Ice Cream (Part 1)

Posted on Thu Sep 8, 2016 @ 4:04pm by Commander Caleb Ryan & Civilian Opal Oliver (Deceased) Dr

2,861 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Interlude - Day 1
Location: Promenade
Timeline: MD 1/1400

Caleb was old-school enough that he occasionally liked to get out and walk a beat when all his datawork was caught up. He didn’t do anything official, but presence was eighty percent of security, he always said, and so today he walked the Promenade. He stopped to talk to shop owners and vendors, listening to their concerns and making a few notes about things like burned out lighting panels that engineering needed to fix.

He was filling out one such work order as he walked and not watching where he was going when he ran into someone. Immediately he reached out, catching the woman with an arm around her waist to keep her from falling, and found himself staring into the beautiful eyes of Dr. Opal Oliver.

“Doctor!” Caleb said with surprise as he held her against him. “What a surprise!”

"The pleasure is mine," she said, catching her breath. It wasn't so much that he had bumped into her that had left her breathless, but the smooth and yet absent way he had just reacted and caught her effortlessly, setting her back onto her feet with a gentleness that was as surprising as it was exciting. One minute she was walking along, the next she could see an 'irresistible force' bearing down on her unseeing and seemingly unstoppable, then, as it completed itself, as if choreographed, the moment ended in a heart stopping pirouette and she was swept to safety at the last minute and ended up here, virtually in his arms, warm and safe and…breathless.

"I.... I'm sorry. I couldn't avoid... I did try to step aside, but it’s so busy along this walkway and..." She stopped explaining and just breathed in with a slight shiver. This man was not what she was accustomed to, but not in a bad way. Quite the contrary, she found him refreshing and she was fascinated already. She wanted to find out more about him, but didn't know where to start or what to say. She made no attempt to extricate herself though, which on reflection later she thought was a little too forward of her.

"Did I hurt you?" The second that came out Opal could hear the stupidity of it. "I.... I mean.... I can be very clumsy.... I was just hoping I hadn't stepped on your foot or worse?"

Pathetic! she thought, silently criticizing her own nervousness. It wasn't like her to be such a klutz, and it wasn't like her to suddenly come over all nervous. She was a confident, organized, level-headed woman and always had been. What had suddenly torn up the rule book and thrown that to the winds?

To be honest, surely it was a question less of what and more of whom. She began to blush. "Sorry." She renewed her attempts to apologize.

“No, no, not at all, Doctor…Opal,” Caleb said, remembering her prior permission to use her given name. “Ah should be watchin’ where Ah’m goin’ an’ not do paperwork while Ah walk,” Caleb said, his arm still around her as he gazed down at her. “An’ no, Ah’m not hurt. Takes a bit more than runnin’ into a pretty little lady.”

Realizing she was still held rather close in his arms, Caleb cleared his throat and released her, stepping back to a more appropriate distance. It was his turn to color. “So…mah leg’s feelin’ much better,” he told her. “Your treatments are workin’. Guess Ah’m due back in soon,” he mused. “Are you all right?” he asked. “Ah’m the one that plowed inta you.” Unconsciously he reached up and pushed back a strand of her hair that had come loose, replacing it back behind her ear. The rough tips of his fingers brushed gently over the shell of her ear.

The touch sent a shiver down her spine and she began to warn herself it was time she started taking a lot more care not to get too attracted to him. Perhaps it was too late, but then again she had to be sensible. They hardly knew each other and he might be anyone. He might be...the one, but it was very much against the odds and she was pretty used to finding out the hard way so far in her life. She drew in and tried to take things slowly. Deep breath in and remember the doctor calm mantra. I can do this without emotion, she told herself.

"I... er... I hope I'm not keeping you. I'm sure you must be busy…?" It was half a question, but her inner warning was trying very hard to stop her blurting out an invitation to that ice cream they'd discussed a while back. Her words gave him an option to walk away if he wanted one.

“Just finishing up, actually, Opal,” Caleb said. “Just have ta finish up these last lighting reports and then Ah’m done for the day.” He paused, his dark, bedroom eyes gazing on her. “Say, it occurs ta me that Ah asked ya out for some ice cream an’ never followed up,” he said, half apologetically. “If you’re not busy, we could grab some now,” he offered.

"I'd love that." She hoped she hadn't answered that with unseemly speed. "If you're sure it's a convenient moment?"

“Never better,” Caleb said. “Zandy’s still in school, so Ah don’t need to go home.”

Caleb looked around and spotted an enlisted security officer. He waved the man over and handed him the padd. “Return this ta Ensign Mayhew ta put in mah office,” he instructed the man and then turned back to Opal.

“There’s a nice place down a few levels,” Caleb said. “An old school burger place. Great chocolate shakes,” he said, “in case ya want more’n ice cream.” He gestured her toward the lift.

"That sounds lovely," she agreed readily and moved towards the lift. "I was hoping... that is... how is your daughter getting on?" she began, faltered and changed direction as they waited for the lift to arrive.

“Pretty well,” Caleb said. “Still doing well in school. But she’s in that teenage mode,” he said with a sigh, rolling his eyes. “She’s ornery just ta be contrary.” He called the lift and when the doors opened he stepped aside like a gentleman to let her board first.

"Thank you," she acknowledged his courteous behavior and went into the lift first. "I expect it's just her age?" she offered a possible explanation, and it was indeed a valid one, so it could have been right, perhaps?

“I would guess so,” Caleb said, though he had other concerns, about her symbiote, but Opal didn’t know about that and he didn’t know if he could trust her with the knowledge of his daughter’s illegal Joining. “It’s just hard, without her mama,” Caleb said, and then ordered the lift to the proper deck.

"I can imagine." Opal was genuinely sympathetic. She knew it couldn't be easy for her daddy without her mama either and she was very aware of this too.

"I can't remember the last time I had ice cream!" Opal changed the subject with some enthusiasm about their treat. "I think it was my birthday last time... " She tried to cast her mind back to when it was, and for that matter, which flavor she had.

"I love jelly and ice cream on my birthday. It helps me remember when birthdays were fun and I was too young to remember they were making me older with every year." She laughed.

“Jelly?” Caleb asked, arching an eyebrow. “You put jelly on your ice cream?” The restaurant wasn’t too far away, an old fashioned burger joint with black and white checked tile floor, red Formica counter and red padded stools, a jukebox along the wall, and waitresses in poodle skirts and headbands on roller skates. A flashing neon sign announced the best milkshakes in the quadrant, as well.

"Yes... but where I come from what we call jelly is the same as what some others call Jello. It's an odd mix, because what you would call jelly, I would call jam," she explained. "It was something that even standardizing Federation language didn't iron out."

"So what do you do to mark your birthday party?" she asked.

“Oh,” Caleb said. “Ah still wouldn’t think of puttin’ Jello on ice cream,” he told Opal with a smile.

“Mah birthday…” Caleb mused. “Well, since Mika died, Ah haven’t done much,” he admitted. “Zandy an’ Ah usually find the best steak place we can, get a bit of cake. She usually gives me a small thing.” He shrugged. “Ah’m old enough Ah don’t make a big deal of it anymore,” he said with a chuckle. “Zandy’s is much more important ta me.”

Caleb picked a booth near the jukebox and waited for Opal to slide inside before taking his own seat across from her.

"When is it? Your birthday? What sign are you?" Opal asked as she slid into the booth seat, curious now and wondering if she might be able to make the next one more special, assuming it was in the near enough future. She could but hope.

“It’s September 12,” Caleb said, handing her a menu. The menus were even old-fashioned. No padds here. Just paper slipped inside plastic covers. “Guess that makes me a Virgo,” he said with a smile. “How about you? Ah don’t know much about that stuff. What am Ah supposed ta be lookin’ for in a compatible mate?” he asked, and then realized just what he’d implied. “Ah mean…a friend.” He colored a little at the Freudian slip.

"But September is a long way off. Can't you have an official birthday today and your real one on the real date? Like monarchs did in the old days?" She laughed. "I'm Aquarius," she added. "Apparently I have a very active defense shield in the form of my insistence that I'm lively and cerebral, but cold, whilst underneath, if people take time to break through all that nonsense, I'm really quite deep…so it says." She shrugged, blushing a little too and seeming not to have noticed his own pink cheeks at his earlier admission.

“So what’s that mean for a Virgo?” Caleb asked with a chuckle. “This was never something Ah followed. And, well, if ya want, there’s an ancient Earth story that talks about celebrating one’s…unbirthday,” he said with a coy smile. “Today does happen to be my unbirthday,” he told her.

"Awesome!" She lit up. "So we can have ice cream and birthday cupcakes? And balloons and streamers?!" She bubbled excitedly before she remembered she didn't really know him well enough to be quite so fruitcake with him yet. Her blush returned.

Caleb smiled. “UNbirthday cupcakes,” he told her. “Not sure if they have balloons and streamers here, though,” he said, looking around the establishment. “See anythin’ ya do like, though?” he asked. “There’s a chocolate cake shake,” he indicated.

"That will do nicely!" she bubbled. "And we can make our own fun. No streamers or balloons, but we can play birthday games!" she said, grinning as she thought about childhood party games like Musical Statues and Pass the Parcel until it occurred to her that in an adult situation, what she had just said could be taken in several different ways.

"Er...I mean....well... cards... chess?" That was silly, now she'd swung to the opposite side and become boring now. She sighed and gave up. "Sorry....messed that up, didn't I?" It was rhetorical and she didn't expect him to answer. She looked pink-cheeked into a spot in the center of the image of the chocolate cake shake that suddenly seemed to have her gaze riveted.

Caleb’s hand touched Opal’s. “Ah do like chess,” he said with a quiet smile. For some reason he really wanted her to look up at him, to see her beautiful eyes once more.

His touch continued a bit longer than was proper before he pulled back again with a nervous cough and looked at his menu. “So chocolate cake shake it is. Anythin’ else, Opal?” he asked her. “That mushroom swiss burger is lookin’ good,” he mused, studying the picture. “And waffle fries.”

Opal did look up again, distracted by his bringing her attention to the burger picture. "Yes, please. I'd like the same." She brightened. "And perhaps we could play some chess sometime? I have an unusual chess board. I hope you would like it. It has dragons and mythical creatures for pieces." She liked the feel of his hand on her arm and was sad that he'd taken it away, so she put hers on his forearm now and liked the way that felt too. She smiled at him shyly and their eyes met. She just sat gazing at him, wondering what to say next, but somehow it had stopped mattering what they were saying.

Caleb gazed back, finding himself lost in Opal’s dark eyes. He felt a bit guilty and was grateful for the arrival of the waitress. Pulling his hand away, he ordered two mushroom swiss burgers with bacon, a large basket of waffle fries, and two large chocolate cake milkshakes.

“You two are a lovely couple,” the young waitress said with a smile as she collected their menus and skated away.

Caleb flushed and looked at Opal.

Opal looked at the table and came up a similar colour of pink. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you. I shouldn't have made you come here."

“Ah offered you ice cream,” Caleb pointed you. “Ah suggested the place. Ya didn’t make me do anythin’, Opal,” he assured her quietly. “Please. It’s an honor ta think Ah could be mistaken for bein’ with such a lovely woman.” He flashed her his handsome smile.

"Is it? A mistake, I mean?" she asked softly. "I personally think that I'm the lucky one." She watched his face and admired that handsome smile.

Caleb’s eyes opened a bit wider and he gave her a nervous smile. “Well, we’re just here as friends,” he told her. “Ah wouldn’t presume…” Awkward silence stretched, and he was grateful when their food arrived, breaking the tension. “Ketchup?” he asked Opal, berating himself for being so awkward. But it had been decades since he’d felt this kind of confusion around a woman.

Opal wondered if she'd stepped on eggshells and perhaps taken too much for granted. She blushed again and changed the subject to something safer for a while, but by the time the food had arrived they fell to eating and just speaking very little. Once the plates were taken away from the burgers she ventured, "That was delicious". She wanted to ask if they could order the ice cream now, but was just wondering if that was a bit too forward when the waitress put her out of the awkward position by sticking a menu drive into the small screen on the side of their table alcove.

"Did you say you wanted ice cream?" she asked. "We have Terran Cranberry and Blue Andorian Halefruit for today's special, and there are all the usual other flavours on here." The screen scrolled through a whole roll of delicious looking ices, with or without wafers, of all colors and fruit pieces on top.

"Oooh!" It was Opal's turn to have the wide eyes now.

“Of course we do,” Caleb smiled. “Whatever you like,” he told Opal. “Ah’ll just have some vanilla with hot fudge,” he told the waitress.

"Please may I try that amazing sounding special you just mentioned?" Opal beamed.

"Thank you," she said to Caleb when the barista was gone.

“It’s nothing. Just some ice cream,” Caleb told her with a smile, his eyes studying her face. He shifted nervously. He had been something of a player back at the Academy, before he met Mika. She had tamed him, to a degree, and he had been out of the women game for a long time. He wasn’t sure what to say.

Sensing that however shy she might be feeling, someone had to speak, Opal searched what she knew about Caleb for something to say. "Can I ask you something personal?" she suddenly asked.

Caleb raised an eyebrow. “Ah guess it depends about what,” he said. “An’ how personal.” He gave Opal a reassuring smile, though. “But go ahead,” he told her. “Ah can always say Ah don’t want ta answer.” He reached over and brushed her hand before leaning back again as the waitress brought their ice cream.

His touch sent shivers through her. Good shivers. It had been a long time since she had felt this strongly about anyone in such a short time.

TBC

Lt. Cmdr. Caleb Ryan
Chief of Security/Tactical

Dr. Opal Oliver
Civilian Physician
NPC Jools

 

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