sextant again then looked at you.

"You ready?"  He asked as he slightly smiled at you.

"For what?"  You asked as you gave him a puzzled look.

"It's our turn now."  Chris said with a smile.

"Oh.  Really?  Okay."  You said as you slightly stumbled over your words before you started to get excited about it.

You hadn't expected to participate like they were. But as Chris beamed at you and gestured to the door as he held the sextant.  You couldn't help but to smile as you quickly headed for the door.  Chris simply smiled at you as he lead the way by opening the door for you.

You thanked him as you stepped out onto the bridge wing.  But as soon as you stepped outside, you understood why the bridge seemed brighter than it had that first time you had stepped onto it.  Because hanging low in the sky and as bright as it could be, was the moon.  Immediately you were blow away by the beautiful sight as the sky was lite up.  The sight was like something that you only heard about in stories as the stars seemed to twinkle in the clear night sky as they stood out bright among the dark blue of the sky.

"Wow."  You gasped as you stared at the moon as you walked over to the railing.

"Gorgeous, isn't it?"  You heard one of the female quartermasters say as she kept her eyes on it.  "This is why we have all been standing outside.  None of us want to miss a minute of this."

"It is gorgeous."  You answered as you stood beside her.  "And I don't blame you for staying out here."

"(Y/n)." You heard Chris call from behind you.

"Oh right."  You half laughed at her.  "I suppose I should be paying attention."

The girl half giggled at you.  "If it's possible with him."

You simply smiled back at her then you turned and walked up to Chris.  He was standing by a weird contraception that was bolted to the deck as you walked up to him.  You looked up at Chris and smiled as you came to a stop in front of him.  He smiled back at you as he seemed to scan you with his eyes before he cleared his throat as he looked away.

"You never told me that it would be this gorgeous out here."  You commented as you cocked your head at him.

Chris smiled as he dropped his head.  "You never asked me."

You dropped your head as well as you smiled back at him.  "No I suppose that I didn't."

"But yes the night sky is beautiful tonight."  Chris said as he looked back up at you.  "But that's not the only thing that's gorgeous out here tonight."

You slowly looked back up at him with your mouth slightly open.  At first you confused as to what he meant.  But as you looked at him it was apparent that he meant you.  For as you met his eyes, you saw him staring right at you with a sensual smile.  You dropped your gaze back down as you bite your bottom lip as you could feel the heat coming off of your cheeks.  You hadn't expected that from him.  

"But let's find our stars for the night shall we?"  He asked as he looked away as he brought the sextant out and held it out in front of himself.   

You slowly looked back up at him.  "Yeah."

Chris then explain that the thing he was standing by was one the ship's gyro compasses that they used for navigating the ship.  He told you that it always shows the true magnetic north in relation to where the ship was heading.  By using the compass, they were able to figure out their bearing and the bearings of their targets.  So after seeing where you were in relation to north, he helped you figure out where the two stars were.  

Once you had them, he put the sextant to his eye and got the bearing of the stars.  Then you both headed inside to plot the target lines.  You watched him expertly lay down the lines for the plot.  You smiled as you watched him work.  He truly was very precise with his job.

"And there you go."  He commented as he stood back up and gave you a simply smile.  "You have just helped out with your first plot."

"I had no idea that so much went into all of this."  You commented as you smiled back at him. 

"I'm not surprised."  He replied with a smile.  "Most people aren't familiar with how this all works."

"I can now see why Henry was concerned about keeping you guys fed though.  Not just anyone can do this."  You commented as you leaned up against the chart table.

"Not true."  He said as he looked at you.  "Anyone who is willing to take the time, can learn this."

"I don't believe that."  You said as you crossed your arms in front of yourself.  "With all that math?  Not just anyone can learn how to do that."

"Okay.  I can see that I'm going to have to make a believer out of you."  He said as he gave you a searching look as he leaned against the chart table.  "Which is fine with me.  Because that means that you'll just have to be the one to take the bearings the next time we're up."

"Oh no."  You said as you stood back up straight as you got nervous. "I would be afraid to get it wrong."

"You won't.  Navigating isn't 100% accurate anyway.  Unless of course you're a GPS or radar system that is."  He said as he crossed his arms in front of himself.  "And besides, we won't let you get us off course or anything.  Not with the actual GPS and radar as our back up."

"Are you sure?"  You asked as you got nervous.

"I wouldn't say it unless I was."  Chris said back with a  smile.

"Okay then."  You said with a  nervous smile.  "I'll try."

"You'll do more than that.  You'll do it and you'll do it well."  He said right as the first group came back in to mark their next plot.

You beamed back at him before you turned your attention back to the first group as they laid down their plot.  Only this time when they laid their plot down, you paid very close attention to what they were doing.  Chris slightly smiled as he stood back and watched.  But you didn't pay as much attention to him as you did each group as they came in one after the other and laid down their plots.

By time it was your turn again, you felt a lot more confident after watching each group come in and put down their plots.  So when Chris indicated to you that it was time to head out.  You smiled and nodded with a determine face and walked out to the bridge wing with the sextant in hand.  Chris followed you back out to the bridge wing as he watched you getting excited about doing this shot by yourself.

Then he watched as you checked the compass and tried to use the sextant to find Aerith.  But as you looked around you couldn't seem to find it.  You started to feel your confidence starting to slip as you put the sextant down again and checked the compass again.  But even after that, you still couldn't find it.  On your third attempt you were starting to get frazzled.  You just couldn't figure out where the star was.

You let out a deep sigh as your shoulders sagged as you looked for the third time and just couldn't seem to find it.  But just as you were about to give up and hand it off to Chris, you felt a hand gently grab your hand that was holding the sextant.  You felt your heart sink as you just knew that Chris was about to send you downstairs for not getting it.  But as his hand was on yours it didn't take the sextant from you.

Instead, he slowly turned it to the right spot.  "Try looking here.  They haven't moved quite that far yet.  Perhaps by the end of the watch.  But not yet."

Your breath caught as he held your hand in place.  "Okay." 

You looked again and you could finally see the star.  But as you looked you were starting to shaking from how close he was.  It's not like it was a really bad shake or anything.  But it did make you look like you were cold or something.  Which Chris must have picked up on.  Since he moved over to you and wrapped his other arm around your waist and held you in place so that you could get the bearing.

"You must be cold. You're shaking like a leaf.  Let me keep you warm."  He said before he pulled you into his warm embrace.

Your heart rate shoot through the roof as your body started to tingle from his touch.  But you tried to fight against it, while you memorized the bearing.  As he held you, you could feel his breathing start to become rugged.  This seemed to increase after he got you in the right spot for shooting Barrett.  Then you felt him drop his head towards your neck.  

You could really tell he was starting to have trouble with it as he slightly brushed his lips across your neck.  The heat from his breath, blew across your neck as if he had just given you a gentle kiss.  You slightly gasped as you closed your eyes.  You had to stay in control.  You weren't going to give in to him.  You couldn't.  You had Ignis.  And you were going back to him   

But then just as quickly as it started.  It was finished, as you dropped your hands down after taking the bearing.  For he immediately released you and stepped away as he started to head back towards the bridge.  You couldn't tell what he was thinking.  But you could tell that he was struggling with himself as you watched him clasped and unclasped his hands a few times as he walked away.

Once you were back inside, you marked the chart just like you had seen everyone else do.  Then you turned and looked at Chris as he stood off to the side as he watched you.  He gave you a simple smile before his eyes did a once over on you.  Then he leaned back against the wall as his eyes seemed to rest on your hands for moment.  You then watched as his shoulders seemed to slump before he looked back into your eyes and gave you a sad smile.

"And now you have just put down your first plot."  He said as he started to get that bored look again.  "Now let's see of you can do that for the rest of the time."

 "I take it that I'm in with the bet as well?"  You asked as you searched his face.

"Of course."  He said back with a slight smile before he stood back up.  "I'll be back.  I have to take care of something in the chart room. So I'll be there if anyone needs me."

"Okay."  You replied as you watched him walk away.

As the door to the bridge closed behind him, you couldn't help but to feel that something was really bothering him. But before you could do anything, The first team came back in again and started to put down their plot. So you turned your attention to them as they started chatting with you.

You watched and talked to the other teams as they came through and put down their plots. Only one person asked where Chris was at. And that was the first quartermaster you had meet, Mark, as you found out when you asked. But beyond that, no one seemed to be super concerned.

This made you relax a bit. Perhaps he was fine and you were just letting your imagination get away from you. At least that was what you thought until you peeked your head into the chart room to get him when it was your turn. Because when you saw his face, even though he wasn't even looking at you, you knew that that wasn't the case.

"What is it?" He asked in a cold tone as he once again was standing by the second chart table as he was writing something on some paper in front of himself.

"It's our turn." You quietly responded to him as you tried to figure out what had happened to change his attitude so drastically.

"I already showed you what to do." He said without looking up from the papers in front of him.

"Don't you want to come out and..?" You started to ask.

"You got the gist of it." He interrupted as he continued to write.  "Besides, we wouldn't want you to have an unfair advantage now would we."

"But I thought that we were a team like the others are?" You quickly asked before he could interrupt you again.

He stopped in his tracks as he rolled his head slightly. You could see his irritation as he sat there. Which puzzled you. You looked at him as you tried to figure out what had happened to change him this much. Then it dawned on you what Henry had meant earlier.

"Who?  That kid that was just here?  That was Christopher.  But he goes by Chris to most of us.  He's one of our quartermasters.........He is right under the Navigation Officer in my book for accuracy in his navigation skills..........But he told me that he's not interested in babysitting anyone. 

"You know what." You said as you could see this blowing up in your face. "It's fine. Forget I asked. I had forgotten that you hate to babysit anyone."

Then as he quickly turned to look at you. You only gave him a hurt glance before you closed the door back up and headed back to the bridge. Fuck him. You would show him that you didn't need a babysitter.

******Author Note******
Ever have someone had anyone throw you into something that you weren't quite sure about? I have. And it's not a good feeling or a good idea to do that to anyone.

But let's see how this will pan out in this case.  Will it prove to be too much? Or will it help to bring out the real reason for his behavior?

We shall see in the next chapter. But wait a minute? Who's at the door at this hour?

Thanks for reading.  :)
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