Morale was a tricky thing and her own confidence here had been had had its shaky moments. Rand’s suggestion that she simply put out a call to people if she wanted a dance night seemed simple, but Leah had a fear she had never had before in her life: what if no one showed up? How sad and pathetic would that be?

But then she took a page out of her own therapist notebook and reframed it: if no one showed up, she would have one hell of a practice session after not having danced properly in awhile. And you know what? She was good with that.

So after some organizing with the galley, Leah put out the invitation on the ship’s internal network:

To: ALL CREW
From: Lieutenant (j.g) Hart, Leah (PhD, NP)

Re: Dance Party- Gym- Saturday night

Hey folks,

I love to go out dancing and find myself missing it. Come on out to the gym after 2000 hours and we’ll have the place set up for a little party. There will be beverages and small bites. We’ll play a variety of music depending on who attends and what people like. Come have fun and be social. You don’t even have to dance if you don’t want to. There will be conversation as well.

~Leah

Saturday night rolled around and Leah had the gym equipment tucked away and replaced with a couple tables along one wall for the food and drinks, plus a couple smaller tables with chairs in one corner in case people needed to sit for a bit. The gym could only fit 40 people in this set-up and that was more than planty in Leah’s mind. She didn’t need tons of people, but just enough to not feel alone here in her fun.

She had donned her favourite fitted green satin halter top that twisted in the front across her chest and was made of this awesome fabric that breathed amazingly well despite the shiny finish. She had a flouncy skirt that was black on top and white on the underside with an asymmetrical hem so it ended mid thigh on her left side and swept down to her shin on her right. There was a ruffle on the hem that meant when she moved you could see the different colour underneath. She completed this with gold high heeled sandals with a good heel base for dancing, and her hair was up in a high ponytail exposing the large gold hoops she wore. Dark makeup accented her eyes and accentuated a pale gold lipstick and dark mascara.

At 1955 the first attendees arrived and she had the music already going with an electronic dance selection. The lights were dimmed but not dark and she had brought in some bright coloured lanterns to cast some glow in spots. She twirled and gestured for people to come on in. She recognized one of her fellow nurses, and an engineer NCO. Leah flashed them a grin as they joined the fun, even as they chuckled at her antics. Someone had to get the party started and it might as well be her!

~Leah Hart, NP