Advice

Posted on Sun May 29, 2016 @ 1:05am by Lieutenant Liam Reynolds & Lieutenant JG Noelle Bennett M.D.

2,326 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Interlude - Day 1
Location: The Promenade
Timeline: MD1 10:00

ON:

Liam had just finished his second run of the week. She had been there AGAIN. He had been deliberately changing his routes up but every time she just showed up. Perhaps he should start not wearing him comm. badge. And now Cade had formally introduced them, she was seemly trying to talk more to him.

He had headed to his quarters, jumped in the sonic shower and changed. Then headed out. It was his day off. He had walked the Promenade awhile, flinched several times when he had seen a redhead. Now he was even getting paranoid. Cade was stuck in a ton of meetings and Amia on shift. So he decided to find some tea, something ridiculously naughty to eat and just people watch.

The café was Parisian themed. He had stumbled on it purely by chance. It even had the old timey circular metal tables and parasols you actually saw in Paris. Not that they provided any function. There was no sun to shade you from on the promenade. The waiter dropped a teapot in front of him and a cup and saucer. A cup and saucer! Liam grinned. It reminded him of his nan.

"I'll be out with your pastries in a moment Monsieur, zee Kitchen are jus warming them,"

Liam nodded and almost laughed at the flamboyant way the man turned on his heels and strolled back inside. Then he noticed a familiar face. "Counselor," he raised the cup he had just poured up and tipped it in her direction.

Looking up from her PADD when she heard a familiar voice call her name, Noelle smiled at Liam. "Hello. Fancy meeting you here. Care to join me?" She realized then she was grateful for the distraction from the reports she'd been reading and was more than a little hopeful he'd take her up on her offer.

Liam grinned. He stood up and started moving his tea over to her table. "On one condition," he said catching sight of the waiter returning through the inside café with his breakfast and the sheer size of it. It had not indicated on the menu there would be so much. "You help me eat what I just ordered that seems to be a mountain."

"Sure, thank you," Noelle replied after a moment's pause. She had been invited to share his meal, but there was still a part of her that was reluctant to intrude.

The waiter, possibly on autopilot went to deposit a large selection of pastries and preserves in Liam's last known location, only to spin around confused a moment later at his disappearance. Spotting him again at the other side, he swept them up once more and walked over. "Ah Monsieur, I see you have found a belle femme for company. Bonjour Madam. I shall fetch another plate."

"Enthusiastic staff," Liam observed trying not to outwardly show Noelle or blush at the fact that he agreed with the waiter that he had infact found a beautiful woman for company. "So whatcha doing there?" he commented on the stack of PADDs she looked to miserably be working through as he grabbed a croissant.

"Nothing too exciting. Just reading some personnel reports," Noelle added, putting the PADD down and reaching for her own croissant. "I didn't mean to invite myself to your breakfast, I guess I was just looking for an opportunity to not have to continue my reading."

Liam nodded and enthusiastically spread jam on his pastry. He remembered it well all the reports. Now he got different reports. And to be honest they were just as taxing to go through each week.

A young red head walked past making Liam jump. Realising for about the 10th time that morning it was not Rahia he let his shoulders relax again. Noelle had however noticed.

"You okay?" She hadn't interacted with him all that much, but she didn't know him to be anxious, especially around people.

Liam put the croissant down and looked at her seriously. "Yeah. No. Well .... you see ....." he started. This was awkward. How did you tell a woman you found attractive, yet were in a situation where you couldn't tell her that, about someone finding you attractive, that you didn't want the attention for, without coming out of it looking like either an egotistical twat or a complete Reginal Barclay????

He nervously stuffed the croissant in his mouth again and chewed mulling it over. He knew, as any good counselor and from their previous sessions she would give him the time to formulate his thoughts. "Okay .... " he said finally after swallowing again, still looking uncomfortable. "There's this girl."

Noelle tried to stifle the hint of a smile she felt forming as she listened to Liam. Understanding started to dawn on her. "The redhead?" Noelle asked, referring to the redhead that had caused him to jump in the first place.

"No .... well she is a red head. Cade's got this girl who works in ops and she's ....... don't laugh Noelle. She's crazy about me. Well three of them are. Cade jokes I have an ops fan club. And he's enjoying watching this happen far too much I might add, but this particular one - the red head, she keeps turning up everywhere I go. And well ... you know I am empathic. I know what her feelings are. And it's not reciprocated. It feels like I have a stalker," Liam told her.

All traces of good humor left Noelle as she listened to Liam's concerns. When he urged her not to laugh, she wondered if he had spoken of his concerns to anyone else and received that very reaction. It was important to gather facts and not jump to any conclusions, but it was just as important to take Liam's feelings seriously. His startled reaction to the redheaded waitress was genuine and indicated Liam felt fear. "I would never laugh about something like this," Noelle reassured. "How many times has she shown up where you were?"

Liam sat back thinking. "Let's see. She insisted on walking me out of ops then took 2 turbo lifts she didn't need to right before I came and asked you to go to Pangaea. Then she tried to get me to go for a drink with her. She popped up in the same restaurant Cade and I were having lunch at. Then sat facing me like a lost puppy. She's keeps showing up on when I'm running and I've changed where I go twice. She pops up in the diplomatic deck. Actually complimented me on my handling of the Romulan ambassador," Liam reeled off.

"Now she keeps trying to talk to me and I'm trying to be polite but it's awkward," he finished. He bit his pastry again.

Bennett listened to Liam as he shared his experiences, as he did so, she attempted to look at them from various angles. That this young woman was able to find him and show up where he was wasn't all that surprising. After all, it was simply a matter of asking the computer where he was located. That she would want to find him and that she had done so frequently was a completely separate issue. "When she talks to you, what exactly does she say? What do you say in return?"

"She started with diplomatic observations and questions. Now she's starting to ask about Betazed and more personal things. She found out I had a twin. I was polite at first. Kept it brief. I keep trying to keep it brief and polite," he replied. Noelle couldn't understand the feelings of lust, manipulation and possessiveness coming off the girl. She wasn't empathic. Liam realised it all sounded friendly chitchat. Yep he was coming off an egotistical twat. He sighed this was frustrating. But she did keep popping up.

Once again, Noelle sensed from his sigh that he expected to be disbelieved and while his words suggested the possibility the young woman was simply unable to pick up on social cues, Bennett was not the sort to dismiss intuition or in Liam's case, his empathic sense. Indeed, even though she wasn't telepathic or empathic, Noelle often used her human intuition to guide her work. To provide additional friendly reassurance to back up her earlier words, she placed a reassuring hand atop his. "Whether she is incapable of picking up on basic social cues or there is something more concerning going on, your discomfort is valid, Liam. At the very least, she has taken an inappropriate interest in your personal life. You mentioned your empathic sense has given you a clear picture of what her feelings are. What feelings are you picking up on?"

She placed her hand on his. Liam knew he was attracted to her but the way he felt when she did that did nothing to not confirm that fact. Dam it. And the worst part was she meant it as a friendly gesture. But, he decided to focus on this as it was far less dangerous than letting his mind wander in the direction of "what if" with Noelle Bennett. But the important thing was she believed him.

He pulled his hand away from under hers. Easier said than done. His eyes focused purely on his half eaten pastry. There was NO way he could say these words looking Noelle in the face and not have his mind go off in a different direction. This had been a bad idea. He should have gone to Amia. Or called Jo for advice.

"She wants me. You know ..... sexually. She's throwing out strong, powerful lust. And then she gets upset and angry when she talks to me that I am not .... you know acknowledging ....... " You could say the words but for a non-empath to understand it, it was pretty much impossible.

When Liam pulled his hand away, Noelle immediately felt guilty. The last thing she wanted was to make him more uncomfortable. "I'm sorry," Bennett replied immediately, "I didn't mean to make you more uncomfortable by touching you without your permission. As for this young woman and her feelings toward you, have you considered telling her directly you know how she feels but you don't feel the same?"

Liam felt the sudden pan of guilt off the women in front of him, then felt bad. He had confused and worried her. Forcing his eyes back up to look her in the face, he agreed with her assessment. "Yeah it's going to come down to that isn't it?" He wasn't looking forward to any conversation of that nature with the young red head.

Noelle nodded. "What about that gives you pause? Are you concerned for your physical and emotional safety?" Bennett's questions were sincere and without a trace of humor. Just because Liam was a man, it didn't mean he couldn't feel threatened by a woman who was engaging in some troubling behavior. In fact, men and women from a variety of cultures struggled with being assertive, even in situations where they felt physically and emotionally threatened. Many men were often socialized to be especially respectful and chivalrous toward women so when confronted with overly aggressive or even abusive women, they could become paralyzed to act.

"Well. Despite the fact I am going to have to tell her something she clearly doesn't want to hear, emotions hurt too," he admitted. Normally he didn't like talking about this as it made him feel somewhat weak but it was a part of him. "The negative ones. The good ones, well they are good," he offered a smile. "But angry and upset, and if it's directed at you with force can hurt as much as physical pain. In fact some people, usually with some psi or telepathic skill, they can project things at you. I had a conversation recently where a lady described something and I ended up feeling like I had been punched in the face."

"And then there's my reputation to consider. She will be embarrassed. She might even be vengeful. If she puts me on edge when she likes me, can you imagine what vengeful is like? She may attempt to save face with other people if they know about it. Her friends. The rest of the ops girls. What if she doesn't tell the truth? What if she paints me a monster? She's a lot younger than me and I am not saying thoses sorts of relationships can't work - my ex Haku was younger but ... what if that makes me look like some older officer who hurt her just because I have to tell her I am not interested?"

Noelle gave his answer some thought and then said, "I'm sorry you're facing emotional and physical pain as a consequence of just being honest," she offered sincerely. "You can't control her reactions or how they feel to you as a consequence, but my guess is, you've developed strategies to deal with other people's intense emotions in other situations, and you'll be able to rely on them now with some planning and practice. As for your reputation, unless you're saying you fear she will make something up about your interaction as some sort of vengeance, I can only see establishing boundaries with her now as a way to uphold your reputation. Being honest shows you have integrity. It would be much worse to lead her on. Just as you can't control her reaction, you can't control the reactions of others or their perceptions, but if it makes you feel any better, I'm glad you opened up to me about what's going on. If need be, I can speak up if things get as complicated as you fear."

"I really appreciate that," Liam said. "Here you have the last one," he pushed the croissant across to her. He had suddenly lost his appetite.

END?

***

Lieutenant JG Noelle Bennett, M.D.
Chief Counselor
Deep Space 5

&

Lieutenant Liam Reynolds
Chief Diplomatic Officer
Deep Space 5

 

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