Getting to Know You

Posted on Wed Apr 6, 2016 @ 4:16am by Commander Caden Aldrex & Commander Amia Telamon M.D.

1,839 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Things Past
Location: USS Illustrious
Timeline: Four years ago

[ON]

Dr Amia Soren was lying on her bed, gazing at her ceiling dreamily. That gorgeous Trill from the Bridge had asked her out.... ::sigh::

Well, had he actually asked her or had she asked him? She wasn't usually so brazen and bold but there was something about him that just filled her with so much fire that she *had* to be sure she would see him again. She was now hoping he hadn't thought her too pushy? Oh dear!

The next day she was too excited to concentrate but she forced herself through the morning and finally the end of her shift loomed.

~Would he still like her? What should she say? She mustn't chatter too much. But then again, she mustn't be too quiet.... Oh Spirits, how was she going to know HOW much to talk and when to shut up?~her thoughts were racing.

~OH NO! WHAT was she going to wear????~ That was the last straw. She stopped fretting about what to say completely and could only think clothes.

She even said to one of the nurses that she wanted the patient in Bed four to have a new black dress, when she meant to say she needed him to have a new clean dressing put on his wound. It was hopeless. She was in pieces.

Finally she managed to get to her quarters, change into a new bandage..... no.. sports top and shorts and set off to the holosuite where the Parrisses Squares pitch was set up. Out of breath she arrived and found to her horror that he was waiting.

"Oh no! Don't tell me I'm late! That's SUCH a bad way to start! I'm sorry" she told him all in one rush.

Cade Aldrex grinned. "Hey, no problem. I just got here myself." He was holding an ion mallet in each hand. He offered her one. He, too, had spent an inordinate amount of time fretting about what to wear before coming here. He had opted not to wear his custom-made, form-fitted Parrises Squares outfit that, when worn, looked almost like it was painted on. Cade took Parrises Squares very seriously, and followed the professional league like a religion. Somehow it seemed wrong to clue Dr. Amia into that by taking this game so seriously. This was supposed to be a friendly, get-to-know-you match. So he wore simple gym shorts and a t-shirt.

Looking at her now, and seeing how fantastic she looked in her sports top and shorts, Cade suddenly felt like a slob. Oh, well. Nothing to be done about that now. His grin remained in place as she took one of the mallets.

Suddenly feeling uncharacteristically shy for some unexplained reason, Amia 'weighed' the mallet in her hands and swung it casually to and fro around gently. "Are you a fan of the Leagues?" she asked, trying to make it sound like a casual question. "I'm watching the Washington League myself. I'd like to go to Earth one day and watch a game 'live' but some players aren't interested in it that fanatically. I don't want to bore you if you're not interested in the Pro stuff?" She took up position in the centre square and took a practice swing, making sure he was still well out of range. Then she came back and stood in front of him again. "Heads or Tails?" she asked.

"Always tails. And yes, I'm a big fan of the professional league. Meridius is my team. But I'll watch any game, really. I'd be happy to catch one with you next time we pull into port."

"OOOH! Serious?" she enthused, her eyes bright with excitement. "I was never brave enough to go alone... but I would LOVE to go to a live match..... do you mean it?"

Young Caden's eyes darted from one corner to the other. "Yes, of course. Never been to a match? Really? And no one ever asked you? I find that hard to believe."

"It's true." she protested, her cheeks colouring. "I'm not making that up. I.... I wouldn't..... "

The Trill's signature boyish grin returned. "No, what I meant was...you're such a lovely woman that...I can't believe you've ever faced the possibility of going out somewhere alone."

"Now you're teasing me!" she pouted and gave him a glare. She couldn't keep up the mock-cross facade and her grin soon broke through. "I was a late developer. I never had anyone interested in me when I was young and it mattered. It seemed I was last to get picked for the team and last to get a boyfriend. I would have loved to get taken to watch the game but no-one wanted to take a freckle faced, flat chested geek, which is what I was until I was 21" she admitted honestly. I put on a growing spurt and my skin cleared up about 10 years after all the other girls in my class, or so it seemed" she exaggerated the amount of years, her eyes sparkling with fun.

"It all fades to nothing now that I have *your* attention though. Let those other girls be sorry now, right?!" she chuckled and lined up to receive his first shot.

That provoked a look of feigned hurt from the Trill. "Other girls? Who said anything about other girls? You wound me, my good doctor. I am a virtuous boy. Very sheltered, actually. It's sad."

Amia felt a slight pang of guilt. Perhaps he really was that well behaved. She apologised for her comment and explained that she had only meant it as a comment on her own awkwardness as a teenager. The moment passed and they played their game. It was fun and at the end they retired to the showers which were part of the program.

Clean and freshened up, the two emerged and were walking down the corridor towards the turbolifts discussing where to go on the Promenade for a coffee or even perhaps some lunch when a stunningly beautiful blonde woman approached them and, rushing over to Cade declared. "Oh HERE you are! I've been looking for you for ages." she seemed put out that she hadn't been able locate him and Amia wondered if she felt he should have been available by some prior expectation. It was something of a presumption but the woman's approach and attitude did seem to lead her that way.

"Who....?" Amia began to ask but stopped as the blonde pinned her with a withering look. "Just what *I* was about to ask?" she said, raising an eyebrow in what could have been an accusing manner as she stood in Cade's way appearing to be waiting for something. Amia felt embarrassed that she had earlier been foolish enough to have apologised for having thought of him as someone who probably had what the old sailors in long ago Centuries would have called "a girl in every port" - perhaps this was one of such women? Amia wanted to ask but it wasn't the right moment and it may well be one of those mysteries that unfolded itself if a person just waited and saw what happened next.

"Mikka, hey!" Cade said with enthusiasm, although his eyes told a different story. Was today the day that he had promised to meet her for a drink in the lounge?

"Hey yourself," Mikka said. "We were supposed to meet up two hours ago, but I can see you've had your hands full." She crossed her arms in front of her while giving Amia a head-to-toe appraisal.

Cade shifted into an apologetic tone. "I'm really sorry, Mikka. I must've forgotten my commbadge in my quarters. Amia and I were playing Parrises Squares. I guess it slipped my mind." Trying to make the best of the awkward situation he attempted to introduce them. "Mikka, this is Dr. Amia Soren. Amia, this is Lt. Mikka Tronstad from, uh, geosciences, right?"

"Delighted," Mikka said to Amia in a voice that indicated anything but. Then noticing that they both had damp hair, added, "Nice evening for a shower, eh?"

Amia refused to rise to that one but just gave a polite laugh as if someone had made a bad joke but everyone present had to pretend to be amused for correct manners.

"Listen Cade, Thank you for a great game, well played. Perhaps, as you appear to be late for your appointment with Mikka, I should say goodnight." she offered, trying to shorten the embarrassing contretemps.

Cade gave her a pained look, not sure what to say. He didn't want Amia to go but all the same understood that she wanted to escape this scene. "Look, Amia-"

"No, that's alright," Mikka said. "I think I'm done for the evening too. Enjoy yourselves, kids." She stormed down the curved corridor until she was gone from sight.

Cade closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Recovering he said, "I'm sorry about that."

"Er...... I'd like to say it's okay but I don't know how I'd feel if I'd been Mikka." Amia answered honestly.

"Yeah, i don't blame her, either," Cade said in a dejected tone. Things had been progressing steadily with Mikka over the past couple of weeks. To Cade it was just fun. To Mikka it had obviously felt like something deeper. Now that was all wrecked, and as he looked into Amia's disappointed eyes he could sense things were in tatters there, too. "I...guess we'll call it a night then, huh?"

Amia wanted to just take the release pass and run but something in the Trill's eyes and his dejection caught something inside her and tugged gently.

"Well, it seems a shame to waste a perfectly good evening, if you're hungry?" she offered tentatively.

He wanted to accept, more than anything. Yet somehow he was having a hard time looking her in the eye. After what had just happened it was hard to imagine how one would recover the charm of the evening. It was all his fault. "Maybe another time."

"Please yourself." Amia was offended. After all that had happened she considered herself as having been magnanimous in offering him another chance and to be just fobbed off seemed to say to her that it had been Mikka that he regretted having lost.

~Why else would he turn me down?~ was her immediate assumption.

"I think she went back to her quarters." she said, huffily turning on her heel and starting to head back in the opposite direction to the one Mikka had taken, intending to let him know that what she *thought* he was so unhappy about, had been apparent to her.

Cade watched her go. He was truly disappointed that he wouldn't get to know her better. There had been something unique about Amia. She was a cut above most other women he had met. Feeling small, he headed back to his quarters.

[TBC]

A JP Between:

Lt.(JG) Caden Aldrex
Helmsman - USS Illustrious

and

Lt Amia Soren
CMO - USS Illustrious

 

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