So, You're Dating a Serial Killer, Or How to Help a Silly Science Officer See Sense

Posted on Mon Jan 6, 2020 @ 2:18pm by Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Commander Caleb Ryan

1,999 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Doors of Perception
Location: Gino's
Timeline: MD 16 - 1000 hours

Each day it was easier for Alanna to concentrate on work. Each day she found more time that she wasn't thinking of Sovok, wasn't remembering what happened when she went through the portal. Jason was a big help, but she couldn't use him as a crutch. It wasn't fair to either of them.

Today, she was listening to the soundtrack from a Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta and singing along as she sorted through requests for supplies and equipment.

Caleb strode into the Science department and flashed his handsome smile at the ensign on front desk duty. She blushed and giggled slightly, but of course let him walk right up to Alanna’s office. He pressed the chime, and then when invited, he stuck his head in.

“Thought ya might like a coffee break. Ah’m buyin’,” Caleb offered the younger blonde. He noted the music and kept from cringing. He wasn’t a guy for musicals, but to each their own.

Alanna felt the cringe more than saw it. She turned around, ready to give him a polite refusal. Then she saw his face. He looked friendly enough, but there was something in his eyes that told her this was more than a simple request. "All right. Computer, stop music." She marked where she left off and logged out of her computer. "Where to?" she asked, walking up to the commander.

“Ya like Paris?” Caleb asked Alanna. “Gino’s is doin’ a French theme this week. He’s got a nice sidewalk bistro goin’ in the mornin’ with a good view of the Seine. An’ I hear the croissants are ta die for.”

"I've never been to Paris, but it sounds great," she said. She loved a good croissant. She followed him out of her office and down to the promenade. She had an idea what he wanted to talk to her about, but would wait for him to say something.

Gino’s did a fair amount of business, though it was too early for lunch and too late for breakfast. They were greeted inside by the attractive, buxom Charlene. “Welcome!” the greeted, with a French accent. “Table or booth? Or veranda?”

“Veranda,” Caleb said.

Charlene led them to a table outside, where they could look out over the beauties of Paris. “Can I get you a drink?”

“Coffee is fine,” Caleb ordered. “An’ a basket of your croissants and butter.”

“Oui. Very good.” She looked expectantly at Alanna.

"I'll have a hibiscus lemonade," Alanna said.

“Excellent choice, mademoiselle,” Charlene said. “I will return shortly with your drinks.” She left a menu on the table, just in case.

Caleb leaned back and looked across the table at Alanna. “So how are things?” he asked. “Ya doin’ okay?”

Alanna watched Charlene walk away. She was definitely the type of person to bring lots of men to this place. She hesitated a moment before responding to Caleb. "Well, apart from being kidnapped, raped, and shot, I'm good."

“You seen the counselor yet?” Caleb asked. “Why are ya back on duty already?”

"I had my first meeting with her yesterday," Alanna replied quickly. Then, more slowly, she added, "I need to work. I can't sit around in my quarters...thinking." It was far easier for her to concentrate on work. There would be plenty of time for the nightmares later.

Caleb nodded. “Ah can appreciate that,” he told her. “Ah felt the same way after Ah lost mah Mika. Except Ah was laid up in Sickbay for a month. The pain in mah leg was the only thing keepin’ me from focusin’ on the pain in mah heart.” Caleb didn’t usually talk about his deceased wife. “Ah want ya ta know Ah’m hear for ya,” he told Alanna. “Ya’ll can call me anytime, day or night, for whatever ya need.”

Alanna smiled. "Thank you. I appreciate it. Although I'm not sure you really want me calling you at all hours." She'd heard rumors he was seeing someone in medical, and doubted he'd want her calling him when he was with his girlfriend. "I've got Jason, and he's helping me get back to normal."

“Yes. Mr. Haines.” Caleb’s voice notably cooled. He was distracted from continuing by the arrival of Charlene with their coffee and croissants.

When they had settled everything properly, Caleb looked across the table at Alanna again. “Mr. Haines is someone Ah wanted ta talk to ya’ll about, Ms. Wells,” he said evenly, doing a good job of keeping his anger reigned in. “Ah think there’s somethin’ ya’ll should know about his intentions on that away mission,” he said quietly. They were the only couple on the veranda, so they had a bit of privacy.

That was what she thought. Alanna took a bite of a croissant. "Oh, these are good," she said, taking a minute to eat before responding. "With all due respect, Commander, I probably do know."

“That he intended on killin’ ya?” Caleb said coldly, his feelings for Haines plain in his voice, his long fingers tense around his coffee cup.

Alanna put her glass down, looking directly at the commander. "No, he didn't. He had orders from Temporal Intelligence to keep the Vulcans from using Pangaea and the portals for an invasion. He was to kill me rather than let the Vulcans get that information from me. But only if he couldn't rescue me. And Jason would have moved heaven and earth to rescue me. You saw what state he was in, what state we were both in. It would have been a simple matter for him to shoot me if murder had really been his plan." She leaned forward. "He told me about his orders. He also gave me a transponder pip so he would know if I'd been taken through the portal. Not so he could find me and kill me, but so he could save me. And he did, at considerable risk to himself. It would have been a simple matter to shoot me and run away." She paused for a moment. "I appreciate your concern. I really do. But you don't have the whole story." She couldn't help smiling as she continued, "You know as well as I do that Jason has a tendency to...disregard orders." She trusted Jason with her life and nothing that happened in the parallel universe changed that.

Caleb frowned. “And abandoning his team, as well, apparently. It was only circumstance that we were going to the same place. We could have all been killed if we’d been forced to search for him before we could leave. Or be trapped in that world with no way home. Ah don’t like mah people workin’ at cross purposes. Nor do Ah like a man who’d follow an illegal order an’ kill his team member. Or the woman he purports ta love.” An expression of pain crossed Caleb’s face and he looked away out over the Seine.

Alanna felt some of Caleb's pain and gave him a minute, then continued as if she'd noticed nothing. She wasn't sure he'd appreciate her asking questions. Or reminding him again that if Jason had waited for the escort team, she'd be dead now. "He would have contacted you once we were away. Didn't he tell you he was leaving? Were you still in combat when he left?"

“We had just finished. We were dealing with the dead an’ wounded. We needed ta get back ta the portal an’ get out. He just said his piece an’ took off,” Caleb told Alanna darkly. “We’d have got ya back,” Caleb told Alanna. “Ah don’t leave mah people behind. But Haines didn’t give me a chance ta assess before takin’ off, or any idea where he was goin’, an’ Ah needed ta think of the rest of our safety an’ do some recon. But now Ah had him in the wind. It just complicated ever’thin’. Ah’m glad it worked out, that you...well, Ah don’t want ta minimize what ya went through,” he told Alanna. “But there are away team rules for a reason.”

Alanna looked down at her glass. "Sovok was going to send me to his ship. He set a trap for you." Her voice was just above a whisper. "I stalled as long as I could." She couldn't tell him what it cost her to stay on the planet just a little longer. "If Jason had waited for you, it would have been too late. He knew Sovok wanted me, he knew where I was, and he knew about the trap. I...reached him telepathically. Time was running out..." She paused, then looked at Caleb. "Tell me this, Commander, if it had been you and your wife instead of me and Jason, would you have waited?"

Caleb’s hands clenched on his coffee cup, and the delicate china shattered, scalding him with hot coffee. He hissed and cut off an ungentlemanly curse as he picked up the napkin. “Ah would have never put mah wife in that situation,” he said. “Maybe Ah would have done what Haines did,” Caleb had to admit. “But that doesn’t change the facts. He left his team ta hang, made himself a liability that could have gotten the entire team killed. Ah don’t have the luxury of thinkin’ of personal what ifs, an’ Ah resent that ya brought mah wife inta this,” he told Alanna, his voice hard as he cleaned scalding coffee off his pants.

The violent wave of emotions was a shock. She hadn't meant to bring them out with her question. "It wasn't Jason's fault I was there. He didn't want me to go," she said defensively. "But I...needed to see Sovok leave, to know he was really gone. If Jason hadn't insisted I take a transponder pip with me, none of you would have known I was there until you'd gone back through the portal, and then it would have been far too late."

Her hands trembled from a combination of her emotions and Ryan's. "I'm sorry I upset you, Commander, that was not my intention. But in punishing Jason for leaving you instead of taking into consideration his reasons, you make me feel like my life is less important than following regulations." She stood. "If you'll excuse me, I need to leave before I say something else we'll both regret. I appreciate your concern, I really do, but I have to go." If she didn't, she was going to break down and she didn't want to do that in front of the XO.

Caleb felt gut punched. He kept his emotions about Mika tightly locked up, and when they came out, it tended to be violently, like when he punched that reporter. Now he felt guilty to subjecting Alanna to them. He forgot she was a Betazoid and would sense the roiling surge inside of him Even after two years, it was still raw.

“Of course,” Caleb said, standing like a gentleman as Alanna got up, clamping down hard on his emotions. “Ah apologize if Ah overstepped. Frankly, you are the more valuable of the pair of ya,” he told her. “Ah just want to make sure yer not in for another world of hurt from Haines. Take care of yerself, an’ as Ah said, ya’ll can always call me.”

She paused. "Thank you for the croissants. And, if I do end up needing help, I'll let you know." She was visibly shaking now. It wasn't his fault. Everything was still too raw, and she was too emotional. "I'm sorry..." Then, feeling her control crack, she turned and hurried out of the restaurant.

“Take the day,” Caleb told Alanna as she left. He sighed and gestured for Charlene to bring the check.

FIN

Commander Caleb Ryan
Executive Officer

Charlene
Waitress
Gino’s

Lieutenant JG Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer
Deep Space Five

 

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