It starts in my soul...

[lt_paula]

Paula lounged by the pool, her head arms folded beneath her head as the sun warmed her back. She was half-asleep from the heat and the fatigue of her late night, and she stretched and yawned, wiggling into a more comfortable position on the chaise. The party to which Jim and Leonard had been invited had gone on until the early hours of the morning, and despite catnapping between putting Olivia to bed and feeding and changing her later on, she had been exhausted by the time she and Hikaru had arrived back at their lodgings that morning. It was a taste of what she could expect in the future, she supposed, when she had a child of her own to care for, getting up for late night feedings and diaper changes.

She’d slept late and woken to find Hikaru gone to visit the ship, and so Paula had done some shopping and had lunch with Christine, then walked back alone. The pool was deserted, which had suited her just fine, and she’d changed and come down with the intention of going for a swim and soaking up some sun before Hikaru got back. They'd planned to go out to dinner tonight and see a little of the city, and she didn't want to be too tired to enjoy the evening.

It was humid but not unbearably so, the warm breeze causing a few loose tendrils of hair to tickle her shoulders and face. Paula tried to blow them aside with a huff, but when that didn’t work she reached up to tuck them behind her ear. She sighed and grew still again, her thoughts wandering as she drifted, not quite asleep or awake.