Author's Note: Just a little romance fic I wrote up over my school break. Needless to say, I was really, really bored. It may be kind of dumb because of that, but I just wrote it to pass the time. R&R, please.

0400 Hours, August 18, 2517 (Military Calendar) / Slipspace - Unknown location, near Urak System.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Jacob Keyes sat down at the communication station on the bridge of the Han, and looked at the clock. It was 0405 hours, and he had gotten only five hours of sleep. He yawned and began watching the channels for pirates as ordered. 'Well, not really ordered,' he thought, for the person giving the orders was not a superior officer, or a military personnel at all. She was a civilian. However, she had made it clear from the beginning that she was the one in charge, and the Lieutenant didn't want to go against her wishes.
When he had first been given this assignment, he was very confused, to say the least. He had graduated from UNSC OCS not too long ago, and he had had a very bad experience with his CO that had almost booted him out of the Navy. And so he had wondered why Doctor Catherine Halsey had chosen him to be the one UNSC officer to accompany her on her secret mission. He had asked, of course, and she had answered. He was suprised to know that she had chosen him because of his bad incident, and was also suprised to find that she trusted him. Ever since he had refused to testify against his CO, people had looked down upon him in a negative way. Now this doctor actually appreciated him because he had kept his mouth shut...it was a very odd, but welcoming, transition.
'Speak of the devil,' the junior lieutenant thought, sighing. Dr. Halsey entered (or, more likely, floated into the room since there was no gravity), and strapped herself in next to the lieutenant. Lieutenant Keyes hated the way she constantly berated him, but, still, he couldn't help but like her. There was something about the doctor that attracted the lieutenant.
"Good morning, ma'am," he greeted her. She started typing in commands at her station.
"Good morning, Lieutenant," she said absent-mindly, without looking up. Lieutenant Keyes wondered why he even bothered. She would always ignore him; she would never stop to consider how nice he was trying to be and getting nothing in return. Keyes turned back to look at his screen. He scanned the local area, and found nothing out of the ordinary. He watched the doctor.
After a while, Dr. Halsey noticed his linguring gaze and looked at him. "Is there something wrong, Lieutenant?" Keyes caught himself and quickly answered, "No, ma'am," and looked back at his moniters. He stole one last glance at the doctor, then rechecked the system. Still nothing new. The lieutenant grew bored. He wanted to talk to the doctor, just a little chat to pass the time, but he knew that she wouldn't allow it, so he just kept quiet. Then he thought of a question that the doctor might actually awknowledge. He cleared his throat.
"Ma'am?" He waited for her to look up, and finally she did.
"Yes?" she asked. She looked irratated.
"I was wondering...we've already observed the first child, and concluded that he will be one of the final seventy-five. So when will we observe the next?" the lieutenant asked.
"I plotted a course last night for the next planet, and we're almost there. Did you not notice that we were in Slipspace, Lieutenant?" Keyes looked down. He had been so tired last night after working for the doctor all day that he hadn't even noticed.
"No, ma'am," he replied. He couldn't meet her gaze; he felt ignorant. He looked at his displays instead, checked the area again, and saw that everything was clear. Then he turned to face her. "How long exactly until we get there?"
"We have ten more minutes in the Slipstream, then twenty more once we get to normal space," she answered. Keyes wondered what he should do until they landed in half an hour. As if she had read his mind, Dr. Halsey said,
"Just continue monitering the radio waves, Lieutenant." Lieutenant Keyes did as he was told.
A few minutes later, Toran, the ship's AI, announced, "Entering normal space in six minutes." As Toran had stated, Keyes felt the ship slow down and saw space around them fill with stars.

0612 Hours, August 18, 2517 (Military Calendar) / Docking bay, planet Ceres.

They had finally landed on the next planet. 'Candidate number two of one hundred-fifty,' Lieutenant Keyes thought, wondering how long it would take him and the doctor to see that many children.
"Here, take these," Dr. Halsey instructed him, and handed him a pair of civilian clothes. Lieutenant Keyes grunted. He hated having to wear civilian clothes. He felt odd outside of his uniform.
"I still don't understand why I can't just wear my uniform," he muttered. "I hate these messy clothes." Dr. Halsey smiled.
"Just put them on, Lieutenant," she said. Keyes walked to his quarters, put the stupid stuff on, and came back. He tugged at his shirt, trying to make it more comfortable. Dr. Halsey laughed when she saw him battling with his new clothing. "Stop trying to fix it; you look fine. Let's go." Lieutenant Keyes obeyed, and stepped off the ship happily. She had just complimented him.

0834 Hours, August 18, 2517 (Military Calendar) / New Chicago, planet Ceres.

"Here's our next boy," Dr. Halsey said, showing Lieutenant Keyes the subject. This boy had short blonde hair, and brown eyes. Keyes looked out at the playground. None of the boys he saw matched this one.
"I don't see him," he whispered to the doctor.
"Neither do I; keep looking," she replied. Lieutenant Keyes kept scanning, but he still couldn't locate their candidate.
"Maybe he's not at school today?" Keyes suggested. Dr. Halsey shook her head.
"No, he's got to be here." Keyes sighed and took one last glance at the sea of children...and finally spotted him.
"There he is," the lieutenant said, pointing to a boy sitting under a tree, reading. The doctor looked at the child, looked at her datapad, and then spoke.
"Good work, Lieutenant," she replied. She handed him the data pad. "Same as yesterday. Record everything."
"Yes, ma'am," Keyes said. 'Do I have to do this every time?' Keyes thought. 'Just stand here and record while she does everything else?' This mission seemed so pointless, when he thought about it. All he was doing, basically, was standing, and all she was doing was flipping coins in front of little kids. How could this possibly make a difference? 'And I got pulled of the Magellan for this.' He watched as flipped the quarter into the air. Well, this mission wasn't all bad. After all, he had met her, and would get to spend time with her. Maybe, by the time this was over, she would feel the same way about him. Just maybe.