Dinner Date, Part 2

Posted on Thu Sep 17, 2015 @ 11:15am by Commander Caden Aldrex & Commander Amia Telamon M.D.

2,934 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Fallout
Location: Box of Delights/Ops/Sickbay
Timeline: Current but containing Backpost element

[FLASHBACK, SEVERAL WEEKS PRIOR]

"Should we do this once a week? EVERY week, no matter what?" she asked. It seemed like a complete change of subject but in her own logic it was the perfect solution. They could enjoy each other's company tonight and still come back very soon to talk to Yolanthe more.

Cade Aldrex watched the way his wife's eyes sparkled by the candlelight. "That sounds like an excellent idea," he said.

They ordered their meal and enjoyed three courses finished off with coffee and mints. It was the most delicious culinary delight after delight. They chattered, reminisced, gazed into each other's eyes and revelled in their togetherness, luxuriating in finally having special 'alone' time at last. If only their honeymoon could have been like this. But it didn't matter. Amia thought it was nicer to have their special moments in the present, once a week at least, rather than to have had a short period of honeymoon that was over-the-top and memorable but unsustainable in their new 'real life' afterwards.

"Cade?" she said finally, as they finished all they could eat and drink without exploding, looking out over the balcony of their idyllic setting. She slipped her fingers between his and entwined their hands as she waited dreamily for him to respond, her thoughts clearly elsewhere for a moment.

"Yes?" He replied warmly. Meanwhile the ever-present Yael appeared out of seemingly nowhere to refill their wine glasses.

"Yolanthe has offered us the Holosuite and much as I'm having the best time here just soaking up this beautiful setting and fabulous meal in the best company in the whole universe......... how would you like to go for a stroll along a Herushian purple sanded beach in the moonlight from the three moons, at convergence?"

"I'm not sure what you just said, but yes," he replied, folding his napkin and throwing it on the table. He was glad to go any place in the holo universe with her. "I've never heard of that program. Is it yours?"

"No, but it will be!" she replied with a sparkle in her eyes as she smiled up at him from under her dark lashes, provocatively.

"I've found a lot of random 'pick and mix' scenes and scenarios that are awaiting anyone's choice and I thought we could pick out some favourites to try out and save them into a kind of 'holo-playlist' to come back to and modify as we go along. Up for it??" she challenged softly, her voice conspiratorial and silky.

"Tell me more," Cade replied, his eyes crinkling around the edges. "What other scenarios are there?"

She did have the modesty to blush just a little. "Well, of COURSE, there are ALL sorts." She entwined her fingers with his and shot him a longing look from under her dark lashes. "But I was thinking of starting with something a bit 'beige' as it were."

Cade wasn't sure what she meant by "beige" but he knew the best way to find out. He push his chair back and stood. Then with a smile he said, "Come on, let's get to it then."

Amia grinned and rose too, lifting her napkin from her lap onto the table and straightening her skirt.

Yael, who had been standing a discrete distance away emerged from the shadows. "Is there anything else I can do, sir?"

"I think that'll do it for now," Cade answered. "Thanks, my friend."

Yeal offered a slight bow and then made his exit.

Cade gave Amia's hand a gentle squeeze. "Alright, show me this 'beige' you're talking about."

Amia pulled her husband gently by the hand and let him into the holospa and across to the suite where Yolanthe had allowed her to set up her scenario....

Punching in the program she had loaded she then led Cade through into the scene within, standing beside him to allow him to get a good look at the view.

What met their eyes was vast and beautiful landscape with rolling hills and deep valleys. From their vantage point they could see across the countryside which was strangely coloured with red, orange and yellow coloured trees, burgundy rocky mountain ranges and deep amber watered rivers running between blue-grey sanded banks. There were waterfalls of icy pale yellows with lemon yellow clouds of mist rising from where the foam at the base of these broiled. The sky was a soft pink with fluffy little lilac clouds and two emerald green suns shone a soft warm light down, bathing it all in a gentle complimentary hue.

It was both breathtaking and yet seemingly unrealistic at the same time. Amia whispered that this was a genuine and realistic reproduction of the planet of Temgral 4. "It's got the most unreal natives too. We can visit them over at that city if you like?" she pointed across miles of vast and seemingly difficult travel overground to the far horizon where there were pale, indistinct spires and buildings far away.

"I just thought we could be all alone up here for a while first?" she stood back and behind them it was suddenly apparent that there was a mountainside rock face in the native burgundy coloured rock with a little house-type façade built into the rock opening inwards so that the cabin within was build backwards into a cave beyond.

Gently pulling him towards the little pink and grey door, Amia showed her husband the inside of the little dwelling, but warned him first the he would have to duck his head as the doorway was quite low.

Cade came in and looked around. It was cozy in here. The only illumination was from a small lamp in a corner and a large fireplace complete with logs in a roaring fire. "I like this! Do all the Temgrali live this way?"

"I don't think so. It seems most of them live in that city we could see on the horizon." Amia replied. "I think this is either a holiday home or somewhere for someone exiled to live alone and remote from the rest." she had written the program for them to just arrive and stay as long as they wished but she hadn't thought up the back story as to who would have created the structure or made it cozy and ready to inhabit. It didn't seem to really matter a lot as the 'Holiday home' idea seemed to work. "I'll rewrite that part when we're back" she added conspiratorially in a whisper as if the computer could hear her.

Cade pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. "It's fine just the way it is. I really appreciate all the effort you've put into tonight. It makes me feel like I haven't done enough for you."

Amia nestled into his embrace and breathed in deeply. She had missed him so much since they had left the Nimitz. Her mind went back to the chirpy Pilot she had fallen in love with. He was always so happy and so much fun. These days it seemed Cade had taken on the weight of the whole Starbase onto his shoulders and Amia missed their talks, their confidences, their social life. She missed their old friends and their togetherness. She was homesick if anyone could be such a thing in space.

She refused to let tears fall. She was with him now and that was all that mattered. She wasn't going to let any sadness spoil their rare time together. She raised her head from his shoulder and smiled at him. "You're silly" she laughed and turned to lead him over to the fireside where they could sit on the rug and have a little picnic from the basket that was already placed on the table ready for them to lift down and open up.

She lifted out all sorts of goodies and spread them across the blanket. "OOh... this is lovely!" she said, admiring the spread.

Cade could sense that she was putting on her best face for him. There was more he wanted to say, but maybe it could wait for later. Right now she just wanted to be happy and enjoy the moment. "You think of everything, don't you?" he said with a wan smile. He picked up an odd pink-colored fruit, sniffed it suspiciously, and took a nibble. "Not bad," he said.

"Not bad??" she laughed. "You always were a cheeky p..... pilot!" she stopped and abandoned the ruder name she was going to call him and laughed again. He always knew how to make her laugh. It was the thing she had first been attracted to in him.

Cade loved to watch her when she laughed. She was so beautiful she lit up the entire room. He considered it both a privilege and a pity that he was the only one present to witness it. He took another bite of the fruit and had a seat on the blanket. Then he froze. "Hey, wait a minute. Didn't we just eat?"

"These are just the fruits of love" she joked and looked up at him mischievously. "but you should have been more careful than to bite into the rosy apple without checking I'm not a wicked step-mother who's just poisoned you into a deep sleep to await the arrival of your true love to awaken you." she laughed, misquoting the fairy tale of many centuries ago, sparking off a banter competition about which fairy tale they could apply, including Goldilocks and the three bears and reference to trying out the beds upstairs to see which was the softest. They had giggled and joked away, fooling around and making new memories and happy times, just the two of them, alone together, away from their everyday lives and work.


[PRESENT]

"Commander, are you alright?"

Cade was shaken from his reverie by the yeoman's voice. "Excuse me?" He was sitting alone in Isha t'Vaurek's office. He hadn't been aware of the teoman coming in.

The yeoman held out his PADD. "Maintenance report, sir. I need your thumb print."

"Oh, right," the XO said. He did as asked and the yeoman went back out the door and about his business.

Cade Aldrex sighed and looked around. Things were humming along fine without him. He was preparing the senior staff briefing notes for this morning's meeting. Everything was ready.

He opened the comm channel to sickbay. "Aldrex to Doctor Telamon, are you there?" He hoped he wasn't interrupting her rest.

Amia jumped as the Comm badge went off on the small ledge beside her bed, along with the other items that her colleagues, carers and friends had insisted were important to her.

"Yes?" she replied simply and with as little tone and emotion as a Vulcan might.

She was vaguely surprised that she knew how to work the badge in her hand.

Aldrex? That was the name of the man they said was her husband. Why did she not recognise his voice? She hated this amnesia.

She didn't understand why it was selective and she had looked at her own scans to see what was wrong. The medical part of her brain which was still intact, knew that her bump on the head she had sustained wasn't severe or lasting enough to be the cause. It was SO frustrating and to be honest, un-nerving.

Cade had addressed her formally to avoid putting her off with too much familiarity. After all they were strangers again. Still it crushed him a bit to hear her respond so coldly. He was used to hearing cheerfulness in her voice. "How are you feeling? Is there anything I can do for you?"

"No Sir, thank you. I feel like a stranger in my own skin. It's bizarre and to be honest, quite upsetting, but there are so many casualties from this episode that seems to have gone on that I feel guilty not to be able to pull my weight in helping others get better." she explained.

"Yeah, I understand," Cade said sympathetically. "I'm sure it's frustrating to want to help and not be able to, but we need you to get well yourself. Have you had any luck remembering anything?"

"A lady called Yolanthe is going to take me to see her emporium. She says we used to go there a lot and she's hoping it may jog something into place" Amia had the sound of hope in her voice as she explained that. Well, she had it in her heart and hoped it sounded in her voice too. She hadn't said anything to Cade yet... she's barely seen him let alone had chance to confide in him, but she didn't just feel guilty about the casualties and her work, she also felt guilty about what she *should* (apparently) feel about him too.

She wanted to sympathise, get closer to him, share this isolation and hopefully that might help. But what if it didn't? Wouldn't it be cruel to push it in his face? She was lost, confused and had no idea how to handle this.

"That's very kind of Yolanthe. If nothing else it might be good for you to get out of sickbay for a while." Cade stared at the bulkhead and imagined her face. What he wouldn't give to see her face right now. "You're doing great, alright? I know you're going to get through this. I'm very proud of you."

"Thank you," she said, not really knowing what else to say. If only she could just talk to him. Something stabbed at her heart. She'd wanted that before. It was a familiar pain. Something was wrong but she couldn't work out what or why. It was so horrible not knowing him like this. That hurt her heart too and again, she strove to reach the depths of that feeling.

"I......I'm proud of you.... too.... your job...." Where had that come from? What did it mean? WHY couldn't she remember? She clenched her fists silently, frustrated and confused. Her nails dug into her palm. Nails? Long enough to dig in?? That wasn't right for a surgeon? She turned them upwards and rubbed the blood off the longest one. She bit at it. It was a form of Acrysynth. She recognised the material. She must have created false nails over the ends of her natural, short, manicured originals. Yes she could see the slight ridge on the inside. Immediately before the incident that cost her the memories, she had got dressed up to go out and put on some glamourous nails for the event.

The emergency must have started happening while she was off-duty and she hadn't had time to clean up properly. She'd not be able to melt off the excess nail fabric. Yet, someone had been thoughtful enough to take off the colour. There had been colour, that much was clear. What had gone on?

She tried to clear her head. Such trivia. What did it matter about nails for the Spirits' sake?

His job. There was something about his job.......

Cade smiled on his end. "Thanks." He knew what she was trying to say even though it felt unnatural to her. To him it was an indication that her kind heart was still there. That part of her would never be taken away. "I'd like to come down and see you later if you're feeling up to it."

"Yes... I'm fine.... yes please." She hadn't wanted to sound so needy but that was how it came out. "If you have time," she added quickly, hoping not to be putting too much pressure on him. What was he like? She was desperate to know him again. She was finding the distance unbearable even though she didn't know why. They must have been very close.

"I'll come down as soon as I can. I'm spinning several plates all at once up here so it may not be until late. Don't wait up for me if you're feeling tired, okay?" It was a hard thing for him to say. If he could he would go down there right this minute. Then as a random afterthought he added, "I'll bring you some fruit."

"That'd be really lovely. Thank you." Something lurched inside her, she wasn't sure how to identify it but she knew it was SO important that it threatened to make her sob for no distinguishable reason other than that she just HAD to. She couldn't have been more confused or lost and she didn't want to be alone but he was there and she was here and she remembered at least enough to know that it wasn't possible to disobey whatever it was that held them apart. She supposed it must be duty. She could remember that side of things, it was the personal details she was struggling to reclaim.

On his end Cade sat silent for a few extra beats. There was so much he wanted to say to her. He wasn't sure how. Finally, in a gentle voice, he said, "I'll see you soon."

"Yes please." She tried not to let it sound like a plea and bit back on the irresistible desire to add a confirmation of the last and most important part of what he had said. "Soon!"

After the comm went silent she buried her face in the pillow and let go of something that hurt bad, still confused but knowing at least that this needed fixing. "Soon!"

[OFF]

A JP Between:

Lt. Cmdr. Cade Aldrex
Executive Officer

and

Lt Cmdr Amia Telamon
CMO (on sick leave)
DS5

 

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