Talking It Over

Posted on Sun Nov 10, 2019 @ 12:33pm by Civilian Jason Haines & Lieutenant Alanna Wells

2,779 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Doors of Perception
Location: Haines' Quarters
Timeline: MD12, 1800

ON

Alanna's injuries were not as severe as Jason's, so she was released after her shoulder was taken care of. But she wasn't ready to talk to people, so she chose to work from her quarters. It gave her something to do instead of dwell on the previous day's events.

She asked the computer to alert her when Jason was released from sickbay. She wanted to be sure he was okay, and she needed to see him. When she got the message, she finished up what she was working on and headed to his quarters.

She was still dressed casually in a t-shirt and cargo pants when she rang the door chime.

Jason was sore and still a bit woosy from the pain medication. That said, he was a lot better than he was last night. His jaw was still a bit swollen, but the medical staff said that would go away in a day or so. He looked up when the door chime rang.

He slowly made his way to the door, dressed in his shorts and t-shirt, and opened it. Seeing Alanna he smiled slightly and he said, "Hey, come in. I was just about to have a drink, can I pour you one?"

He stepped to the side so she could come in if she wanted to.

She walked in and hugged him. "No, I don't want a drink, thanks." It wouldn't help her feel any better, and was more likely to make her more depressed.

Jason had been in sort of a haze since sickbay, but the hug brought his mind to focus and reminded him of the past 24 hours. He tensed just a little bit before fully embracing her. He wasn't sure of how to handle things. He had never been in the situation he was currently in. He had never known someone who had been assaulted who he was currently in a relationship with. It was confusing for him.

"They got you patched up ok?" he asked.

"Physically, anyway. I'm supposed to see a counselor who's arriving in a couple of days." She pulled back, concerned about his hesitancy. "Are you okay?"

"Still a little sore", Jason said with a bit of a smile. "They said I should be better tomorrow, but I might not want to try yodeling for a few more or I'll make things swell up again. Guess I'll have to contact my agent and cancel the tour."

"So much for the Swiss Days festival," she teased.

"Can I get you anything?" he asked. "I'm starving, but don't know what I want. The replicator will make over ten thousand dishes and I can't think of one that I want."

"Do you want an omelette or pancakes?" she asked. "What's your favorite food?"

"Seafood linguini", Jason replied. "but not right now."

"Cake", he exclaimed after a moment of pondering. "Want a piece?"

"Sure-but only if you want some," she said. "What kind do you like?"

"Lemon, with vanilla frosting", he replied. "And for the lady?"

"That sounds good. I'll have what you're having. And a glass of milk," she said. "Cake has to go with milk."

Jason got the cake and the milk for them and set it at the table and pulled the chair out for Alanna. Once she was set, Jason went to his chair and looked around before sitting.

"I am glad I didn't come with a lot of things to pack", he commented before cutting into his piece of cake.

"Pack?" Alanna asked. "Why pack?"

"Well, I can imagine Ryan's pissed at me and when Soran finds out that I was shall we say way ahead of them she won't be pleased", Jason replied. "I got 24 hours in the brig for being a touch upset. I'm expecting a good keel hauling even though the ends definitely justified the means."

"You did it for a good cause," Alanna replied. "And you were following orders, so I hope it won't be that bad."

"Yeah, well, that's the other side of it too", Jason said. "I don't know how well Commander Soran is going to take to me having two bosses. Something tells me one way or the other that will end pretty soon. Resigning and spinning the wheel at a dabo table might be easier."

"She might understand," Alanna said. "She's not always hard to deal with."

"Yeah, play good dog and everything is fine", he said before taking a sip of milk. "regardless of what happens though, it was all worth it."

She put a hand on his leg. "Thank you. I...wouldn't have been there much longer." She paused, still feeling mortified. "I'm sorry for...what you heard."

He shrugged, putting his hand on hers. He didn't know what to say. He had been hoping to not have to broach the subject.

"Not your fault", he said as he scooped in a big chunk of cake.

She couldn't look at Jason. In one way it wasn't her fault, but in another, it was. "He did it on purpose. He thought that if you heard...that...you'd leave me there. With him. If I hadn't tried too hard to keep my boots, to keep the pip you gave me, he wouldn't have found it and used it to lure you into a trap. At the same time, if I hadn't, I would have been on his ship when you arrived."

"Well, guess he thought wrong", Jason said stoically between bites of cake and a drink of milk. "Arrogant bastard."

Alanna nodded. "Yes, he was. Sadistic, too."

"Well, I don't think we will have to worry about that in the future", Jason replied.

Alanna nodded. No, they would not have to worry about that any more. But she couldn't stop thinking about it.

Jason squeezed her hand again, "Music."

"Music?" She looked at him. "What about music?"

"Computer, light jazz, volume low", Jason said.

Music started playing as Jason did need some minor distraction from the conversation at hand.

"See, music", he said as his face gave a slightly pained look. "I don't understand how he got to you. Didn't Soran isolate him after we went into the portal?"

"He had his guards, but he was still standing in the room with the rest of us," she said. "Scaliontis and I were asking him questions from time to time, partly to find out more about the other world, and partly to find out how long it would take you to get back. We couldn't communicate through the portal. At one point, I even tried telepathy."

A brief scowl danced across Jason's face.

'So Soran let the man be casually engaged. What the hell was the woman thinking? ', Jason thought.

"I see", Jason simply said. "What's done can't be undone without breaking a number of laws, but I'm thinking about it."

"I thought it was okay, too, Jason. There were Marines in the room, Sovok had his guards. Scaliontis was nearby. I expected an invitation, not a kidnapping. He threw Scaliontis into the guards, grabbed me, and was through the portal before anyone could react--even me. He had it all planned. Tarik and a bunch of his men were there, waiting for us. He told them to shoot anyone who came through the portal."

She couldn't eat more than half her cake. "You were what kept me going. I knew you would find me. All I had to do was wait."

Jason nodded, wondering why she hadn't listened to him.

"He was evil", Jason said. "I knew I had to be ready. But you know I am serious. I can change it. I was doing some rough calculations for a slingshot maneuver with one of the Wallace class ships while I was in sickbay. I need to be careful because of the planet, but I can make it so it never happened and I'll kill the son of a bitch before he can ever lay a hand on you."

He was essentially just smashing his cake up at this point. Alanna could feel the anger rolling off of him.

She took both their plates and recycled them. "No, you can't." She sat down and took his hands in hers. "I did listen to you. I was being careful. But I never expected him to grab me and jump through the portal. No one but you did. I expected him to try something after you got back. I underestimated him. You did not. However, if you do this, it would be murder and I won't let you do it. He's dead and I'll recover. We both will. We'll be more cautious and we'll appreciate what we have more. I need some time to get over this--and I'll need your help to do it--but I will get over this. I refuse to let him affect the rest of my life." She held up his hands and kissed them. "We will get through this and next time, I'll do better. I kept the knife close, and I kept the pip in my boots. I just didn't have a chance to use either without him taking them from me first. Right now, I need you to help me. I'm not asking for much. I just...need you to hold me so I can find my center of balance again. Then, we'll deal with this, together. And we'll come through this, together."

He pulled her close and said, "I'll try, but right now, I'm nowhere near balanced. I'm very upset and angry and the one person I so want to yell at right now will put me in the brig no questions asked, so I don't know how I am going to deal with all this. I might hinder you finding your balance more than help you."

"No, you won't. Right now, being with you is where I feel safe." She cuddled closer to him. "I don't blame Commander Soran. I knew he wanted me, but I didn't think he'd...go that far. I blame myself. Neither of us can--or will--go back and change what happened." She wasn't sure exactly how to say what she wanted, but she needed to try. "Can we hold on to each other and help each other work through this? I don't want to lose you over what happened."

"You should blame her", Jason said shaking his head. "A drunk cadet could have thought of a better plan. In fact, all of them, both sides should have been thrown back through the portal once they started fighting. Crewman Tolar still has a concussion from being slammed into a door a couple of times. And the thing is, we are to blame. We tried to force our moral structure on them. Once we got on their side of the portal, it was their rules, not ours. As we saw, their rules are vicious. Soran should have seen there was no way for things to end well."

"We are idealists. I didn't expect him to follow or morals, but to at least respect them." And all the while, he'd been planning on kidnapping her. "You can inform TI that they have no interest in using the portal, or in our universe. After he sent you back, he was going to bury the portal so I couldn't escape or be rescued. He had no interest in what I knew, either."

"What an idiot he was", Jason said squeezing her hand. "very short sighted."

He sighed and just held her. She could feel his turmoil, but he was doing the best he could to keep it down.

"You were the only one who wasn't," she said. She appreciated the effort he was going to for her. "And if you want, I'm fine with just sitting here and listening to music together."

"I'm not sure I can manage much more", Jason replied. "Last night I was running a bit on auto-pilot, but now my brain is trying to think about things and well, it can stop anytime it wants."

"This is enough for now," she assured him. "Being with you helps more than anything."

Jason kissed her on top of the head and gave her a gentle squeeze.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere", he said as he led her to the couch and sat down with her and put his arms around her.

"Good." She curled up next to him and listened to the music play.

Although he had been well taken care of in sickbay, Jason's body was still tired and before either of them knew it, he was lightly snoring.

Alanna shook him gently. "How 'bout we cuddle in bed?"

He opened his eyes and said, "Sure. Sorry, I didn't mean to doze off."

"We could both use a good night's sleep, and I'd much rather do it together," she said. She didn't sleep well the night before, but she knew that, with Jason beside her, she would. "Come on, love." She stood and held out a hand.

Jason got up and took her hand and followed her into the bed room.

"Sorry about the mess", he muttered as he moved some shorts and a tee-shirt off the bed. He took his uniform off and slid into the bed.

"I don't care." She gave him a teasing smile. "But I may use it for leverage later." She took off her shoes, then stripped off her outer clothes and climbed into the bed. "All I want right now is to cuddle and sleep."

"Well, you better get the cuddle in fast as I am not sure how long I will stay awake", he replied. "Its still early, but I feel like I was hit by a runabout going warp 9."

Alanna snuggled up to him and wrapped an arm around him. "It's okay. Being with you is enough."

"You are setting the bar pretty low if I am enough", he said with a chuckle. He gave her a kiss on the head.

"No, my bar is pretty high. It took you to surpass it, after all." She got more comfortable, finally feeling safe enough to relax.

"Oh really?" he asked, somewhat groggily. "Let me guess, it was my amazingly smooth elbows that made you say, I got to get me some of that."

"Oh, definitely. You have a sexy wenis."

Jason laughed and said, "Not as sexy as yours."

She found his elbow and pretended to consider it. "No, yours is pretty sexy. It's got that cute little dimple right here." She kissed his elbow. "Yep. Very sexy."

"Well, I will make sure to keep it in tip top shape", he said. "I wouldn't want it to lose its appeal."

He stroked her hair and cheek gently and then took her hand and kissed it.

She smiled. "No chance of that. You're like a banana. You're very appealing."

"You know", Jason said. "If I had more energy, I would have to have you arrested for that one it was so bad. They would take you away to the punitentiary.

Alanna chuckled. "Good thing. I'm very punny." She settled next to him again. "I can always punish you more later, after we've had some sleep."

"Orange you being a little extreme?", Jason replied. "I might have to appeal to the courts on that."

"See? There you go, being more appealing," she teased. "There has to be a law against that somewhere. Probably a peanut court."

"Yes, but I heard you need to butter up the judges before the case or they will crack down on you", he answered her with a chuckle.

"And if you use the wrong kind of butter, they charge you with a salt and buttery."

He rolled a little and kissed her sweetly and when they broke, he said with a chuckle, "I figured you could go all night with that, without intervention."

"Probably." Although it was nice to joke around again. "I'll let you get your beauty sleep. We have to protect that wenis."

"Don't you worry", Jason said. "My wenis will be fine, but I am not sure if there is any amount of beauty sleep that can help me out. Sleep well, dream of flowers and butterflies, or something else nice like that."

She shook her head. "I'll dream of you. Butterflies are evil."

"They must be taking lessons from the tribbles", Jason said before giving Alanna one last kiss.

"Mmm. Tribbles, and butterflies and man-eating plants. Such pleasant thoughts." She chuckled softly. She'd rather dream about Jason.

"Sleep tight", Jason said before turning out the lights.


[OFF]

---

Lieutenant JG Jason Haines
Chief Intelligence Officer
Deep Space 5

Lieutenant JG Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer
Deep Space Five

 

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